melodiesoflife | Event || In Your Worst Memory

Event || In Your Worst Memory

Characters: All Heroes of Light. Only those who signed-up can start a memory.
Where: Interdimensional Rift
When: May 27th - May 30th
Summary: The Heroes of Light relive some of their worst memories, with a twist. All characters participating in this will be physically missing from Crystallis for the duration of the event.
Warning: It depends on the memory.

Where you were or what you were doing— It does not really matter. Not any more. Everything around you freezes, nearly as if time itself stopped, as if the world was frozen in time. And before you have a chance to understand what is happening, you can hear a voice right behind you.

"Kali Shashidhwaja."

Should you turn around, you may see a child who seems to be the only one aside from you unaffected by what is happening. And as she stares right at you, it makes no doubt these strange words are aimed at you. But before you can reply to her, the world around you collapses. Reality twists and shatters... Or maybe you are the one who is collapsing and shattering away from reality as you know it. No matter what the answer is, it will only take a few seconds for you to find yourself sinking into a void, Crystallis vanishing into the distance. There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see.

And once again you feel different: all the powers from your Jobs are fading. Not only that, but you might find that your Crystal is gone and your clothes back to what they were before you woke up in Crystallis. It is silent, cold and before long it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you... And yet, slowly the world reforms around you. The darkness fades away and a new world appears, yet at the same time this is not a world.

This is a memory. The question is, is it yours or that of someone else?

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The shift felt like a breeze that wasn't. A fleeting sense of something passing right over him but not being tangible enough to identify. Sephiroth paused as he passed out of consequence within the events playing before him as his eyes rested on the figures before him.

Terra's mom was beautiful, like Terra herself but with an edge of maturity that the willowy girl in Crystallis didn't have yet. Perhaps it was the sense of identity that made her seem that way; where Terra was still learning how to feel about a lot of things. Sephiroth glimpsed the small girl only for a moment before the definite sound of rifles being lifted and cocked ripped through the air.

He spun around, almost as if he thought he might be caught in the line of fire but the bullet passed right through him -or maybe he thought it did and really it came from another angle. The ghost that he was, all that he could do but watch. Sephiroth's gut turned as the woman went down and he was almost deafened by the roar that resonated as if through the very air; was that the same roar as from before?

Next second and his eyes were all for the young girl that was left as the soldiers bickered around them. Shouting and calling each other out; trying to place the blame. Sephiroth wasn't sure if Terra could even see him but he took a step forwards, crouched and reached for the scarlet line where the bullet had grazed her- needing to verify if he could touch, or if he really was unable to effect anything here.

His fingers would pass through Terra’s arm if he reached for her. The young girl didn’t see Sephiroth or react to him; instead her eyes were fixed on the soldiers as if they would determine her fate. She wanted to run. She wanted to do what her mother had instructed and find her father but her feet were stuck in place.

The deep roar sounded again, this time closer. The young Esper girl turned towards it feeling her heart lift to her chest. One word left her lips as she stepped forward. ”Daddy?” The soldiers looked towards the source of the roar and then to Terra. One of the men lifted his gun again but this time no one stopped him. The roar sounded again, the ground rumbling as the threat moved closer.

Terra didn’t wait for them to choose to shot her. She ran away from the soldiers and her mother heading towards the sound of the deafening growl.

For a moment Sephiroth tried to figure out how it felt to pass his fingers through the girls arm but that thought was dismissed as that noise rumbled through the air again.

That roar sounded akin to a large behemoth and even the hairs on the back of Sephiroth's neck stood on end as it reverberated all around. It wasn't until Terra stepped forward -right through him, he caught his breath- that the direction of the great beast was ascertained. He too turned to look over his shoulder, between Terra and the soldiers, noting the muzzle of the rifle pointed at her in the seconds before she bolted.

He had to turn right the way around, and stood up again finally as Terra left her dead mothers side. It shouldn't have been like this, not for one so young, but he can't very well let her out of his sight now. The ground shook as the beast came ever closer to his location, almost knocked Sephiroth's balance as he made to speed after wherever Terra had run off to.

The power changed and shifted moments before Sephiroth caught up to the young girl. She had found her father and while he didn't take on the form of a lumbering beast the power was obvious in his demeanor. His hair was silver tied back by a simple ponytail. Energy like that flowing around this world rippled from him. His piercing gaze caught sight of Sephiroth as if seeing him standing there and not the empty space the young girl saw.

He pushed her to keep running hearing the ground shake as soldiers and men in armor came to take down the horrible beast. His gaze fixated on Sephiroth. "You can't hurt my daughter." The young Terra was gone though before Maduin could release his power his sight looked past Sephiroth at someone else.

The Terra that he knew stepped forward her eyes on the man standing in front of them. "It's my father." They both knew how this ended and as her younger self vanished she felt a pain in her heart. This was the family that she never knew.

Maduin growled at Terra as if seeing the face of his enemy and not his daughter.

He'd been so keen on rushing to get caught up to the young girl that it was almost an afterthought that hit him, the realization that he was corporeal again making him have to put a lot more effort into just stopping before he'd run literally into the danger zone of the bestial man who had turned to block his- and that of the soldiers around him- path.

Sephiroth would have to have been blind-deaf not to feel the potency of the power rippling around the form now stood in front of him and automatically he stepped back into a battle stance, swinging his sword around in front of him as if out of no where. For a fleeting moment, the silver hair of the man was noted; didn't Terra almost say something about that hair color before? Was this what she meant - was this the man Sephiroth reminded her of?

The question was dashed into a million pieces though as the beast apparently fixated entirely on him, Sephiroth's keen edge of a mind drilled endlessly in combat was instantly prepared for a charge or something. As a result, at first he didn't register that younger Terra had faded and it was the older one that suddenly appeared between them. He'd been so ready to have to defend himself-

"Terra-" Sephiroth sharply warned her, if only in response to the growl that indicated that Maduin wasn't sharing the same sentiment.

He looked like a man ready to kill more than a father gazing down at his daughter. Terra wasn't sure what to do but she didn't want to fight the man in front of her. She looked up at him for the first time seeing the man who had been meant to raise her. The man she would never know.

Terra took a small step forward heedless of Sephiroth's warning or the deep growl from Maduin's throat. Magic pulse around the man, his claws slowly growing as his anger filled him. Bit by bit his formed changed as his power surrounded him.

Terr felt it too but she didn't move. Wings formed from his back as his gaze fixed on Terra. A loud roar echoed from his throat as a claw swiped down at Terra. It would be painfully obvious to Sephiroth that the young Esper had no intention of moving from the strike.

His green-flaring gaze flicked intensely from Terra's back, to Maduin and back again more than a few times. Sephiroth's grip tensed around the handle of his sword and he spread his stance further, rooting his balance into the damp ground in preparation for the inevitable. He wondered if Terra had even heard him, or maybe she was so blinded by that unknown in her life that was presented before her now that even if he were shouting it wouldn't have made any difference.

The danger spiked tangibly in the air as the magical power grew and the creature on the other side of Terra started to shift its form in response. Like a thick storm brewing in a smaller and smaller concentration - Sephiroth wasn't even sure if the other soldiers who had been nearby were still there and he'd fixated his gaze on Maduin only as well. The tension would have to break soon, if this was some sort of preliminary reaction, but there was one thing he knew for sure -

"No."

Even if he had to physically push Terra out of the way, even if he could not, Sephiroth reacted in a split-second to do so. He slashed with his overlong sword at the claws which came in to strike and, without hesitation, put his own body in the way. It was his basic duty, not least as SOLDIER, to protect the innocent from monsters; Sephiroth hadn't even made a conscious decision to intervene. He just did.

Terra felt the force of Sephiroth's body pushing her to the side. Her foot caught her as she staggered away from the strike. Her bright blue eyes were wide as her gaze landed on her father.

He's attacking me? Father? Why can't I talk to him?

She couldn't talk to her mother or her younger self. She had fallen threw those imagines like she wasn't even there and now she can't talk to her father. It was cruel and while it might be selfish on Terra's part she wanted to do more than just see them. To talk to them, hold them, she wanted her family. She knew nothing about them until now and all she was given was what they looked like.

Terra stayed beside Sephiroth her hand reaching towards his side as if feeling someone next to her would remind her that this wasn't just a dream. Her father was trying to kill her.

The beast roared feeling Sephiroth's blade bite into his palm. The force of his strike was stopped but he pushed forward with Terra as his target. "Sephiroth?" Terra's voice sounded small coming from behind her. She was surprised but he could also here a resolved tone to her voice. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Let him kill me. Terra couldn't say it out loud.

Maduin retracted from his attack licking his palm as he moved away from Sephiroth. It dripped bright crimson but as quickly as the wound was there it healed. He roared against lighting charging in his muscles as he began to cast. His target Terra and anyone standing near her.

Sephiroth can feel a charge in the air around Maduin as if it was more than just the spell that he was casting.

Though a pain that Sephiroth wouldn't be able to comprehend very deeply, he did appreciate the frustration Terra might feel, should she have had to stumble through the battlefield they were surrounded by without being able to be seen or even heard. Especially by the parents she'd lost. He'd had moments, in fact most of his experience, where he'd been corporeal as he'd picked his way around the various fallen Esperi and edging around clusters of combat still going on with Imperial troops - but even he had not been able to even touch the young Terra.

Terra was swept with one arm, neatly, but firmly, behind him as she reached out; Sephiroth's mako-enhanced perception serving him as perfectly as it had always done. The monster at first sought to press forwards and without even looking back over his silver-armor topped shoulder Sephiroth ushered Terra -and himself- backwards in order to keep firmly between them. A breath passed in reply as Sephiroth reset his stance, stepping forwards only one stride from Terra so he could get Masamune up and around back into his ready position.

"Don't even think it." Whether he referred to her not thinking about him getting hurt, or whether Sephiroth referred to the unspoken words behind her concern didn't matter at all. At least from his perspective. "I'm not leaving."

Just another monster. Terra's father or not, it certainly had only one thing on its mind and that was to kill them. Sephiroth wasn't about to let that happen and considering his renewed strength in this plane of existence he felt more confident than he had for a long time. This was the Hero he'd been brought to Crystallis as, before that realm had -by intent or not- broken something of his spirit by stripping him of what had given him such an edge in the first place.

Sephiroth fixated his attention back on Maduin as the creature retreated, taking a note that whatever injury he'd done was short-lived and quickly ascertaining that it were now beginning to channel its energy into something of magic attack. The lightning that crackled across and within its muscles foretold something of the great capacity for magic that all Espers were born with. It also told him volumes with regard to why the Empire might have been scared enough of them to commit such a genocidal act that they had done. Couldn't well conquer a world with power like that in your way; ShinRa, quite likely, would have done the same.

"Terra, you need to move quickly." He barked quickly over his shoulder. While confident in his own ability to dodge whatever magic would be going off at their position in a few more seconds, and it was a powerful cast just judging by the way that every fine hair he had was being brought to attention, he couldn't guarantee Terra's safety if she stayed so close by.

It were another thing entirely to get them both out of that space at exactly the same time. "Can you feel that?"

Terra found herself looking at Sephiroth's back as he removed her from her father's gaze. It helped, somehow seeing his back was comforting but it wasn't enough to clear the situation from her mind. She slowly moved as he instructed her footsteps almost silent as they walk backwards. When he stepped forward she remained in place behind him, her eyes moving back towards the monster that came into view.

That was her father. That was the man who passed down the power she had within her. Her thoughts were slowly circling in her mind when she heard Sephiroth speak. She stopped thinking, watching his back with a mixture of surprise and admiration. He wanted to help her even though she couldn't help him. Her hand moved over her heart and she felt warmth growing in her chest. She didn't have to do this alone either.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Sephiroth directed her to move. "I can't-" She had wanted to say that she didn't want to leave him alone but her words were cut short.

It was as if Maduin's power called out to Terra and even in this memory she felt it press against her senses. Her nerves screamed in pain and she fell to her knees with her eyes clamped shut. She couldn't understand what was going on feeling only pain and power swell from within her. She hugged herself as purple-ish claws slowly began to replace her delicate fingers.

The soldiers around them readied their weapons. Their sights were trained on Maduin having had orders to kill every single Esper. Men in armor lined up and began firing missiles at him tearing into his back and sides as he continued to charge. His body was taking a beating from the soldiers but he released his spell sending lighting through their ranks and killing those to weak to handle the jolt.

For less than a fraction of a second Sephiroth was irritated by the fact that Terra would refuse to do as he bid but the abrupt cut-off of her speech alerted him and then he did dare to glance back over his shoulder at her - a great risk, considering.

"Terra."

Not really being able to see her Sephiroth then turned more of his body so that he could see where she had crumpled to the floor. He could feel the power in the air still charging even if Maduin's growls were now more in the background and quickly he looked over her as if looking for the answer. Sephiroth couldn't see anything wrong with her...until a few seconds later he fancied he saw how her fingers were starting to change.

It could be his imagination? He remembered Terra the Esper from a previous dream and quickly made the logical connection as he turned more back to face the monster.

Who then launched a sweep of highly-charged lightning outwards from himself, sweeping many soldiers around them to the floor like a strong gust would move the trees. With a grunt, Sephiroth made to turn himself completely around and face Terra - guarding her position from the blast as much as he was able to with his own frame as a shield. The electrical current ripped through him and even though Sephiroth -being mako-infused- would survive the attack, its potency made him smell his own singed nose hairs, taste how the energy threatened to cook him from the inside out...he could feel the lightning dissipate acutely, as it frayed out in all the threads of his silver hair and then finally the charge was gone.

He fell to one knee in front of Terra, Masamune limp at his left-side. In the silence that followed, that rung in his ears, Sephiroth breathed deeply for a few repetitions before planting a fist into the dirt on his one side and hauling himself back upright. He turned and dragged his sword back up into a battle stance; taking a longer moment to survey the scene as it was left before deciding what to do.

She didn't think it would hurt and she prayed for the pain to end. Everything going on around her faded until there was only a few sickening pops to accompany the pain that coursed through her during the change. She couldn't control it because she never learned how. She had her powers back and they were now trying to take control. Terra's back arched as her transformation continued, covering her arms and then her abdomen. Her feet slowly began to change as well, moving up her legs until all that was left was the beast that Sephiroth had seen in the dream. Her scream was chilling as the transformation completed itself, power rippling from her with no way for her to control it properly.

She couldn't say anything even as Sephiroth turned and protected her from the blast. Bright red eyes were trained on him before she jumped up into the air. She floated for a moment feeling her powers press against her sense. She had to release them or she feared they would over take what sense she had left.

As each soldier fell more rose to meet Maduin as if the dream knew that he would kill so many. Bullets riddled his sides but he disregarded them attacking the soldiers with a flick of his tail. His gaze was on Terra who remained floating in the sky looking down on the battle with detachment.

This isn't my father.

Her father would have protected her, he would have taught her to control the powers that he passed on to her.

Edited 2015-06-11 16:55 (UTC)

Perhaps it had been a result of the electricity which had dulled out a lot of Sephiroth's senses at the time, that he hadn't been able to fully take in Terra's transformation in the moments he'd been stuck on one knee before her but he couldn't ignore the predatory red eyes that fixed on him in the moments before he made his move. It turned out, that she ascended into the air as he succeeded in stretching out his battle stance once more in front of Maduin - quickly noting the holes that were riddling his sides and the powerful tail which dismissed his attackers as if batting away insects.

The mako that had ensured Sephiroth's survival from that attack now pounded fiercely beneath his skin, within all the fibers of the muscles that worked to keep him standing let alone battle-ready. The silver warrior took a breath as the last tingling of the shock receded and he fixated his attention on that tail which was being used to swat away Imperial troops. His eyes and his focus both charged with the borrowed energy of his own Planet.

A breath exhaled and he dashed forwards as if on the very air itself, only touching the ground again once he was well within range and then planting both feet firmly and powerfully bringing his overlong sword down and around to deliver the most momentum possible in a single slash.

"Argh!"

Sephiroth pulled Masamune up in a great slash, aimed for the meat of the tail as close to the base of Maduin's form as he could call it. Not hesitating with the follow through he launched himself from a deep squat and made to use his own weight to ensure the tail would break entirely whilst at the same time using it as a step to propel himself higher up the body of the monster; better to get a chance to deal a lethal strike next.

Terra watched as Sephiroth moved into battle. She couldn't feel anything as she looked down at him. He was the soldier that she knew and trusted but that was it. The beast didn't understand all of Terra's thoughts and the contradiction inside of her caused chaos. Her claws gripped her head and she screamed with all her might as power around her surged to dangerous levels.

Below her the fight raged on.

Sephiroth's attack was enough to send Maduin into a fierce, blinding rage. He was fighting a loosing battle but he was fighting for his home and that made him stronger. He swiped a large claw at Sephiroth making no motions to protect himself. Lighting jumped and pulsed within his palm as he searched for something to connect with.

The force of his strike and the magic would both be released the moment that he found something. Blood dripped from his body as he was torn apart bit by bit with every attack. Before his claw could land on Sephrioth or the soldiers around him Maduin began to become encased in crystal. It was dark blue hue and it was indestructible. Slowly his tail reformed as if knowing that he'd need the solid part of him in his stasis. Bit by bit the battle ended and yet Terra stayed hovering in the air above the soldiers.

He only had a very vague awareness of Terra's Esper-form charging still somewhere above their heads yet off behind him as well. Sephiroth's concentration was on the next sword strike, how he landed from that, how he'd dodge and counter further - soon matching the bullet holes riddling Maduin with precise and productive long red marks where Masamune cut him. Though clearly self-regeneration was an ability of the creature, it seemed it as if the sheer amount of injury being inflicted was eventually winning out.

Sephiroth had paused for only a hair of a second before enacting his latest flurry of attacks, and it had been all that the monster needed for his claw to find the leather-clad side of Sephiroth's back. Raw energy pulsated outwards in the same instant as the connection as if exploding it's current all through his body once more, there was the sensation of being propelled-

Next thing he knew, Sephiroth pulled his face up out of the mud and with a groan rubbed the back of his glove over his chin to wipe some of the muck away. Everything still hummed with the remembered charge though he imagined his adrenaline was still holding back the pain.

From a good few feet behind where Terra was hovering, the silver warrior looked up and over her form again before lowering his gaze to what was Maduin; now mostly dark blue crystal and hardly moving. Some of the soldiers were still firing on it, and Sephiroth imagined he could hear the bullets ricocheting off.

She felt her fathers energy slowly slip away even though his soul remained trapped in the dark blue crystal. Her claws gripped her head as an unseen force scrapped against her nerves. She screamed, the shout containing her pain, anger and confusion as her magic was released into the empty sky.

A deep rumble echoed from Maduin as the crystal fully encased him. "You think you have won." His gaze shifted to Terra as if finally seeing his daughter. Slowly the light faded from his gaze and his prison was sealed.

A few soldiers continued to shoot the dark blue form, their bullets hitting allies as they bounce off the impenetrable blue surface. A moment later it was quiet and every looked up at the sky at Terra. She looked down at Sephiroth as if seeing him for the first time and then flew off, running from the battle and her memories.

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Event || In Your Worst Memory

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