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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Dream him didn't respond, but the one having it was slowly walking up to her.

Another person he knew; he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about her, of all people, seeing that part of his past. Was he... afraid of how she'd feel? Ashamed, maybe? While he knew he wouldn't be who he was, if not for his past? Maybe...

...Or maybe it was that he was still afraid of letting people in, because it would make them closer. Though, he'd already expressed his thoughts to her about that, however. It was a little late, wasn't it? Heh...

His voice was quiet...soft, but hopefully loud enough to capture her attention, "I'm here..."

Zelda turned towards him and she felt relief wash over her. He was okay. At least he was unharmed, she knew that this sort of thing must have left a scar over his heart. She stepped up next to him looking up at her friend.

"Luke," Zelda knew the importance of the past, no matter how sad but it was the past. Luke was here now and it was him that she was going to focus her attention on. She slowly reached out towards him letting her hand rest over his as she looked up at him.

"Are you okay?"

It had to have hurt. Seeing his friends reject him again.

Heh... she really was such a nice person. She reminded him... almost a little too much of Ion, though. So, in spite of his smile, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes as he looked at her; it was akin to how he'd looked the first time he saw Ion again, while in the memory...

Too many times, he'd taken his friend for granted... and then he-

Zelda was right, however. It did hurt to see the same scene all over again. Her question had his brow briefly furrowing as he looked away, attempting to conceal the very telling expression on his face, "I'll-... be okay. I've had a ton of dreams about this...actually. So, in a way, this isn't the first time I've have to rewatch it..."

Managing a reassuring smile, he reached up and lightly patted her hand a couple of times, as though emphasizing his point, "Thank you."

"Just because you've seen this before doesn't mean you're used to it." She paused placing her hand over her heart. "It doesn't hurt any less."

Her voice was gentle but she could see the pain in his expression. It was an expression she's seen before. Her bright blue eyes shifted to the ground and she took a deep breath. She didn't have any advice for Luke, she just didn't want him to be alone through his pain. Everyone felt pain and no one deserved to feel alone.

Zelda's gaze shifted back up to him and her confidence was evident. "I'm your friend Luke. You need to face the pain but you don't have to do it alone."

He didn't expect any advice or words of reassurance -- he'd come to terms with that all having been his fault. His mistake killed thousands of people, and nothing would ever bring them back. Or undo the pain that those left behind would have to face... every day. The mother of John... She'd never see her husband or son ever again...

Just as his own mother would likely never see her son...sons (he was sure she saw both he and Asch as a son)...ever again.

Looking down, he released a quiet sigh and nodded, "You're a good friend, Zelda. The truth is... I see this scene in my nightmares even to this day. And you're right -- it doesn't hurt any less, because I always wake up pouring sweat," a very wry smile appeared just before he uttered the next words, "and sometimes even shaking. I thought that time was supposed to heal these kinds of things, yet I'm still just as messed up by it as I've always been."

"It can only heal if you forgive yourself Luke." She looked over at him her expression gentle but firm. "You blame yourself for this mistake. It's true that many are dead and that's a heavy thing to carry. You shouldn't forget them because through your memories they can thrive but you must carry this weight without letting it crush you."

Zelda took a step towards him, her gaze trained on him. "You have to forgive yourself." Which wasn't easy, Zelda knew that but it was what he had to do to keep going. She wanted him to keep going.

"You need to become strong. You need to keep fighting to save others." If he just gave up it would make all those deaths meaningless.

Her words were, as always, kind. While he knew she was right, however, it was easier said than done. The thing was, that... he thought he had forgiven himself. It wasn't until after seeing everything all over again, that he realized... he never fully had. What would it take to succeed...?

...What?

The last words out of Zelda's mouth sounded... strange. While it was in her voice, the tone sounded unlike hers. It was accusatory; very fitting of the words he just heard. Instead of hearing 'You need to become strong', he'd heard her telling him that he needed to 'consider the similarities'...

Finally, the entire last sentence didn't...even make sense to him. Why would she say that? Why would she say that he's responsible for... even more people dying? Instead of asking right away, he was going to simply stare at her for a moment. His breathing was suddenly turning just a little unsteady, "What...did you say...?"

Zelda blinked looking at him confused. "I said that you need to keep fighting to save others..." She inspected his features taking a step closer with a worried expression adorning her features.

"Are you okay Luke?"

It was easy to tell that something was wrong but she didn't know what might be happening. Can he not hear her? Was something happening. She glanced around but found no change in anything except her friend.

While she wasn't going to be seeing anything different... Luke was.

The more Zelda spoke, the more Luke tensed. Even if her words held every bit of good intention, what he was hearing...was more accusations. To him, it sounded as though she was continuing to put the blame on him. For a moment, he was backing away from her with a hurt look on his face. With the shake of his head, he could only whisper, "Stop talking...please..."

She wouldn't say those things -- she was far too kind. That was why he had asked her to stop talking; maybe he could stop all of it if he simply refused to believe it was real. But, it didn't look to be working. While the Zelda he saw was no longer talking, she was also...no longer looking at him. She was turning away... ignoring him... and it hurt.

It hurt just as badly as the first time. One hand lifted to the side of his head as he spoke through clenched teeth, "This isn't real... it's just a dream, damn it!"

Zelda stopped at his command but she was confused. She wanted to comfort her friend and yet the worry on his face only increased. She kept her gaze on him wanting to reach out and gather the boy in her arms.

Her fingers moved to her lips to stop herself from calling his name. She was scared and seeing his features only made her worry and fear increase. She didn't know what to do or if she should chance speaking.

It hurt. She didn't want Luke to be in pain.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything she'd be able to do in the current case.

Even with her following through with that command, the illusion hadn't stopped. On his end, it appeared as though he was definitely being ignored. What he was seeing was her giving up on him, the same way that his friends had on that fateful day. He didn't understand what he'd done to deserve that one, seeing as... it wasn't like Akzeriuth... right?

Not that he was trying to make up excuses, but he genuinely didn't feel that any of it was right. It wasn't something she would do, damn it. He was being messed with! Trying to ignore just how real it felt, he closed his eyes. Taking a calming breath, he shook his head and spoke in a determined whisper, "This isn't real, damn it... She wouldn't say that..."

Too many times had he been involved in nightmares where someone he cared about said something horrible; he couldn't let himself fall for another one...

Zelda’s eyes widened at his comment and she felt her heart reach out towards her friend. She didn’t think as she stepped forward wrapping her arms around Luke and pulling him close. She hoped to shatter the illusion while holding him close.

She was shorter than him and so her head rested on his shoulder as she tried to stop the tears that threatened the corner of her eyes. “You aren’t alone.” The words were whispered and perhaps too soft to be herd but she wasn’t going to leave her friend in pain. She wasn’t going to do nothing as the memory twisted itself to torture Luke. She was there for him, they were friends and she wasn’t going anywhere unless he was with her.

It might be selfish but she didn’t want to let go and she prayed to the goddess of the past that she might have a way to clear his sight.

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Event || In Your Worst Memory

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Zelda you're such a cutie xD huff

She's worried about him!

butbut... he's fine... really! (is what he wants her to believe anyway...)

Awww, he can't fool her :p

of course he can! look he's smiling! :DDD (also the dream is now taking the Bad Turn)

Oh dear

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