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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Knocking the replica off her feet would indeed be difficult. Elizabeth's attack appeared to work -- at least, Nebilim stumbled for a moment, taking a few strikes from Luke before regaining her balance. The vortex created by Bloody Howling pulled at her, but she was ready this time, gliding away on her grotesque wings. A mere moment later she appeared completely unfazed.

And yet... Their attacks were landing. Ventus's spell took, burning her skin and making it all the more vulnerable when Jade took advantage of the Dark fonons left behind by Anise's arte and cast Raging Mist. Scalding steam bit into the replica. Her grin faded, and she broke away from Luke to rush at Elizabeth and Anise.

There was no doubt about it. The replica was being hurt more than she had expected, and it was making her angry. Perhaps she was weaker now, immediately after her creation...

"Know your place! " the replica shouted, taking into the air. Six shining orbs of light circled her before stopping and firing dozens of shapeless projectiles at the two girls. "Know what true power is! Fragmented End!" As the name of the Mystic Arte left her lips, both Nebilim and the orbs finished their barrage with powerful energy beams that shot out at the area directly before her.

Elizabeth tossed her deck of cards in the air, them forming a shield in front of her, as the arte blasts through it the cards move to encircle the replica as Elizabeth floats into the air and her book opens.

"Now the beginning of the end..."

More cards appear behind her and launch at her foe as balls of light as she stands tall, still floating in the air. Thanatos appears behind her and she focuses a ball of energy and tosses it into the air.

"RAIN DOWN PILLARS OF LIGHT! MEGIDOLAON!"

With that the ball of energy falls on the Replica to wack it about with Liz's most powerful allmighty attack.

"Hey, are you trying to kill me!?"

That last Mystic Arte attack hit Anise, and it hit hard. She was still standing, but only barely. It also made her incredibly angry; just angry enough to unleash a burst of fonons, in fact.

Since it looked like the creepy monster's attack was going to hit pretty hard (and they had distance spells covered), she'll rush in for physical damage.

"Surge breaker!"

Tokunaga pulls it's arm back, before trying to catch Nebilim in an uppercut. But she wasn't done yet...

"Final Fury! Let's finish this!"

She tried to catch Nebilim in her own mystic arte, having Tokunaga deliver a punishing series of punches before jumping into the air, and dropping into a ground pound.

When the replica broke away, Ven moved, but that Mystic Arte was still too quick even for him to counter in time. Instead he slid to a stop and did a swift double cast of Cura -- one on Luke, one on Anise, which would take care of the burns and bruises and help in killing the pain on anything too serious to heal with a single spell.

That only took about two seconds total, so he dashed in low at Nebilim's back as close as he dared, casting Mine Shield and then darting backwards again, out of the fray. If Anise's and Elizabeth's attacks forced her back, she would be treated to a series of small explosions courtesy of the magical mines now embedded in the ground.

That healing spell had him pausing just long enough to glance around -- who did that? When he realized who, he was quick to offer a small grin and call out, "Thanks!"

While his injuries hadn't been more than he could handle, he felt much lighter and nimble with them being basically gone entirely. He joined Anise in laying on the attacks. As soon as he noticed what she was going for, however, he moved back to get out of her way.

A small, knowing smirk was briefly going to surface. Hey -- he was allowed to feel a tiny bit of pride in how strong his friends were, right? All of them had managed everything because of that.

Moments later, he'd be moving in to deal another attack. After a few slashes, he'd be aiming to use Lightning Blade on her -- a bolt of lightning would be accompanying his attack, if successful.

Nebilim hadn't expected to have her Mystic Arte countered like this; such a thing was unheard of in Auldrant, and yet Elizabeth was mirroring her movements, floating in the air. The replica had just enough time to glower in disbelief before the Megidolaon struck.

An inhuman scream erupted from her throat and she fell -- right into the path of Tokunaga's fists. The punches collided hard, knocking the breath out of her. Gasping, Nebilim rolled back to put distance between them, and the ground exploded beneath her feet.

Their attacks couldn't have flown together more perfectly. The moment Luke's Lightning Blade hit, Jade drew upon the wind fonons left behind. Maybe, just maybe, they could finish this right now, once and for all...

"O sacred will, strike down those who would be mine enemy. Divine Saber!"

The holy lightning struck, and the replica's scream was cut short. For a moment, she seemed to be coming apart--

Then came a sound like a record screeching, and she disappeared.

"...but with fomicry..."

Jade froze. Then he turned around, all color leaving his face. Behind them, the scene was playing again -- only instead of children, he and Saphir were both teenagers. Dressed in the Malkuth Military Academy uniforms, Saphir sniffing nervously behind his round glasses, while Jade... He was kneeling by Nebilim's dying form, neither nervous nor confident. Just completely blank.

Why...?

The replica came into being, just like before. She struggled uncertainly onto her feet and stared into space for a second. Then, ignoring her creators, she turned towards adult Jade.

"...i can't... it hurts... jade..."

Jade stood still, words dying in his throat, as the replica twitched in apparent pain and took a few trembling steps forward, looking as though she might fall any second. It wasn't until he sensed fonons gathering that he realized what was about to happen. "Everybody, scatter!"

A rain of meteors came down upon them. The earth exploded where they hit, leaving scorched craters in the snow. Should anyone get hit, they wouldn't be able to just shrug off the damage.

Elizabeth shakes her head and starts backing off, zigging and zagging to avoid meteors as she tossed a glowing card or two at the monster.

"What arcanum is this beast so we can get some sort of measure how many times she will resurrect?"

[She nods a quick thank you to Ventus after she finishes her mystic arte. This was the second battle they'd been in together, and she had to say he was pretty helpful.]

[Her attention is quickly grabbed by Nebilim again. A quick glance at Jade was all she needed to know that this wasn't good.]

[And now he was telling them to get out of the way. This super wasn't good.]

[Thankfully, the forewarning gives her enough time to run out of the paths of any oncoming meteors. Was Nebilim back up? But they'd barely beaten her before.]

No way! That's not fair!

[She's gonna hang back for the time being, taking the lull after the spell as a chance to cast Lucky on herself. If they were in this for the long haul, she'd need all the help she could get.]

Edited 2015-07-08 11:14 (UTC)

Ven met their gratitude with a quick smile, but then it was back to business -- except that said business had taken a very wrong turn.

Even as his magical mines exploded, that was the last of the push that Ven needed to tip into his Command Style: there was a brief flash of light, and when it cleared there was an aura of flames around both himself and his Keyblade. For a moment it looked unnecessary as the replica teetered and started to disappear -- only for the scene to... restart? Reset?

He shot a look at the others, as lost as the rest -- but Jade's warning was all he needed, and he obeyed it in a heartbeat. Even vaulting at top speed, it was close: scorching hot air from the blasts made him stumble, and the resulting tremble of the earth managed to knock him onto his knees. He was up again in a flash, rounding on the new (or was it resurrected?) Nebilim but keeping his distance. Going into Firestorm had boosted his magical reserves, at least, so he would be able to heal again without delay if anyone needed it.

Now was a really bad time to wish he'd picked up some of Aqua's barrier magic during training.

The sound caused him to tense up...

As the scene played over, only with...differences... Luke's expression fell. Were they just going to be doing all this, repeatedly? Was fighting her something they were stuck doing until the dream decided to come to an end? Well, it didn't seem any of them had time to question it out loud.

It was right after Jade yelled, Luke was quickly moving. Fortunately... he did manage to avoid getting hit that time. That question had his brow furrowing. It was after the attack finished, he looked to the woman and outright asked (while still keeping his guard up, of course), "What's an arcanum?"

Well, if he could learn what that meant, maybe he could help......

Jade knew the trajectory of Meteor Storm well enough to dodge out of the way. It was still a close call; he had to shield his eyes from a wave of heat as a blazing rock crashed where he had just been standing.

Returning his gaze to the battlefield, he found the replica walking towards him, slowly, unsteadily. There was neither anger nor sadistic pleasure on her face this time. She had the hollow, lifeless look of one who had nothing to hold onto but vague, artificial thoughts, forced into her brain the moment she was created. Just like--

Just like all the other replicas he had created. Just like the ones created and abandoned by Van.

"...jade... are you going to... kill me again?..."

A swell of anger rose in Jade's chest. Not at the replica -- dangerous though she was, she was a victim of a much bigger monster. Swallowing the bitter guilt, Jade proceeded to cast again. Nebilim responded in kind, this time calling forth Ground Dasher to split the earth and throw them off balance.

"Technically, I believe we ALL killed you last time, still, if Jade does not have the metal I believe we can do it without."

Elizabeth kept dodging back tossing cards at the replica as the ground exploded, however it seemed to be more around the beast than everywhere, so after a bit of shaking she moved to steady herself.

As happy as Anise was that they weren't getting hit with another round of meteors, she still felt deeply unsettled by the replica.

Nebilim was terrifying to begin with, but this was downright creepy, not to mention cruel. She was gonna have a long talk with whoever it was that was responsible for this whole dream thing once they got back.

In the meantime, Nebilim was still attacking. Ground Dasher was simple enough to dodge, thankfully, and Anise responds with a spell of her own.

"Feel the hammer of light! Limited!"

Ven might have hesitated then, but the continuous barrage of spells was enough to keep him on edge and aware. This was a memory, he had to remember, or something like it; everything in this scene besides the other Heroes should be fake.

Still, as he mimicked the others to leap out of range of that spell, and then followed up with a lunging swing of his Keyblade that sent spirals of flame along the ground towards the replica, that thought didn't do much for the unease nagging at him.

It was during that very brief lull between attacks, that he heard Elizabeth's words. Briefly, he clenched his teeth and called out, "It's not like that!"

He assumed she was saying Jade didn't have the nerve or willpower to strike her down. He'd done it before, though... Just like the current situation, he'd been surrounded by other people fighting alongside him. Jade could do it, yet again... because he was strong and not alone. But, more than that, he wasn't chained to the past...

...Right?

Those thoughts came almost as background noise within his head. His main focus was on dodging Ground Dasher. Still bracing himself for any attacks that would undoubtedly come, he took a couple of steps back and attempted to steady his breathing. They needed to be careful - otherwise this fight would end...in the form of them being too worn down to go on.

After that very short pause, he was going to move in just close enough to hit her with his own Earth-based attack; debris would go flying directly at her as he yelled out, "Slag Assault!"

Jade finished his arte, calling forth Blessed Drops. The clear water, ice cold from the chilled air, exploded around the replica in bursts that would have given any normal human frost bites. The replica didn't even blink. Anise's Limited, Ventus's fire, those of Elizabeth's cards that connected -- nothing seemed to do more than make her white hair flutter as though in a mild breeze. The debris from Slag Assault tore into her body, and she scarcely spared Luke a glance.

"...jade... how many times... are you going to kill me?..."

How many times must you kill Professor Nebilim before you're satisfied?

Peony's words from so many years ago came unbidden into his mind. For a fleeting moment, Jade faltered. Was this the purpose of reliving his worst memory? To make him watch her die by his hand, over and over?

The moment passed, and his expression grew cold. "As many times as I must, Professor." Even though the replica looked unharmed, she wouldn't last forever. They just had to survive long enough...

"...so many... dead children..."

Nebilim shuddered, then held her shaking hands forwards. Drawing upon the Earth fonons left behind from her on Ground Dasher, she changed the arte, calling forth a black dome that crackled with electricity. The air around the dome changed, pulling the fighters towards it. Even touching the dome would slow down their movements, while being caught inside it would result in being crushed by intense gravitational pressure.

Elizabeth didn't know the context of this dialogue, nor did she really care. Humans really did like to blather on while fighting. Taunts, jeers, those sort of things made some sense, but going on about past wrongs and dreams, about children and previous fights, it all seemed like it would distract one from the thrill of the kill.

Still, she dug in her heels can changed a Mind Charge, as she moved to not touch whatever it was.

"Perhaps, if you both concentrated on the kill, this would be allow clarity."

Anise was lucky, in that since she was on the fringes of Nebilim's attack, she was only slowed down, not seriously injured.

That being said, they weren't okay. They were so not okay. Maybe Limited wasn't the strongest spell she had, but for all of their artes not to leave a mark? That was bad. To make matters worse, Anise couldn't help but shutter at Nebilim's voice. Did it have to be so creepy? And, it was clear that Nebilim was getting under the Colonel's skin, too. This was gonna be a rough fight.

Anise shoots the weird blue-haired lady a glare before starting to cast. Couldn't she tell they were trying their best? It wasn't their fault this version of Nebilim was super strong and immune to everything!

Unfortunately, with all the commotion from the battle and Nebilim's vortex, it's gonna take her a bit to actually get the spell off.

This was ridiculous -- Ven didn't recognize the others' spells and abilities, but he could tell that they weren't being gentle in their assault. For all of those hits to land and not even make her falter... and she wasn't even trying to dodge, either. Fire, ice, light, earth, everything was brushed off.

All right, he figured, forget the direct offensive -- if they could get her to stumble, even in some small way, maybe that would give them another opportunity to hit her all at once before she could counter.

As the dome began its pull, Ven hit the ground in a crouch to concentrate his weight and resist, only sparing one hand to keep his Keyblade raised. At the same time he focused, and after only a brief pause he cast Tornado -- literally conjuring a miniature tornado that he directed towards the replica. It was a strong spell -- major, by his universe's standards -- but damage wasn't his priority; hopefully the cutting winds would at least make her stagger, if not knock her over as it would normal enemies. Unfortunately, it was difficult to control the trajectory even with Ven's affinity for wind; it took nothing short of complete concentration to direct that spell with his will, leaving him exposed for the next several seconds.

He didn't hear anything anyone else said, though it was only because he was...suddenly being drawn closer to Nebilim herself.

Getting sucked into that dome... hurt. Not long into it, he was dropping to a knee. A strained growl was released. Only one eye managed to remain open as he glared at the woman with all his might. Once it was over, he was left panting as he forced himself to his feet. He...

...didn't have much of a choice, did he? There was a chance that his next move could kill him, but--

A glance was sent to Anise and Jade. They were...worth it. If he could possibly keep them alive, it was more than worth the chance. It always had been- no... always would be. He wasn't going to assume he'd die, because it would take a hell of a lot more than this to do it! He'd never stop fighting... ever. A wry smile was given for a split second, before he was directing a determined smirk at their enemy, "Heh- bring in on!"

Drawing his arms to his side, he unleashed his fonons in a short burst. What seemed like a gush of air escaped around him as his body glowed brightly for a moment. Bright lights swirled around him as he rushed in to attack her. He slashed her once, and then jumped back, before hitting her with Sonic Blast.

"You're mine!"

With a shout, he unleashed his Mystic Arte - Radiant Howl - and trapped her within the powerful attack of fonons. An even brighter light than before surrounded them both, the powerful wave of attacks striking Nebilim repeatedly. His hands shot forward as he concentrated the last bit of energy within the attack directly on her person, "Just die already!!!"

One final attack was given...and then his body threatened to have him stumbling forward once it was all over. Panting heavily, he took a few steps away from her, hand on sword as he watched her very closely. It wasn't over... was it?

Edited (sob so sorry) 2015-08-18 07:45 (UTC)

Jade braced himself against the pull, digging his heels into the snowy ground. Anise would be slowed down for the next minute or so, while Luke had taken the full brunt of the attack. Without a full-fledged healer at their side, every bit of damage they took was going to be costly. Jade was about cast another arte of his own, hoping to take advantage of the few seconds Ven's Tornado bought them -- only for his eyes to widen in alarm as he realized what Luke was about to do.

"Luke, stop!"

It worked. Thanks to the Tornado staggering the replica, she was caught inside Luke's Mystic Arte. The power of hyperresonance achieved what their normal attacks had been unable to; Nebilim's body was lifted off the ground, ravaged by the destructive force of colliding fonons that tore down her defenses at atomic level. It worked, but...

That idiot. Luke's body had been coming apart as is -- it was a miracle he was still alive. What was he thinking, using hyperresonance? If this triggered his fonon separation again--

Nebilim stumbled back, looking down at herself what seemed like vague confusion. Then she slowly raised her head to stare at Luke. "...you're... like me...?"

Jade rushed forward, summoned his spear, and planted himself between Nebilim and Luke, raising the weapon to block any incoming attacks. It figured the boy was going to do something stupid like this and leave himself vulnerable...

"jade..." Nebilim's replica seemed to be making a stronger effort to speak, her blank eyes focusing on Jade. "...you threw so many... away... why is this one... different to you...?"

"Now!" Jade called to the others, bracing himself to shield Luke from any misdirected attacks with Magic Guard. "She's weakened! Attack!"

Elizabeth nods at this and reaches into her book, "Now, what will come out?"

There is a flash of white around the replica's feet as a circle appears and she grins, "White card!"

With that a flash of holy energy surges up in several quick successions, powered up by the previous mind charge.

Nebilim actually taking damage instead of just shrugging it off, should've made Anise feel better, but it didn't. The longer the fight went on, the more awful she felt, and the less she felt they were all gonna make it out of this.

Luke rushing forward was already worrying enough, but Nebilim kept talking. She kept using that creepy voice to say those awful things, and it was pretty clear the Luke and the Colonel were hurting pretty bad. Nobody hurt her friends and got away with it. Nobody. In a weird way, it almost felt like she was insulting Ion's memory too, and that made her even angrier.

"Ugh, just shut up already!"

Thankfully, she's able to keep focused enough to finish the spell, even if it takes longer.

"O hellion whose roar chills the very soul, resound! Bloody Howling!"

It's not as powerful as the magic that the Colonel and the white-haired lady are using, but it's all she's got.

Ven shot a concerned look in Luke's direction, noticing what looked like exhaustion -- but Jade's call redirected his attention and he instantly moved to obey. If they could finish this now, there would be plenty of time for healing up afterwards.

With that in mind, Ven's thoughts quickly flitted through his mental list of more powerful techniques -- maybe they hadn't actually killed Nebilim before, maybe there was a trick to it, maybe if they hit her as hard as possible and left no room for doubt--

He launched up from his crouch to risk closing the distance a little more, mind already reaching into his reserves for his other primary element--

"Light!"

The casting time was instantaneous: white light flashed from his upraised weapon, conjuring several upright blades that stood erect around him. Rather than carrying through with the normal technique to attack on all sides, Ven instantly manipulated the spell, redirecting the sharpened pillars so that they lifted off the ground and shot straight for the group's opponent all at once.

An ironically brutal attack, considering both its bright appearance and the reason he could control the element so finely, but he was done underestimating this fight. Strangers or not, he had this group to look after, and that did away with what was left of his hesitation.

Luke stared at the other replica for several seconds, "No."

Firming his expression, he turned his expression as harsh as he could manage. While steadying himself on his feet the best he could manage, his tone softened just a little. He could only shake his head with a somewhat... sad smile as he spoke, "I'm nothing like you."

But, then he was dropping to one knee all over again, right as Jade was rushing in to stand directly between them. His expression softened a little in surprise at the older man, "Jade...?"

Heh...guess he really had been an idiot. He was just glad he hadn't done something that might go to waste - even if he couldn't be sure that she'd stay down that time, at least there was a chance. Some things apparently could never change. He recognized the feeling in his body, however. Looking down at the left hand that had previously been clutching his sword, his expression tensed.

Fortunately, everyone was likely going to be too engrossed in the fight to notice. Plus, he was going to be moving it close to his thigh to conceal it. Even at that angle, Jade might be able to notice if he were to glance back - Luke seriously hoped he wouldn't, though.

For the time being, he was going to be taking the moment to catch his breath (and hope that he could at least last long enough to see the fight through to the end).

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sorry for the wait!

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Sorry for the wait!

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the rare reason to use this icon lmfao

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Sorry for the delay.

Sorry for the delay on my end, too!

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