Event || The Empire Strikes Back

[melodiesmods]

Characters: Everyone participating in the event
Where: Aqures Ixen
When: July 27th to August 02nd
Summary: The battle for Aqures Ixen is about to begin! The Heroes of Light are going to do their best to defend Aqures Ixen, but will this be enough? Feel free to participate and reply to appropriate threads. New top-level threads will be posted regularly as the battle progresses.
Warning: N/A, will be updated.

July 27th || Mingle
July 28th || Bomb Defusing / Imperial Assault
July 29th || Mingle / Attack on the 13th District / Aerial Battles / Imperial Camp
July 30th || 14th District on Fire / The Hospital / Mognet Office Attacked
July 31st || The Fire Spreads / Betrayals
August 01st || The Second Wave / Ultima Weapon
August 02nd || Final

Comments

[victorix]

[Appearing in a flash of color, the amicable Rikku Yuffie has come to know is gone. Her unusual eyes pierce her friend with a hard stare, one gloved hand clenched in a fist at her side. She makes a point of blatantly staring at the girl's wound before replying.]

Yeah clearly you had it super duper handled.

[Rikku barley pays the remaining soldiers any heed, but stands ready should they be stupid enough to come after the duo of thieves.]

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie’s brow furrowed.]

And what if I did?

[She doesn’t much care for the doubt in Rikku’s tone and while the thief might be looking out for Yuffie, the rash princess doesn’t see it that way. She has things handled and she isn’t stupid enough to toss her life away or get captured again.

Yuffie looks at her wound which is really just a scratch.]

So what? People get hurt in war, I’ll heal it.

[victorix]

[At the last statement, the younger thief stiffens visibly. A pause stretches into silence before she speaks.]

Just like that, huh? People get hurt?

[There's a glimmer of something more than anger in her eyes now, and Rikku looks away, but the sadness is betrayed in her voice, co mingled with her anger.]

And the crystal heroes? It's just fine for them to get hurt too? You just gonna heal them if something goes wrong, hotshot?

[Her words betray the real reason for Rikku lashing out in anger, when she heard from Yuna about the Ultima plan that put all the crystal heroes at risk of harm of permanent death. When she heard that Yuffie was part of it, she'd been crushed.]

[thegreatninja]

I'm not going to let them get hurt!

[Yuffie grits her teeth feeling the sudden need to lash out towards Rikku. Just what kind of person does Rikku think she is?]

I'll protect them! ALL OF THEM! I just meant it didn't matter if I got hurt!

[It's probably the adrenaline but Yuffie's shaking and she isn't sure how to temper her anger.]

[victorix]

Don't be stupid Yuffie.

[Rikku makes a fist with both her hands, turning back to face her friend in a blur. She thought Yuffie was different. Meredy too...]

How you gonna do that, you're one person against an army! You're using them as bait! They're sacrifices for this plan. That's totally not ok! They're completely helpless - they don't even get a say in if they want to do this! You ever stop to think if that's ok?

[Rikku never dreamed of having so many friends outside of her tribe, aside from the other Guardians -- Yuffie had been among the first. And yet...]

You'd make a really good Yevonite.

[While the words may be totally lost on the Gaian - the defeat, hurt and anger in the tone surely said something about them.]

[thegreatninja]

I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE WHAT THAT MEANS!

[Except that it sounds like an insult. She doesn't know what a Yevonite is but she's not about to put up with that. She stomps her foot on the ground looking at Rikku with an angry frown.]

ARE YOU STUPID?! THEY WERE GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY! NO MATER WHAT I SAID THEY WERE GOING TO SUMMON THAT GOD DAMNED MACHINE HERE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY OF MY FRIENDS ARE IN STASIS!? I COULDN'T SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING WHILE EVERYONE WAS FIGHTING TO MAKE THAT STUPID WEAPON WORK!

[Yuffie is panting, her head fell slightly. She is so tired.]

I know Ultima Weapon. I've fought it before. At least if I help hack it, then it won't hurt anyone. If we do it quickly then I can keep everyone safe.

[She looks back up with Rikku, her face contorted in anger.]

SO SAVE YOUR SELF-RIGHTEOUS CRAP! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND AND IF YOU DID YOU WOULDN'T SIT BACK AND JUST LET THEM DO THIS EITHER.

[Yuffie turns away feeling the pain in her shoulder spread as she steps away.]

I will give everything to safe those I care about.

[victorix]

[The Spiran stands, lips pressed into a tight line through the outbursts. Everything just sounds like an excuse to her and her expression makes that clear. Of course Rikku understands the gravity of the situation - risking the few for the many, it's simply never an option she believes to be right.]

I will be, Yunie and I will be protecting them with all our might!

[Not realizing she effectively told Yuffie the weapon the ninja would be hacking would be aiming at the two cousins as well as the crystal heroes, Rikku watched her friend's retreating form, feeling defeated.

She had not meant to lash out - but was never good at keeping her emotions capped. Rikku knew Yuffie was a good person, even if she thought what the girl was doing was wrong. Her whole world was like that - it was hard having this one turn out the same. And once more, to be moving against the current.]

Yuffie...be careful.

[With that she vanishes with stealth, moving away as well. If something happened to either of them, she had not wanted the last thing she said to have been hurtful. She may be angry with Yuffie, but she still cared about her.]