Event || Genesis (Conclusion)

[melodiesmods]

Characters: Everyone!
Where: Aqures Tosf.
When: Night of August 03rd, twenty-eight years in the past.
Summary: As the Heroes of Light were transported to the past, it is now the conclusion of their time travel adventure. It is the final night of the Festival of Light and the city is filled with visitors-- As such, it is estimated there are currently at least a few million people on the Island. Can they be saved?
Warning: Terrible things.

Princess Sarah
The End of Aqures Tosf
The Temple of Fire
The Crystal of Fire

Comments

[gomu_ningen]

Luffy twists the sword around, looking at it from every possible angle before he finally makes his decision.

"You're joking, right?"

The next sound that is heard is the sound of metal cracking, the sharp twang of steel being broken in half as the lad snaps the sword in two as if it were nothing more than a twig or a switch. Pieces of the blade crumble to the ground, falling and littering the floor on which they stand as a testament to many things.

It wasn't to prove a point of strength or conviction. Luffy knows all to well the character of the man standing before him. Despite knowing the ability for which Jack speaks of, there's more to be said here than trying to act big or overstep boundaries.

"Who the hell do you take me for? I'm not here to kill a friend."

A single foot brushes the debris out of his path, pushing along the remnants of the sword before a hand come up to clutch Jack by the collar of his shirt.

"Out of my way. You're not here to die a hero. You're here to live as one. Stand aside and let some one who's got a reputation for pissing people off take the fall, will ya'?"

It isn't said as a request, and it's quite obvious from his tone and eyes that the pirate is deadly serious in his proposal.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Jack blinks as the blade shatters, and he suddenly realizes that he should have expected this course of action. Maybe. It's rare for a friend of Jack's to not at least send him to his death, if not outright kill him with their own hands. (Currently, Martha Jones holds the prize for Jack's Best Friend on virtue of not killing him or getting him killed.)

Luffy grabs at his shirt, and Jack grabs at his wrist right back. The look in his eyes shakes some of the bravado, turns more desperate. "It's death that it wants, not life. It has to be me. You think two will do the job better than one? Then we do this together. Gamble that we get pulled back in time, come back with the others? Or that maybe one extra death is enough to satiate this thing's hunger?"

Jack leans in, looks Luffy strictly in the eyes, so close he's almost seeing double. "Two thousand years, alone, in the dark, suffocating, coming back to life, just to fear and suffer and die again and again and again. And it was for nothing. Worse than nothing, because I awoke just in time to see two of my friends killed. Let me do this. Let me make all of this worth something."

Jack's hand slides up, grips around Luffy's fist. "Together."

[gomu_ningen]

"I don't care about your dead friends. What I care about is a man standing in front of me who doesn't have a damn clue about how valuable his life is, whether he's able to spend it like cash or not."

Luffy's hand peels away, breaking free of Jack's grasp as the two lock eyes in the desperate bindings of one another's resolve. They're practically combating with their eyes, the pirate trying to make his stubborn point known that Luffy does not believe his life to be worth the risk.

Luffy is the first to break their gaze, stepping back a step or two before the shirt at his top is ripped away. A giant "X" marks his front, layers of flesh seemingly burnt to the bone as the new wound is far more fresh than it should be.

"You're too much a hero for your own good. It's better a criminal be the one to go. Besides, if I live, maybe Sarah will bring me a banquet."

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

A hand almost wants to reach out, touch the wound, something old, but ripped open new again. He looks to Luffy with genuine concern, even as, deep down, he understands it. The scars that get wiped back away every time Jack comes back. This is what he should look like. Not everyone else gets the luxury.

His hand falls into a fist, before it makes contact. "It's my life. And it's never been more valuable than when it's being lost."

"I'm not the hero of my world. The Doctor is, Ianto Jones is, not me. I caused the planet to get decimated, taken over by the most evil man I've ever known. I'm the man who would have let the entire world fall to ruin to get back the man I loved. I killed my own damn grandson!"

Now he does reach out and grab Luffy's torn shirt, and yells in the man's face, holding back the tears that want to come. "What do I have to say to you to convince you that my death is more valuable than my life!? I am no hero, I'm barely a man at all, unable to protect the people I care about! Just finish this! Then maybe Sarah will live."

[gomu_ningen]

"It's because you can give away your life so easily.. I can't let a friend die like that. You don't even know if it'll work."

The straw hat comes off of the top of his head, an arm reaching out to the equal height of the man standing before him to rest the worn treasure atop his own dome.

"This isn't up for debate. Captain's orders."

He gives the hat a firm push, ensuring that it remains atop the man's head.

"Hold on to it for me, until I come back, got it? That hat's my precious treasure, worth more than my life or yours. There's a sheet of paper in the ribbon. Make sure you don't lose it, got it?"

He doesn't dare raise his voice, not when Jack is already the one to break the calm manner for which they had been speaking.

"Zelda, Ramza, Yuffie, Bloom, Ib, even little Sarah.. They need some one who people can get behind, some one who won't give Ashe any lip. I'm counting on you, Jack."

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

What can he say to that? What can he even say to any of that? This man took the best that Jack had to give, every reason that Jack, himself, thinks he should die, and Luffy is the first person to refuse to kill Jack Harkness. Every failing he's had, every death that's followed in his wake, and Luffy says no. Even the Doctor, the man that Jack would follow into any danger, has never hesitated to allow Jack to throw his life away.

All Jack can do is accept everything that Luffy is, right back. Captain's damn orders.

"I- I won't lose it." Soft. Almost defeated, after what he's had to say before.

"I'll see you again." Firmly. It's so strange to be the person on this side of this feeling. Letting someone else take the fall, and not knowing whether they are the one to come back.

[gomu_ningen]

Luffy gives a solemn nod, stepping past Jack as he keeps his back to the small gathered crowd. A moment or so passes before he turns back around, giving his uncovered head a quick scratch as he flashes his large grin to the friends and gathered heroes before him.

"Ahh-.. So, uhh.. How do we do this? Any one got some thing sharp, or something tasty to eat before I go?"

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie felt herself freeze. This was too much happening at once but after hearing Luffy's declaration her heart twisted. She was sure there were reasons why they should all die but that didn't mean that they had to. As the haze lifted she saw Luffy, smiling, asking someone to kill him?

That was the last straw.

She walked over and without a word punched Luffy in the head. It wasn't the killing blow he was looking for but she hoped it might knock some sense into him. As it was, Yuffie was doing everything to hold back her tears.

"Is that really okay? I thought we fought so we could live? What about all that shit you told mean? Does it mean nothing to you? YOU have people who need you. You both do! So don't go doing something stupid until you understand what it is you are doing!" The last thing she said didn't really make sense but she didn't care. There was no guarantee that this would work and Yuffie couldn't believe that one life was worth more than another.

[gomu_ningen]

Luffy rubs the swelling bulge atop his head, teeth baring themselves with jagged points as he yells back at the ninja with a short stutter.

"H-H-Hey!! What the hell was that for?! What are you trying to do, huh? If I do this, then they're sure to hold a big party for me when we get back! I'm trying to get a huge meal of meat here! Why do you always gotta' ruin things like that?!"

He grumbles under his breath, raising a hand up to rap his line of knuckles atop Yuffie's own head.

"You just wanna' hog all the meat to yourself!"