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

[jadethenecromancer]

[Jade joins K'pandolu and Ashelia in watching the crystal. Dangerous or not, he can't pass up this opportunity to see what will happen when the city is destroyed. It is perhaps a cold way to think about the deaths of thousands, but they need answers, badly.]

According to the Kalki in our time, this was all orchestrated to return Garland's memory of who he was. Otherwise there would be no Guardian to reset the cycle if we fail. Though as for what Palitutu did to achieve that...

[As eager as he is for information, Jade is worried. Whatever happens would be bad enough to twist Kalki into the woman they've known over the past months.]

[tacticallyminded]

[Robin runs in a little after the others hand on her sword. She slows down as she gets to Jade, and looks about -- peering between them and then back at the crystal. Predestination. A vision of the past.]

[She doesn't like it.]

Sir. Is there any way we could stop it? Given that it's... the past. [The implicit question, too, is whether they should stop it. Then she looks up at Kalki, and hesitates, before she calls out:] What are you trying to do?

[pastnpcs]

[Kalki kept trying, without paying much attention to her surrounding. Even equipped with the Hacker Job, nothing would come from the station she was working on-- As if the Job was not working the way it was intended to. It was true for all of the Jobs, as the Heroes of Light's skills would be less reliable than usual in this room.]

I'm trying to stop it, but Palitutu has rigged the controls!

[She smashed the console when it went dark and stopped working altogether, but froze when she heard what some of the people around were saying.]

The past...? Kalki in your time...?

[Finally, she turned and looked at the Heroes who were assembling in the room, but slowly shook her head in disbelief.]

You-- Your Crystals-- You are Heroes of Light, aren't you? [She finally looked down.] That means she's already succeeded...

[sizedoesntmatter]

[Yugi was close to the hole, but went no further in fear that he could fall in and whatever was down there still might not be a good thing. He didn't want to risk it at all. Turning his head slightly, what did she meant by what she just said.]

Already succeeded? With what?

[Was it why they were brought here, or was that something else. Never the less this was a little too confusing for the young man to take in. Instead he's just going to take a few steps away from the hole.]

[jadethenecromancer]

[...Of course. Although Jade had given their dream of the last cycle plenty of thought, something hadn't quite connected until now.]

That's it... In the last cycle, a group interfered with the system that brings Heroes of Light to Crystallis. [He turned to Kalki.] Palitutu is trying to restore it, isn't she?

[line_piece]

Kalki.

[Chiaki looks directly at the woman once she turns from the monitor to meet the gaze of the assembled Heroes in the room.]

I don't know exactly what's happening here, but I have a request for you.

[And then she smiles, as comfortingly as she's able to manage.]

Don't give into despair. Believe in us, and believe in the future. I know it's hard. I know I'm asking a lot. And I know you don't even really know us. Take as much time as you need to overcome the doubt you're feeling. Because without that doubt, you can't ever come to truly believe in anything. But when you do... believe in us, and in hope.

[they_call_me_sonic]

Heheh...

[And Sonic was quick to join Chiaki, grinning at Kalki.]

I still don't know of much what's going on, but we're not one to give up without a fight!

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie looks at Chiaki and then shakes her head.]

Yeah believe in us but first tell us what the hell is happening!

[WHY IS EVERYONE IGNORING THE HOLE IN THE ROOM AND THE SPIRITY THINGS AND THE RUMBLING?!]

[pastnpcs]

[Kalki blinked a couple times upon hearing what the Heroes of Light were saying her. Were they seriously giving her speeches about believing in them and not giving in to despair and whatnot?]

You don't understand! Everyone in this city is going to die if nothing is done soon...! We don't have time for inspirational speeches!

[She shook her head at Jade's question though, as she did to the other ones. She rushed to another console in the hope to do something with this one.]

I don't know what you are talking about either. If you really are Heroes of Light, don't just stand there and do something!

[tacticallyminded]

[Oh... no.]

What do you want us to do? Can we stop--whatever's happening to the crystal?

[Robin approaches, slowly, to get a good look at. While... wondering if anything they can do will matter.]

[they_call_me_sonic]

[Sonic couldn't help but look at Chiaki, chuckling a bit.]

Tough crowd.

[Then, back at Kalki.]

I'm no scientist, but wouldn't the best thing to do is to drop the crystal into the the pit?

[shinrasfinest]

[He's more than a little behind the others, having had to fight his way back from the Personnel Quarters where he'd been with the others but then Sephiroth rushes into the room from the main passageway...sword raised and blood pumping...

To abruptly stop in his tracks as he's faced with the spectacle of the Crystal of Fire behaving erratically, suspended over what for all appearances is a black hole. That noise coming from within is enough to make anyone's blood run cold; for him, that's an achievement. Sephiroth finds his gaze distracted by one of the pyrefiles as it flits up out of the pit...isn't that vaguely familiar to...

It takes a lot of effort for him to tear his eyes away and glance over the others gathered but a knot sinks half way down his windpipe as he spots younger Kalki rush off to another console.]

You! [He calls out, loudly to anyone who might answer but directed at the young assistant.]

What did she do to the Crystal?

[red_planet_blues]

Y'know, Kalki, we'd love to help. We'd all love to help. But you were the one who sent us back in time to this point, with no instructions other than to "show us something". So you don't know what we're talkin' about, we don't know what we're talkin' about, and now we're all on the same page.

[No time for messing around. There's a lot of people to save.]

What we do know is we gotta keep this thing from blowin' its top. You said we gotta stop it. Stop it from what? What's overloading it in the first place? If that console is rigged, ain't there some other kinda failsafe?

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie is slowly backing up from the edge, her gaze looking down at the hole as if expecting something to come bubbling up from the darkness.]

Plus... the city is destroyed where we are from.

[She doesn't feel like this is what they were meant to see... like something else, something worse is about to happen.

Yuffie swallows feeling a shred of dread gather in her stomach.]

[bloodypast]

Vincent has stepped back, observing the lights, the crystal, and his gaze remaining on Kalki. Is this really the same woman they know in the future?

IS Palitutu trying to restart the cycle? Do you know what she did to the crystal, since she locked you out of the computer?

[Keeping himself calm, raising his volume to be heard. It was a good question that one of the heroes had asked, but they needed more information.]

We can't do anything until we know what she's trying to do, Kalki.

[pastnpcs]

[Kalki listened to what they said, but absolutely none of it made any sense to her. Time travel, cyrcle, guardian-- Anyone looking at her would be able to tell she had no idea what they were talking about. But if they were indeed from the future...]

She's trying to summon you! And if what you say is true, she's already succeeded...

[She stumbled away from the console as what she tried to do had failed once again. But then she turned and looked at the Heroes of Light-- This time however, she was the one looking hateful.]

The Crystal of Fire is nearly devoid of energy, there's nothing left in it! It's not an infinite source of energy. She needs to refill it so she can summon you to this world!

[She shook her heads.]

Don't you understand? To recharge such a crystal, it would require... Thousands, no, millions. That's why she chose this city and this day, because...

[She didn't finish the sentence, it should be obvious enough.]

[they_call_me_sonic]

[Sonic thought back to his conversation with the present day Kalki, that she needed people to die to do what she needed to do with the crystal despite his own protestations...]

NO! There was no need for any of this!

[All of those people... and for him and so many others! He turns to the others, Captain Obvious moment or not]

When I talked to the Kalki of our present, she told me that the invasion was needed for a purpose. Now I understand what it is - those Crystals run on the power of the fallen and the more people are killed the more than can be used for other things!

[not_most_days]

[Kidd's yes widened. A sacrifice of lives to bring forth heroes. And those heroes were the selfsame ragtag bunch standing about. All that they had done, all that they had been doing to save lives had come at the cost of countless more?

If this Kalki was to be believed it was. Which means that their "Jessie" may well have been playing them this whole time.

She lowered her head, her eyes hidden by her bandana and her hair.]

My apologies then. It seems there's someone far more deserving of my blade than you.

[tacticallyminded]

...That's...

[No. That--that can't be. She thought they were benevolent. That they... it means they have to sacrifice lives. Robin's eyes widen and she takes a step backward, as she realizes.]

[This was what Kalki wanted them to find out. That the crystals that brought them here... that they used the deaths of others.]

...it's too horrible...

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie glares at Kalki.]

THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US! YOU WERE THERE KALKI! YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US! WE COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN BUT INSTEAD YOU SEND US HERE?!

[She's shaking and about to jump at Kalki.]

[unyieldingspirit]

[She takes half a step back, ears flattening. Something about this world has seemed wrong to her, ever since she saw Thancred's double. To hear that this crystal shines because of the death of the city's people… and what that means for them…]

No…

[crystals, and sacrifice. And a legend…

Perhaps it's a good thing that Yuffie's words filter through to her.]

Then is not the same as now! [this Kalki hasn't done those things at this point.]

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

"Death, that's what powers the crystal." A voice that has, so far, been uncharacteristically silent. "You need the energy of thousands of deaths? And that energy has to come from somewhere, or we're never summoned, and the whole timeline blows?"

Captain Jack Harkness steps forwards, looking not at any of them, but gaping up at the Crystal. It's stupid. He doesn't come back to life here, does he? But how is it even possible to remove his connection to the Time Vortex? The energy's got to exist in some form, right? And he's the center of the entire damn thing.

Fearlessly, Jack approaches the Crystal, getting dangerously close to the energy that surrounds it. He holds up a hand, as if testing for a reaction in the air. But it only hardens his resolve, as he turns back around to face the heroes. "It doesn't work, I won't hold it against anybody."

"But maybe some deaths count for more than others."

Jack draws his sword, and offers it hilt-first towards the Heroes.

"Kill me."

[red_planet_blues]

[There's a lot to be angry about right now, and before Sparks can properly react, Jack steps forward with his offer. After a moment of disbelief, he pushes the hilt of the sword away.]

What? Are you outta yer mind? What is that supposed to mean. How could it even work like that?

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

The Marshal. Always a voice of reason, and yet Jack thought he was going to have to keep Sparks from doing anything rash. But he might believe Jack.

Jack looks mostly at Sparks, but tries to project to the entire crowd. His voice is even, but he speaks quickly. "I have died tens, hundreds of thousands of times. And have come back to life. Every single time. Shot, stabbed, drowned, fought in every war you could think of, blown up, buried for two thousand years. I've done it all. Seen enough, lived enough, died enough."

He glances around, nods at a few familiar faces, Johnny, Yuna, Rikku, Cloud. "Some of you saw this. You know I'm telling the truth. Dying and returning, over and over. And maybe that's what this crystal needs."

He shifts his stance, wraps an arm around himself in part of his normal command pose. "You're going to try to talk me out of it, maybe it doesn't count, because it didn't happen on Crystallis. Maybe it's only trading one life for another. But if there's a chance, that I can put all those deaths to some good use. Then it's worth the try. If this thing wants death, there's nobody better than me."

The hand with the sword extends again, offering it up to whomever will take it.

[bloodynine]

"You want to die, you came to the right man."

Husks a low voice from the back, the tall northman shouldering his way forward, and looks at the sword for a minute. Logen reaches toward the sword with his right hand, as though to take it. Instead, he brushes it aside then, surprisingly quick for a man who appears to be on the long side of thirty, his left hand dips down and snatches a knife from his belt, spiking it towards Jack's heart.

"All I was ever good for, anyway."