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

[neverfirstclass]

[Cloud moves to the side of the group as they move towards their goal, keeping towards the front while he can. The occasional monster tries to cut them off and they're met in kind with a savage blow from Cloud's shield delivered to their face.

Levy has promised him that these notes may hold the answers to some of the questions that have been plaguing him and both as an ally and as a fellow member of Fairy Tail he is intent on making sure she makes it through.]

Tsubomi! Grab onto me if you have to. I'll keep you covered.

[shinrasfinest]

[Damn it.

Just as he struck his broadsword across the last of a pack of gargoyles, the momentum had turned Sephiroth to face the nearby entrance to the Temple of Fire. Just at the moment to see at least three smaller figures, alongside two familiar faces who had managed to get through and into the building itself. They must be absolutely crazy --given the density of the monsters outside it must be seething in there-- and those two in particular he thought knew a lot better than to be so reckless.

They knew that it was going to eventually explode from there, right?

Sephiroth comes up behind Jade, two-handedly wielding his broadsword and cutting down two goblins that had been foolish enough to give chase. He grunts at Jade as he finally catches up; the sprint he'd just made to get from outside into the corridor obvious in his bearing.]

Speak for yourself.

[Quickly he takes a head count as they continue on.]

[playing_hearts]

[Alice came in with Levy and is walking beside the other girl glancing at the name plates on each door they pass. It doesn't seem like they'll have a lot of time, so the faster they get this done, the better.

After passing a frustrating number of hallways and doors, she spots one at the end of the hall. Professor Palitutu. She calls over to Levy and the others.]

Hey! I think this is it....

[scriptrix]

Yeah! The answers we need should be in here. Everyone get ready. Find out anything you can about Professor Palitutu and the research she's doing here.

[And with that, Levy opens the door.]

[umslay]

[Ales is the first to squeeze through the crack, tossing his mask and cloak aside. They make running around difficult.

He locates the nearest shelf and scampers over there, climbs onto the lowest shelf, and begins combing through files and books.]

[bag_has_snapped]

[Ultimately, Tsubomi had to grab onto Cloud to keep up. She certainly missed her powers now. Once they reached the office, first things first:]

Thank you, Cloud...!

[A quick bow in response before she joined Ales in investigating, heading for another desk and looking at various papers. Maybe she should try to take a computer, too?]

[playing_hearts]

[Alice starts going through one of the filing cabinets methodically. Anything particularly important looking she jots down in her notes. Mostly she's interested in what Palitutu was trying to accomplish with her dangerous experiments.

But any information can become useful in the right situation.]

Do you suppose we could take any of this back with us?

[She'll probably try either way...]

[pastnpcs]

[The second Tsubomi joined Ales in investigating, she'd notice her movements start getting much slower. In fact, it was nearly as if she was moving twice as slow as everyone else. From her point of view of course, it would be more like if everyone around her was moving twice as fast as she did.

Beyond that, after a few seconds it seemed as though the office literally froze in time. Everything stopped moving, except for the Heroes themselves. The paper they were trying to move become hard as rock and it would be next to impossible for them to interact with their environment. That was when someone spoke.]

So she was right.

[The man who stepped in the office seemed to be the source of the disturbance-- He didn't seem surprised to see them there and some of the Heroes who met Colonel Deweg could recognize him as a younger version of him. That, and he still had both eyes.]

Sorry, there's nothing for you here. Not any more.

[jadethenecromancer]

[Jade had been about to reach for the upper shelves when time itself seemed to slow down and come to a halt. It was so similar to one of Professor Nebilim's Mystic Artes that for the briefest moment Jade tensed in alarm. The sound of a male voice was almost a relief.

Besides, of course, the fact that someone was clearly using time magic on them. He turned to study the newcomer. The face wasn't familiar to him.]

It sounds like you were expecting us. I take it anything important here has already been moved?

[neverfirstclass]

[Cloud's eyes narrow. This man. The one that he ran into at the Magitek Research Facility what felt like so long ago. It's wrong to say Cloud blames him for his death there, but he was certainly responsible for it.]

You...so you two were working together all along?

[The slowing of time was definitely enough to put him on edge but seeing this man here spurs Cloud into drawing his sword.]

Tell us where Palitutu is.

[bag_has_snapped]

[Tsubomi? Was freaked out. The world was moving too fast for her, unaware that she was hit with a Slow spell... Or something! Either way, the usually brave-faced heroine was panicking. Why was everything so fast? As she tried to call out to them, even that was ineffective.

She was scared now and she wanted to cry.]

[shinrasfinest]

[He hadn't yet moved too far from the doorway, having held back in case anything might follow them into the office first and would make himself useful once he knew where other people were looking.

Yet he'd moved far enough in, once the time-messing had stopped, for Deweg to have come in behind them. Sephiroth turns and stops himself just shy of raising his blade to strike. It took a moment to figure out who he was facing, considering he's not personally run into the Colonel before.]

How'd you have any idea what it is we've come in here to find?

[Tsubomi's crying for the most part, ignored.]

[scriptrix]

[Levy, during all of this, has been steadily moving toward the back corner of the room - as far away from Deweg as possible. She's watching him and her comrades carefully, and from the way things sound, they're not going to be able to avoid a battle. Besides that, she's got all her notes from the library on her, and she isn't willing to give those up to anyone without a fight.

And while she may not be able to move any of the papers in the room thanks to the use of Deweg's magic, but at least she's still got the book she always carries with her for the use of her Scholar Job. Avoiding getting directly involved in the discussion, she quietly flips it open, concentrating for a much longer moment than usual.]

...Enlightenment.

[It's very nearly a whisper, but that's all that's needed to activate the skill. A light briefly emanates from her book, washing over her allies and doubling their attack power. Deweg is probably a very skilled combatant himself, but they've got numbers, and the best she can do right now is support her friends.]

[umslay]

[The moment Ales felt his movements slow down he stops flipping through the pages of the book we was reading and he used the precious few seconds left to dig himself deeper into the shelf, behind the books, anything that provided cover.

A man he had never seen before was speaking with the last Heroes to enter the room. From experience, he knew that mysterious folks with powers were bad news, and he opens his own book. He rarely had use for magic, but in the case of life and death, he'd much rather live than die right after he came back to life.]

Stats Lore.

[He commanded the spell in a low voice. Another light washed over their allies, adding to Levy's buff and increasing the power of items. If the battle got bloody, they'd need it.]

[playing_hearts]

[Alice takes a step forward, and also draws her sword. They've been through far too much and Alice is not letting this man, whoever he is, ruin that. She activates Sentinel, in order to draw any potential attacks away from her companions.]

What do you want?

[She levels a firm glare at their opponent. If there's even a slim chance they could negotiate instead of fight, Alice will take it. But if he wants a fight, she wants him to know they're ready.]

[pastnpcs]

[The man looked at the Heroes as they spoke.]

Palitutu told me. She was expecting for Heroes of Light to try and come here. [But he shook his head at Cloud.] Good luck finding out.

[Given his expression, Deweg clearly knew he didn't stand a chance with only one Job against experienced Heroes of Light. But he didn't need to win, only sabotage and gain time, so...]

Combustion!

[The attack was directed at Alice due to her use of Sentinel. Whereas time had slowed down for Tsubomi, the reverse was happening to Alice, or rather to the molecules surrounding her. They were sped up to the point that it would cause an explosion. This attack was enough to one-shot kill normal humans, but depending on Alice's Job and Level, she could survive this with a burn and a wound.]

[jadethenecromancer]

[It was clear talking wasn't going to accomplish anything. Jade took a few steps back, letting their front-line fighters draw Deweg's attention. Looks like he had been right to keep White Mage equipped, after all.

The first thing he did was cast Cura on Alice. Immediately following that, he proceeded to cast Esuna on Tsubomi to get rid of the Slow status. Hopefully Deweg would be distracted enough with the others that Jade could keep up with everyone's injuries.]

[playing_hearts]

AAHHH!

[Well, it looks like her plan to draw his fire worked. She... kind of wishes it didn't hurt quite so much. The raise in defense that comes with Sentinel is probably the only reason she survived. As it is, the searing pain drops her to her knees. That cura spell is a welcome wash of relief.]

[shinrasfinest]

[Sephiroth's eyes flash briefly as he summons one of the Scholarly powers that he has at his disposal: Libra, while he steps back and turns so that he has room to raise his blade.

It's often an initial maneuver of his, being as it's not that long of a cast either given his proficiency with the Job. It's best to know how to exploit any weaknesses as well as what strengths to be mindful of. Depending on the outcome, a Power or Magic Break will follow with the first strike of his broadsword - to take the edge off whichever happens to be Deweg's strength.]

[neverfirstclass]

[Cloud was already ready to fight. His whole body was wound tight in anticipation and the simmering anger at seeing this man before him. He just needed an excuse.

That excuse came as the air around Alice burst. In retrospect perhaps he should have used runic but his mind was set on offense. His own Paladin skills weren't much to protect the others yet but perhaps they'd at least let him survive this time. He'd leave caution to the others while he pressed the attack.

His eyes narrowing, he lunged forward and swung his gunblade at Deweg, the blade glowing as he brought it forward.]

Stasis Sword!