towerofanimus | 016 | 4th Heavenly Body

Entry tags:

016 | 4th Heavenly Body | 4th Duel

Characters: Riku, Jellal or Kiryu and open!
Setting: See prompts, all set at about the middle of the week
Format: Starting off with prose for once, but do as you like! I'm fine with either. :3
Summary: Event catch all for all of Icey's characters!
Warnings: Horror, angst, ownerless limbs, (at very least attempted) suicide, terrible animus things, hopefully POWER OF FRIENDSHIP at some points, but will add as needed. ^^

[OU] Riku ➜ justabignobody
[ 8/14/13 - Floor 62 ]

Riku is hardly a stranger to shadows trailing his steps and though he keeps a wary eye on the group of shadow children that has started to follow him around, he still tries to go on with his day the first day or two.

It becomes impossible once they start whispering with familiar voices, each whisper a stab to his heart - "Why didn't you wake me? There was a chance, right? If you hadn't hesitated, if you hadn't waited for Xion to make up her mind... And now, I'm not sleeping anymore, am I? It's all because you-" (It's not Sora, it can't be, because Sora would never be that bitter, would be horrified if he found out about Xion's fate, about what they are planning for Roxas...) - and it doesn't take long until he reaches the point where it's impossible not to listen, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how heavy his guilt weights on him.

Eventually, he finds himself sitting at the shore of the beach floor, eyes closed as he listens to the sounds of home, but not even the waves can't drown out the voices - "I was waiting. I've been waiting for so long, for Sora and for you. It's your fault that I had to wait... that I'm now..." "Gosh, ya really messed up this time, pal, and but now I won't be around to help ya out of it." - and Riku just clenches his hands to fists, nails digging into his palms as he presses his lips together and finally works up an answer.

"I know. I don't know if you are illusion or truth, but-"

He cuts himself off, gasping as a wave of lightheadedness hits him and he reaches up to touch his forehead.

"I'll fix it. I'll find a way. I promise."

[OU] Jellal Fernandes ➜ rememberscarlet
[ 8/12/13 - Floor 78 ]

Jellal can't deny feeling just a little curious - it's been months since he had gotten the mailbox, but this is the first time he has actually received a message. Maybe someone from Fairy Tail, or Zeref-

His musings stop quickly when he opens the box and an arm lodges free and Jellal breath hitches as his eyes fixate on the armor around it, on the only all to familiar mark of the guild that he owes so much.

"No..."

The clattering sound of metal hitting the ground seems to reverberate through the room as Jellal falls to his knees and just stares at the limb, face pale, his hands shaking.

This just couldn't be...

[ 8/15/13 - Floor 3 ]

His week as only gotten worse, following that discovery. At first, Jellal had found a certain comfort in the whisper (she is still alive somewhere, she has to be) - the words might cut deeply, but it's Erza's voice, it's just been so long since he's heard it... and he is just glad to - but the more he listens, the heavier his heart becomes, because she is right, she is always-

"Why you? Why would you deserve to live after all that you've done? I hate-"

And soon there is Natsu's voice mixing in, growling, raging: "I told you, I'll never forgive you, I'll never never never never-"

He's in the library when it gets too much, the book in his hand snapping close as he leans forward, his forehead pressing against one of the shelves.

"So you agree... it's just as I thought. I'm better off-"

Dead.

[OU] Kyosuke Kiryu ➜ darkestsatisfaction
[ 8/15/13 - Floor 17 ]

'Wait and see,' he had thought after that incident with the elevator a few days earlier and once again after receiving that curious present, wait and see and maybe a new ally - or enemy - would show their face. It's definitely latter as far as Kiryu is concerned, annoyance flickering over his face as he stalks through the corridors and ignores the moans of C҉҉̀r͜͢͝o̧҉̸̛͡w̡̛͢͞,̴́͜ ͞J̴̀àc̢͘͘͟k̸̷͠ ̶͟a̷̡͝n̴͢͠d̵̡̕ ̡͜͡Y̴̡̧͟͠u̸̶̢̨̕ş͞e͏͏i̷̛͜͝͞, hi͞s̛ for̷m͢e̷r̵ téaḿ, the shadow pests that keep running after him.

("It wasn't us... you were the traitor, Kiryu. You left us all to-" "We tried ta save ya, and that's how ya thank it to us? Fer someone that keeps goin' about betrayal, ya sure-" "Hn. As expected. You are just-")

It's easy enough to ignore them (he is not the traitor - they were the ones that had refused to stand by his side, they were the ones that had refused the challenge of their Last Duel!) to take refuge on his favorite floor , even if the screams and moans that echo there aren't quite as comforting as they usually are, they help... at least until two new shadow brats show up and unlike the other ones, these aren't just whispering - they are crying, shouting - "Kiryu-niichan... why... why weren't you there? Why didn't you save-"" "Kiryu-san, we were waiting- - and after a while it just gets to much, a roar tearing from Kiryu's throat as he calls for his disk and draws the first card, not even looking at it as he slaps it down and Infernity Beast appears - though it looks almost fuzzy, static flickering through it every now and then - and jumps at them with a growl, trying to catch one of the shadows.

It fails, the shadows just losing shape as it pawns at them, whispers and cries and screams growing louder, rage twisting Kiryu's face as he starts shouting himself and swings his disk arm at them - "Just, shut up!" - panting as he glares down at the shadows and just that moment he feels a heavy wave of lightheadedness pass over him, his monster disappearing as the mark on his right forearm flares up in dark purple once, before the glow disappears and Kiryu's sclera turns from black to white and really there is only one thing for him to say about this because the voices are only growing louder.

"Dammit."

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[Rolo has just been wandering round the tower purposelessly since the glamour fail then being mistaken for a monster and killed during the monster event. He's now in the library when he hears a familiar voice. He goes towards it. What was your name again...?]

... Jellal.

Ignoring me Culbu? I thought I taught you better. Nesir rolled her eyes and paused as she heard another voice, an actual voice. Kiryu...

"I do be seeing you do be having adoring fans as well." She crossed her arms, ignoring the screaming, and the shadows and Elena's scathing comments as she continued to scream at her.

Alright so even as a shadow and a projection that wasn't real Elena still terrified her but Nesir did her best to pretend she wasn't there.

[The whole tower reeked. More than usual. Not just that but his instincts were screaming at him to stay away from certain people whenever he walked by them. But he had important people in this place. Naturally he had to check on them. Eventually Jellal's turn came and he found him just as he was about to finish his sentence.]

The hell are you doing talking to yourself?

[As if his shadowy clone could be as loud and abrasive if the original was right there in the flesh.]

You were supposed to give us hope! You were supposed to be our future! You really just are a-

Kiryu shakes his head as he tries to tune her out - he doesn't even know this girl, has no idea who that voice belongs to. Yusei, Jack and Crow are clear and familiar, though silent at the moment (no matter how much he'd rather hear them than these two brats; because them he knows).

He turns his head sharply, when Nesir's voice cuts through the girl's shouts and there just may be a flicker of relieve that there's finally someone else to concentrate on.

"Yeah. Goddamn brats just won't stop babbling nonsense."

The second of the newer shadows reacts to that though, his voice sounding hurt as he begins crying.

Nonsense? You were my hero, Kiryu-niichan. You were the leader of the legendary Team Satisfaction, you should have-

Kiryu just whirls around again, eyes blazing in rage as he starts shouting at the shadow.

"Shut up! Don't talk like you know anything about Team Satisfaction. Don't talk like you know anything about me."

At that, Yusei's shadow speaks up once more.

But we do know you, Kiryu. We know how much you are pretending. You act as though you are strong, but in reality you are nothing.

Kiryu just shakes his head again and forces himself to turn back to Nesir. He doesn't care what Yusei, what any of them are saying. They can all go to hell. He doesn't care. He just has to ignore them somehow.

"I just wish they'd finally shut up already."

"They do be seeing to be being determined to be angering us." No girl, we are angry at you.

She turned fully away from the shadow, "Nothing do be making them be stopping either, so we can only be ignoring them."

Weapons can be replaced, people cannot so why are you the only one to be spared this fate?

"They do no be knowing nothing," Even if they knew everything.

[Natsu's voice just barely reaches through the fog of whispers - "It's unforgivable, Jellal, you hurt Erza before and now again! It's your fault that we are all dead now!" "My, my, that's quite a situation Siegrain-sama. To think that you would go this far-" - Jellal's face is ashen when he finally registres it and turns around.]

Natsu...

[He bats a flaming foot at some of the shadows before stepping closer]

Yeah it's me. The real me. See I have colors and everything.

[The shadows just swirl out of shape and reform again, unaffected by Natsu's fire. Jellal stares at him for a moment before shaking his head lightly.]

A you. My 'you'... the Natsu from my world... And Erza, too, is...

[Dead. Reduced to nothing but shadows that are haunting him now. Demanding his death.]

I beg you... [If it's Natsu... maybe not his, but another... the shadows should be satisfied, right?] ...kill me.

[It takes a long while until he reacts and turn to face the other, and even longer until there is a resemblance of recognition in his eyes.]

Rolo... What are you doing here?

The only me, dammit!

[Pesky damn shadows. What's it gonna take to burn these bastards away?]

Erza is fine! She was never here!

[He'd know. Her scent would reach him if the network didn't. And then Jellal asks the impossible from him.]

Kill you...?

[He clenches his right fist tightly to the point of shaking.]

[Riku may find someone else sinking down onto the sand. It seems his double's been plagued with similar problems. He'd have to be a jerk to just leave him there.]

We'll both find a way. How about that?

[Encouragement isn't particularly his strong point, but he has to at least try, not just for his double's sanity, but for his own.]

Nothing much... [Since nothing has any meaning any more.]

What's wrong with you?

"No kidding."

He frowns as Crow starts mocking him at that (We wouldn't even bother. If ya can't take the truth that's your problem. But right, we are all traitors. The oh so great leader of Team Satisfaction knows it all better, of course.), tuning out the voice - Crow is easy to ignore, always has been... at least until the moment he stops talking and starts tackling.

The kids on the other hand... they keep wailing, shouting, screaming-

"That would be easier done, if those brats would stop screaming. It's a goddamn headache, all of it."

Any every possible way.

"...Right."

None of them do, not Yusei, not Crow, not Jack, and certainly not those damn kids.

(Of course we don't. You never see what you don't want to see, Kiryu. And you still wonder why we left you in your misery.)

She made shooing gestures towards the smaller shadows, "Be shutting up and leaving him alone brats." She kicked out at one of them.

The kick goes right through the shadow, but the voice grows noticeably quieter and Kiryu really can't help but blink at that, frowning first at the shadow, then at Nesir.

"...I can't believe that actually worked."

[That, Jellal can fully agree with. The only thing that may be somewhat meaningful would be death.]

...Everything, I suppose.

[He is alive after all, and Erza... Natsu... they all are... and it's all because of him.]

[Yu didn't normally go to this floor often, but even if it was an illusion, ocean waves always did bring back fond memories of friends being dorks in the sea and one...classical...artwork...

Even if it did bring some of the shadow figures closer to him, he was trying to - for once - not listen to the voices of his team members. They weren't themselves; but then, was he even himself anymore?

That's when he caught wind of one of his friend's voices, trying to talk with them. He smiles a little sadly, realizing something as he listens to the very one-sided conversation.]

...We all will.

[Because no one is alone in wanting to restore their worlds. Thus, he spares a faint wave if Riku looks over.]

Wish I could tell you if they're real or not, but... [he can't, since what he has is an illusion.]

"What can I be saying." She grinned, "I do be knowing how to be dealing with troublesome brats."

Maybe that do be being because that do be all you do be being.

You're hearing voices, aren't you? Friends? Family?

[Another headshake.]

One of many.

[If that was ever in doubt, it is now certain fact to Jellal. Also have more headshakes as his voice hitches slightly.]

She isn't; she's suffering, she's- It's all my fault!

[Whose elses could it be after all and why is it him, why has he survived, why didn't Zo choose her instead?]

Please.

[Because that's the way it should be.]

[Okay words aren't working here.]

Clench your teeth, Jellal.

[Oh boy there's the fist being pulled back. And then he throws his punch hard enough to send Jellal flying into one of the bookshelves if it connects.]

[There is another moment of hesitation before Jellal nods, his misery clearly visible on his face.]

...Yes.

[He doesn't even blink at Natsu, doesn't move to defend himself or to avoid that punch. Instead it hits him square in the jaw and sends him flying, and he grunts softly when he lands in the bookshelf, sinking to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut.

His jaw is aching, and he can taste blood in his mouth, but he doesn't mind either, not the pain or the blood as he waits for Natsu to come and finish the job.]

[Natsu stomps over and lifts Jellal by the back of his shirt.]

For a genius prodigy who used to be on the Council you sure are dumb as bricks.

[Jellal is deadweight in his grip, eyes lingering on the ground, he doesn't dare to look at Natsu in the eye, not with all that's weighting on him, not when Natsu is right, just like Erza, just like the Natsu from his world...]

[OU!ku flinches just a little when the other sits down near to him - he hadn't noticed his double approaching - but after a moment he smiles faintly.]

Sounds good to me. Teamwork seems to be the way to go here anyways.

[Considering previous experience.]

[He leans in close to snarl menacingly at Jellal.]

Yea Erza's hurting. But you know why? Cause you're not there with her. She misses your dumb ass more than she'll ever say!

[He flinches at that snarl and though he's still not making any move to support himself, Natsu may or may not a flash in his eyes.

He is listening at last.]

She tried to cover it up but that day she had to give you up to Council, she cried for ages. I didn't have to see it but I could smell her tears when she came back! Would she really cry for someone she hated? You're supposed to be the smart guy here!

[Still not letting him go. Not until he's opened his eyes.]

[ Ever since his arrival here, this whole tower had his nerves set on edge and with this recent addition of events, it's just made everything worse. He hadn't yet found Lucy and since those shadows started appearing, Loke had taken on his spirit appearance as he roamed the halls during the days as this went on, and it's only when he was wandering through that library when he hears that voice.

This man seems... familiar.

Yes. While he hadn't really met him in person, his identity wasn't hard to figure out. Them spirits in the celestial world were all quite smart, after all, but what mattered more was the man seemed to be troubled by the shadows. Not that he knows what they're saying to the other but he isn't one to just sit by with this going on. ]

Don't listen to them.

I know it's hard to... but it's not real.

[ He's already only a few feet away when he says this, eyes sharp from behind his tinted blue shades and his voice strong and unwavering. ]

[It takes a moment until Jellal turns around and acknowledges Loke's presence - he is far too tired and hurting to wonder why there is a certain familiarity to the man.

Part of him knows that there's truth to what he says - there is a chance that this is just illusion, some kind of cruel trick created by Jason or Ruana, but...]

It's her voice...

[Her voice and her tone, even if the words don't sound like her - but how can he blame her for being angry, how can he considering just what he had received only days before that?]

[ He can only guess who he could mean from the little he does know of the man and the people around him. Not that he voices anything, setting his jaw firmly and taking a step forwards. ]

It's not really her though, is it?

She's not here in person speaking to you. If she's who I think she is... she probably misses you, if anything else.

We're still kind of outnumbered, but I managed to scare off my Replica's shadows. Just had to snap at them, swing my Keyblade...

[He chuckles, leaning back on his palms.]

Truth is, I'm surprised it worked in the first place.

Don't listen to them. They aren't real.

[He raises an eyebrow at that, looking surprised.]

...Interesting. When I tried with mine, it just passed through them.

[Not that he's thinking that his double is lying about this, but still. There must be something else he had done... right?]

Well, it didn't exactly hurt them, but it did scare them off. Heck, just walking up to them made them back down.

[He brings a hand to his chin, casting a glance back at his shadows.]

Same thing happened when my Replica approached those stalkers. I just wish I knew why.

[He knows this, knows that maybe this is just another illusion after all. Yet...]

...It's her voice. I'd know her voice anywhere.

I see...

[Well, that's definitely interesting. He glances inbetween his own shadows (now so much quieter than before), his double and his double's shadows, wondering...

It's certainly worth a try to see what does happen if he attacks the other's shadows, if they'll withdraw. And if they don't well... at least from experience so far there'll be no harm done. He shifts and pushes up to his feet, summoning his Keyblade as he narrows his eyes at his double's shadows.]

Let's put it to a test then.

[And with that he points Way to the Dawn at the shadows and casts Fire.]

[The fire sends the shadows scrambling backwards with a hiss. Their grins falter briefly, and they huddle close together.

They're still lingering fairly close, though. Still watching. Nonetheless, a smile crosses Riku's face, and he swipes a hand at his double's shadows.]

See that? If you don't get your act together, you're next.

[OU!ku meanwhile starts grinning, even more so when the whispers lessen even at the mere threat of his shadows being attacked by his double and he starts to feel just a little less faint than before, starts feeling just a tiny little bit of strength returning that.]

Scratch 'seems'. Teamwork is the way to go around here.

[It's a mutual feeling, naturally, and one that is more than welcome. This Riku can't even help it. He starts laughing.]

Isn't that how it usually goes? I hate to sound like a sap, but friendship's definitely one way to fight your battles.

[Man, he almost sounded as cheesy as Sora...]

[And he older double joins right in, laughter almost carefree as he lets himself fall back into the sand again.]

True enough. Though as long as you don't say anything along the lines of 'My friends are my power', you should be fine.

[Almost is the keyword there. Nobody can beat Sora when it comes to being a cheesy sap.]

[Pffft. He'll go ahead and jab his double with his elbow.]

Hey, even I've got limits. Can't start getting too sugarcoated, or Sora might start teasing me back.

[Him and his double... and his Replica... really, a lot of people could.]

[Hah. He's just grinning as he leans back to dodge the jab.]

Rightfully so. If he catches on quick enough that is.

[Because who knows, OU!ku or the Replicas might get there first. ...Or maybe they'll end up tag-teasing.]

You know, maybe I should keep an eye on you too. Can't let you get too carried away...

[Plus, who's to say his double won't say something sappy at some point, too?]

Sounds fair enough. We'll keep each other in line and leave the sappy stuff to Sora.

[Because that's where it belongs, right?]

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016 | 4th Heavenly Body | 4th Duel

[Jellal, Floor 3]

Kiryu floor 17

[Who do you think? Floor 3 btw]

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Riku on the beach~

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Riku, Floor 62

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[Well you asked for it

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/sob

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[ Jellal, Floor 3 ]

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