Endgame: In This Last of Meeting Places

[animusmods]

Characters: Aria, Zo, open
Setting: floor 001 for now
Format: action brackets
Summary: Aria and Zo reappear quite suddenly.
Warnings: standard animus event warnings

Aria and Zo tumble out of the elevator more than they step out of it. They look worse for wear; Zo's covered in minor scrapes and bruises, and Aria'a left arm hangs at her side uselessly, bloody and mangled. As soon as they're on solid ground, Zo turns and forces the elevator doors shut without touching them, leaving the broken car lodged in place behind it, and Aria slides to the floor, gasping for breath. They're both on high alert even for all their exhaustion.

SPEAK TO ARIA
SPEAK TO ZO
ESCAPE
-FLOOR EIGHT

Comments

ARIA+ZO ESCORT

[sageprincess]

[Zelda will trust the other residents to put up a hell of a fight - her priority is seeing Aria and Zo safely into the hidden room. Of course, this involves climbing 101 floors, but hey, it's nothing she hasn't done before at this point.

She follows after them, hands aglow with magic and ready to fight off whatever might slip through the others' defenses.]

[wegotlucky]

[If they have a prayer of making it to June alive, Neal knows it's going to rest on keeping Aria and Zo safe. Here's to hoping that they can do it.

He's gotten this far, he's survived this long enough in this damn tower and like hell is Neal going to let a swarm of retrieval units stop him now. He might not be able to fight them all off, but if they can get to the hidden room...

Well. He's done it before and he can do it again. He follows Zelda close behind, sword drawn and ready.]

I'M SORRY I DIDN'T GET TO DO THIS BEFORE HELL BROKE LOOSE

[attheclocktower]

[She's done this before, she's done it before, she can do it again. She can help other do it too. They don't have

They just have furious unchipped retrieval units instead.

It was a little ways up that an idea hit her, so much she wondered why she didn't think about it sooner. With the end drawing so near, she'd realized that every little bit of protection helped. And because of that, she'd started carrying things that she might've stopped, and maybe, just maybe one of the bits she had could help someone else too.

It takes a bit of fumbling, then a lot of sprinting, but she does her best to catch up with Zo, and holding out the Stone Mask and speaking in a rush, skipping over words in her haste]

Zo... try to put- this on. It worked in July. When glamour's up, and you got it on, they can't see you. It could buy us time.

[Even if the glamour was off as often as on right, now... every bit helped.

The fact that he's floating makes it easier to hand it off, he's not bouncing up and down like her. But regardless, if he does take it, she'll make sure he has a firm grip on it before letting go.]

[animusnpcs]

[Zo takes it and looks at it curiously before putting it on. It works--indeed, the moment he puts it on, he vanishes, and so he pulls it up enough that he can be seen for the moment.]

I'll give it back once we're there, okay?

[attheclocktower]

[Xion wants to tell him he should thank Link, since he was the one who gave the Stone Mask to her, but in the end it seems like the sort of thing that would be best saved for another time. She's relieved it works though, and bobs her head a few times in the simplest equivalent of a nod she can achieve right now, before dropping back a little bit more towards the back of the group escorting Zo and Aria.

Close enough to call out if need be, but far enough back that she can easily look over her shoulder and see who might be following. And when and where to use the Bind spells Aqua taught her.]

[imperialsun]

[101 floors. It's like all of the towers to fight the Night Queen over again. As they start their climb, once in a while a different persona appears behind Naoya, casts a buffering or shielding spell and disappears so he can save his energy.]

Aria, do you mind if I carry you?

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch has his Arch out (he will never leave it behind again), following at the rear of the escort group. A real weapon that can cut through many things and real protective armor would be beneficial if they caught up to him.

On the indoor forest floor, he cuts a thin enough tree close to the stairs to make a barricade, however effective that might be, and hurries to catch up to the group. Hopefully that will give them more distance.

He doesn't care that, at the rear, he's in the most vulnerable position. He owes it to them to protect them personally.*

[animusnpcs]

I'm okay. [Her assertion on this is strong.] You should focus on keeping Zo safe instead.

[sageprincess]

We are going to keep you both safe.

[Is the equally determined response. My, wherever could Aria have picked up that tone of voice?]

Please, do not hesitate to tell us if you tire.

hope you guys dont mind

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki had spent most the time in the cafeteria feeling dizzy and ill and very confused as he tried to keep up with the thread of conversation around him. He understood enough though and as Zelda left with Aria and Zo and the retreival units burst through he acted.

He transformed and flew after them as Gohran and Sanshi turned to join the battle. It only took a couple of seconds, since he didn't have to worry about objects or walls, he just flew through them.

He caught up to them, landing beside them and talking quickly]

Um... sorry... I can fly you if you want... I'm really fast... and I can carry you...

[If Kirin beasts could look awkward this one did, but his voice was determined; if you knew Taiki well enough to hear past the nervousness.] The others... the others are fighting to try and stop the retrieval units following...

[animusnpcs]

Are you okay? [Zo seems more concerned about Taiki than concerned for himself, and he skips and skims across the stairs. Aria, meanwhile, smiles, but seems determined to not be more of a burden than necessary.]

You don't have to put yourself in all that danger, really.

[slightlyoblivious]

Don't worry about that. We've put ourselves in danger before. What's more important is making sure both of you are safe.

[animusnpcs]

[The group reaches floor eight.]