towerofanimus | Endgame: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms; Part Two

"Is there any other kind of cultist?" Gilgamesh quips while continuing to walk, taking in the world that would probably have been somewhat interesting if it had not been warped into a land of utter death.

"Not quite this, no," she said with a shake of her head. Was it really so wondrous to him?

"Then again, you do know this world is dead. This is.... Terra, I suppose, in the early twenty-first century."

If they were both drawn to the same world, the chances were good that it was one of someone they both knew. Short of it being one of the worlds of people who had been sent back months again, it narrowed down the list quite a bit.

In fact, there was only one person whose world this could be, come to think of it. It was possible that it was a coincidence, that it was someone else entirely, but she hadn't heard Nesir's voice in the cells. Hadn't she been raised in a temple?

"We have to keep looking. Someone is bound to be here."

And Nesir was perhaps the only person in the entire Tower that Ocelot had ever considered worth protecting. She wouldn't fail her, not now. "How much of the temple have you explored?"

The fact that Sephiroth hadn't heard Nesir's voice in the cells when they had been there really hadn't struck him as something to notice much at all. He knew Nesir had the emptiness and he imagined she could have sat there the entire time having retreated most of herself inward to that place where she would feel safer. It's not like she was as outspoken either, when compared to individuals like Richtofen-

"Undoubtedly." He looked over Ocelot for a few more beats, silently processing who it might be that would draw both of them here. Certainly there were only a handful of possibilities. Then, finally Sephiroth took a step outward and away from Ocelot, to face the way he had been progressing before the garden had caught his attention as a place for him to gain a bearing.

"I've worked every corridor between here and the last Garden. I'm heading for that watchtower." He looked and then pointed through the archways in the direction of it but quickly lowered his arm, not one to linger on a gesture.

"At the very least, if they aren't up there, we can get a better view of the grounds from up there." It sounded a little bitter. Oh if only he could have his powers here. But then, within such absolute silence in these halls, any sound that wasn't them might draw them towards it with only its hollow echo.

It's hard to tell, but there's definitely something different about Neal. In his time in the Tower, he had spent so long hunting that he had gained strength in his arms that hadn't been there before. He had never been very strong physically, but he had certainly looked athletic.

That's gone now, though it'll be difficult to tell because of his baggy clothing. "There's got to be a way out of here," he says, smiling at Zelda, and to the other person. He doesn't know him, but Neal had seen Taiki around before. The two of them showing up here could only mean good things, right? That somehow the barrier was breaking down. Maybe that meant that they could save the people stuck in their dead worlds.

"Any idea how to get going, then?" he says. The sooner they leave, the sooner they can save more people.

"Yeah," Neal said quietly, thoughtful. Finding the way out was definitely the better choice here. "Let's get going." It was something to do, some small way of preparing himself for the battle ahead and he was sure that she must be feeling the same way.

After everything that had happened, this couldn't stop them. "It'll be obvious when you see it. It's a big, bright beacon."

"Then we'll head for the tower together," she said, watching the direction that he pointed in. It was something she could handle, surely. Ocelot didn't know what could have drawn her here, but with Sephiroth here, searching for any lost person wouldn't take as long as it otherwise could.

She started towards the building, not waiting for him.

They would return to the Tower and have their revenge. One way or another.

... Oh no.

"Quark..." Zelda looks at the boy with sympathy, even if it might be hard to tell through her wireframe form. It isn't right; he shouldn't be suffering like this. No child should. She kneels where she stands, not wanting to risk scaring or upsetting the boy further, and opens her arms. "I am real, and I am not going to leave without you, I promise. I have come to help you get back to everyone else."

To get you away from here.

[It's a parody of a blessing.]

[For as long as she lived in the mansion hidden away in the forest of Twilight Town, she'd wanted the chance to see the rest of the city for herself. But it was almost entirely in memories, in data, that she had the chance - and it was not, in any satisfying kind of way, truly real.]

[Now she walks broken, empty streets, and the pain in her chest is made even more sharp by how well she still knows them without having seen them for herself. She spends the first few hours searching, sensing, looking for any sign of life, any whisper of a heart somewhere out in the ruins of a once quiet but living place.]

[There is nothing.]

[It makes her sick, almost, makes her angry at herself in a peculiar sort of way, for what her past self wished. Now, it's so viscerally unpleasant an experience that she can't even begin to enjoy it. The sky itself seems to mock her as she climbs to the top of the station tower, makes her way to the edge--]

[And sits down at it, closer to the stairs than many groups of friends have placed themselves in the past, because the places they chose are not hers.]

[Still, she does not cry. Instead, she waits - dry-eyed and patient no matter the clawing, terrible panic in her chest - and she watches, eyes cast down upon the town she never had the chance to explore for herself.]

"I don't know..." Taiki shuffled his hooves on the concrete. "Um... I came through a portal." He tossed his head in the direction of where he had arrived. "Maybe... um... maybe there will be one to get out..."

[When Xion walks through that particular rip in space to this particular world, her heart stops. She recognizes it immediately. Of course she does. No matter how far away she's been, no matter how long since she's seen these streets... how could she forget?

And yet it makes her want to cry. To see the buildings broken, the people lifeless in the streets ~~like puppets with their strings cut~~. She takes her time, not entirely paying attention, walking dreamlike through the area, trusting Shion to keep up, talking with him some, explaining, showing. After a while they make their way to the Station Plaza.

Xion had saved this for last. Dreading what she might find at the top of the Clock Tower. To her surprise though, it's definitely not unoccupied... but by someone who looks to be sitting up. She turns to Shion.]

I think there's someone up there!

[The person they came to this world to look for maybe? It could only be one of a few people... Xion rushes her way towards the door, wincing a little at the pain in her knee as she rushes.

And once she's inside... well, she might be getting ready to go up all those stairs herself.]

[So this was Xion's world... or a version of it. He follows Xion, keeping up easily and listening to her, staying close.

He looks up the clock tower, there was definitely someone up there. He follows her.] Xion. [Hopefully enough to stop her] Get on my back.

As soon as Ocelot started to make a move towards the building, Sephiroth fell in behind her. He didn't need to be waited for and would have walked off also, had she not taken the initiative. Together they made their way through the vast network of corridors and hallways until they reached where the watchtower's stairwell had to be. He hardly ever cast Ocelot more than a glance to determine which direction they agreed to head in at a junction of corridor, before proceeding further.

Though he always remained alert, the silence in which they progressed, with only their footfalls echoing through empty halls was distracting on it's own. It was disturbingly quiet. Thoughts were drawn easily to how he imagined Gaia might be, stripped of all life like this World.

A small dismissive grunt was uttered as he cast such concerns aside and they began to climb the stairwell.

When Enoch walked into view, Riku paused for a moment. His brow furrows as he trieds to call for his Keyblade as a test of his new-found strength. At first nothing happened, and then a faint white light started to swirl around his fingertips. It lasted for about three seconds before fizzling out, and he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Well, I definitely feel stronger, but not strong enough. Looks like we're gonna have to keep moving if we want to come out on top, but Diarmuid's right-- after everything we've been through, I'd say we can all handle a few more risks."

At that, Riku cracks a smile, crouching down so that he's closer to Quark's level. He may not be Sora, but he can at least try to keep a positive attitude for the kid's sake. Besides, there's still hope, and he'd be stupid to let his own cynicism blind him from that fact.

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere, all right? Why don't we stick together until we get to the next portal? Bet if we put our heads together, we'll find it in no time flat."

Besides, maybe it'll keep his mind off of the surrounding death. Focusing on something constructive makes even darker situations a bit more bearable.

[Unlike Naminé, Riku has seen Twilight Town many times before. After meeting DiZ, it became a home base-- a place to rest between worlds and escape the trials of fighting Heartless, the Organization, and the slew of villains lurking across space.

And yet here, it's just a shadow of what it used to be. The once green trees have shriveled away. The sounds of laughter faded. He was so grateful to have never seen his dead world and yet, is this really any different? Just looking at his surroundings leaves him with a sick, twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It's by sheer will power alone that he makes it to the station, where he spots Naminé from afar. Eyes widening, he hurries into the station, darting up the steps at a speed so fast his legs feel as if they've been impaled by daggers and pins. His chest heaves, and when he finally reaches the top, his adrenaline comes crashing to a halt, and he falls back against the tower's outer wall.

He pants, wiping sweat off his face, and watches.]

...Maybe I shouldn't have pushed it so hard.

[But, darn it, it's good to see someone alive.]

The tone of Vietnam's voice, for some reason, made Kanaya feel as if maybe her blockmate understood what it was like to have to hide or die. Perhaps she would tell Vietnam what happened, if there was even an opportunity to after this. For the time being, though, Kanaya was focused on Enoch's words.

She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing, and it came through in the blank way she regarded Enoch before it really sunk in. The flat expression became one of profound relief and, to some degree, even excitement. "Really? We are not trapped here?"

The spark of hope was enough to make her lose track of her manners, forgetting completely to introduce herself to these strangers for the moment. But she had to make sure she wasn't--imagining things, or something. It was easy to go a little crazy in a situation like this.

What?

[Reno is rather surprised.]

With the asteroids and stuff?

[Maybe hers is a living planet, too.]

[The instant she sees motion, she's leaning over far enough to make her feel as though she'll fall. She corrects the situation immediately, of course, and through the rush of adrenaline both from that and the idea of there being another person (two other people) around, all she can think to do is hope desperately that her eyes aren't playing tricks on her.]

[She has enough faith in them that as soon as the figures below are out of her sight, Naminé's rising to her feet to make her way a little closer to the stairs, stopping only at the corner of the wall. The wait is agonizing, but she can't shake the feeling that she ought to keep her patience, if only for the sake of being sure this isn't some exceptionally cruel trick.]

[If she were more the type for covetousness, she might have had it for his freedom, trials or no trials. But she's not so inclined, and it's not something that has any cause to be in her mind when the first hint of movement she sees has her head turning fast enough to make her neck hurt.]

[He certainly does make good time. She's waiting for him when he reaches the top of the tower, already on her feet and a few steps closer to the stairs than she was previously.]

[She raises a hand purely on reflex as he falls against the wall, as though she might intend to catch him; she needn't as she doesn't, but he sentiment, perhaps, is there. In its wake she is left to fumble for words, because this whole time, she was too busy hoping and looking for someone, anyone to come to think about what she'd actually say if they did.]

[In the end, the thing that comes out of her mouth is,]

I wasn't going anywhere.

[So a 'probably not', then.]

Sheena's still dusting most of that desert off when he approaches, coughing at the cloud that arises from her efforts. Sighing, she gives up and looks around, her hand still making an occasional idle swipe at the dirt.

"Auldrant? I've heard that name before." Perhaps from a certain sarcastic long-haired man she had met in the Tower. Glancing around, she takes in more of the scenery before turning back to him. "Do you know this place, Luke? Is this your home?"

"Yeah, it's my home world. I don't live in the desert, I'm from a city, uh..."

He starts to point in a particular direction, but he can't remember exactly what direction Baticul is in relation to the desert, and the distant mountains surrounding the desert don't provide any decent reference point.

"...That way, I think. Anyway, it didn't used to be this bad. This purple stuff isn't supposed to be here and it's all dead, and...hey, how'd you get here?"

[Hmm...? Oh. She shook her head.]

I mean, it looked just as dead as this one does.

[She'd ended up in a forest. At least, that was what it was before the world died.]

"Orange..." Grainne wrinkled her nose slightly, as much as she can in a wireframe anyway. "Green is so much better."

Looking up at the strange tower, she hummed once and briefly. "Naoya... how are you doing now?" She knows it's a little early to be asking that, but after the state they encountered him in, she couldn't help but about it.

She could hear voices, but even in the still emptiness of the dead world they were too quiet for her to make out words. People were here though and Nesir had no idea how or why or if they meant her harm.

She remained on the top of the watch tower, a dagger drawn in her left hand (she had forgotten how much her right had hurt in the first few months after her injury). She watched the doorway, ready for whatever came up the stairs.

Endgame: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms; Part Two

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Naminé | Twilight Town

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so sorry this is late! I got a little busy s

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