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

[animusmods]

Characters: open
Setting: travelling through dead worlds
Format: any
Summary: The power has gone out, but a portal opens. Maybe all is not lost if you can gather up those who are missing...
Warnings: general animus endgame warnings

Comments

[midgarhorizon]

Not much. I remember getting blasted and one of the girls, and then I was pullin' Shion up the stairs to get the medics to help him.

[He runs a hand through his hair nervously, letting each spike pop back up individually. It reminds him a bit of how spiky Axel's hair was. The feeling is both familiar and strange after so long.]

Diarmuid wouldn't let me go back down there to get you out. Said I was injured, only I don't remember really getting injured.

[attheclocktower]

[Xion shakes her head]

I might've been already gone by then, anyway. [The plan had gone that fast, there'd been almost no time to communicate much.] A bunch of us... We needed to get Riki away from the Tower. That's what Aria said.

We came up with a plan... I forget whose idea it was. But we knocked Riki into the elevator then dropped it down to the ground floor with a bunch of us there too, to stop him from stopping it or coming back up. That's how I got this.

[She nods downward at her bad knee.]

After that we pushed him outside. There's a light there, that turns on if you try to leave. [For a moment, she can't suppress a shiver] It's not a normal light. [Understatement of the year]

Whatever's in it... that's what killed him.

[midgarhorizon]

A light?

[Reno pauses to take in her words, shifting from foot to foot.]

Like the one we see in the projector room?

[attheclocktower]

[The projector room isn't one that Xion frequents, so it takes her a few moments of thoughtful frowning as she tries to mentally compare the two. And ultimately... no. The light in the projector room was like the light during that one security measure she'd experienced that one time, when they were trying to get to Dax's files.

She shakes her head]

No... it's not the same. It's more like... a spotlight. And when it shone on Riki... he just started melting and falling apart. [More quietly] It was awful.

[As much as she'd come to dislike the admin, as much as she distrusted him and had wanted him to stop interfering with what they were trying to do... they'd killed him. And if his death had been anywhere near as painful and awful as-]

[midgarhorizon]

[It's probably kind of sad that the news doesn't even shock him, with how long it's been since he first arrived in the Tower.]

Huh... it wasn't a Tower defense, was it? Y'know, something like to keep the runaway experiments from escaping?

[attheclocktower]

Maybe... it would make sense.

[Which makes the fact that Ruana was able to withstand it so easily... terrifying. And worse.]

Ruana... she came down after him. On the outside of the Tower. We didn't... we weren't able to stop her from getting to him.

[There's a hidden apology in there. She's sorry. They messed up, and now she has his powers maybe. She's sorry.]

We... we were just trying to get away, after that. We opened a corridor and then... [her voice gets a bit more shaky here] The light was on us. Coming through it.

[midgarhorizon]

It redirected?

[Reno sounds alarmed, his eyebrows pressing together in a worried look. He isn't blaming her for anything. They did the best they could. With how badly things had gone before, he wasn't going to blame anyone except the administrators.]

After what happened with the machines when we were up against Riki the first time, why'd you try risking that?

[attheclocktower]

She was right outside the door. There wasn't any other way back up. No stairs, and the elevator was broken. I guess... we were scared.

[Light only knew she had been. They hadn't been ready to face Ruana then.]

And maybe with Riki gone, we thought it wouldn't happen again or... I don't know. It was only a small one at first, to try to see if it was safe, but as soon as we tried it just... it was like it exploded.

[At least she's reasonably certain Riku hadn't meant to open a corridor that big]

[midgarhorizon]

[Reno listened attentively, then places a hand on her head to comfort.]

Don't worry about it... if you were doing what you thought best, I can't judge. I wasn't there, kiddo, and I trust ya. ...I think I get it though. No teleportation yet. Least not anything that isn't Zo's.