unknownseas | There's always a lighthouse

Entry tags:

endgame

There's always a lighthouse

And just like that, you wake up in the basement of a lighthouse in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's a circle of 25 pods in the middle of the room, and two more in a room off to the side, and you can imagine who is in which.

An elevator to the side of the room leads up to the ground floor (or to the first sub-basement, if you want to check out the machine that brought you here), where you can for the first time in weeks look out a window and see the sky. Its a beautiful sunny day, with a strong breeze on the grassy ground of the island where the lighthouse stands. Have you ever been this happy to hear seagulls?

You're free. Whatever comes next, you're free and you won. Take some time to relish your victory, won't you? Reunite with friends you thought you had lost, go forth and just... well, enjoy this.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He gives her a look, his face kind of hard to read. ]

I appreciate the offer. I think I'd rather not drag you down with any of that depressing stuff, y'know? We should be celebrating.

[ Surprisingly (or maybe not), he's sort of all over the place. Guilt's probably one of the two biggest things that permeates throughout (whether it's about what he did here is hard to tell, though), though at any time she can no doubt pick up on anything from confusion to anger to concern. The other big thing is his self-loathing that always seems to lurk around, only seeming to perk up considerably when she offered to listen to him talk.

It's a lot, girl. He's a lot. ]

[ Oh boy. That is a lot, and it gets her to look at him.

... It reminds her of herself, actually. Hiding your feelings, burning yourself up so you don't ruin things-- yeah, she gets that. She seems to hesitate for a moment. ]

It takes a lot more than that to drag me down, Zelos. [ That's what she decides on, in the end. Her voice is even, and the sincerity in it is undeniable. ] I won't force you, you know. That never does any good, to force someone to spill how they're feeling... but the offer's there. Even if there's cause for celebration...

If something's weighing on someone, well... I'm more than willing to listen.

[ He makes a small noise of acknowledgement, as he turns back to the ocean. He seems to relax just a hair, as he suddenly feels a little nostalgic. ]

You know, you remind me of someone back home. I can hear her say the same thing, honestly.

[ Thinking about her is only making him feel more guilty, though. Not that he doesn't deserve it, with what he did to her, to them, but still. ]

Do I?

[ Ah, more of that guilt... She wonders just how deeply it runs. She lets out a soft hum, looking from him to the ocean. ]

Now I'm curious. Why don't you tell me about her?

[ Zelos doesn't reply, right away. He's mulling over whether he wants to, or not – Mira says she's happy to listen, but he's not sure if she wants to hear any of it. If he wants to hear any of it, really. But... she's somehow hard to say no to. ]

Her name's Colette. She's the other Chosen – there's two, including me, but that's not important. She couldn't be more different than me. She's really good at being able to make people feel better, to be able to light up a room, y'know? [ He looks back at Mira for a moment, before looking back. ] Not to mention she's okay with being who she is. She's changed her tune about a few things, but...

[ He sighs. It's really taking all his willpower not to just blow it off and change topics or leave. He's actually surprised with himself. ]

[ True to her word, she listens. She's attentive, too, not looking away from him for the most part. So far, she doesn't seem bothered by anything he's saying. But she knows there's a deeper thread there.

She doesn't pull at it; it's not her place to unravel that. It's his, at his own pace. ]

She sounds pretty incredible. [ And she reminds him of her? ... That's pretty glowing praise. ] Have you two known each other for a long time, then?

[ Considering they're both Chosen, and all. ]

Nah, she only knew I existed no more than a couple months ago. [ m. maybe? how the fuck does the passage of time in rpgs get quantified, anyway ]

It's to be expected, being from different worlds. The only reason I even found out is because a third party.

[ that's tales time, babey ]

Different worlds... [ Well, she's curious about that, but-- ] A third party, huh? How did that go about happening?

[ His first thought is to start using analogies that would better contextualize things, but... maybe that's not such a great idea right now. ]

A group of defectors told the Tethe'allan royal family and the Church about the existence of the other world and the other Chosen. Since their existence endangered Tethe'alla's prosperity and mana flow, they sent an assassin to try and kill Colette. Obviously that didn't work out so well, given that they made it back over.

[ ... he's just gonna omit the part where he also probably heard at some point after agreeing to spy for Cruxis. It's fine. It's telling the truth by omission. Sh-she'll never know... ]

[ ... She does a great job of not looking completely horrified, but she's definitely stunned. And, yeah, a little horrified. She mulls that over--it's a lot. The worst part is, she can follow their logic, just from what he's told her. She just hates the idea of it, and she thinks it sucks. ]

And... you met her after that?

[ Honestly, he'd probably have been more concerned if she wasn't. He talks about most things flippantly, there's no reason why anyone else should. ]

Yeah. Not that long after they crossed dimensions, I guess. [ He pauses. Should he... keep going? She's not gonna like this next bit either, probably: ]

The only reason they did all that was to find a way to revert Colette's humanity after going through the whole world regeneration thing. She was basically in self-preservation mode for awhile; she actually flung me across the square when I tried to hit on her.

[ Ohhh, yeah, hate that.

But that makes her think of something... the vessel issue he'd mentioned back at his trial. She doesn't bring it up. But she can see the threads sort of weaving together. It shows in her expression, too... Aside from the vague disgust.

She clears her throat, though. ]

... And was that your first time meeting her? You getting thrown across the square?

Yeah, that was it. She eventually regained her consciousness after awhile, so technically it was later, but that was the first time meeting her.

[ Hmmm. ]

Your first meeting with a fellow Chosen, and she [ don't say yeets ] tosses you across the square... That must have come as a huge shock.

[ this chosen's empty! YEET ]

I mean, of course. Usually I just get a slap in the face when I hit on someone that doesn't want it, getting thrown by someone half my size isn't a normal reaction.

[ He probably knew they were coming, given how much info he was fed at any given moment, but it still had to be a surprise to have it play out like that. Definitely sobering, too. No world was worth that kind of effort. ]

So, you have that going for you. Unless you have superhuman strength that I don't know about?

Hmmm.

[ She regards him, considering... ]

Care to find out?

[ is she joking?? unclear. ]

[ ... he takes way too long to answer. ]

I... feel like this is a trap, somehow.

[ sweats nervously ]

[ She watches him a little while longer before she laughs lightly. ]

I wouldn't do that, even if I could. ... But I can deliver a swift kick if I need to.

[ She, perhaps, says that entirely too cheerfully. ]

[ Oh, thank god. He chuckles. ]

Well, I guess if someone had to knock me off of this lighthouse, I'd rather it be you.

[ Even if he can absolutely stop himself from falling. It's fine, she doesn't need to know that. ]

Oh? I'll keep that in mind.

[ ... she's perhaps a little too cheerful when she says that but you know, It's Fine. ]

... So, what happened after she regained her consciousness?

[ Again, he's not too worried about it if she somehow did it but MAN is that ominous – ]

What didn't happen? We ended up starting to work to separate the two worlds permanently, which backfired massively. Then it turned out Colette was suffering from a disease that threatened to turn her into a Cruxis Crystal or whatever, so we had to go take care of that.

[ He wasn't glossing over the plot of the second disc of the game because he was purposely trying to avoid talking about things, it's just... a lot to cover, and he's not really sure how much of this she actually wants to hear. He knows she's just being nice, but he's not looking to lose her completely.

He's already trying to figure out how to word what comes after that. ]

That's--

[ Turn her into one? ... Yeah, there's that horrified look again. But she shakes her head regardless, and she crosses her arms as she watches him. There's no judgment, just a quiet curiosity, a desire to listen to what's weighing on him.

Softly, ]

You took care of it, I'm guessing... but that wasn't the end, was it?

Yeah, she'll be fine now that she's got something for it.

[ He pauses. Oh boy. ]

As far as I know, the others were heading to go take on the kid with the dead sister so they could reunite the worlds. Beyond that, not a clue. Woke up in the simulation around then.

[ Okay, now Zelos is glossing over things because he doesn't want to talk about it. ]

[ The pause tips her off, at first. And then the answer. It's the type of answer someone gives when they would rather talk about anything else. It's vague, but... well. She won't call him out on it.

But the look she gives him before she glances out toward the ocean is sharp, perceptive. ]

Hmmm. [ It's considering, and she nods. ] Do you think they were able to do it? Since you've been here, they've probably at least made progress, right?

[ Ugh, he's been trying not to think about that. He knows that there shouldn't be any cause to worry, Lloyd and the others wouldn't just give up like that. But given where he left off with them, and what he knew was inevitably coming, it was hard to say with any degree of certainty.

And not knowing kind of freaks him out a bit, honestly. ]

They better have. With how I left them, I don't know if it'll happen if they haven't by now.

[ Maybe Kratos would've been able to help? As much as it pains Zelos to say it... that seems like the only way it'd work out. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There's always a lighthouse

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject