felldenlogs | a knight and a soldier walk into a bar… (closed)

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a knight and a soldier walk into a bar… (closed)

WHO: Aqua (

keytoblivion) and Lightning (

pauldron)
WHAT: Aqua and Lightning meet to compare stories.
WHERE: The shore outside of Kyst
WHEN: The day after the audience, sunset
WARNINGS: Language? (unlikely), Violence? (I hope not???)

[Aqua arrives an hour before sunset already – not just to be overly punctual, but also in order to get her thoughts into order. The sound of the waves is still is soothing, calming Aqua in a way that not even the knowledge of having regained Master's Defender cannot.

It will still be a while until she feels confident about venturing out to actively search for the Heart, but… it's progress. With her Keyblade, she'll be able to help this world.

She knows it.

For a moment she peels back the seam of her righthand glove, to glance down at her new tattoo – the purple star constellation burned into the skin of her right wrist. She had been so certain, but did she really make the right choice?

No, she can't doubt herself now. Especially not given what the Emperor had told her about their fears about the Priestess' plans. Just the idea of the threat… she can't allow the Darkness to spread again.

Her hands clench as she stares out at the sun that's slowly approaching the horizon, then exhales slowly as her resolve grows steeled.]

The worlds nearly fell twice already… This time. This time, I'll be able to fight.

[One way or another… but first, she needs to hear what Lightning has to say about the Priestess' audience.]

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[Ever since her arrival, one thought has been running circles around Lightning's mind: this is the fal'Cie all over again. Two sides manipulating the larger picture, and those beneath them, to get everything that they want and damn the consequences to others.

Everything she'd heard at the Priestess' audience had only made her more certain of that theory. The woman had been nice enough, pleasant and kind and warm, but the way she'd said what she'd said, how openly she'd answered everyone's questions...it had been too familiar.

Too manipulative. Everything everyone had wanted to hear. A way to keep the new battalion in line until she could send them out to conquest. There's little doubt in her mind that the Court got a similar, if not exactly the same, reception. So she strides down the beach with purpose as the sun paints the sea and sand gold and red. Aqua stands out against the twilight.]

The Priestess said that the Emperor wants to destroy our worlds by taking the magic from them.

[No greeting, no wasted time. Straight to the point and fal'Cie, if she's wrong about this she doesn't know what she's going to do.]

[Aqua turns when she hears the crunch of sand shifting against boots, a faint smile stealing over her face when she sees Lightning approaches. She offers her a short nod, then lets her smile fall as Lightning reveals the words of the Priestess.]

How strange… the Emperor claims that she plans the very same.

[She hesitates for a moment, before she decides to elaborate:]

They said that she wants to drain the magic of our worlds in order to sustain this one, that she would risk for all our worlds to be plunged into everlasting Darkness.

[If that is true – really regardless of whom of them is planing this… Aqua can't let it happen.]

[Everlasting Darkness says the Emperor, empty husks says the Priestess. Dress it up however you like, it's the same outcome in the end.]

And the Priestess said that the Emperor wouldn't care how many worlds are destroyed or who dies. Sounds to me like we all got the same story.

[With the obvious minor differences in wording, of course. Isn't that just perfect? It really is the fal'Cie all over again! She begins to pace back and forth through the surf, arms crossed over her chest.]

I've seen this before. Both sides wanting the same thing but working up the people to fight each other for it. They're pulling on our strings like puppets.

[The outcome is the same, and somehow that worries Aqua, especially after the trust that she extended to the Emperor already.]

One way or another, the similarities are uncanny.

[Aqua keeps still, watching Lightning pace with a frown. Two factions that want the same thing… she wonders…]

Then, does the Priestess want to leave this world behind as well?

[As well? That implies that the Emperor wants off this rock, too. Going by what the Priestess said about the state of this world, that's not as surprising as it could be. Even so...still pacing, Lightning shakes her head.]

She didn't say anything like that. No one asked her that question. She just kept saying that the Emperor would let this world's magic go dry while using our worlds for their own means if we didn't stop them.

[Not that she specified what those means were. Did she know? If she did, she certainly wasn't sharing. So much for as honest as I have been here. Lightning snorts, pacing back through her own footprints. The deepening wells fill with water as the surf rushes in and out.]

I'm guessing your Emperor said the Priestess wanted out, or gave you the same story we got with the names switched around. Is that how it went for you guys?

[Well… that's what they had told Aqua at least.]

I'm not entirely sure if we did… the Emperor told us that they want to lead their people away from this world and into another. That Fellden is dying… and that the Priestess is planning to recover the magic of this world by draining it away from ours.

[Her hands clench tightly at the thought. To think that someone would seek to use the worlds like that… to upset the balance so much…]

If that really is what she is planing… then she has to be stopped.

[The thing is, that also aligns with what the Priestess said. She phrased it in a kinder way, sure, but she did say that she'd need to borrow the magic of their worlds to save Fellden. But at what point does "borrow" become "take"? Magic of this scale is something Lightning knows nothing about. She stops pacing, arms still crossed.]

Yeah, she does, but if she's right than the Emperor's just as big of a threat. [Or, and what's really more likely, they're both lying to the Otherworlders. Why, though? What's at the heart of all of this?] Do you really want to stake everything on the chance that they're not lying to you?

[Her world, all worlds. Is that worth the risk of trusting such an unknown?]

[Her lips press together as Lightning points out the flaw of her thoughts… and well.]

No… of course not.

[She can't put all her faith into the Emperor, even with the promise that she made. First of all she needs to know…]

What did the Priestess tell you… about the Emperor's plans?

[She gets it. In times like this, it's easy--too easy--to just blindly believe the first person in charge, the first person with answers. But that sort of blind belief is what got Pulse and Cocoon into such trouble, and to see that repeated here with so much at stake...

Lightning shakes her head. The people were never the vipers. It was always the fal'Cie.]

Not much. Just that the Emperor wants to drain our worlds of magic and use that for their own ends. [A snort.] Not that she said what those were. I don't think detail is her strong suit. [She pauses for a second, then adds:] She also said that the war started because they couldn't come to a compromise or find a solution. This is on both of them.

[It's so easy, especially for someone who had never quite learned to question the most important figure of authority in her life. While the Emperor certainly isn't Master Eraqus… it's still so easy to trust in them.]

That doesn't quite match with what we were told… though the Emperor, too, was spare with details.

[Though, of course… Lightning is right. Finding compromise takes two, after all. Still…]

I'm not sure if there is a compromise to be found, if the options are to stay or to leave this world behind.

They could work together to fix the problems here. Saves this world and our homes without causing a war and dragging us in to do their dirty work.

[Hands on her hips, she turns to Aqua and raises an eyebrow.]

They're both using us for their own ends. Right now that means fighting their war, but what comes after that? Go to other worlds and take them out so they can take the magic without anyone fighting back? Conquest of a thousand other worlds? [Frown.] You cannot trust a single word they said. Either of them.

[Aqua can't help but flinch at the picture that Lightning outlines here – her left hand clenching tightly around the hidden tattoo on her right wrist. Maybe… maybe she was premature to promise the Emperor her help, but…

She straightens after a moment, steel entering her voice.]

I wouldn't let that happen. I'd sooner turn my blade on both of them, than to fail my duty yet again.

[She'll help the Emperor escape, she'll seal away this world… but she won't be his pawn. Not now, or ever.]

[There's familiarity in how Aqua says that. A staunch refusal to back to, to let others make her path. Whatever that path is, however it ends, Aqua is determined to walk it to the end. Fight the good fight, whatever the cost.]

You might have to. If this ends the way I think it will? They'll turn on all of us when they're done. [Her eyes darken. Second verse, same as the first.] It'll probably turn into a fight for all of existence or something. Things like this never end quietly.

[Gods, if that's what these two are, don't die quiet.]

Think you'll be ready for that?

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a knight and a soldier walk into a bar… (closed)

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