summonerd | i just wanna know: who broke it?

i just wanna know: who broke it?

[Sheena'd thought she was all done with dimensional travel, now that the two worlds were united. But here she is, having fallen asleep in one world and woken up in a Tethe'alla that's just different enough from the one she knows to be constantly jarring. Her connections to Aselia's summon spirits dangle loose, snapped by distance - not even Origin's power could follow her here, it seems. That's more than a little unsettling.

It takes her some time, alone in a bizarro version of Meltokio as she is, but eventually she stumbles on a lead - an old scientific journal, a mention of the power of something called an Aegis being able to transcend space and time, at least in theory. And a little asking around tells her that Tethe'alla has its own Aegis, though no one's seen it for years. Well. Worth a shot, right?

Somehow she manages to talk her way into the Tethe'allan castle where the Aegis's core crystal awaits being woken up, with a series of smiles and her very best politicking - yes, of course she's got nothing but loyalty for Tethe'alla, of course she's skilled at this, of course it'd be a great honor.

(Zelos would be proud, she thinks, wryly.)

They're dubious, but her persistence wears them down, or maybe they're just desperate enough for a return of the Aegis's power to let her try, and the orange core crystal is offered out to her.

She takes a deep breath, and reaches out to touch it.]

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Sheena nods in response to Anna and Lloyd's words, face set in determination. Even if it's hard, this is something that's worth doing - she couldn't go home knowing Zelos and Colette wouldn't be totally safe from this fucked-up system, and she's sure Lloyd feels the same.

Zelos storms off, and she's not sure how to take it - there's heat rising in Sheena's cheeks, which… what? Is he embarrassed? Holy shit. She can't help it if she reacts like she would have if this had been the Zelos from their own world, just for a moment.

"It's not stupid if it works. And at least finish your orange!" she calls after him, turning away from the others to be heard better. Definitely not to hide her own blush.

So, the fastest passage out of Tethe'alla from Meltokio involves passing through Toize Ether Mines. Going around Toize Mountain Range adds at least two days to the journey, more if you are also attempting to avoid civilization. Not to mention, going through the mines, in theory, is also safer. They've been abandoned for years, and the high ether concentration means no on really goes there anymore.

Which is why they weren't supposed to run into any opposition.

Of course, seeing as they're trying to smuggle an Aegis out of Tethe'alla, perhaps they should have known better.

A man blocks their path through the mines.

They come to a halt at a crossroads, ether crystals of varying colors providing soft glowing light from the walls around them. Pathways branch to the left and the right, but those paths only lead deeper into the mines, which wouldn't do them much good. The man stands between them and the way forward.

He doesn't look like Tethe'allan military, but then, why would he? And even if he isn't, that doesn't mean he isn't a threat.

Malos, who was already at the front of the group, takes another step foward, making sure he's between the man and his companions.

"Fine day to be exploring an abandoned mine, huh?" Malos jokes.

The smile on the man's mouth is mostly amicable, but the squint and glint to his eyes under the myriad glow of the crystals shadows his face in all the wrong places for Zelos to find the expression calming. "Quite a fine day indeed, eh lad?" the man laughs. "Though I guess that's more subjective than anything when you're buried underground with no other light than a bunch of ether crystals around, huh." He pauses here, shrugs, and scoffs. "Scratch that. A bunch of ether crystals, and the powerful light of a blade's own ether lines and core, sure."

Something about the situation runs a quick shiver down Zelos' spine. Being stopped in the middle of their path by a babbling old man is already a huge red flag, but the fact that Anna had reassured them that these mines were supposed to be abandoned for years due to their concentrated ether sets a stone of dread at the base of Zelos' gut. They've got three humans to worry about in this group--because, blade eater or not, Anna's still human--so they cannot afford to stop here, the urgency palpable from the moment they entered the mines, but this guy, he doesn't even try to look concerned.

Something's off. Something is very, very dangerously off.

As naturally as he can make it seem, Zelos straightens his posture and moves slightly so that the capelet Sheena got him at the start of this mess can hide his core crystal better. "Yeah, but that still ain't a replacement for sunlight, old man," Zelos jokes, successfully pushing down and hiding most of his anxiety from his mask. He licks his lips, shrugs. "Don't worry, though. If you're lost, you--"

"Any of you folks familiar with ether crystal mining and trading, huh?" the man interrupts, walking over to one of the crystals protruding from the wall, setting a hand on the smooth surface of the rock like it's nothing. Alarms immediately start blaring in Zelos' mind, anxious energy bouncing in his core as he slowly inhales and exhales. The man grins. "I'll let you all in on a few secrets of the trade, then: the point is always to get the purest, most powerful crystals to sell. Knowing where to get 'em and who to trade with is what gets you quick gold in the first place. And the rarer the wares, the better the reward."

Subconsciously, Zelos takes a slow step back while maintaining the easy, calm face. Oh, that's bad. That's really fucking bad. In a desperate attempt to gain some sort of an upper hand on the situation, Zelos taps into the ambient ether to try and feel for any other signatures, but the sheer amount of concentrated ether in the air blocks most of his senses like a thick miasma that chokes at him from within. He tries anyway, though, reaching anywhere and everywhere for anything that may feel strange or out of place or even the slightest bit dangerous.

He has to try, damn it. He has to do something before this gets out of hand.

Before them the man hums, drops his hand from the ether crystal he'd been patting at. Sighing, he nonchalantly reaches for his back pocket and pulls out both a cigar and a lighter. "And I've gotta say," he says, lighting the cigar, "that there ain't nothing rarer than an Aegis out there, that's for sure."

On edge from the moment their path was blocked, the growing unease in Lloyd's gut begins to transition into protective fury as soon as the old coot in front of them begins to talk, the threat underlining his tone even before it's spoken aloud. Lloyd's lips pull back into a snarl, his swords already gripped tightly in his hands before he's aware of it, stepping up and falling into place before Zelos. The way he addresses Zelos - who is a goddamn person, you fuck - and the barely-hidden connotation to his ether crystal trading, both of these things spike into the lava-like flow of Lloyd's rage. Old man is brave, threatening two people Lloyd cares about so openly and boldly, and to be so callous about his trading of life essences of innocent people? Lloyd's dealt with fuckers like this before, and he will continue to for as long as they think they're unstoppable.

"Hey, you old bag of ashes!" Lloyd calls out, eyebrows pinned down in anger, voice loud and aggressive, "what the fuck is your problem?! Couldn't get a life, so now you gotta steal others'?"

Stepping into a defensive stance, Lloyd continues his rant. "You must think you're such tough shit, huh? Trading peoples' lives away for what, money? Power? A shot at thinking you're an untouchable figure in humanity? You're pathetic, is what you are. To live thinking that your actions gain you anything more than the tangible," Lloyd laughs, mean and bitter, "I pity anyone like you, anyone who thinks their life is worth more than others' by default. What a sad existence to live."

Lloyd huffs out a loud exhale, centering himself, ready for a fight. "You're not touching them. Your trade will die with you if you want to try."

The initial, underlying threat of being treated like some sort of trade object by this man already has Zelos' anxiety rise to dangerous levels underneath his skin, but Lloyd stepping forward in front of him and pretty much screaming at this guy turns that anxiety into a quickening panic that painfully spreads through Zelos' pulse. His chest constricts and his breathing hitches, a curse whispered under his breath as he sets a hand on Lloyd's arm to get him to shut the fuck up before he makes this worse--

Sheena steps forth, too, falling in place right next to Lloyd. The sight of it leaves Zelos speechless. The almost complete loss of control of the situation sings a song of fear and paranoia in Zelos' core.

Fuck.

Brain scrambling to do damage control, Zelos' previous starts to anything he wanted to say evaporate on his tongue. In the following silence, uninterrupted, the man before them takes a drag of the cigar and laughs the smoke out of his lungs once Lloyd's done speaking. "Ah, you got guts, don't ya?" he calls out, an amused glint to his squinted eyes. He lightly waves the cigar about in front of his face. "I like that, kid. But either way, I wouldn't get so feisty if I were you, you know."

Tick-tick-tick-tick, comes a familiar little pull in Zelos' core, in his ether-filled artificial veins. Tick-tick-tick, it comes knocking from their left, their right, before them and behind them. Zelos grits his teeth, grip on Lloyd tightening. Reinforcements, easier to detect now that they're so much closer and actually moving. About... three? four? He can't really tell. And he seriously doubts that's all of them, even though they've made their presences pretty damn clear to anyone familiar with the way superficial ambient ether changes when someone uses up their own. It's mostly just a threat. But where are they? Zelos discreetly tries to look around for a tell-tale glow, or a weapon, but the amount of ether crystals and their glow in the area makes that difficult.

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

Seemingly ignorant to the Aegis' plight, the man calmly takes another drag of the cigar. "Now here's a proposal for you fine people here. You hand over the Aegis, we let you through without a single scratch to your pretty little heads, and without taking any more than what we want," he now says, gesturing. "Put up a resistance, though," a chuckle, "and I can't say my associates won't want a better booty to take home for their efforts."

Well, their luck had to run out sometime.

'Associates,' he says. So there's more than just him down here. That's not great, but the mines aren't wide enough for the five of them to walk side by side, anywhere but this crossroads - it'd be hard for them to be overwhelmed all at once. Still, Sheena sweeps the side passages for any signs of movement, suddenly aware she might be the one with the best vision here.

"I don't think so," she spits, eyes flashing dangerously (and literally) in the low light. "He's just fine where he is, thanks. How about this: you let us go, and we let you live." She shifts a little to the side, still standing protectively in front of Zelos but making sure they'll have room to draw or summon their weapons. Letting their enemy find out how nervous Zelos is would be a mistake, so she sends something confident his way rather than saying it out loud - there's no need for him to worry. They can take this chucklefuck.

Edited 2019-05-18 00:42 (UTC)

If it weren't for all the ether crystals mucking up the ambient ether, Malos might have realized this was a bad idea. Then again, even if he'd known, he probably would have done exactly the same thing. He's never been the kind of guy for complex thoughs. Punch now, ask questions later-- if there's anyone still alive to ask.

So, what happens is this:

The guy opens his mouth, for more threats or negotions or some shit.

And Malos decides, hell nah.

Negotiations were over the moment this asshole said he was after Zelos.

So Malos in the same, swift motion, summons his sword and with the element of surprise on his side, lunges to slice the fucker in front of him open. The man dodges, meaning instead of cutting him in half what Malos does is cut into his shoulder. Critical wound. Won't survive it unless he sees a healer, but he ain't dead yet--

"Aw, shit," Anna curses, from behind.

And that's when all ten of this asshole's associates jump out from wherever the hell they were hiding.

Edited 2019-05-18 03:28 (UTC)

Despite how appreciated Sheena's confidence is, everything's still pretty fucking tense around all six of them that Zelos can't really find it in himself to relax just yet. And unfortunately, preoccupied in so many things at once as he is--the head count of signals outside of their main cluster, keeping an eye out for the man's movements, trying to pinpoint entry and exit points, gathering his own ether in his free hand, keeping Lloyd in place while trying to get Sheena's attention--Zelos can't exactly make way in his mental juggling to factor in the unpredictable.

Because he'd expected it to be Lloyd, really. Either him or Anna, who's behind him, or maybe even Sheena. But when the unpredictable turns out to be none other than Malos himself, Zelos blanches.

The cut on the old man's shoulder leaves him staggering backwards, one hand flying up to touch where dark blood mixed with ether suddenly begins to seep out, staining his blue shirt. And then the man laughs, dropping the cigar and reaching back as if summoning something--a sword. It materializes in his hand in a flash of yellow light.

For a blade eater to have a weapon he must be more blade than human now. "You shouldn't have done that, you bastard," the man says, right before he swings for Malos.

Zelos abruptly lets go of Lloyd. "Oh, hell--!"

He doesn't finish that. The Aegis chokes when the ambient ether suddenly explodes around him with signals everywhere, oversaturated as ten blades jump out from their hiding spots to ambush the rest of them. Someone shouts out a name--'Dickson.' Choking, yet snapping to attention immediately, at least Zelos manages to summon his sword and block a slash from behind that was meant for his back, gritting his teeth as the impact reverberates in his bones, yet holding his ground.

Just as soon as the impact comes and goes Zelos remembers Sheena and how he's left her without a weapon to defend herself, but if he lets go now, Zelos risks an injury. Keep your driver in your sight, comes an instinct deep in the Aegis' gut. She dies, he dies. They cannot risk to be separated. So mustering his strength, Zelos shoves at his assailant and steps backwards, back back back to where his gut feeling tells him his driver is while fighting off the blade when they return for more.

"Sheena!"

Edited 2019-05-18 04:10 (UTC)

Ah, fuck. Sheena whirls around as the blades emerge from the shadows, pulling her cards out in one motion as she goes. Probably shouldn't use anything too smoky down here, in an enclosed space, but that's fine - escape's not much of an option, at least not at the moment.

"I'm here," she calls, ducking low to dodge the brightly glowing ball that one of the blades just threw straight at her head. It arcs around, whirling back towards its owner's hand rather than continuing on. She surges forward as the ball recedes, not even letting it reach the blade's hand before she knees them hard in the chest to shove them backwards. The ball lands on the ground; the blade stumbles back, gives her enough time to gather her mana into an arte and knock them off their feet entirely with a flurry of cards. They'll be back up in a second, but it gives her enough time to turn and see how Zelos is doing.

Anna ducks under a swing from the blade that jumped her, staggering a little as sudden sharp pain cuts across her chest. Fucking shit, Malos. Not good.

Anna roundhouse kicks the blade before her, knocking them off balance. She drops with her momentum and rolls, getting closer to Malos. She's small and isn't going to make an impressive shield but she can at least get between this asshole and her blade. Normally she'd shoot out something snarky but mostly she's just focused on burying her dagger in his chest--

He dodges, the fucker. Anger bubbles along the emotion bleed against Malos' tight shock.

"Malos," Anna calls.

"Sorry."

For getting hit? Then again, he barely sounds it, so maybe it was for starting this fight they're kind of outnumbered for.

"Don't apologize, I'd've done the same," Anna tells him. "Come on, maybe we'll get lucky and he's driving a few of these fuckers--"

In a practiced motion Malos' sword passes from his hand to Anna's, and immediately Malos' ether settles around her body like a shield. She lunges.

As soon as hell breaks loose, Lloyd is met by a blade coming directly at him from his nine. In the span of a breath being taken, Lloyd has his swords up in a block, the blade's weapon coming down hard above him as they settle themselves on the ground from their leap. Lloyd grits his teeth and pushes back, locking his swords into a cross and forcing the blade back a step.

The blade smirks at him, lips pulled back maliciously as they disengage from the block. Their weapon - a sort of rapier - dances through the air as though it was formed from it. They're not to be fucked around with, it tells Lloyd, and given that there are more enemy blades than there are allies, he needs to end this battle quick if he wants to be any help.

"Why are you doing this?!" Lloyd yells over the sounds of battle, meeting the blade in another block. "Did they ask you if you want this?! Or did they win you in their trade?!"

Disengaging from the block again, the blade laughs cruelly. "I do as I'm told and I'm left alone," they swipe at Lloyd, who jumps to the side to avoid the attack, spinning back around and meeting their rapier with a loud clang of metal. "I don't question that which makes me live."

"That's a sad fucking life, gotta tell you," Lloyd answers, growling as he lifts his left hand's sword, overhandedly holding the grip, "it's a shame you have to be a part of this just to exist!"

He brings the sword down, aiming for the blade's head. With an overhead block, the blade stops the weapon in place, glancing at Lloyd with something akin to angered confusion. "Why do you care?!"

"Because this is not your fault!" Lloyd replies, mentally apologizing as he raises his right hand and plunges the other half of Gagnrad directly below their core crystal, cutting deep into the center of the blade. Ether spurts out from the wound as Lloyd twists his sword in place, pulling it out ruthlessly. The blade's rapier drops to the ground, particles falling away into its core crystal as the blade does the same.

Breathing hard, Lloyd spins around and prepares to take on another innocent enemy.

Hurt and staggering back, Dickson is unable to do much to dodge or block Anna's lunge. He manages to raise his own blade to do something, but the woman is simply too small and fast for him to properly deflect in his current state. It is a losing fight. And so already losing blood and ether fast from Malos' earlier cut, Dickson fails to parry, then cries out when Anna stabs her blade's sword into him this time, mortally injuring him.

Zelos only watches the last half of that from his spot, too focused on blocking hits meant for him or Sheena to do anything other than spare a few glances to his fellow travelers' conditions. Right now he is anchored to Sheena's side and he'll be damned if he leaves her alone; four blades have surrounded them now, all of them clearly intending to get the Aegis and haul ass. Whether he's dead or alive it doesn't matter; Zelos knows that so long as his core crystal is intact, then there's no need to take care of how he exits these mines.

The Aegis grits his teeth, pushing and kicking away an ice blade clearly intending to go for a blow at his driver. He's not doing too bad at combat if he dares say so himself. Sure, there's some stray ether bleeding out of a few cuts he's received on his arms and face, but it's nothing too bad. Using ether in here while in this state in particular is probably a terrible idea, though. But it's fine, it's fine; Zelos is a blade. He can take a blow or two, maybe even a few deeper injuries as long as they're not anywhere near his core crystal, but Sheena most likely can't.

So he has to protect Sheena. That's all that matters right now.

With that in mind, together with the clear image of his driver kept busy by trying to keep a few other assailants in check with her fancy card games or something, completely unaware of the lightning-elemental blade rushing for her with their dagger raised, it really doesn't come as a surprise when Zelos chooses to forsake his injuries and take the hit instead.

Boosting his speed with that ability from before, Zelos shoves himself in the blade's general direction to intercept, tackling them before they can even reach his driver. The reckless use of ether in their current environment comes with an instantaneous regret as it leaves Zelos slightly winded for a precious second, and in that second, with his sight blurred and too weak to fight it back, that lightning-infused dagger pushes itself into his shoulder in their tussle as they fall.

More orange ether particles are immediately released into the cave. Pain shoots up Zelos' entire body, and even though he manages to bite back a cry when the dagger breaks artificial skin, it's immediately ripped out of his throat the moment they hit the ground instead.

'Shit.'

It might not come as a surprise to him, but the last thing Sheena expects is for Zelos to take a hit for her.

She punches a tall blade right in the face, her cards amplifying it from a melee attack into something that leaves them dazed and slows their movements so they'll be easier to hit with her next attack, but before she can follow up she sees Zelos speed up out of the corner of her eye. He's a blur for a second, tackling an enemy she hadn't even noticed (seriously, Sheena? You're going to get yourself killed one of these days if you can't even keep track of that) to the ground. He cries out in pain as he lands, a splash of orange ether lighting his face up, and--

She'd been the one to get distracted, to keep checking up on him rather than paying proper attention to the blades coming at her, and he's the one paying for it. Sheena freezes up entirely for a second, sees another Zelos bleeding out on a glass floor rather than a stone one.

The blade she'd just hit regains their balance enough to attack again, a still-unsteady swing of their oversized axe. It's a glancing blow, just a little bit of skin sliced off of a calf, but it's enough to shake her out of the flashback as she swears at the pain.

She whirls around, lashing out desperately with a messy attack to prevent one of the other two blades from stabbing Zelos while he's down. He's… got the one he tackled, she hopes. She's got her hands full with these three.

Anna lets out a short, satisfied laugh as the leader falls. Serves him right, fuckhole. Unfortunately a survey of the battlefield shows her theres still 8 adversaries left, and--

Shit.

Zelos is down, Sheena surrounded by three. Lloyd's doing alright at least. But Sheena--

A plan is communicated in seconds. Anna passed Malos' sword back to him, and he casts a debuff across the field, calling "Hey chucklefucks!!"-- a stunt to hopefully draw attention to him. It works, sort of, but there are enough enemies at play that none of the ones around Zelos and Sheena have to move.

"Got it," Anna says, leaving Malos to deal with the attention he's gathered. Using size and speed to her advantage, she ducks past one blade-- Two more intercept her. They're both starting to flicker, physical forms beginning to break down. Chances are they're pissed she killed their driver. Welp. Until their ether finishes breaking down (which might take a bit, in this environment), looks like she's busy.

The battle rages on. Obviously upset by the fact that Lloyd had killed one of their comrades, another blade rushes at him, red ether pulsing harshly against the other bright crystals surrounding them. Lloyd pulls his swords into a block, but the force of the blade's claymore against Gagnrad pushes Lloyd into the dirt, causing him to skid back a solid foot. He's able to regain balance and set himself into a better defensive position quick, but it's just long enough for the blade to prepare themselves for another barrage of attacks.

Unlike the last blade, this one doesn't seem one for conversation. Lloyd focuses on standing up against their strikes, heavy-handed and fast as they come. His arms strain as he pushes them back, and eventually, Lloyd's cornered up against the wall of the cave. Without enough space to properly fight back, he doesn't stand a chance. Thinking quick, Lloyd slinks down to the ground as soon as the blade comes back for another hit, rolling away towards the middle of the cavern and gaining more room as a result. The blade is swift, however, and is able to swing at Lloyd and knick his leg something pretty. Lloyd bites back a cry of pain, instead jumping to his feet and deciding to play tricky.

Gripping his left sword underhandedly and his right one upperhandedly, he baits the blade into swinging, again and again, using the force of both swords in a strong block to direct the flow of the swings. The blade gets increasingly frustrated as Lloyd does this, the strength of the blows quickly becoming weaker as they try to hit Lloyd, so he keeps it up, even when the claymore is able to slip from the block just enough to slash at Lloyd's forearm.

Finally, Lloyd baits the blade once more, eyes narrowed in determination, and as the claymore is once again swept out of it's arc, Lloyd moves his left arm behind him, keeping the majority of his strength on his right side in order to keep the claymore blocked, and stabs deep into the blade's abdomen.

The blade howls in pain, but it's not done yet. Lloyd steps into an offensive position, ready to keep going, eyes shifting towards his allies to check on their status while the blade forces itself to stand strong. Malos and Anna are doing alright now that the old coot is dead, Sheena's overwhelmed but holding her own, so Lloyd will get over there as soon as this blade's taken care of, and Zelos -

Lloyd sees Zelos throw himself in front of the blow meant for Sheena, sees more than hears the knife tear into his skin as they're knocked down, and panic floods Lloyd's heart. Eyes widened with fear and disbelief, that same panic pulses through Lloyd's veins, heavy and toxic as the terrifying realization that Zelos needs help and no one can reach him, as bombarded as they are.

blood covers his coat, his gloves, his pants, his face
as he stares down at the one he failed, the one who needed him

Desperate, resounding horror echos down his body, stress worming itself into every crevice of his mind as he lets his anxiety to consume him, his thought track having locked itself into a cruel repetition of you're failing him. The space in between his shoulder blades begins to burn, hot with fury and panic and a need to suddenly be where he cannot, not by regular standards. The pain intensifies, intensifies, intensifies, until Lloyd is feeling tears sting at his eyes and the agony of his back almost outweighs the emotional distress he's under. He's left curling inwards on himself, breathing hard, as the blade before him watches in confusion, yet prepares to bring their claymore down onto Lloyd -

Lloyd shoots back upwards, a guttural yell wrenching itself from his throat as pure, neon cyan metaphysical wings sprout from his back, taking up the width of the cave and showering it in an even brighter glow than before. He snarls, eyes narrowed in contempt and desperation as he brings his swords up to clash against the claymore again, amplified strength surging through his arms. The blade, both increasingly confused about what the fuck is happening and how it's happening, has their claymore come flying out of their arms, a low growl from Lloyd being the last thing it hears before Lloyd slashes mercilessly at it's chest.

It's not getting back up.

That done, Lloyd backflips, letting his wings settle around him as he whips upwards over the scene and flies towards where he lost saw Zelos. It's with a one track mind of save him save him save him that Lloyd lands in a kneel, standing up behind the electric blade and grabbing them forcefully by their hair, roughly yanking them off of Zelos and into the dirt of the cave. Relief pours into his system when he realizes that, though injured, Zelos will be alright. From there, already determined to put a fucking end to this, he points a sword at the enemy blade's core crystal and stabs the other into the dirt by their head.

"Get up, Zelos. We have your back," he says, breathing hard, but forcing all of the reassurance he can muster into his voice. "We need you."

Anna shoves one of the blades off of her, ramming her dagger into somewhere that's going to hurt even though she's pretty sure she missed vitals. She doesn't have long to think about it, anyway. There's suddenly a brilliant, blinding flash of cyan that fills the cavern, and everyone's eyes are on Lloyd--

Lloyd, who has just sprouted wings from his back.

"Holy shit," Anna breathes, awestruck. Then it occurs to her she should probably--

An Aegis cannon goes off.

An Aegis cannon goes off.

An Aegis cannon goes off.

The incredible, terrible strength of amplified ether cleaving the atmosphere in half is enough make anyone's blood or ether curdle, a shockwave sent through the planet as it bears the weight of something it has not for years. The shockwave alone would have easily sent them all scrambling for their balance, but from the way the cave rumbles-- The cannon did not just fire harmlessly. It seems to have connected somewhere in the mountain range, meaning the mines are getting the absolute worst of the tremors.

Anna grits her teeth and squeezes her eyes shut, the rumble in her bones familiar and terrible and fear flashes before her eyes (what if it had been closer what if it had been them for real this time what if she fucking died here and she never saw her son or her husband again what if it was all for nothing)--

She feels more than she sees or hears Malos toss shields up around herself and the rest of their companions.

And then the cave comes down around them all.

Edited 2019-05-20 04:04 (UTC)

Getting the weight of his attacker off him already does a few wonders for Zelos, but he's still disoriented from the stab, the ether loss, and the impact to the floor, so his reaction time is limited to a relieved gasp for air. He tries to force his eyes back open, but then Zelos feels the ambient ether in the cave jumpstart itself back to normal after a dangerous spike that leaves him slightly breathless and in pain, and when he finally does open his eyes, he sees neon cyan ether crystallized behind Lloyd.

What... the fuck.

Something in his core is screaming in panic, and with the chaos all around them and the scene in front of him, Zelos can't tell if it's his own or Sheena's. But it doesn't matter in the end, though; do or die, Zelos. Get up and get back into the fight. Swallowing hard, Zelos utters some noncommittal half-baked word of gratitude and acknowledgement for Lloyd, then tries to get up despite the pain on his shoulder. Pain that grows from warm to hot, then from hot to searing, then scorching, then--

「 An Aegis cannon goes off. 」

The atmosphere itself is shattered and pierced with the might of the blast. Before he can even bite it away, a scream is ripped from Zelos' throat, halfway through getting up, and he stumbles backwards and away from Lloyd when faced with the beginning of the end. This is fucked. Oh, Architect, they will not survive. His mind is screaming, but before the blast can fall upon them Zelos calculates its speed and distance by tasting the way the ether in his veins begins to boil--

And then the charge hits.

「 Report: the charge did not hit the mountain itself.
Protocols specify that being anywhere further than the estimated
five kilometer radius from the blast site should ensure at least
higher than a 50% survival rate depending on cover. 」

「 Ether output increase: 46%. The charge was not set to the full
depth of its destructive capacity. 」

「 Distance from blast site: 7.8 km. Survival probability: 84%. 」

「 Hypothesis: Area has become the target for a Sylvaranti warning shot. 」

「 Recommended course of action: Exit the ten kilometer fallout radius. 」

Somewhere in his core Zelos knows that he needs to warn the others. He needs to warn the others, but pained and lost in his own calculating mind as he is, the only things Zelos is aware of are the ether shield covering him whole and the painful boiling of his own ether in his veins. He grips at his stomach and pulls, scratches, reaches up to his throat and desperately clutches it in his hands.

It burns. Zelos stumbles back, back, back even though the ceiling begins to cave in, through the rubble, the ether in the atmosphere choking him as it spikes once again. Eventually Zelos falls to his knees, arms coming to cover his midsection as he retches, gaze lost.

The cyan light from Lloyd fades away as the rubble separates him from its source.

Edited 2019-05-20 06:15 (UTC)

Sheena's handling these three just fine, thanks, even if she takes a nick or two in the process. It's lucky that they're all so intent on facing her, really - she's backed up enough that they can't all come in at once, and she doesn't have to worry about them getting out of her attack range if they all want her dead.

Then there's a flash of cyan, of something like feathers unfurling.

Oh, no.

That's not good, and she winces in sympathy at the sight of Lloyd's wings flaring to life, but - she does know none of these blades will be able to do much against an angel's abilities, at least. Once they're all dealt with, there'll be plenty of time for him to recuperate.

Lloyd's power is enough to distract the blade in front of her, too, their eyes going wide as they stare at him, and Sheena swaps to her own knife to go in for a killing blow. Their form wavers and glitches, her knife passing through air harmlessly, and she nearly loses her balance with the momentum of the failed attack.

That's when the cannon fires.

She can almost taste it in the air, an overwhelmingly sharp surge of ether that makes the levels in the mines feel like Sylvarant with the mana at its thinnest by contrast. The shield thrown up over her helps, but she barely even manages to register that, as the earth shakes around them in a furious rumble and the ceiling starts to give way. Sheena screams as well, Zelos's panic and fear and something else she couldn't put a name to if there wasn't a fucking cave collapsing around her amplified to unbearable heights with the ether levels, as she drops to the floor, hands clutching her head.

The last thing she sees is Lloyd, backlit by the glow of his wings, as the stone crumbles, cutting him and Malos off from the three of them.

The blast fades, eventually, and the rockfall ends, nothing remaining but some still-elevated ether levels and a giant pile of stone between them and the only way out of here.

Well. She's alive, and Zelos must be, too, or the emotional link wouldn't still be there. She clings to that, a little tired relief making its way through underneath everything else. Anna's here, too, and it looks like at least one of the blades attacking them had escaped the worst of the rubble, though they're dazed. If they'd lived, then Malos's shields must have held, but--

"Lloyd? Malos?" she calls, uncurling enough to cup her hands around her mouth. There's a rougher edge than normal to her voice, one that kind of hurts to raise it in the first place, but she ignores it. "You guys okay?"

It takes a few seconds for the boiling to finally start subsiding, leaving behind an unbearable ache in Zelos' veins and spasms coursing through his muscles instead. His ears are ringing and he's nauseous, so Zelos spits off to the side, breathing heavily as his body reconnects with his mind.

The ether in the air hasn't so much stabilized as it has congregated and unified. Its levels are still higher than how the mines were before the battle broke out, let alone before the cannon blast hit, and thus the risks of remaining trapped down here for longer than previously estimated have multiplied. The biggest factor is ether poisoning; chances of human complications are way too high now, and the longer they remain here, the worse it'll get for the blades, too. So faster they make their way out of here, or at least out of the blast radius, the better.

Okay, then.

Disoriented but determined, Zelos clicks his tongue, shakily lets go of himself and plants his palms on the rough ground, feels the little pebbles and dirt on his palms through the gloves. He trembles. Breathe in, breathe out. Push the panic down to white-noise anxiety for now. To be perfectly fair Zelos wants nothing more than to lay down and allow the aftershocks of being hit with Sylvarant's cannon to course his body until they've left, but if he lets that happen, if he so much as thinks too deeply on what just happened, he will lock up and die here.

Lloyd's words and Sheena's previous reassurances from their emotional link come forth in his subconscious. He can't have that. There are people here who need him to survive. He got them in this mess, so he at least has to get them the hell out of here, starting with whoever's still nearby. So inhaling deeply and holding his breath, Zelos slowly raises his gaze, a call for his driver half formed on his tongue, and immediately stops.

The part of the mines where they're trapped in is a section leading over to where their traveling party first came from, the exit blocked. With the high concentration of ether in the atmosphere and his own disorientation, Zelos can't, couldn't pinpoint any signals around him. That's why it comes as such a surprise that there are two of Dickson's blades here besides him, currently standing way too close to Sheena and Anna for it to be comfortable, weapons drawn despite the painful amounts of ether that surrounds them, obviously ready to kill if necessary.

Violet eyes settle on Sheena first. Shaking all over, Zelos freezes where he kneels.

Alive.

She's alive.

And if she's alive, so is Malos.

Anna breathes shakily, blinking her eyes. Her insides are still rattled, and panic wraps icy claws around her throat. Her arm is burning, and she's not sure if that's real or just her imagination, but the pain, phantom or otherwise, is enough to keep her where she is for the moment, trying to shoulder past pain and panic both. Come on, Anna. Come on. You're not dead, no one's dead--

No one's dead, right?

She swings herself upright in a somewhat violent movement that makes her kind of dizzy, but she needs to see. She doesn't have the strength to stand just yet but sitting is enough to look around. Zelos and Sheena both accounted for. Zelos looks pretty bad off, but Anna can't imagine what that bullshit felt like to a blade, seeing as they're so sensitive to ambient ether. Sheena's okay enough to be yelling--

Oh. Where are Lloyd and Malos? Anna pushes herself to her feet, scanning the area a little more thoroughly. She's facing Sheena and Zelos, a wall of rubble to her left. Also to her left is a gentle tug from Malos. Looks like they've been separated. Not ideal. Workable.

She reaches up to Malos' core crystal, intending to send some kind of signal so he knows she's fine, maybe check up on him--

Pain explodes in her right calf.

Anna cries out, the pain enough to send her to her knees. Someone just fucking stabbed her, maybe threw a knife at her from behind, and--

Her vision blurs as electric ether hits her system, numbing her nerves and dropping her to the ground like a sack of bricks. Distantly, she hears voices.

"Whaddaya say, Aegis? We can do a lot worse to your driver if you don't come willingly."

"Why don't we just kill its driver and be done with it? That thing'll be a lot easier to cart around if it's just a core crystal."

Anger rears its head in Anna's chest, because Zelos is not a thing, but she can't. fucking. move.

The first voice cuts in again. "Nah, lay off, least we can do is give him a choice." A pause, a huff. "Well, Aegis?"

Anna yelps with pain and then goes down, and Sheena's gaze snaps over to her, and to the blade behind her (way too close to Zelos) with a set of crackling knives in their hand, clearly one short. Fuck. There's a mounting pain in her head, something she really can't place, but it's making it hard for her to concentrate on the emotional link long enough to dampen it. Alright.

There's movement behind her, something she only just catches, and she whirls, scrambling with one hand for the knife she'd dropped as she ducks back away from the other blade, the one who'd been dazed a second ago, attempting to grab her. She pushes herself to her feet as quickly as her bruised limbs will let her, tries to get to Zelos's side - she can't do anything for Anna while these two are here, and they're after him anyway, she can't leave him alone - but her way is blocked by the same blade standing between them. They hold their sword up to prevent her from ducking past as they speak, and -

Something like shock blooms in her chest as they say it, tempered with offense (Zelos isn't a thing).

"What do you mean," she gets out, eyes wide, before her train of thought catches up with her enough to both put it together and realize this isn't the time. Oh, that's bad. And worse, it means they're not really concerned with getting Zelos back alive.

Okay. Deep breath, recollect yourself. The pain and emotional bleed and that cut on her arm that she's realizing now is deeper than she'd thought aren't helping, but she's been worse off. "The only people," and she puts extra stress on the word just to make her point, because she's really getting mad about it now, "dying here today are you two." That's all the warning the blade in front of her gets before she's lunging forward, knife in hand, going in for the kill. They try to back up, but trip over a fallen stone, stumbling.

The hit Anna takes is enough to freeze the fire-imbued ether in Zelos' veins for a moment, guilt crystallizing in his chest as the blades then block and threaten Sheena away from moving, then address him to give himself up. As quickly as it came he then squashes it down. The logical part of Zelos' brain knows that the promise of choice is as empty as it comes--it really, really would be easier to bring back and control him if he's force-restarted through killing his driver, and then no one would have to worry about the Aegis throwing a fit on the way back.

Doesn't matter what the blades offer, what they say--if he puts himself in their hands then Zelos is going to die.

'Like hell am I going to die here.'

Sheena's disgust and shock grip at Zelos tightly, hot and fervent in the wake of his cold guilt. Something in his chest is then emboldened with her push, and he savours it, lets it shakily rouse him up from his kneel. He laughs, gathers attention, and plasters a large grin on his face. "Ooff, tough choice. I guess it's nice of you guys to offer, at least," he grits out, ether pooling in his hands. "Unfortunately, though," Zelos straightens up, scoffs, "you lost me the moment you called me a fucking thing!"

As soon as Sheena lunges forward, Zelos, with a cry, releases the ether in his hands in a short blast that heats up the air directly around all five of them. It's meant to be disarming. Then, he moves quickly to gather that ether around Sheena's knife, setting it alight for her to do as she will with it. She can handle it.

Zelos sways. Discharging ether after the mess that just happened and his own leftover pain leaves him dizzy and with his vision swimming, veins slightly alight again with the manifested fire he has to keep and maintain, but he ignores it to summon his sword in a flash of bright, orange light. He's wasting ether fast, but their survival requires it, so before he can succumb to exhaustion Zelos pushes himself forward as well, over to swing at Anna's attacker with a broad slash, strong enough that it knocks them off their feet upon making contact with their weapon.

Anna bites her tongue and takes a sharp breath, trying to summon enough strength to get back up. Like hell she's just gonna lie here. The paralysis effect seems to dulling, at least-- her attacker having assumed the stab to the leg would be enough to keep her down, but she's Anna fucking Irving.

Is this a terrible idea? Yeah. Does she care? No.

She gets to her feet. It hurts like hell and she's a little dizzy from both the electric attack and how much blood she's losing, but she can push through it. Just long enough to find her dagger, which is set alight with Zelos' fire. Oh that's neat as fucking hell. She forgoes her desire to spin it in her hand, becuase that's fucking dangerous, and she doesn't need any more ether burns--

Zelos knocks the blade closest to her off balance. She lunges forward and buries her dagger in their back, and the stab combined with Zelos' fire makes quick work of them. They dissipate into base ether immediately, leaving their core crystal to drop, dormant, to the ground.

Anna immediately sits back down. Ow.

Zelos's outburst brings a soft swell of pride in Sheena, something small and almost immediately lost in her surprise as her knife bursts into flames. Well. She knows what to do with this, at least. One more stab at the stumbling blade.

This time, she strikes home, sinking into the blade's flesh as the flames lick around it. They scream, a short sound that's cut off by their form also dissolving, and then there's a second core crystal clattering to the earth.

With both blades dealt with (dead? They shouldn't leave the core crystals here, right?), Sheena relaxes a little, taking stock of the situation. They're all injured, with Anna the worst off if the way she immediately collapsed back down to the ground is any indication, and they're still trapped underground, with Lloyd and Malos somewhere on the other side of things. Hopefully. If they'd answered her she'd missed it in the chaos. Sheena swallows down her fear, for the moment. There are all kinds of awful things that could still happen to them, but none of them will matter much if they don't get the worst of these injuries dealt with. Carefully, not wanting to cause a second rock slide, she makes her way over to Anna and Zelos.

"Pretty sure it was just those two," she says as she crouches down. How many had there been before the cave in? She can't really remember at this point, but hopefully they're not all on the other side with Malos and Lloyd. They hadn't been shielded, she thinks. "How bad off are you guys?"

… She's not sure what to do with her knife, still flaming as it is. After a moment of deliberation, she stabs it into the ground to douse the flames.

The end of that mess is a blur of sounds and shapes to Zelos' deteriorating mind. Still, as soon as he hears two screams and the ambient ether drops significantly enough to confirm the two blades' "deaths", with his whole body tingling and his mind swimming, Zelos releases a breath and stumbles backwards after dismissing his sword. Architect, everything hurts. The Aegis barely clings to his conscious through sheer force of will alone, blinking rapidly and trying to find Anna's downed form in the murky waters of his vision and swallowing hard when he finds her.

Sheena calls out at the two of them, but her words are muffled, coming in and out like lapping ocean waters on the shore of his tired, currently one-track mind. He can't quite make out what she said other than a general question on how everyone's doing, and there's a little laugh at that bubbling out of Zelos that can't tell if it's genuinely amused or downright manic. Because, well, he feels like shit, but Anna got stabbed. She's bleeding quite heavily where she sits, too. Like, holy shit; it can't be healthy for a human to lose that much blood.

An idea pops into Zelos' mind and he settles on it without further question. "Well," he gets out while walking forward, coughs, and tries again. Gasps. "There's only one of us that's not standing. So let's... start with that."

When he finally makes his way to Anna, Zelos lets himself plop down onto his knees in front of her, breathing heavily and trying to will down the muscle spasms that come and go all over his body. He focuses on her leg, pulls at the ether in his veins, winces. Yeah, okay. The burning stubbornly remains, particularly surrounding his injuries, but at least it's so constant that it's getting easier to ignore, so. He can probably get away with this.

Alight, then. Focus on the present. Zelos inhales deeply and sets his gaze on the woman before him, then scowls, trying to look as damn serious as he can, both hands held up in front of his face, palms facing Anna. Without further ado he summons a swirling, controlled flame to each palm and tries to replace the previous look with a smile, trying to be as gentle and reassuring as his exhaustion will allow. "Okay," he says, almost apologetic, "show me your wound."

Edited 2019-05-22 15:03 (UTC)

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WHY IS MALOS ALWAYS IN CHARGE OF TIMESKIPS

YOU KIDS WANNA BUY SOME ETHER CRYSTALS

STRANGER DANGER

Great!

WONDERFUL

MALOS HAS HAD ENOUGh

YOU FUCKED IT

WE FUCKED IT!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOUFI9T4_TA

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HERE WE FUCKING GO

w e l p

An Aegis cannon goes off.

THIS IS THE WORST DAY. EVER. OF ALL TIME

IT'S ALL FUCKED

WHOOPSIE DAISY WE GOT INVOLVED IN A WIDDLE FUCKY WUCKY

CAN THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE

(SPIDERHAM VOICE) IT CAN GET WORSE

SOME CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AMONG THIS CHAOS AT LEAST

I'M SO PROUD OF HIM

ME TOO WHAT THE FUCK

LET'S GET SERIOUS