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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There's a bit of cold guilt sliding down Zelos' throat when Malos and Sheena finally leave him alone, combined with some anxious feeling at the prospect of being left behind, but he swallows it down and keeps his eyes on the red blade instead. Because nobody here seems to think that watching this stranger as he sticks around their numbers is important, which is fucking bizarre, but he's still kind of making Zelos a little nervous, so.

Silently, through the fog in his mind, Zelos carefully observes what he's doing: collecting the intact and sleeping core crystals from Dickson's blades in his arms, slowly, one by one, as gently as if he were picking something precious like flowers in a field. The sight pops a bubble of curiosity in Zelos' chest, something that curls his lips into a disarming smile that he accompanies with a hum loud enough for the blade to hear. "Plannin' on returning them to the humans?" he asks softly, stepping forward. Then frowns. "Or do you... have..."

And that's as far as Zelos gets, because as his speech slows and slurs, his mind and body finally give out on him, conscious fading to black as he stumbles forward in free-fall.

She doesn't even make it all the way to Malos, let alone start moving Anna onto her back.

Zelos's words dissolve into mush, and there's just enough time for her to realize what's happening and move, the remnants of adrenaline in her system helping her whirl around and catch him as he starts to slump. His head lands on her shoulder heavily, too heavily for him to be awake, and oh, that's bad.

"Zelos? Zelos, fuck, hey," she says, as if he's not clearly dead to the world. He's alive, right? He's breathing, she can tell that much, but -- she should be able to feel his heartbeat, the way he'd landed, shouldn't she?

"Nevermind, I guess I'm getting him," she says to Malos, trying to hide the stress in her voice with a joke as she tries to heft his weight into a more stable position. Had he always been this heavy, or she just more tired than she'd realized?

Kratos tenses slightly at the question from Zelos-- having been quite certain no one was paying him any attention-- but waits until he's picked up the last core crystal and placed it in the bag with the others (not the kindest place to store them, but he does not have anywhere better at the moment) before he answers. It seems Zelos has passed out before Kratos could answer. Convenient, though Kratos supposes Zelos isn't the only one curious.

"Well I wasn't going to leave them here, where they would be unlikely to be found again," Kratos explains for whoever is listening, slinging his bag over his shoulder and straightening.

With Zelos down that makes only three of them concious, and only two of them uninjured. They should really hurry. (The longer they stay here the longer Martel remains in that cannon.) Kratos wonders if he should offer to help Anna, but he's quite certain the somewhat-fragile hold he has on his sanity right now is going to shatter if he has to endure the sensation of anyone touching him, even if it is his wife, even if she is unconcious, even if he willingly picked her up. So he lets Malos handle it, grateful that if Irvings are anything, it's stubborn. Malos seems to be alright.

So Kratos takes point as they make their way out of the mines, figuring the least he can do is take care of anyone else who might attempt to ambush them at this point. It's a good thing there's very little mines remaining before they're out in the open air again. From there it will only be a matter of deciding whether their wounds are bad enough to risk venturing into town for a healer or not, but that decision isn't on Kratos.

(If they do decide to go into town, Kratos might just go ahead on his own.)

Luckily for them, they don't have to even get as far as town to find a healer. One's waiting for them-- sort of. Nia had had other business, but once she sees three familiar faces she forgets entirely about it, especially since Malos is carrying Anna.

"Architect, the lot of you!" she swears, flagging them down. She does a hasty survey of the area-- lot of dirt and rocks, being the base of a mountain range and all, which isn't ideal but will have to do. "Malos, put Anna down, if she's bad enough off to be needing carrying, then so are you!"

"I'm concious and she's not," Malos protests, but he doesn't argue, easing Anna onto the ground where Nia indicated. He's moving like it's his leg bothering him-- of course it is. Fuckin' Irvings.

"Nia," she introduces herself to the lot Malos has got with him, figuring they might appreciate it. "Friend of Malos'." She doesn't recognize anyone here she hasn't met other than the Aegis, but he's corporeal if unconcious, so he can wait. The blade kid-- is he a blade? No human she knows has wings, but he's acting like a human high on ether right now-- is whimpering a little as the wings deposit him gently on the ground, so maybe she'll look at him next. After a moment, for their sakes, she appends: "Healing blade."

Normally she isn't so open about that fact (there's a reason her clothes hide both core crystal and ether lines, after all, even if she's not currently wearing a hat to hide her distinctly cat-shaped ears), but half of the present company already knows, and like hell she's not going to heal them just to keep a secret when they'd kick the arses of anyone who tried to give her trouble for it. (What if she loses them for real this time? Because she chose to forgo healing them? She'd never live with herself!)

Deciding that she'll have to endure Malos bitching about Anna regardless of which one of them she heals-- healing blade eaters works the same way hurting them does, so that's good if nothing else about today is-- Nia just sets herself beside Anna and finds the wound based purely on which leg Malos was favoring even before he sat down on the other side of his driver. ...A burn? It's careful, deliberate, which... Well that would be a fire blade's idea of handling a bleeding wound, wouldn't it? Nia rolls her eyes, just a little. As her ether hits the burned flesh and the depth of the wound underneath, though, she reconsiders-- It's not ideal, but it was quick thinking, and leaving Anna open and bleeding in those mines would have been significantly worse, and this would have been faster than getting it to stop bleeding otherwise-- if they'd even managed that. So she doesn't comment and keeps healing, instead asking a more important question:

"Do I even want t'know what you got yourselves into this time?"

Sheena's never been as glad to feel fresh air as she is when they finally make it out of the cave. Even with half their party unconscious or high off their ass, even with the knowledge that Tethe'alla definitely knows where they are - they'd made it out alive, at least.

Someone stands in front of them on the path, and Sheena tenses, trying to come up with a plan for dealing with another attacker with an unconscious Zelos on her back and no one else except maybe Kratos in any kind of shape to fight, but thankfully her no-nonsense familiarity and the others' reactions to her make it unnecessary. Malos knows her, which -- that's lucky. But then, Kratos had shown up at just the right time, too. Maybe that's related. Sheena doesn't voice her thoughts, just smiles gratefully in Nia's direction and offers her name in return before focusing instead on getting off her feet before she collapses and takes Zelos with her.

Movements slowed by her exhaustion, she pulls Zelos off her back carefully, lowering him to the ground as gently as she can manage, before she takes a seat next to him. It's hard to gauge how bad off he is - but he'd been out like a light the entire way out of the cave, and the wound on his shoulder had been slowly bleeding ether onto her for just as long, an uncomfortable, too-hot sensation that feels almost like getting too close to a fire. It's still going, and she brushes his hair away from it to get a look. Well. If it hasn't killed him yet, he'll be fine long enough for Nia to deal with Anna and Malos's wounds, hopefully. Not like she's got any healing abilities that would do anything, here. She beckons to Lloyd, patting the ground on the other side of her. The ether's effects should start fading now that they're free of the caves - her head feels clearer already, even with the fog of energy loss threatening to replace the ether headache - but maybe if he sits he can put his wings away, finally.

Nia asks a question, and Malos looks like he's too focused on Anna to answer - which, fair - and Sheena realizes again that she's the best-equipped here to have a conversation.

"A whole bunch of blades came after us," she says. "And then part of the cave came down on us. That was a cannon blast, wasn't it?" She hadn't even thought about what had caused it, but as soon as she says it it clicks, with a sinking of her heart. Oh, no. What are they doing to Colette, right now?

"Well that sounds about right," Nia mutters to herself. Again, fuckin' Irvings. Always getting into trouble. Was it their idea to just try and walk off with Tethe'alla's Aegis like no big deal? She's not even surprised they're involved.

Sheena mentions the cannon, and Nia flinches, eyes darting towards Malos, but if he's bothered he doesn't show it. She waits a second, but neither he nor Kratos look like they want to give Sheena an answer, which is just par for the course. Nia sighs.

"Yeah, it was," Nia answers, her anger making the last of her healing job roll over Anna like a particularly aggressive wave, and Malos sends her a dirty look as the effects of that hit him. "What? If you don't want me distracted, then you answer the question!"

Malos grumbles, fingers rubbing over the scars on his right wrist. "Hopefully they don't try it again," he mutters.

"It's weird, if you ask me," Nia says, scowling. "Sylvarant hasn't fired in-- well, at least as long as I've been around. But." She sends a look at Zelos, reconsiders. "S'pose they figure Tethe'alla's vulnerable right now, huh?"

Thinking about that pisses her off, so she'd rather just not think about it. Still got work to do, anyway. She checks on Malos' leg to make sure it's fine even though of course it is, that's how blade eaters work, then she moves onto her next charge-- might as well check the Aegis himself, especially seeing as he's bleeding all over the place.

"He'll be alright," she tells Sheena, since she looks worried. "Blades heal pretty fast on their own, so he'd probably be fine even without my help..." But he's pretty low on ether, and that's not going to regulate quickly at the rate he's losing it. So Nia takes a deep breath and sets about healing him-- easy work, if a little slow. What he could really use is healing blade who can afford to share more ether with him than Nia can, but unfortunately there's no one like that close. He'll have to settle for Nia closing the wound and work on regulating his own ether himself. There's plenty of ambient ether around, anyway. He'll build it back up.

She turns to Sheena next, holding her hands out for Sheena to take. "You want me to heal you, too?"

Edited 2019-06-03 01:06 (UTC)

Her heart manages to sink even further at that.

"It's my fault, then," she mumbles, a little quiet like she hadn't entirely meant to say it out loud, as her gaze drops to the ground. Of course it is. She'd gone in alone without a plan and with hardly any information - maybe if she'd been smarter about it, she could've figured out something that wouldn't have left the situation as bad as it is, that wouldn't have left one country defenseless and the other just itching to torture Colette for martial superiority. Typical.

She's lost in thought enough that she jumps a little when Nia makes her way over, but she moves, making sure there's room for Nia to check on Zelos without her getting in the way. Maybe she watches a little more closely than necessary as she heals him, but to be fair, they'd only just met. He groans, and she tenses a little, but - no, he's still out, just reacting as the wound closes. Sheena forces herself to relax again, nodding in acknowledgement at Nia's words. "It's not like we're in much shape to go anywhere right now," she tries to joke, weakly. "He just needs rest?" If he's not bleeding anymore, just sleeping off the exhaustion - that’s fine. It's fine.

"Pretty sure my leg's the worst of it," she says, shifting to let Nia see the wound. It's shallow, but wide enough that it'd be annoying the whole time it healed naturally. "If you can heal that, I think I'll be okay." She reaches out, taking her hands gently.

If you asked Lloyd what was worse, suffering from an ether high, or crashing down from said high, Lloyd would answer with a simple "yes."

The trip down from the mines is an exercise in keeping steady. Though the wings still protruding out from Lloyd's shoulder blades keep him up and carry him down the trail, he has to put all of his remaining focus into staying straight on the path. It's hard, and by the time they find a place to stop, one of Malos' old friends coming to greet them, there is a little headache building in the space between his brows, knitted together as they were by his constant squinting.

Within the time it takes for them to be back on flatland ground, the clarity of Lloyd's mind slowly returns, bit by bit, though the lingering effects of the trip remains. The high density of the ether in the mines isn't prevalent down here, and the regulated ether pull isn't oppressive. While Lloyd's incredibly grateful about the return to normalcy, he's left with the cruel reality of ether highs and mana overuse: his entire being hurts.

Lloyd's head throbs with merciless agony and exhaustion, that which flows through his blood and seeps into his bones. The space between his shoulder blades burns with pain, more intense than it's ever been when he's used his wings, and even the soft brush of his tank top over the area leaves him whimpering. The wounds on his leg and arm sting like pins and needles, and though Lloyd wants to process what's happening now that he can, the truth is he's just too fucking hurt to properly do so.

Some things do read clear to him. For one, he wasn't hallucinating, and that really is a Kratos, if not his own. Zelos is unconscious, and so is his mom, and Malos staggers about like he's ready to collapse too. Sheena seems alright, if not concerned and overwhelmed with everything that had gone down, and that acts as a grounding realization to Lloyd. She's alright, that's great.

When they stop, Malos' friend scolding him with a decisively worried tone, Lloyd starts to feel the wings flutter, ready to place him down. He hovers a little further, down to where Sheena has sat herself down, patting the ground next to her, and let's them deposit him there, curling around him one last time before breaking away into light particles. With the little brain power he has, he wonders just when his wings started doing that, curling around him, and asserts it must be instinctive. Who knows how these things work.

(Kratos would have, but Lloyd is pointedly not thinking about Kratos. Or his doppelganger, for that matter.)

Gently, he lifts his arm and grabs at Sheena's hand, interlocking their fingers and leaning against a tree backing them. Lloyd closes his eyes, takes a breath, and focuses on pain management. His everything hurts, but from what he can tell, the most physical damage was the swipes he took from the blade with the claymore, and those aren't deep enough to be lethal. His migraine is pretty bad, but that's due to ether high, and his back… well. Not much to be done about the fact that his body was never meant to handle an angel transformation. Lloyd will be fine, but the healing would be nice.

Still, Lloyd thinks, flinching and whimpering again when his shoulder blades touch the tree trunk, this fucking sucks. He sits himself back up, fixes his posture, and hisses when his body protests at the sudden movements. He wishes these pains were from actual wounds. Those could be healed easy!

He's totally zoning out, not being able to really follow the track of the conversation with everything that's fucking happened within the past hour, but he snaps to attention when he hears Sheena's muttered words, having just enough context to get what she's saying. "That's bullshit," he says, voice hoarse, squeezing her hand weakly. "You couldn't have known. We're not from here. And Zelos still needed saving."

"Bullshit," Kratos says the same moment Lloyd does, then hastily shuts his mouth. He's quiet for long enough for the boy to speak, but plods on with his own two cents the moment Lloyd is done. "He's right. You did what any sane person would have done, getting Zelos out of there. Sylvarant's the only one to blame for--"

He breaks off, clearly biting down anger.

Nia sighs, but rather than get involved, just takes stock of the leg wound Sheena shows her, and nods, squeezing Sheena's hand and channeling her ether. It'll feel much like a stream rushing through Sheena's veins-- the flow of water unforgiving and unrelenting, purging the body's impurities while rejuvinating dead cells in its wake. She's done in short order. "There you go," she tells Sheena, squeezing her hand one last time before letting go.

Time to check on Lloyd. Nia kneels down in front of him-- he's moving like he's sore all over, and now that the wings are gone, his ether signature is reading more like a human's. She thinks. It's still weird, but whatever he is, she supposes it doesn't matter. Healing's healing. She holds a hand out towards him. "Well, how 'bout you?" she asks.

"I know," she tells Lloyd, though her gaze drifts to Kratos as he speaks up. He'd been so quiet the whole way out of the caves she hadn't expected him to say anything. At least it sounds like he's mad about it, too. She sighs, squeezing Lloyd's hand back fondly. "I know, I wouldn't have left him there, I just-- I keep thinking that maybe if I'd been smarter about it, they'd both be safe now, instead of Colette having to suffer like this."

Nia's healing doesn't feel like she'd expected - a surge of water, rather than a ray of bright light - but it's appreciated, nonetheless, as the wound closes and the worst of her aches fade. "Thanks," she says, with a small smile as she lets her hand fall back to her side. "That's a lot better."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Lloyd says to Sheena, pointedly ignoring Kratos' agreement from earlier. Don't think about it, focus on helping Sheena feel better. He coughs a little, willing his voice to clear up. "You already saved one Aegis, but there's no way you could have saved them both by yourself. That's why we're here and traveling with you."

Lloyd rolls his shoulders a little, flinching at the soreness that pins itself through his bones. "We'll save her too, Sheena. We'll save her and help her get the freedom she deserves, and then she'll be safe from those fuckers and their weapons."

At Nia's question, Lloyd turns and faces her properly, shooting her a weak and pained grin. "I dunno how much your healing can do for me, truthfully," he says, apologetic in tone, though he unbuttons his jacket and shrugs it off anyways, careful to keep his necklace under his tank top. Wincing at the feeling of the fabric on his back shifting, he holds out his arm, showing off the wound there. "I have another on my leg, but neither are too deep. Otherwise, it's - a lot of sore muscle, I think. My back is killing me, but I'm crediting that to mana - ether - overuse."

Nia lets them have their talk, not seeing the point in her getting involved. She likes this kid, though. Always refreshing to meet someone who actually gives a shit about blades.

She listens as Lloyd lists his wounds, then finally just takes him by the hand, sending her ether into him to get a better look. The first streams of water under his veins are somewhat gentle, feeling out the issue. Most of the wounds are straightfoward, and she directs the currents of healing ether to do their job there-- Purge infections and dying cells, help the body regenerate new cells to take the old ones' places. It's forceful, in a way, becuase water has trouble being anything but, until the currents of her ether reach the muscles on his back, and there, hit a wall.

She exhales, softly, having felt this before. Pathways of burned ether channels, scarred tissue left in their wake. Definitely ether overuse. Malos and Anna were the same, after--

Anyway.

"Bunch of burned ether channels back here," Nia tells Lloyd, just so he knows. "So you're probably right about ether overuse." The wings, she figures. No wonder, seeing as he's... Well, he's got a human heart, and he doesn't have ether lines or a core crystal, so even if his ether levels are too high to be a human he must be one. A human who can use ether, though? Fancy that. No suprise his body isn't taking it well. "I can ease the pain and heal some of the internal damage, but if you've got scars those aren't going to fade."

Nia pushes her waters a little harder, urging them to go deeper. There's some resistance, but only some, becuase few things can actually stand in opposition to water. It takes much more force than the river-like currents that healed Lloyd's other wounds, resulting in a sensation that must be much more like a tsunami overwhelming a shore of dead cells. There's a lot to regenerate, and she probably doesn't get all of it, but after a minute or so she lets her waters recede.

"There you go," she tells Lloyd, and then promptly finds a place to sit down. That was a lot of ether she expended. Where's Dromarch when you need him? He could have picked up some of the slack. She sends a scowl in Kratos' direction. "You're alright, aren't you?" she asks.

"I am not injured," Kratos answers, which Nia is grateful for, though it certainly sounds like Kratos at least has a stick up his ass if nothing else. After a moment, tone sharp, Kratos adds: "Colette isn't in the cannon, if that brings you any relief. It was Martel."

Nia raises her eyebrows, but Malos beats her to the question.

"Thought Martel was dead," Malos says.

"The same could be said of you," is Kratos' response, and Malos splutters while Nia does her best to bite down a laugh. Did Malos and Anna really not tell him? Oh, she hopes she's around long enough to hear that argument play out. "If I can believe that miracle, it's not difficult to believe another. Besides. I would be hard pressed to forget the taste of Martel's ether. I know it was her."

In the exhausted nothingness of unconscious, Zelos doesn't have to do much other than float about in the remaining ether his body hosts. Instinctively he begins the process of regenerating the amounts that he'd lost in the mines, but the process is slow and arduous, painful, at odds with the ether loss of the wounds he'd sustained. And then that ether leakage in his body suddenly stops as something enters his system, like a stream of water that freezes over in his injuries, tying the torn skin and keeping the rest of his ether inside.

Zelos groans, but otherwise doesn't wake. Instead he takes the time to begin regulating his own ether once again, running system checkups, sanity tests, configuring a few odd superficial things here and there. Breathe in, breathe out. It doesn't take too long before the ether regulation process in his core kickstarts itself back up again and Zelos' levels slowly begin rising.

10%, 12%, 13%, 15%. Slow rise, crawling through the minutes. It'll take a long while before Zelos can consider himself stable enough to actually do anything of importance, but at least, as his system restores and when his levels hit somewhere above the 20% threshold, he manages to wake.

And what a goddamn thing he wakes up to hear.

Someone's claiming that it's not Colette in the cannon. It sounds suspiciously like the blade from the mines, if he recalls correctly, and Zelos' first emotion upon waking is a sharp irritation when he still can't manage to catch the blade's name. Fine, then--he'll just be "That Guy" for now, for simplicity's sake. Slowly, with much effort, Zelos manages to open his eyes, then turn his head to the side to where he can hear That Guy speaking. And, honestly, what the fuck is he talking about? Zelos knows that was--it was--don't. Don't think about it right now, Zelos, it's fine.

His vision's still blurry, but he manages to catch the soft glow of the other blade's core crystal. At once Zelos struggles out a laugh, something weak and mocking rattling his exhausted lungs. "Who the fuck... do you think you are," Zelos manages out through laughs, softly shaking his head. Architect, he's still tired, but. "Some kinda... Aegis expert? That's--That's Colette."

Sheena can't stay down on herself when Lloyd's being encouraging, even if she'd tried. Everything just makes more sense laid out like that. "Yeah, you're right," she says, and then, more softly, "Thanks, Lloyd."

She curls in on herself just a little, bringing her knees up to her chest so she can rest her chin on them as she watches Nia heal Lloyd. Without the pressure of needing to get Zelos somewhere safe, and with her injuries dealt with, she's realizing how tired she actually is. They all need rest, though, not just her. She must have spaced out at some point, because she jolts a little when Nia speaks again, looking up as she listens.

"It doesn't really make a difference," she says after a moment, though she's still frowning. If Kratos is right - and he sounds sure, so it's possible - then it doesn't really make anything better, just adds a whole bunch of questions. Such as - "Whoever it is, we still have to get them out of there. But… if it's not Colette, where is she?"

Something shifts, then, in what she's come to think of as the Zelos corner of her brain, and she looks over to realize his eyes are open. He looks like shit, but - it's a relief to see him awake, at least. "Don't try and get up," she warns him. "I don't want to find out if I have the energy to catch you again."

Kratos gets a half a second to feel some kind of fondness for Sheena, the minute she insists whoever is in that cannon needs to not be in it any longer. A human who cares about blades is a breath of fresh air, and at least someone here other than himself is aware that Martel is in incredible pain and they need to save her.

But then Zelos wakes up and questions Kratos' certainty. Some kind of Aegis expert, Tethe'alla's artificial asks of him, and if Kratos was not currently sick with his anger he'd laugh. He flexes his hands anyway, clenching and unclenching them, trying to rein it all in but Martel is in a cannon, and he is here, half a continent away--

"That's my sister," he spits, at Zelos. "Martel is my sister and they put her in a cannon--" When he promised her never again she would never have to face that again he couldn't protect her he couldn't--

Breathe, Kratos. Breathe.

He admits, slowly, as Zelos stares him down that it has been five hundred years and maybe, just maybe, he could forget it , maybe he could mistake her ether's taste for that of another blade's. Hers and Mithos' ether already tastes so much alike... (Architect, don't let it be Mithos, don't let it be Mithos.) He considers Zelos' certainty, and comes to a few startling conclusions.

Aegises come in sets, don't they? It cannot be an accident that the two artificials popped into the world's history at the exact same time, even if they each were in separate countries. And if Martel and Mithos are siblings, then... why should he dare expect Zelos and Colette to be anything else?

(Mithos would never, could never forget the taste of his sister's ether. So even if Zelos and Colette have never met--)

Kratos clenches and unclenches his hands again. Counts up to three and then back down to steady himself before he asks, quietly:

"Are you quite certain, Zelos?"

(If it is not Martel, then he has gotten his hopes up for nothing.)

Don't worry, Sheena--at the ether levels he's at, there's just no way for Zelos to get up that won't hurt and tire him out like a bitch. He's at least aware enough of that, so, to show her he won't even move, he rolls his eyes and grins weakly at her, amusement slipping through their link. It's meant to comfort, somehow. And it's wiped off and away when That Guy dares to mention the cannon, replacing the amusement with a prickling sensation of cold needles in his skin, knocking the air out of his lungs as he remembers the mines, the pod--

Zelos gasps for air. It ends up sounding more like he's choked, and his eyes snap back to That Guy instead, staring, glaring. Nervousness, mixed with a haze. Breathe in, breathe out. All this excitement combined with the low ether in his veins are fogging up his head again, but Zelos is determined to stay awake. Determined to get to the bottom of what this blade wants and means.

'Are you quite certain', That Guy asks, and Zelos squints. It's just a question, something simple and more of a confirmation than anything, but for some reason Zelos feels the weight of the world resting on the way that the blade says those five words. Something hides underneath. Try as he might, though, he can't quite put his finger on what that is. Fuck, come on; now Zelos is getting the feeling that he's missed on something important while freaking out about the ca--

"Aegises... share a signal wavelength," Zelos croaks out instead through his gasps for air, blinking rapidly, trying to will down the leftovers of his freakout. Don't think about it now, Zelos, just don't. Focus on this instead. He takes a deep breath. "C-Colette has mine. Felt--Felt like... felt familiar." His eyes close. "It's her."

Edited 2019-06-07 15:48 (UTC)

Wounds healed and the pain in his back numbed by Nia's awesome healing powers, Lloyd shoves his jacket back on and makes it a goal to check for any scarring whenever he's next by a mirror. Leaning back against the tree doesn't do more than just sting at his back rather than stab at it, so he rests his weight on the trunk and closes his eyes, keeping at attention but intending to rest his exhausted mind for a second or two. His hand finds Sheena's again, and he takes comfort in the fact that she is a constant anchor to two separate realities.

Zelos wakes up, and Lloyd's immediately leaning forward again so he can glance at him past Sheena. The blade looks tired to the bone, and Lloyd would bet on his wakefulness coming with a side of pain and soreness. Poor guy. There are better places to take a nap on than the ground, but they gotta take what they can get, as battered as they are. Still, the conversation topic at hand is difficult to talk about when fully healthy, maybe they should switch subjects and talk about something else, like how they plan on leaving and when -

And then Kratos opens his mouth, and an unfair surge of irritation strikes at Lloyd's mood. Logically, he knows that Kratos has no idea that talking about the cannons so openly, blatantly calling them what they are and referencing them triggers Zelos like it does, but come on, man, have some fucking tact. Lloyd glares in Kratos' general direction, not wanting to cause a scene but no less annoyed on Zelos' behalf.

Unfortunately, Lloyd also recognizes the topic as important, so he pays close attention. Kratos swears that Martel is in the cannon, while Zelos argues it's Colette, and as soon as the picture begins to come together, horror lodges itself deep into Lloyd's core, his heart dropping lower into his chest cavity. His think-track freezes on one specific moment from his journey before -

That's not Colette. It's not her, that's not her voice, her walk, her tone. That's her body, but that's not Colette, not the girl he's known for the majority of his life -

and the possible truth of situation strikes him like a knee to the face.

"What if… both of them are in the -" a quick glance to Zelos, swallowing hard, "what if both of them are being used?"

Lloyd squeezes at Sheena's hand, both looking for comfort and someone who understands. Colette didn't deserve this in their universe, and Lloyd doesn't doubt that Colette didn't deserve it in this one. "I can't explain how it would work, but I… have a feeling that might be what happened."

What if both of them are being used? Lloyd asks and that doesn't make any sense until suddenly it does. Kratos thinks of Mithos, eyes bright and shining with pride, a swirl of dull green having taken residence in his sapphire core crystal; Mithos, self-sufficient because he'd taken the shards of Martel's core and fused them with his own. Sylvarant stole the rest of Martel's shards. Is this how they're using them? How could they? How dare they!? Kratos chokes on his own bile, violently angry and sick all at once, a storm boiling inside of his chest. He hasn't felt anger like this since he was in resonance with Mithos last, years and years ago, and on cue his mind sings dark thoughts to him, because if they'd just burned humanity to begin with none of this would have happened--

He opens his mouth. Closes it. He's too angry to think, let alone speak. He slams the side of his fist against the nearest tree, the impact connecting with his forearm, as well. It stings, but the release of the tension in his core is welcome, and the pain is distracting enough he can manage slightly more coherent thought.

(You don't know if they did that for certain, Kratos. Maybe save your anger until there's actually someone to blame, actually a crime that's been committed.)

So he bites down his anger as well as he can, manages:

"It's-- possible. I know of a way."

He's too upset to articulate said way, words getting lodged in his throat and confusion painting his thoughts because he thought sure only Aegises were capable of meddling with core crystals like that, so how-- How did they manage to do something this twisted? (How dare they how dare they how dare they--) His vision blurs with his fury despite his efforts, heart hammering against his skull. His mouth contorts in a sneer, bitterness coating his tongue, a sharpness that borders on mania filling his words as he spits:

"Just when I thought humanity couldn't possibly stoop any lower!"

Breathe, Kratos. Breathe.

Combined with the anxiety in Zelos' gut at the mention of the thing that we do not mention, That Guy's emotional outburst is a little too much to bear right now, actually, and so Zelos flinches when he suddenly slams his fist against the tree. Violet eyes shoot open right away. At some point Sheena's hand found his, and Zelos squeezes it instinctively as he tries not to get lost in the awful feeling of being too vulnerable to fight back against this blade's rage, his exhaustion keeping him on the floor, at everyone's mercy.

But--it's okay, he reminds himself. It's okay. It's fine, Zelos, it's fine. If That Guy wants to do anything to you, he'd have to go through people who need you first. But he's logically not angry at you. He's stated so already that his target is humanity itself, so please stop thinking you matter that much.

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.

He breathes.

Okay, okay. The theory of both Colette and Martel being in the weapon, together? Sends shivers down Zelos' spine, as he realizes exactly how it is that two blades could theoretically be able to share ether and life, even if he's never seen anything like that before. But how? Why? Did Sylvarant somehow think that by powering it up with two blades then that'd make it more powerful? That they'd have an advantage of some sort? But, Zelos thinks, that idea falls flat the moment he recalls that the blast wasn't even at full power, or as bad as he knows it can be. Had Sylvarant wanted to land a real blow to them, also, all they'd have to do is fire at the facilities, or the capital. But here they are, in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, having survived a warning shot. Who was it trying to warn?

Either way the worst is yet to come, he knows it. Because Zelos has seen worse shots. He's lived worse--

"I don't... Look, I don't know who you are," Zelos grits out, gripping at Sheena's hand as tightly as he can, shaking with racing thoughts and anxious, fresh terror that he keeps tightly guarded in his core. Slowly, against better judgement, he tries to shake away the vulnerability by mustering all of his strength and outputting it into pulling himself up to sit, grunting with the effort. "Take us to Sylvarant. We..." He licks his lips, blinks rapidly. "We need..."

Zelos doesn't even get to sit up. Keeping the emotion bleed controlled, trying to hide his panic, his ether levels, the pain, the anxiety--it's too much. He's halfway through getting up before he finally becomes mentally and physically overwhelmed, the defensive responses to That Guy's anger too much for his body to handle, and soon enough he's falling back down to the ground after having lost conscious yet again.

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

Stop.

Sheena smiles back at Zelos, something small and quick more worried-looking than she would ever admit to, before the weight of his panic hits her. Tired as she is, she can't really maintain the focus to close off the link, and she misses some of what he says in the haze. She tears her attention span back to the conversation in time for Lloyd's words, and--

"Oh," she breathes, voice low with horror. She shifts her grip of Lloyd's hand, squeezes back hard, heart still loud in her ears. "That'd explain it, but…" she starts, shakes her head to clear it. She's not sure what she'd meant to ask - some question Lloyd definitely doesn't have the answer to, probably - but Kratos reacts before she can get the words together anyway. Her jump and Zelos's flinch are simultaneous, grip tightening on both boys' hands because she hadn't expected that, but - she can't really blame him for being angry, not when there's a little flame of her own anger at the situation burning under her shock and Zelos's emotions.

Controlled as it is, what gets through the emotional link is still overwhelming, and Sheena's grateful for Lloyd's hand in hers as it surges to almost unbearable levels for just a second and abruptly blanks out. She has just enough time to register that before Zelos slumps back down, and she yelps in surprise, dropping Lloyd's hand to lunge forward and catch him yet again. For the moment she just holds him in place, not sure where to go from here.

The loud outburst from this Kratos jolts Lloyd, the following flinch causing him to bite down on his lip hard. Ouch, but also, what the fuck, Kratos, not the time to be violent and intimidating!

Lloyd's glower strengthens, this time aimed directly at Kratos, and as Zelos loses consciousness and Sheena half-dives to catch him properly, the glower turns into a straight up glare, Lloyd baring his teeth in a snarl. A quick glance at the Aegis lets Lloyd know that he'll be okay, but the fact that he passed out obviously agitated sits about as well in Lloyd's stomach as food poisoning. The worry mixes with his earlier horror and the multiple sources of fury that run their courses in his bloodstream, pumping aggressively through his body, and he's snapping before he knows it.

"Hey, would you calm down?!" Lloyd near-shouts at Kratos, putting in arm in front of Sheena and Zelos protectively, without thinking, only angry angry angry. "I'm as pissed as you are, but we've had a shit day too, asshole! Stop acting like you're the only goddamn one here who's suffering!"

Lloyd lowers his voice, coughing lightly, fighting back the way his throat aches from talking too loud at once after the mines. "If you want to be mad and punch things, fine, do it somewhere else. Have some fucking consideration, would you?"

Deciding to return to his earlier plan of action and ignore Kratos, he forces himself to stand, walking over to Sheena's other side, where Zelos leans heavily on her. "Poor guy's exhausted," Lloyd mutters, concern leaking through his voice. Kneeling, he gently grabs at Zelos' arm and loops it around his shoulders, shrugging on some of the blade's weight. "Let's set him up against the tree for now, just until we can set up camp."

Lloyd's words are like a smack to the face, and Kratos' ether abruptly runs cold. Shame overrules his anger (though other than Zelos, he doesn't see anyone ELSE here who's sister is in a cannon, but then he doesn't know it's Martel and again it's too early to get angry and--)

He makes himself breathe, slow and careful, biting back down his anger becuase Lloyd is right. He isn't helping anyone. And he-- he feels bad. Zelos definitely didn't deserve that anger, and Zelos is hurt, and even if Kratos has known the boy all of ten minutes, that's an Aegis, regardless of his origins.

"Sorry," he mumbles, head turning away. He's still agitated, anger boiling inside of him, and maybe it would be better if he left. Everyone here needs their rest and they won't be getting it if he's here causing a scene and sitting around yelling at people who don't even know him might make him feel better but it'll be a shallow catharsis and it's unfair to them besides.

(He wants Mithos because Mithos understands, though Mithos is more likely to enable some bad ideas in him right now but it's possible that Martel is in a cannon so aren't bad ideas a little warranted? He wants-- Anna, but she's unconscious, but she's here and she didn't even tell him she was alive and so maybe he doesn't want her even if she's always pretty good at dragging his head down from a bad mood--)

Architect.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, and he pushes off from the tree and walks off to give them some space.

(Kratos doesn't see it, but there's a second where Nia and Malos exchange somewhat worried expressions, and then silently decide who's going after him. Malos gets the short stick of the draw, but he knows Kratos slightly better than Nia does, so he figures that's fair. He just has to move Anna out of his lap, first.)

Kratos hasn't gotten far before Malos catches up to him.

"Hey, where you headin'?" Malos calls, and it's somewhat accusatory in nature, the lilt of it making Kratos bristle.

"...Sylvarant," Kratos answers, before he thinks about it. But no one wants him here, clearly, and it'd be a better use of his energy if he started directing it towards freeing Martel. (Even if it is not her, he cannot take the risk that it isn't. At the least, he should head to Mithos, because Mithos will know for certain, and that will ease his mind one way or another.) So he stands by his somewhat hasty answer, even though he just seconds before all he was really planning on doing was maybe finding some local wildlife to hassle to work out this aggression. Beginning the long trek towards Sylvarant is definitely the better choice.

"Alone?!"

Kratos raises his eyebrows at his wife's father, a man he thought certain was dead for good until about an hour ago. "Well, seeing as none of you are fit to travel, and every second I stand here is another second I waste, yes."

Malos does not look happy about this answer, but Kratos couldn't give less of a shit. "Come on, Kratos, you know it's gonna be easier to save her if you've got us with you," Malos begins, obviously trying to appeal to Kratos' preference for logically thought out plans, but it doesn't matter.

"I did it alone the first time," Kratos counters. "I'll do it again."

Malos definitely curses Kratos under his breath, but again, Kratos could not give less of a shit! He keeps walking, and Malos has to follow, and the best part is Malos is a kind enough blade that he won't try and physically stop Kratos.

"You can't just leave us, Kratos!" Malos says.

He almost sounds hurt that Kratos is trying, and that makes something ugly snap in Kratos' veins. "Why not? You seemed perfectly content to leave me," he spits.

"That's- Look." Malos fumbles for words, voice cracking and Kratos knows he's crossed a line but it doesn't matter. "That you can take up with Anna, alright?"

Knowing it was Anna's idea certainly does not make Kratos feel any better. Fed-up and too tired, too raw to do anything other than lean into this mess he started, he finally stops walking and rounds on Malos. "Why not you?" he demands. "It's not like you are bound by Anna's wishes. You could have come and told me you were alive just as well as she could have!"

Malos splutters, but he looks more guilty than anything else. "Kratos, please," he says, finally. "You can't- you can't leave us now. All of us need rest, and given the fact we were fuckin' ambushed, I'd bet Tethe'alla knows exactly where we are, and if we get ambushed again we'll be too tired to do shit about it!" It's a valid point, but Kratos does not want to give in, does not want to sit around here where he is not wanted, does not want to waste time when he could be saving Martel. Malos presses on. "If not for us, then-- for Zelos please. You wouldn't just hand him over to Tethe'alla, would you? You know exactly what they'd do with him, now."

...Architect damn you, Malos Irving, you're a manipulative piece of shit.

"...Let me clear my head," Kratos tells him instead of a proper answer, hoping to put off the inevitable (though against an argument like that he won't be able to). He continues on into the woods. Malos doesn't follow.

Holy shit, Lloyd. Sheena looks up as he throws his hand up in front of them, but she lets him talk. Well - it's not like she can blame him for being mad, especially with the way the emotional bleed had felt at Kratos's words in her mind.

"Thanks," she says when Lloyd takes hold of him, shifting her own grip on Zelos to match now that she's not supporting all of his weight and pushing herself to her feet. She's as careful as she can manage as they move him, getting him settled against the tree solidly enough that he won't fall. Sheena stands back, watching Zelos sleep for just a moment before she turns to Lloyd.

"Hey," she says, cautious, not managing to hide the worry in her expression very well. Asking if he's okay would be dumb, when the answer's already apparent, so- "Do you… want to talk about any of that?"

Edited 2019-06-12 08:49 (UTC)

Sheena's concern rings clear in Lloyd's tired mind, sweet in thought and grounding in presence. He shoots her a grateful smile, shrugging a little and then glancing back at Zelos, sleeping peacefully. Truthfully, Lloyd realizes he should probably talk about this, given the way he just entirely lambasted Kratos for being justifiably violent, but. As it stands, the guilt sinking its teeth into his conscious is outweighed by his exhaustion and his desire to end this terrible fucking day.

However, Lloyd isn't stupid. He's aware that if he actually goes to sleep tonight, he's gonna shoot up awake after a session of bad dreams. After the horrors and revelations and pain, the fact that he's almost lost his mom and Zelos and Malos all in the same day bouncing through his mind, Lloyd's betting that he's too emotionally distressed to actually sleep well. Bitterly, he wonders about what flavor nightmare he would get tonight - Zelos dying? Mithos dying? Or maybe he'll get one of his rarer Colette-centered nightmares. Who fucking knows. All Lloyd knows is that he's not sleeping tonight.

Still haven't answered the question, Lloyd.

"Ah, no, I'm okay on talking for now," Lloyd says, running his hand through his bangs. He could really use a haircut. "Not tonight, at least. We're both tired." And then he hesitates, because he hates lying to Sheena everytime he does, "I'm gonna go to sleep as soon as the camp is set up. Which… we should get started on, I guess. Seeing that we're the only two here to do it, anyways.

Another grin gets pushed to his face, and he ignores the lingering soreness as he walks towards the packs left behind by the group in favor of immediate healing. "C'mon. We gotta be responsible for once. How boring!"

She pulls him into a quick, soft hug before he can walk away, careful to avoid his shoulder blades as best she can. "Alright," she tells him. "Just… let me know when that changes, okay?" Sheena pulls back, shoots him a smile that's a little too tired to be fully reassuring but tries its best anyway, before she adds, "What an asshole, right?"

That might be a little unfair - from what she's caught of his conversations with the others from this world Kratos has had a lot dumped on him - but that's not completely an excuse. Her tone's lighter, almost-joking as she follows Lloyd towards the packs to start setting up camp.

YOU CAN'T TELL HIM WHAT TO DO

I AM YOUR DRIVER AND I SAY NO DEATH

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a wild nia appears

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lloyd's next on the list promise

i love nia

SHES REALLY GOOD?

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rar write shorter tags challenge

No never I love them

they're wonderful???

I'M GLAD YOU THINK SO BC HERE'S ANOTHER

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

EVERYBODY KNOWS SHITS FUCKED

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looks like the long tags just aren't going away--

thank u for my life

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