i just wanna know: who broke it?

[summonerd]

[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.]

Comments

PWEASE

[presidentheartbeat]

[Wow! That was rude! Zelos kind of mentally recoils a little when she says that, but settles back up just in time to smile smugly at her next words. Well, the anxiety's back, that's for sure. He just wants to know he can at least count on his driver doing the most basic of driver responsibilities so he doesn't have to think about fighting the people who fucking created him.

Maybe if he annoys her into it she'll do it. Hm. Weird train of thought, but okay. Zelos clasps his hands together and grins.] "Pretty pretty please, Sheena, my sweet and wonderful driver, try summoning my sword!" [he says in a sing-song voice.

Someone put him out of his misery.]

no dick jokes in my lobby

[summonerd]

[Oh, that anxiety catches her in the gut, hard enough to make her wince, and she pauses, eyeing him uncertainly. She hasn't even been reunited with Zelos for an hour, and she's already messing things up, isn't she? But then his words have her hackles back up, getting under her skin just enough to make her want to do it. Just like old times, really.]

Alright, alright! [She feels kind of dumb stretching her hand out like this, copying what he'd just done, but it's not like it can hurt anything. Their connection is so loud and immediate that it's easy to find and reach for, though she's not entirely sure what to do. Maybe if she just treats it like a summoning? It's not the worst idea she's had today, at least.]

Aegis of Tethe'alla, I summon thee!

You're CENSORING HIM

[presidentheartbeat]

[Holy shit. Holy fucking shit, Sheena, what the fuck was that. Holy shit. Oh my fucking god. Zelos was going to push his ether at her so that Sheena summoning his sword would go smoothly, because she's a rookie that needs help to do things apparently, he really was, but then she pulls this? He stares at her outstretched hand for a second, then snaps his gaze to meet her eyes, and then just barely manages to catch the roar of laughter that pushes its way up his lungs and out of his mouth.

Zelos turns around and away from Sheena to laugh at her in peace. He sets a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter while the other curls around his stomach and just. Laughs. Holy fucking shit. He's going to cry. Suddenly Sheena's the best driver ever. He wants to see her do that again soon so bad.]

I'M CENSORING NOTHING

[summonerd]

Wh-- Hey!

[Ohhhh, she's turning red now. That outstretched hand comes up to cover her face, though it does nothing for the wave of mortification that washes through her.]

Don't laugh!

GOOD MORNING I HAVE RUINED THIS MOMENT

[presidentheartbeat]

[Holy fuck, okay, shit. Zelos takes a few more moments to calm the hell down, slowly turning around to face Sheena again. He lowers the hand from his mouth and gives her an incredulous yet shit-eating grin, the 'what the fuck was that' question already on his tongue, when he hears shouting. He draws in a sharp breath and freezes, wide violet eyes falling on the door a second too late.

With no more warning the door they came from bursts open with a loud bang. Zelos, startled, feels all of his ether snap in his veins, then start boiling with unrestrained panic when he sees a couple of soldiers rush in and try to surround them, feeling the ether wavelengths from their weapons as clear as day--their blades' weapons, then. Something fiery and something electric. High class. Shit, shit, shit--they're dealing with government drivers. This is bad.

It's like time slows down exactly at that moment, as Zelos' mind quickly analyzes both drivers and their weapons, trying to find weaknesses and opportunity points, calculating, mapping out courses of action, hoping they won't die. A nasty realization comes to mind together with that thought; he has to protect Sheena. At least until they get the hell out of here, because if she dies, they both die, and then Zelos will have to deal with the repercussions of this mess, and who knows what kind of measures Tethe'alla will be willing to take to get rid of Sheena's influence on him--

One of the drivers rushes forward. Hot ether gathers at their sword, and without thinking through his ingrained instincts Zelos rushes forth to meet them halfway, sword coalescing in his hands in a blast of orange light, ether sparks flying about as he successfully blocks a hit definitely meant for Sheena. Smart move; kill the driver, take the blade. He grunts with the effort and the wisps rage in his gut, unused to this, but presses with all his might until he's shoved the attacker out of the way.

He twists to look at Sheena over his shoulder, panicked and breathless, and shouts,] "Sheena! We gotta go!"

IS NOTHING EASY

[summonerd]

[Sheena jolts as the door bursts open, whirling around where she stands, much too close to the soldiers bursting through it. (Now who's getting sloppy, Sheena?) She shouldn't have gotten distracted, but here she is, in a very bad position. Zelos's panic in her veins mingles with her own spike of anxiety, offputting and foreign enough to freeze her in place for just a moment. Oh, this isn't good. Why the fuck did she put her knife away to try and summon his sword?

But then Zelos gets between them, sword taking shape, and she breathes a sigh of relief, bearings caught.]

Right!

[The first attacker being pushed back means that they're blocking the doorway for the other one - good. Sheena pulls out a card with a quick movement, throwing it over Zelos's shoulder at the stumbling attacker. It doesn't have as much of an effect as she'd hoped, something about the mana in this place harder for her to shape, but it's enough to hurt them a little, it seems. She whirls on her heel, glancing at the windows on the opposite wall. They're tall and opened to air out the room, the sheer curtains waving gently in the breeze - perfect. She gropes for her knife as she darts to it to cut the screen, gauging the distance to the lower roof below. Even if Zelos messes up the landing it won't be too bad, she thinks.]

Out here!

[Sheena looks back, one boot on the windowsill. The soldier she'd hit is shaking off the effect of her card already, but there should be time for Zelos to follow her out. She jumps.]

NOT WHEN YOU'RE STEALING GOVERNMENT PROPERTY

[presidentheartbeat]

[Well Zelos certainly wasn't expecting for Sheena's cards to actually hurt when she mentioned she had them, if he's being honest. He kind of just pictured she was going to give people deadly papercuts or something. But, okay, they're not dead. Holy shit, they're not dead yet! They might actually have a shot at this!

Zelos dutifully keeps his eyes on the two drivers as Sheena makes her way to the window, sword at the ready, ether pooling around him. He's so on edge that if anyone moves even just a centimeter he's going to fucking fry them with pure, concentrated ether. Or, at least, that's his threat until the other driver--the one with the electric blade--rushes at him, and Zelos quickly, barely dodges, twirling on his heel and crashing his sword against theirs, then pivoting their sword off their grip with a quick move. The other curses and Zelos steps back. Fucking shit, he has no fucking idea how he did that. Then he spots something odd that gives him pause: where the hell are their blades?

He has no time to dwell on that when Sheena calls out for him, and he barely manages to make eye contact for a second before she's already jumped out the window, leaving Zelos spluttering. He stares at the spot where she'd been slack-jawed for a second, then remembers his attackers and sends off an ether blast their way to keep them back as he turns tail and jumps out as well.]

"Well now what!" [he shouts after he lands, because fuck being discreet now that they're officially breaking out of his gilded cage. The gardens are in full-view from up here, at least.] "We're doing rooftop runs? Really?!"

SHE'S GONNA PUNCH GOD IF ANYONE ELSE CALLS HIM THAT IN FRONT OF HER

[summonerd]

[She lands neatly, only stepping out of the way to wait for him to follow so they can't get separated. As if she didn't just jump out a window without him. It's fine.]

Better than getting cornered inside!

[With that, she turns to start moving again, but those blades that Zelos had noticed were absent? Here they are, one humanoid and one animal-shaped, having just climbed out a different window to block their path. The animal-shaped one - something large and catlike and crackling with the same electricity their driver had been wielding, roars, the force of the sound ringing in Sheena's ears like Volt's words and forcing her to take a step back towards Zelos. Great! She hates this. It's not so bad that she can't handle it now, but the momentary fear that rips through her leaves an awful taste in her mouth anyway, and she lets out a quiet "fuck." She grits her teeth, forcing it aside, and lunges, her unarmed strike aiming to knock the cat off-balance.]

I got this one! Can you handle the other one?

Birth of a Wish plays in the distance

[presidentheartbeat]

[Unfortunately for you, Sheena, Zelos felt that hiccup of fear in the emotional link. He staggers back a second and doesn't get to stop Sheena from rushing on ahead, leaving him reaching for her with half a protest in his mouth which he then drowns with a curse. Shit--his driver is scared of lightning. And she just went to take on the lightning-based blade on her own. Well, this is fucking great. Great! Fucking great.]

"Of course I can! Just don't get yourself killed!"

[Zelos still has his sword summoned in his hand, so when the humanoid, fire-wielding blade lunges at him with her summoned sword taken from her driver, he manages to parry the first hit. But he's off-balance. He's pushed back a little and the next hit manages to slash him on the shoulder; he cries out in pain for a second before he bites that back down, and then his instincts kick in and he blocks the next hit, holding the blade right there. Swords now locked, Zelos shoves as much of his own ether into his sword as he can until it's pooled in dangerous, harmful amounts, and then sends a blast out in the radius, mindful of Sheena's signature so that this spell does not get her.

It's a debuffing ability that should exhaust the blades in the vicinity and feel like a slow-creeping poison to any human. It should've hit the cat-like blade Sheena's dealing with. Hopefully. It's the least Zelos can do for her right now.

He watches the blade in front of him gasp and stagger, and when her weight is off his blade, he shoves her back.] "What do you think you're doing, huh?!" [he calls out, glowing, orange ether particles leaving his body where she cut him. He gestures at the injury, sneering.] "You're in deep shit now, you know that?! You just hurt government property!"

this thread is just "how many times can sheena have a stress reaction in one day"

[summonerd]

I won't if you won't!

[Sheena Fujibayashi is nothing if not an idiot who doesn't know when to quit! The feline blade dodges her strike, but it's left off-balance, and her second strike lands solidly. She circles to the side of it, looking for a better angle, but Zelos's yelp of pain breaks her concentration, and her gaze is wrenched from her adversary to him, concerned. For a second she forgets that the blood on his outfit is from the official she'd murdered earlier, hesitates; the blade takes the opportunity to pounce, summoning its blade to its mouth, and now she's the one off-balance. She recovers quickly, though, springing backwards to give herself more room. Shit.]

You okay?

[The cat doesn't follow through after that, the blast from Zelos slowing it down. It shakes its head in a fruitless attempt to clear it, and Sheena takes the opportunity to kick out, sweeping its legs from under it and sending it towards the edge of the roof, where it scrabbles desperately not to fall.]

I mean no one here is doing okay so she's valid

[presidentheartbeat]

[The fire blade collapses on her knee, heaving and trying to blink away the sudden exhaustion. Out of the corner of his eye Zelos can see the lightning blade slow down as well, shaking and fighting off this strong a concentration of pure ether. As if it could, Zelos thinks smugly. He is the fucking Aegis. The blades should be out of commission for a while until their drivers get here--if they weren't in the radius of the blast, that is. And Zelos kind of doubts that they weren't. He's starting to feel a little more confident about his own abilities like that.

But, okay. There's no way his attacks haven't alerted everyone to their position, so. Whatever. They need to leave. Zelos dismisses his sword and casts that speed spell again over himself and Sheena, then rushes over to her side and grabs her hand, pulling her along without even sparing a glance.] "I'll heal," [is all Zelos says to acknowledge her,] "But that thing won't last. Let's go!"

[He leads her to the side of the roof, over to where they can see the gardens, and jumps off while still holding onto her hand.]

everything is fucked!!!

[summonerd]

[Out of the corner of her eye, Sheena catches one of the drivers at the window they'd come out of, starting to climb down. Definitely time to go, then, and she just nods when he speaks, turning her attention to the garden stretching out below them.

...Hm. The walls of the maze are close, and they look sturdy - a thick trellis with creeping vines rather than dense hedges that could never take anyone's weight.]

What do you say we go over? Going through would take too long. They'd just catch up.

[That's all the warning Zelos gets, as she launches herself off the roof with extra force, holding onto his hand tightly. She lands on the top of the closest trellis, tests to make sure it doesn't wobble too badly under their weight. So far, so good.]

COMING OUT OF MY CAGE AND I'VE BEEN DOIN' JUST FINE

[presidentheartbeat]

[Okay, Sheena angles them onto the trellis, and when it doesn't give Zelos lets go of her and runs off with her to where the castle grounds end and where freedom begins. He can feel it in his body, taste it in the air, the tick tick tick tick tick incessant against his forehead the further he gets from the castle at odds with the pumping of ether in his veins, his ether lines, behind his eyes, the taste of agitated atmospheric ether on his tongue. It's dizzying. It's intoxicating. They are so close. Sheena will truly, really have broke him out if they manage to get to the other side. They're going to get out of here.

Holy shit.

Off in the distance, over the roaring of ether and adrenaline in his body, Zelos can hear a bunch of people already rushing out of the castle, some alarms, spells exploding everywhere he can feel. The hunt is on, it seems. But they can't stop him anymore. Grinning, high off the energy and the promise of freedom, Zelos slows his own pace a little so he lags behind Sheena a few steps, and then concentrates most of his ether to his feet, leaving behind a trail of burning greenery that soon catches fire behind them. The smell of fire quickly rises in the air, and in its wake Zelos starts laughing. Free, unrestrained laughter, something that's born from deep within his core and rises out the air not as smoke, but as clear, pure delight. He throws his head back. Dear Architect above, who knew that today was gonna turn out like this?

Fire growing behind them like a protective wall, the wake of their destruction a protection against pursuers at least for a little bit, Zelos follows Sheena on the trellis until they make it to the outer wall, then climbs over it, and

just like that

he's free.]

OUT OF THE CAGE AND INTO THE ARENA OF FUCKOR

[summonerd]

Holy shit! [she calls back to him with a laugh, glancing back to see the fire catch across the trellises.] They're never gonna catch up with that in the way!

[She lets herself drop from the wall when they reach the end of the maze, admiring the way the smoke rises behind it. They should keep going - they're not really safe until they can disappear into the city, and maybe find new clothes for the both of them - but their shared triumph is a hell of a drug. They can have a minute to bask in it, surely.]

YOU'RE GONNA DROP THEM LIKE IT'S HOT /NOW?/

[presidentheartbeat]

[Once they're on the other side of the wall, taking a moment to catch their breath, Zelos turns back to watch the smoke rise with Sheena, breathing heavily. Oh my god, he did that. The chaos on the other side must be spectacular. Holy shit.

Now that he's stopped, every overwhelming sensation Zelos has been holding back crashes onto him suddenly. That dizzying feeling of freedom and regret and hope and fear and pride and gratefulness and everything all at once, conflicting emotions and thoughts, all of them pushing at him until he breaks under their weight. The air in Zelos' lungs leaves him in a wheezing laugh and right at that second his knees give out under him. He barely catches himself as he falls forward, head bowed and eyes lost on the dirt below as he fights the sensation, breathing heavily through a grin.]

"Ahaaaaaaaa, hooooly shit," [he manages to get out. He's shaking. His throat feels dry, and he swallows hard to no avail. Maybe that's just the dry hot air around the fire.] "Oh, Architect. Oh man. I'm--I'm outside?" [He starts to laugh.] "What the hell is my life?"

NO BUT IT'S COMING

[summonerd]

That was...

[Holy shit. That was a mess, but it worked. They're free.

She's not quite as out of breath as him, but with his emotional cocktail hitting her, it barely makes a difference. She lets herself slide down the wall til she's sitting next to him, placing a cautious, gentle hand on his shoulder.]

You've really never been out of there before?

[presidentheartbeat]

"Without it having been planned out for me at least five months in advance for a war propaganda-filled tour or requiring at least five guards to surround me as I'm guided around?" [He laughs.] "Yeah, no. The change of pace is nice, at least, so thanks for that."

[Ooop, that feels like too much information to be sharing with someone who's not even from this world, for some reason. Geez. Zelos takes a deep breath. Holds it, releases it slowly. Tries to reign back all of his embarrassing emotions to hide them deep where he can't deal with them. Closes his eyes and occupies his mind by thinking of everything and nothing, trying to map out a course from the castle to the nearest buildings he knows exist, but has never visited. And it's right then that he's struck with the realization that he doesn't really know his way around the city, doesn't know the outside world. What the fuck. What now?

Alright, alright, stop that. Breathe, for the love of god. Zelos hums and sits up, then meets Sheena's eyes and offers her a pathetic little smile.] "Anyway," [he begins, chuckling,] "do you have any plans from here on out or are you gonna leave all the hard work to me instead?"

[summonerd]

Yeah, well. [This world is fucked up!! Not that Tethe'alla wasn't, but. This is new and exciting levels of fucked up.] You don't have to go back there, at least. [She's pretty sure she's seen more genuine emotion from this Zelos in an afternoon than she'd seen from her world's Zelos in years of friendship. Ouch. Sheena smiles back at him, thinking about his question.]

We should probably lay low until dark. Maybe get some clothes without bloodstains on them, if we can find any. It'll be easier to get out of the city at night. [A pause, as Sheena considers the fact that his injured shoulder is still fucking glowing.] I know you said you could heal that, but... do you want me to wrap it up or something?

[presidentheartbeat]

[He looks at his shoulder, stares for like half a second, and then shrugs.] "It'll probably be fine. I get the feeling that if the ether doesn't air out I'll probably explode or something."

[Anyway, Sheena's plan sounds solid for now, so Zelos pushes himself to stand with great effort, stumbling only a little once he's finally on his feet. He's still feeling a little emotionally and physically unstable after all that rush, but, well, given the urgency to not get caught and jailed again then that mess is going to have to wait in the back burner a little while longer.] "Fire's gonna draw a lot of attention, so," [Zelos gestures forward, off and away from the castle wall.] "Let's mosey, yeah?"

[summonerd]

[Hm! Sheena doesn't like that! But he seems sure enough that it doesn't need attention, and what is she gonna do, insist? What if he does explode?]

Yeah, alright. Let's get going.

[AND THEY'RE OFF. Sheena leads them to the lower district of the city, figuring that people will be less likely to ask questions or to look there. Her gald's starting to run low, after a few weeks here, but she manages to stash him in a cheap inn where he can bleed ether without attracting a crowd and get the two of them some traveling supplies, replacement clothes, and something to cover Zelos's core crystal. It's a cute little capelet or something, maybe. Let Zelos-no-last-name discover Fashion. The inn is pretty seedy, which is probably fun for him, but nothing terrible happens while they're there, at least.

She wakes him in the middle of the night to leave, while it's still too dark for his fucking hair to stand out as much as it does. Once they're a little past the city boundaries, Sheena finally speaks up:]

... Hey, I'm sorry about before.

[presidentheartbeat]

[Having his core crystal covered up is an odd sensation, but Zelos understands that Sheena just proudly carting around the fucking Aegis is a big no-no if they want to get out of here alive. So whatever. He spends the rest of their time dissociating gently by keeping most of his attention in the atmospheric ether around them, even if it's still pretty chaotic from the city-wide panic as news of the stolen Aegis spread. He's just trying to sense any big disturbances that may come their way so that they can flee quick if push comes to shove. It's his own little way to be useful.

Nothing happens, though. They leave in the middle of the night once things have quieted down a little, though there's still some pretty tight security as stray guards and citizens keep an eye out for their precious weapon. Zelos is quiet for most of the trip, still focused on the atmospheric ether even after they finally make their way out of Meltokio, and his concentration is only broken when Sheena addresses him.

She's... apologizing? Huh. Zelos feels himself raise an eyebrow, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.] "Hm?"

[summonerd]

[She glances away, looking a little embarrassed in the dim light. The moons are bright enough that, between their light and Zelos's ether lines, she can see where she's going, at least.]

Just... me acting like you were the Zelos I knew was probably confusing, right after you woke up. And I didn't really give you a chance to decide what you wanted. So, uh. Sorry.

[Wow, Sheena, it's almost like you're very good at being rude! She rubs the back of her neck, sheepish. It's kind of useless to apologize for that second one now that it's too late to do anything about it, but... at least he's free, right?]

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

[presidentheartbeat]

[Oh.

Zelos nearly stops in his tracks when he hears all that, but manages to suppress the urge and keep walking, maintaining his face carefully blank. He does hum thoughtfully, though. Presses his lips into a tight line when he recalls Sheena's demanding behaviour towards him at first, urging him to remember a past that isn't his, then her resignation as she realized he wasn't what she wanted. Just like that the images of his mirror's death flash back to his mind's eye, his triumphant laughter as he slowly died.

He can't blame Sheena for her desperate attempt to cling to a hope that his mirror's actions had somehow been undone in this world, that she'd be able to find a solution, or even replacement, for her Zelos' choice. That's just how humans work, right? They're stubborn. They're irrational. Zelos can't really say he's not a little sore about Sheena simply slotting herself right into the driver role with no questions asked, ordering Zelos around and dragging him out of the castle, but. He did play along. And despite the regret knotting at the bottom of his stomach, he can't say he's mad about finally being free.

So.

Zelos looks up at the moon, stares. Keeps walking, silent and carefully blank, trying to figure out if the moon has always been this big or if this is new, if it's just the illusion of the grass being greener on the other side and everything feeling new speaking, comes up blank for that too. Remembers abruptly that Sheena only wants him for his power, that she only really broke him out of that life as a caged bird for the sole reason of going back home, and--

Smiles. Makes a choice she won't get to hear, and tucks that away at the bottom of his conscious where she will never, ever be able to get to, then shrugs.]

"We can't do anything about it, so who cares," [he says.] "Whatever will be, will be."

i am going to DIE here and this thread will never be finished

[summonerd]

[Sheena just... lets out a dry little laugh when he says that. He's Zelos, alright, even if the longer she looks the easier it gets to see the ways he's different. Or the things he's just not used to hiding, maybe. She puts that train of thought aside before it can go anywhere too painful.]

I guess. Anyway... what do you want to do, once we're somewhere safe? Got any ideas?

[She has... no idea what he might want to do with his life, actually.]

[presidentheartbeat]

[Okay, now that is what gives him pause. He regards Sheena for a second before stopping altogether, a hand rising to rest under his chin as he thinks. Zelos hums--what does he want to do? He hadn't given that much thought before. He hadn't really thought he could do or be anything else outside of the castle, thought of himself almost exclusively as Tethe'alla's weapon. The freedom to choose now, even if illusory, is overwhelming.

And that's the thing, too--now that he remembers what Sheena wants to use him for, as a blade at the mercy of her commands and with nowhere else to go, there's really nothing he can do other than follow Sheena around and obey her original request. Because Zelos doesn't want to believe she actually wants his input, if he's gonna be honest. A driver actually wanting to hear what her blade desires? Yeah, right. And her Zelos is still alive. Sheena's nice, and adorably naïve, but there's no way she's going to let Zelos out of his prison and escape without getting what she wants out of him first. That's how humans work.

So he makes it a show out of thinking his choice through, tilts his head, stares out at the moons as if deeply in thought. He entertains the thought of what he wants for a second before coming up blank and deciding just to get this over with already, planning something else instead.

He turns to look at Sheena and presses his face directly into her personal space, grin comically large, and laughs.] "I have no idea!" [Zelos cheerfully announces. He straightens out of her space and shrugs in an exaggerated motion.] "Obviously, though, we should first get as far away from the castle as possible, and then find somewhere to hide. But after that, I guess I send you off, right? You must miss home!"

['Let's stop pretending and get what you want done and over with already,' he thinks. He doesn't want to hate Sheena, but the fact that she just needs the Aegis to send her home? Still kinda burns. And now he has to find a way of how to go about this, considering how weak and artificial he is.]