[ She remembers red skies, red seas. She recalls the stars as they were scattered throughout the void, the Gate crowning the top of it, the halls and earth below scarred and bleeding, the cries of the souls around her, the ones she carried, and then her own as blades pierced through her abdomen. She remembers being cold... and then warm, as she had been held...
It is the Crystal's blessing to forget, a belief she had been questioning as she had grown weaker and weaker, and now? Now, upon bearing all and remembering the events of Tempus Finis, she wonders why it does not suddenly apply. A single, fleeting, intrusive thought comes and goes-- it would, indeed, be easier to forget-- but she wants to live. She wants to live.
Perhaps he's just woken up to the sterile, bright and fluorescent lights of the train. He'll have everything on his person from the moment of his death from clothes to weapons to potions-- everything, save for any injuries. And directly in front of him? He'll see a hand outstretched. ]
...C'mon.
[ Everyone else on this train appears as shades, figures with faces blurred beyond recognition, bodies half-translucent, and voices as hollowed and distant as if speaking from across a canyon that's kilometers in depth. While she doesn't understand why, it's obvious to her that all the other passengers on this rail are deceased.
Also, there's a digital sign flashing above the seats that reads "Next Stop: The End. ETA: 15 min."
Unlike the other shades, he's the only one who appears... solid. She doesn't know why, and aybe there are others like them both, maybe there aren't, but it's only by coincidence that she's found him as she walked between the cars. Regardless, she won't let this opportunity slip by. She sees a sword, she sees armor. He can fight. Meaning, maybe, they leave the train before it reaches its destination. ]
[He doesn't remember much of what happened to bring him here, but as he sits in his seat and stares out the opposite window, watching the strange terrain roll by, he knows he doesn't belong. Something is... wrong, but it's a kind of something he can't parse.
Did I die? After everything, did I actually die?
That's... not how the story's supposed to go. The hero's supposed to come home.
His brows furrow, unhappy and uncomfortable, trying to figure out just what he's meant to do about the wrongness of it all, and that's when Rem's shadow crosses over him, blocking his view and making him lift his head. She's not a ghost, or whatever these other passengers are. What...?]
...Time to go?
[He smiles faintly, accepting her hand. He doesn't know what her plan is, but he knows immediately that he'll do whatever it takes to help her achieve it. She's like him. They don't belong here. It is time to go.]
[ Rem doesn't immediately return his smile, because as soon as his hand takes hers, her eyes widen with surprise. Rem's attention falls to their grasp, and her lips part with a silent breath.
His hands. They're warm. Despite everything, they're warm. He's solid, he's not a shade. He's warm. (They're still alive, or-- or they have time, or something, it's not over--) ] Y-yeah. [ Despite her best efforts, a choked stammer, betraying more emotion than she intends, breaks her word apart.
When she looks at him, a smile forms to match the glistening sheen of her eyes, and with a small tug, she helps him to his feet. ] There's an emergency exit between the car junctions. [ He's just woken up, and knowing how long it'd taken her to come fully to her own senses on the train, she continues to hold his hand, leading him. ] Let's get off this train.
[Zack's quick to nod, following her lead, not withdrawing his hand. He may have only just awoken and is obviously disoriented, but he's a man of action. Sitting around waiting for answers to come to him just isn't his way. He'll figure things out as they go.]
We don't wanna be here when this thing reaches its destination, do we.
[A less-than-educated guess, built more on the vibes of this place. A train full of spectres is bound to be going somewhere that people like them don't belong. This is a mistake, surely. He's not ready to go there.]
[ Rem presses her hand against the button on the wall, opening the door to the link between cars. Strange, how there appears to be neither conductor nor staff around, but there's no time to question. She turns to her left, peering out the porthole-like window. It's fairly unstable in this little compartment between cars, and the walls appear to be made of some tarp-like rubber rather than metal to give the joint leeway for the train's movement. The "emergency exit" in this case is a dotted line painted in vertically in its center. Tear here to exit.
It's almost insulting. Whatever power that brought them here (tabata, it's tabata, they're both tabata-directed characters) clearly did not invest in security to keep passengers in. Not in this way, at least.
Rem releases his hand, and with a flick of her wrist, white, crystalline magic glimmers in her palm, manifesting into a long, curved dagger. Rem stabs then drags her blade along the perforated line, ripping it open. ]
[Zack has no fancy summoning, but the Buster has never left his side, even in death, so it's a quick move to draw it from his back and swing it with gusto, tearing away the rest of the door. It takes surprisingly little effort, which sets off some alarm bells, but not enough to make him want to stop. The wind roars around them with the door split open, forcing him to raise his voice as he offers his hand out to her.]
I'll protect you! [is his promise.] Hold on to me when we jump!
[Jumping off of a moving train is never recommended, and is bound to be painful. But his enhanced SOLDIER body is built to take that kind of damage. He doesn't know how durable she is, but he wouldn't be himself if he didn't offer.]
[ For most of her life, she hadn't been durable at all. It only had been towards the end that she became so much stronger, physically. That prowess is something she still retains, but, unfortunately, it seems to be taking its time to return to its full manifestation, so when he offers protection--
It honestly gets a double-take. I'll protect you. How many times has she heard that before? From her peers, from her loved ones. So many of them, now forgotten. She'll take whatever injury comes from leaping off this train rather than finding out what's at the end of the ride. ]
Right! [ Rem steps up to him, arms going to wrap around his middle. For good effort, she can at least cast a protect spell over them both. That'll soften the landing.
Once they've leaped off, they're airborne for all of five seconds before tumbling down into the shadow of a steep, sloping hill. ]
[True to his promise, Zack wraps his arms around her and pulls her in as they fall, arcing his body mid-air so they land first on his back, and he's able to do his best to cushion her as they roll. The spell helps, and he's surprised by it as much as he's grateful. His SOLDIER enhancements handle the rest.
When they at last slide to a stop at the base of the hill, Zack carefully releases her, flopping both arms on either side of his head, and tilts his head back to laugh. They're okay! They're... alive? (Whatever, it counts. He can breathe and his heart is pounding hard in his chest.)]
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train to the afterlife
It is the Crystal's blessing to forget, a belief she had been questioning as she had grown weaker and weaker, and now? Now, upon bearing all and remembering the events of Tempus Finis, she wonders why it does not suddenly apply. A single, fleeting, intrusive thought comes and goes-- it would, indeed, be easier to forget-- but she wants to live. She wants to live.
Perhaps he's just woken up to the sterile, bright and fluorescent lights of the train. He'll have everything on his person from the moment of his death from clothes to weapons to potions-- everything, save for any injuries. And directly in front of him? He'll see a hand outstretched. ]
...C'mon.
[ Everyone else on this train appears as shades, figures with faces blurred beyond recognition, bodies half-translucent, and voices as hollowed and distant as if speaking from across a canyon that's kilometers in depth. While she doesn't understand why, it's obvious to her that all the other passengers on this rail are deceased.
Also, there's a digital sign flashing above the seats that reads "Next Stop: The End. ETA: 15 min."
Unlike the other shades, he's the only one who appears... solid. She doesn't know why, and aybe there are others like them both, maybe there aren't, but it's only by coincidence that she's found him as she walked between the cars. Regardless, she won't let this opportunity slip by. She sees a sword, she sees armor. He can fight. Meaning, maybe, they leave the train before it reaches its destination. ]
no subject
Did I die? After everything, did I actually die?
That's... not how the story's supposed to go. The hero's supposed to come home.
His brows furrow, unhappy and uncomfortable, trying to figure out just what he's meant to do about the wrongness of it all, and that's when Rem's shadow crosses over him, blocking his view and making him lift his head. She's not a ghost, or whatever these other passengers are. What...?]
...Time to go?
[He smiles faintly, accepting her hand. He doesn't know what her plan is, but he knows immediately that he'll do whatever it takes to help her achieve it. She's like him. They don't belong here. It is time to go.]
no subject
His hands. They're warm. Despite everything, they're warm. He's solid, he's not a shade. He's warm. (They're still alive, or-- or they have time, or something, it's not over--) ] Y-yeah. [ Despite her best efforts, a choked stammer, betraying more emotion than she intends, breaks her word apart.
When she looks at him, a smile forms to match the glistening sheen of her eyes, and with a small tug, she helps him to his feet. ] There's an emergency exit between the car junctions. [ He's just woken up, and knowing how long it'd taken her to come fully to her own senses on the train, she continues to hold his hand, leading him. ] Let's get off this train.
no subject
We don't wanna be here when this thing reaches its destination, do we.
[A less-than-educated guess, built more on the vibes of this place. A train full of spectres is bound to be going somewhere that people like them don't belong. This is a mistake, surely. He's not ready to go there.]
no subject
It's almost insulting. Whatever power that brought them here (
tabata, it's tabata, they're both tabata-directed characters) clearly did not invest in security to keep passengers in. Not in this way, at least.Rem releases his hand, and with a flick of her wrist, white, crystalline magic glimmers in her palm, manifesting into a long, curved dagger. Rem stabs then drags her blade along the perforated line, ripping it open. ]
no subject
I'll protect you! [is his promise.] Hold on to me when we jump!
[Jumping off of a moving train is never recommended, and is bound to be painful. But his enhanced SOLDIER body is built to take that kind of damage. He doesn't know how durable she is, but he wouldn't be himself if he didn't offer.]
no subject
It honestly gets a double-take. I'll protect you. How many times has she heard that before? From her peers, from her loved ones. So many of them, now forgotten. She'll take whatever injury comes from leaping off this train rather than finding out what's at the end of the ride. ]
Right! [ Rem steps up to him, arms going to wrap around his middle. For good effort, she can at least cast a protect spell over them both. That'll soften the landing.
Once they've leaped off, they're airborne for all of five seconds before tumbling down into the shadow of a steep, sloping hill. ]
no subject
When they at last slide to a stop at the base of the hill, Zack carefully releases her, flopping both arms on either side of his head, and tilts his head back to laugh. They're okay! They're... alive? (Whatever, it counts. He can breathe and his heart is pounding hard in his chest.)]
Whew! Made it. You okay?
[Where the hell are they now, anyway.]