There was not much else to do. The Rems had gotten away to northern crater, the Souls had fled from death, and Wutai had mostly survived. Arms crossed over his chest as he abosrbed the pain fo what had to happen. Sanura and Ronnie would find themselves beyond the reality of their escape, with Ronnie's shut down, the mako stream enveloped them both and tied them together in the lifestream.
Chris
Ronnie and Sanura are in the Lifesteam, think Cloud when he was sucked into it, but they have the benefit of awakening together)0
San
"H-hey! No-nonono--- dwah?" One second they had been fleeing. The next she and Ronnie got swallowed (was it swallowed? If so spit me out! BAD glowy crap!)
As quick as a blink, they were both in... where? "What the heywire is ... Hey Ron... Are you seeing this or am I having a hallucination relapse...thing?"
Yun
"Fuck!" Ronnie cursed, rubbing her head but seemed otherwise okay. The surroundings didn't register for a moment while clearing the head needed to happen. "Will the liscence plate of whatever.... whatever the fuck we are hit me." Ronnie would poke San to make sure she's there.
"If this isn't a shared delusion, I don't know what it is... and... Where are we? It's like a living panorama?"
Chris
If either of you like a little soundtrack..))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpsDpKFuGPY&list=PLB7E86BA3D7DF6B23Chris
A voice above, one that sounded much like a mix between Doc and Kadaj, "No delusion. But the truth must be known." Several boys ran up to young Heiner, one pushed him over, the others began to beat on him as young boys are wont to do. "Stop! Please stop!" He begged, but the continued, "Father a king!? You insane little puke!" They shouted at him, "A little orphan boy with no past, little orphan boy who can't even say where he was born!"
San poked Ronnie back , half to make sure she was seeing what she thought, half.. well the woman poked her first.
"No clue.." San said with a puzzled frown, looking at the kid not far from them, who seemed to not notice two strange women. "That kid looks like... Oookay then..."
"Hey... hey kid." Low whistle to try to draw his attention. "Hey... You alright kid?"
And then cue the disembodied voices and the -- did they call mini Heiner a pirnce?
Chris
Only in mockery
Yun
Ronnie just had a look around. She stared towards where the voice was coming from, tempted to ask if they were god in jest, but didn't. "I don't think he can hear us? Lets go closer. Nothing else we can do."
Chris
"I'm not...I'm not!... a prince!" He growled and sat up after the other boys had fled away. Looking up to Ronnie and San. "They just hate me because the President put me here..."
San nodded to Ronnie, not quite sure what else could be done. "Guess so. I wonder if I kick one of those brats in the rear if they'd feel it..."
She'd move forward, looking around for the source of the disembodied voice.
Yun
"Who knows, but it would be satisfying. Is this where you get your anti-bully policy from?"
She was of course referring to seeing Heiner trash anyone who bullied Nika. But she could see aside from Nika being Nika, him having a deep seeded hatred for it growing up.
Chris
Heiner looked up at them, "I can already see you both. You're SOUL. Another pair of lackeys the President sent to watch me?" For a brief moment a ghost dagger formed in his hand and he slashed out scarring the stump the boys had beat him against, fading instantly, "He told me..." He looked up at them, his eyes wet with tears, "Guardian. Warrior. Soul. He built the three branches off of the primary traits. But all of you..." He turned on them his eyes full of tears and his voice screaming with resentment, "YOU'RE JUST HIS PAWNS!"
Oh good... mini Heiner could see them. Though it didn't seem to give him any comfort.
"Pretty much kid." She said, not seeing a reason to mince the words. "Some of us bred and raised even. Not all of us stay pawns though. Sometimes we're just really good at hiding our real loyalties. Sometimes it's the only thing you can do to protect whatcha care about.."
Yun
"You will officially meet us later, know us when you see us. As my partner said, there's no point in beating about the bush. We are what we are, and were."
Chris
He looked up at Ronnie first, "That's just an excuse. My father. My mother. My sisters... they all died We are not just what we are. We are not the product of our circumstances. We are the products of our CHOICES." He nodded listening to Sanura, "Bred to serve. That is what I have been told will be the fate of the Jenova family." Now THAT might have been of interest. "I am the last one. My father and mother.. protected the Jenova Temple. And now...the only forbear is myself. The last living relative to the Ancient." He fell to his knees and began to cry, "One child. They picked me because one day I might be able to wield the power of the Ancients?!"
Yun
"It is an excuse, but it is also the foundation of what we are. San and I are unique when it comes to the SOUL division. We never betray who you will become, but we made our own choices, hence were."
"Aw geez..." San frowned and reached down, trying to ruffle the kids hair like she would her kid siblings when they were troubled. But at the same time her mind whirled. What temple? There wasn't a temple in the time the old president was alive was there? Was there..? It wasn't like the klosseff children were told every gritty detail back then.. But the kid made it sound like this Jenova family was a living force...
"Sorry kid. I really am." She said as she looked over the area, trying to get a better guage of where on the planet they might be. Or better yet... when. "Believe it or not, you're gonna find some people in those walls. And they are gonna mean the world to you. And you're gonna make some decisions that's gonna take care of those people. Because when it comes down to it? They don't like bein' pawns any more than you do right now. And as cheesy greeting card like as it sounds-- Only things they are missing are hope and opportunity. You might be a string bean now- but you'll be giving them both of those things. "
Chris
He turned on them, a boy, yet facing two grown women...no the fact they were women didn't matter, two grown SOUL. "You made your choices, and you chose to inherit the evils of those that came before. Just as I have chosen to be a guard against death for the most profane, the most desturtive force of our era." Looking up to them, his pupils briefly flexed with the same cat-iris given to Kadaj and his ilk. "But we all have a choice again, don't we?" More townsfolk were coming with torches, pepper spray, tazers, and the like to punish a boy they knew nothing about. "Go." He said plaintively. "Please. I have to protect everyone. The WARRIOR. The GUARDIAN. The SOUL. They will be given to me to protect, from the needles, the hatred, the prejudice." He sobbed a second late, clearing the tears from his eyes, before looking back at them, "Tell him, Tell Heiner, that he must find both Alexander and Bahamut. Without that...he can't change anything.." The lifesteam suddenly became violent, about to expel both San and Ronnie.
Yun
The worst part about this? Ronnie knew she was interacting with a memory. Watching people gang up on a child however was still hard to watch. Hard to watch this kind of abuse and the desire to do something about it hit hard.
"We will pass that message on." She resolved, tears in her eyes. There was nothing that could change this scene and it made her hate humans. Or at least made her want to punish those responsable for this hate.
Tell Heiner? He wasn't-?
That's right- Heiner was 'made'. Like the others he'd been- this kid was... aw geez how'd she miss it??
She reached for a weapon that wasn't there, cursing the fact that something was unfolding in front of her that she had no power to change. "You brats. You're just like that guy, taking the burden all on your own-"
She let out a frustrated sound and threw up her hands. "We'll help you guys change everything, you got it?"
Chris
The kid Heiner was only able to throw his hands, duck down, and block agianst the villagers purging him. But as the lifesteam sewept both Sanura and Ronnie away, they would find themselves in a lonely cave, the slightly distant sound of falling water away. A figure sitting upon a single rock watching them, hands folded, "Of all those I fought with, I knew you two could be trusted." as vision cleared it was Heiner. "But we are far from the end of our journey. So..." He stood up, and tossed their respective weapons back before them, "You each get a question. After that I will send you back to the assignment I choose. And I will go back to researching what is required to save this world.."
Yun
"After the dust settles, how about we find that town and burn it to the ground?" Ronnie muttered, feeling very vengeful. Tev, Tav, Emy... Now to find Heiner was victim to the beatings that fell their kind. But now they were in a cave with the form of Heiner... Another lifestream segment or was this the real deal.
"We have a message for you before we leave." It was spoken as a statement rather than a question. As for what that is, San would ask first. Ronnie's not sure what to ask yet.
San
San bit back a few san-like questions in response, not wanting to waste the question on typical snarky cat fashion when she was in unfamiliar territory. Wound up from seeing the humans at that. She'd always had a distaste for 'civis' as she called most humans, even when she was 97% one herself. But the kids... sere.. everthing was a taste in her mouth she couldn't get rid of.
"What's the endgame?" she asked. She had dozens actually, but half of them were literally blocked from her telling.
Yun
One question, needed to be a good one. However, she knew there was one that needed to be asked, but had a feeling she didn't know what it would be yet. She would ask about the nature of the assignment, but that would be handed down. San's question was a good one, and Ronnie couldn't exactly think of a better one at the moment, so she would sit on it a moment.
Chris
Looking to Ronnie who spoke first, "That town is long gone. It was a staging area for the forgotten kingdom of Lucii. The only kingdom beyond Rocket Town that held the old tradition of the Ancient Legacy. I fear you will find no one left to strike down, only the empty regret of knowing the first GUARDIAN and WARRIOR were birthed from such a cesspool." He perked up a bit with some slow response to Sanura. "No one knows. But either Kinuko or your ilk take the initiative. They failed to exterminate the descendents of my line. So I request you take advantage of it." He stood up and a ghostly white energy overcame his outline, "Tell Nika to meet me in the old reactor." Ther ewas a sorrow in his face, "She may be the only one that can understand." Eyes wandered over to Ronnie. "Last Chance."
Yun
"Who exactly are the ancients that the memory spoke of?"
Chris
"The Ancients, inherited this world. One half wished to use this world as the staging area for the perfect race. The other wanted to give the boon of abundance to those that would come later. Choose which you should follow."
Yun
Ronnie nodded, looks like more research needed to happen for herself. "We will tell you this again if we need to, but, seek out Bahamut and Alexander. They are supposed to help you change everything."
Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:54 pm