ROUND 1-2 ;; BATTLE LOG

[lufenia]

Who: Everyone. Every single character in dissideo. Yes, including you.
When: Midnight, between Friday and Saturday. (The battle itself will last most of Saturday, in IC-time).
Where: A run-down warehouse complex. (Details below.)
What: Once again, the forces of Cosmos and Chaos meet on the battlefield, with a few warriors lost and many gained. AKA: Round

Comments

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[exsergeant]

The flash of light didn't catch her quite so off-guard this time, nor did the slight lurch in her stomach as she warped from pacing in her room to... an abandoned warehouse, apparently. The room was lit by overhead lights, but even so, a faint glow seemed to emanate from a crystal near the center. She gazed at it a moment, taking a step closer

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[privateheaven]

The sudden shift had caught Serah far more off-guard than it had her sister, and she stumbled a bit as the world settled around her. She looked around for a moment, wondering just what had happened and where she was before Lightning's voice resounded through the halls.

"Lightning?" She called back, wincing a little at how loud her voice sounded echoing through the vast, seemingly empty halls. "Lightning, where are you?!"

Hopefully, when Lightning answered- if Lightning answered and Serah hadn't just been hearing her voice- she'd be able to follow the sound of it back to where her sister was.

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[hopeandapromise]

Hope hadn't been expecting the lurch- but then again, he'd already been through one battle, so he wasn't exactly caught off guard by it either. This was different, though, from last time. They were indoors, and they were close, as he could hear voices echo and bounce off the walls.

His ears tuned to what was going on, hearing several people calling for each other, and feet padding along the way, racing off towards the enemy. A part of him didn't know which way to go- until he heard Serah and Lightning call for each other. He seemed closer to Serah, so he followed in that direction, keeping close and trying not to scare her should he run into her suddenly.

It didn't take him long before he turned a corner (cautiously, of course- his previous battles had taught him to know better), that he spotted Serah off at the other end of the hall. With that, he began running towards her, glad to see a somewhat familiar face.

"Serah? Hey, Serah!"

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[brightsiding]

It had taken everything Vanille had not to scream when she felt the unexpected warp; instead, it stole her breath away, and when she landed she collapsed down to her knees, unable to really catch her footing. She did manage to catch herself with her hands so that she didn't hit the ground too hard, but it did hurt a little, and she gave a whine of discontentment as she pushed herself to her feet, glad she hadn't scraped her knees too badly, and glanced around

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[exsergeant]

[ooc: Sazh-mun's offline for now, so we can have him jump in after a round or two when he finds them, y/y?]

This wasn't going as planned. Lightning had heard Serah calling from down one the many hallways, and had opened her mouth to call her name again, but somehow Hope beat her to it. She saw his silver hair disappear down a hall (when all else fails, to locate Hope, look for the hair. It's a little bit uncommon), and for a second, that decided it--she was pushing through the crowd of people, all of which were trying to organize themselves as well, to follow the other l'Cie down the hallway in question.

But then another voice stopped her in her tracks, calling for each of them in turn from a different hallwayLightning paused in the mouth of Serah and Hope's hall, but Serah seemed pretty stationary for the moment, and Hope was beelining for Serah... So they were safe, at least while she could fetch Vanille

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[privateheaven]

[ooc: It's fine by me!]

They were all calling for each other.

Serah almost smiled at the irony, shaking her head in something like amusement as she heard first Hope then Vanille and then Lightning again, each calling for a different person from their world. Another member, she supposed it could be said- of their group She stayed where she was until Hope reached her, offering him a small smile and then turning her head in the direction she could hear both Lightning and Vanille for a moment before turning to look back at Hope.

"Do you think we should go meet up with them, or stay put until Lightning finds us...?" She questioned, thinking it might be a better idea to get Hope's opinion before she ran off- after all, she remembered what had happened the last time she'd run off without thinking of the consequences...

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[hopeandapromise]

Her faint smile was greeted with a weak one from him, both wary and unsure as to where they were. He heard Vanille call out, and then Light call out for her- but he was with Serah, so as long as Light was searching for Vanille, they'd run into each other eventually.

At Serah's question, he paused for a moment, before answering. "I think the sooner we can find her, the better. It can get pretty rough out here, and I know she doesn't want you to get hurt." Or any of us, he added silently, knowing full well they'd be in a fight sooner or later. This was run by Cosmos and Chaos- so there was bound to be conflict one way or another.

"Just stay by me, and we'll find her." With that, he began moving forward, following the calls of Vanille and Light, and making sure Serah was still with him the whole time.

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[brightsiding]

Vanille stopped, turning her head to look back at where she'd just came from, and then turned slowly. She'd heard a voice down the hall- and not only that, but she could have sworn it was calling for her. Not only that but it was actually a rather familiar voice. Sharp, and almost a little too harsh. It could really only be one person.

Still cautious, she started in a run back the way she'd come, turning a corner almost a little too quickly when she spotted the older woman at the end of the hallway she'd just come from.

"Light!" Vanille felt a sense of relief wash over her, happy to have found someone else around here, and especially happy it was someone who knew her. She took off down the hallway, only slowing to a stop a few feet in front of Lightning. "Are you the only one here? Where's everyone else..?"

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[exsergeant]

Without a moment's hesitation, she replied, "They're on their way. Hope's bringing Serah." Which showed just how much faith she'd learned to put in the kid. Not just faith that he'd keep her sister safe, because that part had its limits, but faith that he had a good enough head on his shoulders that she knew he'd lead Serah to she and Vanille soon enough.

She wasn't about to stand around and wait for that to happen, though. "This way. They're in the next hall over." And she took up a brisk pace back out into the room with the crystal. All in all, she'd learned to trust Vanille more than she'd figured she would, too. This is shown in the fact that she only once glanced over her shoulder to make sure Vanille wasn't too distracted by the shiny crystal to keep up.

"Hope, Serah!" She called one more time, this time not even a shout, because she was fairly certain they were right around the corner.

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[privateheaven]

"We're here...!"

Serah heard Lightning before she saw her, but she raised a hand nonetheless to catch her sister's eye. She sped up her pace as she moved toward her, stopping just short of her and reaching up to tug on her ponytail as she looked between Lightning, Hope and Vanille.

"So... this is a battle then?" She ventured hesitantly, looking around them curiously- to be honest, this wasn't exactly the kind of battleground she'd pictured. "Doe it- will it start right away or will we have time to prepare at all?"

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[hopeandapromise]

"Yeah, though I don't know if it'll be the same as last time." This was mainly thrown in as a 'yes, it does start now, but we can still work together and prepare/be a team' kind of saying. If need be he was sure Light could explain it better.

He looked around, making sure no one was ganging up on them like before, and when it looked clear, he sighed. "This is different from the first battle- it was out in the open, on Gran Pulse." He paused after that, shaking his head a little, as this place was entirely different, and he had no clue as to why.

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[brightsiding]

Vanille was never more than a step or two behind Lightning, and even though she was looking around and taking in their surroundings (and yes just a little distracted by the pretty crystal), she was keeping as close as possible, partially out of knowing they needed to stick together, and partially out of fear- this was a battle, after all, and she was nervous about what was going to happen.

Especially one thing in particular, even though Lightning had already promised her that wasn't going to happen.

Even through her distraction, she heard the two voices coming closer very clearly- it was definitely Hope. And Serah, too. Vanille picked up her pace, meeting Lightning's speed, though her steps were a little more hurried. "Hope! Serah!"

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[exsergeant]

That's right, Vanille. She promised, and she fully intended to uphold it. She'd promised Hope the same thing... In a sense, it was very much like she'd promised herself, that she wouldn't let Fang try to prove a point by fighting any of the others but Lightning. She wouldn't let Fang force Hope or Vanille to fight her or any other of their own. That just... was something she wasn't okay with.

When Serah and Hope came into view, Lightning let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She trusted Hope with Serah, but the tension of battle was thick in the air, and there was only so long she was willing to have her sister out of her sight. And when the four converged, she put a hand on Serah's shoulder without thought, half a probably-failed attempt at being comforting, half just plain protective.

She let Hope answer Serah's question, since he seemed ready with at least somewhat of an answer. She nodded to confirm it, then added, "It won't be the same at all. There are too many differences already--we can't bank on anything last

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[focusflight]

It hadn't occurred to Sazh that the battle would start so.... abruptly. But as soon as the world changed and he found himself in the warehouse, he could only assume that this was the metaphorical ring of the starting bell. He carefully pulled his guns from his holsters, and set himself to finding his companions.

It wasn't hard. Fortunately they had all managed to gather quickly enough, and the sounds of their voices bounced off the open walls enough that Sazh could easily pick them up. Hey, who was he to complain? Approaching the open room with the crystal, he held up a hand as he got closer to Lightning and the rest.

"Hey, hey, don't get started without me over there."

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[privateheaven]

"Lightning-!" Serah had been about to protest, to demand that she be allowed to come along, only to be interrupted by Sazh's arrival. She paused, wondering if she should really argue but... She wanted to be there for Lightning. "Lightning, I want to come with you..! I can help-- I've gotten really good at healing, haven't I? I think I could be useful...!"

FOR L'CIE -- Lights On (very beginning) -- Cosmos Level (crystal room)

[hopeandapromise]

There was a whole conundrum of speaking at once. First it was Vanille, then it was Light, then him, then Sazh, and then Serah. All of them one after the other, like a stack of dominoes falling into place.

Hope wasn't sure whether or not to let Serah come along. Not that it was his choice, and Light would probably refuse, but she could be useful overall, as well as aid the group should they get into a really tough spot.

He turned his head, looking towards Light for the final say. A part of him understood how Serah felt, though- being left behind in order to get somewhere else. They weren't leaving her behind, though, but he was sure it felt like it all the same.

"We could use her help, Light. Just in case."