Protecting my Devotion - Group 19

[immortal_lion]

Characters: Vincent Valentine, Rishfee, Cid Raines.
Progress: In-Progress.
Summary: THIS. IS. MEMORIAAAAAAAAAA.
Location: ???
Date: 11th March.
Warnings: TBA~

Comments

[chaos_vessel]

The growing pink light had caught Vincent's attention over the past few days as he traveled toward Wutai. It had been difficult not to notice something like that, when the only thing around was him and the occasional monster. It had not been anything that seemed to herald worrying, and from what he had paid attention to of the network, it had not gotten attention from any others, so he had kept an eye on it, but dismissed it as simply another aspect of the world, that little could be done about.

He had been largely able to ignore it while he was in Wutai, but that seemed to have done no good. It only meant that he was taken unaware when the pink glow suddenly intensified, blocking out everything else, and leaving Vincent to do his best to prepare for whatever might come of it.

But then the glow cleared, and Vincent was left simply standing motionless for a moment. He had been expecting an attack, or possibly, being returned to his own world, not to suddenly find himself in the middle of a strange city. Then, after only a moment of looking around, he caught sight of a blue and white uniform that stood out against the rest of the area.

Rishfee. Without any further hesitation, he started toward the Immortal.

[immortal_lion]

Despite how packed the streets were, most tended to stay away from Rishfee. People actually collided with each other, pushed against each other and moved even more close from within the shoulder-to-shoulder streets to stay away from the Immortal- giving him at the very worst, sidelong glances. Most merely bowed their heads however, stopped talking completely and utterly around him, even if they were mid-conversation, and waited until they were a good distance away before resuming.

Such was the populace's fear of blue mages. Much less Immortals. He looked around, and right at Vincent, unable to see the man and more like seeing straight through him. Then someone came from the crowd. A soldier.

"Sir.. what are you doing here? You are needed at the Walahra Temple, there's a situation..."

He paused, and he blinked. "What has happened?"

"The Lady Aphmau has slipped away from her residence at the temple again..."

Wait. He paused, and he remained silent for a long time. Aphmau was away, wasn't she? The corsair, the Blackheart, had taken her. Such was common knowledge among the Imperial army. Why, wanted posters had even been put up, hadn't they? But there was another thing. Something prominent.

"The Lady Aphmau has not been a resident of the Walahra temple for over a year. What are you speaking of?"

The soldier paused.

"...Have you been struck upon the head, sir? Perhaps you should visit the infirmary later, but I am telling you. I come on the order of the scholars within the temple. They feel you are the only one that would know where she is."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking in the distance. This didn't make sense. Even if in his absence Nashmeira had came back to the Empire, why would she be living at the temple? ...Yet even with that considered, he straightened himself.

"Tell your soldiers to post double-watches on port Ephramad, the exits to Wajoam from Al Zahbi, and the underground route to Bhaflau. Inform Sharin-Garin that none are allowed usage of the runic portals until she is located. Furthermore, keep a keen watch upon all of the mercenaries. She may enlist their help to flee the capital. No white mage nor black mage leaves via teleportation. Understood?"

"Sir."

He moved along the streets swiftly, mind whirring. Nashmeira lived at the temple, according to the soldier. Did that mean this was the past? No, it couldn't have been. That sort of thing was impossible. Yet... there was one place she went when she snuck out of the temple. And that was the way of the devout, where puppetmasters performed with their automatons.

He soon came upon a short, blonde girl -- attempting to emulate an older elvaan puppetmaster's actions from behind a pillar.

"Lady Aphmau..."

[chaos_vessel]

Vincent had nearly reached Rishfee before he realized that the Immortal was barely paying him any attention. Still, he came up to join Rishfee and stand at his side. From the way Rishfee was talking to the soldier, it seemed that this place they had both found themselves was Rishfee's own world.

Yet something seemed off about it. Rishfee had essentially taken everything in stride, without question- without even a glance at Vincent to perhaps wonder why he had been brought to Rishfee's home as well. What was more, the soldier did not seem to notice his presence at all, and simply continued talking to Rishfee as though Vincent had not joined them.

Vincent remained silent for the moment, unwilling to test it for the moment. Still, he stuck to Rishfee like a shadow, following him through the streets. There was no point in getting lost in this place simply because Rishfee wasn't paying attention to him. He stayed close all the way until Rishfee found the girl. Aphmau... He knew Rishfee had mentioned her before. So this was her?

[immortal_lion]

"You are becoming quite the escape artist, though you need to improve upon your location... It's always here."

His tone was resigned, respectful. Yet the girl paid him no mind, merely attempting to slowly twirl upon one leg, a small and almost flimsy looking automaton doing about the same thing. Both their stances were unbelievably shaky, and the outcome was inevitable. The girl tumbled backward, and Rishfee's breath caught in his throat. He caught her, thankfully, yet the automaton did not have the same fortunate outcome.

It clattered to the floor loudly, cermet visor breaking from it's little helmet. And it lay there, lack of face open to the world, visor skidding to a stop a few yards away from it.

"Mnejing...!"

Her voice was almost at the brink of tears, already. He merely sighed, and attempted to move away, placing the girl back upon her feet. But she wouldn't let go. She clung to the Immortal, and she buried her face into his chest, soon sobbing. He looked around, self-conciously, before forcefully detaching himself from her. She was shaking.

Her face was already a mass of red wilts. Then it became apparent she'd been crying before Mnejing even fell. Silently, he stepped forward at the realization, allowing her to reattach herself to him, eyes fixed upon the motionless automaton.

" The other students have been cruel to you again, haven't they?" he asked, already knowing the answer was the affirmative. Her sobs intensified, and that was more than confirmation. He felt awful. All of him, every part of him wished he could do something. Anything. Whatever he could to allieviate this; anything to make the girl's wretched life more managable. Even in the smallest way. Because that was all she was. She was a child.

Her voice was muffled.

"We do not understand why they hate us... We have done nothing to them, we swear it! A-All we wish to do is return to the palace... The letters...
The letters from our brother stopped..."

"I know. A thousand apologies, he is still fighting the war to the far east."

He half whispered the lie, bringing his hands to his eyes and rubbing at them. He knew what had happened regarding the Grand Vizier. But he was under orders to not tell her. And they were the emperor's orders. They were not to be bent for any purpose. Even for her sake.

"We...
We have been abandoned...
Why has he abandoned us? Have we done something wrong?"

Something strange happened. When he moved his hands away from his eyes, Mnejing was standing, and looking for his visor. His movements were nothing like before. The shaking was gone. The automaton moved as if a professional was controlling it- and the Immortal looked around to see if one of the other puppetmasters in the square was trying to steal it. Yet none had.

He blinked.
The girl continued to sob. By now, Mnejing had found his visor, reattached it, and lay upon the floor again, in exactly the same position as before.

"Tell us what to do...
We cannot live this life any longer..."

He looked down, to find nothing. Nothing and no-one, and merely Vincent's presense. He stared.

"What-"

[chaos_vessel]

Vincent was silent during the whole exchange, and even drew back slightly, to give Rishfee some space. The moment was obviously a private one, perhaps more for the girl than anyone else. He wasn't likely to be noticed anyway, but it was still better than standing there brazenly.

From the spot he had chosen, Vincent watched the scene unfold. He was detached from it, so he picked up on Rishfee's words and actions. He did not sound bewildered by finding himself in this place again. Rather, he seemed to know exactly what the situation was in this place, more than he was telling Aphmau. There was absolutely no sign from Rishfee that he remembered his time on Gaia, or that it had affected him in any way- nothing other than the regained eye. Yet the girl hadn't even begun to comment on that. More and more, as Vincent watched silently, he began to feel like some spectator.

Then the girl disappeared, suddenly and without warning. Vincent whirled, trying to find where she had gone. He had known that she was present there, it could not have been a trick, and yet suddenly she was nowhere to be seen or sensed. No one had taken advantage of the distraction to attack either him or Rishfee.

And even more strangely, Rishfee was now finally looking at him, and not through him. Vincent nodded to Rishfee calmly, keeping an eye on their surroundings. "Something isn't right." he said, flicking his cape to the side so he could put a hand on Cerberus and be ready to draw.

As soon as he said those words, however, their surroundings shifted without warning, changing completely. Gone were the walls of the temple and the furnishings of the Empire. Instead, they stood on a bluff, with a cave at their backs, and a beautiful green valley unrolling below. Vincent froze, and stared. He knew this place, knew it all too well, yet surely it couldn't be....

[immortal_lion]

That was something from the past- from before his ee had been taken and restored. The fact she'd been in the way of the devout practising, her feeble automaton skill, as well as the reference to her brother had meant that all this had happened long ago. More than a year ago; but the final confirmation of it was the fact that Mnejing started moving unassisted in that manner. At the time, he'd noticed it. But he'd said nothing. He'd managed to calm her down, and he'd managed to take her back to the temple.

...Then he'd managed to hurt her. He couldn't contain his worry for her at that point, and he'd made an impressive display of scaring the girls in the temple away from their little campaign against Nashmeira. Of course, that had been the wrong decision. It caused questions to be asked about why a mere nobleould have an Immortal care about her well-being, and it had meant he'd been removed from her guard.

That had meant that someone had made an attempt at her life shortly afterward, after finding out she was actually the Empress.

"Where is she?! I have to warn her, someone is going to attempt to assassinate her that night!" he almost shouted, wheeling around himself in search for her; the automaton- anything. Vincent's words sadly weren't even registered.

...But everything faded. Aht Urhgan, it's voices, it's smells and it's sights disappeared just as quickly as they had arrived, and instead he found himself in a rather serene picture. ...And Vincent. Now his attention was fully on the older one; he noticed the reaction.

"Vincent..?!"

[chaos_vessel]

He might have responded, might have asked what Rishfee meant about the assassination, might even have asked about why Rishfee hadn't seen him from nearly the moment they had appeared in that city. But Vincent was no longer paying attention to Rishfee. The current scene had distracted him, and the memory was already drawing him in. He no longer saw Rishfee there- instead, he was standing in the entrance of Lucrecia's cave, emerging after a week of time spent there.

He paused for a moment, adjusting to the sunlight, before a glimpse of pink had him looking up in surprise. A girl in pink stood there, and it took him a moment to recognize her as Shelke. She turned to catch sight of him, with a slight gasp of surprise, then turned her back to him, hands clasped behind her. Almost as if she were trying to ignore him.

Yet he understood the gesture. He hadn't contacted any of the others in a week, after all. And her simple presence here, at the entrance of Lucrecia's cave, spoke far more of her intentions than simply turning away did. He stepped closer, waiting silently.

"Everyone's waiting, Vincent Valentine." Even with Shelke's even voice, it was simply a gentle reprimand, one that he listened to silently. The girl sighed, then continued, lightly, almost teasingly. "I don't know... why they made me come up here and get you."

Except they both did, really. It was just like the others. They had understood what this was about, it seemed. "Hnn." The sound held slight amusement, as close to a laugh as Vincent would really get.

After a pause, Shelke laughed, then turned to face him. "Not that I... mind, though." She said, and she smiled at him, calmly, more at ease than he had probably ever seen her.

He watched her, for a moment, a faint smile of his own forming in response. It was over. After thirty-three years of suffering, and self-hatred, and struggling with the monsters inside of him, it was over.

Everything hadn't been set right- it would be impossible to do that. Too much had happened for everything to magically be reversed and fixed simply by this battle. Yet, this had done enough. He was absolved. The last memory of Hojo on the Planet was gone, for good. Sephiroth had been stopped, and Chaos had been returned to the Lifestream. The great weight of his sins was finally gone from his shoulders, repented for. Lucrecia was dead, and nothing could change that, but he was at peace with that, at long last. His love for her was still there, but it was no longer a painful burden to bear. He would still bear the scars of everything that had happened to him, and perhaps he could never be that happy or innocent again... but he was content.

It was more than he had ever hoped for, he thought, as he looked toward the sky.

Even after the memory ended, and Shelke disappeared, he remained in place, holding onto that feeling.

[immortal_lion]

His attempts to get the other's attention had been futile, and repeated, from merely saying the other's name to actually considering going over and tugging at something, anything. Only considered, because there was no actual way in this earth, any earth, that he would. It was a matter of respect, and acting as a child wouldn't exactly align with that. So he turned to silence when the girl arrived. He didn't know her. But her voice was familiar. Mooglenet, maybe..?

It didn't matter. Not really.
There wasn't a whole lot to view, from her. He was solely concentrating on Vincent; the undeniable fact something, actually quite a lot, was different. Vincent had always been to him a mystery, but someone that was wound tight. Extremely so. Someone that seemed to internally check everything he felt; everything he did. Someone that controlled everything, every action, every gesture, every word.

...But this Vincent didn't do that. If anything; he seemed free from his habit of judging his actions, words... Rishfee noticed the smile. Half of him was merely confused at such a gesture, but it was soon overcome by the fact the other wouldn't do so for good reason.

...He seemed relaxed.
He'd never seen him as such. So he silently looked up as well. Nothing but the most clear sky... almost alike how clear a sky should look after a tremendous storm had passed.

Silently, he regarded the other. Even after everything had passed; not wanting to ruin any of this.

[chaos_vessel]

Eventually, Vincent removed his gaze from the sky, and turned to Rishfee. As much as he treasured that feeling of being unburdened, it was not appropriate for this situation they were in, which was still confusing and uncertain. They did not know what was going on, and had barely been able to talk to each other from the moment this strange occurrence began. They needed to do their best to find answers- because even if the memory of finally being freed of Chaos was a good one, there was still the fact that he had relived it, not simply recalled it. Something very strange was happening.

"That happened to me months ago. When I was returned to my world." he said, looking directly at Rishfee. The the relaxed air was gone all too quickly. There was too much of a threat present here for it to last long. Vincent hadn't brought out his gun, not yet, but he was obviously on alert. "The girl, Shelke, is on Gaia as well. She should not have been here." And furthermore, there was no sign of her now, in the same way that Aphmau had disappeared when Rishfee came to his senses.

"Something is wrong here, if we were taken so quickly from your world to mine."

[immortal_lion]

"Not to mention the fact it's drawing on memories. There is no way you should have seen what I saw. You weren't there. And likewise... I shouldn't have been able to see your memories." he commented, moving a hand to his kilij and taking a few steps forward. ...Not like that was any good. The pair of them were trapped in empty space. Nothing and no-one was around; it was merely them.

"We need to find others. It can't have just happened to us. We were both in different locations at the time. There must be others trapped here too..."

...Shouting wouldn't do anything. He couldn't percept anything, not in this form. He lowered his head, lost in thought for a moment- half considering tapping into his other abilities. Lamiae were excellent at hunting people down thanks to their sense of smell. In fact, it was how he had located Eiko during the attack on Lindblum. He decided that there was nothing for it, and moved his hand to a pouch hidden underneath his jubbah. And he took his keffiyah from it, taking a moment to put it on before stretching and extending his arms in front of him, one slightly bent.

He concentrated, bracing for the pain that was part and parcel of his form changing ever so slightly to accomodate a Lamia's abilities.
"..."

Nothing happened.

He concentrated harder.
...Nothing happened.

"..."

[chaos_vessel]

Vincent nodded. "Even being forced to relive them, thinking that we were in the actual time of the memory."

He almost disagreed about finding others. When they still did not know why they were reliving these events, they could do nothing to stop them from occurring maybe a second time.

He would prefer not to be forced to watch the memories of others. Furthermore, most of his memories were not as pleasant as that one. He hardly wanted to put others through the horrors that had occurred in his life, and he did not want to have more people who knew what he had lived through. He didn't want to have to deal with their pity and their horror.

"Your magic isn't working." Vincent observed after a moment. This time, he actually did draw his gun, and held it at the ready. "This place is trying to keep us trapped..." Something was happening here, something had to be doing this to them, and yet, nothing had revealed itself to be the source of the relived memories or Rishfee's lack of magic.

"...We should keep moving." he said finally.

[immortal_lion]

"It felt more real than this currently does. Even yours..." He paused a moment, recalling what he had seen. He could even smell everything in the valley, even feeling the sun on his back when he'd stood just in front of the cave. He'd even felt an odd sense; that everything was alright. It had even made him become less frantic over Aphmau's location. But it was strange. It was like waking from a dream. In this surreal state- he knew everything was false. But back then, it had been real. Completely real.

He watched the other draw, and nodded. At least it was Vincent here. Not like he even knew what this entailed, or how it would change -- even the bottom line of being here, duration, the experiences to come, so really he shouldn't have been thankful that someone he cared for was trapped the same as him- but some part of him was greatful that it wasn't a complete stranger.

No way seemed to be the right or the wrong. So he simply started walking, casting his mind back to Vincent's memory, and what he didn't know. Curiousity, definately.

"If you would prefer not to answer, say. I won't push it... but what was in the cave?" he asked, almost tentatively. He couldn't help it. Not really. Contentment and peace was certainly not what he was expecting. Not from Vincent.

[chaos_vessel]

It had been reliving it, and that was what troubled Vincent the most. He was already worried about what they might have to go through if it happened again. That memory was one of the few that he looked back on fondly, and since they were reliving the memories, not simply recalling them...

Vincent followed, keeping a close eye on the scenery, waiting for it to change again, either to something else he recognized, or to surroundings similar to the city from Rishfee's memory.

"The cave is Lucrecia's resting place." Vincent said, and fell silent. There was not more about that statement that he needed to explain. Rishfee already knew of Lucrecia, of how Vincent felt for her. Perhaps Rishfee would wonder why he had been so at peace after leaving there, of all places- but that was part of a different story, one that was- ironically- less difficult to talk about than Lucrecia herself.

Sorry for being so late. RETCON TIME also mushy romance ughhh

[animus_concisus]

When he had first woken up, it was due to a bright ray of light hitting his eyes. He mumbled to himself about the curtains never closing correctly, as it seemed to be a near-daily alarm, and not exactly a pleasant one. Though he nothing of importance to do that day, Cid was not the type of person to simply laze around in bed. As such, he moved to get up.

Or tried to, at least. Something was pinning him down. More specifically, someone. Rygdea's arm was wrapped around his waist, the younger man snoring lightly on the bed beside him. It took Cid a few moments to remember what had actually happened the night before-- Ah. Yes. Valentine's Day. Plenty of alcohol. Enough to elicit some confessions from the both that Cid had never intended to happen.

Thankfully, from the looks of it, they hadn't gone too far; both of them were still fully clothed. It seemed as if they had quite literally just passed out on the bed at some point, the empty bottle of liquor on a table nearby an obvious explanation. Cid yawned, tried to move, and failed. Rygdea's grip only got tighter.

"No gettin' up," he heard his subordinate mumble sleepily. "Go the hell back to sleep."

He was about to shoot back an annoyed comment about having work to do, but at looking at his face, he just...couldn't. Settling back down, he kissed Rygdea's forehead, leaned in, and closed his eyes. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just stay in bed for a while. After all the trauma in his life over the past decade, it'd been enough to erase any actual good memories of life. This was the first time in longer than he could remember where he actually felt...happy.

That was when the air grew cold. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the room in Lindblum's inn, and Rygdea was nowhere to be found. It wasn't long before he had met up with Vincent and Rishfee, who seemed to be as utterly confused as he was. What was going on?

Right now, he needed to find a way back. And hope that the others hadn't seen his own memory.

[immortal_lion]

"Oh..."

Part of him certainly did want to know why Vincent was so at peace, but he figured that perhaps that matter was best kept personal. It wasn't like Vincent to withhold information. Not at all, actually. He just actually wanted to allow the other some sort of personal space, even in the face of memories being revealed as if they were nothing.

...It wasn't much personal space, but it was something at least.

He moved down the hall and began to make a certain phone call; mainly for the sake of worry. Thankfully, some information came from it, so he turned to Vincent.

"Good news, apparently the exit is--"

And he paused.
...Had this man always been here? No, he couldn't have been! Unfortunately for Cid, Rishfee wasn't privy to this memory so all he saw was him lean upward, make a strange movement with his head and settle. Then wake up.

"...Hello."

[chaos_vessel]

Unfortunately for Raines, Vincent had been able to see glimpses of that memory. It had only been brief flashes, and he hadn't been able to see the second person very well, not that he'd tried. Cid was just as private of a man as he was, and he didn't know the other man well enough to begin to go prying into his business, or to want to. If anything, he was wondering why, and perhaps thankful of the fact that this memory had not been as clear to him as Rishfee's.

"Raines." The greeting was barely that, more of an acknowledgment of his presence than anything else. He didn't turn toward the man and stare at him, only nodded briefly, before hiding his face behind the collar of his cloak. He didn't bother to introduce Rishfee and Cid to each other, either.

With that over, he turned to Rishfee. "What about the exit?" That seemed to be more important than anything else about their situation, at the moment.