☆` i've never been to space before.
Characters: Gracia and vatheon.
Location: Nostalgia Nook.
Time: Right now, baby.~
Style: I'll start it out in prose but feel free to change this, and I'll follow your lead.
Status: OPEN ♥
( The big epic return?! )
Location: Nostalgia Nook.
Time: Right now, baby.~
Style: I'll start it out in prose but feel free to change this, and I'll follow your lead.
Status: OPEN ♥
( The big epic return?! )
Her father was alive. Oh, she prayed; don't let this be a dream. Don't make it go away.
Before Mitsuhide could even finish his sentence, Gracia already attacked, throwing herself forward with her arms quickly wrapping themselves to his waist. The haori was left forgotten, and so was everything else.
Her tears fell freely, and she lost most of her composure. Who cared? This moment...It was hers and hers alone. Even if Tadaoki came bursting in to wake her up from this happiness, she wouldn't even think about letting Mitsuhide go.
"Father...father! I never stopped believing in you, I knew you were alright! I always knew...oh, father! You're alive! You're really alive!" Her face was buried into the rest of his clothes, making her voice muffled. The way she cried was unlike any other, though. She kept telling him that she was no longer a child, but she would always succumb to her favorite, most loved person in the world -- when he was around, she would always be a little girl again.
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"Yes. I'm alive, my girl," he said quietly.
A familiar situation; he remembered what it was like when he'd seen Motochika again, upon first stepping into Vatheon. So it was true, then. In her world, he was dead... or at least thought dead.
He'd worried. Within his own version of their world he'd never had a child, but upon meeting Gracia for the first time in Vatheon he'd begun to wonder how Honnouji and Yamaazaki might affect her. Now he had an answer; or a partial one, at least. At least she'd lived through it.
Mitsuhide closed his eyes.
"Take as long as you need."
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The amount of trust and high regard she had for her father was near infinite. She had looked to him for everything in her life, and she never once despised him for the decisions he had taken for her sake. Even locking her up. She was able to escape eventually, but even then she had only the best interests of her father and herself, in mind. No matter what, Gracia always thought about him, admired him with such intensity. That's why Yamazaki was the worst period of her life. It made her ask herself things like, "Was it worth it to kill Nobunaga for this?" or, "Was Hideyoshi right in taking away what father earned?"
The more she cried to him, the more she was able to feel him, the more Gracia knew he was real and he was alive. She had so many things to ask him, but for now, all she could do was convince herself she was not hallucinating. She was actually here, in this eerily familiar place, with her father and Gracia believed in the best; everything was going to be okay now.
"Everybody else said you were gone, mukodono kept telling me you were gone...but I could still feel you, father! I knew it! I really knew it!" The young woman clinging to her father was spurting out all the words and feelings she had kept inside, kept to herself. Her grip only loosened when, after a prolonged moment of soft whimpering, she put some distance between herself and Mitsuhide, only to look at him with frightening devotion.
"I'll risk my life to protect you, father. I won't ever let you get hurt again." She pulled herself back to him, her cheek meeting gently against his chest. She stared at the box without much care. Her words spoke volumes.
"Your dream for a better, kinder land...I'm going to help you make it come true!"
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"You have a great deal of faith in your heart," he said, simply. "But I'd rather you kept yourself safe. That is more important to me."
He didn't touch her statement about making a better land. That was impossible. There were many things they would need to talk about, but not now. He took a shaking breath, pushing his own problems out of his mind.
"Although it would not surprise me if you were stubborn about such a thing. It's like listening to Lord Motochika talk."
Mitsuhide laughed then.
"I ought to let him know you are here, soon."
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A topic soon to be divulged on soon, but not now. It wasn't important.
"...I'm not a child anymore, you know. I can take care of myself." She smiled quietly. How strange it seemed to tell him this when, just moments prior, Gracia found herself unable to let go of her beloved father. Truly, however, Gracia meant her words. If it meant being able to protect him, and to re-assure him of a future where Japan would be his, then Gracia didn't care in the slightest about what happened.
Ah, but his next statement made Gracia jump back in shock once again.
"Motochika?"
Her expression returned to complete and utter shock.
"He's alive too?"
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Her shock was not too much of a surprise. It made sense; if Yamazaki was lost in her time and he likely dead as well, then Motochika surely would have perished. What did surprise him was her extremely informal reference to the Lord of Tosa. He tilted his head a little and raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, he is." How unusual. "Very much alive, and well enough to play his shamisen or paint my face, when he so chooses."
A brief flash of amusement passed through Mitsuhide's eyes then, at that memory.
"He will be as pleased to see you again as I am, my girl."
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How long was it ago that Gracia decided she was all alone?
And now...
...Now they've returned to her.
She felt faint.
She clenched her fists together, trying to piece things one by one. The way her father spoke of him, it was as if they were hiding in this place all along! Did they deliberately hide from her, pretending to have been slain? No, that couldn't be it. Gracia was still unsure of many things, but one thing was clear; wherever they were at the moment was the answer to it all.
She rubbed her eyes, freeing her face from her tears.
"But, how? What's going on?" Gracia shook her head. "Where are we? Why do I feel like I've been here before?"
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That was how he had always explained it, anyway. He sighed a little, dipping his head as he thought how best to approach it. There were things he didn't want to discuss with her until she was settled.
"You should know," he said, "that this place draws in souls from many different worlds and times. It is a difficult idea to explain. The world you know and find familiar is not the only one. There are many others, some completely different, some only slightly different. They might contain different versions of yourself, as well. In fact, I know at least one other version of you does exist, my girl, because she was here before. She left a short while ago."
Mitsuhide looked up, at the dome above their heads.
"Perhaps her memories are with you. I do not know for sure. How the magic of Vatheon works is a mystery to most of us."
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The name of the city drew upon her many emotions. She followed her father's suit and stared up at the dome, surrounded by the blue ocean. Gracia closed her eyes.
"I was here before?" Immediately, her expression shifted. You could practically see the cogs turning in her mind. The possibility seemed impossible, but her gut feeling told her it wasn't.
"Is that why I don't feel frightened? Because I've been here before..." She was thinking hard on it because it helped her put things into perspective. That was the answer to her question and it made sense.
Gracia remained contemplative, trying to recall any past memories of Vatheon.
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Actually, it didn't make sense fully, but there was no need to cause Gracia more confusion. Perhaps it didn't need to, though. Looking back down, the samurai drew out his SFC and flipped it open, using it to quickly send Motochika a message.
"I've sent Lord Motochika a message, my girl." He looked over at her once more, smile gentle again. "Do you remember this? The SFC? You should have one right now, as well."
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At the prompt of her father, she groped around her and indeed, found her own SFC. It dawned on her that it felt more than familiar to hold the device. When she played around with it and stared at its contours and shape, Gracia realized that more than familiarity, she felt almost a tinge of mastery return to her! As if she'd been using it for a very long time!
"...You use this to communicate with people! Right, father?" The excitement was a welcome rush. Things were finally becoming clearer!
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Mitsuhide was quiet for a moment, simply looking at Gracia thoughtfully. Again the many questions ran through his mind. He wanted to ask her about her experiences back in Japan, and to learn just how much closer to the reality he knew she was, but again, it was not a good time for that. This was a young woman who had been telling herself, against all evidence, that her father was dead. He could not chance ruining the moment for either of them.
Instead, he walked over to and picked up the fallen haori. He himself was a little damp after Gracia's embrace.
"Those memories will make it much easier for you." To put it mildly. "Hopefully you shall remember that many friends you made as well."
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But there was the home she left behind that bothered her greatly. She had no idea why she came back to Vatheon, and quite frankly, she didn't want to stay this time. If only for her father and Motochika -- but no, it was more than them now.
Still. Her father was here.
Gracia groaned. What was she going to do?
She placed her the palm of her hand on the side of her forehead, deep in thought. Her smile was replaced with a stern, almost desperate frown.
"This isn't right. Kai is waiting for me, I have to help them fend off Hideyoshi! But father, you're here and..." Her sentence stops there. Her tone is somber, yearning for a solution.
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"Right or not, you are here until the power behind this place choose to send you back," he said. "We have no choice. We cannot leave as we wish."
It seemed that they would end up talking about things he would rather have left for another day after all. He sighed, looked around, and sat on a low wall.
"Myself and Lord Motochika have been here for over eight months now, and in that time nobody has left through their own efforts. It is as simple as that."
He paused, and took a deep breath. Something like pain showed in his features.
"...when I came here, Gracia, and first saw my Lord... I did not believe he was real. Because in the world I came from, he was already dead. This I knew for certain, because I was at his side when he took his last breath. If I ever return home, he will not be there when I get back."
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The information started to overflow. Gracia felt heavy, and she was sure it wasn't because of the clothes. She walked around, though she didn't stray too far from her father's protective proximity.
"I don't understand! How could you have been here for eight months when we were fighting at Yamazaki together? That was less than that time!" She bit her lip, searching for clues and answers, but was able to come up with nothing. Vatheon...she had forgotten what a strong hold it had on its victims.
Her sadness matched his own.
"So are you really dead? You and Motochika...you're both gone?" Her tears returned. "Even if I go back home, you'll still be gone?"
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These were horrific memories. They never really left him alone, although Motochika did much to help soothe their impact at times... as did Gracia herself.
"In mine, the death of Lord Motochika broke me. I could not go on without him, so after surviving Yamazaki alone I took a new name and a new life, away from everything and everyone. Without worth or purpose. Vatheon took me from that life when it swept me up."
Mitsuhide opened his eyes and looked over at Gracia. It was a small comfort, perhaps, but the only one he could offer in regards to her question.
"So I cannot say for sure. If you go back home I might be there somewhere, drowning in my own despair. The name I took was Nankobo Tenkai. If Vatheon allows you to retain any memories when you leave it, then perhaps that will help."
He left the wall, walked over and offered her a hand.
"For now, my girl... be as strong as you can. Lord Motochika will be here in a moment, and right now, I am here before you."
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