GRAVEYARD 2.0

[retellers]

GRAVEYARD Well, that sucked. But no matter what your death was like—whether it was something peaceful or traumatic, you'll find yourself waking in a completely white room on the floor. Small and empty, there isn't anything else there besides an open door to walk through. But before you do that, you'll probably notice that whatever injuries you may have had, including whatever may have been the death blow, are now gone. That's exciting. Stepping out of the room, it seems that you're in a large... house? with three different floors. Everything from floor, ceiling to furniture is completely white, except for the drawings that are plastered to the walls in each room. These are all colorful, drawn in colored pencils and crayon, and resemble a child's drawing. The other notable thing are the windows. While they're present all around the building, looking out of them only shows TV static. Besides that, everything is furnished with the absolute bare minimum of each room. The first floor is all typical common areas one would find in a house. There's a kitchen, living room area, laundry room, dining room, and a main hallway where the stairs are. There are also helpful drawings in these rooms that show the rooms much more lavishly decorated than they actually are. There's a door that appears to be the way to exit the building, it's locked. The second floor consists of nothing but twenty bedrooms. Each room has one queen sized bed, an empty dresser, and an attached bathroom with only a sink, toilet, and shower. Like the first floor, each bedroom has drawn pictures that show it looking much more lavish than it actually does. Thanks for nothing, artist! The third floor only has two rooms. One appears to be a home office with nothing but a desk and two chairs, one behind it and one in front of it. While there's blank pieces of paper and crayons on the desk, the note that was previously there is gone. The other room is much larger, and it's completely empty save for the many drawings lining its walls— in fact, the walls are covered in them, much more than in any other room. On closer inspection, though, it seems like these aren't actually drawings? The papers seem to be showing scenes from the living area. Everything from inside the hotel to the areas beyond the bridge are visible here. However, when curfew hits on Thursday nights, they revert to being normal drawings! Except for the fact that they're all drawings of stick figures being murdered in various ways. Well. At least there's plenty of things to draw with, if you get bored. Also, a handy link to the previous post.

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[laid]

[He groans, which is arguably good since it means he's not dead yet. Or double dead? Honestly who the fuck knows. right now!]

Hey, hey, there's no need fer that.
[Ah, he's back.]

Just gimme a minute ta catch my breath and I'll be fine.
[Sir your flesh wound???]

[heartablaze]

[SIR YOUR FLESH WOUND

She doesn't budge, and doesn't seem to notice that Claude has swept up Karol in his arms, bringing them over before casting a spell of his own that he hadn't had before, the wind coming to his own outstretched hand. Raven will feel his wounds stitch shut, and Karol will sit up in a daze.

Hikaru lets out a gleeful yell as she jumps on top of both of them.]

Y-you're okay.... you're okay, you're both okay...!!! Does it hurt anymore??

[Karol shakes his head with an awkward laugh.]

[laid]

[Blinking!? He was putting on a brave face before, actually, obviously. But now... he actually is fine. And so is Karol???]

No, I feel fine, actually?
[He's as surprised as you are!!!]

Looks like Karol's fine too. Thank goodness.
[Or whoever it is. Whatever. He's tying his hair back again, in any case.]

[heartablaze]

[They're all fine. They've had a battle, together as one team, and they've come out the other end together.

Together.

"Just thinking of our friendship, I know we can do anything!"

...

Time warps. The longer they're together, the more the images of both Karol and Claude start to fade. There's a girl with a sharp tongue and a temper to match, long blue hair and a piercing gaze. There's a girl with a polite demeanor, clever mind and compassionate heart, blonde hair in a bob with an owlish stare behind her glasses. They fight together, and they gather their power together.

They shed blood together.

Raven will see in his mind's eye, the three girls, donning their Mashin - piloting enormous robots made from will alone, storming their castle, fighting and killing their villain to rescue the princess beyond. The princess erupts into a fit of anguished rage, calling for her beloved. She attacks her Magic Knights. She loathes her Magic Knights. And her heart, what little of it that has not been consumed by anger, begs for her Magic Knights to kill her, and send her to her beloved Zagato.

Raven blinks, and they're back in the observatory. The crowd is still mumbling, asking what in the world that bright light was. The three girls have collapsed into a pile in the center of the floor, clutching each other, weeping. Their classmates stare, they ask what in the world happened. For the girls, and for Raven, it has been months. For the world they'd been snatched from, no time has passed at all.

He stands next to the binoculars, which tick the same timer he'd left before running towards Karol. And he looks out the window, and the landscape of the city flickers, to a darkened sky, to a land crumbling apart. No one seems to notice.]

[laid]

[Just when he thought they were getting to wrap things up. Now the binocular hell vista is just what's actually outside. Bad!!!]

Uh, girls...?
[GESTURING TO OUTSIDE.... Sorry to interrupt the feeling sharing time but.... stuff is still happening.]

[heartablaze]

[Hikaru looks up with anguished, puffy eyes, looking out the window.

Her arms fold tightly to herself as recognition blossoms with a painful twist.

Time warps, but they both stay put. The seasons pass. It's been an entire year. They're back in the observatory, Hikaru still on her seat on the floor in tears, but alone. The land outside has only gotten worse.

It's only when Hikaru calms down enough that she finally speaks up, her voice weak.]

They don't know right now, Oji-san. None of us... none of us knew, that that's what was gonna happen. We tried so hard to go back, to help fix what hole we had to leave, but... we couldn't, for a really long time.

[laid]

[He remembers, what now feels like ages ago, Hikaru asking him what you should do if you do something you can't take back. That you can't fix.]

... Hey, it's ok. You didn't know, right?
[That's what she said. No one knew the truth of the situation with Emeraude.]

[heartablaze]

[She shakes her head.]

I didn't know with Shuuya, either.

Not knowing isn't enough an excuse, Oji-san. You... have to decide, what it is you did wrong, and what you wanna change.

[laid]

[Sighs because she's not WRONG.]

Well I dunno about you, but right now the only thing I wanna change is you kids and everyone else bein' dead.
[And instead we're stuck in memory hell.]

[heartablaze]

[For a moment, the scene flickers - to the three girls standing behind them, to a mirror image of Hikaru clenching her fists so tightly that they bleed.

"I want to go back. I don't want to leave them like this, with nothing ever changing... I want to go back and really help the people she loved...!!

The Hikaru still curled up on the floor wipes at her eyes.]

Why, Oji-san?

[laid]

[He already knew, but man. Hikaru has really been through far too much for someone her age. She's Karol and Rita's age, and they'd been through a lot too, but at least they'd had adults like Yuri and arguably him around to rely on. Hikaru and her friends had been forced to make decisions that would be difficult for adults.]

... Why what?

[heartablaze]

Why do you care about us so much, but not yourself?

...I don't want to have to lose anybody else, Oji-san... and no matter how hard I try to reach to you, you... you always run away...

[The tears are coming back up. But Umi and Fuu break the scene, cross to her, Umi throwing her arms around Hikaru.

Don't you dare start crying, or I'll just cry, too.

She is crying anyway, but Fuu is leaning over to join them, and their is embrace is warm and familiar, and the sorrow is palatable but its theirs and its real and even if they're the only people on this entire planet that feel such sorrow in this moment...

At least they weren't alone?]

[laid]

[Watching her friends console her, the thoughts of Hikaru would be better off if she'd never met me bubble up in his head. He keeps upsetting her, keeps making her cry.

But if nothing else, it's too late now. he can't undo what's already been done. He knows better than anyone what a bad idea it is to try that. Seeing Hikaru with her friends just reminds him of Brave Vesperia. How they all had smacked him for what he pulled at Baction. It's the same thinking, isn't it? Throwing himself away for the sake of the others isn't what anyone wants.]

Hey, sorry, it's alright, we'll all get out of here together, alright? I promise.
[Himself included.]

[heartablaze]

[She pulls in a breath, pulling herself from her friends arms to hold her hand out, extending her pinky.]

Promise.

Promise me... you'll remember that people love you. Promise me that you'll make it home to them.

[laid]

[I'm just gonna say they have pinky swears in Terca Lumireis too, and it's fine. Raven hesitates for just a second before he links his with Hikaru. Even though her use of that word scares him, frankly!! Is that really how it is? Is that how people at home feel about him? It feels selfish to hope so, but he really wants to. So he nods.]

I promise.

[heartablaze]

[She nods her eyes glassy, as she throws her arms around him. In his minds eye, he sees time go further. The girls go back. The land that was so lush is now that crumbling mass of rock, the blue sky now stormy, and the people fearing destruction. Cefiro needs a pillar. The Knights return to protect it, until one is found.

And there is a sudden image, a vicious image, of Hikaru, with a young man held tightly in her arms, fighting to bring two down a road only mean for one, her body ripping to pieces, reaching her arm out for help that she never sees.]

I promise too, Oji-san.

I... can't forget, that I'm not alone. All the things Umi and Fuu ever did with me... we promised we'd do it all together.

The Pillar has to be alone. Emeraude had to be alone. But being alone... no one can do that forever. I don't want to do that forever, Oji-san. I want to be happy.

I promise I'll remember... that I'm the new Pillar of Cefiro... and that I have so, so many people who love me.

[Raven will blink, and he will be out of the memory entirely as the portal pulls him somewhere else. It seems, for now, he is finished.]