Protecting My Devotion - Group 14

[littleprotector.livejournal.com]

Characters: Marlene, Onion Knight, and Quistis!
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: What's worth fighting for
Location: Memoria!
Date: March 11, 1805
Warnings: None yet?



Marlene had been outside when everything began. At first, a pink sky was pretty. Pink was one of her favorite colors after all, so why shouldn't the sky be pink, hm? But the light... it got so bright that she had to shield herself from it.

When the light subsided, Marlene was in Edge, standing on the street near Seventh Heaven. She was home? Her eyes lit up as she ran her hand over the door leading into the bar, but she didn't step inside yet. Everyone had to be inside, they had to be.

"Tifa? Cloud? Daddy?"

Comments

[alittletoosmart.livejournal.com]

The Onion Knight wasn't quite sure what was going on. He understood that something was happening but didn't know Marlene quite well enough to understand what. But the idea of talking to something that wasn't entirely there seemed almost- familiar. At least enough so that he didn't think to question it. At first, at least. The Onion Knight was very good at questioning things.

But he understood that she was crying. And he understood that maybe this was something he was supposed to do something about. Even if he wasn't entirely sure what to do about it.

"...are you okay?" He paused for a second, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do after showing concern. After a few seconds, and trying to remember whether he actually had a handkerchief (he didn't, of course) he held out the edge of his cloak. "Look, wipe your eyes. Just don't blow your nose on it or anything."

[ultrawaves.livejournal.com]

Quistis looked bewildered as she witnessed Marlene talking to no one in particular -- as far as she could see, the three of them were the only ones present, though now and then she thought she could hear faint, distant snatches of unfamiliar voices. She shook her head. Must have been imagining things. There was nobody else there.

... oh. And now the girl was crying.

Hesitant, she reached out and carefully laid a hand on Marlene's shoulder. "I'm sure everything will be fine... we'll get back alright," she fretted, unsure of what the cause of Marlene's distress was. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, echoing the boy beside her.

[littleprotector.livejournal.com]

It was only after the door closed and Marlene blinked her tears away that the memory began to fade, and she saw Onion Knight and Quistis. Confused? You bet.

"But I just saw..." Her daddy. He had been on Gaia for such a brief time that she was hardly able to see him. Without any words, Marlene reached out to take Onion Knight's cloak, wiping her tears away. Once she dropped it, she rubbed at her nose.

"I'm okay...but Onion Knight? Miss Quistis? What are you guys doing here?"

Quistis next?

[alittletoosmart.livejournal.com]

"No idea. The sky flashed and then I was here. You don't know what's going on either?"

He looked around, trying to figure out what, exactly, the situation was. "This- this where you're from?"

That's right, make the girl with partial amnesia go next. >.>

[ultrawaves.livejournal.com]

Quistis shook her head, a silent admission that she, too, had no idea as to how they'd been brought there. "It was the same for me. The sky grew suddenly bright, and before I could make any sense of it, I was here with you." She frowned, gently patting Marlene's head before drawing up to her full height to get a better look at their surroundings.

Which had changed drastically in the last few seconds, to her surprise. Instead of the dingy gray of a foreign city, she now saw the bright lights and familiar tile of Balamb Garden's central structure. Home? Really? Though she had regained some of her lost memories about Edea's house at the cape in Centra, Balamb Garden was the only real home she truly remembered.

"That's it for your directive. Get to Timber and bring him back," Quistis heard a familiar voice instruct her from behind. She turned to see Headmaster Cid standing there with his hands clasped behind his back, a stern expression on his face.

Oh. She'd come back to the day Seifer had broken out of solitary and taken off. ... that's right. He'd followed the group that had been deployed to Timber and raised a scene at the television station. She'd always felt his escape had been her fault. She had been charged with the matter of disciplining him after his behavior during the SeeD exam, and though she had not been directly involved with his escape, he was still her charge, and it was just so soon after having her license revoked.

This had been her chance to prove herself. She'd failed as an Instructor, but she refused to as a member of SeeD. By following Seifer to Timber, she could potentially stop him and keep any harm from coming to her home that might be caused by the backlash of his actions. It was a chance to prove her competence and show that she was just like any other SeeD, devoted to Garden and her duty to protect it and all those within.

"O-of course," she said finally, having been caught off-guard. "I won't let him besmirch the name of SeeD. You can count on me, Headmaster."

We still love her.

[littleprotector.livejournal.com]

No sooner than Marlene had calm down did the scenery change again... but it was somewhere she knew. She still didn't know Quistis as well as she should, so she didn't see what was going on.

Not wanting to get caught up in anything, she stayed close to Onion Knight. "Can you see what's going on?"

Just wait until the kid with full amnesia goes :p

[alittletoosmart.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"...you think this is a trap? She's talking to someone who's not there. And so were you. ...maybe it's some kind of magic. Or a poison that's causing hallucinations. Or- no, if it was a poison we wouldn't be seeing the same places. Definitely magic."

Oh dear god, what a crew. (SORRY FOR LATENESS)

[ultrawaves.livejournal.com]

Quistis looked over her shoulder at her companions, their talk distracting her from saying anything further to Headmaster Cid -- where had he gone, anyway? He'd been there just a moment ago...

"There is someone there. Or there was. You can't see him?" It made sense, she supposed. They had been unable to see or hear the other side of the conversation Marlene had been having, as well. "... magic is certainly to blame. Whose, I wonder?"

[littleprotector.livejournal.com]

"I can't see them. Maybe it really is some weird magic."

Marlene shrugged her shoulders. "There's gotta be a reason. We just don't go crazy for a reason."