[Thread; closed]

[wavering-blade.livejournal.com]

Characters: Beatrix, Ashe, Tifa
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Some of their memories are not so pleasant
Location: Memoria
Date: February 1804
Warnings: Not so happy things? :P

Beatrix was not at all certain of what to make of these circumstances, save to find them disquieting and to hope that they would soon gain some insight as to what was going on. Already they had been shown pleasant memories, and then views of their desires. What would be next? As the scenery changed to a street in Alexandria, Beatrix could not even begin to guess what the next scene to be presented to her would be, but the shift in scenery seemed enough to prove that this was not yet over.

Soon enough she lost awareness of her two companions as the scene erupted into chaotic action. The streets were filled with monsters, fighters, and the people of the city, while not far from them, the castle had become the site of a battle between summons, Alexander protecting from Bahamut’s fires.

She stepped back from where a Mistodon had just fallen to her blade, and glanced around, taking in the scene. She and Steiner had split up to cover more ground, and the soldiers had become scattered as well. There were only a few other fighters here with her, and a handful of terrified civilians huddled against a wall nearby. There was a break in the onslaught for the moment, but it would only be so long before monsters found them again. Beatrix used the opportunity to take inventory of injuries, and note that at least one of the bodies on the ground was still breathing. Standing up, she gestured to the nearest able-bodied soldier.

“You!” she called, “Get these people care.” The soldier nodded and ran off to find help, and Beatrix turned to the others. "The rest of you!” She paused long enough to glance up at the fight of epic proportions taking place above the castle before turning back to the soldiers. “Stay focused! We must keep fighting these monsters off.” Beatrix glanced back up at the wings surrounding the castle, mentally uttering a wish for the safety of both the queen and the city, before searching the scene for her next opponent.

[ooc: Bonus points if she managed to look right at Ashe or Tifa when she told that one soldier to get medical help.]

Comments

[heartofheaven.livejournal.com]

Alexandria again. Clearly, it was time for Beatrix to experience another vision again. Tifa thought that she was starting to get the hang of this, frustrating as it was.

She was startled when Beatrix looked straight at her and ordered her to help. She can't see me, Tifa told herself firmly. She thinks I'm someone else.

She turned to Ashe helplessly. "It sounds as though she's in a battle..."

[mademyresolve.livejournal.com]

Having learned any scene revolving around Alexandria tended to belong to Beatrix, Ashe wasn't surprised by the general's change in behaviour. It seemed they were in for another round of memories, or visions. Frustrating, since the princess had actually felt like they had been making decent progress since the last time.

Beatrix had referred to monsters, yet Ashe saw nothing, able only to agree with Tifa. "Then, we should stand back," she advised, "until her vision ends."

[wavering-blade.livejournal.com]

And then the scene faded; there were no enemies, no soldiers, no corpses. Only the empty setting and her two companions.

“A memory again,” she informed them, “but not a pleasant one...” Truth be told, that was a battle she would rather not think about. Despite all the effort she and everyone else had put forth, it had still ended in mass destruction of her homeland. Quickly, she attempted to force the all too fresh images of that battle out of her mind.

[heartofheaven.livejournal.com]

Tifa nodded, unsure whether to try and comfort her. She touched Beatrix's shoulder lightly, a gesture of reassurance, but thought it best not to mention it. "Come on."

Moving on, Tifa's stomach sank as she found herself in Edge. Her turn next. The city was so achingly familiar in all its dull greyness. "Edge," she murmured, looking around the street for 7th Heaven.

Edge was burning, people were screaming, and a nightmare from her past approached through the flames... Sephiroth. Tifa watched in horror as he skewered Cloud like a puppet - Cloud who had stepped in to defend them all, battered and bloody, his head now lolling. Sephiroth cast the corpse aside contemptuously, and Tifa was suddenly transfixed by the sight of those lifeless blue eyes.

"No!" she screamed. "No - you monster!"

She darted forward to cradle Cloud's body in her arms, only to look up and find Marlene and Denzel hand-in-hand, terrified, both backing away from Sephiroth.

"Marlene! Denzel!" She charged towards him, but too late; Sephiroth had dispatched them with ease. Two small bodies collapsed to the burnt ground, covered in blood.

Sephiroth countered her attack with seemingly no effort, a small smirk curling his mouth. He sent her reeling back with a blow from the hilt of his sword, and Tifa sank to the ground, defeated and devastated.

"No..." She choked up, her whole body racked with sobs. Tifa wanted to die, for it all to go away. Maybe she could take Sephiroth down with her, but right then she only wanted the pain to end. But she heard footsteps walking away; Sephiroth had left. He'd left her with nothing...

The nightmare faded and Tifa blinked tears out of her eyes as she slowly looked around the empty street again. She couldn't speak, couldn't even get up. She felt emotionally drained.

[mademyresolve.livejournal.com]

If Beatrix's experience and explanation had been concerning, Ashe was completely thrown by Tifa as she played out her own, terrible memory. The princess took one step forward upon seeing her companion's distress, unsure of what to do. By all accounts, there was little she could do until the vision had passed, when she approached Tifa cautiously, kneeling to place a palm to her arm.

Whatever she'd seen... had been disturbing in the worst of ways.

[wavering-blade.livejournal.com]

Though Ashe's touch surprised her a bit, she took some minor comfort in it, and appreciated that the simple gesture had taken the place of words that would likely be meaningless at present. But that bit of comfort faded as Tifa withdrew into her own vision--something clearly worse on the viewer than the one Beatrix had just experienced. Instinctually, she took a step back, unsure what Tifa might do while unaware of her nearby presence.

Though Tifa remained down on the ground, it seemed as though she was no longer reacting to any illusions. Beatrix moved to kneel in front of her, though she didn't reach out to touch her; Ashe already was, and Beatrix didn't want to overwhelm her after whatever vision she had just experienced.

"You are here," she said, her voice intentionally soft, "Whatever you have seen is here no longer."

[heartofheaven.livejournal.com]

Tifa looked up at them both and nodded slowly at Beatrix's words, though her eyes were still haunted. "They were..." She couldn't finish. Was there really anything to say?

She'd need a little help from either of the women to stand up with shaky legs. Tifa wasn't in a position to do anything more right then.

[mademyresolve.livejournal.com]

So both had witnessed something disturbing, utterly harrowing. Should the pattern continue, it would be Ashe's turn next. Trying not to follow that thought she stood, looking to Beatrix for aid in helping Tifa to her feet. But... she was gone, replaced by a vaguely familiar man dressed in the formal attire of the Dalmascan council, a solemn expression on his face - of waiting, of worry.

Surely enough, Ashe found herself barefoot, nightclothed, hurrying through the palace corridor and bursting into her father's great hall. Beyond the chamber's heavy, ornate door opposite, heavy, almost sorrowful footsteps echoed slowly, as if laden with a burden. Wide-eyed, Ashe watched as the door swung open to reveal the most heartbreaking sight she had ever witnessed.

He was dead.

"No..."

Protective hands grasped at her shoulders, determined to hold their princess back and spare her from the sight - but it was too late. Ashe, screaming mercy and despair, fought off her restrainers in pure, agonized desperation. Across the marble floor she sprinted, blinded by tears until finally she reached her fallen husband, her beloved prince, laying lifeless in Basch's arms.

"Gods, no - Rasler!"

Trembling knees gave way and she fell to the floor like glass, shattered and broken, clasping the prince's limp hand to her lips and almost choking on his name. The widowed bride sobbed, wailed pitifully, the onlooking nobles moved to tears of their own at the sight of their devastated princess.

Ashe only realised the true nature of her experience when suddenly she held thin air, though she hadn't opened her eyes, the image still fresh, still raw.

[wavering-blade.livejournal.com]

Noting that Tifa would need help standing, she moved to help support her. It was a good thing that she had; a moment later, she found herself supporting significantly more of the other woman's weight as Ashe let go, absorbed in her own vision.

It certainly seemed as if that vision was no more pleasant than the other two. She wanted to move to place a comforting hand on Ashe's shoulder, but she checked first to make sure Tifa had regained enough strength to stand without assistance.

[heartofheaven.livejournal.com]

Tifa got to her feet with Beatrix's help and could only watch in sympathy as Ashe went through her own harrowing experience. It wasn't hard to work out what she had seen. Tifa had the same idea as Beatrix, and moved to comfort Ashe, resting her hand on the other shoulder.

"I know."

She understood what Ashe was going through. All three of them did.

[mademyresolve.livejournal.com]

Those comforting hands helped Ashe to stem her tears' flow, her erratic breathing gradually coming to calm, the tremble of her hands coming to still. It hadn't been real, just a cruel trick of this impossibly frustrating place and Ashe just wanted out, now.

It hadn't been real. Holding on to that thought, she lifted her heavy head to nod in gratitude to both women (who were likely still reeling from their own experiences), though she couldn't quite meet their eyes.

"... No more."

[wavering-blade.livejournal.com]

Beatrix remained silent, and made no response to Ashe's plea for these odd visions to stop, save for a brief comforting squeeze to her shoulder. There were no words that would do any good. She couldn't offer any answers, nor any promise that this would be the last. A moment passed in silence as she let Ashe calm down more, then she sighed quietly, and let go of the other woman's shoulder.

"We should move on."