Chronicles of Gaia (RP)

((I should post something as well now)) As other events unfolded, an even stranger one had occurred. Marco, Felicia, Razar and Ricardo had started to arrive back at the rendezvous point. They all wandered in from the direction of the group they were a part of, all dazed and rather confused. Marco was the first to arrive, he was staring at the ground and was holding his hand against his head, he felt a weird pressure that slowly subsided. When he finally looked up he realized he was at the agreed upon meeting place and just looked around in confusion “How...did I get here?” he asked in a confused whisper. He was still a ways from the entrance, but he spotted Kudret, Laura and Victoria standing there “The others made it back before me? What happened to me?” this just furthered confused Marco as he approached the three “Kudret, I’m glad to see your ok.” he called out as he continued to approach. Razar showed up next from a different direction, also in a daze until the sight of the hot springs “What the...? Wasn’t I just helping fix a forge a moment ago?” He looked around in complete confusion and realized that he truly wasn’t in the dwarves’ city no more “Ok...this is getting freaky.” Razar quickly made his approach as he looked for an entrance. Felicia and Ricardo arrived last and had managed to bump into each other in the meantime “So you got separated from your group to, huh?” Felicia asked her skeletal friend “Yes, it was so strange. I remember going to sleep with them, but next thing I know, I’m here wandering this unknown area of the forest, and that’s when I bumped into you.” Felicia placed a fist over her chin as she was trying to figure out what happened “The same thing happened to me, except I was still awake and moving when I suddenly blacked out...” Ricardo just responded with “Spooky...” the two them then arrived just outside of the rendezvous point “Well that’s convenient.” Felicia said with a suspicious tone, but given the situation, she wasn’t going to question it “Come on let’s go see if we can find the others.” To which Ricardo responded with a nod “Yeah.” as the two looked for an entrance as well

Ama had taken her sweet time removing the blood and giblets from her suit, and now returned to the campsite in naught but a Bath Towel, said suit slung over her shoulder, she stopped dead in her tracks, a simple, "Ah... Right..." coming from her mouth, her eyes narrowed in the direction of the fight going on with the Phoenix and the Illusionist, left leg involuntarily twitching, "You four and Vic, come with me, I'll get you caught up on the situation at hand and what you may have missed, as for you four... a further explanation of your situation might be necessary, no doubt you have questions regarding why you happen to be here after your time in Stasis." turning her back on the campsite, she continued to go back the way she came, head turning to look at the five in question before shaking it briefly, "Gramma never did give people any chance to acclimatise..."

Kuja had been walking as quickly as his legs would allow him, wanting to get back to the camp as soon as possible. Mizuki's magic was still lashing out, making it difficult to keep a proper hold on the girl, though he continued to ignore the pain. It wasn't the first time it was lashing out at him like this, and due to their pact remnants he at least had some resistance to it. When Aislin caught up to him and made her suggestion, the silver-haired genome let out a sigh. "Rikazu really won't appreciate me suggesting that pact, are you sure you want to get involved in this?" Him re-enacting the pact with Mizuki was everything he could've hoped for ever since Odin had severed it back in Zenkhar. But the advantages it gave him weren't what was important right now, it was keeping Mizuki alive. Kuja could already see the campsite nearby, he'd have to find the old man quickly. Rikazu, rubbing his face where 'Toré' had punched him, let out a groan. "Was that really necessary?" he muttered under his breath, though it wasn't as if he particularly cared. The words Toré had spoken were what had the blue-haired male thinking, they bothered him. His head shot up after Toré had left, as he suddenly sensed Mizuki's presence back at the campsite. He teleported over immediately, eyes wide in shock at the sight of his daughter and the overwhelming amount of magic he sensed from her. "She's alive..." The relief in his voice was audible as he moved closer towards Kuja and Mizuki. Kuja, having only just gotten back to the camp, carefully placed Mizuki down on the ground before kneeling down next to her and holding the girl's hand gently in his own. "She's dying", the calm mask he'd had was gone, replaced by a feeling of fear and slight panic. "Her magic's gone completely out of control, at this rate she won't last until morning." It wasn't a lie, Kuja could tell how bad Mizuki's current state truly was. "Help me remake my pact with her, old man. I can help take that excess magic away from her if you let me." Rikazu shot a glare at Kuja, though his reaction wasn't as furious as Kuja had expected. So this was what Toré had been talking about... "You really expect me to trust you with this? After everything you've done to her?" he finally snapped at the genome. "If you want her to live, you don't have a choice", Kuja answered.

Rowan's eyes followed Aislin as she turned away and hurried past, and in a moment he likewise turned and prepared to fly off. Rockna's shout had made his brow furrow and a whisper of a growl escape his lips. He got it already, he needed to get out of everyone's way. Then came Seth's attack. Rowan was distracted initially as Rockna was blasted backward, but soon his eyes were honed in on the malicious ball of energy propelled directly at himself. He moved instinctively, grabbing an Arrow to attempt a counter or at least a deflection, but his reaction was far too late. The magic was clearly powerful, clearly full of murderous intent, and if it hit her would surely die. But in that moment he didn't care. No, in fact he couldn't help but offer a small smile to the oncoming attack. It was proof, ultimate proof, that he had been a thorn in this man's side. That he had made a mark in this fight and in the mind of his enemy. No he did not fear the attack, he welcomed it. Then the attack stopped, and Rowan found himself staring at it from the opposite of another barrier. He blinked in shock, only to realize a moment later that the barrier had come from Iliya. Iliya, this frail girl only a minute before he'd had to convince to stand up to Seth, had saved his life. His life... had, had he just wished to be hit by that attack? Had he wished to die? Rowan's attention was snapped back to reality, his mind clearer now than what it had been a minute before. Iliya's warning, or at least the warning of who ever had possessed her, rang in his ears as he kicked his chocobo's side. The green bird spread its wings and shot off into the sky, winging away from the battlefield at high speeds. "Sorry." Rowan muttered, partially to Iliya, partially to himself, "I guess I wasn't listening to myself properly." It only took a moment or two for them to touch down once again in the campsite. Rowan hopped off the bird and proceeded to help Iliya down as well. A few moments later Aislin and Kuja arrived, but the angel avoided looking at them. He felt a pang of guilt thinking about how he'd nearly attacked Aislin after she'd stopped him from doing something stupid.

Aislin glared at Kuja for a moment, still keyed up from the adrenaline rush. She fought it down before replying heatedly, "Of course! I've been interfering since the start, you're not getting rid of me that easily." Like hell she was going to let them do this without her now, she was invested far too much to let go anytime soon. They reached the camp quickly enough, Rikazu teleporting as soon as he sensed Mizuki. While she had half-listened to the conversation, she was also fishing out a small journal-book she had plucked from the inn. After carefully ripping a blank page out and stowing the journal into the bag, she fished out a pencil and tried to figure out what to write to Rowan. Maybe something simple and heartfelt would do? Her chance came and she chipped into the conversation, "Rikazu, even Rockna said to do it. It's the only way to save Mizuki now." Kudret smiled slightly, listening patiently to the explanation before nodding. "I see. Thank you for telling me, Laura." It then clicked that she had spoken of something strange and opened his mouth to speak when he heard a shout and footsteps. He turned to find Nicole go racing past with Lumine, Alex on their heels just a moment later. He found his voice again at Victoria's question and answered weakly, "Ah, not very much really?" Barely a moment after that did none other than the four missing members abruptly show up, and Kudret was left feeling extremely confused once more while Ama basically told the five newcomers to the campsite to follow her. The poor beastman just groaned and began running claws through his fur and hair in exasperation; stress relief for him and most others of his kind.

Victoria, gave a slight shrug at Kudret’s answer to her question “Huh...well I won’t press further at the moment then.” She then noticed the arrival of Marco, Felicia, Razar and Ricardo and gave a mildly curious look at them “Odd, I thought you four were split into other groups.” But before she could get an answer from Marco and his friends, that’s when Ama showed up and told her and Marco’s group to follow. She also noticed Ama was just in a bath towel and gave an amused chuckle and remarking with a playful “Scandalous.” before standing back up right and gave another shrug “Seems like we’re going to be busy.” Victoria noticed the frustrated Kudret and placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him “Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will start making sense in a while.” and then followed after Ama.

Marco also gave became confused upon seeing his friends arrive right after him “Wait, you guys weren’t already here?” But before anyone could answer anything, Ama had ordered them all to follow her and said she could explain everything on the way. This only served to cause further confusion amongst them, but quickly followed after hoping Ama could explain everything. But slowly growing frustrated from the confusion, Razar finally spoke up “So what exactly did happen to us? Why did we all seem to blink from one place and point in time to another? Also where are we going and why couldn’t we just stay in camp to hear this explanation?” Razar asked, arms crossed not in anger towards Ama, just in frustration from the situation. Felicia then remembered Ama did say something about Stasis “You mentioned Stasis, maybe you can start from there?” Ricardo also then chimed in “Also why are you just in a Towel?”

"Where do I begin with this mess..." Ama proceeded to lean against a nearby boulder, arms folded as she considered her words carefully, "Felicia and Razar, your question first, and no doubt on all four of your minds, something, I know not what it was, caused my contractor to pluck you from the world, effectively removing you entirely from the minds and memories of the others you travelled with, this was done because they have a habit of not liking it when people try to erase those they deem 'Important to the Worldline', to protect you four, you were placed in stasis chambers within a structure known as the Interdimensional Elevator Housing, though the name is somewhat incorrect, when the threat to your existences passed, you were dropped back out here, unfortunately they have a habit of not adjusting the people they pluck beforehand." She shifted slightly, tightening the Linen around her form to prevent it falling off, "As for what's happened so far, quick run down, We split up as you're aware, one group dismantled another of the idiot clown's facilities, my group got the trash together, Celere's didn't do much but blaze a path here and put up with little miss Pride's attempted ignorance, the Fox grew up apparently, as for Rikazu's group..." a shrug happened, "I'd say ask him yourself but he's enough on his plate for the time being." looking skyward, the Feral sighed, "As do the rest of you eventually, this world is anything but kind." a small head shake, as if removing a pesky bug, "Why am I like this? Well, I highly doubt most of you would want to have to listen to this whilst the smell of rotting flesh assails you."

The spirit that had seized control over Iliya's body accepted Rowan's help, and looked around the campsite. "They're not with you, hm? Figures...Zehel wasn't supposed to leave her side, that idiot..." He let out a sigh. The trip on the bird had been just long enough for him to get a quick glimpse at his Mistress' memories; his slumber had been a long one, interrupted only because of the dangers to Iliya's soul. "If you have any questions, now would be the time to ask them. Anything my Mistress knows, I know, but she will not awaken for some time", he finally spoke again. Truthfully, it didn't matter much to him whether or not the angel had questions, but it seemed that for some reason this group would be the key to eventually saving his Mistress. As such, providing them with information if they needed it would be the best step. Kuja was somewhat relieved that Aislin still decided to aid him. "The stupid bird was actually the one who suggested it to me." "Rockna was there?" Rikazu narrowed his eyes. "That surprises me, I expected Seth would've wanted to keep her away." Aislin's words struck a chord with him though, though before he could speak again, he took notice of Mizuki's face contorting in pain again. "Dad...dy..." the word was barely audible and was followed by more shallow breaths from the blue-haired girl, but Rikazu had heard it. He let himself fall to the ground, pulling the girl into his arms. "What did Seth do to her?" He couldn't stand the sight of seeing her in pain. "He shattered the seals Mel placed on her memories, it seems that with the Avanquilist powers he unsealed, Mizuki summoned Rockna directly to her", Kuja responded. "Come on, old man. You know that pact is the only option." Rikazu really didn't want to hear it, but there wasn't much else he could do. He could go to Hades and have the smith finish that pendant, but he'd never make it back in time... "Even if I give you permission for the pact, it won't make a difference unless Mizuki agrees to it, but it seems unlikely that she'll wake up..." The last time her powers had gone this much out of control, she'd been in a comatose state until Mel had sealed off her powers and memories. How were they supposed to get her to agree? Rikazu shook his head, remembering what Toré had said to him just before about 'keeping her mind open to access'. "...If you're certain about this, you'll have to enter her mind, find her there, and convince her", he mentioned.

Kudret had only nodded at Victoria's words, still half-clawing his fur and hair. It was a few minutes before the repetition began to soothe him, calming him down until he could simply drop his hands. "I guess there's nothing much we can do until everyone comes back," he mumbled, dropping down to sit upon a nearby rock. The beastman began to rifle through his bags, idly taking out some of the items he had grabbed from the ruins, including the spinacherbs. Tentatively, he sniffed them before pulling a leaf off and beginning to chew on it. It was edible afer all; that's why he even grabbed it in the first place. Inspiration had struck, and Aislin scribbled with fast, yet still legible strokes. She needed to get her thoughts down quickly, otherwise the time would be lost and her mind would turn to something else and she'd be unable to finish. She still listened, almost cringing at the spoken word from Mizuki. It sounded like she was in a lot of pain. She did wonder why she hadn't seen Rowan yet... maybe her head was turned at the wrong time. Yeah, that must be it. She'd seek him out once she finished this. "...certain about this, you'll have to enter her mind, find her there, and convince her," she overheard. Yup, interruption is here and it's really good at what it does. Aislin's head practically snapped up and asked, "Come again? We have to go inside Mizuki's head?" If there was one thing in any world that Aislin had been interested in, it was how the mind worked. With her abnormal brain, she had to if she wanted to even recognize the feelings she had about Rowan, let alone understand them. Of course, with what Seth might have done in there... "I'm coming too," she informed them, and then hastened to add, "It's going to be a mess in there what with everything she's been through during this journey. You're going to need help, Kuja; and I'm probably the only one who can." She half-turned to face them both, the letter left dangling and unfinished in her hand as she spoke. "You won't change my answer on this, either of you: I want to help. Let me do so."