[Closed] Retrieval of Expensive Works of Engineering

[acapriciousreaper]

Who: Kuja, Snow White, Ashelia, Frisk
When: November 3rd, 1:00 PM
Where: Curti Center, The Dream Width
What: Kuja has to enter the Cloud once more, and doesn't want to do it alone.
Warnings/Notes: Discussion of Death, Villainy, Excessive Amounts of Kuja

Once again, Kuja finds himself waiting in the hangar, while a familiar airship conducts its pre-flight checks. The Light Fantastic has been chartered to assist, once more, and this time, he hopes, will not be nearly as troublesome. 

Comments

[acapriciousreaper]

‘Garland’ watches impassively as Snow White leaps over the railing, catching an assault from all sides from Frisk- and addresses the child, bleeding memory like black smoke. “Do you really intend to risk your life to save him? You have the airship, and I cannot kill you, here, nor have I any particular desire to. Leave.” Azure flame gathers in one hand, a spell being prepared.

As for Snow White, the distance between him and Kuja narrows as they fall. It’s clear he’s unconscious, sinking as though through water- but Snow can reach him, if he tries.

[sassafrisk]

"FUCK!" Frisk disappears into the swirling nebulae of the Dream Width with an impromptu Smokescreen, "YOU!" The amount of rage and fear in their voice almost has a physical force. Just as the last trace of Frisk disappears, their future self pops into existence just behind Garland. Then another. Then another. Then two more. Five Frisks in total thrust their arms forward, unleashing a hail of lightning chakrams at Garland with an Invisible Lightning Ninjitsu before they all disappear one by one. "Kuja is my friend, as disgusting as that might be to you! And nothing is going to change that!"

[acapriciousreaper]

Garland can't possibly block all of it. It's clear he's hurting, and yet he seems unperturbed by the fact that he's being torn to shreds, retaliating with a [Wave] of energy that scythes across the deck and into Frisk. "You are a child that knows nothing about him."

He waves a hand, conjuring wisps of thought, scenes from Terra, from Gaia. Kuja snarling, standing over the corpse of a beatiful, familiar, and dead dragon, kicking her in an attempt to rouse her. Kuja, stepping over the charred corpse of a Burmecian, an army of black mages marching around him. Kuja, rising into the skies over Terra and unleashing Ultima, burning everything. A familiar voice, caught in a choked laugh that turns so quickly to sobs, and then to silence.
"I won't let it happen.
I won't... I won't let this world exist without me!"

"The mere notion that he was mortal sent your 'friend' flying into a tantrum that ended one world and nearly ended all. You aren't even aware of the depths of atrocity he's committed." Another spell cast, and one of the Frisks finds themself frozen, [Stop]ped in time. "Whether I find it disgusting or not is irrelevant. He is a mistake, one I failed to correct. You know what threat is posed by the forces arrayed against Vaikuntha. Will you make them pay the price for your defense of a broken doll guilty of genocide?"

[sassafrisk]

Frisk, reckless in their rage, gets hit head-on by the Wave. They're blasted several meters back, bones shattered by the impact... then they aren't, as if it never happened. It's less that they're turning back time and more jumping time tracks. But still, Garland's words cut deep.

Not deep enough to shake Frisk's faith, though. Even as Frisk is Stopped, they grit their teeth, glow golden, and... dozens of yellow shadows of Frisk writhe, all looking for a way out of the spell. Time was their domain now, not Garland's. They pop out of the status and create a short loop: they appear a few meters away from Garland, snapping their fingers to cast Combustion on the memory. "SO WHAT?" they roar. "IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU HE WAS LIKE THAT! HE FUCKED UP, HE KILLED PEOPLE, AND HE MIGHT NOT DESERVE REDEMPTION, BUT WHO THE FUCK CARES? NOBODY 'DESERVES' REDEMPTION, THAT'S THE POINT! HE'S BEEN TRYING SO HARD TO DO GOOD HERE, SO HARD TO BE A GREAT FRIEND, SO HARD TO SAVE THE WORLD, AND GUESS WHAT, HAS-BEEN?"

Frisk flashsteps out of a passing cloud just as their other self completes the loop. "IT'S WORKING! AND YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER HIM ANYMORE!"

[acapriciousreaper]

Garland explodes, leaving nothing but black smoke, thick and oily, that dissipates on the wind, though he steps out of the cloud elsewhere, whole and unharmed. And yet... something's different. He seems diminished, somehow, less menacing, even if physically he's unharmed. "He desires death. Would it not be kinder to allow him such a mercy, given that, in his own words, he does not deserve life? The temptation of power offered is too great. He will succumb. It is... inevitable."

Frisk feels something... odd. A bolstering presence, in a strange way, something building up momentum behind them, like the sense of someone cheering them on.

Garland retaliates by throwing out a [Flare] before brutally slamming a Frisk into the deck, and yet it feels... weaker, than it was before. Hm. "You are wrong, there. Here, memories have power, and thoughts have weight. It's true, I cannot kill him... but I can eliminate him as a threat, and thus lend protection to what is left of Terra's legacy."

[sassafrisk]

Frisk is caught off guard by the Flare this time, and they're sent reeling--giving Garland enough time to slam them into the deck. But... they're laughing. Cackling like a hyena, in fact. They didn't have a lot of time left, despite their current excess of it. Time to make this count. And they had an idea for how to put down this bastard once and for all.

"Oh, please. My math homework is scarier than you, you old fart! It certainly does a better job of kicking my butt, at any rate." Frisk taunts, as their future self drags them away and props them to their feet. "Who are you even trying to fool? You're just a sad old man throwing a tantrum even worse than Kuja's, like a puny human baby, because you're not important anymore. Face it! You failed, even before you had a chance to succeed! I heard your whole monologue down there, you know. Your spiel on how this work was important. And you know what I got out of it?" Frisk begins striding forward, not even bothering to flashstep. Garland just wasn't worth it.

"You were a glorified recycling plant worker. Heck, you were so incompetent that the grand master plan that you spent millennia crafting was taken apart by a bunch of kids younger than me! Yeesh, talk about embarrassing." Frisk is face to face with Garland at this point, looking him straight in the eye without their cocky smirk wavering once. "Oh, and one last thing before I demolish you: even if Kuja falters, even if he falls back into the darkness...

"I will always, always be there to bring him back. No matter what."

And then Frisk cold-cocks Garland right in the face. Then they shank him in the gut in an Assassinate and tries to push-kick him over the edge of the ship for good measure; their future self sticking out a leg behind Garland for good measure.

[acapriciousreaper]

Garland goes down. It's underwhelming, almost, how he simply... vanishes. There's no fanfare, no sense of some great evil being vanquished, merely a figure that drops into the clouds below and does not rise again, leaving the airship deck quiet once more.

Far below, Snow reaches Kuja. It was probably not the most intelligent plan, following him overboard, but now that they're here, an unconscious genome and a falling demon, what else is there to do?

The clouds of memory surge upwards as they fall, filling the air with the stench of rain and smoke and blood, threatening to swallow them up- but their progress is halted, as a gloved hand seizes Snow's own, arresting both their falls.

"Hey. Need a lift?"

[sassafrisk]

When Kuja arrives back on the airship, Frisk is... gone. Like they were never there in the first place. But there is a note on the deck, scrawled in their distinctive handwriting.

Hey Kuja! So I went a bit apeshit on Garland and ended up activating my melody--or trance, I guess. Turns out they're kinda the same? Huh. Anyways, I don't have a lot of time to write this down, but I'm going to be gone for a bit to complete a few loops that I started when I fought him. Don't worry, shouldn't be more than a few minutes, and I'm definitely not lost.

[poisonwish]

"Ngh..." Snow White grit his teeth, straining his arm, trying to reach just that much farther... and there! He had him, he had Kuja.

They were now both falling to their probable deaths, of course, but Snow sure did have a grip on Kuja.

Stupid, stupid, stupid... He hadn't thought this through, not at all. How utterly foolish. Snow had gone and gotten feelings involved, and now he really was stuck and falling to his demise, just like... just like...

The image of Otogi came to mind, darting before him to defend him from Rapunzel. Even though the demons couldn't kill each other, Otogi risked his life for Snow's. Foolish. With a wry smile, Snow realized he'd truly reached that level of stupidity: friendship. It wasn't so bad. Well, besides the dying part.

He squeezed his eyes shut, uncertain and anxious as the scent of blood and smoke stung his nose, wondering how long it would take -- until he suddenly halted, held by another strong grip.

"Oh?"

[acapriciousreaper]

It's... odd. There was the distinct sensation of an arm wrapping around him a moment ago, and a hand pulling him back- but when Snow White looks up, it's only his own hand that's gripping the anchor line, and as the memory begins to fade again, the weightlessness of the Cloud is returning.

The Hilda Garde is there, drifting. It's easy to pull them back onto the deck, but as the last vestiges of the dream fade, there's- the vaguest impression of startlingly blue eyes, and a voice, barely a whisper, but just there.

Thanks.