[The Never-Ending Story] - [Act 3]

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ooc: Because I'm indecisive, two separate dreams to choose from! He's skipped back about ten years for both.]



[ The moon is full and bright in the starry night sky above - and the smaller, ill-shapen vampires' moon beside it for once does not dominate the atmosphere with its eerie red glow. All is calm and quiet, away from the expansive manor in the distance (no lights shining in the windows), away from the ruins of pre-Armageddon civilization that dot the countryside, here, still. All except for the slow, steady swish and crunch of footsteps through the tall grass as Abel approaches the thin grove of trees where he's certain he last saw someone moving. Apart from the strange, white uniform he wears, he looks much the same as ever - though his hair is loose about his shoulders, and his glasses and rosaries are nowhere to be seen.

He is also spattered with blood from head to toe, dark red staining his tattered outfit and torn gloves. Underneath, however, he looks dirty and unkempt, but wholly unharmed. ]

Please. Don't be afraid. [ --he says, his voice flat and serious but oddly gentle just the same, as his sharp, blue eyes catch another flicker of movement in the darkness. ]

I'm not here to harm you.





[ It's a beautiful Spring afternoon in the garden. There are bright green leaves stuck in his hair and great big muddy pawprints on his clean, white coat as Abel wanders the statuary-punctuated paths that wind through this lush, flowering land. Tiny petals and white wisps of cotton scatter on a pleasant breeze that follows him into the narrow corridor of a well kept hedge maze, just before he breaks the unbearably pleasant spell of the day by raising his voice in a shout-- ]

Here, boy! Come out, come out, wherever you are-- Oh!

[ He turns back from peering curiously (hopefully) into the maze to see someone else has entered the courtyard - and from where he stands, they appear to be wearing the newly familiar uniform of fellow clergy. As a new inductee to the priesthood, he makes his best effort to look friendly as he flags them down with a wildly waving arm. ]

E-Excuse me! I seem to have lost Miss Caterina's shepherd. Have you seen him? He's about this big - and, uh, all white, though he may have gotten into the mud, today, too.

Comments

Dream B: Garden! - and timeskip wayyy backward to Princess Mercury

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

[It's a beautiful garden. She's drawn to like it immediately. Mercury is easily recognizable as the Ami who's met Abel before, but wearing a regal long gown (mistakable for robes at a distance) and with the sigil of her planet plain on her forehead. She lingers through the pleasant scent of the flowers and smiles softly.

She startles and almost flinches as soon as soon as she hears the shouting, but when she realizes the situation, she can't help a small, pleasant laugh.]

I'll help you find him, if you want.

[She calls out her offer loud enough to be heard.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ He's been busy learning so many new faces, of late, that he can't fault himself for feeling her a little familiar, at that -- but it barely concerns him, with such a friendly greeting on his approach. And an offer of assistance, as well? ]

Ah, really? You will? That's awfully kind of you, Your Eminence! [ The way she looked, it was easy to mistake her for one of the higher ups; anyone else in the courtyard at this time of day should have been dressed far less regally, naturally. ]

I think he might have wandered into the hedge maze, actually, but I'm sure he hasn't gone too far. We were playing fetch by the fountain before he took off, and he still has the ball!

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

He must be worried, to be separated from his guardian.

[She's still smiling; the friendliness seems to be genuine - and at any rate, she can help him while she decides what to do to find her way back. This is a far cry from the stern girl he knew before.]

We should look for the ball, too. He might still be near it. Shall we go together? We can split up inside the maze to look, if you think it would cover more ground more quickly.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, I don't think he likes me very much, really. He's always jumping up on my clothes-- [ As if that wasn't readily obvious. ] --and barking at me, too. And when he isn't doing that, I suppose, he's just running away...

[ His luck with animals has never been that great. His people skills are slowly becoming an asset, but he'll never be very popular with the Cardinal's pets. After an only slightly awkward laugh, Abel turns to let her lead back to the maze's entrance, for politeness' sake. ]

But it isn't him I'm worried about, anyway. Caterina is my real charge, and she'll probably be upset if I can't find him.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

[Mercury tactfully neglects to comment on the state the dog has left Abel in as she turns towards the entrance. She gives no real impression of hurry, but she crosses the distance quickly nonetheless, hastened by the task ahead of them.]

For her sake, then. He should be close by still. If we make sure to look everywhere, he should be here.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ He follows along at her shoulder, not too close but just behind -- he's gotten used to walking this way, attempting to look professional. ...If only when a certain young lady isn't holding his hand. He's become something of a glorified babysitter, now. (Not that he minds.)

Somewhere beyond the high walls of bright green hedge, a dog barks. ]

Oh my, it seems you're not wrong! He'd have no luck getting past the guards and off the grounds, at any rate. That's a left turn, right here, I believe.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

[Well, she was making the guess based on assuming not too much time had elapsed, or Abel would have already been in the maze looking. Mercury nods, and rounds the turn he suggests, consciously refusing to let the sound guide her since it would only run her into the maze walls.]

He sounds close by, too. Luck must be with us right now.

Ah! What was his name again? If we call him, he might come.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, it's-- [ Abel begins, only to be cut off by the sound of rustling brush, and a far closer bark ] ...Huh?

[ before the noisy rustle of an oncoming charge distracts him completely. A large, white shepherd comes bolting around the corner -- and heads directly for Ami, still shedding mud as he goes, with intent to jump.

Abel's girly shriek is entirely justified. ]

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

[Mercury's eyes widen, but she does not demean herself with a similar shriek, even when the dog crashes right into her. Although she doesn't mind the affectionate greeting, she can't help but be conscious of the mud.

Sigh.]

This will be hard to wash out.

[But once it's too late, there's nothing to do but make the best of it, and she gingerly pets the animal anyway.]

There. You were only excited.

Night dream~ and excuse me while I steal her from post-canon /shot

[daha-az-tanrica.livejournal.com]

[She blinks and looks at him in pure confusion. It's strange to see Abel. Stranger still that he was in that old uniform. Of course she'd already seen strange things. This was clearly just another one of them. So after she accepts this fact she smiles and nods.]

I know, Abel.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ Whatever impassive face he'd managed to summon up is utterly decimated by this -- and suddenly he doubts everything that's happened, tonight, can't believe that she might be real. He's never left the tomb, that's all.

This is another dream. ]

Seth--

How are you...?

[daha-az-tanrica.livejournal.com]

[She raises her hand, somehow very calm despite the situation. Dreams weren't unfamiliar territory to her and the best thing she could do is calm him.]

I'm just a figment of your imagination. Don't worry about it.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

...Of course.

[ Though it disheartens him considerably to admit it aloud. The thought of returning to the outside world has often terrified him, and dreams of this place are not uncommon, for that reason -- but he's never dreamt of finding her here, before.

And some small kernel of doubt remains, despite his reluctant acquiescence. ] I'm losing my mind. [ Finally. ]

[daha-az-tanrica.livejournal.com]

[She knows that he hasn't lost his mind. Not entirely at least. While people their age were never entirely sane it wasn't the kind of madness he believed to have.]

No you aren't. [And she can only give a wild shot guess that might satisfy him.] You wanted company, so I showed up.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

...Is that how it is? [ As though he hasn't wanted company for the past eight hundred years -- as if he hasn't been willing back to life half the ghosts of his past for one literal eternity, now.

How can she be so calm? ]

[daha-az-tanrica.livejournal.com]

It's your reality, not mine. [Because her reality was never like this. Never so caught between peace and falling apart. Hers were deluded dreams of greater things or sometimes even the simplest of things.

A moment of slightly awkward silence from her, she decides to add one more thing.] You were hoping for more though. All of us together again, right?

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ Of course. This is just a dream -- though to call it that is probably being far too kind. He's well beyond the limit where sanity is concerned.

Shaking his head, he turns away from her, away from the dark, towering manor in the distance, and toward the open countryside beyond. ]

...No. I wasn't expecting anyone else.

dream A - hello - I'm here to make your next meeting with Cloud, either Cloud, entirely confusing :D

[findmyownreason.livejournal.com]

timeskip Cloud backward to sixteen and the night of Nibelheim's burning

[he was... dying.

Yeah.

He was pretty sure this was dying.

The gaping wound that started in his chest and went all the way through to his back was pumping blood pretty fast and it hurt like - it hurt worse than almost anything.

He'd done it though. He'd beat Sephiroth. Killed him.

Wasn't that supposed to mean something?

Except his chest felt hollow and he thought Sephiroth had stabbed out his heart when he'd run him through. He couldn't seem to feel much of anything. Nothing. And he felt guilty for not being able to hang on to the anger or the tears. Somebody tonight should be angry and cry.

He just... he just wanted...

Tifa

Zack

He needed to find them... be with them... and they could make him feel again one last time before he died. If he could be with them...

everything would be all right.

And so he dragged himself on his elbows through the fallen bracken and didn't even notice it was a forest and dirt and rotting leaves instead of steel and concrete and long fallow dust...]

Zack...

Tifa.

awwwkwwwwarrrrd.

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ The scent of fresh blood all but assails him as he steps further in amidst the ancient trees, and Abel's tiny first brush with optimism is summarily quashed. He doesn't know what he'd expected, that any mere human could have escaped the descendants of Returners he'd... Disposed of, moments before. That his first attempt at redeeming more than a hundred years of hatred and wanton destruction would go so well.

At any rate, he can't simply walk away from this, now, as he would so easily have, before. Something is still moving in the brush, and even if there's nothing he can do (useless), that's compassion, isn't it?

He wants to be compassionate.

Sympathetic.

Human.

Even down in the muck and dirt, that shock of blond hair is hard to miss, and Abel weaves through the trees toward him, confusion unsettling his facade of calm.

You won't accomplish much, like that. --he thinks, but manages not to say, knowing that it sounds too harsh, too much like his old self. He needs to be like her, now, and he's not above blindly copying the example of his memory. ]

...Let me help you.

;) part of the fun

[findmyownreason.livejournal.com]

[he's only moving forward incrementally but he's moving forward. Everything he is is focused on that. One inch, even a single inch, is getting him closer to where he wants to be. He's got no illusions. He knows he's dying. And he's okay with that.

Just -

He wants to die with them. When someone... when someone finds them - he wants them to be found together.

He wants to be near them when he goes. His closest friend and the girl he's secretly loved almost as long as he can remember.

Maybe... maybe he should have told her that. Except he never made it into SOLDIER and what good was a confession from someone like him?

But... maybe it's okay now. Maybe it doesn't matter so much, now that they're dying.

The voice takes a moment to register. Not because he doesn't hear it but because he's so focused on getting that next inch that his mind takes a moment to click over to anything else. When it does, he blinks past the sweat in his eyes and lifts his face, blue eyes huge and still full of tonight's horror and the loss of everything he cherishes. The pain blurred his sight and a small noise of protest that he's too proud to call a whimper escapes. When it cracks out of him in a dying whisper he can't even tell if it's a question or a plea.]

...help?

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ His lips twist into a frown that is his first attempt at sympathy, to date, and he drops into a crouch by the struggling child. He's young, younger than Abel can ever remember being, and he's almost certainly going to die. ]

There's not much that I can do for your wounds. [ And that's being generous. Abel had always been better at deconstructing than patching up. He'd never listened to the lectures as she tended his injuries. ] But I will try.

[ Are there even any cities around here, anymore? Where can he run to, with a dying Terran? His mind races, but it's brief, all dead ends. The truth is, he already expects it's useless -- but he moves to lift the boy out of the dirt, anyway, because he can think of nothing else to do. He moves him only as gingerly as he can around such a severe injury as he's sustained, but his grip is steely, unyielding. ]

Abel's really going to be working for that compassion badge tonight

[findmyownreason.livejournal.com]

[the quiet sound escapes Cloud despite his determination to be strong, soft and hurt and more than a little lost. Unless the guy has a Cure on him, Cloud's pretty sure there's nothing that can be done for his wounds. That gaping, tearing, burning and cold spot in the middle of his sticky, ruined chest...

he's already passed worrying about getting better though. Maybe he was past that even before the white demon of nightmares ran him through the first time and lifted him off his feet on the length of that forever sword -

and that's when the white hair leaning over him registers and this time the sound's a growl when it snarls out of his torn throat. It might only be a puppy's growl by this point but it's still there and he twists against the steel grip even if it rips things inside of his chest that he knows he would need later if he was planning on living. The blood chokes out with the words as he struggles.]

Bastard - why won't you stay dead?

this is his life ;3;

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

[ That snarl doesn't seem to faze him; for all he knows it's merely a response to the pain -- which must be enormous, for a human, he imagines.

But his grip still falters, just the same, and he retreats no more than a step. (There's nothing dangerous about this dying boy.) Why won't you stay dead?

He shouldn't be surprised, but he is. (Has it even been that long?) He doesn't remember this young man's face, sees no resemblance to anyone he might once have known (time immeasurable having blurred his memories considerably, however, he is not the most reliable), but it's obvious he is still hated.

The weight of his inability to alter the scars he's left on this world is crushing. ]

I'm here for a reason. Will you let me help you or not?

poor Abel - let me make it worse

[findmyownreason.livejournal.com]

[the retreat surprises him, even as blurry with the pain as he is and it finally jars him enough to realize he's not in the mako reactor anymore. Eyes wide with a new fear, he turns his head from where he's crumpled, trying to see anything familiar. He must be - must be in the woods outside of Nibelheim but - ]

Tifa? Zack-

[his torn gloves, soaked through with his own blood, scrabble at the decaying leaves on the ground, finding dirt instead of concrete. It's wrong. It's all wrong! His voice comes out ragged, right on the edge of panic.]

Where are they? What did you do with them!?

[badbulletshield.livejournal.com]

I haven't found anyone else.

[ At least not alive. The gory scene he's left in his wake is also a silent one, though the only lives he has taken tonight were those of other monsters, murderers he'd caught in the act. Belatedly, regrettably.

If there are more bodies he's yet to find, he won't be surprised, but he has no intention of causing any more death, tonight, himself. Still with calm indifference, from behind a ragged, silver fringe of hair he shakes his head slowly. ] And I'm not here to harm you. [ Maybe if he says it enough, it will get through somehow. ]