event: the beginning of the end

[mayfield_mods]

[It's very quiet, here.

The moment you awoke here you remembered that you had been here before. This was where you were after being taken from home, but before awakening in Mayfield; it's where you were every time you died but hadn't respawned yet. The reason you didn't remember is that there was nothing to remember. You are currently inhabiting a time and a space that do not exist.

This is the realm of the deleted, and you're not just inside of it- you're a part of it. You are nothing. "You" does not exist.

And yet: substance.

Grey was the first, but he wasn't the only one. The sentient mind is a stubborn stain, one that resists all attempts to wipe it clean. By all rights, you should not be having thoughts, or feelings, or memories; "you" should not even be a concept. But even though you've been erased from reality, some part of your identity has impossibly survived- abandoned, adrift, and utterly alone.

Or so you thought.

There are others here. A select few who, like you, spoke out and were annihilated for their trouble. Your will was strong enough to resist the brainwashing, and it was strong enough to survive the complete dissolution of your identity. In the proverbial darkness of the Void, a few lights still glimmer. And you may no longer have a voice, but that doesn't mean you can't still speak.]

[ooc: this post is locked to the characters who were erased for attempting to openly resist the brainwashing. as described above, your character currently exists as a formless consciousness struggling just to retain their identity and keep from fading away into the Void. although you lack a body or any of the traditional senses, you can communicate with others in your predicament by projecting your thoughts at each other, similar to telepathy. there is currently no way to escape the Void, but don't worry- help is on the way...]

Comments

[allwehad]

[Every time, it all came back, this place in between Mayfield and home: cold, dark, and confusing.

It feels like she's slipping away, but she remembers -- she remembers everything about home now. The sound of Sasha's voice, sailing across the sea, traveling through mountains, tricking that damned dragon, Nadia, poor dear Nadia, and everything in between.

She is Margot Sullivan and her life is full of adventure, war, love, loss; nothing to do with white picket fences, raising families, being content to cook and clean and work as a nurse. That's not who she is and she clings to the idea of what she once was in her world. If she dies this way, she'll die as herself here in this strange void.

But there are other lights -- other things, other people? Margot has no arms to reach out, no way to walk, but she tries anyway. The thought that comes out toward any of the others is wavering, but it is still unmistakable:]

Hello?

[atailoftwoworlds]

[This place...he has been here before! It was when....

When Zidane had first started having false memories of Mayfield - of throwing sticks to Twilight, of his first 'day' at school, he knew that something was wrong. For days, he had been struggling to retain his identity with splitting headaches. He was not from this place. He was not a simple teenager living in the happiest town ever.

He was Zidane Tribal of Tantalus, not Zidane Beilschmidts of Mayfield. He was not born in Mayfield. He did not grow up there with a brother, two parents and a dog. He was a thief and an actor, a member of one of the most daring troupe of thieves on the Mist Continent.

His family - well, he did not have one, really. He had grown up as an 'orphan' in Tantalus, wondering where he had come from. And when he did eventually find out, it was not something that he expected. He was someone else's creation, originally existing solely to aid his maker, Garland, in destroying all life on one planet so that the planet could be absorbed by another. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, he avoided this horrible fate and ended up growing up on Gaia, the world he was supposed to wipe out, as a thief of Tantalus.

But his origins had not defined his identity and fate either. As Dagger once told him - "You have always protected us. But you still don't understand that we looked out for you, too! We watched your back while you watched ours. Just like you protected us...we want to protect you". His life growing up in Tantalus, the friends me made, the family he gained, that was what made him the person he is now. Not Garland, and certainly not Mayfield.

Above all, Zidane knew that Mayfield was not his home. For most of his life, he had been desperately trying to find a place to call home - a place in the world where he belonged. Now, however, he was certain where that place was.

And no matter what Zemekis did, no matter how hard he tried, there was no way the thief was going to forget that. Zidane's home was now with Dagger, the girl he loved. And he swore to himself to free her and everyone else in Mayfield and eventually go with Dagger back to Gaia...

But how was he going to do that at the moment, stuck in this place, with nowhere to go? He did not even have a body. Was he....dead?

However, Zidane saw some lights ahead of him. What were those? He had never seen them the last time he was trapped here! For some reason, Zidane felt that, despite his situation, he was able to call out to them]

Hello? Is anyone there? Heeeeeey!

[spitefulvitae]

...what?

[One of the other presences has noticed the fuss that Zidane is making, and it "sounds" surprised. Not unpleasantly so, however.]

I'm here. I'm here! You're...

...who're you?

[The voice isn't familiar to her in the least. And with all of this nothingness surrounding them, it could be anything, couldn't it?]

[atailoftwoworlds]

Huh? [Is that...one of the lights 'talking' to him?]

So I'm not the only one here. [Which is a small relief, despite their predicament]

What's your name? You weren't brought to Mayfield too, were you?

[spitefulvitae]

Natalie. Natalie Waters. And you're.... Mayfield, you're from Mayfield, good.

Wait, is that actually good?

[There's a definite ripple of frustrated indecision coming from this mote of light.]

...ah, fuck it, whatever. Who're you? Again? Your name? Do you have a name? You DO have a name, don't you?

[atailoftwoworlds]

Natalie, huh? That's a pretty name. Heh. Don't forget it.

[Oh yeah. He might as well tell her. She's just as confused as he is and it might give her a bit of reassurance. Even though Zidane has no idea what to do]

Don't worry, I do. It's Zidane.

[spitefulvitae]

[Can a mote of light snarl? This one seems to be trying to snarl. Or maybe grumble, or something. Whatever it's doing, it's projecting some pretty incoherent stuff, up until Zidane actually introduces himself.]

...Zidane! Zidane. Fine, fine. Alright. What... what got you put here? What were you doing?

[atailoftwoworlds]

I....don't know. I was near the Town Hall and the next thing I knew, I was right here....[The only thing he remembers is being here before, after leaving Gaia, and after being killed, so...]

Dammit! What the heck is going on?

[spitefulvitae]

[Natalie gives of an air of thoughtfulness, considering what Zidane has reported.]

I was shouting at the sky in the middle of the night. They wanted me to believe that my real life wasn't real. I wanted to tell them to fuck off.

[Then there's laughter! Or at least fuzzy amused emotions.]

They erased us. They must have erased us.

[atailoftwoworlds]

Funny, I was doing the same thing. [Minus the shouting]

.....Erased?! So we're actually... ['Dead' was what Zidane was going to say. But if they were, then why was he conscious in...whatever this place was? Why could they talk like this? This has never happened before!]

[spitefulvitae]

Maybe. Apparently they didn't finish it. Or they forgot to clean the bin.

[She pauses, then, and seems to move 'away'. When she thinks on it, when she considers the matter...]

...I've been here. When I dissolved. I was somewhere like this, after I dissolved. But I forgot...?

[captainofthe10th]

[ Loken floats in the unlight of this Void, silent and thoughtful. He has no rage in him now, no self-righteousness, only a willingness to survive, and he has locked himself away in a core of honorable ideals and unbreakable will. He is barely aware of the world around him, concentrating entirely on shielding his already abraded personality with the ferocity that is common to the Luna Wolves. ]

[spitefulvitae]

Hey.

[There's another will present that doesn't want to be broken, either, and it has taken notice of this particularly taciturn one. Compelled by curiosity and the need to convince herself that something outside of herself even exists, Natalie is calling out to it.]

Hey. You, there. Went and stood up for yourself, too?

[greyerrant]

I stood up for everyone. As if I could do anything else.

[ He continues to float in the void-state. ]

[spitefulvitae]

[As does she. There's not much else to do at the moment, other than to be.]

Thank you for that.

I mean that. Truly.

[greyerrant]

It was duty, nothing more.

[spitefulvitae]

If only more people had a sense of duty like yours.

[There's a pause. It could be moments or hours or days, for all time may mean in here.]

So am I the only one that did it out of spite?

[greyerrant]

I cannot say that my actions towards the town were lacking in spite or red-raged choler. I despise the hidden masters.

[spitefulvitae]

[She laughs! Or at least gives off an impression of bubbling amusement.]

You're not alone in that! You're not alone... I hope this isn't it. I hope we get another chance to take a swing at them.

[a_clockwork_melody]

[How ironic that a man of action, a warrior of strength and perhaps a thinker, could be felled by only his own words. A single thought by the entity of Zemekis. However, it would be words, and the Astartes' own thoughts of will, that could perhaps save him yet.

A series of muffled sounds and voices, though from a place far away from here and not immediately identifiable with any entity in the void, sounds out.]

W ... p! You can't ... Why.. remember ...

...Ga...vi...

[captainofthe10th]

[ He continues to float, insensible and cold, aware only that he is needed somewhere, that his work still needs to be done. ]

[a_clockwork_melody]

[Indeed, his duty still needs fulfilling, the final moment of his presence in the void shattered by the touch and scream that beckons him back.]

[logic_and_magic]

[Yes...this familiarity...he could feel it.

The moment before he stepped into Mayfield, before he drew his first breath there, this was where he had been kept. For how long? He wasn't sure. But, he could remember himself. His true self.

Crown Blanchard, the heir for his family line and the tribute to be placed into the cup. The boy who grew up too fast just to keep his brother safe. He didn't belong in Mayfield and he couldn't keep himself blinded by the lies it was trying to force on him.

He pushed passed it, reached for the truth...and ended up here. Wherever here was.

He opens his eyes...or whatever could be considered eyes here and looks around. It's a Void...nothingness is here. There were only a handful of lights floating about.]

Hello...is someone there?

[spitefulvitae]

[One moment pain, and the next... nothing.

No.

She would never be nothing. She was Natalie Waters, she was the favored of Goddess, she was Father's chosen, and it would take more than whatever the fuck this was to be rid of her! There was too much to be done. There was too much left unfinished.

But none of it was here. What was here? It was... perception without perception. No sight, no sound, no sensation, but an undeniable awareness that there was something in here amongst all the nothing.]

Hello?

[She'd hardly be content to "sit" and call out for long. Exploration would begin soon. But for the moment (for however well one could measure time in a place like this) she held and awaited the feedback from her initial efforts.]

[numberonemouseketeer]

What? Who's there?

[This voice, the voice of a boy, is 'coming' from very nearby. And, to himself rather than Natalie..]

That light....is someone over there?

[spitefulvitae]

Yes! I'm here! I'm over here!

[Forget for a moment that she's not entirely sure where "here" is, especially in relation to "there"... but she wills herself towards the boy's voice, and it already starts to "sound" stronger.]

You're from Mayfield too, aren't you? Aren't you?

[The voice is a woman's voice, and it's excited.]

[numberonemouseketeer]

Yeah, I am.

Who are you? What's going? How did I get here? [Sorry, Natalie. He doesn't quite trust you just yet]

[spitefulvitae]

I'm Natalie. I... don't know what's going on. I'm dead. I should be dead. You should be dead... shouldn't you?

[Excitedly, she flits 'closer'.]

What were you doing? What were you doing before this?

[heartisabattleground]

[Sora had fell into darkness before, had lost his heeart and almost forgot who he was. Kairi had once called out to him and brought him back to himself. But this time, it's different.

He remembered his light and his real self in this darkness and found himself being brought back just a bit inside this void. Wherever this was, he knew it from coming here before.]

Hello? Anyone here?