☇ 005 - video & action those in cherrygrove

[solidbarrels]

[ the video feed turns on and the first thing the viewer will see is Cyndaquil's face up close and personal. It looks frantic before it starts screaming into the pokegear ]

Cynda! Cyndaquil!! CynCyn DaQuil CyndaQuil QuilQuil! CynCynCyn Da Cyndaquil! QuilQuilQuil DaDaDa, Cynda Quil?!

[ Waving its arms, it points the camera toward its trainer. Squall looks like he hasn't had any sleep in days (weeks). He muttering to himself. Out loud. There's a wild, bewildered (even fearful) expression on his face. His fingers are digging into his right shoulder. He's without his jacket (and gloves) for once and if someone manages to look close, they might notice the faint burn marks on his wrists. ]

Not Dead. Not Dead. They're alive, they're not dead. They're not gone. Didn't fail them. Didn't let them down. Made sure they'd be safe. That's not them. Can't be them. Not them. Can't be them.

She's not here. Not here, not here, not here!! This isn't her castle. This isn't her trophy room. Not her castle. Not her castle. Not there. Not there. Not dead. They're alive. They're living. They're fine. Not dead, not dead.

[ He grips his head with both hands, shaking it furiously. The Cyndaquil cries out again but its trainer ignores him--apparently this had been going on since last night...]

Didn't fail. Didn't let them down. Didn't fail them. I protected them. all of them. Didn't I? Didn't I? Made sure of it. Made damn sure of it. Had to. I had to. I had to protect them. Be strong. I needed to be strong. For her. For them. For all of them. Wasn't I? Wasn't I?


[ Suddenly Squall's head lifts and he yells out, one arm flinging toward the side ]

Those aren't their bodies!! I didn't fail anyone!!


[ He quiets almost immediately, his eyes widen as if he's seeing something else in front of him.]

Hyne... No...

Cynda!! Cyndaquil!! Quil Quil Cynda!

[ The feed cuts as Squall collapses onto the ground, shaking his head fervently and his Cyndaquil looks pleadingly at the camera--obviously wanting someone to help its trainer.]



[[ ooc: Squall's reliving a twisted memory of Ultimecia's castle with dead (and decaying) bodies littering everywhere. They're ranging from his fellow classmates, to his friends in FF8 to even the Cosmos Warriors. He's also remembering the time Rinoa was trapped in space and in a coma. :> And possibly his sis 'abandoning' him, too, when he was like four. >>;]]

Comments

[action] Also late.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Firion's slowing struggles only strengthened the Warrior's. He tightened his grip on Squall's arm and tried once again to force him to let go. So for, he was only trying to get Squall off, but if this continued, he might have to attack Squall, to stop him. Hopefully they could break him from the illusion without having to do that.]

Squall, let go!

[It seems like Cleffa's song isn't working. They need to do something else.]

Cecil, help me to pull him off!

[action] Late party is go?

[paladinlost]

Got it.

[He joins Light and starts pulling, strongly but not too harshly. Squall is already panicked enough; giving him more reasons to attacked them would be a bad idea. Meanwhile, he keeps muttering under his breath, as reassuringly as possible.]

It's alright, it's alright, we're not your enemies, it's alright, please come back...

[He can only hope his words reach Squall.]

[action] \o/

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[When that vice-like grip slackens, even if only a little, Firion's chest is expanding rapidly to draw in air desperately. He coughs and sputters as his fingers claw at the arm holding him down.]

Sq-Squall!

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Squall's body drooped slightly, fatigue induced by the pokemon's song trying to take over but it's not working, not completely. His body is still tense, muscle coiled tightly inside him. He could see her and only her. The only words that could break through his mind are the ones she said to him long ago, before the Conflict--back during the war.

[ He's back there. Facing her again as she stands above him, laughing mockingly from her throne. The dancers of the parade swarms around him, repeating her words.

[ --SeeD, SeeD, Kursed SeeD; Foolish SeeD.--

[ Squall growls, shaking his head fervently, trying to get rid of the sudden tiredness in his limbs. He tries to focus on the fact that he's not there (he can't be there, it's impossible to be in two places at once--had to be a trick, a trick induced by her powers, to keep him confused; make him less likely to kill her now), not in her throne room and that's it's really her underneath him. Her that he's trying to kill ]



[ Squall's arm pulls back, even with Warrior and Cecil holding onto it before he slams Firion's head and neck back onto the ground ]

[action] Whoa, Squall.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Squall begins to pull back, and at first the Warrior almost believes that he is letting go and drawing back. For a moment, his grip loosens, and that is enough for Squall to slam Firion down again, with his hand still around the other Cosmos Warrior's neck.]

Firion!

[Light can see the way Firion's goes limp when his head connects with the ground. He is probably only knocked unconscious, since a blow like that wouldn't have the power to kill someone, but it is the final straw. Whatever the nightmare Squall is facing, it is stronger than the ones that Cecil and Light faced, because it doesn't allow their words to get through to him. Trying to talk Squall out of this clearly isn't working.

So now the Warrior draws back, only for a moment, enough to get more space, and swings a fist at Squall's jaw. He doesn't do anything to temper the blow. There would be time for apologies later, but this needed to be ended now, before Squall could get a chance to do any more harm.]

[action]

[paladinlost]

[Nothing they try is working, as a matter of fact it seems Squall's visions are getting worse. Cecil is really starting to panic, and it worsens when Squall attacks Firion once more. They can't reach him, they can't slow him down, they can't make him fall asleep...

By that point, Cecil doubts a punch would work. If anything, it would make Squall even angrier.]

We should contact the authorities! They might be trained to deal with that sort of case!

[He tries to reach his Pokégear, but it's too far away and he really doesn't want to let go of Squall right now.]

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[Firion felt pain shoot from his neck and head before everything went black, his body falling limp and giving Squall free reign once more to choke him, even as he had already fallen unconscious.]

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Squall lets go of Firion, the force of the punch driving him off the Weapon Master completely. His head still turned to the side, he breathes heavily with his back to the ground. He groans, teeth clenched hard.

[ His Cyndaquil walks up to his face, its fire blazing bright red on its back in worry and fear (adrenaline pumping through the mouse's veins). The Heat of the flames incites a full-body jerk out of Squall before the SeeD scrambles into back into a standing position, away from his starter.

[ Fire. Fireball. Seifer. That night, during the storm. Before everything happened. A gunblade slashing downwards, blood on his face

[ Squall starts rubbing the scar on his face ]

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Well, it's better than Squall attacking them, but this new reaction isn't all that much of an improvement. He glances from the unconscious Firion to Squall for a moment, before rising to his feet. Firion can wait until they get Squall calmed down.]

Squall? Can you hear us now?

[action]

[paladinlost]

[Cecil is torn between two options. Squall seems to be calmer now, but his reaction to Cyndaquil shows that he is not behaving normally. He might still need to be restrained. But Firion is unconscious, and there is no way for them to determine the extent of his injuries. He needs assistance, and he needs it quickly.

So Cecil takes out his Pokéball and calls out Cleffa, sending her to Firion. Once that is done, he turns back toward Squall.]

Squall, it's us. Warrior of Light and Firion and Cecil. Can you see us, or do you see someone else?

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[With a strangled cough, Firion awoke. His neck was on fire and his head hurt and the back of his neck hurt. Every cough hurt worse than the last in his bruised throat and blearily, he noticed Cleffa by his side.]

Wh-Where is Sq-[cough]-Squall?

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ He doesn't see them, any of them. Instead he's more focused on the blood on his face, the blood he's not feeling on his fingers.

[ Revolver. Revolver wasn't in his hand. It was supposed to be in his hands when the heat of fire rushed into this face. His blade was supposed to shield him but the fire, it wasn't surging at him. Wasn't flying toward him. It was just near him. Just happened to appear near him, near his face. Suddenly, spontaneously, instantly. Seifer's attack, he saw coming, felt the heat grow hotter as it approached but this... this was different.

[ What the hell was going on?

[ The voices, the song, everything is fading. It's a fog wrapped around his mind. He's still on the island, he still sees the barren wasteland he traversed after Ultimecia was defeated, after Edea had...

[ After Edea absorbed her powers.

[ He killed her, Ultimecia, during the conflict. He made sure of it. Her blood was on Revolver's blade, it took hours (days) for him to be convinced that he got rid of that tainted blood. Even though it only took him an hour to clean the blade from blood so the others wouldn't see what he done, to see the visible evidence on his sword. ]

What's... going on?

[ Squall mutters this to himself (not really expecting an answer--he's alone, isn't he?), the hand on his face dropping down. His eyes are closed, his breathing controlled and even. ]

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[And finally, finally, Squall is breaking through the illusion, or at least moving out of the murderous rage he had been in before. Anything is an improvement, at this point. The Warrior cautiously drew closer, though not close enough for Squall to strike out against. Hopefully Squall was starting to come to his senses, but the Warrior wasn't about to take his chances.]

We are surrounded by a fog that induces hallucinations. Firion, Cecil, and I are the only ones here, other than your Cyndaquil.