Trust is [NOT] Resolute

Piercing Light · Feb 17, 2020

"Komaeda!?" Try screamed as she was forced through a portal. This idiot, he really was about to sacrifice himself. No one told him to do that, why did he always have to be this way?... Wait, always? Try suddenly flinched and let out a desperate gasp. Komaeda's actions suddenly meant so much more. She frantically grasped at the air as she fell. "Wait, please stop. Don't do this! Don't leave me alone!" The portal closed, and she was somewhere else.

"...Kommy." She dropped to her knees as memories began flooding back to her, too many memories. They all coalesced into feelings that bombarded her senses. Happiness, fear, anger, regret. Ah, she was crying, she was crying and it wouldn't stop.

She took a look around herself, though her vision was blurred she was able to spot two people. Luxu and Kambria. She stood to her feet and took a step, only to stop as a sharp pain was felt in her chest. She hadn't been attacked, this pain was something else. In hindsight it was odd that while she understood the severity of the world's condition, she otherwise wasn't effected. Of course, all the trauma had been in memories she'd forgotten, and now it had all come back at once.

Darkness began to pour out of the crack in her helmet like steam escaping a faulty pipe. Try let out a fearful scream as the crack spread, until finally her helmet broke apart. The Darkness inside held captive by her keyblade armor burst forth, and flew into the sky. Her face was exposed, her braided white and black hair unraveled and fell. The left side of her face, corrupted by exposure to the Dark ached.

"Luxu!" She summoned her keyblade, unsure of the reasons for her current actions, she was behaving on pure instinct. "TRAITOR!" Her voice bellowed, echoed with her ability. She charged towards him with unnatural speed, she thrust her keyblade into the barrier before her. She continued slamming into it, echoing each strike. All the while her tears had not stopped.

purgatory · Feb 24, 2020

This chaos was something I typically didn't have to deal with often in my years as a merchant. Darkness, the heartless, and the smell of decay in the air as Luxu stood idly by and did nothing as I erected a defense surrounding the dorms. Cannons purged from my circles mounted on the high, as the light I emitted was bright red given physical attributes to mimic shape, weight, and the proper channels of damage. This form of my resolve could be described as "Light Transmutation" and fundamentally using light as a catalyst to change the properties of it to mirror physical objects or a certain type of magic or spell.

He stood behind me pacing with his arms folded, muttering to himself in a mild panic. My barett/hat kept sliding to the left and right, slight movement could be detected underneath. The sheer embarrassment from exposing that would totally drop my concentration, but the goal was preserving this place. I couldn't quite put my finger on any of it, but this place...that i briefly saw in a memory, was definitely important and worth saving.

My eyes darted well above my head and I saw a ripple of darkness tear open. Two bodies began to barrel through in a state of free-fall. Dead center from where I was holding stance, light pierced the plane and another came through it, a portal perhaps? Insane height, a certain curviness to their body, this was definitely a female, baring a helmet that was cracked. A resonance of darkness was peering through, seeping through the cracks like steam and my eyes widened. That woman...in the memory she nearly beat the living hell out of the scarred man.

Something was off, the heartless were trudging along past her recognizing the darkness she'd emitted and completely ignored her as a threat. To make matters worse, screaming out for 'Luxu' and mounting an assault against my set defensive parameters. The heartless right along side her slamming into the walls, a reverberation was felt, as cracks began to appear across the walls.

"Don't tell me you're against us too!?" I shouted in a very notable panic. This was bad, I didn't understand how she was doing it, but she was creating multiple hits off the back of one, the follow ups may not seem as strong but they multiplied doing additional damage to the walls I'd erected. The Dark Hides were slamming the walls with their entire mass and the shadows were gathering, likely to create a Demon Tower.

I could see it from the distance, as the hand that looked down on the world was astronomical in size, readying a fist to crush the wall I'd formed. At this rate something was certain...

Someone was going to die.

I grabbed Luxu by the arm and phased out into Red light as the barrier shattered like glass in between the woman, the dark hides, and the dark side's fist crushing the initial structure of the building. We emerged outward in the middle of the field and I pulled him up.

"Still think what you did was smart??" I yelled at him as we were immediately swarmed by a mass of shadows. Cedo appeared in my hands and the red glow of my resolve was immense. He certainly didn't waste anytime defending himself from the hoards as I wasn't going to protect him this time.

The hand rose out of the building's now shattered architecture, slowly, methodical and one laced with enough destructive power to take them all. There were three of those heartless that lingered in the sky just outside of he world's orbit, massive powerhouses. My senses weren't the sharpest, but my ideas and planning were sound. What could I construct in a dire situation such as this..?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm not entirely sure how long it's been, but it was cold. I trudged along at what looked and appeared to me to be a door of some kind. Gigantic, white, and most importantly...closed. "Another dead end...how many exits are closed off here..." I said rolling my eyes. I was too in my own head at this point, thinking about what Luxu said. This was really all I could do huh...? Baring the burden of responsibility always provided one with the temptation to abandon it.

I felt like a fool for even ideating the doubts but...oddly I couldn't help it. One of my ally's denied responsibility for a catastrophe...and another thought it was ok to remove us from the playing field entirely. The master was definitely correct...still, even if what that other man said was to be acknowledged...doesn't that also mean his trust is temporary as well?

Rubbing my hands together, I could feel the cold of the dark worlds white roads...with a debilitating feeling of failure close behind. My eyes were watery, my stomach was knotted and a certain level of despondence was beginning to set in. This light...this resolve we all were supposed to have...why was the form that mine took so...weak? Flashy little orb that had such...niche applications..? What good was I really in all this and to be given such a steep task by the master with no specification of anyone being obligated to assist me..?

I dropped to a knee and clutched my head. I was starting to feel a fever coming on, I was thinking too much...crying too much...and starting to lose touch the longer I stayed here. "All-series...some secret art we all could do...?" i was intrigued by the idea after seeing Komaeda and Luxu both call forth something so radiant and broken all at the same time. The more I thought about it, I'd chosen to place my resolve into physical objects possessing specific skills and using them for combination attacks. Both are meant to be weaker on their own, but combined they provide a formidable offensive power. I speculated if I should push the limits of my buffing, debuffing, and direct attack strings with an all-series...except...what was my activation name supposed to be...? I didn't remember any of this...is it supposed to be related to my name...? Monochrome? Lucrecia...I was beyond lost here.

As if on cue, a world ender emerged from the depths of the world destroying a piece of the land mass I was traversing with its bare hands. I was knocked on my butt, as I watched it climb up and tower over me as if I were an ant to a boot. This thing...was beyond my power of trying to do combat with alone. "Is this how I die..." I started to space out and became immobile for a moment, paralyzed. "Without...even saving one lingering remnant...?"

Deimos · Feb 25, 2020

'With those wounds you're simply inviting death in. RIGHT? SAEBYEOLBE!!!'

'WAKE UP. HRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!'

Sae's head perked up, passing out as he was basically naked from the top half up, falling against the pull of the wind. The darkness clutched him, touching his physical but finding no respite in sight. His Mortem, all-series, traced behind him in his very shadow. It's arms wrapped around Saebyeolbe, the blood leaking from the tears in his torso were being soaked into Mortem. The figure itself was casting a manner of regen on Sae as the tears in his body were closing up.

His head wrapped around, discovering that he'd been given a second chance at taking this place back. A loud shriek, a fist that soared past him in free-fall with a pronged attack staged to shatter a barrier around the building. From up high he couldn't make out who was on the ground, but the situation looked grim all the same. Prepping himself for the worse case scenario he took a deep breath and released, collecting himself.

"Looks like Helmet went on a rampage...cant have that..."

He falcon dove downward ( :24-:140) and allowed the wind and a fira spell to push him towards the surface in dramatic fashion. Alabaster was armed in his right hand and a thunderous crash met the foes from below. Swift, clean, and gone within an instant patches of clustered enemies began to splatter instantaneously across the planes and the building itself. This wasn't just speed...this was the fruit of training for years, fighting a pinnacle adversary in the lingering will and breaking his physical limits to ascend. In minutes, the cannon fodder heartless, he'd fell them faster than they could respawn before slapping the Dark Hides to the left and right of him as he approached a rampaging Helmet-less "Helmet".

"You're really gonna make me do everything...even in a situation like this? Wheres your warrior spirit Helmet!"

Sae laughed and wide grin appeared on his face. He was all but clothed save for his waist, along his body and even his face his body was horrendously bruised, scarred, and disfigured even over his muscular physique. His silver hair and gray eyes, they peered at the darkness flowing from Helmet, clearly she wasn't herself and rather than get caught up in being self-conscious...of the two of them, he was truly naked here, yet unashamed. His knuckles were glowing white, Mortem floated behind him and a lunged a fist to snap the jaw of a Dark Hide roaming to pin him as he shifted his attention to the other resolute.

He slowly approached leaving his Alabaster planted in the ground and took a moment to press himself against her. The blood wouldn't stain her red leather, you'd hardly notice it. Behind him was clear, no heartless would be trying to come for their heads in that instant. Needing to make sure she didn't take someone out, a friendly at that, seemed to be all that the morning star rain could think about right now.

"Saebyeolbe. It means 'Morning Star Rain' we've met before...crazy memory pitting us against each other eh? I cant speak for what anyone else remembers...or has forgotten, but the situation is dire and well...I'm trying to kill those things up in the sky that are ripping this place apart. I'd like to do that with no more casualties...people are far and few these days, but lives are lives. Will you help me?"

he spoke in earnest, he spoke with sincerity.

Ðari · Mar 3, 2020

The world, had died. In it's cold and harrowed state, the atmosphere save for the falling balls of darkness and the heartless that littered everywhere, was pure chaos. The resolute floated high as a beacon of light, possessing all of the keys and had been removed from the others as per his role. Carrying a grim outlook on the reality of the situation, he'd be foolhardy to waste more time, this is not that same as back then...

The thickness and oppressive feeling of darkness here was smothering. Eth's resolve was true, as his orb of light hovered about his body serving as a reminder of that which he still held attachment to. These memories served as a vessel...a connection to a grave number of mistakes that, though weakened sense of isolation, wrought upon his former comrades. There was no guiding light, no master to reign them or scold them for their misgivings, mistakes, and misfortune. His fist trembled thinking of the horrors that Try must've recollected as he could see it from his crystal ball, as well as Komaeda's unwitting end by suicide.

"Do you want the darkness to die...or do you want us to die..?" Eth muttered to himself as a tear trailed down his face. "I wish you would...actually be straight with us for once..."

There was a break in the air as Eth was standing on a platform of light he created, slowly levitating towards the center of the world to familiar territory. He and Shiki sealed an extremely powerful enemy here, some kind of heartless that merged with a human and became...an abomination that if left unchecked.

"Oh...fuck!!" Eth's eyes widened, using his resolve like something of a UV light. Time traced footsteps, and the shell of two figures here. The blood spilled was Trace's, his body broke down and dissolved into the darkness as the heart retreated?

Like threading the needle, it was fast, but not fast enough where it didn't give off a loud sound of falling. A fist crushed the pillar where the hybrid's body once resided in darkness. It sank beneath the fist as a massive pool of darkness was created and from it even more menacing heartless festered and slithered. Eth's light speed, place him in steps he'd previously taken nigh instantaneously and he observed the fist crushing the pillar well before he was ever in danger. Raising his scarf he unhooked his umbrella as the dark orbs were falling from the sky and raining all over the horizon. As one appeared to be slowly making a descent over hi head, he sighed and released and airy and weightless blast of light exploding into a pilar that punched through the orb, disintegrating it instantly.

"Let the harrowed ends, be purged and brought back to light in the wake of my power."

He needed only a gaze, as the sky was filling up from high and low with pockets of light. A shower of light blades coveting every angle, instantaneously, the world's sky that was riddled in a deep purple was being burned through by Eth's resolve. The light spread hitting the reaches of every corner much like sunlight piercing through a curtain veil. The heartless were being slain by the flying blades, one after another punching through and lacerating another, and another. He orchestrated a graceful movement of his light and finally it emerged.

Grandeur, towering, but a single world ender of a gargantuan size. The orbs of darkness where colliding with the world ender left and right, being absorbed into it's skin. The beast grew larger and more menacing as a result. Point a finger, a pillar of light came down like a bolt of lightning lobbing off the world ender's arm with a fine laceration. The cut was clean, a shink sound was heard as multiple angled pillars billowed through the towering titan of a heartless. Eth snapped his fingers, collapsing the light, setting off an explosion that obliterated the darkness from the inside out and its entrails purified, trickling across the wasteland as light particles as weightless as dust.

The radiance of the sun shone through and Eth's light was carrying across the landscape pulling everything back to it's original shape. As the little pat, his orb of light floated about him, Eth's eyes peered forward.

"Your not very subtle at all you know..." Eth pinned a blade to the movement of a shadow on the surface. "What happened to Trace...did I miss something?" Eth questioned it at first, but it was futility at best.

Donning the black coat once again, he opened his umbrella as the orb of light floated around him. Follow the darkness, this would likely place him into the middle of a war zone...but he didn't care. He'd have to go there and confront him, he couldn't be allowed to roam around toying with the others like this. He crossed through the threshold of a portal of light created from his memories.

The Dorms

Eth wasn't happy to be here, he floated down rather slow this time and holding a blade of light within his grasp. The field had been cleared, the world enders looked restless, but he wasn't here for them.

"Well well well, wasn't expecting you to just-"

His hand motioned a horizontal swing, tapping his shoulder and the two of them had vanished off the face of the world. They moved through an unstable passage of light and dark and ended up at Betwixt & Between, Eth's limbo.

"Luxu."

"Good ol' Eth, finally got the whole picture?"

"Enough Luxu. Just tell me whats going on...aren't we partners?" Eth's hand was trembling, he was anxious to be certain.

"You...wait a minute cowboy. You remembered something didn't you? Say..." Luxu paused before proposing a proper question, "You know my face don't ya? So why don't you tell me who's body this is? You were the only one I told..."

Eth's head drifted to the floor of the betwixt realm, "You told me not to repeat it...remember?"

"Ding ding! Well look at that, you really DO remember everything. Ugh...I wish you would've just stuck to the plan."

Eth's eyes lit up, he was actually infuriated by the proposal. "You'd rather we just send them blind to their deaths??"

"Whats it matter Ethy...I have my job to do. You found the answer to perform yours, do your job..."

"What's going to happen when we destroy all of these World Enders Luxu?? Then what??" Eth's eyes peered at his comrade.

"Humanity doesn't go extinct and light counter-balances the darkness. Thats all Master said, stop asking questions you already have the answer to Eth, that just pisses me off." Luxu walked off to the side and was preparing to open a portal of darkness. "You done?"

"Give me the master's keyblade." Eth said boldly

"Howzat, do what now? You really can't be serious, thats the funniest shit i've heard all day. Pfft, please. Thats about as funny as giving it to Try, HAHAHAHAHA. As if!" Luxu was laughing at Eth's request in the most obnoxious way imaginable. "So let me ask you something Eth. How did you escape The Realm of Darkness? Your resolve doesn't work there!"

Eth sighed, "I had help from number ten, she was already there when I'd arrived...along with more hybrid heartless."

"Oh! Thats right! You don't know do you?? About where Trace disappeared to. Saebyeolbe picked him up."

Eth's blade neared Luxu's coat, "...What..."

"You have no idea how badly I want the traitor to be him! Or perhaps Shiki? What about Lucrecia?" Luxu chuckled.

"Luxu......shut up ok..."Eth's voice was gloomy, but malice therein lied.
a
He slipped past Luxu's defenses in an instant as time crawled, and a slap of light blade against Ethernal's steel. Eth had known this keyblade well, it originally belonged to Luxu and he simply allowed him to borrow it without giving a window of when he'd taken it back. The natural confusion he'd had surrounding his comrade, none of his actions made any sense, none of his moves made any sense.

"Thy Kingdom Come"
"Thy Kingdom Come!"

The two uttered a sacred terminology the master would use to test two resolves without shattering a taboo.

"Hah! As if! I'm going to hand you your ass and watch Try rip that world and our fellow resolutes apart. Take more of the blame you fucking crybaby, it's the only thing you've EVER been good at!" Luxu said rallying his keyblade and taking stance.

Eth released a single breath and purged his blades into existence suffocating the atmosphere with his powerful light. "It won't be like it was then Luxu...tread carefully from here on out old friend. Last chance...give me the Master's Keyblade!"

Luxu raised his Ethernal in kind, and clashed with Eth's blade of light back to back to back "That keyblade is designated to the one I deem worthy, and the only one worthy in my eyes, is a traitor of the master's will. You want it so bad Eth? You're gonna have to forfeit your resolve for it, you know the rules!"

"Stopza!"
"Stopza!"

'Damnit, he can literally resolve to mete me in every scenario.'

Time shattered and they two fought on a complete mirror. It was Luxu's resolve afterall, he was the perfect mirror, reading their minds, their very souls, and able to make decisions and reproduce movements, skills, sounds, all in an effort to guide them along this game.

"This will go just as it did in the past Eth. You don't have what it takes to take me out, none of you are meant to, but someone eventually is going to have enough and rebel. I'm waiting for them to abandon everything for the sake of their own selfishness. I wanted so badly for it to be Komaeda...but he died. Well...theres several bodies remaining...it has to be one of you..."

Eth cringed...he twitched at the thought of being nothing but a body to this resolute. How...could Luxu be so cruel, in his remarks that one of them had no choice, one of them would forfeit their role and betray the rest?? It just didn't make any sense!

"Thats enough Luxu..."
"Thats Enough Luxu!"

!!!!!!!

"Head games Ethy. Stop being so predictable!" Luxu swatted Eth away with a powerful horizontal slash from his Ethernal all while watching him tumble across the floor. Luxu crossed his position and deflected incoming blades of light from multiple different angles as Eth reached out and placed his hand on Luxu's head within the coat. "What are you..."

"Let me see it...what the master showed you." Eth dove straight into Luxu's memories.

<audiofile#2>

Memory was something Luxu could not mimic or recreate no matter how far his power appeared to reach. Neither could the master, this wasn't a gift brought about by resolve or even Omni. Eth was blessed with this power from birth, his collective expanded between Time and Light upon taking the mantle of Zero/Untouchable.

He dove into his very mind, a setting where he clearly was not meant to be. There was a young man standing in a city, abandoned, it's rainfall accompanied by a young man skirting across the circle top of a building. Was this place...death? He moved quickly and a tall figure clad in black appeared and stopped the young man in his tracks. There was an uproar of heavy breathing coming from the boy, as the figure clad in black, who other than the Master of Masters wagging his finger in his face.

"You seem to be in a hurry, wheres the fire?"

"Wha?? Where'd you come from??"

"It's rude to answer a question with a question of your own you know, didn't your mother teach you any manners."

"H-hey! As if! Listen old timer, I got somewhere to be, so move it or lose it!" the young man shouted, as a keyblade purged into his hand with an eye embedded in the tip.

"Ho ho hoooo! Fascinating! You have a keyblade? Even more intriguing, it's even modeled like mine! Check it out!" The master joyfully called his Gazing Eye into his hand and the ominous blue eye peered into his very soul. "Twins!"

They crossed blades and there was a skid as the young man turned with a pant and the old master hand a dainty little shuffle with some poise and elegance. The master turned on his heel and stood about face as his arm gently fell to his side holding his Gazing Eye close. A hand gesture and wave to the young man before he asked him yet another question.

"You're quite strong, I see much of myself in you. Tell me, whats your name?"

He slung the keyblade over his should and tapped the other side of his left, "My original name is ****, but call me Luxu."

"Really? ****? You look more like a Braig or Xigbar to me. Ah what the hell do I know, Luxu is a fine name. Well Luxu, lets just get right into it shall we." The master crossed over and took him by the shoulder almost in a suffocating manner as he began to explain all manner of his plans for the young boy.

Light flooded his eyes.

"How many decades...centuries...eons...have you lived Luxu...? How old are you...who..."

Eth was trembling rapidly almost petrified at the realization that Luxu had been alive during so many catastrophes and almost biblical events cascaded through times Eth himself weren't alive for. The master existing in this fashion, multiple different men and women clad in the same coats he and his previous resolute bore...and this gambit. A game in which Luxu's role remained the same, cycle after cycle. It was beyond real, what was even the point in this participation, failures, successes, only to relive the life in a different body, time after time.

To say he was hyperventilating, finding it difficult to breathe was a massive understatement. Eth's eyes were wide, the disjoints in his next couple of steps were filled with uncertainty, he didn't know where to begin, how to process this overload, or even where to draw his keyblade in arms.

"You clever little sneak...so you've peered into my memory have you? Wretched little witch, to think we took a gamble with a descendant of Namine this time around. One who could peer into the memories of not just the hearts of smaller and lesser beings, but worlds themselves." Luxu sighed and dismissed his Ethernal, to purge the gazing eye into his hands.

"That man we call our master, dear Ethy, is in reality a quasi-existential being that has to service balance every couple of decades or so, perhaps centuries? Who really knows. You remember how he talked his ass off about Omni yeah? That power is split into Thirteen vessels, the master being the 13th Vessel himself, regardless of whether he participates in the gambit actively or not. Every time the world nears extinction, a game over the fate of extinction is executed and barring the master and I, 11 other individuals are selected as containers for Omni. Depending on the shift of balance, determines our roles played...sometimes we're light, sometimes we're darkness. Point is, each time we collide with whatever is the more powerful force we're given no choice but to succeed or face the consequence of utter extinction. As if."

"Your saying if we don't destroy the world enders before time is up...we're all going to face extinction together??" Eth's eyes widened.

"Full-marks Ethy, hah, this is why we were paired from the beginning."

"But why not just tell everyone that from the start?? And what about the traitor?? What is their part in all of this???" the sound of his voice grew with even more exasperation and panic.

"Tch...As if. Because idiots like Shiki who aren't supposed to blab, would, and we'd get stuck with 11 rebels instead of 1. Catch my drift? Oh about that traitor...it's been foretold by the master, and his prophecies since the book was written, have all come true. It's been seen and it cannot be changed, trust me...ive been this merry go round more times than I'd like to admit, theres always that one asshole that feels the need to be and selfish fool and go rogue. Trust me, I can practically smell who it's going to be. As if!"

Luxu yawned, "Thats enough talking...the only one allowed to remember anything at this juncture, is Shiki so Eth..." he flipped the keyblade over and pointed it towards him. "I'm ordering you old friend, to wipe your memory as well as Try's back to the point where everyone all experienced the one she released from Traverse Town's fall."

ENSNARED. Luxu chuckled. "Even though Komaeda's dead, I didn't forget how his resolve operated. Direct eye contact and a command. Now Eth. Do as I comm-"

"MASTER!" Eth shouted, shattering the binding effect of the command before he broke into a sprint in the opposite direction dissolving into a flash of light.

"...." Luxu had a bit of a nervous smirk, but he chuckled all the same. "Untouchable really was appropriate for you, not even hypnosis or reality augmentation was enough to pin you down. As if...you can fly away Eth...but the game must be finished, and a traitor WILL emerge."

purgatory · Mar 14, 2020

This was the final chapter I would write.

I was slipping into a lower state of consciousness. I started to see flashes from my very strict past. My father, a man renowned for his skill as a keyblade master with dojo diligence. A harsh teacher, one with a high skill ceiling, difficult to master techniques, and a certain set of expectations. I, his only daughter, Lucrecia...had to live in this hell. My days were long, the nights where short, defected from training at a prestigious keyblade academy, I was instead homeschooled by my father's accredited dojo. Far from perfect, but never far from the burden of sharing multiple responsibilities, how I resented it.

The clasp of the world ender's grip caught the mass snapping me from my disillusion.

"This is it huh...?" I said almost sardonically eyes focused on the heartless the were huddling around. "...What was it all for..."

I sulked, complained, whined before, but now? I didn't do any of those things, here on my death bed I only had damning questions. I wanted to know what the point of it all was, and as the questions were being asked, my disinterest started to manifest. Truthfully...like daddy's lectures, I didn't care. I didn't care about this resolve. I didn't care about this mission. I didn't care about living another second just to repeatedly fail...because I couldn't get the support from my supposed comrades...what a joke they were. I felt pathetic for trusting them...I felt the misery of having failed the master, not even getting close to doing my fucking job right at all.

In that moment it felt like time was slowing down, as within that instant I came to the realization that I was dead. My resolve activated on it own, and the three orbs, Noctem, Diem, and Gris all came spiraling to the forefront to repel the crushing blow from the world ender.

"Try huh...fine..." there was a feeling of malevolence I felt overtake me entirely, "...then i'll use everything..."

My chest was burning, I was crying...again. In this place the only thing I had here was resolve...but as I stood here wallowing in my despair I started to question myself as an essential piece in all of this, but that one thing kept bothering me. She betrayed us...she never took responsibility, she plunged me further into my doubts, she even questioned a complete stranger bizarrely to pin her suspicions and guilt shifting onto another.

The floating orbs were cracking, and I could hear it, my heart paced a bit, but they finally shattered. The blow from the world ender was dull, but it connected with my Lucient as rose to block and felt the shockwave of it's strength vibrate through the steel and launch me to slide across the white surface.

"Hah....ahahaha.....ahahahahahahaaaaa" I was trembling, deathly terrified, but I couldn't stop laughing "Hahaha. Stop it okay...fucking...ahahahaahahaa...."

Digging lucient into the dirt i managed to stand, still trembling and oddly I was still laughing. My resolve had shattered, and I could feel the tattoo that burned on my chest starting to fade away. Effective immediately...I was powerless, isn't that wonderful? Tears were billowing into my eyes, yet I still laughed, my body was shaking, yet I still laughed, so much time hardening, endless training and this was my worth. I was a complete and utter disgrace to my family, to the master, to the others. A weakling that could contribute nothing withstanding and this is how I was going to die.

The light diluted, pitching malice in each direction with a dark tint of red. The "IV" on my chest burned itself back and I laughed even harder. What a joke this resolve bullshit was, all of it...all of this was worthless and I didn't fucking care anymore. I didn't care if I succeeded...I didn't care if I died, it was too much bullshit to deal with, but I knew one thing for certain...I wasn't going to allow myself to die, before I destroyed her. Before I destroyed the person that crushed my hopes from the very beginning.

"Move." I said releasing a powerful eminence of tainted light and I slowly walked towards the world ender which was reeling it's fist back. "I said MOVE!!!"

My white keyblade was dripping with a wicked veil of rage filled light, its color soaked and became it's counter-part Noctis, but it seemed indefinitely this time. I clutched my fist and released a fraction of my anger and suppressed emotions into a torrent of tainted light that outright vaporized the world ender where it stood. It sliced a fine vertical path of broken light in the dimension where the world ender stood and I could see the other side. A clash of two extremely powerful resolves, both clad in black.

Crossing the threshold.

I was graced with the unsavory sight of but a single man, though there was another clad just alike, retreating into light. The keyblade he wielded wasn't familiar, but the dimensions and structure of his body were recognizable enough.

"Luxu...you bastard..." the first words coming from my mouth "I should've taken you out before you sent us on our way...all you've done is meddle...made us question...fuck, none of that matters anymore...I really don't care..."

I rose my Noctis and pointed it at him. "My resolve is gone...so lets skip the bullshit and talk straight Luxu...what happens now?"

"Been waiting a loooooong time to do this one last trick, hah, as if." he said as he walked towards me purging the master's keyblade in hands, "Take it. For your trouble. Does a lot more for you than you know, Traitor."

I watched as Luxu released the Gazing Eye to me, it was now mine. Once I touched it, everything started to flood back into me, things I had lost, memories that I had forgotten, almost as if Eth himself had done something to the keyblade. These memories felt silenced, and I was returning to who I was overlapping with who i've been up until now.

"I understand..."

"Meet me at the keyblade graveyard when you're ready. I've got one last thing that needs opening, has to be who I gave the master's blade to that does it." Luxu said before he vanished into the darkness throwing up the "peace sign".

Piercing Light · Mar 22, 2020

Try stopped as she felt the sudden embrace. Saebyeolbe. He introduced himself, not that he needed to do such a thing. She remembered him, she remembered what he did. She could feel his body heat on her, what made him think it was okay to touch her, him of all people? He didn't remember? Was that a good enough excuse?

"You want to help." She spoke the words as if there were poison on her tongue, every second next to him was causing her blood to boil even hotter. "Fine, I'll give you a hand." She shook free from his hold and picked him up. "Go play hero." She threw him into the sky, directly towards the world enders.

"Now then..." She turned towards a hooded figure. For a moment she thought it was Luxu, but his steps were different. "Eth, I guess I can't call you a coward anymore, huh?" She raised her keyblade towards him. "But can I call you a traitor?"

Deimos · Apr 3, 2020

This was definitely out of his wheel house. Emanating with darkness, it felt like he'd entered a gas chamber being forced to hold his breath while standing in proximity. The aura was suffocating, but what was to The Scarred beyond another mosquito bite in comparison to all that he'd experienced upon waking. No one better to discern the humanity, the multiple modes of pain, suffering, and chaos that dwelled inside each of these resolutes, not just him. A work in progress, years worth, his grasp served as an exchange, his body did all the remembering after all.

"You want to help." she said to him.

Sae interrupted her, "I want your help." he found himself on the gripping end of a power clench. Feeling his heavy form being briskly elevated off the ground as Mortem levitated along with him, behind him. She was strong, physically, like him and that memory served as a reminder...but compared to then, he'd been holding back substantially where as he felt himself completely cut loose back then. Spirited away, launched, whichever your fancy he was thrown towards that beast that smashed the dorm upon his fall back to the world.

"This won't go the same as last time..." Saebyeolbe sighed and mortem finally dissipated and infused back into the resolute, revitalizing his wounds. He landed in the middle of the massive heart-shaped gap in it's chest. This world ender...was that we Luxu called it? Was this what he slew in the realm of darkness protecting that young woman Jay? The giant hadn't taken notice to him hanging into the window of it's chest cavity. He was beside himself, all of this senseless chaos being waged by these creatures that acted out of raw instinct and not malice, posed such a threat. To him it was like putting down a predator in the wilds, thats what the heartless were to Saebyeolbe, another part of the ecosystem that was fighting back in the hierarchy of the food chain.

He clutched his fist hard and sighed. Armored, his skin and flesh was already formidable, these thing could be killed, but his all-series was off the table, Mortem had already far exceeded it's timer. His eyes shut, dipping into a past he'd not really wanted to dig up, in that of training with the master many years prior it feels. He had an "All-Out-Attack" of some kind that he was forbade from initiating due to the parameters it pushed control over his body and consciousness. Would they really need a second helmet wreaking havoc? That was an option, but not the smart play here.

"Fine..." the scarred sighed, "I'll just blow it up...Exa Flare."

His hand tapped the roof of it's hollow chest, and a small light rapidly expanded from the top down. Sae jumped out of the heartless chest and entered free-fall, feeling a large number of scars rapidly vanish from his body, at least 50 or so. He'd cast an incredibly powerful spell, it was an amalgamation of multiple smaller ones. His scars bonded together to pull it off and they were wiped clean from his body, as he it the floor the light went up before splitting the world ender in two scattering across the lightscape bolstering through the dark hides that were tearing up the terrain, and effectively one hit knockout's were being passed around like a wine bottle.

Once he'd landed he stood between Try and the hooded one, recognizing his scent anywhere, it was Eth's.

"If you'll make so simple a habit out of calling a friend a such...rude names, it leads me to wonder if we were even friends to begin with?" Sae seemed reluctant to get involved, but he realized making the hard choices was something he had to do to fill his role the master provided him. Peace was to be his number one priority. So he took a breath before he released and spoke again.

"This guy here sent me to someone I was looking for, does that sound like something a traitor would do? Even protected me from the effects of a harrowed end for a time." Sae let his arms hang to his sides. The sounds of heartless exploding as the sun was starting to break through the sky with one less world ender to send more forces their way. As the Exaflare's effects were lingering, the remaining heartless were being destroyed by it's broken blasts of light being scattered like fragments of an asteroid into lesser meteors.

"Don't hurt him. You can see the sunlight returning can't you? I've done what you've asked, now do this for me." Saebyeolbe said gripping his Alabaster tight, and his indurvatique had shown through the cracks in his skin from the many scars.

Ðari · Jun 17, 2020

[resolve]

Zero stood still.

Here he was again and going through a spiral that was his innermost thoughts. Luxu's identity, the master, how this overseer of theirs did all in his power and influence to pacify them. The resolutes had been deliberators of his very ideals and ambitions, and most importantly, they were all trusted. This culmination of fates coming together made for an unprecedented outcome, this bleak future in which many had already died and become heartless, or turned the darkness for self-preservation of their own life, to hold on.

Eth could remember, every fine detail of the memories that...he was responsible for suppressing. Setting these memories to go dormant within each and every resolute, even himself. This was not something he wanted to do, this was an order from the master himself, and one order that justified the animosity held against him in that span of time the master was absent. There was a grim look on his face, the very thought of a traitor had to of been imbued in those of them who were granted a role in the end of days, and those that had no such role. Their foils...seemed to vanish and now only the core remained? It was left to be seen if this was true, but one couldn't help but feel this was the path that they were all heading...again, and again...and again.

"The master trusted us." he broke the silence, chasing not to respond to what Try directly said, calling him a coward. "Guided us. Gave us a soul purpose to abide by in this state of the world."

Eth raised his hands, a yellow tint that was faint, illuminated from him in his black coat. He held his head up high, as the sun returned and the heartless were beginning to wither away as Sae had felled the world ender Darkside. Untouchable didn't mention it, but the smell that emanated from Saebyeolbe was no different from Try's eye. It was of the darkness, "this enemy" of the resolutes they'd been pit against since the very beginning, now acting as an aid?

"Darkness was the enemy. Has been...but thats not always true. It's saved all of us, yes. All of us, forged in light, were saved by the very threat we came to erase. You know...I always wondered why that was never a rule. He spoke of light, he spoke of resolve, he spoke of taboos, but he never said anything about mistrust of or even of harboring the dark..."

"I came here because I fulfilled my role. I was the first to fulfill it and Im here to give you a choice...All's End."

As it left his breath, Eth's eye created a blue concentric circle. "0" his tattoo was embedded within one of his eyes, and it illuminated brighter than any light cast. A triangle abhorred and splintered into space behind him, nothing like a portal anyone had ever seen before, but a gateway into a completely different dimension.

"We're playing a game where there is only destruction or one of salvation, that will eventually lead to another generation of successors being tasked with an awful struggle. I'm asking you all...as a friend. We will be greeted by a powerful threat, as well as a third party in that of our betrayer. If you want to know more about our purpose, then do this one thing for me. Once you cross the threshold of this gateway, you will be thrust into an expanse that will reveal the darkest shades of your heart where even your resolve in light has yet to touch. It is the line, that every sinner must cross...and it's where we'll break free from this infinite loop and I can tell you everything I know."

Eth held his hand towards the resolutes as he stood with his other about to cross over himself.

"My friends, this is the line in the sand where we change fate outright. Lets cross it together."

He released the dark infused light from his form that he'd experienced from his prolonged exposure in the realm of darkness. A realm, in which he'd been powerless and realized dabbling in the darkness was the tool he needed in order to survive. There seemed to be a common theme among those with roles, the burden, the stress, and the amount of fault were evidenced by constant exposure to all these things. They shared the common thread in that each of them had sinned beyond measure, and Eth was no different in that regard.

"Who'd believe a liar like you anyway...As if!"

A sound of a portal forming, entering the fray in dual fashion. Luxu. Of course it was him, a proxy to this game in order to ensure it stays the course in which i can be repeated and a terrible fate will be met with another generation that he'll be around to forsake yet again. To his dismay, Luxu as not alone. As his head turned, he saw only The Gazing Eye, and to his surprise the one wielding it was...!

"I didn't come alone this time. Breaking at least one of you by taking away your hope of saving the Dorms was all I needed to ensure our master's will would be carried out and as you can see. Reesh here, said fuck everything and everyone she stood by and turned her back on all of you. She is your TRUE traitor."

Eth's eyes were sullied, he didn't think Luxu would be so depraved as to attempt to corrupt one of them for the express purpose of forcing a traitor to emerge...and HER and what she did, I'm sure she remembered it now. Eth's time resolve didn't have any effect on the wielder of Master's Keyblade, or even the master himself, it was always intended to be that way. Even if he wanted to change her mind, rewrite something important, there was nothing he could do...this was the most volatile moment in their fates right now.

It all came down to this moment. What was she thinking? What was her plan, what did she intend to do.

"Now I'm a fair sport. Eth. You did revert two harrowed ends to your credit, Destiny Islands and Hollow Bastion both. Komaeda's death reverted Twilight Town, and Saebyeolbe successfully saved this place. You've all gotten closer to the source of this darkness, but I'm afraid with the traitor revealed, none of your efforts will be needed anymore."

!!!!!

"It struck me as odd, fighting against what the master already said would happen, and sure enough it did. You see this box here? Well heres the catch, it will only open to the master's key and the requirements are kind of a pain in the ass to open. See, I couldn't open it just cause I had it, turns out a lightless wielder has to be the one to do it. Ding ding, get it now? Girl's resolve is gone, comes with the price of abandoning your resolve, but the trade off is worth it. Thats not all...we need you to help her open it, Zero."

"Tch. You've got some nerve Luxu. You come here, you brain wash our comrade, and now your expecting help? Give me one good reason why I should listen to a word you're--"

"If you don't open it, i'll tell them the truth and they'll turn on you anyway. You parading on about crossing this threshold, as if. The Darkness' still has a few plays and even with who we have left, it won't be enough to turn the tides. And the price to pay to open the box, is less expensive gamble than to face whats coming."

Eth was never really good with ultimatums, but he drew the line here among friends that were made strangers. If Luxu was willing to sabotage everything, bringing the traitor into the conversation and effectively using them to hijack the plan in place the master devised, it almost seemed...unprecedented. This by itself presented a new interpretation of "trust and betrayal" if the betrayer is intending on taking such divisive action. His eyes split and they panned around the group of them, with the exception of potentially one missing, this was indeed everyone gathered front and center. The gateway he'd created that was an aid in changing fate still resonated, this felt all too familiar a position to be in...and yet history has a funny little way of repeating itself.

"I refuse. I'll admit, I haven't been the most friendly or even comforting of resolutes. I was cold, indifferent, because my resolve belonged to solitude. I did what i had to with conviction, but I didn't want to be relied on. I just wanted to be left to my own devices...so I could protect everyone without becoming too invested. I'd just make worse decisions if I was attached, but I also had a role, a duty, and a special task rom the master. Thats why I can't help the traitor, because in my eyes, you already gave up on the lives I worked tirelessly to save...and you don't have my trust or my respect, so the answer remains. No."

The dark light billowed out of Eth's form and purified instantly becoming a yellow and blue sheen. He held his hand out to the group one more time as the gateway wouldn't let up and coming with him would force an issue they'd finally overcome, together. The demons, the dabbling with the darkness as a struggle every resolute had to shoulder taking shape in the form of their sins. For him? They'd see each others mistakes visible as day and decide for themselves, as everyone's true nature was something they'd also seem to have forgotten.

"One more time. Lets cross it together."

Chapter 4 End
The ~~Broken~~ Sinners

Piercing Light · Jul 1, 2020

This was it, this was everything she wanted. The Traitor was right in front of her. Her entire purpose for living, the gift the Master had given her was right here. She'd thought about the things she'd do to the traitor, every minute of the day she thought about it. Her hands twitched with excitement at the thought of wrapping them around her neck and wringing the life from her body. And yet she hadn't moved yet, why?

She looked to the portal, then to Lucrecia, then back to the portal. But her corrupted left eye stayed on Lucrecia, it refused to move. Her vision blurred and a sharp pain shot through her head. She had to follow it's gaze to stop it.

Spoiler Show

"Why are you hesitating? Kill her."
"I... I have to go with Eth, it's the only chance we have."
"Still pretending to care? Does it feel nice, TRY, to act as if you are a decent human being?"
"T-that's not my name, and I'm not pretending, I'm not."
"How many people have you killed?"
"You... you made me kill them, you said you would feed me to your dogs if I didn't."
"Excuses. A decent human being would rather die, wouldn't they? Besides, you enjoyed it. I bet deep down, you enjoyed killing Komeada too."
"Please, stop. I can't do this, I have to go with Eth, I have to-"
"ENOUGH. You still don't understand. Fine, I'll make you an honest woman."

The left side of Try's face erupted into a spire of darkness, like a factory going critical and spewing everything upwards. The dark twisted upwards into a tendril of smoke. It writhed like a warm stuck on a hook before spiraling downwards towards Try. It punctured her chest, leaving no visible wound but clearly driving deep inside her. She felt a dull coldness in her heart, as if it had been wreathed in the darkness inside her. Yet at the same time it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. A sense of joy washed over her. She smiled at Lucrecia, an involuntary grin that didn't look like it belonged to anyone sane.

"Finally." She summoned a keyblade to her right hand, the eldritch blade that was difficult to even behold without growing sick to one's stomach. It's mere presence seemed to revolt the air, as a sound like a rusty nail against steel resonated as Try walked forward. "I'm going to tear you apart. Struggle for me, would you? I'd hate for this to end quickly." She leapt towards her, swinging the blade down towards her head with reckless abandon.

purgatory · Jul 3, 2020

With baited breathe, I could barely contain it.

The anger had welled within me the entire time, I'd been going through a withdrawal from the surroundings as the tunnel vision took over. There she was, red suit but without a helmet and admitting a torrent of unrelenting dark power. Luxu may have been to my right, and he and Eth were babbling, something I hadn't even heard the first or last word.

None of that mattered.
Not right now, I'd get there after I was done.
I needed this right now.
I needed closure to all of my despair and frustrations felt from a single destabilizing event.
I needed her to suffer, to feel even so much as a fraction of what I felt.
And she needed to see the truth rather than run from it.

Luxu was talking all this time yeah, and I was no longer a resolute...but I never said i was absolved of a resolve. No, far from it, in fact the toxicity that had accompanied me with would be perfect for gaslighting them all. A small turn of my head, and you could feel it. A chilling and unpleasant feeling was lashing out and infecting the atmosphere all coming from me, as a red skull seemed to forge its way behind me.

Murder.

"If this is your way of owning up to your mistakes and creating the very thing you were bound to smite, then I hope LYING to yourself was worth it!" I brushed Luxu to the side and mounted my feet forward. "I won't stop until I make you understand everything you pushed on me!!"

The master's keyblade, along with my own body became slaked with an awful aura that billowed out red. It's pressure was unlike anything any of them had experienced, my resolve was to murder her in cold blood. It would continue to resonate without fail, the key blade's eye even turned red. I approached with a quick step and propagated my swing to come from under her as she came crashing down.

"This is what happens when a liar destroys you, and that Liar is YOU Try!"

Deimos · Jul 5, 2020

A chill traveled down his spine every so briefly. The feeling was something he'd encountered many times over the years through countless battles as well as personal experiences. This was fear, in it's rawest form offering the one experiencing it with a choice in the matter. Do you flee? Do you stand your ground? Do you fight? Countless thousands of times did Saebyeolbe have to answer this question, but the sensation here was different. Pain was involved, suffering had occurred, emotions were high and through the cloud of all of these things, friends were thrown at each other's throats.

There was a vision that flashed through his mind.

"Oi! Now come on Sae, don't begrudge the issue."

A much younger Sae, roughly sixteen, filled with an unprecedented amount of rage and hatred. His left eye and right cheek were both bandaged, and coupled with all of the many scars he's procured from battles. He simply didn't speak, he was lost in a well of himself, thinking only about how Allison used her body to cover him during the firestorm that befell their village town. He was almost completely incoherent inside of his head, but something broke that deep focus.

"Don't let the past define you Ol'be. Wounds heal, and the scars from those times, are there so you don't forget, but don't let that very past...rob you of your future Ol'be..."

Perhaps the echoes of a dear friend that raced through Sae's mind. He knew this pain well, and while not perfect, to see this level of hurt...distraught, and confusion within those he considered allies, he had to act. The mere sight, was it's own kind of pain for him, memories weren't needed to feel that this was wrong, and from there his body just moved on it's own.

Without anyone's approval, without anyone even asking, he barred the way. Sae had a smile that was comforting and warm, as he was struck from two sides. Suffering a bludgeoning blow to the head from Try from the right and a swift swing punching into his abdomen, from Recia, serving to crack one of his ribs, but his body didn't move. The vibrations from both of them multiplied, but he didn't move. Blood burst from his head, splitting into several bloody streams down his face. His side, the same, and it leaked onto the master' key, tracing its way too Recia's palms.

"It doesn't hurt...but my heart...it weeps for the two of you." he said almost like that of a whisper to the two of them. He pulled Try down, and cupped her slim frame and brought her head into his right shoulder and took Recia into his left arm. He was crying now, the drops permeating these two extremely angry women, three keyblades plummeted to the ground. They were physically stunned, his touch from his indurvatique initiated this, and he used his body as a medium to communicate for them, what neither could even begin to understand about the other. This was a time to reflect, a time to seek understanding, and a time to come together.

Sae remembered this interaction...almost as if it was indirectly learned through his very similar intersection with Eth much earlier in his journey. These memories were more precious and perhaps even hated. The unrealistic expectations in Lucrecia's world, and the melancholy and scolding introduced in Try's. Being made to fight. Being made to submit and obey. There was a pant that Sae had released as this was the answer he sought, his role was realized now. To be their shield, to connect their pain between each other to better understand motives, resolves, and their very way of life.

The Morning Star Rain was tired, he was constantly fighting this entire time. He'd expended so much of himself, he'd been destroyed several times over from the world enders, saving Jay's life, nearly getting destroyed when Komaeda's stunt almost killed him, and now this. A cold overtook him, the light in his eyes began to dim and flicker in and out of consciousness.

"Don't fight...please..." Sae staggered, still clutching them both. "You're both hurting so much...it's ok to pass it around to me alright? I'm here for you both, we're...comrades after all..."

His smile was wide before he released them both and fell backwards, his back hitting the ground first.

"!!!! LET ME HELP YOU!!! GODDAMNIT LET ME FUCKING HELP YOU!!!" the voice of Trace screamed with exasperation as even this human hater balled with tears.

"No..."

He went cold, his body was starting to shiver from the shock of getting hit so incredibly hard into two isolated spots on top of being too fatigued to activate a scar to counter either. Saebyeolbe...was dying right before their very eyes, while wearing a smile in which he carried no regrets. His hand could feel the warm blood leaking from the side Lucrecia had stricken him and from his head, that throbbed nonstop.

"Listen to Eth...he did something for me...that I am eternally grateful for...the master...the past...who you are now is what...matters." Sae coughed into his shoulder staring at his alabaster keyblade from the side.

"I'll be ok...please...just do me this one favor...go with him...its time we took control...over our fates."

His eyes finally closed and he released a soft breath. "I'm tired now...let me rest a bit..."

Consciousness slipped, and his hands both fell limp. He didn't breathe, he went completely silent, and the grim reality had worn around them. Their number one...well, you get the idea.

Piercing Light · Jul 21, 2020

What a stupid thing to do. What did he think would happen if he got between the blades of two warriors posed to kill each other? Did he think it would make her stop? What was inside of her was a will that would not be denied so easily. Hatred and fear were supreme, the driving force behind every action of a human being. To deny someone their righteous wrath was to contest the essence of man, to deny the dark flitting through their hearts.

Try let out a scream. A scream rebounded by her resolve, an echo of despair. She dropped to her knees by Sae's motionless body and pressed her hands to his chest. Tears streamed down her face as she thought of what to do. All at once she poured every ounce of magic power she had into a Cure spell. She felt the lightheaded pang as the mana left her. A bright green glow shined from her hands, obscuring her and Sae. She then echoed the curative effect, over and over until she could use it no longer.

Before she could see if the magic had brought him back from the brink of death she suddenly fell backwards, as if she had been shoved. "Get out. Getoutgetoutgetoutgetout." She mumbled as she rolled across the ground, as if fighting with her own body. She summoned her keyblade, the macabre sword having vanished. "GET OUT!" She griped the blade as she laid on the ground and pointed it towards her chest.

"You think to rid yourself of me now? I'm already a part of you. No matter how you try, I'll always be there. Even as a mere memory I will OWN YOU." Try spoke with a voice that was not her own, a masculine, deep voice. Her arms shook, as if she were fighting with them to move. "Try, try, try, try, and yet never succeed. DO NOT INSULT ME, STOP THIS AT ONC-" The blade plunged downwards, straight into her heart. Instead of blood, a dark ooze began to leak from the impalement. Try twisted the blade, and unlocked her heart.

Every bit of darkness was expunged from her heart. Something she'd been warned to never do. A normal human had both light and dark within them, and to excise the dark from them would be to shatter their ego. Yet even as the last plumes of darkness faded from her body, Try was still cognizant. She pulled the blade from her chest and slowly stood to her feet. The corruption in her eye was gone. She picked Sae up and hoisted him over her shoulder. Without a word she began to walk towards the portal.

purgatory · Jul 22, 2020

This isn't what I wanted to see.

The blood felt warm, glazing my hand as it traced down the gaze eye and touched my hand. This was his blood. Saebyeolbe. I remembered him, my time in the past as someone that looked up to and admired. Rage that I felt was far from subsiding, there was a strong sense of conflict within me as he embraced Try and I both. And it was then there was a sharp jolt in my heart, his head was bleeding profusely and soaked onto my hair, and then my face. The Gazing Eye fell from my hand and I shook some. I couldn't move...this was his doing. I could hear all of our keyblades bounce and ping on top one another as Saebyeolbe held us both in his arms.

"...Why...why do you always...have to interfere...you idiot..!"

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I could only listen. One thing I remembered...as I'm sure Try would also remember, was Saebyeolbe's touch could disable all muscle motion, even ones necessary to speak. The two of us, were completely at the mercy of this resolute who used his own body to interrupt our battle to the death. I may have hated the situation. I may want so badly to kill Try, but this...I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want to hurt someone that I...both love and respect, to be in such critical condition as a result of my and Try's shared rage. In disbelief, the emotional pain inflicted on me as I inflicted suffering unto a friend.

There were flashes that flickered in my eyes. It was Try, it was only a moment...no, several moments, but I could see her. I could see her life...and it was far from wonderful, peaceful, or even lavish. Was this Saebyeolbe's doing? It was as I said before, it was only a moment, but I understood the storm and stress and the looming shadow, even...the donning of the helmet. This is who you were then, what shaped you into this person who spiraled outward then. This anger that festered with unrest within me, was being culled by the brash of reason my arrogant father instilled in me. My training, my guilt suffered with my mother's passing, all of these things it felt as though he knew, and they lead me to quell that very rage against here, at least for now.

My empathy had been misplaced.

All of this anger that I was feeling, this rage and wrath, I was quiet about it as Try looked on in turmoil. The unbearable pain she'd been battling up until this point, I started to understand it some. And as she spoke, it was unlike her, demonized by another. So I swallowed my pride and placed my anger to the side for the time being and assisted by casting a Regen spell over Sae as she too imbued him with Cure. The blow to his head, physically must've stopped, his wounds closed, and his breathing and heartbeat began to stabilize.

"Cowardice nearly cost a friend his life...no more..." I could hardly believe the words coming out of my mouth.

Who was I really back then? I've always been the frailest and weakest physically, even next to someone like Kambria and Jaz. Haughty, but it wasn't hard to tell that I'd been the most disciplined and composed. It was funny to take in to consideration that I was just hiding behind these things to cover the tracks of fear that I'd been experiencing. From the time I had woken up into this hell, I was alone, I was terrified at the responsibility was one that I'd have to take on by myself. Meeting Try first...I never even thanked her for the intervention that emboldened me further. Those moments where I defended Traverse Town to the bitter end, felt in vain and what did I go and do? I blamed her for it's fall, without once considering her intent, I was simply angry, I was simply consumed by my fear, and the gaping reality that I'd failed tremendously instead of sharing accountability...and instead end up blaming her. I suppose...it was easy to do to someone who...at the time, you knew nothing about and selfishly attacking their character seems inconsequential. It doesn't matter what the reason was, I was wrong to do it and I had to make it better a little bit at a time.

I'd joined Try, lifting my small frame up, I took by ponytails and severed them both. As my hair scattered behind me, I placed my arm on See's other side and chose to walk alongside Try, to carry him, her, and myself across the threshold without even making eye contact with Luxu. I walked up til the two of them crossed the light and I stopped. Number ten was the next to cross, til it was only myself, Eth, and Luxu that remained. My face had Saebyeolbe's blood and a kind of stark look was written all over me at that point. I'd thought about all of the pain I'd endured...and then I thought about everyone else and how they must've suffered just as I did. Tears were beginning to fill my eyes...I was selfish and spoiled, thinking it was all about me and my duty that I stopped showing compassion for everyone else...and here we are. I clutched the box and nodded to Eth as I was the next to step through the gateway, yes, even I the traitor stood to gain from this venture into the unknown.

"This is only the start...I'll make things right." I said before completely disappearing.

Ðari · Jul 29, 2020

There was a movement of the hands, the chest pieces on the board on the masters side began to thin...and thin, and thin. There was a loss of speech for but the briefest of moments. These blank pages of the book of prophecies began to fill themselves thus far, starting the 5th latest chapter.

Chapter 5
Here To Reclaim Our Fate

[audiofile#1]

The Master was quiet, this was a whirlwind of escalation, de-escalation, and the near death of yet another one of his trump cards. There was nothing easy about what he'd tasked them to do, they were beginning to actively defy all parameters of expectations. The Six Roles he'd assigned, had been fulfilled, even the additional task he'd given to Zero too, had been completed. This was an unprecedented affair, a role break as hey others had been completed, truly marvelous. Even he didn't know what Zero's play was in this instance, it was almost as if he'd come to understand something about their predicament.

"Luxu has lived for centuries. Assisting me as my proxy in these gambits. You're quite awful old man, do you know that? How many more of my apprentices, generation after generation need to move along this board for your amusement?" the master interjected raising his head to stare across the table.

"You know the conditions of our terms never change. You can never tell them of them of my existence. You can never occupy the field once the time limit has been initiated. And you cannot contact them during such time that the game is in progress. Breaking these qualify as forfeit Young Master." the figure spoke quite arrogantly.

"A winner just means this game will see continuity to be repeated indefinitely."

"And your next generation will serve as our toys yet again, cursed by fate. Don't act as though your hands aren't laced with the same filth mine are Young Master, you do so enjoy seeing them struggle in vain, each and every time. DON'T YOU? Pride."

"Don't call me that. Getting back to the matter at hand, the traitor is now in play. I believe it's time you issue the second wave thats more debilitating than infinite fodder-tier heartless and even world-enders...if it wasn't for that selfish wish the last traitor made...then these terrifying hybrids...wouldn't be about to shift the odds..."

"I'll be taking the empty vessels your pieces carelessly left behind and TURNING THEM AGAINST YOU!"

The board started to tremble and shake, some numbered pieces resonated. Old ones? A fascinating story was about to be unveiled. The Master in his hood looked down at the board intensely, the red piece was emanating, it was the traitor's piece, formerly #4. Lucrecia held the box in her possession, upon being granted the gazing eye they'd attain everything they needed to open it. It was on her shoulders, he had to take great care in this swing factor that could create a "Category 3" event, one beyond what the master and the unknown were capable of implementing.

"As heartless as always. Your hybrids are nothing but a byproduct of one of my traitor's failures...know this. This will definitely be our last Gambit. Trust." The master advanced the numberless piece forward on the board. "We play for keeps, til the very end."

The figure's silhouette of moving particles, formless, swayed and illuminated a pylon of ambient chaos. The black tiles of the game board flickered red and black flashing. The water of the floor and the sky that loomed behind the two, were moving into an era of darkness. The light faded, and the final phase of the gambit had been initiated. As the figure moved it's piece, there was a final message delivered.

"I don't know where this confidences stems from Young Master, but it's about time we crushed what hope you've imprinted on this youth. We'll finally rid the game of your meddlesome protege!"

"Zero will protect him. They're bound after all."

~~

Eth's expression was softened, filled with concern for his comrades as his arm extended. In a moment, his heart sunk into his stomach, almost feeling a brief passing of physical sickness, but it lasted but a moment. Saebyeolbe being the kind of person he was, used his own body to stop Try and Lucrecia from clawing into one another. Eth understood for Try's sake, but his comrade would actively move in such a way to defend the honor of one who spat in their master's face? What did Saebyeolbe see in Lucrecia that Eth was missing to warrant that kind of pain he'd suffer just to get them both to stop.

"You're a mad man Saebyeolbe!" Eth proclaimed as he shouted, but to his surprise the two women were...filled with REMORSE? Visible pain traced on the outline of their faces, the two of them, behaving radically different. Perhaps their memories that seemed to be forced out between Komaeda's resolve and the natural effect of the Gazing Eye, just maybe See's significance to them in the past had some saving grace here.

The look in Try's eyes told Eth, that she wasn't acting alone. Across from her, Lucrecia's inner monologue fueled by selfishness and wrath, seemed to unwind itself as she clutched him. He'd only known the traitor was never deserving of trust, but to assist a resolute when there was no obligation, when that person was to be labeled an ENEMY that their master attributed, but the most resolved perhaps of them all...treated them as a comrade?

Freya, his orb of light wafted around him releasing a "paaah" sound. His daughter in light form, prompted Eth to silence his logic from going wild.

"Daddy? The scarred man got hurt really bad. He hugged those fighting ladies. Why? Why is he crying? Daddy?"

His head jerked, Freya really was a link to his empathy he'd gotten so extremely talented at suppressing all this time. He patted the ball of light, his dearest Freya and communicated back on their shared link.

"He's a brave man, one that thinks very highly of those dear to him...thats why he had to stop them from fighting. Because it hurt him...to see them hurting, to see them try to hurt each other."

Eth observed, their ordeal and how those two rectified bringing unspeakable harm to the scarred, before they both walked side by side and carried him past him. He stared at Lucrecia as she lugged the box to the other side, those eyes, weren't crazed with malice. They were the eyes of a woman resolved to do whatever it took, but Eth didn't trust what that he didn't know...and he didn't know her plans. In the end, all of them had gone and it was only Luxu and Eth remaining.

"Luxu." Eth said aloud shifting his attention on the last one standing there. "What will you do now?"

Luxu scratched his head, and he shrugged. The first lie of many to follow, "Beats the hell out of me, maybe i'll just watch you all fail this time on the front row instead of a far."

"Stop lying to us. Your roles filled, your seriously gonna keep lying? I'm going to tell them everything I've learned...something I wanted Shiki to do instead of me, but I'm left with the task."

"Everything you know huh? That your little trick with that gateway, as if. What good would that do you anyway Ethy, we all know even if you guys by some miracle succeed you think she's gonna just agree to whatever? That damn traitor is always the uncontrollable element. You think anything you do now even matters now that the master's warning came to pass?? As if."

"No where in there did you say what you were going to do, I'm starting to worry about you...and how you don't look anything like you do in your memories. Vista."

".......so you saw that far into my past huh." Luxu purged the Ethernal into his hand. "Time traveling is some pretty serious business...you try scoring a body that can jump between timelines, it ain't easy. Especially...when they were Zero too."

There was a chill that surfed down Eth's spine. 'Another Zero? Another...me? Wait...don't tell me.'

Luxu removed his hood and his face was that of someone completely different from the first time they'd exchanged personally. Luxu didn't look the same, his face wasn't the same when they met and it changed in three years??

"Not all of your memories went untampered. The master hated your power the most out of everyone, you were dangerous and you needed to be reigned in. It was weaponized against your mother and the guilt you suffered was used to leash you into never dabbling with the power over memory until it was absolutely necessary. As for my face, I'm resolute #0, Untouchable...at least, thats who this body belonged to. It's Luxu, infinity, Continuum. I've survived a very long time and the only anomaly preventing me from surviving another timeline...is You. Eth. What you lack in time, I will strip from you when I take your resolve and your body for myself!"

It finally made sense. The real reason why Luxu wasn't affected by time magic, because he was using the body and resolve of a time magic user that could apparently move in between timelines. Continuum as explained by the master was a form of mimic that could be repeated infinitely. Even if the initial resolute has passed away, Luxu's resolve could emulate it at 100% potency long after they'd expired. If this Vista was a time traveler, it'd lead Eth to believe that Luxu came from a different time line entirely or from a different part of history...his memories suggested he was extremely well aged, seeing flashes of the old generation through his eyes. This prophecy that seemed to repeat itself in another generation trained by the master? He was on the cusp, but struck with grim thoughts.

"You killed Reyzel..."

"What kind of freak names a friggin machination of themselves? How much of an arrogant prick were you before all this shit started!? As if! Listen to me Ethy, I can travel through time, but I can't go backwards...but with your power, I can complete what this inferior resolute couldn't do. Come, won't you give your body to me, you owe me your li-" a hard piece of metal jammed through Luxu's frame. Blood. The object resembled that of a trident being held by a terrifying looking woman.

"LUXU!"

"Oh this simply won't do Vi, those resolutes took Trace away already. Fine...we can just kill these two." she said removing her trident from his chest.

Luxu laughed as he turned his head and spit into the one that ran him through's face. "As...if. Jotunn!"

A giant shadow emerged from Luxu and his back was turned to Eth. The woman took a large leap backward, with a bit of a pale expression, crippling with anger as she'd furiously wiped her face. The hole in his chest was beginning to seal and he'd been adjusting himself in preparation to commence in battle. Vistas body was that of a time user, similar to Eth, but with a couple of nuances they'd explore the hard way. Using time reversal, his wound was being "undone" and he released his Jotunn as the giant towering shadow that mimicked his every motion.

"Maybe it'll be different this time. Don't be stupid, stop making them wait for you, i'll wrap things up here."

"Luxu be reasonable here, those are hybrids. Their basically--" Eth was cut off as a force of wind blew him through the gateway which proceeded to close slowly behind. His eye traced familiar shapes before he'd been effectively cut off from Luxu.

"Well Master...I know you couldn't tell me everything, but its looking less and less like all or nothing this time. Well...at least I can smack these bastards around. Komaeda. Iontis. Yamato. Reforge. Hmph, looks like Jay and Shiki must still be alive somewhere...fortunate. Death...just means the window of success grows smaller and smaller. I'll be sure to deal with at least three of you, As if! That I can promise!"

The presence of darkness emanating them was of an indefinite spiral of negative energy. This was chaos. Unlike anything he'd ever experienced before, he couldn't escape this without jumping to the previous Zero's body. Perhaps he'd meet the others in the future after he'd made good on his promise. Those words raced through his mind.

"All's End...Infinite Eye." Luxu released a powerful blinding trance that captured them in a loop and locked them there. Every last one, and he stood raising his keyblade Ethernal as his projection had done the same. "Lust typically loves for a brief moment of time and never persists beyond that moment into the future. Here? I can love you idiots forever...As if..." he swung down and crushed them into the grassy plains.

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All Is Lost

[audiofile#2]

This wasn't your normal place, a stark cityscape of ashen gray and smoke colored clouds. The sun seemed to have been absent forever here as the rest seemed to just resonate "End of Existence." This world was "weird" to physical bodies. Upon entering, there was a dislodging of heart from body upon passing and consciousness, was faint and dwelling within the heart.

Body of Time [Complete]

A blue light flooded a wide fifty meter radius as Eth coated his allies in his protective light, similar to when he used this on Sae before sending him to Twilight Town when it was a harrowed end. Light would soon flood their eyes and their consciousness would return. Eth's resolve extended to actively protect all that entered, the traitor was no exception.

"What did I walk into you may be wondering. This...place is warning as much as it is a foreshadow if we chose to do nothing about the upcoming conflict. I brought you here...to share all of the information i've collected in complete discretion. Soon we will be facing adversaries that are greater in strength than the world enders...called hybrids. But...I can show you better than I can tell you." Eth released a sigh and his little orb of light too released a "paaah" sound. Freya was an invaluable outside manager for skills in memory restoration as well as tampering, rewriting, and suppression, even removal of such.

"It's better to see it through my eyes. Freya, show them." he'd professed as the orb floated to his left shoulder.

The landscape began to shift and change. It seemed like things were being re-created from an overview perspective. There was the dorms, there was the master's study and within there was Eth and the master. This was the content of his memory he'd had with the master, and very quickly you could understand that it was incomplete up until fairly recently. So he showed them what he was tasked to do by the master completely untampered.

A Window in Zero's Memories
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"Oi oi, please sit Eth. I've got to talk to you at length about something very important. Just the other day, I announced to you all in the dining hall that I would be approaching you one on one to discuss my departure. In truth, in the book of prophecies this is an undeniable truth that will come to pass. One day, I will disappear without warning and without reason, and the balance of the world will be left to you all. More importantly, I have six special tasks in mind for Luxu, You, Saebyeolbe, Shiki, Try, and Lucrecia and only you six. Your remaining comrades are merely to keep you on the course, they will have no such specific encumbering endeavors to carryout or overcome."

The master dropped his head, before he flipped through his notes.

"Luxu has been briefed of his role and I've already entrusted him with my Gazing Eye. When I found you originally, you'd yet to be chosen by the keyblade. This didn't bar me from my decision, Luxu provided you with his, rather...he's letting you borrow it. I've no doubt you'll one day discover your own, but lets get to the heart of what I want you to do. It isn't really my place to ask this of you...but the stakes will become grave in the near future. The worlds will be placed in a nigh irreversible state in which they are consumed by darkness, harrowed ends, brought about by titans known as World Enders. Darksides of colossal strength and power, a kind of pureblood heartless that is every bit as powerful as their names suggests. You need only to destroy them, and wa-lah, the world will revert back, but doing so is the challenging part. Currently, none of you lack the power necessary to even contend with a World Ender and destroying them will consequently release a much stronger and potent enemy. I only know this because of the prophecy that i've seen, so you will need to find a lost art, even I do not know where it is located, but it will allow you an edge over the World Enders and should be passed to your comrades in preparation for the more powerful threat that is to follow their defeats."

The master rolled back in his chair.

"This isn't easy to say, but theres unfortunately going to be a war within our ranks. My untimely departure is going to naturally create a divide, I've not even told Luxu about where fate will take me, and he is instructed to leave shortly after me. No matter what happens, you must contain the group until you no longer can. You've been blessed with power unrelated to the aspect of omni I've entrusted you with. The Power over Memories. When unrest hits it's climax and the darkness arrives, they will turn against you and all hope of any cooperation will be lost. So long as your role is incomplete, you are NOT to reveal the contents of our conversation, I know this is difficult and hard to ask of you, but if you defy my request, you will be marked as the traitor. Your memories, as well as your remaining comrades are to be wiped to point of very similar conversations like this one you and I are having. A soft reset will occur in the end of days and you'll unfortunately have to start all over again."

There was a shiver that rippled down Eth's spine.

"Master...am I really just supposed to accept that? Accept...that I will be hated? Accept their scorn--"

"You're untouchable for a reason. I needn't ask this responsibility of another resolute. Work hard to find the power necessary to topple the world enders, revert the harrowed ends, and wage war against the hybrids. And finally, my final request is this...trust the traitor in only one of two circumstances. The one that bares the gazing eye is one of two kinds of rebellion. A lightless bearer that abandons their aspect of omni for another resolve, simply known as Anima. None of you can fight Anima, it directly wards your individual aspects of Omni or resolves. The other potential incarnation of the traitor is known as The Dark Wielder, a denizen of the dark that abandons their resolve gives themselves to the encroaching darkness. This manner of traitor cannot be reasoned or allied with, in fact they'd soon align themselves with the hybrids, but they are capable of being defeated by your resolves. However, neither betrayer can utilize the power used to destroy a world ender, but teach it to your comrades that survive."

The master closed the book and tapped the cover. Eth had never seen the master this...intense before. He'd given him an alarming amount of information to process. Eth shook a bit, but his stark sense of solitude made him fitting of upholding such a task. The master was trusting him, he had to honor his request and show him that respect and resolve in kind. He bowed and accepted the magnitude of everything that he'd asked him and proceeded from there on out.

The memories dimmed from that room and shifted towards events that transpired afterward. Freya was beginning to put them all back, it was his responsibility after all. Naturally what would happen is two conflicting existences would collide. With the exception of Try and Lucrecia, aside from what he'd shown them, there was nothing to "put back" or "restore". Flashes of arguments, suspicion, and the darkness that each of them had embellished themselves in despairing over the loss of their benevolent Master of Masters. Blaming him, Eth, for withholding what he knew, but now they knew why he wasn't left with much of a choice in that regard. Their roles were now complete and this was the appropriate time to share with them the hallmark of all of his suffering both in the past, and even up until this point in time.

"Lucrecia" Eth said turning to her who was the only one present without the body of time's protection. She was the traitor among them, and despite the callings of what the master has asked, his resolve was clear. "Luxu mentioned before...that you were a lightless wielder as opposed to a dark wielder. This aligns with what our master has said of the two kind of traitors...and the one that can be trusted." he stared at the box from a ways away and then met her eyes head on.

"--But." the dusklanzer keyblade purged into his hand, and an incredible overflow of dark-light imbued around it. "As you saw...to obtain Anima, you forged another resolve. One selfish, making you a devotee to your own agendas, none that align with what our master stood for...and for that. I cannot trust you. In fact...Try aside, I'm the only one here that actively wants to eliminate you unless you can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt you have no ill-intent towards us."

There was a tough glare in Eth's eyes, he's never made this kind of expression before, even showing them their history. He was typically calm, he didn't waver, but he wasn't ever so serious to the point he put off a fear inducing presence like now. It was true what the master said about the traitor, the lightless wielder couldn't be harmed by their resolves, it made it that much more dangerous for Saebyeolbe to endanger himself and nearly getting killed trying to stop them. Her reaction was one he didn't expect, it was remorseful to be sure, but he needed to hear it from her.

"It's true our resolves don't have any effect, but as you can see..." he pointed to the images created by his power over memories, "My power over memories isn't at all related to my resolve. On a whim, why not make you a pawn and rewrite your experience to neutralize you now? Why not imbue the power of dark-light emitting from my keyblade and strike you while holding firm to my resolve in doing so? You broke my trust the moment you turned your back on what our master was trying to instill in us all. Even though it took me this long to finally find a way to fell the world enders and the hybrids, I just wasn't fast enough to get to you and now this. Choose your words carefully Lucrecia, but you can start by using this world as your canvas."

The memories that lit up the sky faded and he gave Lucrecia the floor to manipulate and tie-in the true nature of her heart to be shared with the group. There were no liars here, only judges. Everyone was completely free to think and decide for themselves, it was a great way to make allies, but in the same token a fast way to make enemies. No one could hide, and Eth's exposure was nothing but the truth, and he waited to see her truth before he'd make the active decision to cut her down.

Raising his finger he pointed his dusklanzer straight at her, "Show us why you turned." he said allowing the world to do the rest.

Deimos · Aug 10, 2020

It was a teaching as old as Sae could remember. The pain that he'd endured up until now, lead to this very moment.

(OOC: Everything in Italics can be seen by all PCs, just want to make that clear due to the nature of the world since we apparently can't hide our thoughts/feelings here, and everyone is exposed?)

"If you aren't prepared to bare the burden of another's darkness, then you'll never understand them"

Slipping into a low-state of consciousness, there was a shrill scream, closer than you'd think but it felt extremely distant to him. Mortem, in essence meant "death" and it was fitting he saw the image of his all-series under his closed eyes. It's massive hands sought to lift the broken body of Sae from the cold grip of darkness, and carry his heart away into the decaying depths of the dark world. There was a force that was driving within, a wild flare of darkness as Trace's red eyes gleamed with a heinous glow.

"You've seen everything, yet you've said nothing to him. Shiki as well, can you really live with yourself?"

Trace scoffed, spitting to the side. Anti-flared up as a formless mass of corroding darkness behind him, the possessor + invisible hybrid brandished a sword and roared loudly as his shriek filled the inside of Sae's mind. Nearly blind, his hearing dulled and all parts of him fatigued, this image of Saebyeolbe was by far one of the sorriest anyone could see him in. Drenched in blood, immobile, a broken rib and a massive bloody gash to the head.

"That guy seems like a real high and mighty type if you ask me. Nothing will change this hatred for him or Shiki. I don't care their significance to you or anyone else here. This is a hatred without limit, one that evolves in the same fashion you evolve Scarred. Fitting I ended up in this body, the infinitely evolving resolve mete by an indefinite hatred for humanity."

Trace brought something out of the darkness, it looked like a massive cross of some sort. Carrying it on his back, and heading towards Mortem as it held Sae in it's arms. Not one for prolonged stays, he tapped the All Series on the arm and said one thing.

"Once you turn to darkness, you can never go backwards, it becomes apart of who you are...but you knew that even before meeting me huh? I can only imagine how not being able to save the one ate away at your very soul, so much that you slaughtered countless after and called it 'Justice'...so we're not that different Saebyeolbe. We're just two sides of the same coin...humanity betrayed me, and the adversity you face lead you to dark destinations and foes and even feelings associated. Well, It's not like I care what you do...but my comrades are growing restless now...and I'm resting control from you so I can go meet them."

This was defeat, fatigue, stressed, compounded pressure of too many things to count. The youth's very spirit had gone into a state of unconsciousness, he didn't even move, he couldn't. His all-series in the dreamscape of his heart, was holding his broken frame in it's arms. Darkness that Trace emitted, was hyper-concentrated, pure, and associated with raw negative emotion not seen since the time of Unversed.

"Sleep Saebyeolbe. I'll slaughter them all as payment for how you've suffered for their sakes. I'll spill their blood and drag their entrails through the mud they buried your kindness in. I'll show them the pinnacle of negative emotion and pure hatred. How does everything end? You all die, THAT is how you properly end it!"

Sae's body jerked. Pain from every orifice that'd been split open from where he he was struck, some of these wounds, healed. His body trembled and he shook, he could feel everything...the fear of death. The burning light from his right shoulder radiated with the "I" struck through with a slash. He was beginning to remember a great number of things now, some terrible things from the past.

Here he felt exposed, more so than normal. His hatred and path that was filled with blood, scars, and vengeance as the Dark Wielder slaughtered his home and at the cost of his friend Allison covering him with her own body, miraculously her survived. She'd been burned forever into his memories, as well as his flesh. There was no possible chance of a reincarnation into heartless, nobody, nothing of the sort, just pure incineration. That rage welled within him for many years and her pursued that path until he became strong enough to deal with the dark wielder on his own. But Eth...essentially said, this iteration would mean a traitor...? That very man from his past had been running amok for some time before he'd effectively put an end to his reign.

The highlight of Eth's lies were also in Saebyeolbe's focus. The resolute had equal devotion to the master so much so their past relationship soured as he questioned Zero's resolve for the master, when asking of him incessantly. His eyes narrowed, his brows furrowed, he grit his teeth before completely closing his eyes. Utter shame. He'd disgraced himself in the past, he challenged Eth's resolve, and saw humiliation proper for his course of action. All things visibly being projected from him in this space that Eth created. It felt like privacy didn't exist here, and so they were free to judge one another.

"Thank you. Try, Recia, and you as well Eth. Stopping your conflict was the right call...but I'm afraid i've been harboring the enemy this entire time. We will fight eventually...I noticed Jay and I were being tailed in the realm of darkness, but I didn't think he would be the reason..." Sae was serious, there were no lies in this world correct? "All I could think about before...was stopping you two from hurting each other...all of my actions have been in the interest of meeting the master's request of pursuing peace...I see that running from the human heart and hybrid that I harbor now...it's something that must be faced head on."

This was the very definition of resolve.

"I won't let all the pain i've endured up until this moment, be in vain...for Allison, for everyone...for myself." Sae purged his alabaster into his palm and spun it around in the same fashion that Try did only moments before, a scar broke away and his keyblade shifted in form with a sharp end. "Double...release!"

He ran the keyblade through his chest, effective immediately splitting what looked like the remains of a quickly forming mass of flesh. Darkness flushed from the mass as it started to take shape with flesh, blood, and bone until it formed the mass of a man. Slagging about with a darkness, malice, and bloodlust that could be seen, felt, and tasted. It loomed about the room and Sae reeled his arm back to take battle stance.

"Hmph." Trace turned his head and they burned with a massive amount of hatred towards Eth, scanning about looking for Shiki, but she was nowhere to be found. "Looks like I won't be able to kill you both for putting me through hell, but somehow i'll make due."

Trace turned to Saebyeolbe, he had an uneasy look on his face, and despite the thickly layered veil that'd drive the normal human mad, there was a soft spot for Saebyeolbe. "The time will come when we have to kill each other Saebyeolbe...but that day isn't today." The hybrid seemed to have been protected from the world's effects by the body of time, which is what even enabled it to speak unhindered. It slowly faded out into a transparent vanish, before disappearing completely.

The pressure that filled the space alleviated upon it's full removal of Trace and Sae collapsed, releasing his breath. There was a steady pacing of anxiety that filled him when he saw Trace, more potent, stronger, vs his dramatically beaten to hell physical, he couldn't think to challenge a resurrected hybrid...not in the sorry state he was in. He turned to Lucrecia, who'd yet to speak, but if she had anything worth hiding now as the time to fess up.

purgatory · Sep 9, 2020

I said before, that I'd remembered everything didn't I?

You were never like this, not even close. Until the very end of our time as apprentices, that toxic self-preservation complex you had put you at a massive disadvantage among us. I didn't like you. I didn't respect you. You talked in such a way that really irritated me, your honesty irritated me...because you lacked tact, emotional sensitivity...and I projected this image on to you without ever talking to you directly, because you never wanted that. Did you...Eth?

"Theres really no point to hiding how I really feel is there?" I said with a brief sigh

Images of Traverse Town flickered across the plane, I remembered every agonizing detail, struggling, and fighting without pause. Try's attempt to close the world ended up condemning it, and before I could get swallowed by the darkness, I fled terrified. Each observation, even when she went berserk, were all visual indications of my heightened stress. I could feel my sanity slipping as Luxu accused me of failing, the volatility of Try's mental state, all of it pushed me away from "resolve".

"...You weren't the most supportive resolute either Eth...I remember a lot of the things you said fairly well. That air about you that breathed condescension, you talked to us without ever really engaging with us...that toxic self-preservation is something...maybe tied to what we had to do and why we were pressed in the way we were...but I had Jay/Jaz, so it was tolerable."

There were these terrible flashes I was beginning to see slowly and paint pictures more clearly. Eth's stoic and tone-deaf speaking, the sound of Shiki's hand gliding past him to never reach his cheek, and Try's snarky comments as Sae only scratched his head before shaking it. My fist was trembling too, once I could feel the release of Anima I began to understand what my true role was. Much like the resolutes that didn't possess a role...I actually felt like I had a choice, and here I wouldn't squander it.

"This box." I turned my head briefly, "I don't know whats in it, but the master's successor was given it, and that successors instructions were to place he box in the capable hands of the traitor, be them dark wielder or lightless wielder. Depending on the wielder the box is passed to, it's contents vary significantly. I have a feeling none of you are prepared for one thing you've distanced yourselves from this entire time..."

It wasn't something that I could put into words, but it seemed pretty clear to me. I'd always suspected us at some point as being ingenuine...were we really doing the right thing this entire time. It used to cross my mind from time to time, I had stressed out and lost it in the final moments before I couldn't remember anything else. Shiki was there, we were in the realm of darkness, and I saw how being there...affected her differently juxtapositoned to the rest of us...it made me want to vomit. There was only a flash of light and then...well you know the rest regarding Traverse Town. Honestly though...I feel like the master wanted more from us than obedience, never showing us sadness of any kind...doesn't it lead you to believe he's been crying out to us this entire time in his own way? Resolve...something to keep us tunnel visioning and running forward while our master, in s similar vain with Eth yet in stark contrast, we never knew him on a deeper level.

"It belongs to the master. I want to open it for him, but I wont do that until the hybrids have been dealt with."

My eyes glanced over to Kambria, for some reason all I was seeing from her was a cloud or bubble with...cat ears? Wait what?? It was putting a strain on my curiosity why she always wore a hat even in the bath, same with Luxu never taking off his hood...weirdos.

"I was angry with you Try...infuriated. Even if I knew your role...I never understood your haphazard actions. They just made me more upset and stressed out, and you didn't appear to be in a position to be reasoned with and I couldn't confront you and all the negative emotions I had towards you. It got to a point where I wanted nothing more than to hurt you until you finally stopped...and that animosity lingered until it grew out of control mixed with everything around me failing...and thats why I gave up hope." I released a breath before I resumed.

" I didn't want the stress...the responsibility felt more like a burden so great it was meant to push until finally I cracked...I was humiliated...embarrassed...furious...but most of all at least that facade I put on finally got destroyed with my resolve...that stupid ego...I was glad to be rid of it."

I stood there in a well of pure red, it was thick and convulsing like blood from a heartbeat. Flowing around me as my white eyes were saturated with this marvelous hue. I looked to the box, before sitting on it holding the Gazing Eye in my hand and resting the eye on my other palm so both hands were on this breath-taking key. There were no lies here, only the truth yes? Then if that were the case, with anima, I had no reason to fear their resolve...to fear the master for that matter...I thought of him and the things he said. He was immortal...at least thats what he said, and his wish...what was it again? He locked it in that box.

"I'm here to grant the master's wish. The betrayer of his will...it's what he foresaw isn't it? Do you still think ill of me Eth? I'd rather we not fi-"

My skin trembled as I could see it clear as day. I'd been talking, but the intensity seemed to ramp up over time, and suprisingly...it was coming from him, the more I talked, the more incomprehensible it actualized. I didn't mean to press a nerve in some way, yet I managed to do it.

"Whoa...did I say something?" I turned slowly raising the keyblade and sliding the box back.

Piercing Light · Sep 22, 2020

Try's eyes had changed ever since she extracted the dark from her heart. They had become a calming verdant green, and pulsed with a faint glow. She looked between the three with her. "And here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to pull something like that." She said to Saebyeolbe. "Though I guess that's to be expected of someone willing to put his head in the way of my blade." She let out a sigh and looked to Lucrecia. "Eth, could ya maybe not? Tell you what, I'll watch shorty here, if she pulls anything then I'll deal with her, alright?" She turned to Lucrecia and leaned down to be eye level with her.

"That's alright with you, isn't it?" She smiled, feeling as though it was a long time since she last did so genuinely. She looked back to Eth and placed her hands on her hips. "Honestly, didn't your mother teach you not to bully girls?"

Ðari · Sep 27, 2020

He's been alone this entire time, but he's never been an enemy of the master or his fellow resolutes. His actions have been cold, centered in the most reasonable application and execution. Pragmatic, attempting to keep from being too winded, it was all he knew. Eth knew only isolation, routine, dissection of pattern and logic in the absence of "I" but also in the complete and utter absence of empathy. The ability to relate to anyone was far more complicated to him than any of them could ever imagine.

It was a struggle that couldn't be concealed once she said it.

"...You weren't the most supportive resolute either Eth...I remember a lot of the things you said fairly well. That air about you that breathed condescension, you talked to us without ever really engaging with us...that toxic self-preservation is something...maybe tied to what we had to do and why we were pressed in the way we were...but I had Jay/Jaz, so it was tolerable."

He held it in. Condescension...? He only ever spoke normal and to the point, is this...what she really thought? They each expressed different intervals of dissatisfaction in the past, but he'd never spared them with intentional deceit, only when he was ordered did he do exactly that. Ultimately, Lucrecia was right, he didn't know any of them...let alone did he provide them agency to truly connect outside of this position as comrades.

This behavior was strange, it was nuanced to him, Lucrecia that he came to know over the years did NOT at all articulate herself like this to him, or anyone...or...maybe when she wasn't in front of him she was a completely different person? He didn't know. He didn't know anything. What you don't know, you could never understand. This was the problem, this was what separated him from the rest of them, because this sense of obligation to the master, to the cause, to everything he'd inherited had long since overrode whatever they were to him...whatever they felt...was secondary...tertiary even and he never questioned this.

She prattled, and he was welling up inside. Eth didn't understand. He didn't understand anything that she was saying. Logically processing this concept that he was this way, that she hid her feelings in earnest from Try, that she stepped out of character because of those seeded feelings...but what were...feelings? Hate? What the hell was she talking about? Eth didn't understand anything and it was vexing him to the point of utter confusion and frustration.

" I didn't want the stress...the responsibility felt more like a burden so great it was meant to push until finally I cracked...I was humiliated...embarrassed...furious...but most of all at least that facade I put on finally got destroyed with my resolve...that stupid ego...I was glad to be rid of it."

Exasperation seemed to be riddled all over his face. Eth was experiencing his first true interaction since the complete alienation from his mother at the hand of his memory powers awakening to overwriting her own. He rewound what he said about overwriting her memories, he didn't find anything wrong in what he said so effortlessly...but thats problematic? How? How could he even begin to understand what was wrong with that...this was just something untouchable never really had to worry about. The burden of not feeling the weight of every burden and acting in a realm isolated completely from stress, emotion, and ego, only a blind dedication to the cause and resolving to it at an incalculable level. His merits thus far, have been fruitful and here...as he's always been...

"Paaaaaaaaah" the sound of the light orb, his daughter Freya was wafting around him. Emotions huh...then perhaps Eth had some inkling of them. He'd remembered his tears when he saw her for what felt like something was missing from him. He'd hidden everything from them, every flaw, every misstep, every aspect that'd make him appear human...but this was the time. It was only through hurting, struggling, and relentless trying that he could come to understand them, but she just kept talking and he finally snapped.

"I'm here to grant the master's wish. The betrayer of his will...it's what he foresaw isn't it? Do you still think ill of me Eth? I'd rather we not fi-...Whoa!...Did I say something?"

He started breathing heavier than usual, he was reaching his limit, this was the biggest challenge personally for him. He'd given everyone a platform to be honest, to show him the real thing, and he needed to acknowledge them and pay them that same respect in kind. Saebyeolbe's harboring of Trace, Try's turnaround recovery from the dark passenger she'd harbored, and Lucrecia's intermittent stress from the role and largely leading them on with a false appearance of her image, and revealing her rejection and disdain for him.

Try had insisted she would handle Lucrecia if she stepped out of turn. The only thing that she didn't speak about, was a comment that Luxu made when introducing her...that he understood clear as day. His core started to radiate a bright light and the expanse that went on forever was almost instantaneously filled with swords of light.

"I've heard enough from everyone..." Eth released a breath, he clutched his left arm trembling, almost as if he wanted to vomit. "This is extremely hard for me, so I'm going to try my best. I don't understand...really anything that any of you have said. I...don't really know how to process it, but I'm surprised by some of your...true feelings? Harboring others hearts...dark passengers...and even lies."

He laughed a bit, first time in decades did he ever laugh, but this was genuine, it belonged to him and he owned every second. To think...was probably something he shouldn't do right now, Freya was a part of him, and he has some form of emotional connection to Freya. This concept could be shared and manifested with them, and thats all he had to work with.

"I'm angry that we're even here in this situation. I absolutely am abhorred by how things have been played out in the past three years. A master that I swear even to this day my complete and total oneness gave me a responsibility to and an ample amount of challenges that I had no choice but to overcome flawlessly and to maintain that image even if there were mistakes made along the way. The constant pressure of perfection. The constant eyes of my comrades watching me, judging my actions, consorting about the kind of person I am because I chose only to act in the interest of the master rather than trivialize my personal ego, and I have never lied about my motives or actions, everything is and always has been per our master and per our resolves, I have never ONCE EVER done anything for myself while in service of the master and the resolutes."

There was a violent shaking accompanied with his speech. This was completely out of character for him, his voice was cracking, struggling and flustered to convey a point for the first time.

"I did and said the things I said serving the purpose to further my master's will, ambition, and legacy even upon his absence, and I repeat, nothing was ever done for my personal gain or advancement, that is to the extreme that I have always resolved and why I made that clear many times in the past that made us leagues apart. I will never revoke these statements...but if I appeared tone deaf and unsympathetic...I genuinely do not know how to say it differently. To say...that I "care" about you all seems disingenuous but it seems more accurate to say that I value you all differently for the different perspectives and character and skillsets and experiences you all have shared in our time together. But...even now I've dramatically missed the mark and come up short..."

He sighed and tried to pace himself, blushing a very small iota of red.

"I don't understand any of you. I don't know what your struggles, your thoughts and feelings, or even what your sense of oneness looks like. One of the things that I didn't particularly struggle with, came in the form of dismissing your more in depth sense of identities...because to me you just looked like people I worked with with name tags at a job that I'd just see tomorrow or possibly not. We were soldiers being trained for a war well beyond our comprehension and my mind was always only ever on the mission at hand, and apart of that mission was to protect you as an order, so I did. I've slaughtered many heartless, rescued each and every one of you multiple times, I didn't look for thanks I was simply performing a function asked of me by my master, you were all too valuable to let die or get seriously hurt-"

"Shut up! Oh my god, SHUT UP ETH!"

The was a spark in his eye that flickered as he turned his head to the right and saw Kambria raise her head as her fist coiled. She was sobbing, he could visibly see tears that formed, it was like watching Saebyeolbe throw himself in between Try and Lucrecia earlier, the impact felt so out of context, he didn't know why he did that, it just looked completely foolish, not brave or heroic, it looked like he was basically throwing his life away for no apparent reason. Now...now with her crying, his offensive language in his communication, what did he say to make her so upset?

[audiofile]

Closing his eyes he sighed deep.

"Kambria...you helped me manifest Freya with your resolve. A physical construct of my memory talents, she always looked to you as her mother. Walk me through this, I'm desperately trying to understand...why are you upset?"

"Your basically saying we are only important because the master said we were important! Its like you don't accept ANY accountability or ownership at all over yourself, and justify everything you do and say because the master told you to do it! Did you really see no meaning to bonding with us on a personal level, for more selfish reasons? WHO ARE YOU ETH!?"

It struck a nerve, and he fell silent. He knew the answer to that, he didn't really possess one outside of his name, his resolve, and his commitment that he made. Eth was contracted just like the rest of them, but that was his life, his contract...his resolve...was him. He was untouchable, and no matter how much they reached, and reached...they'd never reach him...unless he gave them permission to. He was beside himself, what did he truly think of them outside of his duty?

Tears started to trickle down his face.

"You think this is easy...?" he said as the flow from before had finally billowed over. "What would any of you know or understand of what I've had to do for my entire life. Maintaining a commitment, preserving lives, remaining isolated when you've had interesting conversations but I couldn't break my promise or resolve. Do you know how much that hurts? Do you have any idea how agonizing that is to have people in reach, but it is your job to remain at a distance? You think that all of that, even to maintain it was just simple? It was so difficult, it hurt, but none of you saw it because I never allowed you to! All i've ever tried to do is protect every last one of you, but I never wanted to rely on you because I was told I couldn't. So the weight of that responsibility, the burden I have had to carry, is more than anything any of you could understand. To be denied the right to suffer loss, to experience failure, to connect with others, to walk a life that is not perfect but live in this delusion you are separated even while in the presence of others you so desperately want a connection with. WHAT WOULD ANY OF YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT!!! Reaching for whats right in front of you and NEVER being able to grasp it, because you've given your life to resolve! Because connection is the gravest sin you could commit and mark you as a traitor!"

He was emitting an extremely powerful and potent light that filled his body and resonated. His breathing became erratic and his body language was trembling uncontrollably. This was the stress, the burden he had been suppressing for his entire career in service to the master. How he wanted so badly for it to end, for his contract to be null so he could finally rest. This facade...it wasn't who he was, but he was so engaged and engrossed in the concept of his own resolve, he perpetuated that image this entire time while suffering all along, more than anyone even realized.

There was a firm press to him, he'd been embraced by Kambria. His eyes widened, he felt extremely uncomfortable warmth coming from her clutching onto him. In a panic even, he was shaking, and then she started to talk to him in what he could gather was a tone meant to soothe.

"Isn't that why we're here? To lean on each other when we need to, because the common ground we all shared is that we're our masters resolutes. He never said we couldn't be more to each other than that you goof. Friends, comrades, foils, even family. You leaned on me, I'm sure you've had meaningful interactions that you just forgot about...we probably did too because so much our history was a cold version of you, but I didn't forget."

Was he really just asking them, not as resolutes, but as friends...to help him? There was a brief push away as he broke Kambria's hold on him, and his eyes passed to everyone individually. Try's, Saebyeolbe's, Kambria's, and finally Lucrecia's. She still didn't answer Luxu's assertion, that Eth's hand was needed in opening he box, a detail that just seemed to important to leave out of the conversation. He didn't press the issue anymore, since the first tear shed for Freya, his list of "out-of-character" imperfections that were leading him to this moment.

"I just want to be freed from this role and live on my terms...I've always deeply valued our masters input, but I took everything he's ever said and done for me to the utmost extreme. I got carried away...I created an unacceptable and unrealistic image of myself in front of you all. For that, I am genuinely and deeply sorry. When it really came down to it...I rejected your tenderness, because it didn't fit the world our master had envisioned and my loyalty to him...was stronger than my personal feelings and independent behavior towards you all. Well heres what I really think."

There was an image of himself as a six year old child, his mother declaring she had no recollection of having birthed a son. Breaking away from him in a crowd and the master walking shortly after and offering him a place. The young crying Eth, was greeted with a cheerful voice and offered a purpose. Told to promise to live for his master and to conduct his will to the very end and it would shape on his terms long after he'd vanished. His fear of abandonment was realized, his fear of isolation was validated in his actions, and he preserved his image of perfection as away to distance himself from that feeling of isolation and how he truly wanted connection above anything else.

"Just one chance Lucrecia. Saebybeolbe seemed to fight so hard for you two to not be at each other's throats. Seems...appropriate to call that comraderie or even friendship. Thats something that I want too, with all of you actually. I guess what I'm saying is...I want to be connected to you all...as friends...as family as well. Through agonizing...struggling...trying to understand you all better because currently I need help in doing that, and I'm prepared to put my biases and preconceptions to the side and learn and understand you all better.."

Eth could feel it in his bones, it was undeniable, this was completely new to him. He actually smiled, one of the most difficult tasks for him, but you could tell that it was completely sincere. He extended his hand to Lucrecia, and the small orb of light, Freya surfed around it before standing next to him, a little under three feet tall. His daughter, his companion that was a manifestation of his power to restore memories brought to life by Kambria.

"This is Freya everyone."

purgatory · Oct 11, 2020

I don't say, think or feel things this often, but this was unique. The way he talked, his visible expression and intensity, he was really trying wasn't he? This abusive indifference he'd put us all through doesn't just get excused because of some foolhardy obligation. Yet I was hesitant to tell him this, I was hesitant to even judge him given the collective of my memories. How many times to did Eth save us from dire peril? Truthfully, I've lost count and while I was gracious, why was his speech so...debilitating...

"Because you're weak."

"Be stronger next time."

"You're tasked to defend the worlds, you will not always have aid. Brace that reality and become stronger."

"Steel your resolve."

Do you truly believe a resolute wants to hear this repeatedly? My feelings were set ablaze, I hated that responsibility. What was my place other than feeling safe, even with my military background, with my resolve in place that thought of Vivrianne every waking second. Our father's otherworldly strictness, pushing her to the point of abandoning us and our home. And all that stress, attention, and expectation was shifted to me and I didn't want any of it. The master helped me in a way, once I detached from my family and abandoned my maiden name, I was only Lucrecia. I followed him because I was grateful for refuge, and even though that seemed like the play...its amazing to feel the past catch up to me. To think that I too would abandon the master, as I had with my family before.

He was crying now, i shifted my attention to Kambria as she strummed past me. She validated a more personal involvement with Eth, this wasn't something I don't think any of us were even aware of. I was too distracted by her cat ears sifting around on her head as she yelled at him, provoking these emotions he'd been concealing this entire time. Finally. Finally you get what we were all dealing with Eth, don't get me wrong I know you were carrying the masters expectations as we all were, but I didn't even realize how vastly disproportionate that level of stress you were under this entire time. You weren't as selfish as I took you for, you weren't that pompous jerk who had no personality and was just married to a code, a principle, a duty and most importantly a resolve of unwavering loyalty that was only rivaled by Saebyeolbe, Shiki, and Komaeda in highlight of their individual wishy-washy sense of devotion.

I'll admit it. I respected Sae more than any of them, Komaeda was crazy and intense at times. Shiki was pragmatic, but went the extra mile for you to really show she cared. I did the same for them, I don't regret any of these actions, and I truly do love and respect those two the most strictly when we're talking about resolve while maintaining some level of humanity. But Eth...did you know about the box...or the master's wish to open it? Your need to even make that possible, I may have the keyblade, but I don't have the pure light needed to open it, only the Zero numbered resolute has that. To that, you can't die...

Not yet anyway.

I strummed over and I leaned down and placed my head on the girl named Freya's head and gave her a soft pat. I was amazed, from a touch anima told me she wasn't connected to omni in anyway. I couldn't deconstruct her with a touch, but I could feel a warmth, resonating from this child that reminded me of...Vi. A warmth that quickly heated into a wild fit of wrathful anger that reminded me of my abandonment and left to endure our father alone. When i threw myself into that fit of rage before...when I wanted Try to die, was I really just trying to push myself to be prepared to do that to someone who may not even be around anymore...? I'd never thought about it until then.

"You're beautiful" I said her as I offered a soft smile. I meant it you know, Eth's child...a visual container of his affections, untouchable could be shattered instantaneously. Anima did well to mask my thoughts this entire time, only when I spoke did it communicate what I was "feeling" as the evidenced truthful narrative, I noticed that almost immediately.

Removing my hand, red petals collected behind and this aura that Anima had emitted became something like a red scarf, I was mirroring Eth now, but it was thick enough to cover my head. I smiled at Freya and I looked up at Eth, there was a flicker in his eyes that didn't exist until now, first that I'd seen, was there life inhabiting these eyes now? No longer having to hide his desire to "belong" in truth...we were all misfits. Alongside that truth, several of us have lost our lives in pursuit of completing these simple tasks. Now all I could think about was what was in this box that was so important to the master...that he'd go so far as to create me.

The Traitor. The Anima, The Antithesis of Omni.

I could feel the power starting to take hold, and my hand was moving on it's own. I noticed it a bit late, and as my eyes turned red, thats all I saw.

"Saebyeolbe." I said his name as an assertion of my respect. "You said you would eliminate anyone that was a threat to the master, yet you stopped Try from completing her role. Peace? You don't get to stop other people's decisions just because that is your resolve. You don't get to just ignore your job just because we're comrades either. Hard decisions like these are what you've made all the time right?"

Two pronged red blades punched through Kambria and Freya simultaneously, and they died instantly. As Anima shredded Kambria's resolve and abolished it inside of Gazing Eye, i'd effectively contained it.

"Trust was NEVER Resolute. Luxu said it didn't he?" I was irritated, battling the bereaved emotion associated with Kambria, but one of those hard decisions we had to make right?

"Only listen to the master's wish, resolutes. He has longed wished for the lightless wielder to deliver him from his immortality, he wishes...for death. I don't care if the hybrids destroy everything and rule. This cycle will just repeat itself if we're all still standing and our master has to keep agonizing indefinitely! WE ARE WHY HE SUFFERS!"

I watched as Eth was paralyzed, frozen not only in time, but in his burgeoning emotions, completely overwhelmed to the point of shock and that was fine by me. Saebyeolbe on the otherhand, I'd only ever seen his demonic nature one time, and I wasn't exactly prepared to see it now. I took no joy in killing Eth's daughter nor Kambria, my comrade, but eventually omni had to become irredeemable, and Anima had the power to do it. This is the master's wish.

13 dead resolutes or The Death of Omni.

"I hope you're ready to absorb this responsibility Try. Once Sae goes berserk I don't even think you can stop him...better think of what you're going to do fast because here he comes! THATS RIGHT SAE. TRY IS HELPING ME!!!"

I tucked my keyblade under and became a blazed in the red flames of the anima, before taking a massive leap back that broke sound. This was space was a perfect warzone, only more blood would soon follow.

Deimos · Oct 18, 2020

Sae's muscles were shot, his tendons and nerves were taxed, and the regen he'd cast long before he crossed the divide had worn. He'd suffered a hemorrhaging blow to the head from Try, a fine hit to the torso from Lucrecia, and the heart of the hybrid resurfaced and reformed merely minutes ago. His mind was pumped full of memories, oddly colliding with the version of himself that existed now. A cluster of information caked on, layer after layer, but he endured.

Through a calming exercise

he'd learned from Allison all those years ago, he closed his eyes and breathed. He focused on on Lucrecia's voice for the time being. There was something disingenuous about and he couldn't quite place his finger on it. It was inciting bodily irritation in Eth as his eye were darting in between the two of them. The tension was high, Eth seemed confused by the things she was saying about him. It was all true unfortunately, he's had a rough time himself talking to and interacting with Eth in the past. Peeling through all the memories like pages, he was always extremely professional and it never felt like his heart and soul existed in their conversations, his resolve just seemed to be greater from a more neutral position.

They were all treated equally, the same, but the common thing was none of them felt really connected. Sae had only knew that Eth was powerful, and he did do a lot of cleaning up behind them in some of their worst situations. The vibe he put out, Lucrecia was on target about...but this was the past, what did this have to do with whats happening right now? The Scarred could see those conflicting memories of his, but they just didn't hold as much weight at the moment given the hybrids were now all collapsing on Luxu who was likely fighting them by himself at the present moment.

He was uneasy, his muscles were shaking from the stress of battle. Having watch Untouchable break into tears was among one of the more honest and truer gut reactions he'd had since back in his angry youth. Zero? Crying?? What the hell was he even witnessing right now, but his body language, his word choice were far from stiff, firm, orderly. He was struggling, in pain, and pushing himself through all of this discomfort just to say he hated his position and how much it isolated him from the rest. Sae was in complete and utter awe, it was remarkable, but on some level he felt that distance had a reason, but the place it came from...it was as if he said to himself it was impossible for him to deviate from his path, that choice was just an illusion.

Resolve was the solution...but it was also the problem? Loyalty to the master was the solution...but it was also the problem...? No that couldn't be the right train of thought, Sae's loyalty, like Zero's was a hallmark of his identity and a true testament to his character. He could relate to Eth on this level, but the stress of searching for peace...lead to him not being restricted in terms of the decisions he made in order to obtain it. He was so much more liberated in his actions, his choices, his feelings, and his thoughts and he'd truly never noticed this. Sae wasn't prepared for this, he couldn't stop himself from brandishing tears of his own, watching as someone even if not directly to Eth, he called his friend was hurting to such an extent. It moved him, reflecting on an older conversation he'd had with the master in the very beginning of his independent training.

"The beauty of your resolve Sae isn't in using your body in service as others, to be mutilated in order to gain greater strength. Far from it. The power comes from never being able to forget very intimately the suffering you felt so other didn't have to. You can never eliminate everyone's pain, but the emotional scars...never fade from memory, even when those memories are taken. That is what makes you and your resolve very unique."

A flash. As Eth had just brought his child forward and Kambria stood in close proximity. It took only a second, he'd lost himself in his memory until he could feel, smell, and taste blood fly across the white expanse. Pupils dilating to the point they were almost completely gone. He stood in horror shaking even more on top of his muscle fatigue and Lucrecia turned to look at him. It was her, it was the traitor their master said according to Eth that they "could trust" and in their most vulnerable moments she'd shattered three lives, two effectively ending in the blink of an eye. As Sae watched red blades carve through the two, the ground was starting to shake, from him outward as tears flooded from both of his eyes. He could barely see it, but Eth's were the same, as if two sleeping giants where about to emerge simultaneously, and everyone still breathing would be in for a rude awakening.

"........." Sae didn't really have much to say, he was losing himself to his rage, shock, and other feelings burgeoning all at the same time.

"...I'm sorry...everyone...I really am..." he apologized before he reached from the shoulder with his tattoo. "Berserker."

Sae's muscles were pulling and tightening. In one fell swoop, every possible scar on his physical body released all at the sametime that he'd collected over years of being a resolute. His body was naked, but pure obsidian color, with cracks of white where the scars used to be all over his body. The gravity in his general vicinity intensified and compressed, cracks of lightning trickled around him, and imperfections started to form in the ground as the sheer amount of power and pressure he was putting out was gradually expanding at a controlled rate.

Watching as Lucrecia fled by jumping away, but this dimension didn't have any exits without Eth's assistance so he'd deal her momentarily. He took a step, sound absolutely collapsed around him, shattering 15 times (machx15) when he reached eth in that flit of a second, ice was dwindling on his shoulders shattering instantly from using himself to cast fire. He leaned down, Freya was dissolving and returning to Eth's body, where as Kambria lay there lifeless and cold. Resting his hand on her head, he moved her eyelids closed. Before looking to Eth who was completely hollow, and pale in the face, he attempted to touch him but the horrors that occupied him were so great he hand jerked back off pure reflex from danger.

Sae stood up and looked directly to Try.

"Try...I'm going to fight Lucrecia with everything in my power and I am going to end her life. If you feel you need to interfere and stop me or end it yourself, I won't stand down because I am taking ownership of dealing with her. I ask that you don't interfere, please...but if you do..."

Sae released a breath.

"Thy Kingdom Come." Sae's tattoo resonated and released the restriction on inter-resolute conflict. "...the masters sanction that allows two resolutes to fight each other without breaking taboo. Recia is no longer one of us, but you and I still are. If I hear you say those words now free of your role, then I know you and I are bound for a battle just like on our first meeting."

Sae had turned his back away from both Try and Eth and started to walk towards the red light of anima where he'd fight Lucrecia to the death.

Trust is [NOT] Resolute

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