this chaos, this calamity

[rosestolilies]

Characters: The Queen of Hearts (rosestolilies) and any PCs who come after her.
Date: Starting Thursday, March 24th and continuing until Tuesday, March 29th.
Summary: The Queen is trapped in the Labyrinth, along with her promises of home. What's to be done but go and find her?
Warnings: Creepiness tailored to the characters.

Comments

open to team ffxiii, feat. batgirl

[gravityfists]

[ she's certainly dressed for the occasion. She's got a freshly magicked-up Batsuit on, complete with all the usual little gadgets, lenses slid down over her eyes. Theoretically, she should be able to see in the dark, but as things stand, the petal she's picked up is doing a better job of lighting the way than any technology. With her boomstick in hand (read: a thin metal staff), she quickly and carefully makes her way down the staircase, light on her feet, lest anything crumble beneath her ]

Everyone else hears that, right? Please tell me you do, 'cause I'm not up for being the only one hearing creepy snippets of song.

Re: open to team ffxiii, feat. batgirl

[brands]

[Fang's a little behind, glances back periodically to make sure the others are following. She's got one of the petals grasped in her hand, and she can hear the singing, broken off in pieces, thin and whispery. It's eerie.]

Yeah, I hear it. [Her voice is not quite a whisper, but it's low. She has no idea if it'll cause a rockslide if things get too loud.] This place is nice and homey, huh? The impenetrable darkness adds a nice touch.

[ofatonement]

I can hear it too. ( Hope's voice is not much louder than Fang's own as her focus falls forward. She continues to keep close to the group as they make their way down the staircase, but she finds it hard not to be distracted by fractured pieces of singing that reach them. )

It's, uh, it's really something else... ( But that could be said about this whole world. )

[recalls]

( Vanille's sandwiched between Fang and Hope, one hand gripping the back of Fang's sari, glowing petal in the other. The heels of her boots click against the steps, but the sound does nothing to drown out the strange tune.

She nods, though it's probably hard for any of the others to see her. ) Me, too. What do you think it is?

[adelicateflame]

[The group's trek through the Labyrinth is uneventful for what seems like ages. Aside from the soft humming, not a sound could be heard, and there's no sign of the Queen, the incarnae, or any of the other adventuring residents of the Gardens

[brands]

[The energy that surges through the cavern makes Fang immediately go on the defensive, unlatching her spear from her back and spinning it in a wide arc--

--the sudden pain is startling, and the spear falls with a heavy, metallic clatter, echoing throughout the cavern. She stumbles forward, clutches at her arm. Her brand...it burns, white-hot. She can feel heat radiating from it, seeping through her fingers. But why? It's frozen, all of theirs are frozen, twisted. Ruined. The same as hers had been when she woke up in the Pulse Vestige. This shouldn't be happening, not here. Not to her, and not to the others. She remembers, distantly, Lightning's warning about the Queen, that she reminded her of a fal'Cie, but there is no time to regret not listening now.

She jerks her head in Batgirl's direction, and yells, sharp and hoarse:]

Get out of here! Find somewhere safe!

[ofatonement]

( The sudden surge of energy around them and the pain that flares shortly afterwards leaves her reeling but unable to move. Not that she thinks she could move, even if they weren't trapped in place. There's a thousand questions running through her mind, but she is left unable to do anything but cradle her arm closer to her body in some vain attempt to dull the pain.

Hope knew she had been to naive to think that they would have nothing to worry about here, she knew it but she let herself believe it. Why wouldn't she? Her brand here was nothing more than a burned and ruined reminder of the borrowed time they were living on back home. So why was this happening?

Somewhere in the distance, she's sure she can hear Fang's voice but it's hard to tell when it's becoming clear the pain is all she can focus on; the pain and the red eye centered in the mass of arrows once again staring back at her. )

[recalls]

( Years of living off the land, of hunting and gathering in a world so vastly different from the comfort and security of Cocoon, had honed Vanille's senses, prepared her for sudden changes in her surroundings - the low growl of a bear about to strike, the telltale bouncing of pebbles before an avalanche - but it had not prepared her for this

[adelicateflame]

[And that's when the transformations start.

Not all at the same time, though. While the rest of the group can only watch in horror, Vanille slowly begins to change. It doesn't happen in an instant, or relatively quick at all; it's agonizingly slow, as if the fal'Cie that cursed them was mocking them. They were able to run from their inevitable fate for this long, so now it's time to sit back and enjoy the show!

The first thing that begins to change is her arm. It stretches, elongating to a length well past the norm, and the skin dulls to a pale, sickly gray. Her fingers, too, are growing, changing into horrible red claws.

And during all this, a voice much like her own warped into a low growl, mutters in her head.]

She promised she'd always protect us. She promised this wouldn't happen! But she lied! I hate her! I HATE HER I HATE HER I HATE HER!!!

[That last bit, while still in Vanille's mind, can also be heard echoing through the Labyrinth's hall.]

[brands]

[Fang is trying to focus on something--anything other than the pain that shoots through her arm, makes it hard to breathe, to see. She's doubled over by now, slumped slightly. Defeated. This was her failure. No Cocoon to blame it on this time, no fal'Cie. No Anima or Barthandelus. She led her family into this place, and she is being punished for it. If only she was the only one bearing the weight of it, this time.

When Vanille begins to change, her head snaps up, her eyes go wide and bright with terror. She tries to move--she has to. She cannot bear witness to this. Anything but this. She'd tried so hard to prevent it, had nearly destroyed Cocoon simply to spare Vanille and would've done so again. She can't let this happen...]

Vanille-- [The word is choked out, weak and breathless. Her throat is tight with pain, with desperate, panicked grief.] Vanille, no! [She strains to break free of the magic binding them. She has to break free. She has to break free. She'll claw forward on her hands and knees if she has to, but she needs to

[ofatonement]

( The pain has Hope's heart racing, pounding in her ears like a mantra that she can't get away from. Every time she takes the change to get away from the pain, to focus elsewhere, it seems to come back with a biting force that draws her back into it. It leaves her dizzy, struggling to remain on her feet as it continues to drag her toward the floor and all of the air out of her lungs.

She can't even bring herself to look at the others, to see the people she saw as family in pain. She drew her strength from each of them, but now she is left unable to anything but wonder if her vision is beginning to haze from the pain or the tears welling up in her eyes.

It's Fang's voice that finally draws her focus up from the floor and to Vanille. her breath leaving her with a shallow gasp at the sight. No, no, no, no-. Not this. Not after how hard they had fought, all the tears and blood that had been shed, and the promises they had made. It just couldn't end like this. Not here, not now