013 [Video/Action for Goldenrod Pokemon Center]

[soggypastry]

[It's known to quite a few people that Lightning has been sleeping for a week now. What isn't quite as well known, however, is that her Lucario hasn't left her room no matter which human is at her side. So when the gear clicks on to show Lightning still sound asleep, there's the edge of a black paw on the feed. That pretty much clenches who's recording this.

Recording what, you may ask? Well, just watch the human on the bed as she slowly comes back to the world of Johto. She blinks for a bit, obviously still half asleep, before she slowly raises a hand to her forehead.]

Fal'Cie...

[And, before she can say anything else, Lightning is tackled by her Lucario. Over the happy yips and other noises he's making, the sound of the gear clattering to the ground isn't heard by anyone in the room.]

Comments

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

That's me. I heard you made like a princess and dropped on the spot - how're you feeling?

[video]

[soggypastry]

[She'd lineface at him for that princess comment, but there's...well, the simplest way to breach this topic is happening now.]

Sore. Fighting all those Manikins must have carried over somehow.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those things are a real pain in the-

[Wait, give him a second here]

You remember manikins?

[video]

[soggypastry]

[Nod.]

Manikins, Cosmos, Chaos, and the others who fought with us or against us.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

[That's cause for some bewildered silence, followed by a small laugh as he scratches at the back of his head]

That must've been one hell of a nap...

[video]

[soggypastry]

[Lightning just sighs.] It was something, alright. We got lucky the rift closed when it did.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Rift closed..? What're you talking about, Light?

[video]

[soggypastry]

The source of the Manikins. It's where they were coming from the whole time. Kain, Tifa, me and the others, we went to close it. To stop them from getting through.

[sigh.]

We got it to close, but...we didn't make it out of there alive. There were too many of them to fight through and survive.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

That's...

[He remembers seeing all of them, not long ago at all. Hell, Kain had just jumped at him before he wound up here]

Why would you guys run off to pull a boneheaded stunt like that?

[video]

[soggypastry]

We'd run out of options. We were going to lose the battle anyway, so if we closed the rift and stopped the flow, the next one would have been easier for anyone who survived.

[And since Kain had put the rest to sleep...well, they stood a chance.]

I'm just not sure if it actually worked or not.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Next one? What're you talking about?

No matter how hopeless something looks, nobody'd endorse a suicide-mission, Light.

[video]

[soggypastry]

It was an endless war, Zidane. The Cycle was just going to continue and Cosmos would have lost. We'd all have died. Better to lose a few than to lose everyone.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

I know the fighting felt like it went on for ages, but it sounds like you guys made that call without talking to the rest of us.

Did you ever consider that if we'd all gone together, it would've turned out different?

[He's a bit frustrated, because he'd always want to look out for his friends. The idea that they met some kind of demise and he did nothing is...awful]

[video]

[soggypastry]

I considered it, yeah. But Kain and the Warrior of Light had already made the decision to put you all to sleep so you'd survive to fight later. It wasn't up to any of us after they did that.

[She understands his frustration; she nearly took off WoL's head when she found out what they'd been doing.]

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Put us to sleep..?

[He sighs, rubbing at the back of his neck. This is all news to him]

You're saying those two made a decision that locked everybody into something?

[video]

[soggypastry]

Yeah. They pretty much turned on us. [She scoffs, shaking her head.] I didn't find out until I ran into Kain after he took Bartz out of the fight. Couldn't stop them after that.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Guess that explains why he went after me...

[So much for hoping it was an honest mistake]

[video]

[soggypastry]

[Nod. It would explain it, but...] Not that it matters now. If he went after you, I don't think you'll be able to fight him off. Kain knows what he's doing when it comes to fights.

[He wouldn't get distracted by Zidane's tail.]

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Don't sell my skills short, I caught him before he could get the drop on me.

[video]

[soggypastry]

[Iconpose.] Just because you can catch your opponent before he can get you from behind doesn't mean you can win, Zidane.

[siiigh.]

Besides. If you'd been able to get away or win, you probably would have been fighting with us. You weren't.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

[...sigh]

I'm not happy with either of them for this one.

[video]

[soggypastry]

[Nod and iconface.] Tell me about it. The fact that Cosmos just sat by without a word or warning the rest of us didn't help.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Wait, are you saying she knew about that plan?

[video]

[soggypastry]

[Blink. Blink. Whoa there, Lightning. Getting ahead of yourself again. Have a headshake, Zidane. Memories are a little fuzzy.] No. Not until she made Warrior of Light spill his guts about it. But Kain still hadn't gotten to everyone at that point, if Tifa was right. She could have warned at least you.

[video]

[heartsteal.livejournal.com]

Guess there's not much we can do about it now, but...

How're you...you know?

[Here, that is. It's difficult to say because he hates suggesting that she shouldn't be around, but she's saying they were killed, which leaves him confused]