Restart.

[azumods]

APOCALYPSE. It's difficult to say how long you're unconscious. Whenever you do wake up, it's warm; your limbs will probably feel a bit heavy, and it might take a while for you to come back into yourself fully - whatever just happened, it's disorienting, weighing heavily on your body and leaving a heavy fog over your senses, and for a long moment it may be tempting to go back to sleep. Slowly, though, everything will start to seep back in. The confrontation with Cyrus. Countless beams of light smashing down to earth, tearing everything in their path away. Judgement. The end of the world. The ruins still seem, miraculously, to be intact; pushing yourself up to sit up and look around will make it clear that whatever protected you from the attack on the world is still present, a swirling field of white light encapsulating the area and forming a protective shield around your group. The Lake Guardians are present for a brief moment, hovering overhead in a manner that's easily read as concerned, but as soon as enough of you are awake they'll take their leave - it's difficult to say where they're going and why, given that they don't offer an explanation, but all three of them are together still, having seemed to have found each other eventually over the past little while. Their protection vanishes with them, and their departure may leave you feeling empty; on the other hand, it may not affect you at all, seeing as you have other things to worry about. Leaving the ruins themselves and returning to the center of Celestic Town, it will be immediately obvious that something is very, very wrong. The first noticeable difference is in the people of the town; it seems that Cyrus adhered to his word in that everyone is alive, having been reborn after the world was destroyed. But there's something unwelcome and familiar about them now - the inability to process very much, the staring with nothing behind it, the lack of drive or desire to do anything for themselves, it seems that everything about them that made them a person has once again been torn away from them, leaving them dead-eyed and spiritless. The other differences are less noticeable, but as the day goes on, something seems...off. Not just with the people, but with the world as a whole. The passage of time and the expansion of space are things that everyone takes for granted; as long as the day passes by, the sun moving across the sky to fade into night, it can be assumed that everything is working as it should be. But the longer you spend here, the more it becomes obvious that something feels wrong; the sun continues to pass overhead, night will eventually fall, but there's an undeniable sense that nothing is really happening. The perceived passage of time seems more and more irrelevant to you, giving way to a notion that you're just...stuck, somehow. That nothing is changing, despite evidence that it should be; that everything is strange and stagnant and still despite the fact that you're still moving forward. It's this, maybe, that makes you realize why Lucas is twelve at the oldest, despite the passage of at least five years; the flow of time, the expansion of space... Both have been disrupted and brought to a standstill. Take the day to get used to your new reality; it might take some time to get accustomed to. [OOC: Welcome to the start of Week 14, the end of the world, and the beginning of the second half of the game! No NPC response will be given to this post, though you can thread here amongst yourselves if you wish; we'll see you tomorrow at noon with a new log for your further adventures!]

Comments

[discutio]

Noct-?

[He awoke with a vaguely mumbled syllable; the last thing he was aware of was the sense of the world collapsing, Noctis' hand in his own, a sense of resolve he couldn't name-]

[...then nothing. The impossible outcome of still existing even after all of that, persisting past what was to be their complete eradication. A hand still in his own--unmistakably that of his king, warm and alive that his immediate first concern was answered just as instantly as it had arisen.]

[Ignis sat up and pressed his free hand to his eyes, taking a slow breath and steadying himself as best he could. Whatever happened and whatever saved them...he was willing to bet things had just gotten much more complicated.]

[Later, once everything settled down and the situation was generally apparent, Ignis could be found in the Pokemon Center, sitting off to the side with one leg folded over the other and an atmosphere of calm and tranquil absolute fury around him.]

first

[niceoppai]

What the heck was that!?

[Chelsea takes a deep breath and turns to Ignis.]

Looks like the Lake Guardians saved our bacon. They're gone again, and I don't see Cyrus, either.

[discutio]

Chelsea. [Another deep breath to push back the slowly returning sense of repressed panic.]

Are you hurt? Are the others still with us?

[niceoppai]

Whole group's here. I'm not hurt or anything, an' the ruins are still here, too. There was this big white bubble shield and the Lake Guardians appeared to bail us out before flying off someplace.

[discutio]

...I thought that felt familiar. At least they're still alright, that's something.

[niceoppai]

Yeah, for now. I don't even know if Cyrus knows he didn't kill us.

[discutio]

I doubt it will take him long to figure out, since he clearly knew where to find us.

Pokemon Center;

[ventulus]

[ That was a lot, so much that Ventus kind of didn't know how to process it.

It was wore than being broken, or maybe it was the same in a way. He doesn't know what to think of it, what to make of it, other that it happened. ]

...Oh, hey Ignis.

[ He looks kind of in a mood,

[discutio]

...hello, Ventus.

[Was it morning or afternoon? He really couldn't tell anymore, and it was starting to throw him off.]

Are you alright?

[ventulus]

Yeah...I mean, I think I'll be.

[ Ventus is so disoriented that his response sounds distracted, if anything. With this Judgment thing, it's really messed things up-- ]

I think I'm just going to need a moment to get there. [ ... ] What about you?

[discutio]

I'll be fine. We have a lot of work ahead of us, so we need to pull together as best we can.

[ventulus]

[ He just kind of nods...he hopes Ignis will be okay too, but even like this he has faith in him--in all of them. ]

So...we come up with a plan, right? After we get it together.

[discutio]

Right. I think for now we should hold to our plan already in place, and then take things one step at a time as much as we're able.

[nightcure]

[ He's alive.

Against all odds, Noctis Lucis Caelum is alive. He'd been back at the campfire, his resolve weakened from seeing his friends, afraid to die but knowing he had no other choice.

Cyrus had given him no other choice.

But he's alive, alive and breathing and Ignis is warm beside him. Warm, and steady, and real just as he's always been. Noctis shifts, his eyes opening, and he takes in a deep breath. ]

Ignis.

[discutio]

[And that was all it took for Noctis to be pulled into a sudden secure hug, as if that alone would protect from that and any other apocalypse that would try to strike them down.]

Are you hurt? [Always, always him before Ignis himself. Not that it mattered, since he was sure he'd gotten out of this without injury. If Noctis hadn't, then no god would save Cyrus from the natural conclusion.]

[nightcure]

No. No, not at all. What about you?

[ His arms slide around Ignis, automatically, and he presses his face against Ignis's shoulder. Here, he's safe, he's home, he's alright. He thinks, maybe, with Ignis at his side, he can handle anything. ]

[discutio]

No, I'm fine. [Ignis let out a slow breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, the near-panic he'd held down when talking to Cyrus threatening to creep into the back of his mind again even though it was apparently all over. But of course he didn't show it for an instant, slamming and locking the door on it before it could properly manifest. That wasn't what Noctis needed to see right now, not what any of them needed.]

It's alright. We're safe, for now.

[nightcure]

Good.

[ He lifts his head, then touches his forehead to Ignis's. They're safe. Both of them are, at least; he hopes the others are okay, too.

For now, he focuses on Ignis. ]

I was worried I wouldn't see you again.

[discutio]

[Much as he did care about the others, some things hadn't changed. And when things got down to their worst and most dire, Ignis would always have only a single priority above everything and everyone else.]

Come now, I think the end of the world will have to try a bit harder to be rid of us.

Center

[hyruglyphics]

Ignis.

[ She announces her arrival in the form of announcing his name? That said, she's still walking and she imagines that he heard that first. Still, perhaps more relevantly, she's got some stew bowl in hand, and Saber walking behind her. The Lickilicky has the sense of quiet for once. ]

[discutio]

Zelda. [He looked up in her direction, tilting his head slightly to listen to her approach.]

Are you managing well?

[hyruglyphics]

[ The stew, it seems, is for Ignis. Given that she sets it down by him? ... It smells spicy. ]

I believe so, yes.

[discutio]

I'm glad to hear it.

[...]

Did you cook something?

[hyruglyphics]

It is a Tamato Berry Stew! I've been making to distribute it a little bit around.

[ They (probably) still need to eat ]

[discutio]

Ah, I have made a bit of a misstep in not cooking today, haven't I? It does smell delicious, though.