middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The battles rage loud and ferocious at the gates of the city and off in the ruined wastelands of Erda, and on the walls a struggle of a different kind occurs. The team who stayed behind at the towers are small but determined as they move stoically across the walls to right the stones that have become misaligned, even as their friends battle not too far away.

The city begins to hum. It's a quiet hum, not loud enough to be heard out where the others are fighting but it vibrates even through stone. The recovering monks assure them that it is done, the wards are back up and no demon will be able to enter the city.

Eventually the battle is won, all three battles. The demons fought back and killed, a major blow to their gate system that will keep them back for hopefully a long time. Those waiting in the caverns return to the city and by the time they get there the illusions are gone. Everyone can see the world for what it really is.

But despite the ruins of their world the people are relieved, the adrenaline of the fight coursing through their veins and the mood is one of hope. They will build again, their people will survive.

All Voidtreckers please return to the Voidtrecker Express. Departure will be in a few hours

It has landed not too far from the city, cloaked to make it unnoticeable to the citizens, for all the good that does. No one has been particularly subtle this last week. People can begin regrouping, packing up the camp and getting any wounded not already healed to the train.

However roughly half an hour later another message appears on their SCA.

Passenger Persephone has requested we remain on system System #86525656412355 for an additional day to further assist the people of Erda. The Voidtrecker Express will depart on the morning of Day Fifteen of the month of Kazoo.

The train remains where it is, so the voidtreckers can use its facilities. There is definitely a lot that can be done to assist those of this world and the citizens will welcome any helping hands.

After an extra day they finally depart, returning to the void once more.

(OOC Note: Once the wards are up any characters who are demonic in nature will not be able to enter the city either!)

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"You better!"

Keep to that like it was a promise. Reno gave Demyx a hard look for a few more seconds to emphasize his point. But, there was something else that came to mind after Demyx's words and after that moment passed the Turk's expression shifted again. He frowned slightly, mildly thoughtful.

"...you know dying here isn't permanent. The train brings its passengers back after some time. The only way you leave is through one of the platforms, and no one knows why--short of the train's explanation of 'the link couldn't be maintained between person and train'. Also, for the record, in case you missed the memo... if the train gets destroyed then we die with it. So, that's how that works."

He wasn't afraid to meet Reno's eyes as Reno made his point. Message received.

Afterwards though, he looked a little more serious than he usually did. "I don't know that that would work though." He admitted. "I'm not really a person. I'm a Nobody."

He knew he was going to have to explain. "It's magic that holds me together, I think. I'm a...an incomplete creature. Monster. Something to that effect." He ran a hand through his hair.

"When we die, it's not a death so much as it's letting go of whatever's keeping me like this and rejoining the rest of me, only I don't know where my heart is. Maybe I can't do that." He admitted. "I hadn't found it yet, and it's definitely not gonna be here." He waved his hand.

"Can the train really bring me back?"

Now that was some shit to take in.

Reno let Demyx finish completely before he even took the time to contemplate all the information. He still felt like he was missing something but there was a lot there to digest. Perhaps not a lot, really, but it was heavy.

The Turk took yet another moment to re-reassess the blond in front of him. He still couldn't see it--not really--but then sometimes monsters came in surprising packages.

Demyx had asked him a question though. Reno snapped out of his thoughts to flash the guy a lopsided smile as if he hadn't just been contemplating whether the blond was worth his time or not. He didn't need a friend anyway--a pet monster might be more useful.

"Sure can. I mean, I wouldn't see why not. It still brought you here and you still can't leave, just the same as the rest of us. As long as you're wearing that SCA--" He pointed at Demyx's wrist and then stopped, held up his wrist and tapped his SCA instead. "--it'll snap you right back up and place you in the luggage. I guess instead of going back to your heart or whatever you'll just reform right back here like the rest of us. See?" He shrugged, hands out wide. "Simple as that. The train wants you here, you're stuck here."

It was hard to know, it depended really how one defined a monster. Vexen wanted Demyx to stop saying that, but in reality he wasn't a person and he knew it, no matter how much Vexen thought his heart would come back.

Then again, Vexen didn't know what that would do either. He couldn't remember who he was, so how could he be anything less than his Nobody self?

"The train." Demyx scoffed a little bit, offering half a shrug. "The train is so weird. Thinks I'm a hero. That's kind of a load of crap."

He didn't really know why the train wanted him.

Reno laughed. The sound chimed freely, not meant to be derisive but just wryly amused. "Yeah, I don't think it knows what it means."

The redhead glanced away to fidget at his clothing. He swiped a hand over his shirt and then looked off to the side at nothing in particular as he expanded on his thought. "It told a lot of people that it thought everyone it took had the potential to be hero material. I don't think everyone here is a hero though. No way! That's not my style. I don't play hero. I don't play nice. And I don't want to either."

He looked at Demyx. There was a certain glint in his eye, not a very bright one but dark instead. "But I'm damn good at what I do. And if the train needs a few operatives to get its dirty shit done whenever it's the only way to win, then that's not a bad thing in my book. I can play that role much better than 'hero'."

If Reno was worried he'd find something like that off-putting or offensive, he'd probably be pleased to see Demyx more amused than anything.

"We're riding the same wavelength here." Demyx chuckled. "Look, I don't really like doing anything because I have to." He sighed. "But I'd be better at that. I'm no hero." His Somebody might've been, but he doesn't know, doesn't remember, so what good did that do him?

"Maybe not everyone has to be the good one."

It was certainly a surprise at the least--a pleasant one, in fact. Reno was used to the people around here giving him particular looks whenever he talked about not caring and getting jobs done no matter the cost. All those hero types on board here they just mentioned. Reno and Demyx may have agreed they didn't fit the bill on that but a lot of the train's passengers did it seemed. At least, in Reno's eyes it seemed that way.

Maybe he was just unlucky to talk to the wrong people. Maybe he just had a penchant for saying the wrong things to the wrong people. Maybe he just didn't know when to quit.

Anyway, his surprise didn't show so much. But he grinned at Demyx's reply, pleased. "Not everyone can be. But hey, that's fine, 'cause I like being the fun one. And bad boys definitely know how to have all the fun."

Demyx snickered at that conclusion, a huge grin tugging at his lips. "Oh I promise you, I'm tons of fun." He said, teasingly.

"Everyone I know was so boring. They didn't like fun at all, even if they weren't good people. I'd rather know someone fun than boring and good." He pointed out.

Not Ienzo, he thought Ienzo was, albeit stuffy, tons of fun to bother in the right context.

"You better put your money where your mouth is with a boast like that!" He said with a grin at Demyx. The expression fell slightly, more relaxed, as he continued with a little less flair. "Some people are just worse than bad. No helping those types to be fun. Go a little too far... and that's when things need to be handled by a pro."

Neither good nor evil, this one, but he talked as if he were a bad person often and yet that he would punish worse offenders. Like he was some sort of officer of the law. Well, he did enforce someone's rule at one point. But ignore his grandiose talk, he was mostly bark than bite while on the train with the other passengers. Unfortunately for him and his fun.

"So do me a favor and don't step out of line, yeah? We'll have fun instead. Sound good?"

"Sure, sure all the munny I have." Demyx said with a laugh, which was exactly zero at the moment but that didn't matter. It was fun to tease Reno.

"Hey, I'm not gonna cause trouble. Last thing I need is a hundred gung ho heroes coming at me. I'm flashy, but I'm not gonna be able to fight the train." Demyx commented with a laugh.

"Besides, I don't have any orders to follow, why do unnecessary work?"

Reno had to at least be decent, if he was threatening him and jovial or not Demyx knew a threat when he heard one. It was not unexpected, in fact, it was the exact treatment he expected people to give him if they knew what he was, or what he'd done. There may not be a path to a future, but rather a steep cliff and a quick ending that he's just avoiding. It was something else he could contemplate in his music.

"Yeah... why indeed..."

Reno felt that sentiment. He hated when his time off the clock was interrupted. Work and time off were two very separate things for him despite all his boasts and chatter about how great it was to be a Turk and get the job done.

"Well, sounds good to me. Better than those sour notes," he said with a sly smirk, returning to the teasing game they had going. No sense in ruining a good time with serious business. He'd said enough (maybe too much) and learned a bit to boot. But it hadn't been why he'd come here.

He nudged Demyx with a hand. "Play something more lively, yo!"

Demyx laughed a little bit at the nudge. "What am I, a jukebox?" He was grinning though and all too easily, he shifted into a piece he knew. It was something he'd heard in his world traveling that was much more lively and upbeat.

"I didn't compose this one, I just heard it, but it should be more lively and better to your tastes."

Regardless of what was on his mind, he kind of felt a little bit better, just from exchanging a little banter.

Reno grinned. "If the shoe fits..."

Despite his incessant teasing, however, he was pleased as Demyx changed the song to something upbeat. Whatever the song was it sounded fun even with just the sitar playing it. Reno hand tapped to the beat unconsciously.

"Sounds good. Keep it up, Concerto."

If they just ignored thoughts and feelings and continued bantering and playing fun music then Reno wouldn't complain. That was much better and easier in his book.

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The Will to Fight: Conclusion

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