What their Eyes See: Finale

[voidtreckermods]

It’s been a weird mission. The Voidtreckers have been busy investigating, making headway in mapping and saving citizens from the video games and strange illusionary creatures. Those in the fourth tier have made contacts, followed leads and gotten close to the high and mighty of the criminal underworld.

Yet what exactly is happening here is still unknown. Their new found ally Anan is as stumped as the rest of them, but even so, the hackers and technological knowledgeable voidtreckers have been successful in isolating the virus to study and make an anti-virus. A netpoint network has been set up across the city, and enough access data stolen that they can start throwing everything into the systems and networks across the city.

While the illusions remain a mystery and how they got there, finally the world is purged of the strange virus as the anomalies begin to clear up by noon of day ten. Spectura victims wake up in hospital beds, dazed and confused, while no more sightings of the impossible plague those on the other tiers.


On the morning of day eleven, the once housebound and terrified citizens leave their shelters with the first tendrils of light reaching through the fog surrounding the enclosed city. An exodus of people, from fighters of tier four to elites of tier one, are making their way into the streets...and heading down into lifts and outside, out into the smog-filled wasteland.

“It’s so beautiful,” is heard, a rumbling through the crowd as people smile, laugh or wave into the fog.

”I won.” Fighters from tier four look around in wonderment. Other exclamations, about a blue sky, a greeting to a friend fill the air.

There is a pull. The voidtreckers will feel it too, though to them the world looks and feels no different. This pull is easy to resist, or they can follow and investigate it, attempt to lead citizens back inside the city. It’s not safe in the smog, no one has canisters, but none will heed the warnings.

Nor is there time for better efforts when a crackling sounds in the air, light and colours flashing in the smog, everywhere at once and too quick to get a hold on.

“STOP THWARTING ME!” booms out, and a great force pushes them back while pulling the citizens farther into the wasteland, sand and dirt kicked up in a frenzied storm. The voidtreckers can hear the civilians in the smog, but getting to them will prove harder than they may like.

Grabbing an air canister is highly recommended for those who prefer life.



CIRCLE ONE: THE MAZE
No matter where one leaves the city from, they will find themselves in a maze of walls, of metal sheets, each blending into each other. It feels surreal, as if nothing is quite real, nothing quite solid.

But it is solid. For those voidtreckers who cannot see illusions it will look like they are merely stood in the wasteland of the world. But when they begin to move they will learn those walls are tangible, and those that look close enough will see the same almost-light as the creatures that purple team have been fighting as the source.

For those who are not immune to illusions it is a strange place indeed. No smog to be seen, just high unyielding barriers. The pathways are different colours giving off hues of brightest pink, red, purple, neon green, glowing white, darkest black. Sometimes there are symbols on the walls, Capsule Corp, royal insignia, ravager flames, HYDRA, marks of royalty. They are emblazoned on the walls, the floor, sometimes even in the sky. And the deeper in they get...

➤ WINDING ROADS
It's noisy as they move around. As well as the distant noise of the citizens in the distance they can hear an acoustic guitar, erratic piano playing, the sound of bamboo on stone. Or perhaps an eagles cry, a lullaby or a song is heard as they move their way through the maze.

Objects stand in their way, blocking paths and needing to be moved or destroyed. Larger than life playing cards, red apples, flowers. Spears and daggers hang in the air as does the moon and the sun. Water often cascades through routes, making it difficult to move through or fire creeps up walls, nonthreatening but ever present. There are clouds of butterflies and ravens perched on walls, watching their every move, and the smell of sugar often hangs in the air.

But it’s better to navigate these turbulent passages with perseverance than violence. Daggers and apples will shatter and slice apart to attacks, creating a way through to begin with - but those that try the method of destruction to solve their problems will find these walls crowding them tighter, rising higher, becoming all the harder to destroy than they were before. They will become trapped, and will need assistance from the outside to untangle them from webs or jails made from crystal.
➤ STALKING THE STREETS
It isn’t just the Voidtreckers or locals who wander the maze. Wolves, dogs, zombie sheep and ghost animals mostly mind their own business, sometimes inclined to growl or bahh, but easy to pass. But other times, you may sense that you’re being followed, a presence hovering over you...while another companion will see as well the large shadow shrouding you before a decaying hand grabs at you from above, threatening to send its victim to some other part of the maze if not stopped.

Monsters also stalk these paths from various realities. The dead will be met in robes of white while others in armours from medieval times. All are fast, unrelenting in their attacks, unconcerned with pain or stopping without being properly slain. Ghouls of all shapes and sizes search for prey, and many more seek victims.

How they act and how to defeat them may be known to some, but not all. Is it worth the effort to stay and fight illusions, however? Sometimes those illusions don’t give a choice, but in other instances, a person from the city may be found on the ground unconscious, the smog air getting to them. They’ll need help, and fast.

CIRCLE TWO: IS THIS HOME?
Voidtreckers will realise they’ve left the maze when they find themselves in an open field. It spreads out far with vineyards in the distance, a campsite, all of this leading into a forest of childrens board games. While the campsite is not a true campsite as many will realise, it is the first moment everyone will have to come together, to perhaps plan ahead. Air canisters are essential in this environment, and locals have been found needing, unconscious. Backtracking through the maze is a death wish for many, but with the talents of the voidtreckers, setting up a checkpoint here may not be that impossible before going on ahead.

And then, when they finally do…

➤ FAMILIAR
It is almost dream-like as they walk, areas changing without them fully crossing the distance needed. One moment they are in a shopping malls food court, the next the interior of a spaceship; streets of palaces, temples, and mansions line up as a mish-mash of glamour, while others offer more humble abodes, taverns, family homes, bakeries. Medieval structures blend into tech bases, maintenance bays and dark rooms. Beautiful gardens, beaches and dusty souks all share space. But as they move through it, they will be tempted towards what is theirs.

And these can be anything. Ships, palaces, home, and even singular rooms: all of these are seen, doors providing access, doors that draw your character towards it, as if they know what’s on the other side. Spaces personal to the viewer, and with the constant pressure of these illusions, somehow draining to be around, they will find it harder to doubt what they see. Even if their bedroom leads towards a volcano, a blacksmith housing hospital beds right beside it, it will not seem so bizarre to find these natural.
➤ DEARLY BELOVEDS
But it’s not only structures that exist in this labyrinth of streets: there are people, animals - family, friends and pets. Beloved mentors, a smiling loved one. The night sky will wash over, the ocean within view; your favourite plush rabbit, a worn jumper. Your favourite song playing, losing you inside this new reality.

Even people from the Voidtrecker Express are around, whether or not they’re still passengers. Feanor, Zetta, Noctis, Cassie Cage, Jin Ling; Elfnein, Link, Mami, Gyousou, Duo; Senku, Jiang Yanli, Olivia, Bucky Barnes. They walk this plane, friends and lovers of the voidtreckers, coaxing them further into the illusions. Assuring them everything is alright, offering reasons to give in.

Over all this though, they can still hear the citizens in the distance; their voices sounding more confused, frightened even. To push on the voidtreckers must walk away, ignore these temptations and push on to the third ring.

CIRCLE THREE: TWISTED HEART
For those who manage to get through the second circle, pushing away the temptations of home, they will find themselves back in the smog filled wasteland. But through the smog they will see more, always more. Once again the scenery blurs into impossibilities, from testing labs with padded beds, to other imagery associated with asylums of old, to dark cramped spaces, to hallways raging on fire. They sense fear itself, and even the most stoic will find apprehension digging into them as they make their way forward. Is this their fear? Or is it your own?

It may be hard to discern in this twisted reality.

➤ MISERY LOVES COMPANY
This time, as the scenery shifts around them, so does their own sense of self try to match what these places mean. The despair of being lost in darkness, the belief that they can’t be seen by others, all sound fading from their ears. They are on the moon, trapped there for years; at the edge of the vast ocean, on the bank of a river of lava, despair in their hearts. In a wrecked city, their own city destroyed almost beyond recognition. By opposing forces, by weapons of mass destruction.

They have lost everything. There’s no fixing this.

A Pandora box of fears have been unleashed, with seemingly no hope. Your worst enemy has been granted a second chance, family stumbling towards you on the verge of death before your eyes; forces that you were meant to be dealing with back home have found you, surely leaving your own world in ruins, from titans to ayakashis.

Or they might stumble upon a graveyard, stretched out as far as they can see where every name is someone they care about.

There are even voidtreckers of now and old opposing you: Danny Fenton, Lan Xichen, Darth Vader, Vegeta, Xue Yang. Kerry stands pointing a gun straight at a fellow passenger while shadowy ravens and terrifying dragons swirl in the sky.

All this emotional turmoil will do a number on the voidtreckers, but there is strength in numbers. More civilians have fallen unconscious at this point, and those willing to aid them can take them back to the city. But no matter how the voidtreckers move, they must keep their nerve and hold onto hope as they cross the final hurdles.

Comments

HI

[longforgottenpromise]

"Yes..." He's not alright. But it would be foolish to expect him to be. He is doing better than he would have if any of the monsters were real. Illusionary blood isn't enough to trigger his bloodsickness but people have been hurt as well.

But he is doing his best, holding on to Inigo's hand whenever they are not moving civilians, gritting his teeth against the dizziness and holding back his tears at the utter despair around them.

"Sorry... I can't sense anything like that."

[flatteries]

Inigo's got Taiki's hand so tightly clutched into his at this point. It's partially for himself, but for once, it's mostly about Taiki. Because there's nothing more Inigo wants at this point than to keep the other safely at their side, to try and protect him somehow from everything here. Not that the illusions and everything else isn't hard on himself and Tidus as well - he knows they're not having an easy time either. But Taiki's heart and soul are so gentle. Too gentle for this.

A thing Inigo is reminded of when he sees Taiki's eyes, seeing the familiar signs of someone who is trying their darnest not to cry.

"Should I see if I can find a few nearby?"

It's not like he likes the idea of heading out by himself, they were sticking together for a reason.. But at the same time he can't help but worry with Taiki's current state. Maybe Tidus can keep him here for a moment, and hope they'll have a moment to recover as long as they're together, rather than heading straight out into the next illusion.

"I'd be right back."

[blitzcheer]

"You shouldn't go alone," Tidus starts, though he knows why Inigo's doing it; nothing to do with his usual need to always be moving when the situation gets hard, but because of their company with him. As if Tidus could be blind to what this is about.

Still- "It's too dangerous," he argues, looking between them both. "There's no saying this place will stay safe. It's trouble wherever we is - we should stick close!"

Because what safety was there than the city? And Tidus didn't want to see Inigo going off, only to not come back. Though surely, wouldn't Inigo have some argument to that?

But he might not have time to voice them, as the world around them has been darkening, darkening...and then suddenly, a complete darkness engulfs all three.

[voidtreckernpcs]

A complete darkness so complete that they can only see each other, not their surroundings, no citizens, nothing but the three of them.

Tidus will begin to feel week, strange as he starts to fade, slowly but surely. Taiki almost will begin to feel strange, more ill than he already does dark patches appearing on his skin as the strength goes out of him.

Unless they are able to fight against these mind tricks then Inigo will find himself all alone in the darkness holding Taiki's body, Tidus faded and gone.

[longforgottenpromise]

"Yes it's too dangerous..." They should stick together, he doesn't want Inigo going off into danger alone.

But it seems that danger has found them as darkness folds around them. Taiki has been feeling week and dizzy since this started, since before this started, but that was bloodsickness.

This is something else and though he has never seen it with own eyes he knows it, knows what it is. He collapses to his knees, legs unable to support him anymore as dark patches spread across his skin. He is shaking so much it's hard even to breathe. Tears slip from his eyes.

So that was it. The heavens had finally caught up with them. Found him wanting. And if it is so then Lord Gyousou...

A sob escaped from his mouth as he did his best to curl up into a ball, to brace against the pain flooding through him.

[blitzcheer]

Even as the world grew darker, for Tidus, it started with colours. Blues and greens replacing his body, what was once solid becoming faded. Hands he's seen do this before, that stop him from taking another move, eyes fast to look for his SCA, and--

it's not there. It's not there. It's not there.

"Tai-" starts out of his throat, looking to the guy who had just been in front of him. But he has his backed turned, speaking with Inigo. Tidus tries to speak again, but nothing comes out; a low wailing cry, haunted in its delivery taking the place of sound as the pyreflies begin their dance.

'Inigo, he was here...!'

'Tidus!? Tidus, answer us!'

Did he knock it? How did it come off?! Tidus scrambles to the ground, dirt flung and flowers blooming around his fingers, but he doesn't care for what he scrapes against everything in the way, a sob choking in his throat. No no no, I'm here, I'm here! he begs inside and out, words he wants to yell, but when he tries, his voice fails to come out. There's the sound of water falling, down into depths that he knows where without looking, their golden colouring. A plane only for the dead, a plane waiting for him.

No, no no...! Not like this, not like this!

He can't... not like this...!

[flatteries]

Inigo knows something is going to happen. The moment the darkness sets in, he just knows something is going to jump out at them, and he's already halfway through thinking of how to deal with it while Taiki is this close to him when he realises that there's no danger coming from the outside at all.

Because instead he's looking at Tidus as he's thinking, and slowly he's looking at less and less of Tidus. It's something he doesn't notice at first, when it's more subtle, but inevitably he starts to realise he's looking through the other.

Tidus is.. he's disappearing. He's literally fading before Inigo's eyes.

"Tidus!" Inigo calls out, with more alarm than he's had in his voice the entire time they've been out here. It's like his blood is running cold in his veins, and he wants to move over, to try and grasp onto the other somehow as the last parts of him seem to be fading, but then there's a body collapsing right onto him - and naturally Inigo has to catch that first.

His brain processes that it must be Taiki, but it doesn't prepare him for what Taiki's skin looks like, for how in pain the other seems out of absolutely nowhere. What's going on? Is there some monster attacking them that only Inigo can't see? But that doesn't make sense, and..

"Taiki.. Taiki, are you okay?!" He shakes the other a little. "Taiki!"

Inigo's breath grows uneven, his heart filled to the brim with panic. Taiki in his arms in this state, Tidus now well and truly gone as Inigo looks at the spot the other had been only a moment ago.

He glances around them, but he can't see a thing. There's no one to call for help.

He's all alone, with his friend looking like he's dying right there in his arms, and his other friend completely gone.

Inigo does the only thing he can do. He clings onto Taiki even tighter, as if somehow the force of his hug may cure the other, his face momentarily buried in Taiki's hair while he can feel tears pricking his eyes. What does he do? What does he do?

"This can't be real.." He mumbles. But it feels so real. It feels more real than any illusion he's seen today - or maybe it's more that he's more terrified than he's been at anything else so far.

Raising his head again, he stares into the darkness.

"Tidus..! C-Come on, it.. it can't be real, right..?!"

[longforgottenpromise]

"Inigo?" Someone had caught him, arms around him. He forced his eyes open around tears and burning pain. Inigo. A sob catches in his throat. He doesn't want Inigo to see him like this. He twists in pain but worse than the pain is the knowledge, the heavy knowledge of failure.

"Tidus?" He twists in Inigo's arms, every movement agony as he looked around. He can barely see, even Inigo's face is blurred and distant, his senses fading.

This can't be real. It felt real. It feels real and it should be real. After all both he and Lord Gyousou had abandoned Tai, why would the gods not strike them down?

He took a rattling breath, small and gasping. Everything hurts but Inigo's arms are around him. His tears are not for himself, not even for the pain. But for Inigo who has to hold him, for Lord Gyousou whose days are numbers, for Tai itself.

For Tai. That frozen, ruined land filled with people whose firey hearts give them the strength to survive in such cold. A people who have been hurt so much. His people, his only reason to exist, his failure.

The pain is more than physical as he clings onto Inigo. But where is Tidus? Why is it dark?

Is this real?

[blitzcheer]

I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die...

'Hey,' speaks out a voice, gruff, flowers just outside of his peripheral being knocked aside to the bare feet walking though them. Tidus doesn't need to look to see who they belong to, worn and scarred and as rugged as rest of the man who came to see him in his last seconds. Who was waiting for him, and with that low undertone he uses now.

'You did your best. I'm proud of you.'

No no no no no. This isn't what he wants to hear, what he won't accept. He repeats the word out over and over and over, not hearing himself, nothing but the sounds of the waters falling. Sinking his head lower, eyes closing tight.

A weight rests itself on his shoulder, a comforting touch.



And Tidus starts to scream, trying, searching for a way to make it all stop.

[flatteries]

This is so terrifying. Taiki looks and sounds like he's dying right here in Inigo's arms, and Inigo doesn't know what to do. He doesn't even know what's going on. Why does Taiki suddenly look like this? What could possibly strike him so hard for him to go from normal to this in just a few seconds? And why did Tidus disappear-- and how does he get him back?

Inigo has no idea. He's all alone, and he's the one who's supposed to fix this, but he has no idea. It reminds him of every single failure he's had in the future, every single person he couldn't save, because the circumstances were always too overwhelming and he just didn't know what to do.

Just like now. Except this time it's his friends on the line, two people who are so incredibly close and important to him.

He sucks in a shakey breath, and he can feel the first tears starting to roll down his cheeks, helplessly holding Taiki as close as possible.

But something here makes a difference.

There's a presence in his heart, burning stronger than ever, trying to restore light to all the darkest corners in there. Inigo hears Jumblie's call, and at first he's ready to dismiss it, knowing that there's nothing a smile can do when his friends are disappearing.

But something about the higgledy's call clears up his mind just enough. Not enough to fully see through the illusion, but just a slight part of the curtain is being lifted, just enough for Inigo to hear a scream.

That's not Taiki's. It's not his own, either, even though he feels like screaming.

Tidus is there. Tidus is still there. Inigo can't see it, and it doesn't feel like it could be true, but it has to be. He has to cling on to that bit of hope. Tidus is there. Maybe this is all fake. It has to all be fake.

"Taiki.. I need you to be strong." His voice shakes, and Inigo would love to speak with so much more confidence than he's feeling right now, but this is the best he can muster while he's still so incredibly scared. "I think.. I really think it isn't real. I know it must hurt so much, but try to see if you can fight it.. Try to see if it's real or not, please.. Do it for me, okay..? I-- I can't lose you. I can't lose either of you.."

He almost sounds like he's begging, pleading for the other to try, the effect only more enchanced by the tears staining his cheeks.

Inigo gathers Taiki up in his arms even more, carrying the other as preciously as possible, as close to him as possible, as he starts to step over to where he saw Tidus disappear.

He has to be here somewhere. Somehow. Inigo can't see a thing, only the darkness, but he tries to look for Tidus anyway, calling out for the other as hard as he can in his heart. Maybe he can't reach Tidus, but if he's really there, if he's really still somewhere, then maybe Jumblie can reach the higgledy in his heart..

[longforgottenpromise]

Despair feels like it is crushing him. Even though he knows this is perhaps for the best, Tai will recover eventually. A new kirin will be born, one much more useful than him and they will find a new king. But it doesn't mean the despair of knowing he has failed Lord Gyousou, failed Tai, any better.

But there's a voice. Inigo's voice. Telling him to be strong, talking to him through the pain and despair. It's not real.

He has to fight.

It's not real. It can't be real. Because why now? Why this moment? Where is Tidus? He squeezes his eyes shut. He can do this, he can be strong.

It's almost like a part of him wakes up. The part of him that could stare down a toutetsu. The part of him that could face Asem without flinching. The part of him that could defied everything a kirin was meant to be.

Because this wasn't real and even if this was real. He wouldn't let it be. It wasn't over yet. Even if he was parted from his king and from Tai he hadn't given up and right now? Right now his friends needed him.

He opened his eyes. The pain still rushed over him, he's in Inigo's arms, being carried. He looked up at him with determined eyes.

"It's not real." A painful gasp of terrible air.

"It's not real. Tidus! Tidus!" He can hear him screaming. He's near.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus can't scream forever, but he tries, until the sensation of a voice dies without even a croak to do so. Hands and arms wrapping above his head, or are they, does he still have a body, is he anything, is this what death is? And he remembers this in-between better than he wishes he did. Weightless, nothing. Like flying once before, but here it's nothing. Nothing.

A life lived longer than he should've ever had. A life more than he was supposed to get.

You did your best.

You did your best.

You did your best...

Tidus breathes a breath he shouldn't be able to. A voice; there's a voice, somewhere, somewhere close, somewhere deep inside; over the grief and the despair that's swallowing and sinking him away, there's a light. Tidus opens his eyes, tries, but there's nothing for him to see; attempts to listen the way one would, but his ears no longer work.

Then what is it? This sound, this voice? Above his grief, attempting to swim against its current, Tidus hears noise coming in and out, or is it? The hope scares him, until, more and more, clearer, clearer - his name, it's his name. And the hope could overwhelm him once Gibbers is allowed to latch onto that spark and make it grow. Urging Tidus not to lose it, to keep it going strong!

As outside in this blanket of darkness, Gibbers can lead Jumblie to the nowhere that Tidus seems to be in. But under the glow of the hope that the high higgledy keeps strong, a form flickers, trying to bring back in and wash away the lies hiding the life underneath.

Tidus's faint figure, his life, body crouched and wrapped in on himself, like a boy lost. Scared.

But muffled by his own constricted state and the illusions trying to hide him away, he tries to speak:

"Please... please! Get me out, get me outta here! Tell me this isn't real, tell me I don't have to go!"

[flatteries]

Inigo can feel it. He can feel that familiar sensation in his heart, of one higgledy calling out to another, guiding him to where he has to be, even in the middle of this pitch black darkness. And if Gibbers is still there, then Tidus has to still be there too. Inigo is sure of it. He just has to follow the feeling, and then they'll find him.

That's half of the relief, and the other half is hearing Taiki speak up like that. Inigo is still carrying the other, still holding him tightly, and he isn't too sure if he didn't just convince a dying guy that he isn't dying, even though he is in all actuality.. But if Tidus is still there, then it's got to be an illusion. Doesn't Taiki's skin already look a bit better again? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking--

Either way, Inigo can't help but sneak a few glances at Taiki as he runs, trying to make sure he's okay too.

"Are you feeling a bit better?" He whispers to him between hurried, frantic breaths. "Thank Naga.."

He doesn't know what just happened to Taiki. Why the other seemed like he was dying, with those weird patches on his skin. Maybe it's all because this is exactly Inigo's fear - losing his friends, losing more after how many he's lost already.

(He hopes it's not. He dearly hopes it isn't his fault that Taiki and Tidus are suffering--)

It's a thought he can't delve too deeply into though. Not right now, because Inigo can spot Tidus's form all of a sudden. It's faint, like he's barely there, just a ghost, but it's still unmistakably Tidus.

It causes Inigo to speed up for his last few steps, before kneeling down next to Tidus's ghostly form, gently putting Taiki down on the ground as well - though he's still keeping one arm on the other to help hold him up, still worried about Taiki's condition.

But it's not the only condition Inigo is worried about. Why is Tidus looking like this? Why is he seethrough? Tell him he doesn't have to go-- where?

"Tidus.." Inigo saves his questions, focusing on what's important right now. Keeping Taiki safe. Getting Tidus back to normal. Because it hurts to see him like this, just like it hurt to see Taiki so in pain a moment ago. This isn't like Tidus, someone looking so hurt, so scared, when Tidus is usually like the sun itself.

"Tidus, we're right here. You don't have to go anywhere, just.. just look at us!"

[longforgottenpromise]

He clings to Inigo but with every step, every breath and every ounce of his will telling his mind that this is not true the shitsudou seems to be fading. The patches on his skin shrinking, his mane brightening, his eyes loosing the dull lifelessness.

He peers through the darkness. Tidus. "Tidus!"

Once Inigo has put him down he half crawls to Tidus, limbs still shaking but reaching out, reaching towards him.

Tidus is fading? He shouldn't. He can't. It's not real.

He scrabbled around in the dark, trying to find Tidus' hand. "You don't have to go. It's not real. We're here. You're here."

He pauses to gasp for breath. Not real. Not real.

[blitzcheer]

They're there, Tidus is there, but the illusion does its best to keep them split apart despite the inches between them. A fear that tells him not to look beyond the space by his legs, to not confirm how far the inky black void exists beyond his small cone of vision extends. There's voices louder now, but are they the real thing? He's so stupid; it was always going to come to this. This was always going to be his end, and now he's found it. Always waiting for him, always-

A sensation touches his skin. Tidus startles, hands moving away but not far, his gaze searching wildly. His surroundings aren't so empty, where weak lights or near-images seem to be around, but nothing he can quite make out; while outside to the pair, his just-there form looks left and right, not acknowledging their presence and neither his words as he speaks with desperation.

"I can't see... who is it? Taiki? Inigo? My SCA came off! I don't know what's happening... are you both there?! I-- it can't be fake, can it? Can you hear me?!"

It's a trick, an illusion that shows differently between the two sides viewing it, when Tidus's SCA is visible on his wrist from sleeves rolled up searching for it in the first place.

[flatteries]

"It's us! It's me, Inigo, and Taiki's right here!" Inigo immediately replies the moment Tidus stops talking, so desperate to convey this message to the other. Especially since it feels like the three of them are so close right now, but at the same time a million miles away from each other. With Tidus being unable to see them, unable to hear them, even though they're right there. Even though they can see him, no matter how odd his form is right now.

"We can hear you! Taiki and Inigo, we're here!"

He feels kind of dumb calling out the same time over and over, but it feels important. If Tidus can't hear everything they're saying, all he has to do is pick up on one of the times he says it. Just one.

But Inigo has no time to think about how dumb he sounds. He's still panicked, still desperate to pull Taiki and Tidus back, to keep both of them here with him. To never let them go like this again.

(He has no time yet to think about why Tidus's SCA coming off would have anything to do with his current state, or the sight Inigo witnessed a few moments ago.)

"Trust our voices!"

[longforgottenpromise]

His SCA? Unlike Inigo, Taiki knows exactly why that is a problem, why Tidus is so scared. Yet a glance down at his arm, his heart in his throat, shows that it is there. On his arm.

He pushes against the illusion again, moving his hand, moving it to where Tidus' SCA is. Feeling it. "It's here. Here Tidus. Your SCA, where my hand is." He grips it, as if holding it onto Tidus' wrist with sheer determination.

"We're here. We won't..." He breaks off to cough, the illusion or just the smog. "We won't leave you."

He feels so week, every part of him is shaking, talking hurts. Breathing hurts but he has to fight it. It's not real.

Tidus is real. Inigo is real. They are real and they are with him.

[blitzcheer]

Illusion can deceive the eyes, the mind, but not the physical touch. When Taiki touches him again, Tidus feels it, the gap that comes, like something separating his palm from Tidus's wrist. He reaches out for it, for that touch, though it seems at first as if he's doing nothing but touching air. But Gibbers gives his aid, a force of hope against hopelessness, where hope is needed more than ever.

He feels the hand under his own palm, and if it slips away to let Tidus grope the SCA, he feels it too - there, like it didn't seem to be before.

Tidus opens his eyes, and through the haze of an illusion losing to keep, he focuses, refuses the lie in front of him. And by it, he starts to see the hand close by, the blackness being pushed back to reveal the front of figures before him, the friends that he knows are there.

And as if he only has this chance now to escape, Tidus lunges - into an embrace with both of them, his arms and hands grabbing for them, holding tight, a man coming out of the waters of the deceit trying to pull him back in.

"We're here, we're here, we're here! We're all here! We're not dead, we're alive! I believe it, we'll keep fighting, we will!"

And he speaks, gasping, the gibberish of someone finally above waters, receiving rescue. Holding on, the darkness that promises nothing withdrawing, his illusion deteriorating.

[flatteries]

Maybe this whole situation is throwing everything upside down.

Because for once it's Inigo being dragged into a hug, rather than him doing the dragging. And he's even surprised in the face of it, since Tidus becomes solid again so suddenly, able to hug them before Inigo even realises the other is able to do as much. It's why he lets out a small startled sound of surprise - it's even more surprising since he was so focused, so full of thought about what to do about this situation if Tidus couldn't escape the illusion by himself - until he realises that this is just a hug.

It's then that he moves his free arm around Tidus in return, still supporting Taiki with his other hand, even now. Truthfully he's a bit worried about the hug, since it's so forceful and desperate and Taiki still seems so weak, but he can't exactly blame Tidus for the sheer relief the other seems to feel, the relief that's got him rambling, clinging tight.

.. It's a relief that Inigo feels in his heart as well, knowing that his two best friends are still here. That they're alright.

That he isn't alone, as emphasized by Tidus's rambling. We're all here.

He leans in to plant a kiss against Tidus's temple, before just letting his head linger there, close to the other.

"Yeah." His own voice is soft too, and the emotion is audible in it. "We're all here. Don't worry, you're right here with us."

Inigo's arm on Taiki's side squeezes just a bit, as if the next words are mostly meant for the other, considering Taiki's current - getting better, but still not great - state.

"We're all going to be okay."

[longforgottenpromise]

He lets his hand be moved so that Tidus can feel the SCA, wills Tidus to feel it, to feel him, to know they are here. They are all here and alive. Then Tidus is diving at them and he can only feel utter relief, even as his exhaustion means he can do little more than lie in Inigo and Tidus' arms listening to Tidus' babble like it is the most beautiful music he has ever heard.

The telltale marks of shitudou have faded from his skin, the heavy knowledge of that sickness fades from his mind and he is left with just weakness that is more from the situation and the impurities around them than any heavenly judgement.

"We're going to be alright. Sorry Inigo... You were so brave."

Even as he recovers his mind has moved to his friends, Tidus must have been so scared and he uses what strength he has to squeeze his arm. But Inigo must have been terrified as well, to almost lose both of them like that.

Yet he had had the strength to keep them both.

[blitzcheer]

His mind is starting to calm, if not completely, but it's grounding closer to reality as he has that physical touch, that presence of his friends here with him. One moment they were helping others, then they were washed into this intense mayhem, and Tidus clings onto the pair of them, eventually raising his head - the kiss already left to his temple, as welcome as any part of this physical embrace - so he can look between the both of them.

They all look so worn. So tested. His fingers grip tightly against their clothes, as if to offer his own support in his presence.

"Thank you guys." His eyes are wet, tears barely holding around the trim, dripping at the slightly twitch of movement from his head. A smile small but deep on his face. "I love you two a lot. Thanks..."

Whatever other words he could say he doesn't, only wanting to appreciate this: his friends, his best friends for life, no matter what the future is. It'll always be true.

[flatteries]

Inigo feels worn. He's not so sure about brave, though. Even now relief has set in, both of his friends okay and right here with him, he can still feel the remainders of the fear that surged through him upon seeing the two of them like that. It mostly leaves him very tired for the moment, even as he smiles right back at Tidus, especially at seeing the other's relief. His happy tears, him saying he loves the two of them. It'd bring a smile to Inigo's fance instinctively, even if it hadn't already been there.

He makes sure to hold Tidus, to reassure the other that he's really here, that they're really here, that they're not going anywhere.

The civilians can wait for a few more moments. Inigo first needs to make absolutely sure that his friends are okay.

(His own okay-ness can be put on the backburner for a while, according to him.)

"Love you too," he says, softly, but then his gaze turns towards Taiki. The other is looking better, but..

"Are you feeling better too, Taiki..? Does it still hurt?" He can't put the thought of just how much the other looked like he was in pain out of his head.

[longforgottenpromise]

"Please don't worry about me. I'm alright now." He was, the pain was gone and so were the weird markings on his skin. Leaving behind just the ghost of terror and grief that he had felt.

For now his friends are more important. "I love you both a lot too." It was true, a fierce love that burned in his heart. He had so few friends in his life that those he made could never not be the most precious people to him.

He knows they should continue, there are still so many people out here to save. But for the moment he just wants to hold the two of them and feel secure in the fact that they are still here, all of them.

[blitzcheer]

It's only now (was something said before? did he miss it?) that Tidus realises that anything was wrong with Taiki, Inigo's concern making him look to the other, though Taiki gives his soft-spoken reassurance.

They had all been caught in their own illusions, their own fears. Like a passing despair brought in on a breeze, but they had been near enough to find and anchor each other again. His friends - this was what kept him going, what kept him sane. Having them around, knowing they would always be near.

Without more than a quiet "hold on", grip still around their shoulders, Tidus bows his head, and focuses; though focus is a struggling task with the haze of exhaustion over his mind, and his mind is what he needs. But it starts to come, a perhaps worrisome sight with the pyreflies that come about him. This time though, Tidus's form doesn't change, doesn't lessen; and it takes a moment to be, but then the ringed poles of his shell barrier envelops them each, a stronger spell than Tidus usually musters on the fly.

He breathes after, his hold sagging, head hanging more. But he grips his fingers into their clothes, brings his head upright to smile at the pair.

"We'll keep safe. We'll keep going - and we'll keep an eye each other. This stupid place isn't gonna get us again!"

[flatteries]

Inigo's gaze rests on Taiki for another moment, but then he opts to trust their friend, especially in a situation like this. If the other says he feels better, then Inigo just has to trust he really does - smiling to himself.

And perhaps smiling even a bit more when that Shell spell is cast over them. There's a brief moment of concern when the other seems more exhausted after casting it, but if Tidus is still capable of smiling, he's probably fine too.

"Come on then," Inigo says, nudging the other two a little before he starts to rise to his feet. "Let's get up then. Next time you see something strange happen, just quickly grab the other two's hands."

He pauses before making a bit of a teasing face at Tidus.

"That goes for you too." Even if Tidus is much better with it than he used to be - Inigo still can't help but gently tease, hoping to keep this hopeful and happy spirit going, rather than thinking too hard about what just happened to them.