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

[wishalone]

It happens so fast.

The setting around them changes again, this time to something bright and colorful and serenely beautiful, but Yondu reacts like they'd stepped straight into hell. Kyoko isn't about to argue him on it. They've both been through enough already, and she's already seen him walk through one horrible memory, she isn't about to stand there and watch him face down another one.

Except then there's a man behind them. Behind Yondu. Stabbing him through with his own arrow, that arrow that came from the same place he did. Kyoko's heart stops in her throat. There is blood, alien blood, already so much of it.

And then, just a tick later, Kyoko sees red.

"You..."

Yondu is hurt bad. But healing magic is still her weak point, even if she's better at it now than she was a year ago. And even if it wasn't, they don't have time for her to stand around. This illusion went for the kill, first thing. And after everything they've been through today -- After everything she's been through --

"You -- !"

Kyoko charges without a second thought. Not for the state of her soul gem, not for her lack of information. There is only rage.

CW: delayed but alien blood, violence, character injury, all that in this thread

[yondu]

And he can't even get it in him to form words at the moment. The pain is sharp, made even sharper as rocky, glowing tentacles surge out of the ground. He ends up falling and doing his best to crawl off to the corner they'd just passed around. The consolation is they aren't as strong as the real thing. They're not as big, because this planet is not Ego. This is Yondu's regret given form.

"What do you think you're doing, girl," the man goads her, tentacles protecting him as he defends against her first attack with a swipe of illusory ground and stone. They streak with brilliant light as they knock at her.

Yondu's looks down at the arrow sticking out of him, trying to decide how he's gonna deal with this. He can't help her if he can't breathe. He can't get it out without bleeding everywhere, and even if he cauterizes it he'll be in so much pain he'll be nearly useless.

And after her previous encounter with that bastard of a father of hers, he can't just die on her. He's almost ready to make a call on the SCA but a knock from a stone whip has him yelling before he can hit the button.

The ground isn't actually shaking, but it's doing a good job of faking the way Ego would split open angrily during a tantrum.

[wishalone]

Even if she was thinking straight, she wouldn't have expected the tentacles. But she isn't a veteran magical girl for nothing, and she swings her spear up to block it, keep it from being a direct hit, even if it sends her flying back.

She flips around in midair, plants her feet against some kind of rocky formation that's appeared behind her, and launches herself right back at the god.

"I'm gonna beat your face in, that's what!"

She has an opening -- She thinks she has an opening -- Brilliant blue light in the corner of her eye. "Shit!" She swings her spear to knock it away, but it throws off her trajectory, and she's still sent sailing towards the ground instead. She lands on her feet in a crouch, blood boiling, but doesn't have time to even put eyes on the god -- She has to dodge another strike, rolling to the side.

If only she had enough magic left -- If only she had kept her temper back in the illusion of her dad's church... Hah. This isn't her first time in this position, is it? This is how she'd died. Ran out of magic to defend herself with. She could summon Rosso Phantasma for the first time since coming to the train, and she thinks it'd give her the edge she needs, but if she did...

She doesn't want to fail someone else. Not like this. Not again. Not ever. But she can feel it, the cold starting to seep into her limbs. Does she have enough magic to save Yondu, at least? If she can't even protect one person who matters to her before dying...

[magicurls]

Somehow, with the support of her friends, Mami has made it this far. She's holding onto her golden ribbon of hope like a lifeline, single-mindedly focused on saving people. It's her one driving purpose, and she will see it through.

But she'll be tested. She sees a familiar splash of red, too small on the ground, and a less familiar person badly hurt.

"We have to get to work again," she whispers to her small hedgehog companion. She shoots out a ribbon toward Kyoko with one hand, and Rosetta races across it to perch on the other girl's hand and clear some of the corruption from her gem. As for Mami, she leaps over to Yondu, spinning in the air to drop a few more rifles from her skirt. They fire in quick succession to buy time as she crouches by her patient.

"Hold on, Yondu-san. This'll only be a moment."

She sends her yellow light first to numb the wounded area, then with a quick one-two, removes the arrow and immediately floods the area with regeneration energy. It's only a few precious seconds, but it's close.

[yondu]

That's a whole lot funnier when he's not dyin'. And there's just a little part of him that notes that and wishes he could enjoy it.

He loosely grabs at his arrow with a messy hand once its removed, trying to muster his words. It's feeling better, he's not goddamn dying. But.

"This place been tearin' her up Mami." He grabs at her wrist with his free hand. "You gotta get to her before that gem goes black. It's gotta be gettin' real messy."

The tendrils burst from the ground and he knows they're all tricks of the mind but he's scared of 'em anyway. They're convincing. They jar every reminder of his last moments, an end to a life that he had precious little control of, and when he'd had the chance to he'd ruined it with his own mistakes. They come for Kyoko's back as well as her front and even mostly healed he's still dizzy from the experience.

"You're not powerful enough to do what I need. So I need you gone and to stop wasting my time!" Ego bites at Kyoko. That she's not strong enough, that she's only a bother.

[wishalone]

For a moment, Kyoko has a surreal moment where she wonders if all of this hasn't just been some weird dream.

The yellow shine of a ribbon. The cold leaving her limbs, her magic returning. Gunshots so familiar, so associated with hope.

Kyoko opens her eyes. She hadn't realized she'd closed them. They settle first on Rosetta, and recognition, realization, flickers in her mind like a fizzing lightbulb. Then, past her, to the glowing blue tentacle coming for her, and fast. The sound of it coming from all around her.

She closes a hand around Rosetta's back, holding the hedgehog to her as she leaps high into the air just in time. The two tentacles collide underneath her.

"I owe you a real tasty snack once we're done here, Rosetta," Kyoko says, just loud enough for her to hear. She lands safely on a rocky outcropping, and she encourages Rosetta to climb onto her shoulder. Her eyes find Yondu, next, and... Mami. Mami arrived just at the right moment to save her again. Not just her, this time. Yondu... Yondu's going to be okay now. Mami will make sure of that.

Then, the god talks to her. And the shock of what almost happened -- of her near acceptance of it -- is burned away by her temper flaring again. This won't be over until they deal with this damn illusion. Yondu's still in danger.

"Oh, shut up already," Kyoko snaps at Ego, pointing her spear at him. "You're the one who's wasting our time. And now?" She grins wide, canines showing. "You're fucked."

This move she's about to do is probably a bad idea. Her soul gem isn't completely clear yet, and this is going to use up a lot more of her magic than she usually uses in a fight. But she's pissed, and besides, she's certain it'll work better than just flinging herself at him over and over.

Kyoko squeezes her free hand in a fist over her soul gem on her chest. Beside her, there's a red flash as another Kyoko appears. Then another. She can only manage the two right now, not exactly because of where her magic's at, and more because she's still out of practice. But two should be enough. The Kyoko on her left twirls her spear before pointing it at Ego, too. The Kyoko on her right is at a more relaxed position, weight on one leg, arms over her head, spear dangling lazily behind her, all teenager cockiness. Each Kyoko has her own little white and green hedgehog on her shoulder.

"Y'see..." drawls the right-hand Kyoko.

"There's a reason I became a magical girl," the left-hand Kyoko finishes.

The three of them leap off the outcropping, dodging the strike of tentacles. They scatter, paths criss-crossing, spears flashing sparks as they knock aside more tentacles and lead them on merry goose chases across the colorful wonderland. It doesn't take long before it's hard to tell which Kyoko is the real one.

[magicurls]

Mami nods shakily. Were this situation less tense, she'd wonder why Yondu knows so much about soul gems. But he's right, and when she looks over her shoulder to check she's relieved that Rosetta is working so quickly.

"She'll be all right. My partner is purifying her gem," she reassures. But with a trick like what she's witnessing now...ah, there's room to worry again. Mami sighs.

But her first responsibility here is as a healer, and she ensures the job in front of her is finished. Then and only then does she turn back to the threat, flinging her arm to summon another set of rifles. Boom, boom, boom...her shots are methodical, avoiding all the Kyokos as she goes. But with how fast her teammate is, it's not so easy.

"I don't take kindly to those who hurt my friends!" she chides their opponent, almost dismissively.

CW: Memories of being spaced

[yondu]

"Whatever the reason, the both of you will do as a power source." Ego warns, as Yondu's pulling himself to his feet groggily, head dizzy from blood loss but recovered a lot more than he'd expect. Both these poor girls having to give their all out there.

"He's sayin' it to mess with me!" he warns them. "It ain't to get to you. You oughta get outa there."

And whatever this place is, it's working. Again that helpless feeling strikes. He just wants to leave. He logically should know this world will hold but he doesn't want to feel the cold seeping into his bones again, his vision fading, feel his heart struggle against the cold as his lungs struggled against the impossible.

They're killing Ego, and he doesn't want to feel it again. But Ego needs to goddamn die and logic brain knows that. Logic brain is forgetting that this isn't real, though.

"He's... He'll keep killin' his kids. He's the whole planet. He's not just that man. Wait-"

Right, he can't be the planet... can he? This is another world. But it feels so real. He puts his free hand on his head and looses his arrow to help fight off the tentacles, unable to quite deal with the artifice of it as the illusion starts working at his senses and self.

[wishalone]

"All the more reason to kick his ass."

For killing his kids. For trying to mess with Yondu. For trying to kill him.

The real Kyoko bares her teeth as she flips over a tentacle, feet kicking into the air above it. An illusion is less lucky, taking a blow to the back so hard it flickers and disappears, the tentacle passing through where it used to be. But it's served its purpose, and she still has another one. And now she's close. Close enough to Ego to finally end this.

Kyoko maneuvers into position, and fire begins to collect around her form, so hot that at its core, the flames are blue.

"What good is this power — "

She charges Ego. Behind him, red diamond chains flare into existence, criss-crossing and forming a wall several layers deep. Nowhere to run.

"If I don't use it — "

Too many blue tentacles to count converge on Kyoko before she can reach Ego, slamming her into the ground. But then she flickers — disappears —

While at the same time, the real Kyoko emerges behind the tentacles, taking advantage of their distraction to lunge at Ego again. This time, her spear is going to hit home. She's sure of it. And she's going to put as much magic into it as she can.

"To protect my family?!"

[magicurls]

Kyoko did it...

Mami is so proud she could cry. She almost does. But there's work to be done here still. She continues to pour her healing light into Yondu, flicking off a few stray tentacles with guns swirling around them.

This is Kyoko's battle, she's only the support. Well...Rosetta, too. The hedgehog is still with Kyoko, worriedly clearing the red gem as quickly as she can.

"She's right," Mami says softly. "No one is alone anymore."

[yondu]

For all that this is a special sort of hell (no one likes having their secrets bared in their rawest, most damning forms, and Ego is probably the most damning of his secrets), hearing someone call him family, or like a dad, or even give him a truly genuine, valued hug is something new to him. He never expected or asked it of Peter because he didn't do anything to deserve it. It honestly felt right that, even though he loved Peter, that it wouldn't be returned.

Unfortunate that all the reciprocation for all his emotions happened after he died.

But maybe, for once he can almost convince himself that someone feeling that way about him is alright. That he didn't get it wrong.

His head is at least clearing with all the healing, body finally acknowledging that it made a bunch of brand new blood just now and even though his stomach hurts that's more of a ghost pain brought on by the memory.

His arrow returns to his hand about the time that Ego drops into sand. She cuts off an exclamation aimed for Yondu's soul that he'd never be able to keep a family. She spares him another cutting jab in a day of emotional brutality for the lot of them.

The ground cracks further, and he knows it's not an illusion but he still yells a, "You did good! Let's get out of here! I just wanna be away from this shit." He holds out a hand for her to come and take. The illusion has calmed down greatly, with only a couple of tentacles (easily shot away). That falsely beautiful landscape still evident.

just a (late) endcap

[wishalone]

Kyoko stands where the illusion of Ego used to be, spear still embedded in the ground, panting heavily. It... worked. It worked. She watches as Rosetta pulls the murkiness out of her soul gem, replenishing the magic she just spent. Even so, she can feel the exhaustion starting to settle in again as the adrenaline begins to fade.

But before the fear can return -- the fear for Yondu, the image of his blood seeping from him, yet somehow the wounded look on his face was so much worse -- She hears him calling to her. Kyoko's head snaps up, and when she sees him standing there, holding his hand out to her, and Mami next to him, she...

She did it. She did it?

Relief almost takes her knees out from under her. But, at the same time, a bright feeling fills her, beginning from her toes and working all the way up until she feels like she's thrumming. She yanks her spear free, secures Rosetta on her shoulder, and leaps from one piece of brightly colored landscape to the next, bouncing her way over to them.

It's stupid to ask you're okay? when it's obvious none of them are okay today. And besides that, there's still blood on Yondu's clothes, but Kyoko knows from personal experience Mami's skills when it comes to healing. He's upright, talking, ready to move. She won't waste time asking something stupid like that.

Instead, she'll clutch at Yondu's hand tight and throw one arm around Mami's neck. Her family. "Yeah. Let's get the hell out of here."