2024-06-25 - Back To The Future, Part One
| Title: Back To The Future, Part 1 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: The Device-wielders and friends finally discover the Belkan Queen's long-lost cache... and her present whereabouts(!) Jail Scaglietti offers assistance. | |
| Who: Lera Camry, Setsuna Higashi, Kyouka Okazaki, Endo Naoki, Nori Ankou | |
| Where: The Pericosmic Array | |
| OOC - IC Date: 6/25/2024 - 06/17/16 | |
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA
Wow, it's been a lot.
Here is a selection of relevant, well-understood facts and events:
PAST PRESENT
- After using Soaring Sky and Fallen Stern to relive past wielders' memories of Belka's tragic and ancient history, including witnessing a brutal war with incredibly powerful Outsider aliens attracted to all magic and determined to consume it which decimated Belka, the subsequent attempt by the Belkan Queen to prevent their return by sending her Knights to steal the Hearts of other magical worlds for their own defense, and the civil war among the Knights that resulted from the revelation that these Hearts included at least one person, the Pillar of Cephiro, its princess...
- ...our heroes were able to retrieve sufficient time-space coordinates of the Pericosmic Array to try a dimensional transport.
- There, they witnessed the tragic fate of the Princess of Cephiro and Umbral, Ashen and Argent Knights, who fought to the bitter end while the Queen of Belka took her last gasp behind them, turning into a tree. As her last act, the Cephiran Princess was responsible for sending Fallen Stern and Souverain Heraut away in order to get a second chance at life somewhere else, and also transported her body and the three Knights' corpses to parts unknown.
- Before she perished, the Queen of Belka entered an Imperial Search Query into the Pericosmic Array to find the lost, stolen Hearts of magical worlds, which she had hidden beyond anyone's memories by casting them into the future, in order to protect these worlds from the implacably alien Outsiders. Her intent was to bury even the memory of magic forever; the only reason she asked the Array to find what she had hidden was so that, far in the future (our game's present), she could repeat her task and once again cast these memories even further away, towards a kind of sad safety.
- That query would not complete for a thousand years (eg, in the present day of our game).
- Also she turned herself into a tree in order to prolong her life within the Pericosmic Array, where she had been trapped for years due to a tragic accident involving the Cephiran Princess and the Knights. That tree died in front of them, just a collapsing, empty shell of bark, but for a single seed which escaped the Array as a mote of dark green light.
JAIL SCAGLIETTI
- In the present, this all started because Jail Scaglietti sought the coordinates to the Pericosmic Array for his own reasons, as yet unplumbed.
- It has been strongly implied that he is at least partially responsible for introducing Ren and Endo to Fallen Stern and Souverain Heraut, and was also distantly involved in events that brought Soaring Sky to Earth. Also he unleashed the Book of Darkness on Hayate Yagami and had something to do with the disappearance of Strike Wolf's creator, so really, he's been the one behind a whole lot of Nanohite suffering. What a jerk.
- A few years ago he arranged a trap in order to download the memories of Fallen Stern and Souverain Heraut, and also collected much data on Soaring Sky. This data was complete enough for him to make a copy of each Device, but they were imperfect, in large part because none of the originals had uncorrupted memories of their own pasts.
- The Dark Devices were able to take more complete and penetrating downloads of Fallen Stern and Soaring Sky, which gave Jail a vast amount of the information he wanted. They were not, however, quite able to replicate this feat with Souverain Heraut, in large part because Dark Heraut unexpectedly went rogue and refused to use a hostage crisis in their own favor.
- Although Jail's team absconded with the damaged and disobedient Dark Heraut, its wielder, one of several seemingly 'empty' adult clones of Fate Testarossa, was left behind, and has been staying at the Harlaown residence under careful surveillance. She does appear to have a mind, there just isn't very much in it. She has been docile, even pleasant, more of a patient than a captive.
FUTURE TENSE
- Since using the skein in the present took our heroes to the Array about fifteen minutes after the death of the Belkan Queen, a thousand years in the past, they realized that in order to reach the Array in the present, they would need to first travel a thousand years into the future. However, neither Midchildan nor Belkan magicks available to them have any chronomancy.
- The Sailor Senshi also need to go to the future, and Chibi-Usa Tsukino can get everyone there, so a team-up was agreed upon. However, in the interests of time we will be skipping the BSSM part of things tonight; it can be revisited another time if people care to do so. Suffice it to say that the groups departed together but got separated in the chaos of the timestream.
BEFORE DEPARTURE
- An open and unexpected question: It appears that the Fate-clone has gained enough awareness of what's going on around her to ask to be taken along. Plaintive and gentle, she feels, if not literally responsible, at least partially responsible for her creator's wrongdoings and suffering visited upon her saviors. She has no Device of her own and would not be able to go as a combatant, but is nevertheless resolute -- about as much as anyone has ever seen her -- about wanting to be there for everyone, and for herself, as a witness and extra pair of hands.
- We're not going to spend all night having a fully on camera debate about whether she gets to come on the trip, so please discuss over +ooc and come up with a decision together (based on however your characters would feel). No wrong answer here plotwise, go with your hearts. While you discuss this I will also pose a sceneset that will start us off arriving at the Pericosmic Array for a second time, without requiring a yea or nay about the status of the clone.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
NOW
Things started off promisingly, with a swift teleport to a misty Door of Time, which an eventually friendly Sailor Pluto allowed the group collectively to pass through, into the Time Corridor that connects past, present and future. It was an overwhelming dimension, however, and despite their best efforts the group fractured, unable to find each other in the churning, chaotic maze.
Our heroes were able to reunite thanks to their connections to the Golden Skein and one another, and activate it. This time the transfer was much swifter than the last, paradoxically easier despite the stressful nature of the invocation.
They reappear inside a giant prism. It looks very much as it did a thousand years ago: if there were a world inside Princess Serenity's Ginzuishou it might look something like this; transparent planes, intricate in their faceting, break up the view in all directions and at numerous angles, creating a particularly dizzying visual complexity.
Even if it was just the one window, though, it would be spectacular, because what's on the other side...
One might be forgiven for at first mistaking it for the same blackness from which everyone emerged. But it is not a true darkness. With the faintness that suggests some astonishing distance are pinpricks of light. They could be stars, but those celestial bodies, for all their magnificent diversity, do not come in as many colors as these. There are whites and reds and golds and blues, but also verdant greens and brilliant violets; tawny oranges and blushing pinks. Whatever cosmos is outside of this observatory, it is not the skies known to Earth.
And it is beautiful...
The chamber itself is massive. A transparent force field provides a floor to stand on; there is more crystalline-like facetting beneath, suggesting that the overall shape of the Pericosmic Array is more of a spherical gemstone than anything else.
There is no treasure here, and no dying tree; the remains of the Belkan Queen are past even the memory of dust. Past the memory of anything; no shadow falls across the mind of Endo Naoki or anyone else. Any ghosts of the past are long gone from this place. From this time, which Hayate Yagami and Ami Mizuno co-innovated an Absolute Watch now around her slim and pale wrist to be able to say with certainty: this time is, indeed, the present, just from an extraordinarily different dimensional direction.
All that remains, now, is the central console -- a pedestal made of the same energy-stuff as the floor. From very distant past experience that was also only a couple weeks ago depending on how you reckon it, people are aware that it accepts voice commands.
It is very, very quiet here.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lera couldn't help but gawk at the Door of Time. After years on the Earth, and seeing its many magical wonders, the ones she hasn't sen continue to amaze.
She draws a gasp as they appear in the magical prism, though. The orange-haired girl shifts her weight, a little, peering out at the darkness -- her amber eyes squinting -- and then there's an 'ah' of realization. Stars. Or...
No, something else.
She looks around the Pericosmic Array, with an expression that is half-impressed and half-worried. "It seems like it worked," she says. She hesitates.
"...I guess all we can do is try it, right?" She motions at the console.
COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi transforms into Cure Passion!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Setsuna Higashi--Cure Passion--is still worried about Sailor Moon and her friends. But she has to put that aside for now, because what they're doing is going to require her full attention--and keeping Lera and their young friend (The Fate-clone) safe is part of that. ...Sh wants to keep everyone safe, of course, but those two are highest on her mind.
Here and now, she looks around at the beautiful sights. "It's amazing," she comments quietly.
She steps out onto the force field, still quiet, and moves to stand next to Lera. "The tree is gone. ...Everyone feels all right?"
A pause.
"I think so, too," she says. "...I'm ready."
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Dynamic!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
The Door of Time is an impressive sight--as are the corridors, even if there is some momentary confusion as the party gets split up. It's tense going for a moment, but Kyouka breathes a sigh of relief as the touch down into the Pericosmic Array once again. she's henshined, her new barrier jacket now more of a bright violet tunic over shorts, with armored gauntlets and boots.
Kyouka takes a moment to gaze out into space to appreciate the multitude of lights, which are a pleasant sight despite the memory of their last foray here.
She nods to Lera. "Yep, this is the place."
Clara, meanwhile, insisted on coming, (insisting that the would need her talents if they wanted to carry out their mission successfully, and definitely not because she's worried about Strike Wolf and maybe a little bit about Kyouka), is more awestruck taking in everything for the first time. She's let her fox ears and tails out, wearing a black dress with a white labcoat over it.
She shivers a little at the enormity of it all.
Kyouka nods to Setsuna. "I'm good. You okay, Clara?"
Clara corsses her arms, flicking an ear in annoyance. "I'm fine. Let's just get on with this."
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki transforms into Barrier Jacket Fang!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Endo had some trepidation at returning to the paracosmic array. His last visit had not gone well for either himself or his traveling companions, and he's steeled himself for the worst.
Which, thankfully, does not happen. There are no more ghosts, just the jagged angles and sparkling cosmos beyond. The boy visibly loosens, and at Setsuna's question he extends an arm to wiggle experimentally in front of his face.
"I thought I'd be older in the future." He muses.
To Lera's assessment he makes a short and determined nod. The boy shifts the weapon he carries on his shoulder, readjusting Fallen Stern's weight as he starts toward the console. He approaches.
He leans down to speak into it like he's using the speaker before the drive through window . "Hello," Says Endo hesitantly. "Can you...tell me where Hearts are, please?"
COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Zerstörer!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
The Fate clone has been unobtrusive in the background throughout the journey; the chaotic Time-Space Corridor alarmed her, but she was rescued easily enough by a passing flyer (being able to fly -- or teleport-hop, as Passion can -- was a huge benefit to reuniting the group in a space where gravity's direction changed continuously).
The comparable quiet of the Pericosmic Array seems to be a shock to her; her familiar red eyes are massive in her face, and she stares around with silent awe.
Hayate -- who, if things go badly, is only a combatant at long range today, maybe, if she can hold the latest Schwertkruz together and not accidentally blow it up with too much mana, again -- flanks Endo as he approaches the pedestal. She's also quiet, but very alert, constantly scanning the area for danger.
The pedestal answers Endo's question with a question, which is a kind of demoralizing start, but in the defense of this cosmic search engine, he was kind of nonspecific.
<< Query: is this in reference to the Imperial Search Query? >>
Beat.
<< It finished half an hour ago, >> it adds helpfully, quite an understatement for a task of magical computation that took a thousand years to conclude.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lera looks sideways at Setsuna. Then, she nods her head -- her expression thoughtful. "Me, too," she says.
She looks at Kyouka and nods. She looks at Endo -- and she cracks a smile at that, before she shoots him a grin. "Hey, give it some time. The future might surprise you!"
She falls quiet, though, as Endo approaches -- and asks the big question.
She sucks a breath in, at the console's hour. It finished half an hour ago -- something that took so long, and with such a price. She steps up behind Endo. "Can... can you show us the results?"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Passion tilts her head at Endo when he says he thought he'd be older. "But we traveled through time," she says. "Our ages wouldn't change..."
She is not always the best at jokes.
Clara seems annoyed, but Passion only looks at her for a moment, before nodding. She considers the question, and reiterates from Lera:
"Please show us the results of the query. In addition, please list for us all persons who have accessed this data and what time they did so."
They might be late. There's no way to know.
Passion waits, arms at her side--no more teleport jumping for now.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<< Yes, >> chimes the pedestal in response to Lera's query. << Fortunately, it is possible to retrieve the results multiple times. >> It sounds rather proud of this capability; maybe the magnitude of its achievement isn't totally lost on it after all.
It has no screen, but if it did, these emoticons would be present, and are certainly contained in its voice:
^_^ :D ^_^
Passion cuts to the chase with the skill of someone raised around a lot of computers.
<< Yes, >> chimes the pedestal again. << Would you prefer to see the Magical Memory Repository as it was when it was found half an hour ago, or with the live feed in the present moment, 20398420.1924193472398579832.10934.3? .4? .5? >>
Presumably it will get to her second request... after it handles the first.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lera looks at Passion, then smiles. "Good thinking, y'know?"
The other question, though -- that gives her pause. Which does she want to see? She makes a face. "Uh..."
Someone may want to step in.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<< .6? .7? >> :D
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka hasn't quite mastered flight yet--Clara had to snag her in the chaotic mess of time travel, and Kyouka would have made a grab for You and Hayate too, if needed.
Kyouka looks to Endo and grins. "Yeah, but I doubt you'd want to be a thousand years older. 'Sides, aren't we in the present, anyway?"
Kyouka approaches when Hayate and Endo do. She keeps an eye on You out of concern. "Are you okay, You?"
"Half an hour... kinda impressive we got here so close, honestly." Imperial search query. "That sounds like the one."
"Showing it where it is right now would be best, right? If we want to get to it and secure it?"
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Endo pauses when the Array informs them that the query is completed. He glances up at Lera, then nods approvingly.
"Ohgood idea. That too." A short nod at Passion.
He still has his face almost pressed against the pedestal, waiting expectantly.
When the device answers he glances back toward the others before deciding Kyouka has the right idea. "How about now, yeah?"
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Fortunately. Pasion has a bad feeling about thir being late.
At least the system is friendlier than Labyrinth systems teend to be.
"Yes," Passion chimes in. "Please show us the current state of the repository."
She's curious about the other, but...
COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene de Diamant!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"I suppose," says LA SIRENE DE DIAMANT, "that it's good we were here on time."
La Sirene de Diamant has been here, of course, all along. She was no doubt lurking in the background, perhaps sticking to dark, shadowed corners. Alternatively, she had taken a bit of a step over to ensure there weren't any ravening hordes just outside a door, or anything lurking in a corner; things like that.
Right now, faintly outlined in strange anti-light, she's looking at the group present, person by person. Her expression gently invites guidance. Cure Passion and Endo are the ones who get it most clearly, but it seems Passion is addressing the computer!
La Sirene, wise perhaps to the perils of home automation devices, holds her peace.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
You nods affirmatively at Kyouka. Her lips are slowly beginning to stretch into a bemused smile. Maybe even she perceives that there's something a little silly about the consciousness of the Array.
<< Now showing the Magical Memory Repository, live feed, >> announces the Pericosmic Array.
The entire prism shimmers, and the cosmos around it is hidden by a gradually unfurling plane of light. In an instant it has transformed from observatory to planetarium, as it were.
<< SoundTracker>> Theme of Friendship - Fresh Pretty Cure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SceOScrJBY8
The stars whoosh by -- not just yellows, reds and whites but stranger colors too; this COULD be the universe, but maybe not THEIR universe, or maybe MULTIPLE universes. After a time, though, and many galaxies traversed, the viewpoint reaches a beautiful golden star... and slowly zooms in.
It remains a smallish orb, a distant dot, as the viewpoint passes an empty rock, almost an asteroid. Then a couple gas giants -- wait, was that the slightest glimpse of a castle on one of their moons?
But when it goes by Saturn there's really no question at all about which star system this is.
The rest of the solar system goes by in a blur. It would be a more splendid astronomical view than virtually any human has had of Jupiter and Mars, but...
...ah. There's the Earth. It might be some peoples' first time seeing it, but not everyone's -- there have been a few trips to the Moon, over the years, not to mention the occasional orbiting starship.
It is as splendid a sight as ever.
<< SoundTracker>> Static
<< Now adding audio feed, >> the Pericosmic Array declares, and Hayate claps her hands over her ears as the chamber is roiled by this cacophony that for an instant must be the entire planet, every transmission or maybe even simply every sound, smeared together, white noise. The Array politely lowers its volume without being asked.
And gradually it begins to clarify, and syllables can be picked out from the static, even as the viewpoint rotates around the Earth until it is flying over Asia...
"****************finity,*************"
...over Japan...
"****************ty, the infinite************"
...over Tokyo...
"**I********infi****, ***************mory-ory"
It's an inhuman voice -- tiny, and it could be cute if it wasn't absolutely lacking in affect. Instead it is the sound one might imagine coming from a pint-sized robot.
...Tama...
"**I am*********ty, the******************"
...Clover Town Street...
"*******************, the infinite********y"
...the Momozono Residence.
Or what's left of it.
Love's home -- SETSUNA'S home -- has been demolished, entirely, by a dense forest of writhing vines. There are so many memories in the bright white plank siding, splintered; the bits of rooftop caught on tentacles that erupted from beneath the foundation; there's the kitchen table where Setsuna and Love tried to feed each other their least favorite vegetable, caught between two vines above a gigantic, lidless yellow eye.
Every inch of plant matter is oozing a visible, risible black-purple miasma. Familiar, overfamiliar, to those who have faced one of the greatest opponents of their time. It is sorrow itself...
Closer, closer, the viewpoint passes through the wreckage, towards the center of this tragedy. There is no sign of any of the Momozonos, which is probably merciful.
Until -- at last! -- there it is, hovering amid what used to be Setsuna's bedroom, and is now only wreckage:
The Magical Memory Repository.
Something that wears the shape of an infant lamb fairy, which has been cared for with diligence and, yes, passion, by four girls and a ferret, for several years, intones:
"I am Infiniti, the infinite memory-ory..." The distortion of the last word in its strange chant is because, in a subtle way, it is voicing a soft bleat.
Its soft black lamb eyes are gone, replaced by points of white fire. It is suspended, seemingly under its own power, floating in midair, without any of its usual aimless bobbing -- an unnatural stillness.
"I am Infiniti, the infinite memory-ory..."
"Wrong..." coos another voice, far more familiar in a way than this distorted facsimile of a beloved baby. Feminine. Vicious. Dark. "You are... MINE."
The Pericosmic Array's voice interjects, assuredly:
<< This data was last accessed immediately upon its availability. >>
Beat. The viewpoint remains steadily fixed on Chiffon -- Infiniti? -- in an ultra close-up. But a pair of hands are entering the magical camera lens' field of vision, snow-white hands, graceful yet spindly, almost twiglike, with horribly sharp, blood-red nails.
<< This data was accessed by the original requestor. >>
"One thousand years of planning have all led to this very moment," gloats the extraordinarily powerful Labyrinth agent whose evil plant magic is matched only by her scientific approach to the extraction and efficient utilization of the power of sorrow. She is personally responsible not only for traumatic nightmares for any and all of Fresh Pretty Cure, but NUMEROUS other magical heroes, who she's embroiled in plans of her own as well as complex schemes intertwined with allies as varied as the Black Moon Clan to Ends of the World himself.
But mostly, nightmares of Setsuna Higashi, for whom she was the closest thing in Labyrinth she ever had to a mother, in the same way, perhaps, that a chainsaw is the closest thing that a table setting might have to a butter knife.
NORTHA.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
A live feed. Setsuna waits for it, and the stars, as they whhoosh by, are comforting. She marvels at the beauty of this dimension's worlds. Earth zooms in. Wait.
...Why would it be on Earth?
Setsuna's eyes widen, as she sees. As she wonders. And he audio feed adds...
A srangled scream erups from Cure Passion's throat as she recognizes the house. "Aaah--"
She sees it. She sees 'Infinity'.
She falls to her knees as easily as anything, thuddin painfully on the ground. "MOM!" she calls. "Dad... Love..."
"Chiffon, Tarte..."
She doesn't know if any of them are safe.
"It was--It was her," she says. "N-Northa was the Queen all along..."
Northa. The woman who killed Seetsuna and led to her resurrection as Cure Passion. The woman who scared her even more than Precia Testarossa.
"It was her, and I--"
"I--"
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"What in the--" Lera says, the last word cut off when she forcefully clamps her mouth shut. Her fingers tense, as she sees a very familiar house. She has eaten dinner there; talked to Love, to their parents. She even knows Chiffon.
Her back goes rigid for a moment. Then, she looks at Cure Passion. Her eyes widen.
Northa was the Queen.
"But... how," she murmurs, quietly. She reaches a hand down, then, and sets it on Setsuna's shoulder. "We... we've gotta stop her, y'know? All of us together..."
Lera swallows. "...It has to be enough."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka nods to You, though Clara is still watching her with a touch more suspicion.
Still, Kyouka's attention is drawn by the display of the passage of stars, galaxies, moons... "Whoa..." is all she can mutter. But she, too, recognizes the solar system once they're close enough. She winces as the sound comes in, but then stares s it begins to zoom...
"... No way..." Tokyo? Really? Of all the places...
Her eyes widen as she recognizes the house that's being zoomed in on, and she starts forward before she can remind herself this is just a projection. "Shit--" She's missing some context on who this Norta is, but--
That doesn't really matter to her as she turns to see Setsuna falling to her knees. Kyouka moves to kneel beside her, resting a hand on her other shoulder. Her voice is firm, determined and resolute. "We'll stop her. We'll get to your family and make sure they're safe."
She looks up. "Hayate-chan, Clara, can you get us back to Earth?"
Clara's tail flicks in worry, but she nods as she unfolds her arms. "Right."
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The stars shine and twinkle. La Sirene smiles, faintly. Saturn, one of her favorite planets (inevitably).
Earth.
Japan.
Tokyo.
A district.
Something is happening on the image. Distortions. Destructions.
Northa.
La Sirene immediately positions herself, left side forward and arm upraised in the pinky-and-index-upraised gesture that others have known. Her hand raises, but stops - the charm uncalled. AS OF YET.
And then she looks towards Kyouka, and towards Clara. "Yes," she says, and struggles not to make it sound portentious.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Endo winces briefly at the cacophony of noise, then falls silent as the images begin to play. The vistas start off well, even as they become more familiar. As the Momozono house and its current state comes into view Endo'sface falls, eyes widening. His fingers clench the weapon in his hand even tighter as he hears the voice and Setsuna confirms its owner.
He is not as familiar with Northa as she is, but he knows her deeds well enough.
He turns, seeming to have the same thought as others. "We should go back." There's a sense of urgency in his voice, and he makes an emphatic nod at the others assurances.
"We can stop her." He agrees--though, not without worry.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<< SoundTracker>> An Incident Occurs - Fresh OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT0bbcrDM0U
Northa's cruel hands drift closer and closer to Chiffon. They hesitate just for the barest instant, pulling back against an expected resistance--
--and then make contact.
"I am Infiniti," she bleats without objection, not only helpless as normal but helplessly, hopelessly unpresent; so much less a person right now, so much more a thing. "The infinite memory-ory."
"Yessss," Northa croons. "How you've grown. Grown strong, not only with sorrow but with the memory of a dozen worlds. Now I will feed you a thousand. A million. All of them. All..."
Her smile, always unpleasant, becomes sick. Sick like the Belkan Queen's was, in those final moments before she succumbed to fully becoming a tree, only warped by even greater madness.
"And I haven't wasted this time either... this time, I won't be sending you to the future. Oh no," she explains, while caressing Chiffon's head in what could be an almost motherly way if it wasn't horrific instead. "No, I have finally determined the method of your destruction. With your help, we will end the threat of magic once and for all... throughout all of space and all of time. Yeees. You will save... so many lives, little Infiniti..."
She looks up, directly into the camera of the Array, as though she knows it's there. As though she knows who's looking through it.
"And YOU," she smiles, "Are already much too late, if you're trying to reach me on this pimple of a planet."
She tucks Chiffon under one arm like a newspaper and strides out of the Momozono house. The vines follow her, receding from the house -- and with rather appalling precision, reconstructing it. It's almost more disturbing watching those shoots and vines reform the home pristinely than it was seeing them tear it apart. For someone dead-set on eliminating magic itself from the universe, that is a serious display of power and control. It is, as every Device-wielder knows, far, far more difficult to put something back together with magic than it is to explode it apart.
Once the house looks normal again, the last of the vines emerge from it like a giant serpent in triplicate. There are huge, person-sized lumps, as though three people have been swallowed whole.
"I will always welcome you at home, my daughter," Northa tells Setsuna. "Along with the rest of your family. Return to Labyrinth... if you dare."
She's never needed the haunted mansion to step back and forth between worlds. Northa, Chiffon and presumably the Momozonos in tow, step through a black portal her fingernails carve straight into existence.
And then it, and they, and she, are gone.
"Son of a BITCH," says You.
Her smile grew wider and wider during the light show, until it was almost crawling off her lips, because it was too big for her face -- not really her smile at all. But, all the same, a familiar one. Until, upon the reveal of the Belkan Queen Northa making off with Infiniti, that smile vanished, replaced by a crazed expression, something between panic and dismay.
This is not the first time a Fate clone has been inhabited by the consciousness of Time-Space Criminal Jail Scaglietti.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
There are tears in Passion's eyes. Grief and terror and quiet, a banked fire, fury war within her. But Lera puts a hand on her shoulder, and sodoes Kyouka, and Passion picks herself up again.
"Chiffon..."
Infinti.
Passion looks innto Northa's eyes through the way, though she is afraid. She looks, and hears her speak. The house is repaired; she doesn' know why. Just to show off? And...
"Northa..."
Tears still in her eyes, Passion curls a fist at her side.
"Right," she says. "It has to be enough."
"All of us, together..."
She presses her lips together to focus herself. The emotions swirling within her are suddenly less expressed, but no less present.
"I'm going," she says. "Everyone..."
She steps away from the group, and bows. "Please come to Labyrinth with me."
She thought she would never go home again. She thought that chapter of her life was over. And now--
You speaks up. Passion jerks her head towards her. "If you're hurting her," Passion warns...
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lera's fingers squeeze Passion's shoulder one more time. Then, her hand falls at her side; she looks at Nori, Endo, and Kyouka. She nods to them all. They can do this. They can--
She looks at the clone of Fate. Her eyes start to widen, as she realizes. Of course. Of course, Jail would--
She sucks a breath in.
"Let her go," Lera demands.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
There are almost too many crises to focus on at the moment. The queen back in a new form, somehow not a seed anymore. Her goals of eradicating magic everywhere. Setsuna's home and family in danger (though the home is considerably less imperiled for some reason known only to this Northa.) Kyouka worries for Setsuna and her family--the same way she would for any of her friends--but Setsuna is also her first magical girl friend, who has supported her in times of need.
And Kyouka resolves to be Certain for Setsuna's sake, in her moment of need.
And then Jail makes his presence known, and Kyouka scowls, standing up when Setsuna does. "Alright you bastard. You got your answer, so leave her alone and buzz off. You've done enough to that girl as it is."
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
"Yeah. Of course." Endo agrees to Passion's request immediately. It is not a place he would like to be, but there's little choice in the matter at this point.
He jerks his head toward You when the girl speaks. He didn't know someone taught her bad words.
And then it comes obvious what's actually going on. His first instinct is to prepare to bring Fallen Stern to bear, but he quickly realizes that there'd be no good accomplished with that course of action.
With little else to do, he waits for You's passenger to speak further.
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
The tears glisten on Passion's cheeks.
What Siren could ignore such a plea?
With a nod, la Sirene de Diamant concurs; she steps it up, too, adding with a faint, "I shall, though I do not know the way --"
And then the girl speaks. Or rather, something speaks, and the girl is how it comes out. La Sirene pivots to point her left hand in that gesture towards her... and then slowly lowers it, her fingers relaxing as she stares. She does not echo the words of the others; the staring is probably enough.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<< Link disrupted. Re-establishing... >>
The bright walls of the Pericosmic Array prism fade back into observation mode. Hard to say how long it will take it to find Chiffon again. But then, she isn't lost, not exactly, not anymore...
You -- Jail -- sucks his lip. "Such impoliteness. You think I'm here to gloat? Though, come to think of it, you should probably be thanking me... if I hadn't made these arrangements, you wouldn't have been able to follow your quarry nearly as quickly, because you wouldn't have known as soon. For that matter, considering how easily she subdued your associate, she might have snapped you right back up as well."
He shakes You's head. Fate's pretty, stunningly long golden hair sends curtainous waves down his back.
"I will try to focus," he offers, superciliously. "We find ourselves in the unlikely position of an alliance, though of course as you know in some ways you've been my allies all along-- FOCUS." That isn't quite an apology, the way he cuts himself off, but it's almost in the neighborhood. This is someone freaking out and trying to pull themselves together, and coping very differently from Cure Passion. "You want to save that... fairy, and Miss Higashi's family. I want to save magic itself. ...You probably want that also," he reflects.
Jail strolls over to the central console, though he could be prevented from reaching it by violence if desired. He seems agitated but not like he's going to blow something up, for whatever that's worth. "Believe me, I had no intention of giving the game away here," he murmurs. "That woman just makes me so frustrated."
He shakes You's head again, and huffs.
"Enough of that. You children, bring this unit with you when you go to Labyrinth, and I will send the cavalry to its location."
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"We'll go with you," Lera promises. She looks at Setsuna -- and there's a small smile, before she nods her head. "Always did want to see it, y'know?"
Then, she looks back at Jail -- at You -- and there's a moment of hesitation. She frowns for a moment, as she considers it. And as much as she hates it...
Ending magic forever would end every hope they have.
"...All right," she agrees, hesitantly. "It looks like we've got a common enemy. And... we have to get the Momozonos out of there."
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Everyone is sure to go. Passion didn't expect anyone to say no--this is their mission, together, not just hers. All the same, now that her family is involved, she had to ask. She had to make it formal.
Setsuna knows the way, more or less. But before she can explain that to Nori...
"It had crossed my mind," Sesuna says to Jail, with her usual flat affect. Now that she's trying to hold herself together, it's hard to also show her overwhelming feelings.
"...We do also want that," she admits.
"We will bring her," Setsuna agrees. "But after that..."
"Our condition for accepting your help is that you free her. Whatever you do to control her--after we do this, you need to let her go."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"Of course," says Kyouka to Passion's request. There is a momentary, lopsided grin. "You didn't even need to ask."
But that fades quickly enough as Jail explains himself more fully, along with a stroll over to the console. Kyouka scowls, bending her knees and then lunging forward, aiming to interpose herself between the Jail-controlled clone and the console, arms spread wide.
"She's not a 'unit', you sicko. She's a person. And the moment we make sure everyone is safe, we're gonna find you and have a talk."
The talk will start with a punch to the jaw.
Passion has an extra condition, and Kyouka nods. "You set all of them free, and you leave Fate alone after all this is done."
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene de Diamant [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
La Sirene de Diamant keeps staring at Jail-through-the-girl. It is not a friendly stare. In fact it's kind of menacing - or at least, there is something backing it. Even if she might not contend against Jail Scaglietti - well, some things can only be borne so far.
"Without magic, I would be thrust into despair," la Sirene answers Jail, "and the people who are within my charge would be helpless in the face of an uncaring cosmos."
So that's a yes.
She glances at Passion, at Kyouka.
"Yes," she concurs with them.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Endo frowns, the boy's lips pressing into a thin line. His eyes flicker between his assembled friends, and eventually he offers: "I agree."
He doesn't seem particularly happy with this arrangement, but he offers no argument or addendum to Passion's terms.
He's already scooting back over to the woman that facilitated their arrival, preparing to return home.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
"Done," Jail agrees instantaneously to Setsuna's demand, tossing You's head like it's nothing to him.
She is nothing to him.
There's a chilling intellect behind his eyes, but all the brains in the world can't give him a heart.
No wonder he's obsessed with a project to eliminate the heart as a requirement for accessing the deepest, most powerful magicks in the universe...
He raises an eyebrow at Kyouka... then looks past her, directly at Clara. "Careful now. This is a rare moment, you oughtn't waste it. I'm not so sure everyone in your life would agree with your priorities."
But he refuses to say another word after that; indeed, You's eyes fade back into a more typical vagueness, and her smile becomes far more gentle.
The return to Earth is swift and thankfully does not land them a thousand years in the past. Hayate explains that now that they've visited twice, in two different times, they should be able to calculate the Array's location in the present simply by drawing a line, so they can return whenever they like. But she explains tersely, because there are much more important things to consider right now.
The Momozono home is eerily empty, when Setsuna opens the door.
