flameguard | mygod | pc catchall

[ very, very quietly: ]

...I don't know.

Work in progress...?

[vin]

[ well see, he could answer that question. but the void flickers, purplish-pink-black, and then -- ]

[ When you finally defeat him, he looks less weakened than any of you would like.

Sazantos pushes back from the fight. Signa, the priestess who has served at his side in hell, exhausted and bleeding behind him, on the ground, looks up at him with big, soft eyes, but you barely pay attention. You're exhausted - breathing hard, you wipe your mouth and you shore up with your sword again, ready to finish him off. You're not afraid. You will do what has to be done. You have to. You -

Sazantos lifts his hands, and a flame - black, ominous, horrifying, a barrier not to cross - suddenly appears in front of you. You and the rest of the group leap backwards, you at the forefront, and you realize a second too late that Signa is talking.

a video link - 1:44 to 1:47. (CW for suicide: skippable if you need to!)

Signa's sacrifice grants Sazantos what he needs. Hell rumbles with the weight of Orsa's rebirth.

Sazantos turns his attention to the group. He looks over, and suddenly, you find that your vision has been completely overcome with black flame, and in the blink of an eye you've been transported, dragged forcibly over to Sazantos' side - a place where once, you would have always run. Your danger senses flare and you grab your sword out of sheer instinct, but it's too late, he's already struck forward. Your swords clash, violently, but after the fight, it's enough to send you to your knees.

He mocks you, at first - his laugh is cruel. "Do you see how I didn't yell 'Prepare yourself?'"

You get up. You draw your sword, legs shaking, heart pounding with adrenaline. You'll fight him again, a thousand times, the blue flame coursing through your veins as strong and true as your blood. Before you can even move, though, Sazantos raises his hands: black magic sweeps around your body and grips you around the throat, sending you straight into the air and your sword clanging to the ground.

You reach upwards, grasping at your throat, at nothing, struggling as he starts to choke the life out of you with the Accursed Flame - you desperately, desperately fight it, start trying to kick your legs, start gasping his name, this isn't fair, this isn't - "Sir - Sir Saza..."

It can't end like this. It can't, It can't end like this. The flame in you fights back, but you're powerless. Sazantos hums. "That flame of yours... it's not bad."

(That flame that you earned. That you've used to fight him. Your soul. Your guardian. Your everything. Your duty. The power you wanted to use to help others.)

"But you haven't fully mastered it yet." You can't breathe, you can't breathe, Sir Sazantos, no, no - "Allow me to take it from you.

Come to me."

And then - everything in your body erupts in pain. You can feel it - violating, awful, the Accursed Flame invading your veins and your heart and your soul and wrapping its tendrils around your fire, the Sacred Flame that you protected, and the pain is so bad that you think you're going to die -- you scream in agony, as your soul, the Sacred Flame, is ripped from your body.

The last sensation you remember before your body slams into the ground is how cold you feel.

And then, there's nothing. ]

[hello!!

she freezes for a moment, looking towards him for an explanation.]

[ rondo's hand has flown up to his throat, almost out of sheer instinct - when he realizes the memory's over, he sucks in a breath, realizes there's oxygen in his lungs, forces himself to remember to breathe. it takes him a full moment to realize vin is looking at him, questioning.

... and, shakily: ]

... That's the last thing I remember. I woke up here.

...Then you'll wake up when you return.

[stubbornly.]

[ will there even be an orsterra to wake up to? that scares him. he doesn't let himself linger on the thought, and the hand at his throat comes down slowly to rest over his heart. it's so cold. he feels so cold, and watching this happen again was such a reminder of what he had. what he lost. what hangs now in the sword at his waist. locked away.

... ]

I hope so. [ rondo says, quietly. he doesn't want to die. and more than that, he doesn't... ] I... Alfyn is... from the future - from our future. And Orsterra yet stands. So perhaps... the others are able to stop him, after all.

[ as for rondo, though. who knows? he doesn't know if he survived. he thinks he did. he's here, after all. that means something, doesn't it? ]

They must have been. Sometimes... It's more simple than you would think to stop someone like—

[thematic, because another memory is starting.]

[ very, very thematic.

rondo's on the edge of his seat for this one - vin might feel him flinch when she's hurt, might feel the way he gasps, when she realizes how to stop him, and by the end of it, he's almost vibrating. the melancholy of his own memory is, for the moment, lost.

he turns his head to look at her, stunned and - awed? amazed. like this is my doki icon but i don't have a better icon for the level of impressed and amazed he is at the moment at vin's strength, at the line, too. he is hope. ]

... Vin, that was incredible.

[pinches his cheeks!!! me not her

despite this very sweet sentiment, she looks a little bit uncomfortable to hear it, to see the look on his face. regardless of that, though:]

...Thank you.

[ oh... well, listen, he's not dumb (okay he's kind of dumb), but, the dorky excitement does soften a little at the look on her face. ]

It was really quick thinking. [ but he's still complimentary because. he's rondo. ] This is what happened after your mentor passed, right...?

Shortly after that, yes.

[pausing for a moment as the excitement fades from his face, but:]

You haven't done anything wrong. It's only that—

[she could explain but i'm taking a page from your book it's follow up time]

[ ...oh.

that -

he gets that, too. that sense of pressure. it clicks immediately. what a giant hole that kelsier left behind for vin to step into. he's heartened, in a sense, immediately, when he remembers that ouija board, and unthinkingly, he reaches out and sets a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. ]

...What a tremendous burden to carry, Vin. You bear so many.

[she's silent for a moment, accepting the hand on her shoulder, before:]

Some people can bear it easily.

[it's so clear, the memory of how easily kelsier could move through a crowd - he was just a person, she knows, but his words made people stop and listen. he took care never to seem uncertain or scared. if he showed anger, it was to inspire people to the same. but for a girl raised on the streets whose existence was quite literally illegal, taught to avoid attention and notice at any cost... the attention pushes against every instinct she's cultivated through her life, not to mention the expectations that she can't meet.]

I understand why they're reaching for what makes them feel safe. They're scared.

[but she's scared, too, even if she hates to admit it.]

[ she's literally just a girl, you guys.... she's just a girl.....

this is a little scary, because - well, he knows what pressure can do to someone, too. he thinks of the strange manifestations of sazantos' life they found in hell. the description of the endless struggle against the cruelty of humanity - how being the flameguard means that the continent relies on you, how thankless, painful, and brutal it can be to see the scourge of humanity, over and over, and over. how heavy that can be.

he squeezes again, expression dropping to vin's. ]

... That's true. But... them feeling that way doesn't change the fact that it's scary for you, too.

...I told someone recently that the king can't hold the city against those armies, even with my help. They told me if that were the case, then I should just leave - to either fully commit to believing in our chances, or give up entirely. But all my friends are there. Everyone I love.

[...]

We're going to be taken over, I think. But I don't know what else to do but stay. And the way they look at me, the way they talk about me, even the king... I'm not a hero, or a miracle worker.

[ he's quiet, for a moment, taking that in, brows knit together in concern, and worry. ]

... But... now you won't have to be alone to figure it out. [ not with that ouija board, tucked in somewhere safe. ] Right?

Yes.

[and there's a little bit of a smile - even if they fail, she'll have him back.]

I just have to live long enough to see him again.

[ points my gun at you ]

I believe in your ability to do that. [ wholeheartedly, and with a smile. ]

[:thinking:]

...Yours, as well.

mygod | pc catchall | vin

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