November & December Test Drive Meme

[thewakemods]

It's that time again!

→ Comment with a new character you'd like to test out in the game's setting. (put character/canon in subject line pls!)
→ You don't have to be in the game to comment! HI NEW PEOPLE LET US ENABLE YOU.
→ Tag around with new and old characters.
→ App all those characters
→ ???
→ PROFIT!

**NOTICE** - For new series and recent updates/occurrences to existing ones, please mark as SPOILERS if you must refer to such, but please use your own discretion in general.

Comments

[fiery_determination]

"Nautilus.." Hikaru repeated while glancing towards the cityscape, looking back toward Clef when he continued. At the mention of Cephiro her usual exuberance drained from her like someone had just let the air out of a balloon. She clenched one fist before her. "I know. Cephiro, needs us." She still bore responsibility for the state that Cephiro was in now, and this time.. she wanted to save that land without having any regrets to leave behind. His words drew her back to the present. "Different?" After a pointed pause. "Different how?" With a turn she tried to look at her armor from various angles. It- looked the same to her.

"Right," With a nod of the head. "You just lead the way, and I'll tell you everything I know." Oh, say that outloud sometime. Hikaru always felt short standing next to the other girls. It didn't help that they'd mistaken her for being in a younger grade than theirs the first time they met.

Following dutifully behind him, she couldn't help looking at all the sights they passed along the way. Seeing the castle was a little jarring, since yes, she had just come from it.

"Sorry? For what?" She understood the severity of the situation, or at least she thought she did. From her perspective time was not on their side. A new pillar needed to be found, and the foreign countries made to see reason or repelled. She could understand any of his agitation on those points. "There's nothing you need to apologize for." Not even for not informing the Magic Knights of their true mission the first time. Even if she regretted what had happened to Princess Emeraude and Zagato she just couldn't... or wouldn't blame the people she had grown to know and care about in Cephiro. Especially not Clef. No, the only person she could blame...

... was herself.

Ohhhhhhh, Hikaru! Sweetie!

[guru_clef]

He took a deep breath. "I've learned a lot since arriving here. And one of the lessons I learned is that what the Princess and I did to the three of you was wrong. It should not be your responsibility to save our world, just because a legend says it is so. We should have found some other way to rescue her. And I resolved that should any of you Awake here, apologizing would be the first thing I did. Instead, I stammered out that you should be there, and I should not have even thought that. Not any more. I know better now, and I am sorry. I am working on a way to go back with the ability to help, so that you should not have to face that on your own."

"But know that time here does not equate to time in any other world. We have the time here to learn and study and improve. And to gain allies. Once we are strong enough, I plan to ask Nita and a few of the others here," he had really been counting on Nash and Jane for this...."such as my son," have that bombshell, to come with me to Ceiphro, so that we can save the princess, deal with Zagato, and help the three of you get home."

GUESS WHO IS HERE FROM AN EARLIER TIME, HIKARU!!!! CAN YOU GUESS? CAN YOU? CAN YOU?!

SHE HAS MAD REGRET D:.

[fiery_determination]

She looked at him attentively and waited calmly for him to explain. There were so many points in his speech where she wanted to interject and try to stop him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. There might have been no alternative, or maybe there was- one that they didn't see but he shouldn't be beating himself up over it now. Perhaps a little hypocritical since she was still questioning her own involvement.

Still, under the impression that they were from the same time period she was getting close to losing it herself. This was just taking her back to the moment when they had struck down the Princess all because... she had fallen in love. It was too tragic, and it .. it was so wrong!

"Clef... please.." Her words came out as a strained whisper, her voice growing thready already. She was fighting back the tears that were threatening to well up at the corner of her eyes but she wasn't sure she could hold out much longer. After all this time, she'd been trying to bottle up her emotions and present the others with a brave face, and all of that had been taking it's toll on her. Please, don't make her crack now. There was too much left to be done.

Swallowing hard, she finally got a bit of a reprieve when he started talking about potential allies and... "Your son?". Nope she just wasn't processing that one. "You... you have a son?" With who?! "I- I don't think you ever told us about him".

The brief respite was just that. Brief. "Save her? How could we save her now?" Clef do you even know what you're saying? Zagato's been dealt with, much to her own internal torment. "Do you mean that when..." She stopped suddenly and bit her lip. When the new pillar is selected, can they wish for the Princess and Zagato to return.. like the previous pillar revived Presea (Which she didn't), is what she was going to ask but something wasn't lining up. Clef was still talking about Zagato like he was an enemy, not another victim.

"Clef...." Lips trembling, she drew in an uneasy breath. For some reason he didn't remember what happened, and it was her responsibility to tell him. Pressing her hands briefly to her face, she tried to compose herself for his benefit. "I'm not sure... what's going on here but there's something you should know. Just... brace yourself and this gives me no pleasure in having to tell you this... but... " How to put this. "Umi, Fuu, and I.... we... we already defeated Zagato... we already returned to our world once." Then the part that would surely strike his heart the deepest. "Princess Emeraude.." Her voice quavered again, and this time there was no stopping the tears. "Princess Emeraude didn't wish to be saved.... we.... she.." Feeling her legs nearly go out beneath her, she had to kneel down to steady herself, the tears now streaming down her face. "She was in love with Lord Zagato, and when he was destroyed.. she.. " Attacked us but she couldn't say it. She didn't want to sully the image of the sweet innocent Princess they'd been summoned to protect. "She's... gone. She.. didn't make it..."

Just spit it out. "We destroyed her as well!". Shakily she forced herself to look towards him. "If there had been any other way, then we would have taken it gladly. There isn't a day I don't regret it! Please, believe me.. I'm so sorry! We all are...."

I hear the sound of shattering...

[guru_clef]

He waited when she asked him to, worried at the way her voice sounded. Of the three, Hikaru had been the Knight he had been able to connect to, the one that frustrated him least. And he regretted every unkind thought and frustration. Had for some time. He owed them, all three of them.

So while he didn't understand what the pain in her voice had to do with his son, he answered cautiously, but honestly, anyway. "While I have been here, this past year, I have adopted a young boy, and made a family with him and his family. He is much like Prince Ferio, if you've met him." No, they couldn't have. He had just left them moments before he awoke. After a year, it was hard to remember that. "I think you'll like him." Well, both hims. Ferio and Link.

What did Hikaru mean by save her now? Oh! The legend. Well, that was before he had Woken, before he knew there were other ways. Besides, for all he knew, the Magic Knights were meant to be drawn from this world, not theirs. That could explain the confusion at the start. He owed them more forgiveness than ever if that was the case.

But she seemed too distraught for it to be just that. What was the matter? He reached into his cloak and came out with a cloth for her to use on her eyes, or just to hold, if need be.

They.... Have a very stunned mage, rocking back on his heels. They already defeated Zagato? But how? It had been minu.... Zelda Link and Shadow were all from different times. He knew that but somehow it hadn't sunk in, not fully. Hikaru was from further ahead than he was. How much further? If the Princess was safe, why was she so upset? The Princess had sent them home? Good. But... Once? Did that mean she went back to Ceiphro? Or did she mean this place would be where she needed to go home from this time? Wait, why wouldn't it give her pleasure to tell him that the crisis was at end and the world and pilliar were safe?

He walked closer when she dropped to his height, confusion and concern on his face as some part of his brain tried desperately not to hear her words. But those words... he staggered back, hearing them. It... No.... that couldn't be.... couldn't.... Emeraude summoned them to save her... that had always been their plan in case of emergency. Why would she attack her own knights? In love...with Zagato? But he kidnapped her! None of this made sense. None of it. He was unaware of the shocked expression on his face, or the tears running from his eyes. The knights... destroyed... the princess? She fell in love with her kidnapper and didn't want to be saved? How did this make sense? How did any of this make sense?

Clef stood there, and for once his brain failed him. There was no magic to fix this, no book to make sense of this. Nothing he could study to understand this. He didn't even hear the final words, the apology. He was just... stunned, standing there crying silently without even knowing he was crying. Because he didn't think she was lying...but it made. no. sense.