[She repeats again when she finally sees him standing there, but before she can catch him—]
Ah!
[She falls face-first into the snow and ash again, unable to break her fall in this small body of hers. It hurts, the cold biting against the heat that still sears through her face every time she tries to open her eye, and there is a sudden urge to cry that suddenly overtakes her.
No matter how hard she tries to run to him, no matter how loud she calls out to him, she comes so close but can never quite reach him...
And now he's running off again, and Tifa can't quite rush to her feet, but climb to them slowly...]
I'm...right here...
[She utters it, but he won't hear her as he runs off to a burning barn.]
Wait—!
[After a moment of trying to catch her breath, she runs after him, hoping that this time, she can finally catch up to him.]
[The only thing he hears is the sound of the fire, the ringing that remains in his ears from the earlier blast, his pounding heart, and his breathless gasps as he stumbles through the torn up earth and snow.]
Anyone...anyone please...!
[Staring at the burning barn, he only hesitates for a moment before he rushes towards it...
But there will be a loud bark as a white blur appears from the flames, pushing Eustace away just before the barn collapses on him. It takes him a moment as he lays on the ground stunned before he sees the small white body beneath the burning wood.]
Vitty, no!!
[Another heart rending cry as he staggers to his feet to try and pull off the wood to rescue the small wolf.]
[She's never felt so... helpless as she does right now. Never felt like there was nothing that she could do to stop him or save him. She sees that flash of white, and then the barn comes crashing down over top, and somehow, his cries and his screams sound so much louder in her head, even through the loud ringing and shattering of the wood.
She has to stop again to catch her breath, her lungs feeling heavy from all the smoke.]
Stop...!
[Again, Tifa tries to call for him, but she breaks out into a fit of coughs, her own fears manifesting in the air around her, the heat becoming so stifling that she feels like she's standing right in the middle of the flames. It takes her another moment to start moving again, trudging and stumbling through the deep snow that comes up to her knees somehow. Tears burn her cheeks as they fall from her eyes, and she swipes a hand against them, jaw setting as she continues on.
Stay calm. Just stay calm. It's just a dream... None of this is real...]
Eustace, stop... it's...
[Down she goes into the snow, her legs giving out just a few feet away from him, and she heaves with a sob as she lifts her face up...]
[He won't notice her at all. Instead he's lifting up the badly injured and burned wolf in his arms, crying into its fur as it whines.]
Vity...no...please... I can't lose you, too...
[He has to get...help. But where is he going to find that here? They're the only village on this small island, an island so small it's not even on most maps. Only merchants who knew of their village because they were former villagers themselves know how to get here. Is there one who will come soon?
But just as he tries to stand, he notices Vitty's once blazing hot body is now...so cold... And looking down he lets out a shriek as the once white wolf has turned completely black, its body slowly disintegrating in his arms like ash.]
Ah....AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
[It's a process that continues all around them, the flames and buildings dissolving as darkness creeping towards them and the wails grow louder, the snow turns black.]
[Tifa can't even watch as it happens. She sees the blackened body of the little wolf in his arms, sees how it begins to disintegrate like sand in the wind, and she slams her eyes shut, sobbing, swallowing down the sick feeling and the taste of bile in her throat.
It's just a dream, she reminds herself again. Just a dream. None of this is real. Just a nightmare that she can pull him out of and bring him home. She just needs to reach him first...
She just needs to stop crying and get up.
Even as the scenery shifts and turns to black, her eyes are fixed on him just a few feet away.]
Eustace, please listen to me...
[Seeing this opportunity, she doesn't wait to suddenly lunge at him, her small hand outstretched to try and grab him before he can run away and out of her reach again.]
[His frozen stiff, too horrified to really even move.
How...how....how...
His family...friends...Vitty... Everything just...gone...]
It's lie...a lie...this can't be...
[Why was he left? Why was he the only one? If he had listened to his sister, if he had stayed to help them, would he have been killed with them? Would he have died with them?
At least then he would have been with them...at least then he wouldn't have been left alone—
It's then that he feels something...someone grab him...?
It's shocking because he was certain he was the only one here.]
[And there it is again—that image of Nibelheim flickering through her mind, and for a split second, she swears she sees herself standing where he is, Sephiroth's sword clutched tight...]
Eustace, it's me...!
[All of that disappears the moment that her hand finally reaches him, but rather than grab onto him like she wanted to, she clumsily crashes into him instead and sends them both tumbling into the snow.]
[Down in the snow they go, but he's still so confused. Who is—]
Who...who are...
[A part of him feels like he should know...but there's a problem.
When he's finally able to make out anything with his damaged vision, he shrinks back. Because while the voice is familiar, the face...
...
There is no face.
It's there but it's shrouded, covered in darkness. While he feels a familiar warmth, he also feels a terrifying chill as...]
Bl...blood...
[The word ekes out of him as he tries to scramble back before he screams when his right arm suddenly erupts with black ice, the shards covering it like scales.]
[The word echoes quietly out of her, but she has no time to process it because he's already scrambling and screaming, and when that ice erupts over his arm and shimmers, her stomach drops. Dread overcomes her, fear grips her heart, and she can feel it starting to quicken along with her breaths when she sees the scales, and it's her turn to scramble back in fear.
Her breaths are quick and ragged, more like loud gasps than anything else, as memories pour forth. Old, locked up memories that she would rather not remember...]
You need to calm down—!
[She finally manages to shout at him with a shaky voice, but it could be said for both of them.]
[A voice is telling him to listen, but there's something else here. A presence that can be felt around them, but can't be seen. Dark, powerful, almost pressing down on them.
Gasping as his arm continues to change, Eustace scrambles back to his feet as he stares at Tifa still on the ground. He still can't see her and...as much as the sight of that blood pouring down her neck terrifies him, it makes his chest hurt and he wants to help her. But when he reaches out there's his disfigured hand—claw? And he has to hastily retreat.]
I don't...want to hurt you...it's my fault...everything is my...
[The words tumble out in nonsensical order, before he screams and clutches his head.]
Stop it stop it stop it!!!
[With his screams, everything around them seems to crack as if made of glass, the black snow pelting down on them as it becomes more like a blizzard.]
[She bites back the urge to cry and sob, the sight of that claw only feeding upon those fears rather than helping them. She can't be afraid... She can't. It's just a dream, and nothing can hurt her in here, right? They've been through this before, more than once, so who is to say that they can't again?
Except that she can feel it—that presence of something that's almost as if something is pressing down on her chest and suffocating her, making her gasp for air again... It feels like teeth sinking in, like a claw scraping over her skin, burning and so chilling at the same time, and tears streak down her cheeks.]
You're wrong.
[Just as everything cracks and the snow grows heavier, her hand reaches out for that claw, her own horrors be damned. She reaches out and wraps both her small hands around it and tries to pull him to her, to protect him from the wind and the snow that attacks them both.]
[He doesn't know what's going on anymore. He feels that ice grip clawing its way through him, and while he feels something else trying to fight against it, that pressure is so overwhelming he can barely breathe.
Because of this he is completely unaware of Tifa until she reaches out to grab his hand.
Instantly there is a strong scent of flowers and a warmth that surges up through his arm. A warmth that makes him look up and for a moment he can see her. Can clearly see her tear stained face and desperation to reach him.]
Ah...you...
[Her name is on the tip of his tongue, blurred in his mind.
Ti...
But then there's an ear piercing shriek, a dark shadow that passes over them that makes him shout and force his hand out of her grasp.]
N-No! Stay back! You'll..you'll get hurt, too! I-I'll—!
[In the next moment, a large burst of nostilium explodes outwardly from him, darkness completely enveloping them both.]
[She sees it... that flicker of familiarity, brief as it is, and there is that distant scent of flowers that pulses in the air, but it's gone as quickly as it had come, the hope that she had finally reached out to him snuffed out by the cold.
Even as he tries to force his hand out of her grasp, she hangs onto him as tight as she can, struggling. If she were not just a girl, she might have been able to hold on, but he manages to shake her off, both my virtue of his strength and the way that the icy claw stings her bare fingers. The shriek that echoes all around them startles her, and she falls back into the snow again, her hands coming up to clasp over her ears to block it out.]
Eustace, stop! I'm here to—
[But in the next moment, it feels as if her voice has been drained right out of her along with the air in her lungs, the nostilium that pours outward from him so thick and dark that she stops breathing, every inch of her body paralyzed in fear as she stares through the darkness to try and find him.
And somewhere in the dark, she sees a single starflower quivering, trying to bloom.]
[Her voice is breaking through the darkness, through the screams that rage through his head. Screams made of his voice and something else's that he both recognizes and doesn't at the same time. He tries to reach out to it, but there's something pushing...no pulling him back, as if dragging him deeper into the darkness. He tries to fight it off, struggles, but all he manages is a shout for help—]
Tifa!!
[The voice sounds so small, so strangled in this form, but at least a part of him is remembering something. Something inside him still trying to fight against his oppressive nightmare that's taken hold of him.
But Tifa needs to act fast.
She'll be able to see the black, shadowy tendrils that drag him back, tendrils that change and morph between different forms of a claws—one that looks familiar and stained with blood while the other is more metallic almost like a hand. Despite Eustace's attempts to break out on his own, he is slowly being consumed in the darkness, and behind him are a pair of unfamiliar eyes that glint and shine.]
[The sound of her name from his lips snaps everything back into focus, a sense of clarity rushing over her.]
Eustace—!
[She calls back to him, rushing forward to try and reach for him. Those same black tendrils and claws that drag him away lash at her, cutting away at her skin and making her bleed, her cheeks now stained with blood and not tears while she fights and wrestles through them. She can only move so fast right now—it feels like the darkness is weighing her down, dragging her back and away from him...
As she reaches out for him, she stares right into those shimmering eyes behind him, and they bear right down into her soul, but she stands against it...
Rather than take his hand, she lunges at him, dives right into the darkness that tries to draw him in, and she wraps her arms around Eustace and clings tight, her face buried into his chest.]
[He wants to shout at her to get away, that she's only hurting herself trying to reach him. To just leave him.
Yet at the same time he's desperately wanting her more than ever. Desperately wants her warmth, her love, her everything. Needs her. He can't do anything like this by himself, he's learned that now. Learned that he can only withstand so much on his own, can only harbor and endure the pain for so long before he breaks. That while all his life he thought he wanted to be alone, the truth is he didn't. He just wanted...someone, anyone who could fill that void, and he found so many. Many who eventually did until he found the one who could give him that peace, that sanctuary he searched for so long.]
Tifa...help...
[So there's just a small choking sob from the small boy, his body now half frozen from the black scale-like shards.
[He could shout and cry and scream at her all he likes. These claws can beat at her all they want. It would only make her hold onto him tighter. It would make her more afraid, yes, but it would harden her resolve, too. Not that it needed to be—she was going to get him out of this one way or another, no matter what form she took in this dream.]
I'm here...
[Her voice is just as small in his ears, a choked noise as she takes another lash of the claws that surround them. It hurts, but she holds him tightly and protectively. Can she pull him free from them? Or will they just get swallowed up in it all together?]
It's just a dream...
[The scales on his body burn like ice, stinging every part of her even through her clothes.]
Just... need to get you out of here...
[There's a whirr of dreamotion, a heat that flickers to life right where their chests meet.]
[There's just a quiet whimper as he struggles to even move an arm to try and hold onto her. But he so desperately wants more of her warmth that he yanks hard and frees his one good arm to clutch tightly around her back.]
I'm sorry... I'm sorry...
[Is it because he's a young boy right now that everything feels so much depressing and weak? So desperate? Perhaps that's why he's stuck this way, unable to pull on his usual strength that he had developed into adulthood. That this nightmare has instead pulled at the weakest, most vulnerable part of him that he had locked away deep deep down to protect himself.
Meanwhile, that darkness will roar above them as it exerts more force to try and pull them both back to whatever that depths of that darkness leads. It's bone chilling cold, the talons digging deep into both of them as it tries to extinguish the flames igniting within Tifa.]
[It never is, and yet, why is it always him that ends up like this? She thought they were through this, that they had overcome all of these nightmares together, and yet, they continue to come back to haunt him. She would bear a burden a thousand times the weight of his if it meant he no longer had to suffer anymore.
All she wants is to give him that peaceful, quiet life that he's always wanted. That they have wanted and worked so damn hard for... They had it, for a spell, but there's always something that comes and interrupts it. Something that comes and tries to make them work even harder for the life they want to live together...
She is broken out of her thoughts with a cry when claws dig into her back, and she can feel them both being dragged further, those nails sinking past her clothes, past her flesh, the warmth of blood trickling down her back as she clings so tight to him that she fears she might break him.
With a cry in pain and a shout of desperation, that flame flickers brighter and hotter.]
Leave us alone—!
[And in the next moment, there's an explosion of fire that erupts from between them, circling around them like a warm, protective shield while burning away the dark, shadowy claws that threaten to consume them. Like this, she worries that her dreamotion won't be enough, that she's too small and weak compared to her usual self, but she hopes... she hopes and hopes because that is all she can do right now...]
[The "presence" shrieks from the flames, and for a moment it shrinks back, the talons dragging out from them as the flames expand enough to give them more space to themselves. Already Eustace feels some relief, but there's also exhaustion and pain that makes his head fall forward against her shoulder, his breathing cold and labored.
But despite her hope, what she uses now is not enough. Already the darkness swats at the flames, extinguishing parts of it as it shrieks and wails, as if determined to take back its prey.]
[She grits her teeth against the cold that fights back, those flames that wrap around them flickering out before coming back to life as they push and pull with the nightmarish claws. There is a moment when she doubts, and wonders if this is even something that she can do by herself. She's pulled him free before, but she had been stronger, older, less vulnerable than she is now. She could stand up for herself and run after him, and not keep stumbling over into the snow...
But honestly, right now, she feels defeated, as another claw lashes against her, raking over her arm before it draws back.]
...I don't know if I can do this by myself...
[She holds onto him tighter, as tight as she can, listening to the sound of his breathing. But damn it, she's going to try.
Which is why she moves him in her arms, shifts him so that his head is no longer resting against her shoulder. Moves him so that she can kiss him instead, hoping that this will be enough to, at the very least, give her what she needs to pull them both out of it. And at the same time, those flames erupt bigger and brighter, not only protecting them from the hands that would try to take him, but rushing over those scales in an effort to melt away all the cold.]
[Alone is unfortunately what she will have to do. While Eustace would have normally been able to assist in some way, it's as if he's completely trapped and just remembering who she was took everything he had. To only feel some relief through her warmth and flames, which slowly melt away some of the ice...
...
But not the scales, which remain hard and black over his arm.
Still, the kiss does help open his eyes more to look up at her...and while he's grateful to have her there, he also feels some shame and guilt that he not only put her through this yet again, but that he can't do anything to help her. These negative feelings make those scales harden for a moment before he finally pulls himself out of it.
No, he can't think this way. How many times has he stumbled over thinking like that? He may not be able to do anything, trapped as he is, but he can at least support her. So with the last bit of strength he has, his small hand finds hers, squeezing it weakly. He tries to speak but he can't—he can barely breathe. But even if he can't voice it she'll know what he's trying to say.
I love you...and I believe in you...
She's the only one who can help him and he wouldn't want anyone else.
The smallest smile forms at that, the scent of starflowers momentarily surrounding them... Before he grimaces, something sharp and cold stabbing the back of his neck from the inside, and in the next moment his eyes close and his body grows limp, head falling to the side.]
[There are times when she really does try to do everything on her own, and she hoped that this could be one of those times. He needed her, and she couldn't do anything to help him. They're stuck in this spiraling nightmare with no way out, caught up in it until morning comes. All she ever wants to do is help him, be there for him, be able to pull him out of the dark when it all comes back... And she can't even do that this time. She's tried so hard not to let this helplessness defeat her, but it feels almost hopeless as she feels the scales continue to harden on his body, like she's the one who's only made it worse.
But then his hand finds hers, their small fingers squeezing together.]
I love you, too...
[She says it aloud through a fought back sob, telling him that yes, she knows what he is trying to say.]
It's hard... I don't know what to do...
[As she pulls him close, her face burying in his hair where she lets out that sob.
But that scent of starflowers continues to fill the air around them, and those fires continue to burn brighter, those unsaid words threading their way through her. Beneath their feet as they float through this endless, dark void, those starflowers begin to bloom, and as more and more begin to sprout, they begin to form a trail that leads seemingly to nowhere...
She just needs to get him free of this.
A deep breath in, and then out, every part of her trembling from both the exertion and the fear... the anger. But that was always the way with her, wasn't it? She's felt that anger all her life, ever since she lost everything, just like he did. That was why her dreamotion manifested the way that it did—that's why those flames continue to burn around her. She turned that anger into something else... a reason to fight, and a reason to keep on living despite having lost everything to them. Her life, her family, her home, her innocence, all of it burned away in the flames that night...
Just like him...
As those thoughts race through her head, as that vengeance and that anger come roaring back, there's a surge of heat so hot that it's enough to burn her, and though it doesn't hurt, she can feel it. In the next moment, the blast is so wide and so hot that it rips through everything—the claws, the tendrils, the eyes that continue to stare down at her...]
[Again there is a loud shriek, shrill and piercing as the cold that continues to cut through the flames. A large clawed hand slowly raises as if to crush them, to smother the flames completely.]
[She can feel it descending on them, bringing with it the cold. Fine. Let it come. She's had enough.
Before it can sink its claws into either one of them, and before it can even attempt to snuff out the flames, there's a loud roar from the fire, and a rare, stifling heat. Her flames are always created from her love for him and others, her dreamotion almost pure in that sense... Except this time, they only burn with a fiery rage, the bottled down fury that she's held within her for so long. Anger not just for him and what this world continues to put them through, but for everything else. For his past, and for hers. For his family and his home that burned, and hers. For Sector Seven. For what Sephiroth and Shinra have done...
"Hold onto this. This anger."
Just pure, unfettered rage.
And it bursts forth, catching the claws that continue to clamber at them, filling the room with a red, burning light. It has even caught onto the starflowers, burning those at their feet away as well.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[She repeats again when she finally sees him standing there, but before she can catch him—]
Ah!
[She falls face-first into the snow and ash again, unable to break her fall in this small body of hers. It hurts, the cold biting against the heat that still sears through her face every time she tries to open her eye, and there is a sudden urge to cry that suddenly overtakes her.
No matter how hard she tries to run to him, no matter how loud she calls out to him, she comes so close but can never quite reach him...
And now he's running off again, and Tifa can't quite rush to her feet, but climb to them slowly...]
I'm...right here...
[She utters it, but he won't hear her as he runs off to a burning barn.]
Wait—!
[After a moment of trying to catch her breath, she runs after him, hoping that this time, she can finally catch up to him.]
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Anyone...anyone please...!
[Staring at the burning barn, he only hesitates for a moment before he rushes towards it...
But there will be a loud bark as a white blur appears from the flames, pushing Eustace away just before the barn collapses on him. It takes him a moment as he lays on the ground stunned before he sees the small white body beneath the burning wood.]
Vitty, no!!
[Another heart rending cry as he staggers to his feet to try and pull off the wood to rescue the small wolf.]
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She has to stop again to catch her breath, her lungs feeling heavy from all the smoke.]
Stop...!
[Again, Tifa tries to call for him, but she breaks out into a fit of coughs, her own fears manifesting in the air around her, the heat becoming so stifling that she feels like she's standing right in the middle of the flames. It takes her another moment to start moving again, trudging and stumbling through the deep snow that comes up to her knees somehow. Tears burn her cheeks as they fall from her eyes, and she swipes a hand against them, jaw setting as she continues on.
Stay calm. Just stay calm. It's just a dream... None of this is real...]
Eustace, stop... it's...
[Down she goes into the snow, her legs giving out just a few feet away from him, and she heaves with a sob as she lifts her face up...]
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Vity...no...please... I can't lose you, too...
[He has to get...help. But where is he going to find that here? They're the only village on this small island, an island so small it's not even on most maps. Only merchants who knew of their village because they were former villagers themselves know how to get here. Is there one who will come soon?
But just as he tries to stand, he notices Vitty's once blazing hot body is now...so cold... And looking down he lets out a shriek as the once white wolf has turned completely black, its body slowly disintegrating in his arms like ash.]
Ah....AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
[It's a process that continues all around them, the flames and buildings dissolving as darkness creeping towards them and the wails grow louder, the snow turns black.]
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It's just a dream, she reminds herself again. Just a dream. None of this is real. Just a nightmare that she can pull him out of and bring him home. She just needs to reach him first...
She just needs to stop crying and get up.
Even as the scenery shifts and turns to black, her eyes are fixed on him just a few feet away.]
Eustace, please listen to me...
[Seeing this opportunity, she doesn't wait to suddenly lunge at him, her small hand outstretched to try and grab him before he can run away and out of her reach again.]
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How...how....how...
His family...friends...Vitty... Everything just...gone...]
It's lie...a lie...this can't be...
[Why was he left? Why was he the only one? If he had listened to his sister, if he had stayed to help them, would he have been killed with them? Would he have died with them?
At least then he would have been with them...at least then he wouldn't have been left alone—
It's then that he feels something...someone grab him...?
It's shocking because he was certain he was the only one here.]
...Who...
[And so he slowly turns around...]
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Eustace, it's me...!
[All of that disappears the moment that her hand finally reaches him, but rather than grab onto him like she wanted to, she clumsily crashes into him instead and sends them both tumbling into the snow.]
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Who...who are...
[A part of him feels like he should know...but there's a problem.
When he's finally able to make out anything with his damaged vision, he shrinks back. Because while the voice is familiar, the face...
...
There is no face.
It's there but it's shrouded, covered in darkness. While he feels a familiar warmth, he also feels a terrifying chill as...]
Bl...blood...
[The word ekes out of him as he tries to scramble back before he screams when his right arm suddenly erupts with black ice, the shards covering it like scales.]
Wh-what's happening to me!?
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... Blood?
[The word echoes quietly out of her, but she has no time to process it because he's already scrambling and screaming, and when that ice erupts over his arm and shimmers, her stomach drops. Dread overcomes her, fear grips her heart, and she can feel it starting to quicken along with her breaths when she sees the scales, and it's her turn to scramble back in fear.
Her breaths are quick and ragged, more like loud gasps than anything else, as memories pour forth. Old, locked up memories that she would rather not remember...]
You need to calm down—!
[She finally manages to shout at him with a shaky voice, but it could be said for both of them.]
The more you panic, the worse it's going to get!
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Gasping as his arm continues to change, Eustace scrambles back to his feet as he stares at Tifa still on the ground. He still can't see her and...as much as the sight of that blood pouring down her neck terrifies him, it makes his chest hurt and he wants to help her. But when he reaches out there's his disfigured hand—claw? And he has to hastily retreat.]
I don't...want to hurt you...it's my fault...everything is my...
[The words tumble out in nonsensical order, before he screams and clutches his head.]
Stop it stop it stop it!!!
[With his screams, everything around them seems to crack as if made of glass, the black snow pelting down on them as it becomes more like a blizzard.]
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[She bites back the urge to cry and sob, the sight of that claw only feeding upon those fears rather than helping them. She can't be afraid... She can't. It's just a dream, and nothing can hurt her in here, right? They've been through this before, more than once, so who is to say that they can't again?
Except that she can feel it—that presence of something that's almost as if something is pressing down on her chest and suffocating her, making her gasp for air again... It feels like teeth sinking in, like a claw scraping over her skin, burning and so chilling at the same time, and tears streak down her cheeks.]
You're wrong.
[Just as everything cracks and the snow grows heavier, her hand reaches out for that claw, her own horrors be damned. She reaches out and wraps both her small hands around it and tries to pull him to her, to protect him from the wind and the snow that attacks them both.]
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Because of this he is completely unaware of Tifa until she reaches out to grab his hand.
Instantly there is a strong scent of flowers and a warmth that surges up through his arm. A warmth that makes him look up and for a moment he can see her. Can clearly see her tear stained face and desperation to reach him.]
Ah...you...
[Her name is on the tip of his tongue, blurred in his mind.
Ti...
But then there's an ear piercing shriek, a dark shadow that passes over them that makes him shout and force his hand out of her grasp.]
N-No! Stay back! You'll..you'll get hurt, too! I-I'll—!
[In the next moment, a large burst of nostilium explodes outwardly from him, darkness completely enveloping them both.]
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Even as he tries to force his hand out of her grasp, she hangs onto him as tight as she can, struggling. If she were not just a girl, she might have been able to hold on, but he manages to shake her off, both my virtue of his strength and the way that the icy claw stings her bare fingers. The shriek that echoes all around them startles her, and she falls back into the snow again, her hands coming up to clasp over her ears to block it out.]
Eustace, stop! I'm here to—
[But in the next moment, it feels as if her voice has been drained right out of her along with the air in her lungs, the nostilium that pours outward from him so thick and dark that she stops breathing, every inch of her body paralyzed in fear as she stares through the darkness to try and find him.
And somewhere in the dark, she sees a single starflower quivering, trying to bloom.]
Please, let's go home...!
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Tifa!!
[The voice sounds so small, so strangled in this form, but at least a part of him is remembering something. Something inside him still trying to fight against his oppressive nightmare that's taken hold of him.
But Tifa needs to act fast.
She'll be able to see the black, shadowy tendrils that drag him back, tendrils that change and morph between different forms of a claws—one that looks familiar and stained with blood while the other is more metallic almost like a hand. Despite Eustace's attempts to break out on his own, he is slowly being consumed in the darkness, and behind him are a pair of unfamiliar eyes that glint and shine.]
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Eustace—!
[She calls back to him, rushing forward to try and reach for him. Those same black tendrils and claws that drag him away lash at her, cutting away at her skin and making her bleed, her cheeks now stained with blood and not tears while she fights and wrestles through them. She can only move so fast right now—it feels like the darkness is weighing her down, dragging her back and away from him...
As she reaches out for him, she stares right into those shimmering eyes behind him, and they bear right down into her soul, but she stands against it...
Rather than take his hand, she lunges at him, dives right into the darkness that tries to draw him in, and she wraps her arms around Eustace and clings tight, her face buried into his chest.]
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Yet at the same time he's desperately wanting her more than ever. Desperately wants her warmth, her love, her everything. Needs her. He can't do anything like this by himself, he's learned that now. Learned that he can only withstand so much on his own, can only harbor and endure the pain for so long before he breaks. That while all his life he thought he wanted to be alone, the truth is he didn't. He just wanted...someone, anyone who could fill that void, and he found so many. Many who eventually did until he found the one who could give him that peace, that sanctuary he searched for so long.]
Tifa...help...
[So there's just a small choking sob from the small boy, his body now half frozen from the black scale-like shards.
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I'm here...
[Her voice is just as small in his ears, a choked noise as she takes another lash of the claws that surround them. It hurts, but she holds him tightly and protectively. Can she pull him free from them? Or will they just get swallowed up in it all together?]
It's just a dream...
[The scales on his body burn like ice, stinging every part of her even through her clothes.]
Just... need to get you out of here...
[There's a whirr of dreamotion, a heat that flickers to life right where their chests meet.]
Hold on to me tight, okay?
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I'm sorry... I'm sorry...
[Is it because he's a young boy right now that everything feels so much depressing and weak? So desperate? Perhaps that's why he's stuck this way, unable to pull on his usual strength that he had developed into adulthood. That this nightmare has instead pulled at the weakest, most vulnerable part of him that he had locked away deep deep down to protect himself.
Meanwhile, that darkness will roar above them as it exerts more force to try and pull them both back to whatever that depths of that darkness leads. It's bone chilling cold, the talons digging deep into both of them as it tries to extinguish the flames igniting within Tifa.]
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[It never is, and yet, why is it always him that ends up like this? She thought they were through this, that they had overcome all of these nightmares together, and yet, they continue to come back to haunt him. She would bear a burden a thousand times the weight of his if it meant he no longer had to suffer anymore.
All she wants is to give him that peaceful, quiet life that he's always wanted. That they have wanted and worked so damn hard for... They had it, for a spell, but there's always something that comes and interrupts it. Something that comes and tries to make them work even harder for the life they want to live together...
She is broken out of her thoughts with a cry when claws dig into her back, and she can feel them both being dragged further, those nails sinking past her clothes, past her flesh, the warmth of blood trickling down her back as she clings so tight to him that she fears she might break him.
With a cry in pain and a shout of desperation, that flame flickers brighter and hotter.]
Leave us alone—!
[And in the next moment, there's an explosion of fire that erupts from between them, circling around them like a warm, protective shield while burning away the dark, shadowy claws that threaten to consume them. Like this, she worries that her dreamotion won't be enough, that she's too small and weak compared to her usual self, but she hopes... she hopes and hopes because that is all she can do right now...]
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But despite her hope, what she uses now is not enough. Already the darkness swats at the flames, extinguishing parts of it as it shrieks and wails, as if determined to take back its prey.]
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But honestly, right now, she feels defeated, as another claw lashes against her, raking over her arm before it draws back.]
...I don't know if I can do this by myself...
[She holds onto him tighter, as tight as she can, listening to the sound of his breathing. But damn it, she's going to try.
Which is why she moves him in her arms, shifts him so that his head is no longer resting against her shoulder. Moves him so that she can kiss him instead, hoping that this will be enough to, at the very least, give her what she needs to pull them both out of it. And at the same time, those flames erupt bigger and brighter, not only protecting them from the hands that would try to take him, but rushing over those scales in an effort to melt away all the cold.]
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...
But not the scales, which remain hard and black over his arm.
Still, the kiss does help open his eyes more to look up at her...and while he's grateful to have her there, he also feels some shame and guilt that he not only put her through this yet again, but that he can't do anything to help her. These negative feelings make those scales harden for a moment before he finally pulls himself out of it.
No, he can't think this way. How many times has he stumbled over thinking like that? He may not be able to do anything, trapped as he is, but he can at least support her. So with the last bit of strength he has, his small hand finds hers, squeezing it weakly. He tries to speak but he can't—he can barely breathe. But even if he can't voice it she'll know what he's trying to say.
I love you...and I believe in you...
She's the only one who can help him and he wouldn't want anyone else.
The smallest smile forms at that, the scent of starflowers momentarily surrounding them... Before he grimaces, something sharp and cold stabbing the back of his neck from the inside, and in the next moment his eyes close and his body grows limp, head falling to the side.]
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But then his hand finds hers, their small fingers squeezing together.]
I love you, too...
[She says it aloud through a fought back sob, telling him that yes, she knows what he is trying to say.]
It's hard... I don't know what to do...
[As she pulls him close, her face burying in his hair where she lets out that sob.
But that scent of starflowers continues to fill the air around them, and those fires continue to burn brighter, those unsaid words threading their way through her. Beneath their feet as they float through this endless, dark void, those starflowers begin to bloom, and as more and more begin to sprout, they begin to form a trail that leads seemingly to nowhere...
She just needs to get him free of this.
A deep breath in, and then out, every part of her trembling from both the exertion and the fear... the anger. But that was always the way with her, wasn't it? She's felt that anger all her life, ever since she lost everything, just like he did. That was why her dreamotion manifested the way that it did—that's why those flames continue to burn around her. She turned that anger into something else... a reason to fight, and a reason to keep on living despite having lost everything to them. Her life, her family, her home, her innocence, all of it burned away in the flames that night...
Just like him...
As those thoughts race through her head, as that vengeance and that anger come roaring back, there's a surge of heat so hot that it's enough to burn her, and though it doesn't hurt, she can feel it. In the next moment, the blast is so wide and so hot that it rips through everything—the claws, the tendrils, the eyes that continue to stare down at her...]
I'm sick of this...
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Before it can sink its claws into either one of them, and before it can even attempt to snuff out the flames, there's a loud roar from the fire, and a rare, stifling heat. Her flames are always created from her love for him and others, her dreamotion almost pure in that sense... Except this time, they only burn with a fiery rage, the bottled down fury that she's held within her for so long. Anger not just for him and what this world continues to put them through, but for everything else. For his past, and for hers. For his family and his home that burned, and hers. For Sector Seven. For what Sephiroth and Shinra have done...
Just pure, unfettered rage.
And it bursts forth, catching the claws that continue to clamber at them, filling the room with a red, burning light. It has even caught onto the starflowers, burning those at their feet away as well.]
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❤️💙 fin.