thebastion | Day 132 ;; introduction (open)

Entry tags:

Day 132 ;; introduction (open)

Who: Zelda and ANYONE
Open: Open
When: Day 132 (gently backdated)
Where: The Skyway
What: New arrival!
Format: Any
Warnings: Excessive wordiness, emotions, heartbreak

The last thing Zelda remembered wasn't a battle. It wasn't the decimated throne room that stood atop the highest tower in Hyrule Castle. It wasn't evil magic prickling into her skin like thousands of tiny needles. It wasn't two strong, fiery hands that grabbed her and squeezed, as tightly as if they were wringing out a wet rag. It wasn't fear, chaos, disbelief, and anger.

It was the moon.

A quiet moon, hanging low in the window of her tower. It was the first moon she had seen in what felt like months, trapped in ever present Twilight, which never brightened and never faded. Its light was soft. It calmed her as she drifted away, fading into unconsciousness. She had given her life to save another, and the moon told her that it was okay.

The moon wasn't there to reach her when her consciousness returned.

Or perhaps it was and she simply couldn't see it. She couldn't see much. But it wasn't dark--not after she blinked a few times and her vision began to swim. Blurs of color appeared, then shapes, drab in browns and greys and greens. She was aware by now that she was lying down, and the surface underneath her was uncomfortable. She should sit up... but the thought didn't quite reach her arms. She blink, blinked again, and willed herself to move. Two gloved hands slid up against her shoulders on either side, pressed firmly against the ground, and pushed her upright.

A wave of dizziness sloshed against her head. She held herself steady with both hands, blinking rapidly to clear her vision. Things were starting to come into focus. Beneath her were large, flat grey stones, each bigger than she was wide. Between their cracks poked up a few shoots of grass, seeking the warmth of the sun. Further away from her was rubble, broken stones in piles atop or next to crumbling remnants of walls, chipped and flaking. Shattered statuary was scattered about--a piece of a face here, a hand missing three fingers there.

Beyond the rubble, everything dropped and Zelda's eyes followed down. Dizziness struck again, and she was forced to close her eyes. Below was nothing. Clouds, fog, indistinguishable shapes, but otherwise nothing. She felt suddenly nauseated, as though she were aboard a little boat tossed about by an angry sea. She lowered herself back onto the ground and closed her eyes again. If she waited, it would go away.

She awoke several hours later with a headache and no way to know how long she had slept. But this time, she was able to sit up without trouble and her vision cleared quickly. She could focus more easily on her surroundings, enough to realize that they looked rather familiar, but she still didn't know where she was.

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Staying still feels like a waste, so it is no surprise to anyone who knows Saix that the Nobody is constantly at work. Regular trips to the Skyway are made, and Saix doesn't content himself with just picking up shards and eradicating monsters. He also gathers whatever salvageable items he can find. Today had been a clothing trip, gathered up in a big bag held by the Berserker Nobody following him. They can't wear the same thing everyday, after all.

With the towering Lesser behind him, the trip back had so far been uneventful. Saix knows that he should have expected something would go wrong, and the first sign is when the Berserker pauses. Saix does as well, looking about carefully. "What is it?" The answer doesn't seem to be verbal and he gives a sigh before diverting his path. There's no reason not to investigate. It could be something useful, after all. Worst case scenario, and he can easily abscond using a Corridor of Darkness.

What he finds isn't so much as a useful thing as someone far off on a floating patch of land. Saix narrows his eyes, distrustful just on instinct before he catches himself. He clears his throat and calls over to her. "Can you walk?"

Though, Saix hadn't exactly gone with just the Berserker. Colin is always looking to make trips out to the Skyway, and he knows better than to go alone. And truth be told, some more clothes were going to be useful. Especially now that he had the shards to get his Workshop made. All that work was going to get messy, after all.

All that said, the sight of someone else out on the Skyway was starting to be a common enough topic of conversation back at the base.

"Hello, over there!" he calls out, waving high over his head.

Still trying to recognize the eerily familiar stones, Zelda was turned away from the three figures that approached her and didn't notice their presence until they called to her. She turned, and revealed to them a beautiful young woman with sallow skin, more green than yellow, and black veins creeping up her exposed skin. Two brilliant yellow eyes, wide with surprise, stared back at the newcomers. Zelda was yet unaware of the visage that greeted Saix and Colin, having no reason to assume that she looked anything less than her normal self.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came forth--only a heavy rasp. Long-unused vocal cords were useless to share the confusions and questions forming in her now-wakeful mind. Instead, she attempted to push herself to her feet, her legs wobbling violently as she stood. She held her arms out in front to steady herself, or catch herself if she were to fall.

Again, she tried to speak, at least to ask where she was and who were they. Her lips moved, but her voice remained a series of rasps.

After dealing with trolls and other inhuman beings, Saix doesn't blink at the woman's strange appearance. That doesn't mean he trusts her, of course. A proper good samaritan would go to her side immediately, but Saix instead nods to the Berserker Nobody to put down the supplies that had been loaded into its arms. "Go."

Obedient as ever, the hulking Lesser makes its way carefully to the woman and offers one large hand for her to steady herself against.

Colin tilts his head as Zelda rasps, and he frowns. He switches his cybernetic eye to a sonic resonance display, and he sighs after a second of interpreting what he sees.

"She's rasping her words. She's probably hurt. Or at the very least, tired," he tells Saix. "I'll get her some water and run a medical scan while your partner assists her."

He turns his head back towards Zelda, and he smiles. "We'll give you a hand, let that one assist you over to us!" he calls out to her.

He then sets his bag down and pulls his canteen from off his shoulder.

Zelda nodded in affirmation to Colin's observation and again to his offer for help. She was hesitant of the Berserker at first, noticing uncomfortably that its featureless armored face and silent obedience reminded her of the way the Shadow beasts heeded Zant. However, she wasn't really in a position where she could refuse the Berserker's aid, as her aching, uncooperative body was quick to remind her. With one gloved hand, she gripped the hand outstretched by the Berserker, carefully steadying herself. With the Lesser's support, she found she could stand up straight and get a better look at her other two rescuers.

Aside from Saix's hair, Zelda noticed first off that both men were human (as best she could tell) and one appeared to have heterochromia. Their manner of dress was... different, although not outlandishly odd. She did not recognize the styles in order to ascribe a location of origin. In fact, she could observe no telling details that would give any hint to where they were now either. Though her head still ached, she was cognitive enough to realize that her current location was definitely not Hyrule. And yet, it still seemed somewhat familiar.

Edited 2013-12-05 06:44 (UTC)

[Colin didn't waste any time waiting for the Berserker to bring her over. Once she was safely past the falls, he moved to meet them, and he held out the canteen to her.]

Don't drink too fast, miss. Your vitals aren't exactly giving me confidence that you can handle too much at once.

Zelda took the canteen carefully between two gloved hands, looking over it briefly, as if she was uncertain what to do with it. She lifted it to her lips and took a few drinks, each punctuated by a breath.

Through his scan, Colin would most likely notice that Zelda is fairly dehydrated and that the muscles in her legs and arms are slightly atrophied. Her pulse is a little too slow, but her breathing is normal. Other symptoms are things that would be seen with someone confined to bed rest for weeks. Otherwise, she has no apparent illness.

As she drank, she slowly became a bit more alert.

Colin watched her drink, and he kept monitoring her vitals with concern. She'd definitely seen better days, and getting pulled here? She must have had some of the worst luck in the multiverse.

But she was alive, at least. That was a point in her favor.

"We should get you back to home base, it's not particularly safe out here," he said. "Keep the canteen for now. Small, slow drinks. We'll be able to get you a hot meal when we get back to the Bastion."

Zelda found that her stomach was more sour than hungry, but nodded in answer. The canteen remained clutched between two hands as Zelda waited for Colin to lead the way.

From the direction in which Colin and Saix had arrived, Zelda could see motionless gray figures, although she couldn't make out any details about them. There were three of them, each standing amidst the same rubble Zelda had awoken beside.

Zelda tugged Colin's shirt sleeve and pointed toward the figures, hoping he would draw the connection between her indication and her inquisitive expression.

[Colin looked at Zelda when she pulled his sleeve, and he followed her gesture towards the figures. He couldn't make them out at first, but after zooming his vision, his eyebrow twitched slightly, and he looked at her.]

It's bad news that you may want to wait for. I don't know if you want the shock right now while you're still not feeling well.

I can tell you, but I promise you that you're not going to like it.

[Unfortunately, Zelda, Colin lacks empathy. He knows what emotions are, and he knows there's such a thing as breaking the news gently... But it's still something that he gets wrong more often than he gets right.]

Colin's warning did nothing to abate Zelda's curiosity. The pervasive thought on her mind is that those figures might hold some answers to the flurry of questions that she was currently unable to ask. She didn't heed his warning, whether because her mind was still a bit foggy or because her questions overwhelmed her sense of caution.

She clung to his sleeve still, looking plaintive. Bad news or no, she wanted to see the figures. She wanted to know what was going on.

Colin sighed and lifted his hand to pat hers.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he told her. "Follow me, you're probably not going to believe what I tell you unless you see it for yourself. Just... don't touch it when you get there. It never ends well."

For all of his empathic impairment, he at least wanted to try and spare her for what's to come. He left Saix and the Berserker behind, leading Zelda back towards the figures in the distance.

In the future, she won't fault him for the unpleasant truths she'll learn here. She keeps hold of his sleeve as he lead her to the figures, a knot of apprehension growing in her stomach.

On their left is the crumbling remains of a a marble statue's head, nearly four feet in diameter with recognizably feminine features. Tattered pieces of blue carpet litter the ground, some showing frayed gold embroidery. There are more chunks of marble on either side, the piles growing as they approach the grey figures.

Zelda's foot accidentally knocks against something on the cluttered ground and sends it clattering across the stone, clanging like metal. She stops and looks for the object. Her sword rests on the ground a few feet from where she kicked it, half covered by part of a blue and gold embroidered tapestry. She releases Colin's arm and hurries over to it.

Colin watched her go, and he followed her. He won't try to stop her from picking it up. If she can, great. She clearly recognizes it.

If she can't, he'll offer a hand. Again, she clearly recognizes it and wants its presence. Like any good swordsman.

"Careful there," he observed. "You're only just now getting your strength back. You don't wanna break your toe on some rubble now."

Zelda kneels down and untangles the sword from its accidental sheath. The blade is in shameful disrepair, nicked and scratched all down its length and covered in dirt. She uses the tapestry to wipe the blade until it gives off a dull shine. How did it get so damaged? Zelda usually keeps everything in much better repair than this. She starts to set the cloth aside, then stops herself. Instead, she wraps it around the blade and ties it closed with a length of gold cord that used to be a tassel. The tapestry remnant would continue to serve as a makeshift sheath for the time being.

She places her free hand in Colin's and pulls herself to her feet. She takes back the canteen and offers the sword to him in its place, hoping he will carry it for her for awhile. It is unusually light for a sword, being that it was tempered with Zelda's slight strength in mind. With it out of her hands, she can gulp down a bit more water, though it does nothing to settle her stomach.

She is grateful for his help, though gratitude probably doesn't show in her face. Recognition is dawning, spurred by the sight of her sword. Now she sees the limbs of her goddesses in the broken statues, insignias of the Royal Family torn in half on tattered tapestries. Her heart begins to race, fear seeping into her pores, but she forces herself forward to the grey statues. She can't balk now; she must answer these questions.

Colin took the blade from her and nodded, holding it for the moment. He'll be able to do a cursory job of repairing it later, and anything he can't fix, Stewart will almost certainly be able to. He's been carrying sacks of clothes all day, this is much easier in the long run. Still...

"Slow down. Steady yourself. Your heart rate's up," he told her, walking behind her. "If you need to see it with your own eyes, I get that, but there's no point in getting yourself sicker. I don't need to tell you what you're going to find. I can already see it in your reactions, your vital signs. You've got a strong suspicion..."

But he knew he couldn't turn her back now. The seeds were already planted. Leaving now would just leave them to grow into something even worse.

Zelda heeded his words and stopped, placing a hand over her chest to control her breathing. She was approaching something she did not want to see, but knew that she must. Because this... this was surely the remains of Hyrule Castle.

She had known it when she awoke and laid eyes on the familiar remnants of stone and mortar. She had grown up within those walls, saw them within her dreams, and it was her subconsciousness that knew them immediately. But it had taken time for her wakeful mind, stunted by physical duress, to meet the same conclusion. The tattered remnants of her home grew in multitude as she approached the grey figures and when her foot struck her sword, she was certain.

She took another drink from the canteen, giving herself a few more minutes to calm herself. When she felt that she was steady enough, she turned back to Colin and nodded. She was ready to continue. Assuming he would follow, she headed toward the figures again.

A few meters away, she recognized the first two figures. One was Link. Though Zelda had never seen Link in his proper form, she knew without question that this was he. Her subconscious knew him from the time her soul traveled within Midna, although Zelda was not aware of this. She simply knew. On Link's shoulder was Midna, and the two were fiercely glaring at the third figure, a hulking man whose name ghosted through Zelda's mind without her awareness.

"If they're important to you," he warned her quietly. "Don't touch them. Just don't, and don't ask why."

He wasn't going to interrupt this moment otherwise. She needed to work herself through this.

She was aware of Colin's words, but offered him no answer. She stepped hesitantly toward the figures of Link and Midna, her expression flooding with the fear that had once again begun to build in her chest. They looked like statues of stone, with perfectly precise details.

Zelda stepped between the pair and the object of their sightless glare. She could see the ire in their expressions, the tension in their forms, the seething rage charging through Midna's bewitched hair. Zelda stretched out a hand toward the imp, to touch a snarling cheek, then halted, inches away. Colin's warning reverberated in her mind.

Zelda began to shake, her fear sinking into the pit of her stomach. Statues, full of life but simultaneously lifeless. She hurriedly stepped back and turned away, suddenly desperate to avoid eye contact with the statues. Behind her was the beastly figure, who she somehow knew as 'Ganondorf.' A man of terrible evil.

A dreadful familiarity surged through her veins, quickening her pulse. She stepped toward him, irresistibly drawn to him though she wanted to resist. She didn't want to see another living-but-dead statue, not even of someone that provoked fear, hatred, uncertainty, and gravity in Zelda's heart. Something tugged at her, something about her wanted to pull itself from her veins and seep under the evil king's skin. It twisted wretchedly within her, making her feel suddenly ill. It was all she could do to hold back the urge to retch as she reached the evil king, who towered over her.

The canteen dropped from Zelda's grasp as both hands stretched up uncontrollably toward Ganondorf's face. She fought to pull away, but her very blood forced her near. Refusing to heed her hesitation, her palms settled over his eyes. Suddenly, as if disturbed by a rush of wind, the statue crumbled into fine dust, dropping into a pile at her feet as Zelda stood, frozen. Behind Ganondorf's statue was a large round mirror, at least six feet in diameter, shining brilliantly even without a source of light. It was not the Mirror of Twilight itself that gave Zelda pause, but the monster it reflected back at her.

Colin sighed as she fought with herself, knowing what was coming. That she didn't touch Midna was a relief, but then came Ganondorf... Well, that didn't take much empathy to figure out. Her reaction AFTER, however...

He stepped up behind her and grabbed up the canteen, positioning himself between the other statues and her so that she wouldn't turn and flee into them out of a panicked reaction. Her body language was shocked. Petrified, perhaps? Colin wasn't sure.

He raised his hand and put it on her shoulder, looking at the mirror. "Easy there, miss," he told her quietly. "Something's startled you worse than the statues... What's up?"

Though she sensed Colin behind her, she couldn't tear her gaze from the mirror. Where once was soft pale skin and stern blue eyes were sallow flesh and yellow irises. Wicked black veins snaked over her skin, prickling on her cheeks and neck.

This couldn't be real.... A trick, surely. Paint. Makeup. Without looking away from her reflection, Zelda lifted her shaking hands to her cheeks and touched her skin. She tried to wipe away the sickening color from her face, carefully at first. It refused to even smear. She grabbed the canteen back and poured water on to her hands, then rubbed them vigorously against her cheeks. Nothing, not even the slightest smudge. Her breath hitched, panic rising. She scoured her face roughly, rubbing her skin raw, but to no avail.

Gasping with panic, she threw her hands instead against the mirror, trying to wipe away the reflection. It couldn't be real. It couldn't. She tried to scream, but managed only a hoarse whimper.

"Hey, HEY!" Colin yelled as she started to rub too-furiously at her skin. "None of that, now!"

He grabbed her, one hand on her upper arm, the other hand grabbing her wrist and pulling it away from her face quickly.

"Okay, something's wrong, I GET that!" he told her sternly, turning her away from the mirror to face him. "But ripping off your flesh isn't gonna do anything to help it! Now calm your tits and breathe, and see if maybe you can talk yet! Then, maybe, we can work on fixing whatever's wrong!"

He wasn't about to let someone go and hurt themselves like that in front of him. Her appearance was off, was that it? He didn't know, not for the first time that something that should have been easy to tell just wasn't apparent to him.

Zelda tried to fight his grip, but found that he was much stronger than her. She looked up at him for a moment, long enough to listen to what he said, then dropped her face into his shirt and began to sob. She couldn't help it; all of her emotions surged suddenly to the surface and overflowed without her being able to control them. Her knees shook as she wept, wailing audibly, albeit raspingly.

Everything was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This wasn't the Hyrule she had left behind when she gave her life to save Midna. Even Zant couldn't have caused this kind of destruction. Not even Ganondorf, she somehow knew. And those terrible eyes that looked back at her. That sickly skin. What could have possibly happened to her? She sobbed inconsolably into Colin's shirt for several minutes, struggling to control herself. Her legs gave out beneath her and she staggered, falling to her knees.

She covered her mouth with her free hand and coughed. "What.... happened...?" she croaked.

He certainly wasn't expecting that, but it did make things easier. He was going to ask if he could hug her, and now all he had to do was put his arms around her and hold her in a comforting embrace as she wept.

It wasn't his first time doing this by any means.

When she started to cough, he rubbed her back in an attempt to smooth out the reaction. "Easy there," he told her. "We still don't know what exactly happened, but I can say for certain that there's a cascading space-time distortion causing cataclysmic damage to the multiverse."

He shut his eyes and shook his head then. "Not that I expect that to make any sense to anyone but me," he added quietly. "We're still trying to figure out what, exactly, caused it."

Day 132 ;; introduction (open)

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