(Heartless Cloud) He wasn't sure when he'd arrived here. Everything was a jumbled mess in his head. He remembered fighting and running for what seemed like days. Then, everything just went blank. Pain. A profound sense of loss. Something within him gone. Something he couldn't name. Next thing he knew, he'd somehow ended up out by the dumpster next to the bar. He couldn't remember how he'd got here. But this is where Tifa was. He had to get away from them. He wasn't safe for them to be around anymore...

@falsememoria

Tifa gasped at the sound coming from outside. Sure, she was half awake from another long day full of work ad worry, but she didn't imagine the sound of metal hitting concrete...did she?

Walking towards the back entrance, she cautiously opened the back door, peering out into the dark night to see what the source was. Could it have been an animal? A bandit? She wasn't sure.

Over the years I've noticed that I become free of one #ocd theme because I've become trapped in another. 😞.

#ocdawarenessweek #ocd2021 #surviving #survivingmentalillness #ocdbrain #ocdhelp #livingwithocd #lifewithanxiety #phobias #irrationalthoughts #fuckocd #ocdprobs #ocdproblems #ocdweek #ocdfighter #realocdproblems #ocdtruths #realeventocd #falsememoryocd #contaminationocd #justrightocd #pureocd #hocd #pocd

He had no real concept of time in this place. His memories were disjointed. Jumbled. He remembered fighting for days on end, running and fighting, running more still, before collapsing. Unable to lift a finger as living writhing beings of darkness descended upon him. He felt them trying to take from him. Take what, he didn't know. But they just took and took. He refused to just let them. So he hung on. Clinging tightly to memories of warmth. Memories of anger. Memories of sorrow and rage. He wouldn't let them take who he was.

Then he woke up in this dark place. A place cut off from reality it seemed. With ichor black shadows writhing and moving. He instinctively knew this place was the Dark Realm. After awareness came the realization that he was changed. Looking at what he had become caused rage and anger to consume him. He couldn't go back like this! He felt empty, like a part of himself was gone that he never knew he'd had in the first place! He didn't know how long he'd raged about, carving a path of destruction. It was only until he realized his emotions were being influenced by his new state of being did he calm down with a herculean effort. The question remained however. What did he do now?

Through experimentation he had discovered he could create portals. He found himself quietly watching Tifa from the shadows, wishing he had the strength to speak with her. But he could not. How could he show himself as he was? His objective became clear. He had to find a way to reclaim what was missing. So he returned to the Dark Place to start his search. Somewhere inside him, he felt a pull. It was his only lead.

----

How long had he been here wandering the Dark Place? Days? Weeks? Months? He did not know. The creatures that dwelled here, these Darklings gave him a wide berth. He studied them. They always watched him but they did not harass him. Perhaps they recognized him as kin? Or was it some primal part of them that told them he was an Apex Predator? He did not know. But then one day something changed. It was as if the entire realm seemed to come alive. He could feel the pull. The hunger. The pull to devour the light. Someone else was in this place. Clamping tightly down on his new instincts, he quietly followed through the air on wings of shadow.

He found a woman with blue hair surrounded by darklings.

D̵̤̟̖̓̿͟ẹ̵̵̴́ͮ̆͗̇͐͟͞v̵̧̢̰̟͎̼̺͖̠̈́͐ͮ̍́̀̚͢o̫͙̾ͤ̈̽̌̽ͧ̂́҉̶̷̨u̵̴̼͎͔̝̗̯̗͑̑ͩ̊́͆ͧ͘ȓ̩̖͔͇͈̝̩̪̊ͯͅ҉ C̶͍̎͊̋̂̇҉ȍ̼͎̹͖͉ͅ͏̵̵̀͟͞͏n̷̰̪̤͇ͦ̍͋ͩͨ̈͢͏̸̧̛͘ś̴̡̛̬u̢̝̗̺̫̻ͪ̐̏ͥ̊̃̐͜͠m̶̴̡̧̛̛̞̍͛̎̓ͮ͐̏̾͢͞ë̸̴̡̟̞̙͛̾́ͤ͗̈̽ͧ

He ignored the growing urge. Instead he dove down from above like a comet, slamming into the ground with wings curled. With a grunt he snapped his wings out like a fan, sending the encroaching darklings flying back. A particularly gutsy darkling lunged for the girl once more, and his left arm lashes out, clawed hand clenching around the creature's neck. With a grunt he clenched his fist and the creature was no more. Yellow eyes panned to the darklings that were hesitating now. He let loose an animalistic savage growl from his throat, an inhuman sound like a roar from a demonic beast.

"Back. Off!" He snapped with fangs bared. The darklings retreated to whatever corners of the Dark Place they came from. Turning, he regarded the woman before him with yellow eyes gleaming. Even now he felt the urge. Sensed the heart within. He ignored it.

"You don't belong here." He said simply.

❄️𝒞𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓇: @falsememoria ❄️

Amidst helping Jin begin a global war, days off were about as a rare as a blue moon. And yet, that's exactly how the assassin preferred things. Ever the workaholic, she never knew what to do with herself on days off. Sitting around, alone with her thoughts in her Zaibatsu apartment was never quite her style. Thus naturally, when she was given the day off she spent the day filling her time with other work.

Calls for her.. unique services had piled up since becoming Jin's right hand. It might tick off the boss, but one small mission couldn't hurt too much... right?

The task was easy, one shot and done. Just the way she liked it. It was perfect, she'd be back before Jin would even realize she had left! Ask her now, she couldn't believe she even had such a naïve thought. Her target had guards, and during her great escape said guards gave chase. In a twist of ironic fate, Nina for once made a wrong step during her usual parkour, and now found herself on the ground in an alley below.

Scrapes adorning her arms, and her ankle twisted, the only bright side was her pursuers didn't catch her fall and lost track of her. Despite the pain, she remained silent, not moving an inch as she hid in the alleys shadows and listened to their movements above. Once it was clear they had left the area, she forced herself to stand. Swearing through gritted teeth as she briefly put pressure on her bad ankle. So much for Jin not noticing she had left... but first things first, she'd have to get back before she could be scolded.

Problem was, her motorcycle was parked a couple blocks away. Nina managed to limp her way over to the nearest street through the pain, before a sudden more intense shockwave of pain had her collapsing to the sidewalk. Holding her poor ankle as she leaned against the nearest wall. Her icy eyes shut to block out any possible onlookers nearby. "Fucking hell.. Great. This is just great..."

Alright.. no problem. No problem at all. She'd just wait the pain out before pushing further.

"All I've heard so far is a bunch of babbling about Destiny, but that's a load of garbage. I hate to break it to you, but today's the day I'm about to bust up that adorable little fantasy land you're living in." Cloud's eyes were harsh and challenging. "Do my words anger you? Do they sting? Let them." Cloud was prepared for this exchange to get physical. Sora was hard headed like that. "There's no Destiny. No fate. No Fate but what we make."

♕ - “......” Funny. Just what exactly was this feeling boiling to such a poisonous pitch in the center of his gut. Liberating, freeing, for a moment the young hero found himself paused before the eyes of someone who bore down their earnest thoughts upon him.

Exactly within a moment of grief. After all, you can’t save them all.

Much less people can’t save themselves from a tyrannical power that flourishes off the instinct bred by desire. If that isn’t a cruel stroke of fate? Another abhorrent extension of a darker destiny, exactly what was it?

Sora could feel his throat grow tight as those exact emotions were pinpointed and harped upon. Images of a barren world, of the last scrapes of a desperate struggle made by people, the horrendous feeling of finality that comes with the fall of worlds forsaken by the Heartless. So why does the instant where a frustrated voice would roar, where tears would fall, why did some enlightening sense of weightless capture him in this moment? For a fleeting instant would the keybearer pivot upon the ground, facing Cloud fully, those once bright irises wavering at the struggle of keeping a firm clamp upon this agony beginning to break, offering the allowance to seethe, and oh did that very power settled within this heartbound king begin to rupture.

“None at all? Even for those people I failed out there, Cloud?” The guilt was spat with the brand of harness normally saved for his enemies. Even the very winds that once accompanied their surroundings fell silent, repressed, all by the emotion that surged into the majesty of a dark power too impatient to wait any longer. Crimson and obsidian lashes of power scattered from underneath Sora, riveting across the surrounding earth, only for sharp indents to evolve into canyon wide cracks, instantly making plumes of dust and debris make a helpless reach for the heavens while the ground beneath them shattered in a display that craters the earth. Hold on. Hold on.

....Let go. If only for a glimmer of fresh air that matches the vacuum of space.

Your Rage wouldn’t want it any other way.

Instinct alone had drew the Kingdom Key as the clouded skies found themselves dimming, crackling with a latent power, one that exuded it’s presences both up high and down below, charged by that frustration that burned through the heart akin to a second set of veins. Scarlet flames blossomed from one of his eyes, an iris once cerulean falls into an arcane plume of red as it burns, streaking through the air as a whisp, another signifier of the primal darkness hailing it’s opportunity to wrench free from those stubborn recesses. Once directing that lock defying key towards the blonde, for an instant Sora’s jaw tenses, teeth bared and fury radiating from his being in the form of a corrosive aura, one rapidly devouring the life from the space before him.

Only for it to stall, only for that wrath to switch from a magma like prominence to the cold waves of the abyssal deep, leading to the expression upon his face.

“Just What Would You KNOW?” Sora demands as the octave of his voice balances between natural and voracious laces of distortion. Seemingly vanishing from sight in the following moment, his body reappears, commanding the pace from his speed to blow over them both, leaving a tide of agonizing gale to streak over their surroundings with a tornado’s wail as Sora arrived overhead, crimson colored sparks rapidly bouncing and igniting from the Kingdom Key, a weapon that aims directly towards Cloud in the form of an overhead slash, simplistic in execution, devastating with the very power that aims to turn this very crater into a chasm from a singular strike.

Rage. Rage. Rage. Those emotions abided by that command to be felt.

@falsememoria

@falsememoria  offered:  (Why can I see Ammy playing little pranks but simultaneously not meaning it to be a trick or prank it just ended up that way? Like someone wanting a hug who hugs her in wolf form, then saying they wished she could hug back and suddenly poof. Goddess Form Ammy hugging them back motherly.)

she has ABSOLUTELY done this before. i can see her giggling behind her hand when she does it before she leans down and wraps her arms around whoever she’s hugging and still giggling to herself. she’s probably frets over them a little and hopes she didn’t startle them too much. 

the thing is as well ammy has also met people as a wolf and then met them again when in her more human form, of course people could probably tell who she is right off the bat, but there have been cases where they simply haven’t. it’s a fun little joke she pulls, and her eyes light up when they do put two and two together. 

Closed// falsememoria

3 days. She knew her body would go three days without water. 3 hours without proper shelter from a storm. 3 weeks without food. Master Eraqus had ingrained that lesson into them for he knew their travels would not always lead to warm, friendly towers. Sometimes they would be alone and in constant danger, and needed to know how to survive.  But this place wasn’t any world. It was something so utterly void of the usual trappings of any world. Did shelter truly matter here when there were no elements to hide from? 

No, it didn’t, because the darkness always slithered onto the most carefully guarded thrones. What was instead more pressing to Aqua now was water. How long had it been since she’d had any to drink? How long had she wandered this scarred wasteland of broken worlds without a drop? After a while as she wandered her steps began to blend until she was little more than aching feet and exhausted limbs. She didn’t know for how long when there was no way to tell between hours and forever.

Still, her throat ached and her mouth was dry. Those sensations were enough to tell her she was alive and needed to keep moving. Had she really only been her for less than three days? She hoped against reason that she was wrong and simply didn’t require water in this shattered realm. The ocean of the Dark Meridian was nothing but salt like a real ocean and the longer she lingered near it the greater chance it stood that the things that crawled in the dark and stalked her when she slept would find her sooner. Terror had become a constant companion here and as a result every organ and muscle felt twisted and knotted from both her hunger and constant paranoia. 

Everything blended together in a place like this, not just her steps. Blackness oozed from every oriface when she wasn’t looking and dragged it all so selfishly close. She could be here for years or she could be here for hours and Aqua would never know that she was wandering in circles. The only way of keeping time was the steady thunk-thunk of her boots on the broken ground or the bouts of adrenaline fueled fury that left her blood racing she swung the weapon of a dead man. 

She slumped again a jagged rock,not caring for the way it prodded at her back. Her eyes burned in away that was so much worse than any sleepless night she could remember. Hazy memories of warm blankets and soft bedding skittered along the edges of her mind somewhere beneath her matted and oily hair. It hung over her eyes as she curled her legs in close and rested her chin atop them. She needed this. Just a moment. That was all she needed and perhaps she could keep it with Master Keeper kept close at her side. 

“...Three days...” Her voice wavered from disuse. “One, two  three...” When she had arrived her, be it three days or three years ago, she would do anything to keep back the overbearing silence of this realm. It didn’t take long for that idea to die out quickly when she considered she needed to save her energy and had little to waste on things like talking or singing to herself.

Aqua remained in her spot by the rocks, that burn still settled behind her closed eyes. She’d cried herself out a long time ago, perhaps. Maybe she hadn’t at all. Maybe she’d wept only just yesterday. The Darkness had settled on her tongue like a thick paste and stole that sense away from her first. 

Her rocky perch did nothing to cushion or support her, but Aqua was accustomed to it. There was no creature comforts in this place for her. Nothing but teeth and claws and yellow eyes hiding in every crease and crevice. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and stared up into the unending blackness above her. Surely it had been long enough. Surely they would come for her. Terra had to be fine. He’d break free and go find Ven and then they would come and save her. 

Despite everything else around her trying it’s best, the Darkness had not killed that thought yet. That promise. Her eyes shut again and Aqua slept.

——-]

It was this time, after Aqua had awoken, that she had determined that she did not need water. Yes, she did want it for relief, but as it stood she did not need it to survive. While keeping track of time was exceedingly difficult she was quite sure that it had been longer than three days. Amazing how a small nap allowed for such clarity? But with it came new worries. Where were her friends? Surely Terra and Ven should have arrived here by now.  They knew they promised to be there for each other.  ... Had something gone wrong?

No, she had to believe otherwise. She couldn’t dwell on it because without an answer her own mind would cook up infinitely worse possibilities.

Not that her delusions could be any worse than the golden eyes that had looked on impassively as a familiar hand slowly tightened around her throat...

Aqua snapped fully alert and rubbed her eyes. She bite back the memory of cool fingers digging into her neck. It was easier if she didn’t think about it and instead she looked back up the sky again with a hand clutched lightly over her heart. 

“Keep fighting, you two.”

Too quiet. Even if something had sat perched on the other side of her rocky resting place, they wouldn’t not have heard it. It was a tiny oath not meant for anyone else. She could almost imagine their goofy grins smiling back at her rather than gazing into nothingness. It made her think about what things were like back there with both her friends. What was the world like now, what was any world like? She believed with all her strength it would work out. It had to. She had to trust them or fall prey to that cold voice telling her to give in and never leave because it wasn’t as if she’d see something like sunlight ever again.  No, she would be free or the very place she drowned her tears would take her, too. 

“I’m fighting, too.” She could see yellow dots in the distance glimmer bright in warning. They were lights that taunted her. “I promise I’ll come home, too.” While the fights had made her more acutely aware of the passage of time, they more often wore her out so thoroughly she would barely remember most days. Sometimes she’d sleep within (possibly) hours of waking up before walking herself in circles again. She tried and failed to mark the world around her with her pilfered keyblade to see if she could make sense of her directions but this world defied logic and her attempts to navigate it. It wasn’t meant to be logical in her mind; the whole world was pure chaos and she was fighting against a veritable tidal wave of it and her will was being eroded with each sweep. Try as she might Aqua did her best to wake up with purpose. It wasn’t as if this place had a morning but once she was fully awake she wanted to carry on with a short, ever-changing list on her mind. Though in this place the short of it was simply to survive. That was her only purpose here now and it was driven by the terror of laying down and never rising again. The idea of spending the rest of her life here scared her and Aqua stumbled over her next few steps. Would water matter then? Food? Sleep? Would she waste away or simply wander forever waiting for friends who could not help?

Would they even want to?

She choked up at the prospect of it and Aqua could not keep her legs from trembling, nor could she stop herself from sinking against the nearest rock. She held her Wayfinder tight and bit back the feeling rising at the back of her throat. What if no one ever came? What if she died in his place, nothing left of her but a pile of bones that stood stark against the black and purple hues of this broken world? She’d be just a smear, a forgotten morsel that left a belly temporarily full and with a few scraps left to enjoy?

She pressed her hands and her wayfinder against her brow like she was praying. Death was something she had been made aware of and was something she thought she was ready to face. Master Eraqus had been sure in reminding them that they were not unbreakable even with a keyblade. Death could linger anywhere for them, tucked away in some secret place or sitting out bold and ready to tear their throats out. They had to be right every time they acted, it only had to be right once. 

But how could anyone prepare for this? A living hell and the growing reality that maybe no one would ever come and Aqua would die here in the shadows and so very far away from those she called her home. 

Her Wayfinder left deep grooves in her hands and the edges bit into her palm. A few scant tears pushed their way out of the corners of her eyes and and cut twin paths down her grimy cheeks. Aqua wrapped both arms around herself and pressed herself tight against the rock behind her. She needed to stop this, she needed this shaking that had taken over her. 

“I’m so sorry,” she wheezed, eyes still clenched tight. “Ventus... Terra... I’m so so sorry...”

The shaking rattled out of her as a sob. It was louder than any sound she could recall making recently. The tears came unbidden and mixed with the murky grime on her face. It was starting to stick, the idea of never making it out of this place. She jerked at a foreign sound, a tiny plink-plink as one small section of her Wayfinder finally cracked from being held so tight.  “I-I didn’t mean to break it...” She stammered out as she looked over the tiny thing.

She didn’t notice the inky blackness gathering at her feet, no r the way her boots sunk ever-so slightly into it.

 “I didn’t mean t’break my...”

She shut her mouth tight before something else stronger than her fear took hold in her. 

“I promised.” There was still the slightest waver in her tone, but not from fear. It was fury now, curling in her belly like a flame carefully stoked before it burned free. It was the fury of knowing her life, their lives, had all been stolen from them. Now the feeling burned again, but like ice rather than fire. It was sharp and jagged and it pierced like a hard frost that could crack the earth beneath her feet.

“I promised!” She was yelling now, screaming her defiance out as the cracked bit in her Wayfinder dug into her palm. Another sob ripped free from her and she buried her face against her sleeve to stop it. The tears were flowing freely now and they burned at the cuts on her hand as she wiped her face. She wept more and more until she couldn’t and she had no more to in her to give. 

In this unspeakable place, the darkness had done so well to drive off every memory of every promise she swore aloud. They all mattered. Every word mattered.  

There was no way to rank them or sort them by importance, suddenly it all mattered. Every memory and fleeting thought fought and punched and bit it’s way back into her. Pushing her, guiding her as she kicked and clawed her way free. Every face she knew and ever voice to ever grace her ears was backing her and driving her up. There would be an end to this beach and the hell beyond it.This shore of living nightmares could no longer contain her. She would be free. She would fix this. Every lie the Darkness whispered to her was drowned out by a rich melody of other voices, ones she knew and ones she cherished. Even as the Darkness seemed to close in like a roaring storm but those voices she knew roared louder and pushed back even harder. The same shadows that had tried to draw her down pulled and ripped at her body but every screech brought one of her own brimming with righteous fury.

She still held tight to her Wayfinder, the broken frame slicing deep into the meaty part of her hand but it reminded her that she was still alive.  And in the other, she felt an unfamiliar tug from the Master Keeper. She looked down and saw many hands reaching for her. Claws and tendrils and tails and wings all stretched in unison. Some found their way to her and pulled at her to try and drown her again.  The tug came again, reminder her that there was someone who, in their own way, had come for her.  Let me go. And she did, and for once she was not afraid when the storm around her faded to black. 

-------------------]

She thought she would have seen more sunlight.  Waking was harsh and abrupt and it was not helped by the way the sky became low and dark with ominous clouds. The wind was even worse, howling and baying like a wolf into the night. Another crack of lightening, the same thing that had dragged her from her hard-earned rest, rent the air and rumbled across the sky like the footfalls of an army. Then the rain came. That stupid, beautiful rain. Water. Aqua recalled her mantra of three days and lay there for a moment more to let the rain fall over her. It started slow and clung closer to her skin than air. It felt good before it started to fall as if it were a waterfall from the heavens. As nice as it had been initially it was pounding on her already battered form and Aqua rose, her eyes barely shielded from it as she looked across the rocky terrain. For a fleeting moment she thought she was back in the graveyard, but there were no keys dug into the ground. What was more was that in the distance she could see light on the horizon. There were dozens of tiny, minuscule pinpricks that lit up the place where the earth and the sky met and the sight of it made her heart ache. She took this and the rain as a sign to push on. No more circles, not more aimless wandering.   She was mutely aware that she had no weapon to carry and instead marked the ground with the pointed end of her boot. She drew an arrow pointing off towards the lights and finally, at last, because to move forward.  It was slow, but the rain overhead was a constant companion. Perhaps, a little too arduous for someone fresh out of the Realm of Darkness. Heavy clothes made it harder to move with any briskness, and she’d help no one if she grew sick from the chill.  Aqua slowly shuffled her way towards the first glorious bit of civilization she’d found; a tiny building with a wide overhang to shelter travelers from the elements. It felt like it had shown up here at just the right time.  She just hadn’t expected it to be occupied. 

"That weapon... It's different, but I've seen another like it before." He said as he approached. "Brown spiky hair. His name's Sora."

Another one of Sora’s friends huh? Boy sure did get around. Well, she shouldn’t be so surprised. “Yes, that’s right.” Aqua nodded her head looking over Brightcrest carefully. The two keyblades varied greatly, but she supposed they gave off a similar enough aura that one might be able to tell.

Her head bobbed as he described Sora. “I suppose you could say he’s a colleague of mine. We work together in the same field. And occasionally help one another.”

@falsememoria​ said: (Thanks for the follow back~)

Thanks for following me too :D and feel free to IM me if you want to plot or anything :)

Cloud froze. He remembered her. Hesitating, he wondered if he should say anything to her. But then he remembered. She'd nearly died to the Remnants. She'd fought just as hard in that whole mess. "...Elena, right?" It occurred to him this was possibly the first time he'd spoken a word to her of his own volition. He was no good with socializing on the best of times. What was he supposed to say to her? "Vincent said you were hurt badly during the Remnant incident..."

She was perhaps a bit taken aback by the fact that Strife, of all people, was making chit-chat with her. Maybe Lockhart was actually getting somewhere in her efforts to rehab the man into normal social function, because previously Elena would have never imagined Strife willingly approaching her. And really...that was fair, considering everything he had been through. Before the silence could get anymore awkward, he even upped the ante with another sentence."Ah, yeah...Valentine really patched us up." She wasn't going to tell him about how many potions the crimson clad ex-turk had crammed down her throat, he didn't need to hear the details. "Guess I really owe him one.""So...how are you? How's the wife and the kids?" Where the erstwhile conversation was going to go from here, Elena had no idea, but she felt the need to at least be courteous enough to return the attempt at dialog exchange.

falsememoria  made an order

“You know, Cloud...you don’t always have to be so cool,” she said softly, looking over at him from her seat at the bar. Ever since he came back into her life, he had this coldness to his demeanor. It wasn’t something she was used to, but she figured it stemmed from his time in the military. “I get it...with the others, but you don’t have to be like that with me. At least...I hope you don’t feel like you have to be.”

Cloud couldn't keep his anxiety down. He'd been polishing the same glass for about half an hour. Barret and the others... He wanted to be out there with them. But blowing the reactor? Was it the only way? He thought of the Sword hidden beneath the counter. He thought of his Master. After the tragedy of Nibelheim, he'd found a master to teach him swordsmanship. But is this the right way to use it? He didn't know. He was broken from his musings by a little voice he knew well. Little Marlene, Barret's daughter. Barret had threatened him plenty of times when they'd first met a while back.

"I think that one is clean, Uncle Cloud."

Inwardly he cringed. He would never get used to that title the little girl had given him. He wasn't that old! Somewhere along the way she'd grown attached to him, now he was "Uncle". "Yeah, I was lost in thought. Sorry."

She giggled. "You're funny, Uncle."

"Yeah, laugh it up." He flicked a bit of suds at her cheek, causing her to squeal. "Your dad should be home soon. The others too." He put the glass away after drying it just as the door to the bar opened. Speak of the devil. Looking up, he couldn't help but smirk as Barret went straight for little Marlene. That smirk slipped a bit when he caught sight of the woman who entered behind him. It was the eyes that struck him the most. A lovely shade of red, only marred by a ring of blue near the pupil. The glow of Mako.

Tifa.

He thought he'd never see her again and they reunite like this. With a job for Avalanche.

"...Hey." Lame, Strife. "Everything go well?"

I think a funny way to incorporate Nina/Steve relationship in Tekken 8 would be for Nina to accept him and then Anna shows up and coddles him, which pisses Nina off and leads to a fight, with Steve awkwardly watching.

//Maybe, but I sincerely doubt that's where the story's heading as of now. I've always been pretty good at noticing foreshadowing and predicting plots, and If Anna meets Steve, I sadly doubt it'll lead to any sort of coddling right now.

It really seems like they're trying to build up Anna possibly going after Steve for revenge for what Nina did to her fiancé. Even having the three of them run into each other at the same place in T7, there's no way Anna didn't spot what happened between them. Whether Nina will actually save Steve or not from her, I can't say. I don't think she'll be ready to accept him in the next game unless they rush things, so she might save him and then immediately leave like usual??

Also, if me & @falsememoria's theory about Nina killing Anna's fiancé actually being a set up ends up holding any truth, that just makes me believe that's what'll happen in T8 more. (And yes I do have to make a post about this theory at some point but I have talked ooc way too much lately so I'll save that for the new year I think lol)

(Not gonna lie pineapple pizza pretty lit tho.)

all the chaos this brings to your doorstep here is entirely up to you.

As the fabled middle man christmas Sora of legend, I’m only here to bear witness to this.

 @falsememoria​  whispered:   In the two years that had passed since Meteor, Cloud had been chasing rumors. Forgotten places, temples. Anything that might help rid him of Jenova's taint within him. Now he found himself in a dilapidated shrine, a cracked statue of a wolf on an altar. Slowly he approached, feeling the worn surface. Faded text inscribed. He couldn't read it, but unbidden the name came to his lips. "Amaterasu...?" He closed his eyes. "If anyone is listening, I need your help. I don't know where else to turn."

forgotten places are sacred places  both forgotten and abandoned by the warp and weft of time,  by that which does not spare none,  not even those gods who linger and dabble through the fruitless vines.  yet time can also heal.  it will be the salve which softens the wound,  soaking through wounded pores and broken sinew.  like all things,  they must be afforded time in order to flourish and burst forth from their keep.  colour will return to this world someday,  perhaps it already has done,  blinking in between turquoise and green.  here he may find an array of colours,  sounds and smells.  though forgotten by men,  this place has not been forgotten by she. 

her essence outpours from the heart of the shrine,  one boon placed atop another,  taking no real form yet such a presence is utterly unmistakable.  sap falls forth from the trees,  tacky and jutted.  gleaming bright,  bright red when the sunlight hits,  releasing a saccharine odour that promises spring will come around once again.  white mist pools about his feel like sea brine and bubbling foam.  flowers pepper along the pathway,  wild and free,  dancing amongst themselves.  it was as though she was always there,  always waiting,  waiting for someone to utter her name.  

you have come at last   ...    ancient notes ring aloud,  unburdened by throat muscles and lifting high above all other sounds.  this voice is a bellchime echoing between each ear.  it is a whisper pressed against the slope of his heart,  singing inside and out.   ...   speak and i will listen. 

Future Past

Midgar was burning. The Plate had fallen. They failed to stop it. He could hear the screams still.

Then everything changed. His dreams played like a video on fast forward, static filling his head.

Aerith. Shinra. The Planet. Escape From Midgar. A Journey. Tragedy. A Colossal Meteor.

Sephiroth.

He tossed and turned, grimacing in his sleep as more and more violent dreams assaulted his mind. Until finally he lurched upright, snapping awake with a sharp cry. He panted, drenched in sweat.

"Hah... Hah..." He raised a hand to his face, rubbing his head as if that would make it all go away. "Just a dream." He muttered. On autopilot he moved over to his sink in the spartan room he called home and splashed cool water on his face before he stared up at his reflection in the mirror. He found himself staring, like the face in the mirror was one he didn't quite recognize. Shaking it off, he turned towards the bed where the Buster Sword sat leaning against the wall within easy reach.

"Huh?" Unbidden, an image of a different sword entered his mind, a blade similar but different that split into seven. He grimaced as an image of the Buster Sword covered in rust stabbed into a cliff face flickered into his head before vanishing as quickly as it came.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked himself. "Get it together Strife." Shaking off the feeling that something was off, he hung the buster sword from his back and left his quaint apartment. He squinted his eyes from the onslaught of the bright light of day. To his right, he heard a door opening before Tifa stepped out. She looked a bit out of it herself.

"Hey. Rough night?"