Be brave enough to burn

[notsogreedy]

Who: All the Alices (and Ankh, his name is Ankh)
What: Just a mysterious castle built on top of a restaurant. What could possibly go wrong?
Where: World Two – Wings to the Sky
Warnings: Who even knows? Will update as necessary.



Ankh wakes up at the edge of the water, his arm draped over a rock and his face cushioned by a bed of sand and seaweed as the edges of waves wash over his body. The first thing he notices upon waking is that it's uncomfortable. The second, upon lifting his head and starting to pull himself out of the water is that it's familiar. Awareness dawning, he scrambles to his feet and looks around wide-eyed half expecting Eiji to be there somewhere. Of course he isn't.

But this... this is his last memory. For a moment he wonders if somehow this whole thing came to an end and he wound up back home, but that's wishful thinking. No, this is just his world. His heart, as the guides like to call it. It's only more obvious that this isn't real as he scans the horizon and finds Cous Coussier where it shouldn't be. And then on top of it... that's-

His eyes widen, and then narrow. He's not sure what to expect out of this other than nothing good.

But, after wringing the water out of his clothes as best he can, he makes his way to the restaurant and curiously to the freezer, where he finds the ice pops he expects to be there. Pulling one out, he gives it a skeptical look for a moment—does he dare assume it's really the same or even safe to eat?--but ultimately pops it into his mouth and discovers it tastes exactly like he expects. That much is something he can appreciate. But as for the rest of this...

With popsicle in hand, he continues exploring.

Comments

Re: Final Puzzle

[notsogreedy]

[Ankh comes here after solving Rei's puzzle. He knows the answers to the rest, assuming their owners weren't lying when they marked them, but this one is a bit of a mystery. He can eliminate a few based on what he knows of Alice, but not all of them. He ponders them for a moment before finding something to hit the windows with. He'll try the image with the grave first.]

Puzzle: Solved

[worldkeys]

[ When the window shatters, so, too, does Alice. She will awaken in the hub, aware of a painless death, but not hurting for it. In her place is a third medal. With it is another chunk of memories. This time, Ankh will lose his sense of smell. A third light on the lock will brighten leaving only three more to go. ]

[notsogreedy]

[Yes, it does something weird. But probably not to Sebastian-- or maybe it really would take the senses of whoever touched it. That would be convenient... but Ankh knows better than to assume that would be the case. It seems like Sebastian is able to pick it up, at least. So far so good.

Until a split second later, the image of Eiji having transformed fully into a Greeed is all too vivid in his mind, and when he comes back to reality, there's no taste in his mouth. His eyes go wide for a moment and he clenches a fist, but that's as much reaction as he'll show.]

[frozentear]

[Sebastian was facing the wrong way to notice that reaction, so as far as he knows nothing has changed. He turns and holds the medal out towards Ankh.]

Here.

Re: Puzzle: Solved

[notsogreedy]

[It seems he was right on the first try. He's pleased with that. This time, though, there's nothing in the room. That's the problem with not having found Alice in advance. Sebastian is still following him and Ankh tells him to keep an eye out for that medal.]

[notsogreedy]

[He just looks at the medal, almost wary. He had been planning on having Sebastian collect them all, but now it doesn't seem to matter who's holding them. So after a moment, he reaches out and snatches the Hawk medal from Sebastian's hand, then turns to go back out the door.]

Keep following me.

[frozentear]

Why do you need me to pick them up for you, anyway?

[He will follow, though.]

Re: Fourth Puzzle Found

[notsogreedy]

[Ankh pauses just outside the door to the armory, looking down at a Condor medal laying on the floor.]

So this is where she was.

[After pointing that out to Sebastian and reminding him not to pick it up yet, he goes into the room and smashes the marked window, the one with Otoha sitting with someone on a building.]

[notsogreedy]

I wonder... [He says it dismissively, in a way that says he obviously has an answer, but not one he wants to share.]

In any case, don't pick up the next one right away. Just remember where it is so you can get it later.

[frozentear]

[Hmm. Is it doing something he can't see? It didn't affect him, so maybe it affects Ankh.]

Yeah, fine.

[notsogreedy]

[He replies with a vague sound of acknowledgement. It's an odd origin, but his own is, too. It's really not that interesting. He glances at the windows, realising he has very little to go on here... aside from a guess that the window Qilby is at isn't accurate. It looks like he killed the dragon there, but Ankh can read Qilby's feelings on the subject. Enough to think it doesn't fit.]

And you're a scientist, if all this stuff means anything. [He gestures vaguely to the various lab equipment all over the windows, then more specifically to the one with the box.] What's that? Some kind of experiment?

Re: Fifth Puzzle Found

[notsogreedy]

[This is the last one before he gets down to only having Sebastian's left. He's not sure what he's going to do then, but for now, he smashes the window that's marked, the one with the cube.]

[dolosa]

It doesn't change much, though, does it? I'm not tricking him or confusing him or lying to him.

[dolosa]

[ Well, that was quite entertaining. Of course, now that coming back from the dead a second time is said and done, she's going to be checking the fridge for some ingredients and start cooking some food. Just because it's a dream doesn't mean she can't get some food.

She's actually a rather decent cook, so don't worry -- it's not poisoned. (Unless you want it to be.) ]

Puzzle: Solved

[worldkeys]

[ The window shatters easily. Otoha will, as well, arriving safely in the hub where he will be aware of his death. Yet another medal will be on the ground where he was, with another batch of memories. This time, when the medal is picked up, Ankh will lose his sense of hearing. However, for some reason, he will find that he can "hear," but it's like the sound is being translated into something else and being transmitted directly to his brain. He will be aware that what he's hearing isn't sound, and that he's not really hearing, and it will even feel bizarre and he can't place what it is he's actually doing. Another light will brighten up on the lock. ]

Puzzle: Solved

[worldkeys]

[ As with all the others, when the mirror shatters, so does Qilby. He will awaken near the Rabbit in the hub, aware of his painless death. Where he stood is yet another medal. Another batch of memories returns to Ankh, and this time, he loses his sight. However, he will still be able to "see." Like with the sense of hearing, he's aware that he's not really seeing anything, and it's more like he's sensing everything to transmit a decent black-and-white image to his brain--like a very old TV, with an blurry picture. A fifth light will brighten on the lock. ]

[apatheticguide]

[ Yeah. Exactly. ]

... That depends on your definition, I suppose.

[ He's grumbling those words a bit. ]

[notsogreedy]

It's my answer, anyway. [Even if she can't confirm it directly. He looks toward the window.] But I wonder what it is I'm supposed to do. Just saying it doesn't seem to do anything. [Not that he expected it to. Neither is touching it, because that's what he tries next, gently tapping a finger against it.

After the last world, he's half expecting the windows to start talking to him at this point, but it seems like these ones might actually be as inanimate as they appear.]

Re: Puzzle: Solved

[notsogreedy]

[Ankh is completely unfazed by the sound of Otoha shattering just outside his field of vision, and only looks over to find another Condor medal laying on the ground. He doesn't move to touch it, and he knows Sebastian won't, either. As far as he's concerned, this puzzle is done, and he's ready to move on to the next room.]

[frozentear]

He... he just...

[So that's what happened in this world... the medals are like the clocks, they killed the owner in the process of getting them. It was less gruesome than last time, but still...]

[notsogreedy]

Shattered, like the window. [He says, as if there's nothing concerning about that at all, and walks toward the door.]

[frozentear]

Did the other one shatter too?

[Not following, not just yet.]

[notsogreedy]

They all did. [He says it easily, pausing at the door and glancing back when he realises Sebastian hasn't moved.] Are you coming or not?

Re: Third Puzzle Found

[notsogreedy]

[This is the last window, and that makes it the most difficult. Not because it's hard to guess--it's one of the easiest in that sense, for a few different reasons--but because breaking it means Sebastian shatters, and now that he's down to the last one, it's worth collecting the rest.

Not knowing exactly what's going to happen to him, he decides to wait by the window that's marked, so that even if he can't see at all by the time Sebastian comes back he'll still know where he needs to hit. It's easier than having tried to find and break all the windows while potentially blind and deaf, he tells himself. Also harder, because he doesn't know when Sebastian will pick up each of the medals, and every time the effects are a surprise. Smell is the first to go, confirming what he already expects. Hearing and vision turn out less debilitating than he might have thought, but waiting for them is hell.

The memories are increasingly confusing. Snippets of him talking to Hina, and fighting by Eiji's side. He doesn't know what that means. He remembers everything up until that fight at the beach, and by then they were enemies, so when...? He realises, also, that he's not sure what the last medal is going to be. The rest have been ones that should exist; the medals he still had that hadn't been broken. Now there shouldn't be any more.

He doesn't bother talking when Sebastian comes back to the room. Now that he's there, Ankh knows exactly where that last medal--whatever it is--is going to drop, so there's no reason to put it off any longer. He does and doesn't see and hear as the final window breaks.]

[frozentear]

Yeah, yeah.

[He'll follow, fine. But... the fact that this doesn't bother Ankh much aside, this is creating a worrisome pattern.]

Do you think all the worlds will require the person whose heart it is to kill everyone else?