you're at the bottom of a hole. vox machina and their friendly band of adventurers have just fought off a beholder in a tomb - the tomb of the champion of the raven queen, in search of a vestige, a godly weapon to help you defeat a conclave of dragons as they attempt to raze your world to the ground. the beholder, while annoying, powerful, and armed with a terrible disintegrate ray, was ultimately not much of a match for you all. you're down at the bottom of this hole, retrieving kima, one of your allies, and you wait for scanlan to throw down the rope so you can clamber back up.
the chaos happens while you're away. you climb, and you climb - you hear a distant thump, and then the sound of footsteps, but that's not unusual.
and you pull yourself to the top of the hole, and you look at your friends, all gathered together, and the joy and easy warmth of a victory on your face turns to nothing.
because as percy turns back to look at you, you realize that he's holding your sister propped up against his body, and she's not moving. not breathing, and your entire world stops.
you're moving before you can even really realize it, the entire world narrowing down to just vex'ahlia, her wide open eyes, her slumped frame. you shove past zhara and kashaw and you drop to your knees in front of vex, your hands shaking, your heart pounding
and you barely have it in you to say: ] ...The fuck happened?
[ your voice is impossibly hoarse, small, barely there, as tears well up in your eyes and drop down your cheeks, as the world seems to go topsy turvy in front of you. not thirty seconds ago, you could hear vex, cooing delightedly to percy about some treasure or other, you looked away for one second just one second and she's -- she's gone.
vex. vex, your sister. your life. your whole heart. she's gone.
you panic. you reach for the strongest healing potion you have and you pour it in her open mouth. nothing. nothing happens, as the rest of the party stands shellshocked around. it does nothing - you barely even hear as kashaw appears at your shoulder, nudges you away from her, saying something about a ritual, or casting, or something. you want to shove him back, push him away, but you see the glimmer of diamond in his hands and hope sweeps into your chest, desperate. desperate.
"I can bring her back." kashaw says. your chest heaves.
he pulls diamonds, he hesitates, and you, desperate, yell, yell - ] The fuck are you hesitating for?! Do it - what are you hesitating for? Do it!
[ kashaw says something about his god, or something, that she could destroy the entire world in the process of doing this, but you don't care. you don't fucking care, fuck the entire world and fuck the people in it, you don't give a shit if it means that vex'ahlia comes back.
percy helps first. then zhara. (to 4:30:02, for more details.)
and then it's you.
and you know what you're going to do. you sit in this temple, in this tomb to the goddess of death, the matron of death (and you see her standing behind your sister, waiting to take her soul away - you can see her silhouette) and you think to yourself
no.
you push past kashaw and you grab your sister's body, and you pull her close, and you look that silhouette straight in the face, and you say, with all of the fury and the misery and the grief driven courage that you have: ] Take me instead, you raven bitch.
[ the dark, female form stares back at you. the raven queen. you know it, just by looking, and you don't care. you face down god herself.
she steps forward, and reaches her hand towards you. you do not break. you stare.
she nods.
and then, suddenly, you feel the rush of magic through your veins - and you wait, and you wait, and you stare this figure down, down, down - and the silence kills you, one moment, two
then the raven queen is gone.
and vex'ahlia, your sister, your entire heart, your life, your other half, your everything, takes a deep, gasping, living breath as the pact is complete. (@ 4:32:54.) ]
[Itsuki has seen a lot of memories. He's used to being an observer, and he knows when to stay quiet and watch. This is... There's a lot about this memory that's new -- and interesting too -- but the core part of it, the emotions that he can feel from it are familiar. And painful.
That desperation, the way Vax holds onto the girl who looks so much like him, twins -- his heart is in his throat. He doesn't want to see a sad ending, he doesn't want it to end badly,
He lets out a breath the same time Vex does, and the memory fades around them.]
...Was she -- were you... [okay? alive? taken? having clearly made some kind of deal?] ...I'm glad that worked.
[it did, right.... he knows only from what he sees in Vax's memory, but that's his genuine feeling. He's glad that Vex is alive, and that Vax hadn't lost her...]
[ actually now that i'm rereading it you didn't vex me nevermind i just can't read
ah.
it's... it's hard, to watch it again. when they blink free of the memory, there are tears at the corners of his eyes, and vax's hand is resting over his heart.
he has to shake his head. once, twice, to clear it, before he realizes that itsuki is talking to him, and vax's voice comes out rough, a little distant. ]
....yeah. She's... she's fine. My sister's fine.
[ he has to keep reminding himself of that, here. vex is fine. ] ...Sorry.
[It can't be an easy memory to see, and Itsuki has seen many -- his and others. This one strikes a chord with him though -- Vax's love for his sister, obviously -- but just that sheer desperation. How does it feel to put your entire life on the line for someone you love? To just do it without being afraid?
he shakes his head]
No, I'm glad to know. Well -- I'm not glad that our memories are out there for everyone to see, but... I'm glad she's okay.
[for vax of course, but also for their cluster of comrades, similarly afraid]
...You and Percy-kun are from the same place? Like Shuu-kun and Yasu-kun?
...Appreciate it. [ aw, sweet itsuki... he gives him a little smile, mouth quirking up a bit now that the memory has faded away.
he's not quite shaken by it, but it's still hard to watch, hard to relive those feelings of loss and panic. hard to think about vex being dead - even though he knows, now, how this story ends. ]
... we are, yeah. Teammates, or something like it. We traveled together.
[he wonders if it's his place to ask if Vax ever forgave him (not knowing that he'll get a memshare to answer that later), it feels too sensitive of a question, instead]
So you went on a lot of adventures? Percy-kun mentioned having to fight a dragon.
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w3 monday
all that matters is there's one of these bubbles. vax regards it for a moment, regards itsuki, and mutters - ] Might as well get this over with.
[ maybe it won't be that bad. and with that, vax touches the little bubble.
me in tears thank u sisi for hurting me
That desperation, the way Vax holds onto the girl who looks so much like him, twins -- his heart is in his throat. He doesn't want to see a sad ending, he doesn't want it to end badly,
He lets out a breath the same time Vex does, and the memory fades around them.]
...Was she -- were you... [okay? alive? taken? having clearly made some kind of deal?] ...I'm glad that worked.
[it did, right.... he knows only from what he sees in Vax's memory, but that's his genuine feeling. He's glad that Vex is alive, and that Vax hadn't lost her...]
c:
ah.
it's... it's hard, to watch it again. when they blink free of the memory, there are tears at the corners of his eyes, and vax's hand is resting over his heart.
he has to shake his head. once, twice, to clear it, before he realizes that itsuki is talking to him, and vax's voice comes out rough, a little distant. ]
....yeah. She's... she's fine. My sister's fine.
[ he has to keep reminding himself of that, here. vex is fine. ] ...Sorry.
no subject
he shakes his head]
No, I'm glad to know. Well -- I'm not glad that our memories are out there for everyone to see, but... I'm glad she's okay.
[for vax of course, but also for their cluster of comrades, similarly afraid]
...You and Percy-kun are from the same place? Like Shuu-kun and Yasu-kun?
no subject
he's not quite shaken by it, but it's still hard to watch, hard to relive those feelings of loss and panic. hard to think about vex being dead - even though he knows, now, how this story ends. ]
... we are, yeah. Teammates, or something like it. We traveled together.
no subject
So you went on a lot of adventures? Percy-kun mentioned having to fight a dragon.