Sheffield was a quiet town, but there was an element of edge to it, as if people were constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Given what Setzer had heard about the disaster of a ceremony they had held in the caves some time ago, that didn’t exactly come as a surprise.
The incident was, in fact, what brought him here. The abduction of the Earth Quartier warranted closer investigation, and while the allies of the Shadow Man and the servants of the Quartiers bustled about pointing fingers at each other, he was content to quietly observe and retain what might prove useful.
The village pub was the perfect place for that kind of observation. People ran their mouths after a few drinks, and if that meant parting with a bit of his coin to get something worthwhile and having to sit through a litany of woes for a scrap of something useful, so be it. He had the patience for it.
It was still early in the evening when a woman sat down beside him, which was surprising in its own right. Generally, women who came to the pub did so with friends or lovers and made themselves comfortable at tables. It was rare to find a woman who came in alone and sat herself at the bar.
A quick glance at her face, and he knew in an instant that it was the same woman he had run into at the Passion Parlor. The one who had been so rude when he literally ran into her. The one who had slipped and called him ‘attractive’.
When she ordered, he kept the barkeeper for a moment longer: “The lady’s drink is on me, thanks.” The man nodded, and Setzer turned to the woman beside him and offered a small smile. “No ulterior motive, I assure you.”
He had said it only because she made such a display of flashing her wedding ring at him the last time they’d met. As if that's ever stopped me before. “I merely think we got off on the wrong foot. Consider the drink an apology.”
“Tempers were running hot in Calceth. How about we introduce ourselves like civilized people this time and see how it goes? I’ll start.” He raised his drink to her and smiled. “I’m Setzer.”
-It was in these days of unrest that adventurers would trample through the flower beds, do their business with pleasurable company in the lake, and just be outright mean to creatures that were different from them. But never in Airy’s long years of life and service did anyone abandon weaponry in the middle of broad daylight. On her flowers no less.-
“Who’s responsible for this!? I’m going to paff these thingies into ‘splodesville!”
Trembling uncontrollably , Firion was in a cluster of tears as he sat curled up on the sidewalk . With traces of grime , oil and garbage stacked along the sides. On his way home from patrol , Firions mind had crumbled ,his thoughts cracking , dissolving into a sea of darkness and negativity. So he lay here ,unable to walk , unable to reach home as his body released the tears that had been held back. What was going on with him? Why was he so down lately? His mood had crumbled only to feel as if he should end his life ,why should anyone miss him? He`s nobody only a faceless warrior that is ignored in the social wavelength. The only partial relationships he had were ones with his enemies , thrown away whenever they felt like it where Firion masked it as love.
What a fool he was.
This is mostly a note for myself and a reference for anyone in ct that might be curious. As far as her memory goes, Celes’s memory of her past life is pretty slim - but what she does remember are the very basics that stretch to only pre-game. They consist of two key things:
- She was in an imperial army
- She made it to the rank of general. She has flashes of an old man with a white beard and red robes praising her, and she can feel instinctively that he may have been her superior - but not in the army. She’s guessed (accurately so) that the man was royalty.
Celes also knows her age XD So she is well aware that she started abnormally young...she just doesn’t remember how young she was when she was trained. Also - her magic? Celes has no memory as to how she obtained it. I headcanon her summoning to ct!verse happening right before the final battle, so she still has her magic as a result. These are the memories she starts off with. When she obtains crystal shards, she’ll remember more.
Let the Games Begin // CT!Villain Quest Drabble //
--There was a beauty in the way things burned. It didn't matter if the blaze began at the highest intensity, or if it took time to blossom into the raging beast he so adored. His weakness, perhaps, was how obsessed he was with the element that seemed to flow freely through his veins; a second bloodstream. Emerald eyes could stay fixated upon those flickering flames as they danced at the command of his fingertips, his gaze would follow each wisp of smoke as they billowed up into the skies.
But he was admittedly bored with the same old, same old.
And he was frustrated with how things were turning out lately. There was a boiling anger simmering within him ever since he'd learned of Master Romulus placing other comrades in Calcheth to help in their efforts. The bastard had placed others in his beloved town because apparently he wasn't enough. Axel hadn't met the ones he was meant to call his allies, but he knew they were there, and it brought a bitter taste to his mouth. Calcheth was his town, to Hell with his supposed allies. They didn't know it like he did. No one ever would. Was he meant to teach them? Tch. That would be the day. No, no. He was meant to share with them. SHARE with them, the things he would rightfully earn. They were meant to do the same, and yet, Axel suspected that they would not.
He figured that it wouldn't be terribly difficult to kill them. Except, he needed new skills, new powers, new abilities. The assassin needed some new tricks up his sleeves to eliminate the threats.
--Those words echoed through his head every minute he trained.
--eliminate the traitors, eliminate the traitors, eliminate--
Where had they come from? Who had spoken them? Why was he remembering them? There was too much unknown, and Axel couldn't stand it. He needed to know more. He needed answers. But more importantly: he needed power.
Fire licked at the skin of his hands, fists curled up as his knuckles smashed against the bark of the harmless tree before him. It exploded at his touch, soon engulfed by vicious flames, soon spreading like a contagion unto the surrounding topiary.
His bright (perhaps not so bright at the time) red hair was pulled back into a matted ponytail, and his bare chest would have been glistening visibly with sweat, had the air not been clouded with plumes of dark smoke. In such thick smog, nothing was visible. His lean body should have been begging for rest from the vigorous conditioning, but adrenaline prevented such weakness, such humanity. His ash-covered knuckles bled, his chest was stained with patches of soot, and deep purple (among a multitude of other hues) bruises formed on his once unblemished skin. Ah, but he felt nothing; none of the pain, the fatigue, the aches. Nothing.
Though he could not stop himself from choking on the smog as it formed into impassable, congested clouds around him. There was very little...
Air. Oxygen.
The power of the crystal seemed to laugh at him as it coursed through his veins. Axel couldn't breathe and he needed oxygen. He needed the smoky air to clear in order for his lungs to be able to inhale and function. There was air, certainly, but it wasn't suitable for him to breathe. It was only suitable for his blazes. Fire needs oxygen to burn -- it was simple knowledge. Anyone with a grasp over the element (particularly anyone with such extensive power, someone like Axel) should know that. But it wasn't until he was struggling to breathe because of his own lack of control that the basic lesson was remembered. With that little science lesson, came the words of Romulus himself; another lesson:
--❝Power is nothing without control.❞
Axel was familiar with power. The caress of it, the onslaught of it, the overwhelming bliss it encompassed -- he knew it well. For the villain, he'd assumed he was on the right track in terms of controlling his gift of dominance and reigning in his potential. In reality, he was just going in circles. He was doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. And that was the definition of madness.
But now he knew what he needed to do, and he was filled with a new energy. The crystal shards illuminated around him as the realisation settled in, covering him with a momentary, magnificent aura; a vibrant, hued second skin, hovering just above his first. He held up a bare, bloodied, ashen hand and, with eyes closed, he narrowed his focus in on the smoke and the air rather than the raging blazes he'd conjured. The heat wasn't what he needed, it was the air. The redhead could feel the light threads of wind entwine around his fingertips, and despite their polluted condition, they felt fresh. His body craved that purity, more than anything, as a natural response.
--And when he closed his fist around those airy threads, he could feel them swirl and grow in his hand. They were begging to be set free; after another moment of the fierce, unfamiliar element maturing within his closed fist he extended his arm, and forced his hand open;
Violent gusts of wind shot out from the palm of his hand. The air around him cleared and most importantly: he could breathe again. But what was that power? Where had that come from? Doubled over, kneeling against the ash-dusted ground, Axel gasped for the air he'd just cleared, and there was no mistaking the smirk on his nearly unrecognizable face. As a test, he rose his shaky hand once more and aimed it directly at one of the blazes still burning not far from where he knelt. With furrowed brows, it took only a second for a whip of feathery air to be at his disposal, and it took only a second more for him to direct it unto his flames. The direct hit seemed to feed the fire, as though someone were stoking it, nourishing it. There was a crackle to signal another explosion by his doing, and the inferno grew, and grew.
It was shaping into a masterpiece.
And Axel collapsed into fits of exhausted laughter as it raged around him.
