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Lyner Barsett      It's been quiet these past three weeks.

     Far, far too quiet.

     Aside from the brief outbreaks of combat with companies of Antibody forces, Ar Ru hasn't been seen at all. And no major moves were made. She hasn't come out to break Soma free or anything. Which begs the question; where is she?

     That's a question that's been digging a hole into Lyner's brain all this time because he knows that after... well, what happened to Ayla, that it can't be anything good. He doubts she left Sol Ciel. And reports from the afar state that Metafalss and Sol Cluster have their own problems, but no one's seen a pink haired girl garbed in purples and blacks and riding a giant gold dragon.

     Therefore... She was here. Somewhere.

     It comes swiftly and suddenly, the answer to that one worrying question.

     At the Airport City Nemo, the knight is meeting with church officials, along with Radolf, when it happens. A powerful quake rocks the entire left wing of horus. A single shockwave, but powerful enough to send things tumbling to the ground and dirt kicking up. "Whoa!" He cries, steadying himself against a nearby railing. "What the heck!?" Quickly, he brings a hand to his ear and speaks, "Phonon! Come in! Do you know where that came from!?"

     A digital voice speaks calmly into his ear at that point. "Affirmative. The origin of the quake appears to be below the land. The Plasma Bell specifically."

     Lyner freezes. "... Did you say Plasma Bell?"

     "Yes."

     "CRAP!"

     "I am afraid that I do not posses such biological funct-"

     BLIP! Lyner doesn't wait to listen to that, he dashes off. "I'm going on ahead! Catch up with me later, Radolf!" And he's gone. He hops onto a motorbike and blazes a trail out of the city. While doing so, he speaks up on the radio again. "Everyone, this is Lyner. We've got a huge problem. Remember how we couldn't find Ar Ru? ...Well, we found her." He sounds awfully grim. "She's in the Plasma Bell. For the layman that means she's trying to destroy the facility that keeps the land floating around the tower. I'm gonna need some help to break through and stop her. Anyone who can make it, please meet me at the coordinates I'm transmitting!"

     And with that, he cuts off contact and speeds off.

     So it begins.
William Pauwel So. Ar Ru.

Will is of mixed feelings. On the one hand, she's trying to destroy a place he's really come to love and not just because it's full of all kinds of delicious technology, but also because the people are pretty nice and the food is good but most of all, it's a place he has a vested interest in protecting for... Reasons. He'd feel terribly guilty if he didn't. Like leaving a job unfinished. Or letting a good girl's world die.

Not gonna happen.

On the other hand, she may be necessary to make sure that world doesn't die. If they can convince her of it.

Will is of mixed feelings. Should he or should he not shoot her?

A hard place to be in.

And so Will appears, on his motorcycle, speeding towards the tower from the nearest warpgate.

Hopefully they aren't too late.
Reina Kinney There are many feelings Reina is feeling right now. But as Laia would say, "Now is not the time for feeling. Now is the time for doing!" And Reina knows exactly that time is now!

Especially considering Ar Ru is attempting to destroy all of Ar Ciel, and Reina does NOT want to see that happen on her watch! She receives the radio message and almost immediately, her response is, "Affirmative! Moving out now!" There's no time for unpleasant memories or things like that now. There's work to be done!

Arriving via warpgate as well, on her custom made motorcycle, Reina zooms after Will as well, gripping the handlebars tightly and holding on as well. "When a bird of prey spots its target, there's no stopping it!" She mutters to herself.
Kazusa Ujikane     There's someone else on the bike with Will. Her feelings are just as mixed, but she's made a quiet, personal choice, thanks to a chance discovery of something that may well have renewed a dead sense of hope. She's absolutely in much better condition than she was when they last met. She seems... quietly determined? Somewhere in that neighborhood. And she's hanging on tight as they approach.
Yuna Kagurazaka When Lyner contacts the others to report on Ar Ru's apparent location, the urgency in his voice (not to mention what Yuna took for carefully-restrained panic) told Yuna that there was absolutely no time to waste. So she doesn't waste any time at all; taking advantage of the fact that Elner can teleport isn't something Yuna resorts to for her convenience that often, but this isn't a matter of convenience.

Odds are pretty good that Yuna, Elner, Jiina, Marina, and Erina will actually be in front of the tower before even *Lyner* gets there; Yuna is in her Light Suit already, as may be expected, and her three 'doubles' are in their armored forms as well. There's no trace of a smile on Yuna's normally gentle, friendly face, either - as if the situation on Ar Ciel itself hadn't put her through the wringer, the past couple of days have been particularly strenuous. She wants to resolve this crisis, see Ar Ciel *saved* once and for all (at least for now), and either make new friends out of her latest enemies, or hold fast to the friends she already has with the knowledge that their worlds are safe for the foreseeable future.
Lyner Barsett      Lyner speeds to a stop once he gets to the lower lands' tower entrance, and... oh hey. Yuna's already here, with her bevy of transforming buddies and Elner. Yep. Leave it to Yuna to be extra prepared. And he wouldn't have it any other way. He smiles, though it's not really cheerful. "Glad you could make it, Yuna." And then he steps off his bike, kicking the stand out before he slings his sword pod behind his waist.

     Will and Kazusa come speeding in next, along with Reina. "Will, Kazusa, Reina. Good to see you." Once Deelel arrives, Lyner takes a look around and nods. "Deelel too. Alright, I think this is a good lineup. We don't have time to waste, so let's get a move on. I'll explain on the way." True to his word, the blonde man dashes off, and storms into the tower, navigating the way down to the lower sections.

     All the while, they spot security robots that would normally be patrolling the place and attacking, destroyed. That's one less obstacle for them, but also terribly disconcerting nonetheless. "For now, the church is standing by and preparing to evacuate people through the warpgates if need be. But..." He shakes his head. "There's not enough time to get to everyone. This isn't the solution we should go for." Lyner's eyes harden. "So we're going to have to stop Ar Ru one way or another. Otherwise... people are going to die."

     And that's not ever something he wants to let happen. There's a shake of the head, and then they arrive. The doors have been smashed open, sparks emitting from the hinges. That makes Lyner frown. "...I already knew, but this isn't a good sign nonetheless... Let's keep moving." Onward, stepping into the main room. The place is comprised of black metal walls and platforms, with glowing red wires running all about. There are gaps in which one could fall into the unknown, as well as golden-

     "Crap, watch out!" Right then, an Antibody swoops down upon the entering crew, bladed arms to bear in a wicked overhead cleave with both arms. Ar Ru, of course, knew that they were going to come. A glance about reveals that other Antibodies are on the way.

     Such a warm welcome.
Kazusa Ujikane     As soon as she's off her bike, Kazusa makes a beeline... straight to Yuna. Out comes The Knight. "Ah, jeez, I really appreciate this, Yuna..." The process is simple, and painless. Yuna will feel an impression - a communication on a more basic level than words, formless, an impression rather than a sentence... but if words could be put to it, they would be roughly, 'O stalwart warrior, will you lend your blade to this brave soul?' However Yuna assents, the image of a knight's blade on the front will be replaced with the Matrix Divider, and Kazusa... will lunge in and give Yuna a quick, firm hug.

    And then it's on through the Plasma Bell, and Kazusa is doing her very best to keep up the pace. Of course, they run into resistance - a very angry Antibody out for blood. But rather than draw on her card immediately, the plucky young card-user dives to the side, rolls... and comes up, breaking out into the best jog she can manage. "Ah, sorry, I can't... I can't transform just yet, I need to try and do this myself first! I'm sorry if it makes things harder for everyone..."

    Then, still charging ahead, Kazusa puts her hands up to her mouth, and shouts out. "AR RU! AR RU, ARE YOU OUT THERE? I WANT TO TALK! PLEASE, JUST HEAR ME OUT!"
William Pauwel DAMNIT KAZUSA NO THAT'S--

EXACTLY WHAT WILL WAS PLANNING TO DO!?

"Sorry about this, guys!" Will calls behind him as the Mistral's engines roar. Electrical motors scream their shrill battlecry as Ancient technology engages at all horsepower. He growls as the Antibodies scythe in, the Solano's light blazing to life at his side like the sword of some kind of legendary knight.

Except, you know, a gun.

"Kazusa! Get back on!" Will yells as the Solano discharges, roiling spheres of plasma surging downrange at the incoming Antibodies. "We'll break through faster if we go together! Heaven knows we ain't got no time for some damn distractions!"
Deelel So here Deelel was her keyblade was ready and she was expecting a fight. She hoped it didn't come to that but well? She's watching as Lyner bolts off andf he now maks ready to dfo some seriously crazy things along side everyone else. She's just a bit late in arrival she had to duck a few patrols bacl hopme to make it here. Thankfully she does make it.

"Forgive me, I got held up. Traffic an be real killer back home."

Given just about every ground craft on the grid had light walls? One could only guess what road rage there could be like? She's quiete now until the Antibody shows up and she's already summoning her light cycle as she's going to have a rare what would Will do moment here.
Yuna Kagurazaka The 'question' barely needs to be asked; Yuna's response is affirmative, and unstinting. To save this world, she will offer *EVERYTHING* that she has, and if Kazusa borrowing her powers improves their chances to succeed, then all the more reason to give her that option. Kazusa's hug is returned as well, just as firmly - and just as quickly. Time is very much of the essence.

Without knowing what kind of obstacles may lie within the Tower, Yuna sticks with the basic Light Suit for the time being; if there's a gap she can't jump across, one of the Matrix can fly her over it, but it's Lyner who knows where they need to go and as such, it's Lyner whose lead she follows. Besides, any obstacle that he can negotiate, from a barricade to a broken walkway, she should be able to handle as well.

At least until the Antibody comes diving down on them.

"SHUGOSEIHEKI!!!" Yuna's voice rings out, her left arm coming up as the kite shield materializes; no sooner has it formed than she braces it, trying to take the impact of those scythes so that nobody else in the party gets hurt. "Ar Ru, if you can hear us, call off the Antibodes and come talk to us! Approach in peace and we'll talk peacefully!" she calls out, backing up Kazusa's shout with her own plea.

The Antibody itself, though, is coming under fire - not from Yuna herself at first, but from the rest of the Matrix of Light. Focused, powerful blasts are unleashed from a two-handed weapon in Jiina's grasp; Erina peppers the Antibody with her own pulse-blaster arrays, while Marina's 'pigtails' angle up to launch a barrage of microtorpedoes. It's little more than covering fire, and they'll have to break off and *dodge* if the Antibody gets serious about counterattacking them. Yuna produces her own pistol and begins shooting at the Antibody as well, firing about one shot per second but focusing enough power between trigger-pulls to make each shot *count*. She's still doing that when Lyner calls on them to hurry on ahead - and she's not sure whether to believe her ears at first. She takes one look at Lyner ...

"Don't die, okay? Mir's going to throttle all of us if you don't come back alive!"

One last joint barrage to at least stall the Antibody's next attack, and Yuna dismisses her pistol, taking off running. Hopefully the path ahead is pretty straightforward.
Reina Kinney As soon as she gets off her motorcycle, Reina salutes Lyner. "I came as quickly as I could. We have to take care of this ASAP, and I'm going to help in any way I can!" She looks around a little, then spots Kazusa trying to call out to Ar Ru, and Reina decides to go along with it.

"Listen to us, please!" She calls out. "We want to help you! We're not going to hurt you! Just listen to us!" Her voice is firm but kind all the same.

Then the Antibody comes down, with more on the way. "Oh, Falz!" Reina swears, before snapping her fingers and having her pistols materialize. "Don't mind me, please, I'm just defending myself!" She mutters as she fires upon the nearest Antibody, trying to help Yuna a little.
Lyner Barsett      Everyone disperses once that one Antibody comes slicing down upon them. Lyner rolls out of the way and activates his sword, pulling the weapon from it's pod. Kazusa is about to do the dumb thing, but Will decides to do the slightly less dumb thing in turn. Good job Will. The two of them speed off, leaving golden sentries in their wake. Soon enough, Yuna's following as well.

     At the mention of Mir, Lyner blinks. "Huh? Why Mir specifically? That's weird-" Any one of his friends would do the same, no? Bah whatever. No time to think about that. He's got to hold down the fort! Antibodies are held off with shielding and cover fire of varying types, but eventually, Lyner is left alone. His back to the path the others took to get further in. He looks back once, then ahead, blocking the way of the enemy. "Sorry, but you're not passing here." He says resolutely, sword raised. He dives into action right after.

     As the others make their way further in, speeding through the halls and searching for the right path, their calls for Ar Ru find no answer. The occasional Antibody bars their path, but with how urgent every one in, no one takes the time to fight. Just to bypass and proceed on. Deeper and deeper they go, with quakes breaking out and shaking the ground at their feet more and more each passing minute.

     Eventually though, they do seem to reach the place they want to be at. Storming into the chamber, what they find is the fallen form of a robot very similar to Phonon. Emitting sparks and with damaged limbs, she seems to be non-operational for the moment. Not quite as severe as Sonnet and Phonon were destroyed though. That aside, the chamber is wide, with glowing red cabling running all about in a somewhat organized manner. They tunnel on ahead to a point in which.. oh. Someone tore a hole right into the tower wall, and the sky is clear to be seen. Out to the edge, they can look out and see a very familiar, gigantic golden form. It's wrapped around a huge, luminous orb of energy, golden maw opened wide and biting down into it.

     So that's how it is. Ar Ru is having Dainsleif devour the Plasma Bell entirely. Take away the power of the land and it crumbles into the Sea of Death.

     Logical.

     Speaking of Ar Ru, she can be seen laying back within one of the many coils of the draconic entity. One knee raised and the other lowered, her hands rest atop her knee with her face hidden. She says nothing. She just waits for Dainsleif to devour everything.
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa looks like she could just about hug Will.

    She settles for getting on the bike. ...And then, technically, hugging Will. Because she has to, in order to hold on.

    On and on they go, hurtling through the facility and past the Antibodies at such a pace that if Kazusa were to have to retrace her steps, she'd get hopelessly lost within ten meters. But she's trusting Will's navigation, trusting the Chaser to do what he does best. Only when they arrive does she make any move to get off at all, and that's only so that she can- well, okay, she jumps the gun a little and goes for a tumble. But she's quickly up to her feet and running towards Ar Ru, Knight card in hand.

    "AR RU! Ar Ru, please, you gotta stop! Just give me a couple of minutes, this is important! I have something very important to ask you as a Will of the Planet! If it ends up being worthless, you can go back to trying to eat that, and we can go back to trying to stop you, and all you've lost is a couple minutes of time, but... /please/, just stop for a few minutes, so we don't have to have this conversation in the middle of a fight!"

    As if to make a point of it, she shifts her hand so that she's indicating the Knight card... and then holds it down, low at her side. 'I'm not using this yet.'
William Pauwel Will IS pretty huggable in general. He's got that genuine, down-home country boy thing going on. He's a little boney, what with the travelling light all the time, though. But the huggability of various Chasers is a topic that can be discussed another day.

(None are as huggable as Molly)

Will ducks and weaves through the lumbering Antibody interceptors. Whatever ones get too close, he blasts out of the way just long enough to slip by. The ground continues to rumble; that means that they don't have much time. They've got to hurry. Got to keep moving. Got to...

Find Ar Ru.

And her giant dragon.

"That's--" Will gasps at the enormous sphere of light, and the equally enormous beast eating at it. Like Fafnir gnaws the roots of the world-tree, Dainsleif endeavors to swallow its heart.

Will's response is immediate. The Solano's light blazes, it ripples and fires, launching a single bolt of power at Dainsleif's flank, just enough to get its attention- and by extension, its master's. "Ar Ru! Y'all better listen to her. One way or another, we're savin' this world, and that means savin' the Plasma Bell. Come down here and let's talk this through, 'fore anyone here needs to get hurt!"
Yuna Kagurazaka For purposes of keeping up with Will's motorcycle, Yuna has to stop long enough to combine with Erina; Powered Form would probably be just as fast, but Flight Form is much easier to steer with, so Flight Form it is. Jiina, Marina, and Elner just follow as close behind Yuna as they can, their 'formation' interrupted once in a while as they dodge around an Antibody ... a move which Yuna has some personal issue with, but her allies are right - stopping Ar Ru *has* to come first. If they have to go back and fight the other Antibodies after that, at least the threat to Ar Ciel as a whole will have been dealt with ...

Or they'll all be dead and not able to do anything further, but Yuna's basically not thinking about that.

Upon reaching the final chamber, Yuna comes to a halt in mid-air - and sees the nightmare they've come all this way to stop.

The Plasma Bell, practically on a plate for that massive golden 'dragon,' with Ar Ru ensconced in one of Dainsleif's coils.

Flickers of golden light arc around Yuna's armor as her emotions clash against each other. The memory of Ayla's death is still very clear and painful to her, and the fact that Dainsleif is still chomping on the Plasma Bell - the one thing that mortal life on Ar Ciel depends on - stings Yuna deep in her heart with the desire to *do something to stop that*. But Kazusa's optimism is stronger than Yuna's own ... and it actually shames the Savior of Light a bit to realize that. She's ready to open fire; Kazusa is still trying to talk.

Yuna takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she keeps her kite shield at the ready. "We won't let you kill this world, Ar Ru," she calls out. "Humanity may be a pack of foolish idiots on any world, and we've always been terribly slow to learn the most important lessons - but if you kill Ar Ciel, nobody will ever learn the lesson that you, that Ar Ciel itself, wanted the people of this world to engrave on their hearts and souls. If you want to teach us that there's a path better than fighting, then *please* - prove it by not making us fight you!"
Reina Kinney Back on the bike she goes, and zoom zoom goes Reina! Racing along with the others, she holds on tightly, narrowing her eyes a little. "We've got to stop this! We can do it!" She mutters to herself as she increases the throttle a little, trying to shave a little time off of her trip there, albeit while remembering the time she had entered a motorcycle race that was being held in Tokyo-196, and ended up wiping out seriously when she tried to push her throttle farther than she should have. Her leathers protected her, but she didn't win.

Upon arriving, she jumps off her motorcycle with her hands raised to show she's unarmed. "Listen to us, please!" She calls out. "We're here to help you! Just listen to us for a moment!"
Deelel Once her cycle is in gear she's going to be flooring it with a digital roar her bike takes off and away she goes she hugs it like it's a part of her body, and the bike really is such more or less as she speeds after William who has a lead on her she keeps going at high speed and there's a dragon she keep closing as she thinks over her plan. There have been many world she has a cretor god who was ... negilaant and that caused suffering yet to see such stories played out in various ways across all reality made her wonder about the relation of the creator and the created? Who started the chain and why? That's something that bounces about Deelel's mind as she closes.

"This world is worth saveing, it's people are worth saving. A world without thought without anything to look back and marvel at it all ... is worthles, it has no purpose no place."
Lyner Barsett      "......"

     Silence is Kazusa's answer. The shot that Will fires at the flank of the giant Antibody strikes, and disperses with a simple scorch mark. Gonna have to fire off a *lot* more shots to make that thing stop. It continues to feast upon the sphere of light, causing quakes with each bite. Ar Ru doesn't budge at all upon hearing the voices down below calling up to her.

     They want time. They don't want to fight. A statement that Ar Ru finds laughable. She raises her head just a bit, and opens her one visible eye, dully glaring down at those assembled. "Teach you?" Her voice rings out, filled with disdain for everything she's had to see thus far. "It's been countless ages. What could humanity and their creations learn now, after all this time?" Reina gets a look next. "You say you want to help me? In what possible way could I need your help? I'm here to erase everything, and nothing else." Her eye closes. "Dainsleif only needs a few more minutes to end this wretched land's existence, and you're asking me to wait?"

     ".... ..... ....."

     She opens her eyes and raises a hand. "Dainsleif. Stop." Upon her command, the massive dragon's jaw come to a stop. It doesn't uncoil itself from the Plasma Bell, but it's not devouring it anymore. Ar Ru's arm lowers back over her knee, and she doesn't move. She just gazes down at everyone below, expression one of barely contained contempt. "You have one minute. Start talking."

     Generous, ain't she?
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa lets out a quiet breath. It might be a waste of a few precious seconds... but she's relieved. It's something.

    "...I didn't get it. I really didn't get it. You're the Will of the Planet. You say the planet's upset that humans have made a mess of things... but it's had so much time to do something about that. So many opportunities. It never did. You only showed up after they start to get things together, after they might finally start figuring things out. And moreover..."

    The card-user shakes her head. "...It didn't make any sense. The planet should want Project Sotiris to succeed, shouldn't it? If we can fix things, you should /want/ that to happen, shouldn't you? But you don't. You even sent Soma to..." There's a tiny voice crack. "...to kill Ayla. Just to stop it. To stop us from saving the planet. I didn't get it at all. I thought there must be something you weren't telling us. I think I figured it out. Ar Ru..."

    She adjusts her glasses, and looks the Will right in the eyes.

    "...does the planet want to die?"
William Pauwel That's the million dollar question, isn't it?

Does the planet want to die?

"...That's been bothering me, too," Will says, briefly lowering his weapon. One minute. One minute and then he might be forced to use it again. He shares a meaningful look with Kazusa before continuing. "It's funny timing, isn't it? We finally find out that there's a major problem, we find a way to fix it, and then... After hundreds of years, it's only then that Ar Ciel loses patience?" Will shakes his head. "And then, instead of sending Soma to slaughter people, because I know she definitely could, instead, she gets sent to kill... The one person specifically designed to save the planet."

He gestures at the Plasma Bell. "This is a really roundabout way of doing things. Even if you drop the land, Platina's still up on top, right? Built into the tower. This... This feels like you don't want to get your hands dirty. And if you wanted to, I'm sure there are way more important facilities, beneath the Sea of Death, that you could be attacking instead." Will glances back at Ar Ru. "But no. You're here. In a place that we'd notice is coming under attack, in a location that we could come and engage with you in. Instead of attacking here and Ayla simultaneously, you split things up, waited for us."

"I think it's more complex than just wanting to die." Will murmurs. "Ar Ciel wants to die. Ar Ciel doesn't want to die. I dunno, it's just a theory, but the inner conflict... makes sense."

Beat.

"...I don't want to hurt you. Or any of the other Wills. I'm... I'm angry, because of what happened to Ayla. But..." He shakes his head. "Ar Ciel wants to take away our hope, but she leaves us the means to win at the end. She wants to kill us all, but she does it in a way that we can stop her. Maybe... I was thinking, maybe all this is just to see if we want to save the world just as badly as she wants to end herself."

"But that's stupid," Will says, then. "Humans live on the planet, they're part of it just like any rock or tree or squirrel. She made humanity. Her Wills- you, Soma- they take human forms. There's got to be a reason for that, so why just... Risk it all like this? Why play with life and death?" He extends a hand, a stern, determined expression firm on his face. "Let's talk through this. I want y'all to all be around tomorrow. I'll make the same promise I made Ayla."

"Let's save today, so all of y'all can see what tomorrow brings."
Reina Kinney "One minute..." Reina bites her lip and closes her eyes for a moment, attempting to quickly focus her thoughts, as she's been trained to do. After a moment of thinking, she speaks again. "What do you intend to gain by doing all this? What good is it going to do?" She sounds like she's scolding someone, but in reality her voice is edging on the side of someone who's trying to be a solid negotiator. "Please, talk to us!"
Lyner Barsett      Ar Ru is silent. She sits there, high up in and against the coiled up dragon currently paused in it's progress to devour the very thing keeping the people of Sol Ciel afloat. She listens as Kazusa speaks, and remains quiet all the while. As the bispectacled girl offers her theories and conclusions on why this is all happening, the Will closes her eye and sighs.

     "So you figured it out." That eye opens. "The planet lost the will to live ever since the Grathnode Inferia." She shakes her head. "There was a vague hope. Which is why that contemptible woman is helping you. But in the end..." Her gaze hardens. "Ciela finds the thought of dying before humanity to be inconcievable. And so... So wants to wipe the slate clean before she dies. ...But maybe, just maybe she can believe in people again." That eye closes. "She can't make up her mind and I'm stuck here doing this worthless work. She wants humanity to be erased. But she doesn't just blow whole tower up. She wants to die, but Suzunomiya exists, which means she doesn't want to die."

     A sardonic little chuckle follows. "I'm tired of all of this. Soma was too. Puppets on strings being manipulated by an indecisive power..."

     She stares at the Chaser, hand extended to her. And her eye narrows. "... You made that girl a promise, huh? How'd that turn out for her?" She asks, lips quirked into a wry little smirk. "Why should I? What's the point? I can just tell Dainsleif to continue eating and the majority of life on this tower will end. You want me to stop and do what instead?"
Deelel Talk? They have sixty second to talk it's time to do it.

"You are the will of the planet and your upset about what humanity has done. You didn't show up the day they cause this no you waited until they were just starting to get their acts back together and make something of it. I'm not following the logic here. Why now? Why not sooner? Why also ignore those who keep stiving to go forward?! Man is born without function and they must chose what they are to be. A strugle like someone who isn't sure if they want to self terminatre its' a ... sucidie note a call for help."
Kazusa Ujikane     "It turned out well, actually," Kazusa says, a faint, sad smile pulling onto her face. "She got to experience forgiveness. She got to see the world, even if it was only for a little while. It was more than she expected. More than she ever thought she deserved. I don't feel like it was enough, but..." A shake of the head. "...it was worth it, y'know?"

    She lifts up her card again, and holds it up, looking at it with a frown. "...I mean, I picked a good one, but I still don't wanna have to do this." Those eyes track up to Ar Ru again. "C'mon. Come down from there. We don't want you to die, we don't want the planet to die, we don't want the humans to die. We're gonna save it all. You can figure out what to do after that."
Yuna Kagurazaka 'We're here to help you' is *not* the wording Yuna would have applied - Ar Ru wants to wipe out Ar Ciel, the whole point of being here is to *prevent* that from happening - but as Ar Ru quickly makes clear, they don't have time to argue about semantics. But Kazusa mentioned on-radio that she had a specific idea, something she figured out ... and Yuna just hovers there for a moment, listening to the card-using hero as she lays out the pieces.

That certainly sounds like the right question, too. It fits what Yuna has seen and heard, certainly. But just hearing the question phrased like that dumps a huge weight of sadness into Yuna's heart, like she'd swallowed an anvil or three, and she has to struggle to come up with words of her own. And Ar Ru confirms it for all of them by her answer.

"It's ... if that's what this is about ... if Ar Ciel wants life on this world to *end* and never return ..." Yuna closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to dig in her mental heels and *STOP* the tears that want to flow. She can't afford to break down and cry. "This world's lifespan is too short as it is, Ar Ru ... we hoped that you could help us save it. To see it end, by anyone's hand, even yours as Ar Ciel's proxy ... that would be too sad. For all the death and destruction that's happened here, for all the pain and heartbreak everyone's felt, Ar Ciel is still a world with the promise of great beauty ... and even though I wasn't born here, and I've never really lived here, I love this world. I love the Hymmnos that the Reyvateils use. And even if some of the people escape and survive, the loss of their world will always weigh their hearts down. I don't want them to suffer from that ... I want this world to live on, and for the beauty of its music to resound throughout the Multiverse!"

Somewhere in the middle of that, Yuna realizes that she's broken past her own sorrow. Beauty and hope ... those are, in a very real way, what she fights to defend. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but the ability to find something beautiful is common to *all* people, even if they disagree on what constitutes beauty. And hope - that's something that every person should be able to embrace.
Reina Kinney Meanwhile, Reina is trying to think of more words to say, but before she can speak, Yuna speaks some more. Those words are more than enough to motivate Reina to join in the speech. "She's got a good point. The beauty of music should be for everyone! We should all be able to enjoy it!" At this point, Reina's voice starts to crack, and she stops speaking abruptly. All the while, tears are starting to sting her eyes, but she blinks them back, not wanting to make her tough appearance be softened by the appearance of tears.

"There's always going to be darkness within the light, but if you believe, then the light can always overcome the darkness. It's not easy, I know, but it's all about balance." She breathes softly and slowly as she speaks, trying to make each word come out with a tone of compassion.
Deelel Deelel says "The planet has lot it's will to live? I see." It seems Kazusa was right on the money, it was only the young human's own insight that tipped Deelel off into understand the spirit ofthe world. She has a look of respect as she looks to Kazusa. She then looks back to Ar Ru.

"There's always night my world is currently in the grip of abrutalo dictor who has used genocide to maintain control of it. It seemed to be mostly a defiant last stand and help cancome from unexpected place. IF you wish to die, do you really want to take /everything/ else with you?"
William Pauwel 'How did that turn out for her?'

The words take Will right in the heart. It feels like someone's ran a knife through his gut and poured a glass of ice water into the hollow of his belly. The taste is bitter in his mouth and his hand squeezes around the handle of his gun.

But then Kazusa says the words he wasn't able to give voice to. Will takes a deep breath, and then slowly releases it.

"So. That's how it is, is it?" The Chaser sighs, swinging his legs over to dangle tiredly off one side of his motorbike. "She wants to live. She wants to die. She doesn't want to go alone, but she also doesn't want to go at all. And right there in the middle, all of you Wills are being thrown this way and that. People are getting hurt for it, makes it all the worse. You're right, it ain't right. But..."

Will squeezes one hand tight. "You know. I got Soma to stop by playin' on her nature. We beat her, so she has to listen to us. Logic made sense to her, bein' the Will of Survival of the Fittest. But y'all are different. I don't know what you do, except bein' made to lead this extermination army. But that's kind of a shitty job. 'Hey, Ar Ru, go kill off all of humanity so that we can die and you can go jump off a cliff.' Is that really what you want?"

"You're right, you could go right back to your dragon. Tell him to keep munching away. And then we'd fight, and I'm willing to bet it'd be rough, but we'd win on account of the fact that I've seen Yuna turn into a giant robot before, and we've got /two/ of her. Ain't nothin' stoppin' you from doin' that but this conversation and your good manners."

"Or," Will holds up a finger and looks this little girl square in the eye like a proper adult to another proper adult. "Y'all can tell the planet to do its own work if it wants to so much. Ar Ciel wants to die so bad that her Wills are going all over trying to kill her, but then she wants to live so bad that her other Wills are going all over trying to save her. You want out? Come on. You're Wills of the Planet. That means y'all are part of her. Sure, that means you maybe listen to Ciela or whatever, take orders, dance to her tune. But does that mean that's ALL you can do?"

"If you're a Will, then you've got your own, too. And if you don't want to be her puppet anymore, then make that choice, kill us, save us, whatever. But I really hope you'll help us out. I don't want to see this world burn, and I'm assumin' that as part of it, y'all don't want to either." Will leans back a little and sighs again. "I guess it's a bit of a pipe dream to change the mind of an entire planet, but that's not our situation. This planet's of several minds, so I figure, what if we can convince them, one by one, to give life a chance?"

"After all," Will Pauwel says, "A Will ain't nothing without Willpower. And after death? I don't know about planets, but for most people, there ain't no Will and there ain't no choice after Death. Puppet gets its strings cut, and it's lifeless. Puppet decides to move on its own, though... That's somethin' special. You're part of her, but she's MADE of you. Made of all of this, man, earth, beast and tree."

"So come on," he extends his hand again. "Let's do this. See this through together. There's so much of this world to see, and there'll be so much more once we're done fixin' the old girl up. I'm sure you want to see it for yourself, too."
Lyner Barsett      Sigh.

     Ar Ru is exasperated, but also just plain tired. It's kind of like how Soma was with all of this. Just fed up. Maybe that's why she didn't try so hard to fight after offing Ayla. Either way, that has nothing to do with right now. "You don't want me to die. ...Funny thing for you people to say." She doesn't budge. But she does listen, single green eye staring down at Yuna now as she says her piece. "...... ......." It's silence again, but she chuckles wryly after. "... You should have said that one thousand years ago. Maybe then, this all could have been avoided." Hasn't she said something like that before? Way back up during the attack on Platina in fact. "Your silly ideals just make me laugh."

     Reina and Deelel speak. Ar Ru narrows her eye. "...... More idealistic nonsense." A shake of the head. "Darkness in the light, huh? I wonder about that..." If that's true, then it's been dark for a while now. To Deelel, the girl scoffs and shrugs a shoulder. "That's the funny part, you see. The planet didn't even have to do anything. When she dies, everything sustaining the planet would go with her. Including us. And especially humanity. All of it would fall." Her arms settles back into her lap. "...Instead, she wants to throw a tantrum and take out everything before she goes. Nice, huh?"

     And to Will, Ar Ru just stares at him in an unimpressed manner. "... ... You're an idiot." Her arms cross over her knee and she rests her chin over them. "The only reason I was created was to create and lead the Antibodies. There's no other purpose for my existence than to erase humanity. And now you're telling me to save the world?" She shakes her head, but deep down... ".... ...." Her eye closes and she thinks. The rest of the minute passes, and she doesn't order Dainsleif to continue. She just ruminates quietly by herself.

     Finally, after several long moments, Ar Ru seems to come to some sort of decision. Her eye opens. "I'm tired... Tired of everything." Dainsleif loosens the hold it has coiled around the Plasma Bell. "...I don't care what happens anymore." At that, she stands up and hops. The girl sails through the air and lands right before the others. The dragon uncoils from the sphere of light and floats idly, watching Ar Ru. ...She's actually really short, now that she's not riding a huge goddamn Antibody dragon. She stares across at everyone all lined up.

     "I'm not your friend. I'm not going to follow your orders if I don't like them. And if I see something that pisses me off, I'll destroy it. No matter what it is. Are we clear?"

     ....... S-Success?
Yuna Kagurazaka "If I'd been here a thousand years ago to say it, I'd like to think I *would* have," Yuna replies with a wry smile. Dainsleif's disappearance is the point where she *really* relaxes, though.

She didn't want to fight Ar Ru. So if combat had wound up as the only viable option to protect Ar Ciel ... rather than fight *her*, Yuna was getting ready to literally charge down the dragon's gullet and fight *it* instead. The fact that she didn't have to do that is a massive relief, though; instead, Yuna just flies lightly down to the floor of the chamber, disengaging from Flight Form, letting Erina reassemble behind her.

And then Yuna bends down, trying to snug Ar Ru gently - not a massive glomp (much as she sort of wants to), just a quick, light hug around her shoulders, and a brief kiss - just a peck, really - on her forehead. "Then let's work together to make a future that you *do* care about," Yuna proposes. "Sound like a plan, at least for now?"
Kazusa Ujikane     "It's fine if our ideals make you laugh," Kazusa says, a broad grin breaking onto her face. "At least that way you're smiling, right?"

    And finally, Ar Ru is before them, and... oh gosh, she's actually kinda adorable. Kazusa might be holding back a glomp. Instead, she reaches up and adjusts her glasses. "Look at it this way. If you're the planet's immune system, then it's your job to heal it, right? To help it feel better. You're still doing your job." She gives a thumbs up. "So don't worry about it. We don't give orders anyway! We ask. 's how this works."
William Pauwel The moment is tense. Would she give into her mission? Would she shrug her shoulders at the planet's self-destructive tantrum? One minute was all they had, and at the back of his head, Will was counting down the seconds.

For some reason, that minute was much longer than he thought it would be.

Weird.

(Talking is a free action and therefore doesn't occupy any meaningful length of time in a given turn)

"That's fine," Will breathes when Ar Ru comes to her conclusion. He takes a step forward to extend a hand for her to shake-- but Yuna intercepts it with a hug. So Will is just sort of left... hanging.

Awkward.

"Ha-hem," Will coughs into a fist that was totally not just extended to shake Ar Ru's hand just now. "Like I said, that's fine. I ain't gonna give you any orders. The only thing we'd like to ask is for y'all to maybe... Spend some time with some people? Get to know them? I mean, I'd like for y'all to want to help us, if possible." Because to be frank, the Wills of Ar Ciel being /indifferent/ towards the end of the world is just about as worrying as them moving to accelerate it. "Also, we might... Need your help later, too. To save the world."
Reina Kinney As soon as Ar Ru starts to come down, Reina softens even more. She waits until she's sure Ar Ru is done speaking before she speaks herself. "You are absolutely right, you are not our friend, and I understand about the orders." She speaks in a clear voice yet it's gentle all the same, almost like she wants to insure Ar Ru that there's not going to be any trouble. She raises her hands a little as well and adds, "It's going to be OK. We're not going to hurt you."

When Yuna gives Ar Ru a hug, Reina smiles a little. She looks at the blonde singer and says, "Thanks for doing that. I'm not exactly the best at doing those really."
William Pauwel Beat.

"A-actually there's one more thing," Will says, coughing into a fist. "Uh. One of our friends is back there holding off your army all on his own. Do you think you can maybe... Have them stop trying to kill him? Please?"
Kazusa Ujikane     Kazusa hears something on her radio, and her eyes go wide. "U-um, Ar Ru, could you maybe possibly stop the Antibodies from attacking? They're kinda fighting with a friend of ours right now, is all..."
Deelel Deelel says "Maybe, butthat's what my kind are born of ideas, ideals. You can't have one without zero." Oh it had to come to Binary at some point with her. She listens now as she goes quiert she listens and she muses to her self some would flee. Still it comes down to it the spirit of the world is being selfish Yet sne's not sure if this is a win but right now? She seems to not care about carrying it out. She watches her and moves keep with everyone else.

"Yes could you call off the army?"
Lyner Barsett      When Yuna hugs her, Ar Ru very carefully considers the merits of having Dainsleif bathe the whole place in a wave of destructive force. But she thinks better of it and just endures. "Mmngh..." A grumble. "Whatever. You people just say what's convenient for you in the moment." Is the girl's reply to Kazusa.

     Will gets a glance then and her eye narrows. "I'll see what I think when the time comes. Don't expect anything more." But then there's mention of the rest of her forces, as well as someone fighting them off earlier in. Oh right. That idiot. "......" Ar Ru closes her eye for a moment, then- "There." There's no tangible change. No flash of light or anything. Just... that's it. Apparently it's all over on that front.

     "I'm going now." She decides, stepping out of Yuna's hug and moving past everyone. Using her own two feet for once, she heads off. Dainsleif is waved off, who turns and darts down into the Sea of Death and vanishes from sight. "I'm not going into your custody, and I'm not going to follow you. I'll do what I feel like." Which is a first for her, really.
Kazusa Ujikane     "Take care, okay?" is all Kazusa has to say, and she says it quite cheerfully.
Yuna Kagurazaka Yuna had let Ar Ru go again already, and she certainly doesn't try to stop her from leaving. Sometimes, a little distance is the best way to nurture a budding friendship; Yuna's spent enough time making friends to know that, and Ar Ru is kind of a cactus to start with. "I'm sure we'll see you soon," is Yuna's parting remark to the departing Will of Ar Ciel.

Then she looks to the others. "So ... we go pick up Lyner, head back to the city or the warpgate or something ... uh ..." She glances around briefly.

"What *is* our actual next step? I mean, we've stopped the destruction of Ar Ciel for now, but we have to start building up again - making it a world that wants to continue existing, that isn't torn between 'want to live' and 'want to die'."
William Pauwel "Yeah. That's fine, y'all take it easy now. Go take your big dragon friend fishin' or somethin'? I dunno. Do what you like and have a great day!" At least she's not just sitting in one place moping! Though that does beg the question of what Soma is actually getting up to.

...

Will is betting she's having a bubble bath.

On account of all that sweat.

"Well, right now the plan is... To try and figure out how to get the egg to move into the planet's core, and to put together a way to try and dive into Ar Ciel's consciousness without instantly evaporating." He shrugs. "There's stuff to do."
Reina Kinney Reina doesn't try to stop Ar Ru from leaving. She simply stands there and lets her go, since Laia has taught her many times about letting the subject go if need be. She clasps her hands behind her, and then turns to look at the others. A slight smile forms on her face as she looks at her colleagues and says, "We did well. Very good job!"