witchesreign | The Calm Lands [Action | Team Kat

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The Calm Lands [Action | Team Kat | Plot!]

[The Calm Lands.]

[A verdant green plain stretching off as far as the eye can see. Tall mountains shrouded in clouds border it on one end; on the other, the Macalania Woods block any sight past their imposing trees.]

[The air is quiet and pregnant with tension today, thick and still and stifling with an edge. No animals make noise, no sight and sound of people, save for the two standing in the center of the plains: High Summoner Braska and his guardian, Auron.]

[Across the length of the plains, the monolithic form of the monstrous Sin stalks slowly towards them.]

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[Now, this is just bizarre. Of course the experience of being transported to another place isn't foreign to Hermione, but she certainly didn't end up in this new place by apparation. There was none of that spinning of the world around her and the sensation of a hook tugging at her belly-- in fact, it was as though the entire library had melted around her while she remained locked in place. It wasn't until she had taken a tentative step forward into the white void did the setting suddenly manifest, a place where a large valley of grass stretched before her, and where two men she didn't recognize stood.

But that is the least of her worries.

As she scans the area, it takes little to no time for her to spot the ominous figure that's walking towards her. Panic immediately consumes her-- what in the world is that thing? A hand instinctively hovers over her jacket pocket where her wand is securely tucked inside, the other clutching her small satchel which has never left her sight since she first arrived in Garden.

Where is Ron and Harry? What is going on?

Hermione takes a step backwards as her hand slips into her pocket, her fingers now gripped around her wand for quick action should the need arise.]

[Hunter's sense tells her to get down and stay down--that thing, whatever it is, is bigger even than the Dragon Aspects, which is saying something. Beside the elf, the shale spider sways from side to side, mandibles twitching in irritation. It makes no sound.]

I'm not sure it can see us, but you might want to get down in any case. [The words are a quiet hiss, but Katsura's hair, regardless, is a bright orange-gold flower in the sea of grass.]

[]

Whoa! That thing's ugly!

[The group is far enough away that their voices hadn't caught the pair's attention. They're simply too focused on the immense monster lurching slowly towards them.]

[Braska raises a hand, setting it on Auron's shoulder.]

Time for you to go, my friend. Your duty is done.

[It seems that Auron will protest, but the words never make it out. He looks down and away, then nods, and turns to step back from the impending fight.]

[Hermione is both surprised and relieved to see an instructor there as well, though there's a flicker of worry when she spots the junior cadet. Nonetheless, she takes Katsura's advice and drops to the ground.]

What do we do, instructor?

For the moment? Get down. I've never seen this before, but I suspect they may be doing something about that.

[She gestures to the man facing the colossal beast, though she also loosens the bow from her back and nocks an arrow into it.]

Might as well be prepared if we have to step in, though, hm?

I'll help, too!

[]

If it comes over here.

[What is coming this way is not Sin -- not directly, anyway -- but Auron. On sighting the group, he breaks into a run, hurrying towards them.]

This isn't a safe place to be. Get back! Lord Braska is about to fight Sin!

[Hermione does as Katsura tells her, staying low. It isn't until she sees the man turn to run towards them does she pull out her wand, but Hermione eases when she realizes that the man is trying to warn them.]

What? What is Sin?

Back. As if that's going to make any difference if it notices us!

[Though Kat does get to her feet, making a motion at the shale spider to back off--its attention, for good or ill, had been on the approaching man.]

We should get back a little bit, I suppose. [Not that it probably wasn't still going to be within her range, if she started sniping at it. But that was for later, not now. She gave the man a look.]

And you are?

[]

I'm gonna call Carbuncle! Just in case!

[]

[Auron slows slightly as he reaches them]

Auron. Guardian of Lord Braska. And as much as I'm sure the support is appreciated, your weapons will offer no help here.

Nor will your aeon.

[Yevon, she's young for a summoner.]

[Compared to Katsura and Eiko, as well as this 'Auron', Hermione feels a bit incompetent; she doesn't have the weapon she'd been training with in class on hand, and she still wasn't comfortable with the aspect of using GFs. Nonetheless her grip tightens on her wand as she tries to remain calm.]

What is that? You're not going to let him fight that thing alone, are you? [She indicates Braska in the distance, clearly alarmed.]

[Hermione had taken the words right out of her mouth. She scowled at the man.]

That doesn't tell us what's going on! [The shale spider squeals, then, as if in agreement. As for the comment of don't discount them,, well. She'll keep that to herself for now.]

[]

Does it matter what's going on?! We've got to either fight, or run, or watch... hmph. Why can't I summon Carbuncle? At least then we'd have a protect on us!

[Auron hasn't realized that these people know nothing of what is happening. He believes, instead, that they do not know the situation in specific.]

Lord Braska has completed his pilgrimage. Now is the time when Sin will fall.

[And coalescing out of nowhere, next to the summoner, is... Jecht?]

[None of this is making any sense. Pilgrimage? Sin? Hermione glances between Auron, Kat and Eiko with a flustered look, clearly unsure of what to do.]

[Kat doesn't help much, as she looks...pretty blank.]

So...pretend I don't know anything about pilgrimages and Sin. What does this all mean?

[Though she gives a lifted brow to the newly materialized Jecht. Confused? Just a little!]

None of that makes sense! [] I don't know who Lord Braska is, what Sin is, why it has to fall or anything. So, start making sense!

[Auron stares at them all a minute, then sighs. Perhaps this is all a hallucination, brought on by stress and trauma and Sin's toxin. More likely it is his own inner guilt, forcing him to face the truth.]

Lord Braska has achieved the title of High Summoner. He has learned to summon his Final Aeon, the only thing that can defeat Sin and bring a temporary calm to Spira.

His guardian, Jecht, is now that Aeon.

[The beast approaches. A few more steps and it will have reached Braska...]

[And then Jecht seems to fall backwards, like some trust exercise, into the earth itself.]

Jecht? [Hermione is alarmed now as she recognizes the name.] You don't mean that's Instructor Jecht, do you?

I'm not certain who else it could be. [Unsurprisingly the blood elf sounds grim, lips set in a thin line.]

And you, sir, are telling us we're simply supposed to sit back and watch this?

I dunno what any of that meant. But I don't want to sit back and watch.

[]

[Auron chuckles cynically.]

Do you really want to put yourself between those two?

[The ground breaks open where Jecht fell into it. From the depths of that crevasse, Braska's Final Aeon (http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/e/e0/Braska_Final_Aeon.jpg) slowly emerges, drawing what is unmistakably a massively larger version of Jecht's sword from its own chest as it does so.]

[Sin still dwarfs it, but the Aeon seems unbothered by this fact, merely staring at it in dull silence.]

It's no better to stand here and do nothing if we just let him face that on his own! We have to do something!

I've fought worse. [Malygos comes immediately to mind. Nothing like fighting a demented Dragon Aspect, not at all.]

If that's what the situation calls for, that's what I will do.

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The Calm Lands [Action | Team Kat | Plot!]

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/sorry for late orz.