merry merry christmas, and I want you to know

[mansionstaff]

Who: YOU
What: KISSLETOES
When: December 14th - January 1st
Where: Everywhere
Warnings: Sloppy makeouts.

SUDDENLY, AND WITHOUT WARNING...



The entire school has become covered in mistletoe overnight. It grows out of the walls! The ceilings! Everywhere you least expect it? HOW CAN THIS BE??

It's probably best not to think about it. Attempts to uproot the plants or burn them away only makes the plants grow back faster. For the time being, it seems the school must live with it.

[OOC INSTRUCTIONS:
+ Post dudes, get kisses!
+ Some (NOT ALL) plants are cursed. If you manage to step under a cursed plant, you will exchange a memory when or if you exchange a kiss. The memories will be first-person and very vivid, and characters will feel like they are experiencing the memory in real time, though in reality the transfer is instantaneous. Memories can be as short, long, happy, sad, or traumatic as you like.
+ If you'd like to participate, we highly suggest making a list of a few memories (with accompanying links/descriptions) that are up for grabs, and linking or posting the list in your top-level comment. Memory exchange is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. When in doubt, OOC communication!
+ PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAG YOUR CHARACTERS
+ That's it, we love you.]

Comments

[awakeningwill]

What was he afraid of...? Zero already knew he was created with the intent to be a monster. And perhaps he truly had been, for a while. That was a burden he had to face up to. Maybe the worst part of it actually was the possibility that he could never be redeemed for simply existing. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he fought against fate, he was destined to hurt people.

But that was something that would simply remain unsaid. Rather than speak, Zero answered Hayato with a kiss on the cheek. Depending on what he saw, maybe it'd help him understand.

Or maybe it'd give him only pain.

Ragnarok is still falling. The explosion had only managed to tear apart its walls, but the great bulk of the space satellite is still intact, and plummets towards earth. At this size, it would easily wipe out Area 0 upon collision, and destroy the last trace of natural life on this ruined earth. The human colony, Neige, Ciel and the rest of the Resistance - there was no way they'd survive the impact.

Ciel's voice manages to reach his communicator, but the sound of static grows as he nears atmospheric re-entry. She's frantic with worry. "Zero! Reaching critical speed! If it goes any faster, I won't be able to get you back! Hurry!"

But before he can reply, another voice echos out from the metal husk of Ragnarok. Ancient, maniacal evil that would not rest. "No... This isn't over yet!"

Weil! Half destroyed, the scientist's cyborg body rises from the depths, no doubt already beginning to repair itself. How much did it take to bring this man down? The madman laughs, fire of revenge blazing in him - revenge upon all humans and reploids, upon the entire world - fearing nothing and desiring only total destruction. "I told you... I can't die! Nobody can stop Ragnarok now!"

"Z-Zero! There's no time! Get back here!" No, he can't. The mission's not over. If he teleported out now, the human race was as good as doomed. This had to end here. Both of them.

No, there is a way. The answer's clear. As they fall, chunks of Ragnarok begin to burn away, but Zero was strangely calm. If I destroy Weil's core, the explosion will take Ragnarok out with it... If Ragnarok is blown apart, it no longer poses a threat.

A hitch in Ciel's voice. She sounds on the verge of tears. "But what about you?"

Weil interrupts again, cackling. "Bwahahaha! Are you even capable of it!? The Reploid hero... Protecting justice and humanity! I am one of those humans you were sworn to protect! Do you have it in you to defeat me!?" A massive cable plunges into his back, pumping his cursed body with power. Then another. More and more, stabbing into him with great force until his form began to mutate almost beyond recognition. Massive, grotesque, merged with the remains of the satellite itself.

A fitting look, for such a monstrous man. For all his gloating, for all the power he claimed to have over Zero, he still doesn't understand. His baiting means nothing to Zero, and it never has.

I never cared about justice, and I don't recall ever calling myself a hero...

I have always only fought for the people I believe in.

I won't hesitate...

If an enemy appears in front of me, I will destroy it!

The sound of sobbing belongs to Ciel. All she wanted was for him to come back alive, but it was a promise he wasn't going to keep. Helpless and... heartbroken, she can only plead, "Zero... Zero!"

Determination swells up in him for this final task. As long as weapons like him existed, the world would never be at peace. There would always be more conflict, and the fighting would go on, endless. No matter how much good he strove to do, it only contributed more pain. But if he died alongside humankind's greatest tormentor, perhaps...

He could be at peace as well.

The sky turns to fire all around him. For Ciel, and for X, he has to see this through and end everything, once and for all.

Ciel... Believe in me.

The last thing he hears is the sound of his name in screams as he rushes forward to plunge his sword into Weil's core. Everything goes hot and white. His armour cracks and breaks apart in the blast, his limbs are gone. Ragnarok shatters, disintegrating into bright red flame. Zero catches one last glimpse of earth - before every part of him burns, and is gone.

Mission... complete.

[blueburnshotter]

He should get serious about practicing, they keep telling him. That he should learn to synchronize with the squad. But what for? He's already good at it, he always points out, but they can practice all they want until they reach his level. He only backs down when that large, vaguely terrifying captain is around, but he's out doing who-knows-what today. Eating babies, probably.

Today's nagging is coming from... ah. It's been nearly a month and Hayato still can't be bothered to remember his name. Nor has he learned how to tell whether his eyes are open or not. He does, however, have the most gorgeous copper braid running just past his shoulders, and Hayato has decided he wants to grow his hair long, too. The whole squad is going to look fantastic but he, of course, plans to be the most dazzling of all. Not that he isn't already.

Come practice, the other young man says again, and Hayato just laughs and refills his teacup. Know who he'd love to be cheering with right now? Those boys across the river. Oh, he can't wait to finally meet them! Everyone had better hurry up and get in shape so they can go over there and impress them.

He can't see his teammate's eyes, but he gets the impression they're being rolled pretty hard. Rude.

An act of selflessness exchanged for a glimpse through the eyes of someone completely self-centered. Sorry for that, Zero.

Hayato flinched away from the reploid, his eyes squinting against a searing brightness that didn't exist in the present. By all means, Zero should have been dead, in that case. A robot body could probably be replaced, but there was no way things like his processors and memory or whatever he ran on would have survived such an explosion.

But what was important was everything else in the memory. Hayato may not have known who the distressed voice calling out to him was, or who his foe was, but Zero sacrificed everything just to protect life on earth. Here he was worried about becoming a potential threat, but if he was capable of making a decision like that... There wasn't anything to worry about after all, was there?

Hayato rubbed his chin, regarding Zero quietly for a moment.

"...Was it eye-opening for you too?"

[awakeningwill]

Eye-opening... to learn that Hayato adopted his current look out of hair-envy? Diverting, but not particularly enlightening.

Zero just shrugged, unimpressed. No long lost memories uncovered this time, making it a pretty pointless endeavour. Bluntly, he remarked, "Not really."

If nothing else, he could took the whole sacrificing yourself by blowing up while falling out of orbit thing in stride very well. You'd almost think he did it all the time, with how blasé he acted about it.

[blueburnshotter]

Hey, hey, Hayato had long outgrown petty things like hair envy.

Mostly.

Zero.

"Hmmph. At least one of us learned something. You're capable of doing something so noble and yet you still think there's the possibility of becoming a threat." Two could play the nonchalant game.

[awakeningwill]

Suck it. You could never match these locks.

Zero snorted. While it was nice of Hayato to see the good in him, they still had to be realistic. He turned away and crossed his arms as he explained to the cheerleader, "You're human. Your heart will always be yours. But... to those who see me as nothing more than a tool to be used, there are ways to overwrite who I am."

For once, the reploid who could cut enemies several times his size seemed... small. He may have been armoured and as stern as steel, but that body of his held vulnerabilities that no human's did.

"The possibility is always there. I already fell to it once." Zero's resolve was grim, but tired. "I have to fight so my heart stays my own."