Zombies from all parts of the city

[3wingedangel]

WHO: Sephiroth and everyone
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Zombie fights
WHEN: October
WARNINGS: Zombies, emotional distress at having to kill zombies that look like loved ones

I Don’t Give a Damn Because I’m Stone Cold Already

Sephiroth is less than thrilled when the storms increase. His powers are going haywire, just as he was warned, and so are the weapons. Bad enough he doesn’t have the Masamune. Now he doesn’t have reliable guns, either. He’s had to go searching for any non-electric weapon he can find and has probably ended up with what to him is a very short sword.

He finds one just in time to confront the first batch of zombies. These happen to be zombie Agrii. As soon as he gets over his initial shock, he makes short work of them. That . . . was not good. He’s sure there’s more where those came from. He’ll have to make sure everyone else is okay. . . .

Another zombie comes out of the mist. Sephiroth stares, falling back in horror. It’s rare to ever catch him like this, visibly shaken, but the sight of this zombie, when he’s already afraid the real person is dead back home and that it’s Sephiroth’s fault, is just too much.

Oh my God ...

“Zack ...”

The zombie comes closer. Sephiroth grips the sword tighter. He knows what he’s been told about the storms and seeing people you love in them. Is that what that is? He doesn’t have much choice but to hope and believe that’s what this is. He steels himself and strikes.

He falls to one knee, stabbing the sword into the ground as he trembles. These sadistic aliens.... Whoever it is doing this.... How can they know to make perfect images of people from back home? They’ve never seen Zack.

He pushes himself up and starts through the fog. No doubt others are going to be in trouble from this. He’ll have to find them.

One female zombie, she won’t behave

Sephiroth soon finds other residents in need of help. The hotel, the diner, the hospital ... zombies are everywhere! Who is it he’s trying to rescue? You? He lunges from behind, attacking the zombies as they reach for the unfortunate person. One tries to bite his wing, but he makes short work of it before it can do anything. He is a master swordsman and he shows it when several come at him at once. It’s a good thing he’s on your side.

“Are you alright?” he asks when they fall.

I’m headed for a breakdown

After days, weeks of this, he’s growing weary beyond belief. He can’t count the number of times he’s killed Zack. Even Cloud sometimes. It’s not really them, but ... when it looks like them, there’s only so many times he can do it before it really takes a toll on him.

Outwardly he is always the same—nerves of steel, determined, the hero of old. He kills zombies, he protects the living, and when he can, he tries to help search for a cure for those who have been bitten. He rarely sleeps.

Killing one more Zack zombie is the last straw. He finally just sinks down on a box, wherever he is, and covers his face with a hand. All his wings are drooping to the floor. There are no zombies here, so he’s safe, but perhaps you find him?

Comments

Breakdown

[plate_builder]

That they are in the same place at all is pretty unlikely. Especially given Reeve wants little to nothing to do with the strange parallel to the man that tormented his world. But today is not the sort of day he made choices on. They were all working to survive.

And today he can see the way the man is wilting.

"This place, the storms... They lie. So you know. Fake faces put on to make us more vulnerable."

Who would Sephiroth see out there? Did it matter? Probably not. But maybe the reassurance he's not the only one going through this might be worth something to him.

Re: Breakdown

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth is definitely surprised when it's Reeve who tries to show him some kindness. He has respected the other's avoidance; the news that alternate dimensions are real and there's another him out there who almost destroyed a planet badly shook him up, although he hid it well.

He slowly looks up. "Yes, I know." He straightens. "They've never met him.... Or any of them. It must be something like hypnosis, perhaps? They couldn't literally make them look like ..."

He gestures at the body, wanting to test this idea now. "Can you see ... who it looks like?"

[plate_builder]

Reeve approaches to take a look at the body that has yet to break down. He considers and then sighs. He's seen that face before. Different, but different in the same way that this Sephiroth was different from his Sephiroth. Close, but something slightly off.

"He looks like Soldier First Class Zack Fair, but younger. Smaller."

[3wingedangel]

So others do see the same thing as the one the zombies first appeared before. The zombies, then, must be actually made to look like them instead of it being hypnosis for each person. Strange and disturbing mysteries.

"Usually I see Zack," Sephiroth agrees. "Sometimes Cloud." He sighs tiredly. "I don't even know if Zack is still alive in my world." Which only makes it hurt all the worse here. If he knew Zack was alive and alright, he would have that to cling to.

[plate_builder]

Cloud, perhaps no matter the universe, might well be offended to be the one to be remembered by this man. Reeve couldn't blame him if he did.

"I cannot speak to your world. But it could be worse. You could see your father here."

Surely his father is still Hojo. And surely he doesn't want to see that.

[3wingedangel]

This Sephiroth’s Cloud would very likely snort about it, yes.

“My father?” Sephiroth says vaguely. “I was adopted as a child. I don’t know who my birth parents are.”

So yes, Hojo could indeed still be his father.

[plate_builder]

Then the Clouds were hardly very different, were they?

Ah, how intriguing. To think Sephiroth might have had a more welcoming home then.

"Well, I suppose that spares you his face at least. Not me. I truly wish I had a gun to deal with when he manifested before me several hours ago."

Reeve and Hojo? Not anything resembling friends.

[3wingedangel]

In some ways they were very similar, albeit this one perhaps flew off the handle more often. And he had a very vivid imagination.

This Sephiroth had had a relatively normal childhood by comparison, definitely.

Sephiroth looked up curiously. “He’s that terrible, hmm?”

[plate_builder]

How could someone 'fly off the handle' more often than someone who tried to destroy a world three times?

"I would suggest he is even worse than that. The man was... not very respectful of human life."

[3wingedangel]

The Cloud flew off the handle more than the Cloud Reeve knew, or this Sephiroth might think so, at least.

"Like father, like son then," Sephiroth said with a dark smirk. "It doesn't get much less respectful than trying to destroy a planet."

[plate_builder]

Sadly it was not comparisons they could make between them. Their worlds were not enough alike.

Though the comment earns a deep sigh from Reeve. He doesn't need this headache. He was TRYING to be polite here.

"Destruction is one thing. What Hojo did was... another thing altogether."

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth was just as content not to discuss the other him in depth. But this was disturbing information too.

"What was it he did?"

[plate_builder]

"He was a scientist, primarily biology and genetics."

And hopefully Sephiroth can see enough trouble in that to not need more. Then again, for all Reeve knows, that level of biology skill isn't really prevalent in the man's universe. Or perhaps just not growing up around Hojo helped him not learn just what bad things could happen.

Zombies Behave

[tempredmental]

Keith was crouched when Sephiroth turned to him, leaning on the 2x4 he'd been using to smash the rotting skulls. It had some nails driven into the end to make it more effective. The storms affected his Voltron equipment, and the Agrii had yet to give him his Marmora blade, so this had to do. Still, the armor was at least durable even without power, so he was wearing that for the added protection against bites.

He was breathing hard, though. Like his equipment, Keith was also affected by the storms. He'd long since stopped taking his Galra heritage for granted thanks to this place. Any "boosts" it gave him were small enough that he'd never considered the idea that he wasn't fully human until he met other aliens, but it was enough that he definitely felt it when it wasn't with him in these storms. His endurance, his senses, his durability... just enough that he was getting tired faster, feeling more of the hits, and the 'fog' wasn't just that misty stuff outside. Everything was duller and murky in regards to hearing, seeing... just 'feeling' things out.

Using the 2x4 for support, Keith pushed himself back to his feet with a bit of a strain. He wasn't injured, per se, but he was definitely beat up and exhausted. He nodded slightly at the question.

"Yeah," he said, once he'd caught some of his breath back. "I will be." He straightened up, looking down at the bodies before them with some mix of disgust and sadness. "I hate these storms," he snarled.

Re: Zombies Behave

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth, being over-powered in general, already found it hard to adjust to his powers being toned down here. Having them gone altogether was honestly frightening. He had never felt so vulnerable. But he did the best he could with what he had. He didn't have much choice.

"This one is even worse than what I was told they're normally like," he said in aggravation. Haunted by ghosts of loved ones wasn't nearly as horrible as being forced to kill them over and over.

[tempredmental]

"Yeah..." Keith took a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing a bit more now that there seemed to be a slight lull in the waves. "Seeing multiples of the same person... or, for that matter, having them be... zombies? Those are new." His snarky tone indicated what he thought about this new "feature" of this month's storm. It wasn't favorable.

He slid his hand under the visor of his helmet for a second to rub at his face in exhaustion.

"Is this your first?"

[3wingedangel]

"Let's hope it's just someone's demented idea of celebrating Halloween instead of it being the new normal," Sephiroth said with heavy sarcasm. It seemed like it would be Halloween season going by normal 24 hour days.

He nodded tiredly. "I just arrived here several weeks ago."

[tempredmental]

"Hmph. Yeah." Keith looked mildly annoyed at that. The downside of having a birthday so close to Halloween, he supposed... "Weird shit like this happens around this time every year." How many times had Lance tried to cheer him up with a birthday thing, only to have something like this mess it up? Many. Many times.

"Well... welcome to Agra 10." Again, the sarcasm was obvious. Keith was fully aware that this was the worst kind of welcoming party one could have.

[3wingedangel]

“How irritating,” Sephiroth grunted.

“Heh.” A dark smirk. “Thank you.”

Actually, Keith’s welcome is more welcoming than some he has received.

“You’ve been here quite a while, I take it.”

[tempredmental]

"Since the first 'He Rows' were brought in," he said. But it had been more than even that for him and Lance. They'd been in Drift Fleet, too, and for several years. The last time they'd gotten anything new from home was... it was a long time ago. Quite a few years now. Or 'ticks'... as the Agrii called them. Altean 'ticks' were more like seconds. Too many different ways to track time.

Keith made his way over to a bench and flopped on it. Yeah, he was exhausted.

[3wingedangel]

"That sounds exhausting," Sephiroth said. "That's been several years, I understand?"

He sat down as well, spreading his wings a bit.

[tempredmental]

Keith nodded.

"Yeah... and it's been even longer since I was actually 'home'," he said. He shrugged. "We've made something of a home here for ourselves, but... it's still... I don't know. I don't know if I could go back, but I do know that there are people I'd like to see again."

He glanced off into the foggy distance.

"Just... not as zombies or ghosts."

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth hoped he would never come to feel that perhaps he couldn't go home again. He still wanted to be home.

He nodded slowly. "I can't imagine anyone would enjoy seeing loved ones in those states.

"You say 'we.' Do you have someone from your world here?"

[tempredmental]

Keith quirked an eyebrow, but it more sympathetic than anything else. But then he nodded.

"Yeah. We had more of us for a while, but it's just me and Lance now." He crossed his arms over each other, leaning them on the propped up board he'd been using as a weapon, the end with the nails hammered into it resting on the ground. He leaned forward a bit, almost resting his chin on his arms.

"What about you? Anyone you know here? Like, for real?" Not a zombie or ghost?

[3wingedangel]

“It must be nice to have someone. I don’t, not really. There is someone who knows an alternate version of me, but not me.”

And that was highly disturbing, considering what he’d been told about the other him.