The Woods, Friday at Sundown

[suitably_heroic]

By morning, the stone's seemingly endless mental litany had begun to quiet. Its glow had dispersed, leaving behind what seemed to be nothing but a tired old rock.

It was merely biding its time. Working its magics. Reaching out past the material realm and onwards into a dozen afterlives.

When the sun began to sink towards the horizon, a thin mist rose around the stone itself. It shaped itself into a gateway, filled with strange, pale white light.

The mist crawled slowly across the clearing, and by the time the sun had disappeared behind the horizon, it had filled it entirely.

From within it, shapes emerged. They had been called, and they had come.

[[ living folks, you can come meet your people here in this post, or elsewhere. NFB ]]

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[dishonored_dreamer]

White feathers drifted around the clearing as the large man in the SOLDIER uniform stepped through the gateway, wings folding behind himself, and then disappearing from view entirely.

He'd been called, and nothing about that fact seemed to surprise him at all.

It had been a long few years, since his death.

"Oh, Zack," Angeal sighed, shaking his head. "Neither of us is going to enjoy this."

[in_mipha_we_trust]

Stepping gently forward through the gateway into the gathering mist, Mipha breathed out a sigh of almost overwhelming relief. When she heard the call, her first thought, her only thought for a while, had been for her brother, her dear sweet Sidon, but she feared that even the Calamity's grip on her would be too strong for her to answer it. She tried, though, surprising herself as she managed to break free long enough to slip into the gateway. And for that moment, the first moment in fifty long and torturous years, she could draw in the air and breath easily, she felt like herself again, and she nearly trembled from the freedom of release from the oppressive imprisonment of her soul.

She supposed it wouldn't be too much to ask if, in that immediate first moment, her thoughts strayed from what brought her here. But her attention snapped into focus soon enough, knowing she only had so much time and that she'd have to make the best of it. Looking around the unfamiliar forest, she began to wonder...should she set off to find him, or would he come to her first?

[not_the_dog]

White armor, a helmet striped in green... one might confuse the figure that emerged next from the gateway with one of the island's finest, but this armor had seen enough action to make him stand out in a lineup, if he was set beside Ralph or Calvin.

Not much action, no. Stance had only served on Kardoa and Mygeeto. But he'd earned his name.

He'd told a friend, before his death, that he had his back. Now, he supposed, it was time for him to remind Caleb what it was that meant.

[random_encounters]

Ash felt the call. She felt herself moving in the direction it had come from. Drifting at first. Floating until she felt her feet under her. Walking through darkness until the darkness brightened into a blinding white mist.

She stepped through and found herself in a woods. Red and white Alliance armor covering her uniform. Ash pulled her helmet off and shook her head. The flat bun at her nape kept her hair from flying around.

Ash looked around. Garden world. Probably a colony planet. She'd find someone who could point her at the Alliance base. That's where the L-T would be.

A small smile played on her face. She was looking forward to seeing Kaidan again. Started thinking up all the cheesy 'you look like you've seen a ghost' lines she could use.

Her step was purposeful as she walked.

[thirdscrewscrewed]

An awful lot could happen to a Morty in a couple of years, really, but not so much if that Morty was a dead Morty. So Morty might have been a little bit squeamish about callings and gateways that weren't created by Rick, especially when Rick wasn't even with him. But he was there, tapping his two pointer fingers together nervously, close to his chest as he looked around, wide-eyed, lips pursed.

It seemed okay. It was definitely an Earth dimension, or at least Earth-like, so that was good. And it didn't seem immediately like it was some sort of trap, but Summer wouldn't do that to him...would she?

It was 50/50, really, but so far, everything was looking pretty good, and he might have tried to chase a little of that nervousness away with a faint smile.

[fel3]

Roan hadn't ended life peacefully, so reentering it that way was more unexpected than reentering it at all. He was an overly serious figure, dressed in his regal best, and might have looked out of place in the woods if he wasn't completely confuse t that he belonged anywhere he was.

Still, he wouldn't linger here. He was back for a reason.

Roan found a place near the edge of the woods, reached out, and waited.

[notconflicted]

At first Sia wasn't sure what she was sensing was correct, because it couldn't be. This had to be a trick of Fandom.

Then she decided it was worth investigating anyway.

She followed that sense towards the woods, and oh, Sia wasn't prepared for this. She should be happy, but she felt like she'd been punched.

"Father?"

[fel3]

Roan smiled, as much as he ever did. Which was to say, not much.

"Sia." He was measuring her reaction, too. It was t like he knew what he would find her to be like.

[notconflicted]

Sia wasn't exactly an emotional person, and she was keeping it together. But she still moved quickly to hug him, like she needed proof that he really was still here.

[fel3]

Roan hugged her back, and then stepped back to take a good look at her. "You look well."

This was weird for him, too.

[notconflicted]

It wasn't exactly an ideal goodbye that they'd had, no.

"We have a lot to talk about," she said, even feeling like that was the worst thing that she could do.

She just... There was such a bad feeling about this.

[augustushadamother]

Aurora stepped back into the world much more calmly than she'd left it. She spared a moment for just standing there, feeling the ground under her feet, breathing in air that hadn't passed through the Ark's systems a million times over.

And then she started walking. Her children weren't in the woods.

[an_angel_scorned]

Eva was one of the last to cross the treshold. She was surprised that she could: certain that her jailer would have prevented her even this small mercy.

But she had cause to believe that Vergil hadn't killed his brother after all. A reason to live. A reason to try.

She stretched slowly, as her feet touched down on the grass. For a moment, she had a back full of feathers, long arching wings that made her seem almost regal.

Then they were gone, and she was just another beautiful red-head in a white nightgown.

[nobodydoesntlike]

And, like before, there was a young Korean girl watching her with big, brown eyes.

[an_angel_scorned]

Eva's green eyes watched back.

"Hello there," she said softly. There was something innately calming about the angel; she oozed a sense that everything would be all right.

It wasn't a conscious thing.

"You're a little young to be here."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"They weren't checking IDs at the door," Sarah said, with a rueful smile. "You think they'll let me back if I point out I wasn't quite fifteen?"

[an_angel_scorned]

"They should," Eva said, her mouth drawing up to a wry line. "But unfortunately, heaven and earth haven't quite worked out their kinks yet."

A pause.

"What's your name?"

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Sarah," the girl responded. "Sarah Li. I'm here to see my sister, Kathy. Who're you?"

[an_angel_scorned]

"Eva," the woman said, that smile broadening just a little bit. "I've met your sister. She's... close with my son, Dante."

She'd said he was alive. After all the cruel things Vergil had said... she needed. Needed to know.

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Yeah she is," Sarah giggled. It was probably inappropriate to say that to someone's mom, especially someone's dead mom, but she was still only an (almost-)fifteen year old girl. "She told me about him, too."

[an_angel_scorned]

"Did she now?" That was definitely the amused warmth of a mom. "I think we're going in the same direction," Eva ventured. "Want to walk together?"

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Sarah said, smiling again. "It'll be nice to walk with somebody. So, how'd you meet Kathy?"

[an_angel_scorned]

"I found her in the beyond," Eva said, holding out a hand for her. "She needed a hug."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"In the...beyond?" Sarah asked. Contrary to popular mythology, she hadn't come to know everything after passing on. "But she's alive! I know she is. She called me."

[an_angel_scorned]

"She wasn't," Eva said, after a short pause. "For a while."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Like her heart stopped on an operating table or something?" Sarah asked.

[an_angel_scorned]

Eva thought about it, and...

"Something like that," she said. "It was very rough on her."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Poor Kathy," Sarah said, with no irony at all. "I'm glad you were there to give her a hug. She didn't get enough when we were kids." She snuck a sidelong glance at Eva. "Do you like her?"

It was important that your boyfriend's mom liked you. Everybody knew that. Even if they were dead! Maybe especially if they were dead.

[an_angel_scorned]

That question got a smile.

"I like her," she said. "She seems... very sweet. And curious. Something my son could..."

She trailed off. She had no idea if Dante could use any of it. She hadn't seen him since he was eight.

[nobodydoesntlike]

"I liked Dante," Sarah told her, giving her a smile. "He was really cool. And handsome. But, like, nice too. And he likes my sister a lot, which makes him good, too."

Because he had seen beyond the mousy little nerd that Kathy presented herself as and liked the stuff he'd found deeper. That was a skill a lot of people lacked.

"He helped make her cooler, too."

[defiance_in_exile]

Meetra's feet touched down in the grass gently, almost as if she wasn't there.

She stretched up. Looked at the citadel sitting atop the island. And sighed. She could feel Atton out there, twisting himself up, responding to the sudden resurgence of their Force bond with something that felt a lot like pain.

"I'll give him a night," she said quietly.

She could find somewhere else to sleep. She hadn't done it in a very long time, after all.