destinystrings | Conquestum Paradisi

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Conquestum Paradisi

Conquestum Paradisi

☢

What: Closing Arena Ceremonies, Part 2
Where: Aries Arena & Televised
Summary: 1/24/10AC
Warnings: This could get serious...but who knows.

Finally it was time for the mayor, Kazuki Sakahagi, to speak up. Not even an thirty minutes left to the celebrations, but seeing him go appeared to be lighting up a spark in the citizens. It wasn't too hard to see why; his enthusiastic grin and way of walking could easily melt anyone's worry away.

He walked to the center stage as cheering broke out, two men in black and Junko Tanako behind him.

[OOC - GO FORTH AND TAG FREELY]

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Really, she had no idea of how long she'd been going. Just keeping going, that's what Selphie was good at. She'd been running through all the commotion, stopping to offer help and healing whenever needed. But she wasn't free from injury either, her face, arms, and legs covered in scratches, and she knew her body would soon develop bruises.

Right now, Selphie was far from thinking about herself. Just ahead of her she spotted a collapsed body shape but, as she got closer, it looked more and more like Locke, and she rushed herself over to the shape, just wanting to see it move or, better still, prove to be someone else.

After laying there for what felt like forever, his frustration outweighed his exhaustion and he started to push himself up with his good arm. Every movement felt like another shard of glass being shoved into his shoulder, but he finally got to his knees.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement and turned his face to see Selphie, rushing towards him, scratched and clearly still fighting. It sent both relief and a pang of guilt through him; where was his strength in the face of hers? He'd hoped she wouldn't see him like this.

Selphie fell upon him in an instant, wanting just to squeeze him tight in her arms, but he just looked so broken. Selphie shook as she kneeled beside him, her eyes travelling all over his body, registering so much pain on him. “Oh Locke...“

Carefully her wide eyes met his, tears rapidly forming there. “Where are you hurt most...? Lie down, I‘ll help you.“ She couldn‘t look at him anymore, not if she had to keep calm to heal him.

He still couldn't look at her. He focused on her arm closest to him and concentrated hard to pull together what he'd regained since that Holy spell. A faint, green, light cast from his hand to her arm, but it faded after healing only a few of the scratches.

"They dislocated my shoulder. Ribs might be cracked." He didn't really know, all he knew was that everything hurt and he wanted to comfort the woman beside him.

He reached up to brush her cheek, only glancing at her to do so. "Hey...don't cry. No need for that." His body would heal.

"Locke...Don't you dare." Selphie only glanced at his face quickly, her voice hushed. Of course, she meant the small spell - he didn't have the energy for it. Fortunately, she did.

First things first though. "Okay, I'm going to pop your shoulder back. It will hurt, but I'll heal you up straight away." Gently, she moved her hands up his arm to his shoulder, then she held down firmly. "Ready?"

Selphie shut her eyes tightly as he touched her cheek, still finding it impossible to look at him. Maybe he would heal, but for now all Selphie saw was the blood and the pain.

"Yeah...Okay" Locke put his hand back on his leg and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to cry out this time, not if he could help it. It was going to hurt, yeah, but he didn't want Selphie to feel bad by helping him.

"Just do it quick."

Selphie had to move a hand up through his sleeve, and another gently into the collar of his shirt so that her fingers could feel where the bone was, and where it should be. "Okay. One, two, three."

The shoulder popped back into place and, true to her word, the moment that it did, Selphie cast a cura spell. Still avoiding his face, she looked over him for the next place she should attend to, "Are you bleeding anywhere...?"

Thankfully, he did stay silent, only gasping as the 'broken glass' seemed to burst in his shoulder and then travel down his arm. But the cure spell chased the pain away and he sighed in relief.

At her question he tensed and shook his head, tucking his gashed and torn arm from where the concrete had hit it out of sight. "Don't waste your energy on me, Selph. Why don't you fix up those scratches instead?"

Selphie closed her eyes and took a deep breath - she really had to keep it together. She wanted to ask so many questions, and thoughts of revenge were forming in her mind already. But then...came the feeling that it was something she had done before. Now wasn't the time for talking, and she shook her head.

"They're just scratches. Look at you, you're a mess. I've got to get you to a hospital, or something." Just in case there was something she couldn't fix. And she hadn't noticed that arm yet either.

His first thought was to say no. But what good was he here? He'd failed in his attack -badly- and, if he stayed here...what if he failed again and someone other than him got hurt for it? Maybe he was better off gone. Besides, i Selphie took him somewhere, anywhere but here, that would mean she was out of this too.

That decided it. He nodded and slowly got to his feet, head pounding with the greater movement."Let's get out of here."

When he started moving, Selphie moved closer, holding out an arm just in case he needed something to hold on to, which she guessed that he might, even if he was too proud to show it. "Good."

But that was when she noticed his arm, the one he had hidden, and for the second time since finding him Selphie actually looked him in the face. "You make me so mad sometimes!" She looked a mixture of angry and upset, grabbing his arm, and likely hurting it ever so slightly, to get a closer look.

He winced when she grabbed his arm, but didn't say anything immediately. He knew she was going to be upset, but he'd been hoping to get her out of here before she noticed it.

"Don't worry about it, it was just some concrete. Let's get out of here and then you can yell at me, okay? I don't want you to get more hurt."

Selphie lowered her eyes, swallowing hard as she pushed up his tattered sleeve to reveal the damage to his arm. She couldn't help it now, feeling her throat stick and her eyes welling up. Don't cry, Selphie, don't cry.

She was holding off for now, but her voice came out as a dry croak, "No...way. I'll...yell at you...right here." Selphie rested a hand gently over the worst wound, closing her eyes as she cast another spell. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would at least close the wound and ease the pain.

Her voice made him feel guilty and sad and, as soon as the wounds had closed enough to be less painful, he jerked his arm away and used the other to pull her against him in a hug. His ribs protested the new pressure but he didn't care, he just didn't want to her to be that upset, not over him.

"Don't cry, Selph. It's okay."

Selphie gasped at the sudden movement, sure that Locke shouldn't be moving quite so quickly just yet. But then she realised that he was hugging her, and she wanted to hug back, and tightly, but she was too aware of his pain, so her arms remained loose at her sides.

She did, however, rest her head very gently on her chest, hiding her face in his shirt. Selphie took a deep breath, so stubborn and determined to stay strong. She managed, mostly, but shed a few tears and nodded against him, "Let's go..."

"Yeah." He let her go, but kept hold of her hand, afraid he might lose her in the chaos. Luckily, it seemed most people were gone except those still trying to fight and he tried not to look at them as he led them to the exit. He didn't want the reminder of what he should be doing.

"Why were you out here anyway?"

Selphie squeezed his hand lightly, just to prove that she's still there, and not planning on going anywhere. Not until they were both safe. She struggled to keep going, and not stop where people need help. But Locke was her main priority.

"Well...why were *you* out here?"

It was gone in a flash, but he smiled for the first time all day. "It's my job. I want to protect them and there was a threat, so I was here to try and stop that threat if it showed up." And it had...and he hadn't been able to stop those people from getting hurt or dying.

When he'd tried, he'd failed...he hadn't even gotten a single hit in. "I guess I didn't do so well. People still got hurt. I wasn't able to stop anything."

Selphie stopped in her tracks and turned to face Locke. She bit her lip as she really looked into his face - there was a bit of hair out of place that she wanted to brush away, but she didn't. Instead, she grabbed his other hand to.

"Locke. Look at me. What did you think you were going to do? There's no way you could have stopped all of this by yourself."

When she took both of his hands he finally looked up at her. He couldn't understand how she could still look at him like that, how she wasn't completely disappointed in him.

He was completely disappointed in himself.

"I know I couldn't stop it...but I couldn't help, either. The guy I tried to fight...he shot somebody while their back was turned and-" He cut himself off, his anger at the cowardly move flaring up. "...I had to try and take him down for that guy...but I was too weak. I didn't land a single hit."

In this way, Selphie knew that she and Locke were very similar. She couldn't stand when people were unjustly violent, and she always battled against it like it was her fight, like it was entirely up to her to set it all to rights. And if she couldn't... Selphie continued to look him straight in the eye, recognising that look of disappointment.

She gave his hands a gentle squeeze and gave a short shake of the head, "Locke...you tried. That it didn't work out isn't your fault. And...like I said..you shouldn't expect to do these things on your own."

'On his own.' Yeah...that seemed to be the common factor in all of this. When he'd been home and with his friends, he'd been fine, brilliant, in fact. Here he just seemed useless. Still, he didn't want to throw all of his concerns on Selphie, she didn't need to hear everything that was spinning around in his head. Instead, he forced a smile and squeezed her hands back. "Thanks, Selph."

Selphie lowered her gaze and gently let her hands slip from his. She managed a small, wobbly smile, but it was aimed more at her feet than at Locke. "We're friends, right? So... that means that you can talk to me. If you just wanna talk about your day or, or if something bigger is bothering you then... that's what I'm here for."

She took a small step forward, then held out an arm again in case he needed to take it to support him as they got out of the place.

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Conquestum Paradisi

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