vatheon | standing in the ashes at the end of the world

Who: Selphie and her ghostly fears and anyone!
When: Monday and onwards
Where: By the lake, or running round like a crazy
Status: Open!

Horrible. She'd woken up and everything had been horrible. With the glow, and the fairy. She'd woken up in her lonely one person apartment alone. She still hated that, that she knew there was no one close by to visit her. Still, she was slowly getting used to it. But that morning she really could have used a friendly face, and what she wouldn't give for a hug.

Selphie left her apartment to go in search of friends or, really, anybody. But there was no one around just a fairy... but then...

Then there were people at the end of the hallway. Selphie approached them, but they laughed and ran off without her. She chased them, only to notice Squall...but Zell was there too. Zell was telling Squall all about how everyone had pretty much forgotten about Selphie back home. He didn't know her. And as she rushed up to wave, to yell, both Squall and Zell just stared, like she was a woman they'd never known.

Her way into town is haunted by similar visions - friends she knows and doesn't know abandoning her, forgetting her, leaving her alone. Really alone.

It's more than Selphie can take, and she runs across the plaza, towards the lake, though she can't say why. She's just running.

Welcome to Selphie's fears, Vatheon. Here's a girl with abandonment issues being forgotten, ignored, and left behind.

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Selphie stopped suddenly at the sound of that voice calling her name. It was only slightly different to the way she'd been hearing her name all day - because this time, it just seemed realer, closer somehow.

She looks frightened as she stares at Rinoa, her body tense like she's waiting for something - to hear Rinoa tell her that no one cares, that she went back home and everyone had forgotten all about her...

Rinoa's steps slowed, her expression cautious but worried as she approached Selphie. Where was that fear coming from?

"Selphie...? Is everything okay?"

Just behind her, she could hear the footsteps of her own walking nightmare, but Rinoa was resolute to ignore it for right now.

Selphie bit her lip and shook her head, stubborn as ever, "You - you don't care! You'll leave me... Like Squall, and Irvine and..."

She stood still, eyes wide and sad, fearful of what might happen next.

"I'm not going anywhere. Selphie, what's going on?"

Rinoa's own nightmare hangs in the back, watching with arms crossed and an amused expression on her face.

"Squall's still here. But, Irvine... has he ever been in Vatheon before?" She interprets Selphie's exclamations as her friends leaving her behind in the bubble. She can't think of what else it could be about.

"Everyone... you're all... leaving me."

Selphie wraps her arms tightly around herself, shaking her head, "He was here! He was here and he forgot me. Irvine, and Squall...they just left. They forgot me and left me."

Fearful to the point where she isn't making much sense.

"Irvine isn't here at all, Selphie."

Rinoa walks up to her, grabbing her by her arms and holding her there. Letting her know in her own way that she's there.

"How can anyone forget you? Squall ignores people but he doesn't forget about them. And Irvine remembered you after all those years of being apart. How could he forget now? Why would he even want to?"

She has no idea what brought this on, but she's determined to get through it for Selphie.

"He's not here because he left me ~ he didn't want to know me!" Selphie flailed her arms, not understanding why Rinoa wasn't getting this.

She flinched at the touch on her arm, a different, more real sensation than those haunting images. "Not this time..this time no one remembered.." But she looked at Rinoa with a curious expression - what she said did seem right, about Irvine remembering, even if Selphie didn't, not at first.

"He was never brought here! You know that's how it works here. The coral brings us, and it's not our choice whether we come or go. He'd be by your side here, if he could."

She shakes her head, baffled about where this is coming from.

"No one's forgotten you. I haven't. Selphie, where is this all coming from?"

Suddenly from behind, Ultimecia - or at least her phantom, stepped forward, within earshot. Rinoa winced when she heard her boots clap against the ground, but remained glued to her spot. "Go away," she told her.

"Leave the little frightened child alone. It'd be better to be abandoned by you then risk her life, wouldn't it? And perhaps this is for the best. After all," She smiled sardonically, "you're different now, different from her. No one wants to be around a freak."

Shaken, Rinoa turns back to Selphie, swallowing hard. "Just, um, ignore that, okay?"

Selphie had opened her mouth, ready to say something, maybe shout something. But then, she saw the way that Rinoa winced and Selphie suddenly seemed alert, her eyes darting over Rinoa's shoulder.

"You have -"

Selphie's eyes widened as she realised what was going on, and she clings tightly to Rinoa.

"I don't think she's real. She came when that fairy glowy thing exploded." She hugged Selphie back, resolute to ignore the woman for the time being, unless she spoke again.

"She's just been a real pain. You - you remember what she was like."

"She's not real and..." Selphie nodded slowly, but glanced over Rinoa's again just to see if it was possible to catch a glimpse of her. "...Irvine isn't here... He didn't forget me..."

She was more thinking out loud than anything else, admitting to herself that what was going on wasn't real, just another nasty curse.

"Exactly. Did these... well, did you start worrying about this stuff when it turned to night? I know she wasn't around during the day."

Her phantom smirks. "But it doesn't make you think less of me, does it? And of what you are, what you've done."

"It was after the fairy. It was - gross... But then, all I could think about was everyone leaving me..."

And unfortunately Selphie can be quite obsessive when she wants to be, and it really was all she could think about.

Selphie bit her lip and looked at Rinoa more closely, "Are you okay?"

"So it happened to you, too. A curse, then. If not a nasty one."

Rinoa blows out a breath, but nods.

"If it's a curse, then eventually she'll go away. She just... knows where to hit."

Selphie nodded gravely, "Yeah... And ya know, I feel like this has happened before. Or - or something..."

She shook her head, stomping her feet against the ground, "But these things only happen for a week, so we just gotta get through it."

"A repeat curse?" Those have happened, right? Or so she's heard. It's a doozy of a repeat.

"I... guess so. I just wish there was something we could do about them."

Selphie nodded slowly, and made an attempt at a brighter smile, "Uh huh. And you know it's bad when even I remember, right?"

So, she knew she'd gone a little crazy, and now that she seemed snapped out of it she needed to help her friend.

"We just gotta keep telling ourselves that it's not real, and stay close."

"I... guess it's all we can do." But it was going to be a long, awful week.

standing in the ashes at the end of the world

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