beforethedarkness | 15th Tomoe || Video, Action for Goldenrod City

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15th Tomoe || Video, Action for Goldenrod City

[A tired and quite irritated Sasuke is the first thing that shows up on the gear, and in the background behind him is Obito, Tenten, and Evan. It's obvious that they're outside in Goldenrod City, and although Sasuke looks a little worse for wear he's much better than he was after the Valentine's Attack was done.

Even if he still has bandages over burns and puncture marks and his right arm is still in a cast.]

If I don't answer a message the first time, leaving twenty more isn't going to make me answer any faster. I just went through 174 messages on my gear.

[A heavy sigh, and he shakes his head.]

I was in Ilex forest trying to catch some pokémon. I wanted to do it alone. That's all there is to it.

[Shutting off the video, because irritation is at maximum. He's going to go ~~make Whitney cry~~ get the Plain Badge now, if only because he never wants to be made that weak and vulnerable ever again.]

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[Same difference.] You're supposed to trust the people around you at that age. You couldn't have known they'd turn on you.

[Has anybody ever told him this? or has he spent the past four to five years thinking that?]

I should have known, though.

[He sighs, his head bowing more as the memories come back. So that would be him having been left to think this all that time, Lightning.]

[Yeah, she got that part. If she was the type, she'd be facepalming so hard right now. As it is, she's going to sigh and try a different approach.]

Fine. You want to keep thinking that way? Answer me this: how could you have known? Seven year olds don't notice everything, Sasuke, and even if you'd noticed something wasn't right, what could you have done to stop them?

Edited 2013-02-25 23:41 (UTC)

He would have noticed.

[It was a soft mumble, and he looked more away from the camera. It was his fault to begin with, but if he hadn't, he would have noticed...]

...

[Soft but still audible. Etro dammit boy does she have to throw you off a ledge to drive her points home?!]

And let me guess. He was older than you? [flat look] You can't blame yourself for something that you didn't do, Sasuke.

At my age, he would have.

[He shakes his head.]

I didn't act. I didn't do anything but beg for my life back then.

You're not him. Did nobody ever tell you that people different react differently?

[The beg for my life throws her off a little, though. Seven years old and threatened with death? Damn, kid...]

You just said you were seven. Unless you'd been training since before you could hold your head up on your own, what could you have done besides that?

I've been training since I was old enough to start training. It was never enough...

[Again he shakes his head, although whether it's answering her question or because of something else is debatable.]

I have to get stronger. To surpass him.

[Okay, that's it. This kid's beating around the bush and she's too frustrated to keep calm anymore. No more Miss Nice Lightning.]

And what good is that going to do you? It's not going to undo whatever the hell it is he did, and trying to take revenge isn't going to do that, either. You have to let it go.

I know it won't bring them back.

[Bowing his head low enough for his head to cover his eyes right about now. Lightning might or might not recognize it as him finally letting himself be vulnerable, if only briefly.]

Vengeance is still all I have left. That man... Took everything from me. That's why I have to get strong; to kill him. And I have to do it alone.

[She recognizes it as something akin to vulnerability, at least. Her tone doesn't soften though, and she presses forward.]

Vengeance won't solve anything, and when it's over all you're going to feel is empty. [stern look.] You still have your life, Sasuke, regardless of losing everything. Make something of yourself instead of wasting your life on petty revenge.

It isn't petty.

[He knows that it's not going to bring anyone back, or make him feel good. He's heard all of this before, and he isn't any more likely to really take it to heart now.]

He destroyed everything and everyone. He... Betrayed everyone. Betrayed me. I can't let him live.

I wasn't able to do anything that night. I can't fail like that again.

[Two steps away from a facepalm. She understands a stark loss--admittedly not on the scale Sasuke's referring to, but understands it nonetheless. All this is going to do is get him killed]

Alright, so tell me what killing him's going to do. It won't bring them back, it won't make you feel any better, and considering he let you live it sounds like he wants someone to kill him. Why give him that? Why give the guy who tore your life apart what he wants?

[Making no comment about how a seven year old failed against someone older. of course that was going to happen--what were they teaching him?!]

[Probably better that she doesn't know that the guy who committed mass genocide was only thirteen at the time, then.

He's shaking his head, his good hand rising to grip at his bangs as he just tries to get a grip.]

He... It was to test his strength. I wasn't worth killing. He left me alive in cowardice.

Killing him avenges the dead. Lets them rest.

[It doesn't matter what else the future holds, not if that man's death is in it.]

[Probably not, no. A world that teaches thirteen year olds to kill people on that scale...and then doesn't give the survivor the care that he needs? Here she thought Cocoon sucked.]

And do you really think that's what they want? The dead don't care, Sasuke. There's nothing they can do to change anything. You need to focus on the living, not on killing someone else. One more death isn't going to change anything, no matter why he left you alive.

Am I supposed to do nothing for my clan? My family?

[Of course Lightning doesn't understand. He's not sure he wants her to, either. It's getting harder for him to speak as he gets more and more consumed within his own turmoil, further into the sadness and pain that night caused him.]

You're supposed to live. [No, she doesn't get it. Can't get it. She only lost her parents but you can't kill disease. And Serah...she hasn't thought about that. But she knows revenge won't do any good. Think about what they'd want for you, not for themselves. If they were your family they'd want you to live your life, Sasuke. Not throw it away on revenge they can't even benefit from.

I can't let it go.

[He's shaking more now and almost hiding when he speaks again, making it just a little harder to hear. At least the pokégear has a really good microphone or it might not have picked up what he's saying.]

The one who murdered them all... My aunts, uncles, cousins, parents... The person I loved and trusted more than anyone else before that night... He's my older brother.

[No reply. If this wasn't video and that stunned face was filling the screen, it wouldn't be a stretch to think she'd hung up. For someone like Lightning, someone who values her own family above anything else...to hear something like that might as well have sucker punched her.

Especially given the way he's acting. What little she knows about Sasuke tells her he's not a very good actor and that he's...probably telling the truth. Oh, Etro...]

And killing him alone is your only option? If he managed to take everyone out, he's not going to be easy to take down. You have to know that.

[If it's any consolation, her tone has softened a fair bit. It's not pitying, though. She had enough of that on her own back then, too.]

I know it's not going to be easy. He was the Uchiha prodigy - the best of the best in our clan, and better than anyone before him. I'm the only one left alive who can possibly have the strength to match him, and that's what I have to work towards. Why I have to be stronger.

He killed everyone else who could have done the same. When I face him, I'm going to be alone.

[The softer tone is at least a little appreciated - it doesn't feel like he's under attack anymore.]

I know it's revenge. I know it won't bring anyone back or fix anything. But it's something I have to do.

And... Until then... I don't want to gain -- or lose -- anyone else.

[He was doing okay with the gaining until the losing started, really. =/]

Edited (How did I think this post had proper grammar at all.) 2013-02-27 03:08 (UTC)

You can't go through life alone, Sasuke. [Her tone remains soft, but experience colors it even as she continues.] That's no way to live, and when you lose everyone...[she sighs, eyes growing distant.] I can't say I know what that's like. All I know is that you have to go on living without them.

[She pauses for a moment, getting her proverbial feet back beneath her. There is something that needs asking, though.]

You said you had to get revenge. Can you explain why when you know it's not going to do anything good?

I have done it alone until...

[Until he came to Johto? No, that isn't right. He knows it isn't right, even if he doesn't want to admit it. He swallows thickly before responding.]

Until I got assigned to my squad. It isn't the same.

Revenge is the only reason I'm alive. Without that, I...

[I wouldn't know what to do. The words don't manage to make it out, and he sighs heavily before trying to just try and think of something less nauseating. It's only then that something else comes to mind, something helps the boy finally start to regain a little composure.]

... I'm probably heading towards Olivine soon. I need to disappear for a while.

[He can't see it, but the grip she has on her gear tightens. She knows what he means. "Without Serah, there's no future to plan for." No reason to go on when time ticked down against her. It's not the same, but on some level it still is.

But there's no reason to live like that. Maybe she got lucky, but she knows it's possible to change your mindset. ...Still, it didn't happen overnight, and when he changes the subject so abruptly she doesn't try to bring it back around.

Not with what it ends up being, anyway. Sasuke what the hell did you do?!]

And why do you need to disappear?

Team Rocket.

Tenten - someone I know from home - has a contact inside Team Rocket. That contact let her know that Bowser identified me from the Tower Raid to some of the rest of the organization.

[Bowser identified him--shit. She knows where this is going.]

And now you're someone they want to take out. Is that where this is going?

15th Tomoe || Video, Action for Goldenrod City

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