genessia | 1st Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Video

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1st Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Video

[When he wakes up, he still believes he's in Nautilus. The last he remembers is going to sleep with Leanne like usual, did something happen? Another storm? Something worse? He can't remember anything else but there must have been something since not only he wakes up in a place he doesn't recognize but he is also wearing his armour.

It's not until he finds the hologram that he understands what has happened, and those sensible to Cosmo, ki or similar energies will most likely feel a huge burst of energy as Ikki's Cosmo rages. To his credit he doesn't damage anything in the area. But it takes everything he has to not do so. Kidnapped again, this time more blatantly and without made up excuses about there having been a call. It was bad the first time, but this time is even worse. Apparently he's not allowed to continue fighting to save Athena and Seiya, nor he's allowed to have a family and a "normal" life.

He makes his way out, with his Phoenix Cloth on and carrying its Pandora box on his back. He doesn't bother to try to use his Cosmo to reach anyone for he doubts that whoever is responsible of this would be so kind as to let him reunite with anyone he knows and cares about. It's not until he reaches the beach that a thought occurs to him which leads him to strip down his armour and shirt, so he can check his right shoulder and confirm that the tattoo that Ace made for him is still there. A red spade (from the cards) surrounded by two flaming wings, one blue, the other orange, and with what seems like a white crescent moon crossing over it, the only thing he has, aside from his memories, to remember his time in Nautilus. It brings some relief to his heart, but it does nothing to calm his temper, so he goes on to strech his joints and muscles, giving anyone watching the video a nice show without realizing it. It's not the coliseum he's used to, but the beach seems like a good enough place to do some improvised training.

It should help to release his anger.]

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[he wrestles a bit against the poking but only half-heartly. He won't say it out loud but... Somehow it feels nice when Marco does that, when he treats him that way.

But then he listens as Marco goes on about what happened and what he did. And Ikki raises an eyebrow at all that.]

I can's say I don't see why you would freak out like that, at least.

Whaaat? I can't brag about having a sparkling pineapple brother? What will I do with my life now?

[Excuse the sarcasm, Marco. But Ikki just doesn't feel at all surprised that he should be careful regarding bragging about his allegiances... And he doesn't really care about what the rest of the world thinks anyway. If he feels like bragging about that and someone has a problem with that, the problem is theirs alone. And if they bring it to him... He will gladly make it a real problem for them.

But really, he has no intention of bragging. He had no intention of even really socializing if not because you dropped from the sky and the smartphone decided to record him on its own. As for the rest...]

You know... Part of me worried a bit about being a control maniac or something for how I always try to know where Leanne is, what she's doing and with who she is. But hearing you say all that makes me think that I should do it even more.

[At least he would have a general idea about when she went missing or where she was, and so on. But he isn't going to fault Marco for that either, maybe he would have made the same mistakes.]

Hell, I had started to think that maybe I was worrying too much about those things, that I should relax a bit. And now I come here and all this happened to you... It's like somehow everything was planned. So that you would have me here before you slip further on. So that I learn of the dangers of relaxing back and taking things for granted just because my wife has a long life ahead of her.

[He headbutts Marco lightly, almost playfully.]

Being outside of all that sounds as if it suits you better, anyway. And it may help for you to actually be better informed. Don't know what I could do to help but you can count with me too.

[Headbutts him sideways right back and laughs.]

Well... don't go overboard.

[Because he remembers how it drove Ikki a bit mad with Selphie.]

Leanne is not completely stupid, and she's less reckless than my kitten. Do you know how I decided I had to marry Grell? She bit my tail feathers. Hurt like a motherfucking bitch. No one's ever done that! Not even ACE! I decided I'd have to kill her or marry her right there on the spot. I just decided marriage might be more interesting. Lucky for me. Five worlds we've been to, and she's never been taken from me before. She's lost me. I flit in and out of worlds sometimes looking for my brothers, and other times I've come very close to losing her for good, but I never had to live a day without her before. So I took it for granted, yoi.

The Leanne I knew may seem naive, but she could make her own kidnappers cry, and force them to let her go. Ironically, she probably could have fought her way to freedom before Grell. Grell's more... chainsaws and whips and bloody roses. Stylistic approach difference. And everyone's got their weaknesses. That's where Leanne would shine.

But Leanne also wouldn't be making enemies like Grell either.

I'm not saying let your guard down, but keeping a low eye on her cosmos if she comes should be more than enough. Annnnd maybe making sure she's never alone. Grell, like I said, she's immortal, so it's not like we ever thought she'd be in danger, eh?

But even Ash has his pokemon, so he's not that much in danger. People overhype the danger of this place usually.

Still, you might be right. Maybe both of us need to start getting better at being phoenixes and whatever that entails.

Not completely stupid? Less reckless? Are we talking about the same Leanne or are the one you know and the one I know different ones after all?

She ran, alone in the middle of the night to meet a guy who had threatened and scared her because they claimed to need her help. She went alone! Without telling anyone! By the time she contacted me she was hurt, terrified and almost traumatized enough that I had to spend a whole week awake with her in her room, keeping watch so she could sleep and rest!!

[Dude, seriously, telling Ikki his wife isn't stupid is like telling him the sky doesn't look blue.

Listening to Marcoi definitively makes Ikki wonder if his Leanne wasn't so reckless and naive because of his influence, maybe if she had married someone else she would have been more capable? But no, that happened before they got married!]

And getting better at being husbands, maybe. So that our wives aren't dissapointed on us.

[....]

Okaaaaaaaay fair enough. That is... definitely her, yoi. I forgot we were on a ship, so she couldn't exactly go anywhere without the rest of us, and none of us exactly let her wander any islands alone given the slavers.

Two rules if she comes, never alone, and always keep her comm on her.

And I might have Kitten build her a backup system just in case. Something she can wear and press if something happens, eh?

And maybe we can have Ace take up being a bodyguard. If he doesn't punch everyone that so much as looks at her sideways.

[Ikki just nods, a bit glad to hear that it was mostly due the setting they were in than anything else that the Leanne Marco knew hadn't done anything like that.]

The reason why I started to keep an eye on her Cosmos at all times was precisely because of that event. I had vowed to her that I would protect her and be with her and that she should call me if she needed anything, specially because we lived in the same place and our rooms were basically one in front of the other! But she still went alone because she "didn't want to bother me". So I decided that she wasn't allowed anymore to decide what I should or shouldn't know about her whereabouts, because I'm sure the only reason she didn't die was because the asshole was like a scientist and preferred his subjects alive.

If we had been isolated in a ship that shit wouldn't have happened.

[And the ship part sounded quite cool, too.]

I like the idea of a backup system or something, even if knowing her I'm sure she wouldn't use it until too late.

[Facepalms.]

[And yeah, he's been planning to get a ship and turn it into a bar + hotel. But with Grell being Everglade's Guardian...]

At least it wasn't because Grell didn't want to bother me... just didn't think it necessary. And normally, it wouldn't have been. All right, new rule, and you and I will have to be role models -- no, forget it, they still won't stick to it.

[Frustrated gnarled exasperated note!]

So we lie and tell them we want Ace protected because of how many times he's died and all his stupid fire shenanigans and restlessness. In return, we hire Ace as a professional bodyguard. We'll have to work something out for off shifts, but it's the best plan I can think of for now.

See, it would have bothered me still if she just hadn't considered it necessary, but to be told that she didn't want to be a bother when it ended causing her so much pain and then me having to be there and watch over her. She still had trouble at first being with Zoro and Ace after it.

[So basically she ended being far more of a bother than if she had called him in the first place.]

And then there was that time when some virus was spreading and making people sprout flowers and plants and eventually turned them into fucking trees. And I told her to leave to a city that was safe or back to her world, because back there we could do that, but she refused so I had to use my Cosmo to try to protect her from sprouting. And it still failed and she got sick despite it because she was all around infected people.

[Which, if it had been just Sanji or Zoro he could have understood, but it wasn't just them.]

... Wait, because of "how many times he has died"? Has... Has Ace died again while he was here or something?

[The distress is clear in Ikki's voice at that. What, didn't his brother have enough having died once that he had to die more times?]

Aye...

Relax, eh. If she turns into a tree, we'll sing her back. And no. He's just as hard to hold onto as a handful of flames. No matter how many times I find Ace, it seems like he's always a different spark, spread all out. Always Ace, always, yoi, but time and memories, what he remembers, what he doesn't, it gives even me a headache. Namur and I just take it for granted. He's less death-seeking than Thatch though, and that's saying something given his Wildfire tendency to want to burn free and then out.

Still, having someone nearly always with him wouldn't hurt. So long as he doesn't think it's because we don't trust him.

She won't turn into a tree, they found a cure anyway. And if it happens again this time I'll know how to do it better so that I don't fall into a coma and fail her.

[Don't get on his case for falling into a coma, Marco.

Ikki visibly relaxes when Marco says that Ace hasn't died again.]

I can understand that... And I trust him. I just don't trust the world around him.

[A pause.]

The Ace here, what is the last thing he remembers from your world? Is he...

[From before or from after his death? Ikki shakes his head, it doesn't really matter but...]

... I think I want to write him a letter, before meeting him, I mean.

You fell into a coma??

No idea. We could have Namur ask, but no one wants to bring that up if he doesn't. Especially since his younger kid brother isn't here.

A letter? Are we talking about the same Ace? He might punch you for that. As it is, he mostly yelled at Adela and the marine who remembered him, and anyone else, because he insisted they not act all weird and sound around him and just treat him like they would. Like you and me, yoi.

Huh, yes. I used my Cosmo to protect her, to slow her cells so the infection wouldn't spread, it's a difficult technique and requires a lot of focus and energy and I... I did it without having really prepared for it so I ended using my Cosmo beyond what the phoenix could regenerate and my body just... Shut down when it couldn't take it any more.

I'm fine now and more prepared so it's okay.

[He waves a hand dismissively. And he nods, he will try to not bring it up either, honestly he can understand the feeling. He himself doesn't want to tell Seiya just how badly he got hurt exactly.

As for the letter, Ikki laughs.]

Good, because that's what I want him to do. I will do it then, can you send private messages with those things?

[Slow nod.]

All right.

[SMALL GRIN AT THAT and nods.] You can. Aye.

[He might need to get popcorn to see that.] But I want to see it when it happens, so have him film it or ping me, eh.

[Ikki nods, already working on the smartphone to find how to send Ace a private text, fortunately it's not too complicated, specially since he already has experience from Nautilus. Once he's done, and he's done fairly quickly since he knew what he wanted to say, he shows it to Marco.]

I would make a bet on how long it's going to take him to come and punch me but I don't know how his schedule is here. Or even what time is it right now here.

[He smiles as Marco asks to see it when it happens.]

I'll make sure to film it if I can't ping you. Do you think it's punch-worthy enough?

That is some letter.

[LAUGHS AND SHAKES HIS HEAD.] I have no idea how he'll react.

If we're lucky, he'll assume correctly that you're with me, and come chalk it up to how phoenixes are. [More laughs and another headshake.] It should be... interesting, aye.

I guess I could have just gone and tackled him like you did with me, but... Now even if he ignores it, it will be forever written and existing. It's my revenge for not knowing me.

[Ikki shrugs.]

To be honest he is the only one for whom I would do that.

[He looks at Marco seriously and tilts his head.]

Maybe not the only one... But I think I would use something different with you, like calling your attention by speaking in phoenix.

That is fair and he will respect that. [Nod nod.]

[And laughs.] Oh Ikkun, you would never need to get my attention. You always have it.

Thatch won't remember you either, but it won't stop him from trying to adopt you right away, eh.

... Ikkun?

[No, he's not surprised by the nickname it's just... Somehow it sounds... Familiar. But he can't remember anyone calling him that way.]

Well, I don't really know or remember Thatch so I guess we're the same there. I know of him like I knew of you, a bit less because Ace mostly talked about you because we both are phoenixes.

Thatch and I called you that a lot. More him than me.

[Soft grin.] I'm glad he still remembered to talk about me. With how much he always talked to us about Luffy, I'd be a little sad if I never came up, eh? But odds are Ace remembered Thatch's death pretty keenly, so it would have hurt to remember too. The only reason I can find Thatch as much as I have, is being who I am. Thatch taught me how to be -- it sounds stupid to stay human, but with people, eh? Around them without needing to hide. Other than my Pops he truly had the biggest impact on my life.

Ah, and he speaks bird, so he was close to you and Leanne and Naesala as well. He also handled Ace's wild years even better than I did, because he understands people in a way I can't explain, eh? Like my Pops but... more in the thick of it, yoi.

It sounded familiar but I can't remember ever being called that way. Should have guessed it was from you.

[Though it bothers him, because it's not the first time he deals with sealed memories, really. And he thought that after having the seals removed twice he had gotten the trick to figure out when his mind had been tampered with... But this is totally different. There's nothing that would hint him at there being more, not until he met Marco and until he says certain things.]

... The world where we met, it was like this one, right? It took us from our worlds and threw us there... Did I ever mention what I was doing in my world before being there?

[Then again, probably Marco won't remember even if he did. Ikki shakes his head, it doesn't really matter either way.]

Hmm, he talked a lot about Luffy too but, definitively more about you. Again, I think it was because we are both phoenixes so he must have compared us a lot or something. Though he also said that I was a lot like him.

[Or had it been someone else? It had been an offhand comment either way.]

How come Thatch can speak bird? Is he a bird too or has some power like that?

A little, but more like my world than this one. Open seas, no barriers.

You said you were looking for a cure for Seiya -- Fuck! I completely forgot. [Punches his own forehead and grabs Ikki's shoulders.] Ikkun! Seiya is here too! But he remembers less than you told me of. But he looked well at least. He really did remind me of Ace. I thought Shun would, but... [Headshake.] It's unimportant. You should go to him. When you're ready, yoi.

Thatch is human, but patient and clever. He learned through doing. Because of me. Because he didn't want me to be alone. He learned, and I learned how to be human from him, and taught a few others what they could handle. Grell knows some too. And Toby was learning. And Roxas, in the Davy Jones' world.

So we were sailing around, a real pirate crew. Or as real as it could be over there.

[He talked about it with Ace once, it still sounds interesting and fun somehow.

A cure for Seiya... He still is, so... Is that why he can't remember? Why he can't really pinpoint something missing? His train of thought is broken when Marco grabs his shoulders.]

What? Seiya? Pegasus Seiya is here too?!

[That he would remember less doesn't surprise Ikki, there's no way Seiya is aware of what's going on at the present and he doesn't dare to imagine Seiya being from the future. That would be too kind, to show Ikki that everything would turn out alright and be fixed.

But Seiya being here... He wanted that, he had tried to will Seiya into Nautilus the most, wanting him to at least be somewhere, awake and fine, while they tried to stop the curse. But to hear that he's indeed around... He's not ready for that.]

I... I'm not sure going with him is a good idea.

[It has been so long and... He was so different before. And Marco explaining about Thatch only seems to point it more, Ikki frowns dejectely.]

I can speak it since I can remember, I would barely be able to speak with my mother yet I would understand the few things the birds around us would say. I don't remember having the chance to show her but after her death... I would talk to Shun both normally and in bird. I was sure that being my brother he would be able to speak it too and understand me.

But then he grew up and he didn't understand, he couldn't speak it. So I stopped doing it and never tried to teach anyone or tell anyone about it. Until I ended in Nautilus and met Leanne.

[Maybe Shun would have tried to learn if he had bothered to teach him, maybe any of the others would have but... It had been easier for Ikki to just close himself even back then. And after their trainings, after all the pain and anger grew and drowned him, closing himself even more was the only thing he could think of.]

Aye.

What?? Why not?

[Nods. He's not going to say Ikki told him that before, but he did.]

Because... The last time I saw him was years ago for me. And a lot of things have happened, but... Not there. They all happened in Nautilus and I changed, I know it.

[Ikki frowns.]

Back then when he was awake, I always kept myself away from them, I didn't want to mingle with them. I would fight alongside them when they needed me and vanish when it was over, even when Shun tried to beg me not to. I even hid my Cosmo so no one could track me down even if they tried. I loved them, they were my world but I never said it or showed it.

[He crosses his arms and shakes his head.]

That me would have never wrote that letter for Ace even if it was true. Nor would I be here talking with you like this even if I wanted to. So... I'm not the Ikki he knows.

And I'm not sure I want to be, not with everything I know and remember. But if I'm not the way he remembers, he probably will think that I'm a fake or something.

[Of course all this is Ikki mostly assuming that all his brothers just took everything he did and say at face value and conveniently forgot how he was when he was a child and they were together in the orphanage. Nevermind that it was Seiya the one who remembered it the most and who also pointed it out to him once when they fought because the pegasus refused to accept that Ikki had turned into some cold blooded monster that would kill them all.]

So what?

[Laughs softly, tugs him around the shoulders with a one-armed hug and gently nudges a fist to his chin.] When you love someone, you love the potential they have to become too. If you're a happier more well-adjusted Ikki, he'll just be happy for you. We can get food and drinks first if you want, but don't hide away from him long, phoenix. I spent 5 years away from Thatch and Namur, they were completely hidden in the same world as me. In that time, I dealt with Pops' funeral, met a version of Ace who was a marine, another version of Ace I couldn't hold onto, twice, got married, adopted another brother, and a son. It was a a lot to make them adjust to all at once, but they're my brothers, they're not so weak as to want to spend another minute away from me just because of my issues, eh?

And Thatch had it roughest to adjust. Twenty years we were together through everything. Suddenly I had a whole life outside of him. But he's my brother. He rose up, he's my first mate in the crew, and when I was lost in Ceres, he still looked after Grell and Namur for me. Don't avoid him long, eh? Not for him, not for you.

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uccellodifuoco - 2018-03-12 16:41 (UTC) - Expand

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1st Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Video

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