savetheearth

[Suzaku dials up the network from his phone, attention clearly fixed on something in front of him. His focus lies there, phone bobbing along as he walks. It's unclear exactly what he's doing until a loud pop rings through the air, and he abruptly drops the phone]

Damn-

[He clamps a hand over his shoulder, blood welling up between his fingers, and turns around. He's just in time for a pair of men dressed up in Blood Key attire to drag him offscreen, curses and threats belted about as he goes.

The sounds of struggle a short distance away are obvious. One voice remarks that the guy doesn't go down easily, and Suzaku's profanities fluctuate between English and Japanese as time drags on.

Eventually, silence settles in. It's a long, heavy silence, followed by footfalls and nothing more.

At least, until Suzaku's voice drifts over the air, weakly]

I...have to live...

[There's some scraping and shuffling, followed by a surprised cry. The sound of gunfire erupts, interspersed with thumps, thuds, and cracks. Electrical crackling joins the violent chorus, and a lone Blood Key stumbles within view of the phone's tiny screen.

He backs up one step, then another, and begins to take a third.

That's when a dark blur darts right at him, slamming into the man, the impact sending him sailing out of view. The blur stills with the scrape of boots against pavement, resolving to Suzaku's familiar form. Distantly, a crash follows.

For several long moments, Suzaku stands there, utterly still. His expression is blank. If he's aware that he's bleeding from no small number of gashes and at least one gunshot wound, he doesn't show it. Far from it, he just stands there.

Then, abruptly, he wavers, struggling to stand. He glances around wide-eyed, as though he's not quite sure where he is]

Wh-what the hell-?

[Electricity crackles and pops somewhere offscreen, and he braces in an attempt to stay on his feet. With the amount of blood on his clothes alone, it's obvious why he inevitably sinks to his knees on the pavement]

What is this...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

True. But thankfully not everyone's turning into freaky monsters.

[ Just Ryan and a few other people, really. ]

How do you define a monster?

[He asks before he can catch himself, falters, and then decides to let it be]

Umm... you know, that's a good question.

[ He doesn't think of himself as a monster, sure, but... ]

I think... if you have a lotof power, and you lose yourself or forget who you are, then that. But even that's arguable, really...

Maybe I'm one then.

[It's something he says entirely too casually. It's not that he doesn't care, but rather, it's almost numbing how strange it is]

Guess the only way to know is waiting.

I wouldn't... I wouldn't say that, if I were you. You don't know that, yet.

[ Because Ryan's old self... even he's not sure if he was a 'monster' or not. ]

Just keep doing what you can-- you can't stop echoes, but hopefully they'll help you along the way.

Not yet, but it's a possibility.

[One he doesn't like, but nevertheless...]

Ever wonder why we call them echoes?

Uh, 'cause they're there, but they're not there?

[ Who came up with that, anyway... ]

Guess there's that. I've seen the word tossed around, but wasn't sure where it started.

[There are so many other words one could use after all]

I can get why with some of them. Like... I remembered being flipped over when somebody flipped me over, that kind of thing. I guess the idea is, if you shout into the void, the void shouts back weird powers and memories?

Guess that's a way to sum it up. I'm not sure I accept them as real memories yet, but the principle is the same.

Yeah, true... whether it was real or not, doesn't change the fact that they feel real in the moment.

...plus, you can't really deny getting weird powers and that sort of thing.

It makes no logical sense to have some abilities, that's true.

Just not sure if we've explored all possible explanations.

It's either that, or aliens...

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if aliens were involved in this anyway. Just different aliens from the ones who wanna take over, maybe.

What kind of motives would aliens have in this scenario?

Maybe they're rivals with the aliens that are invading?

So you mean two sets of aliens using this as some battleground?

It's about as crazy as "all of us just happen to have past lives and are suddenly remembering them because of some giant snake."

I'd say that one's about as easy to believe, at least...

Hey, once aliens are real, there isn't really much left that couldn't be, right? We've already got a unicorn on the network...

Haven't seen that for myself, but another guy mentioned a unicorn before too.

I think... [ And here Ryan just has to laugh. ]

I think she used to be a regular horse, then she echoed her horn back.

...Seriously?

[There are sentient creatures on the network, never human at all? He shouldn't be this surprised but he is]

Yep. Only on the Network.

This situation just gets more bizarre.

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