First Fragment

[earthshards]

Characters: AU Terra and anyone
Setting: Wandering the halls, starting at the third floor
Format: Action Brackets
Summary: Terra's wandering the halls, essentially exploring/looking for a way out and not believing what the letters told him. He's also lost in his own thoughts, and could use some face-to-face interaction to snap him out of it.
Warnings: ... ... when I figure them out, they'll get added.

[For Terra, the sleep paralysis had not been fun. After the initial panic and an attempt to struggle awake and make his body move, it hadn't taken long for him to discover the collar around his neck and the two letters explaining what had happened.

He didn't believe a word of it, personally. How could you destroy the Realm of Darkness? The whole universe? It didn't make sense to him.

But old habits were hard to break, and he had started to wander once he was able to. The chest with his name on it had held most, if not all of the items he owned, but the most important of all being his Wayfinder and his clothes. First, after dressing and collecting his items, he'd left the room he had woken in, making sure to note the number for future reference. Then, he'd simply started walking, trying to get his bearings.

He's not exactly aware that he makes for a suspicious figure, with the long black coat and hood obscuring his features. He's barely aware of the other people, having not seen any for the span of... a year? Has it been that long? He's not really sure; he sucks at keeping track of time, and he stopped trying when there was no way to do it.

His stomach growls, but he pays it no mind; he'll find something to eat later. Right now, he'd prefer to get a basic layout of the place he seems to now be captive in.]

Comments

[attheclocktower]

[It's been hard to focus on anything else, knowing what's been going on. Knowing Sora and Riku and so many of her friends were fighting to their deaths. And yet hanging around the network terminals, only able to watch... it was just as bad, if not worse. Besides, she did need to eat sometimes, even if the meals were nothing but nutritional bars...

It's on her way back to her room after eating that she spots the black cloak, exactly like the one she's wearing, and freezes. That doesn't look like Axel. And so far as she knew, Axel (and Roxas) were the only other people from the Organization currently in the tower, though she does remember when Zexion had been there when she first arrived.

Should she run? Should she just keep going and hope he doesn't notice her? She isn't sure who it is, and unlike her, this other person's hood is up...]

[capax_infiniti]

[While he's used to seeing the ebb and flow of humanity in the tower, espying one with a black coat is something worth note. He knows there are those who wear them - he's seen Xion with one, there was that young boy, and the Riku who calls himself Ansem has one as well. This person has their hood up, however... how displeasing. Clearly whoever it is this time is attempting to hide themselves, as much as one can with that particular get-up.

It seems more people know him here than he'd known before coming. If this individual already knew him, then they'd more than likely have words to say... they all did, it seemed. If it was someone who didn't know him... well, no harm ventured. They'd simply pass each other by for that moment, and he could use his other resources to learn just who was beneath that hood.]

[earthshards]

[It's beyond ironic, that Terra isn't watching where he's going as he's wandering the halls. So when he bumps shoulders with the oncoming old Master, he doesn't think anything of it.] Sorry--

[At least, he didn't; not until he actually looked at who he was apologizing at, and stopped cold. His body language goes completely guarded, closed off, and there can only be shock in his tone.] No... impossible... you can't be...

[His voice is rough from disuse, and his volume is barely in the audible range, but that shouldn't stop anyone that has at least spoken with Terra before from identifying him, coat or no coat.]

[capax_infiniti]

[Ah, yes, there's the reaction he was expecting. The shock, the theatrics... if it hadn't been for the familiar voice, he would have simply assumed it was yet another one of the future kids who was more than content to accuse him of things he hadn't done yet... they were more than willing to point the fingers of blame, but highly unwilling to talk about what exactly had transpired.

Soon enough, with a little bit of work, he'd have those answers.

Another Terra... how interesting. What was this one's story? Another challenge would be quite amusing.]

Do you doubt in me that much, Terra? Or is there some other reason why I "can't be"?

[earthshards]

[Keeping up the guarded facade is difficult when ones emotions are raging through you like a storm. Terra's shaking slightly from the effort of it, and he shakes his head.] You can't be here... just my mind playing tricks on me... Why can't you stop haunting me?

[But it sounds more like he's trying to convince himself than anything else. But somehow, he manages to bring back that calm, guarded stance, and keep his voice relatively level in it's tone.] I always thought that the dead weren't supposed to talk back.

[That's probably not the answer that you're looking for, Xehanort, and it probably brings up more questions than answers.]

[earthshards]

[It's only the odd feeling that he's being watched that makes Terra actually start looking at his surroundings. It doesn't take long to spot the source of that particular feeling, either.

A girl wearing a coat identical to his.

Under the hood, his eyes widen slightly with shock, and he stops where he is. That face... it's been a long time, but he still recalls it's owner well enough. The memories were too recent, too laced with pain and regret, to be forgotten quickly.] Four--

[He cuts himself off before he finishes the number. Hardly audible though he is, he's... almost certain that this girl would react poorly to hearing her number. 'She looks frightened enough as it is.

Hesitantly, he closes the distance between the two. He doubts she'll even recognize his voice; it hadn't exactly been 'him' that she had known, after all.] Your name... was Xion, right?

[capax_infiniti]

[Oh indeed. With what he's learned recently, he wonders what exactly this supposed "death" could entail... if it relates in any way to his apparent future transition of becoming a Heartless. In just how many worlds was that an outcome?

The corners of his mouth turn up into a tight grin.] With a strong enough heart, there is little that cannot be overcome... wouldn't you agree?

[earthshards]

[It was an outcome in far more worlds than you could imagine.

A small smirk forms on his face, almost completely hidden by the hood. There... was something ironic, about having more information than Xehanort, even if this was a figment of his imagination. Information was power, after all--he'd learned that much.

'Two can play at this game now.' This... might be fun.] You'd be surprised what you could overcome without a Heart.

[capax_infiniti]

Is that so? [The elegantly dangled information, waiting... of course, this one would never divulge. They were all smarter than that, it seemed... which would make divesting them of their secrets all the more satisfying in the end.

He'll play along, if only to try to wrangle something out of the encounter. After all, if this Terra is like the others he's encountered and from the future, he most likely already knows everything anyway. Xehanort largely has little to lose, and a great deal to gain.]

As one whose never had mine depart, do enlighten me.

... I blame you entirely for this. /SOB

[earthshards]

How fortunate for you, then. [The barely visible smirk disappears, and almost like flipping a switch, Terra's body language subtly changes; he stands up little straighter, his tone shifts to sounding almost bored.

If he's going to humor the 'ghost', he might as well go all out.] Though the heart can be damaged, broken, or lost, if the will is strong enough, then it can carry on, animating the body even after the loss of something so vital. Such an iron will can linger for years, possibly even decades, without deviating from the purpose that it has set itself to.

[Round one, over. Next round goes to you, Xehanort.]

[attheclocktower]

[She flinches a little at the start of her number, but she's not surprised - really, it's no more than she expected from someone wearing a black coat, and not being Axel or Roxas. The fact that he cuts himself off is a surprise though.

Almost as much as how familiar the voice is - though not in the way she would have expected. She knew all the voices of the Organization members - save a few of the ones who'd gone to Castle Oblivion. And that voice was not one of them.

Instead, that voice was...]

... Terra?

[She... couldn't be sure. She'd only spoken to him once, and it was a while ago, before everything had happened - with her falling asleep, and Vanitas and everything. But... it sounded like him... But why did he have a black coat?]

[capax_infiniti]

[This is quite informative, and he files away this information to ponder later with everything else he's gathered. He's quite willing to take that boredom if it means you'll spill, Terra...]

Like an automaton, following orders, or a drone caught up in a single desire and acting on it in absence of anything else? While the will drives one on regardless of state, can one truly desire anything without a heart at all?

[earthshards]

[This? Is a quiet chuckle.] What is desire, but the yearning for something that is sorely needed? To desire is natural, even for those who teeter on the edge between Light and Dark, incapable of truly existing without that which they have lost.

[By now, he's drawing it out--his words, the pacing of his speech. It's not quite mockery, not yet. Not with the tone of his voice still in the 'this is serious business' range.] A will lacking the emotional force behind the desire that drives it so is a force to be reckoned with, as it is not only driven by the very task that it has set itself to, but by the ever-present need to fill the void left by the loss of a Heart.

[capax_infiniti]

[It's so unlike Terra, hearing him talk like this, and it's fascinating. It sounds like the sort of conversation he would love to have, given the time and pleasant company. Not that Terra isn't pleasant company, but there's more interesting things to figure out about him that Xehanort is certain aren't going to come up in simple - or complex - conversation.]

Not Heartless so much as simply... lacking. The mirror edge of losing one's heart to darkness. Where the heart and passion go, leaving behind simply the will to go on...

[Things are starting to come together, at last.]