towerofanimus | DREAM A LITTLE DREAM WITH ME

Characters: all the characters involved in the Dream Event
Setting: various dreams, various locations
Format: any
Summary: Xehanort draws a large amount of the tower into worlds constructed from their dreams in an attempt to learn about everyone en masse
Warnings: ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING

[Tendrils of magic wound their way around, lines of energy flickered into existence, forming a large shape on the ground around where Xehanort sat with his back straight and legs tucked neatly beneath him. Perfect. It was a bigger scale than the one he'd done but a month before, already he could feel the flickers of connection, the shape getting brighter and more defined.

More participants. More mental drag. There was little to worry about. With Xigbar on guard duty, his sleeping body would be quite safe. No, it was time to dream... and see just who would follow.

Darkness shrouded his hand, keyblade flaring into life, and he gripped the handle in both hands, aiming it at the ground, at the keyhole defined by criss-crossing darkness responding, resonating...

drowsiness laced through him, the blade in his hands sagging downward until the tip touched the ground, his posture slacking, head and shoulders slumping slightly

in slumber, the dreams of others awaited

the Master was asleep.]

OOC NOTE BECAUSE I CAN'T EDIT THE POST IT'S ON ANYMORE AND NOT REDOING ALL OF THAT: Dreamers should post to their REAL WORLD thread explaining where their character is, if they made it to a bed or if they're on the floor somewhere or wherever.

If you have questions for me, put them in your base character thread!

If I missed you somehow, let me know and I'll add you to the appropriate section!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Riku stumbles back and stares, wide eyed, at the memory. He instinctively grasps onto his chest, as if his own darkness is about to swallow him.

The only words he manages to choke out are...]

No way!

[Ansem succeeded. He got his vessel. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. It shouldn't be like this.

Why is this happening?]

[He had tried to brace himself for the impact of this memory - but even so all he had felt back then, all that he feels now in hindsight of it, all that he usually keeps tightly suppressed during his waking hours, is slamming right into him, making him pale, his face tight as he just tries to keep himself from trembling-

He has told himself and others that he doesn't fear the Darkness or Ansem, but he sure fears this the loss of control that possession (no matter by who) resulted to. He never ever wanted to feel like this again.]

It's bad, you know... I don't think anyone can understand what it's like, unless they've experienced it themselves. ...Not that I'd wish it on anyone.

[Never, never.

He doesn't mean to say anymore than what he's already said, but... now that he's started, he can't really stop himself anymore. Even though he had said already that he doubts that his double could truly understand it, he still finds himself trying to explain... the other needs to understand why he can never ever go down this road, even if it will never happen for him in this particular manner at least.]

It takes a moment to notice the loss of control, but once you know immediately that it's absolute. It's not just limbs. You can't shake your head, can't move a finger, you can't flinch, you can't even blink. Not of your own will.

All you can see, all you can hear, all you can sense is what he wants you to. And there is nothing you can do.

[And Ansem had wanted him to see, to hear, to sense. Had laughed at his ever rising fear and despair when-]

...But the absolute worst was realizing just how much I screwed up. That in fact... I... probably wasn't the one who was betrayed, but that I had just become the betrayer myself.

[This is his greatest regret.]

...You're right. I can't even begin to imagine it.

[He can only guess. And to think he'd come so close to suffering the same fate. If he hadn't fought back... if his friends hadn't believed in him, then Ansem would've taken him, too. And then the worlds would've been doomed. There would've been no Keybearer to protect them. His own power would be used to harm so many...

His double's words do sting because it's so easy to imagine himself making those kind of mistakes, in a way. After all, he'd selfishly opened the door to Destiny Islands all because he thought his best friends had abandoned him. And it was just a joke.

What can he even say? Once again, he's at a loss for words, averting his eyes as he lets it all sink in.]

You... probably didn't know until it was too late. Sometimes... it just can't be helped. I know that when Sora was working with Maleficent, he really did think she was trying to help the worlds.

But that's the thing about manipulation. You never notice until everything's gone south. And that's when it hurts the most.

[His double had been lucky. He's chosen a road that had kept him from ever reaching the point he had found himself at back then, that would hopefully keep him from ever getting there.

He shakes his head, dry - almost desperate - laughter escaping him. He is thankful for that attempt to comfort him, but...]

But I knew. Not about Ansem, but-

I knew that whatever Maleficent was up to wasn't good. That she was just using me. And I didn't care. Not as long as it led me to Kairi.

...And at this point not even she mattered anymore.

[He has long stopped kidding himself... by the time he had fought Sora, he had no longer thought about Kairi. Only about the strength the Darkness had given him, only about proving that he was still the stronger one.

The scene around them changes at just that moment, the memory a little more a haze than before - but even so his... Ansem's conversation with Maleficent is clear enough... and then it appears in Ansem's hand.

The Keyblade of the People's Hearts.

Riku presses his lips together at the sight; he might not have been in control, but he had felt the Darkness, the unnaturalness of it.]

I--

[Once again, words fail him. It's horrifying to imagine himself in that position. To sink so far into darkness that even his friends... Kairi don't matter anymore.

And she and Sora mattered more than anyone else.

When the setting changes and that key appears, Riku stumbles backwards, eyes locked on the scene before him.]

...that Keyblade...

[Riku closes his eyes; thinking back he is just as horrified even though, or maybe especially because, he knows exactly how it had come to this.]

Doubt... anger... resentment... it's terrifyingly easy to get caught up in that kind of emotion. Especially if you deny the root of it.

[That is why the only way to properly control the Darkness is to be utterly aware of its origin. The moment it is denied - even in part - it starts consuming the heart.

He opens his eyes again, letting them linger on the dark Keyblade.]

The Keyblade of the People's Hearts.

[Pained regret over his face - that Keyblade is something that never should have existed. Never would have probably, if he just hadn't been so stupid...

The only reason why they hadn't lost everything at that point is because Kairi...]

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM WITH ME

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