towerofanimus | Post event madness

Characters: Shion, Xion, Rat, Potentially Reno later also open
Setting: Room 1-01 (for Xion) and floor 39 (gymnasium) (for Rat) and floor 3 (library) (open)
Format: I'm going prose but can change
Summary: Three threads in one! Post event Turkling cuddle piles, a general aftermathy post set in the library and then the inevitable and long overdue meeting of Rat and Shion
Warnings: mentions of event, mentions of ikky things, spoilers for No. 6, potentially Yandere Shion if he makes an appearance

[Room 2-6 going into 1-01, 1st November] When Shion awoke, back to normal, no longer the mutated bee he had been for the last week he lay for a moment taking in what had happened. Fear and disgust curled in him at what he had done and he lay for a long while trying to remember to breathe.

Slowly he sat up, glancing worriedly at Reno; after all he had tried to hurt his roommate many times. Despite giving him candy this last week he had tried to poison him and take his blood. It made him feel sick, Shion opened his mouth to speak, to tell Reno he was back to normal and that he was sorry when something caught his attention at the end of the bed.

He moved over to it, picking up the note, a prize... He picked up the jar and it took a little while for his mind to work out what he was seeing... This was a brain.

Shion dropped the jar, it fell to floor with a crash and feeling like he was about to throw up he bolted from the room. He darted into the bathroom and leaned against the wall trying to remember how to breathe, how not to throw up.

A brain... whose? It took him a moment; he still wasn't calm when he left the bathroom but instead of turning back to his room he went up the stairs. He reached Xion's room and knocked on the door before peaking in.

He hadn't seen her properly since she had died... "Xion?"

[Library, 1st and 2nd of November] As usual after the experiments and games that plagued the tower Shion took a while to get back into the rhythm of daily life. He began going back to work in the library, taking solace in the fact the books had to be put back to rights. With most if not all of the librarians incapacitated the last few weeks it was very much out of order.

Shion pushed carts of books and put things in order, finding calmness there.

[Floor 39, 3rd November] Shion had done his best to forget the horrors and get back to normal, training was part of that normality and his short time as a Zombie... and the death that had led to that made him aware that he still had much to learn.

He was also still shaken by the fact Sephiroth was in the tower; he knew he had barely survived that encounter and Sephiroth had let him go in the end.

So he was training again, waiting for Reno and Xion for their daily lesson.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh geez. Why can't the kids just kiss and make up? Reno was terrible at this kind of stuff, but he couldn't just leave when Shion was looking at him like that.

"You're done here? You're gonna come down here, wring Shion through an emo meat grinder, then just leave like that? Not gonna happen, kiddo. Shion, ya remember those throw and pin moves we practiced?"

Xion huffed and puffed up the stairways. They really needed to make more stops for the elevator. Her death had left her feeling much more... diminished than she would've suspected. She wondered if it had to do with the memories that weren't hers anymore.

Still, she was running late (partially because it was taking her longer to climb the stairs than normal), so she ran up the last few stairwells, ignoring how tight her throat was, and ran towards the familiar figures.

"Sorry I'm-"

As soon as she saw what was going on though, she skidded to a halt, just in time to see Rat straighten up. Her eyes darted around different people, the knife in Rat's hand... What had she just walked into?

She frowned, a little tense, "What's going on?"

Shion flinched when Reno spoke, because he knew Rat and he knew he wouldn't take well to being told off. At the question though he blinked, looking in horror at Reno because he couldn't hurt Rat...

His horror was interrupted by Xion and his sad eyes flickered towards her before returning to Reno. "I can't... it's Nezumi..." He couldn't hurt him...

"I didn't do anything to him, old man," because if he was 'kiddo', what did that make Reno? He sheathed his knife out of a combination of resignation and the chiding squeaks of his two remaining, undefected mice. He was letting all this unsettle him too much.

His gaze flicked to Xion, assessing her threat, recognising her as another of Shion's friends even through the strange, distracting shimmer around her face. An effect of the Tower? Her own ability? Or maybe he was just tired. He shook his head to clear it, and scowled at Reno and Shion again. "But you're welcome to try."

Patting Xion on the shoulder, he let her know he had it in hand.

"All I know is that you're not going to leave here until you guys come to a happy conclusion. Shion's done nothin' but talk about how awesome you were to me, how much he looks up to you, for me to just let you walk away from him like that.

That guy," he pointed to Shion, even with his white hair and red eyes, "is Shion. He's from No. 6. He's got no idea what the hell art or literature is, much less music to get a taste of it. He suffered some sort of parasite infection that turned his eyes that color.

Now, I'm not expecting you to act like he's your Shion, but he's a Shion, and you two need each other, because you're gonna be all you got from home in this giant shithole."

It wasn't taking too much to figure out what was going on. He was from Shion's world. But... Shion was different somehow. Either from a different time, or a version where things had gone differently.

At the hand on her shoulder, Xion glanced over and up at him, biting her lip worriedly. Maybe... there was somehow she could help too though? Especially considering the matter of multiple worlds.

She finally speaks, though her voice is quiet, hesitant. "You're not the only one this has happened to. Even if they're not how you remember, they can still be friends, or people you can trust." Like the other Riku, or the other her.

Shion petted the mouse on his shoulder and blushed more as Reno spoke. He watched Rat intently, willing him to understand. To know that it was him; even if he was different than what he knew.

He smiled gratefully at Xion, he knew she had many people from her world, and those from worlds that were similar but different than hers. Reno had had another him in the tower.

"They're right... And I can't be too different, I mean I am sure that all Shion's in all worlds are complete airheads." He smiled hoping the joke would reassure Rat, stop him from doing something stupid.

His smile wasn't that convincing though, since he wanted to cry and it showed in his eyes.

Rat raised an eyebrow as the barrage of justifications began. They got points for trying, anyway. As improv performances went, he'd rate it a six or seven out of ten. They believed what they were saying, even if that stank of emotional investment, and, okay, the girl seemed honest, but Rat had been shot at too many times by suits like Reno to even spare a thought for trust.

Everything they said made sense, in the twisted, bizarre way things pretended to make sense in the Tower, but it didn't change the fact that when this Shion looked at him, about to cry, he was seeing some other 'Rat' from a dead world. They weren't friends. They were strangers in the shape of people they'd lost, and if he got too involved, he was going to end up in a bigger mess than he had back home... Or maybe that was just projection, and Shion was right: he really was simple as this in every possible iteration of the universe.

If he walked away, just where was he going to go? The tower was big, but it wasn't large enough to prevent a hunt, especially when his mice were about to mutiny.

His objection was less verbal and more just a quiet sound of surrender.

"If you're done, I think I'd prefer to be thrown across the room now."

Really? That was all the kid was going to say? Reno shook his head and glanced over at Shion. "I can arrange that for ya."

But the look in Shion's eyes, that one that meant he was close to crying, stopped him from actually following through. "You know what, let's let this guy figure it out by himself. He's strikin' me as the type that's gotta learn things the hard way."

It was obvious Rat didn't trust the situation, or the Tower, or anything about it. Not that Reno blamed him, he was exactly the same when he had arrived, having to face what the Tower had to offer.

Xion knew that expression, looking at Shion. And so she did something that he'd done for her several times, when she'd been nervous or upset. She reached forward and grabbed Shion's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. At the same time her mouth twisted as she looked half-reprovingly, half-imploringly over at Rat.

She could vaguely guess how Shion felt after all, not welcomed by someone you knew to be a friend in your own world. In her case, it was because they'd actually forgotten, but Axel's suspicion when she'd first spoken to him back when he'd first arrived... it was all too familiar.

Still... maybe Reno was right. Maybe they just had to let him figure it out.

"You need what friends you can get here," she said quietly, as a sort of last bit of advice. Referring not to Rat personally, but in general. Friends, allies, people you could trust and rely on... they were beyond invaluable in the Tower. She was glad she'd found the two standing beside her.

Shion took Xion's offered hand gratefully taking comfort in it. He didn't want to leave Rat though. But he knew that pushing would just make Rat leave anyways and perhaps if he were given time...

His voice was cracked as he spoke, "If... if you want me to go I will... But they are right. This isn't a place you can survive in alone. Not even you..."

He looked down, not sure what to feel, hoping that Rat would stay but suspecting he would take the offer and tell Shion to leave. Shion would just have to protect him... without Rat knowing.

Post event madness

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