towerofanimus | Keeping a clear head

Characters: Shion and open
Setting: Mailroom, graveyard, forest
Format: either!
Summary: Elena is gone, Shion slips further down the not okay scale and breaks a little bit more
Warnings: beserkness

[Mailroom]

Shion,

If you are getting this, then I am no longer in the Tower. I wish I could have remained to continue to train you and Xion, but it appears the Admins had other things in mind.

You have a strength in you that you should be proud of, and with Reno's training you will be able to defend those you love and care about. You are a Turk and you have been trained by the best. Remember to always keep calm, keep a clear head, and you will go far.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if Reno made a good decision in making you a Rookie. I'm glad to see that I was very wrong. Be good to Xion and watch over her for me. You two are partners, you can and should rely on one another during times of trouble and crisis.

I am very proud to have known you.

~Elena

Shion stood reading the letter, twice, three times, six times until the words were seared into his mind. Elena was gone... She couldn't be gone, it just wasn't possible. He refused to believe it, but had to make sure, and so he slipped the note into his pocket and made his way to the graveyard.

[Graveyard] So it was true, of course it was true. Elena wouldn't have sent such a thing as a joke, though he had hoped it was some kind of cruel trick. Tears came to his eyes but he swallowed hard.

"How can I protect them." He asked her grave. Reno, Rat, Safu, his mum... All people he loved and cared about, far out of his reach. How could he protect any of his friends... Even the one's already here. How could he protect them from cruelty worse than any he had seen in West Town, from people more powerful than gods.

He shook his head and turned away. "I've already failed."

[Forest] Keep calm, keep a clear head. Shion gathered food silently, picking out mushrooms and berries. More than enough for him and Xion, there were others that would need food too. He had to keep going, he touched his Turk pin. Even if it was hopeless he owed Reno that much. He couldn't give up.

As he searched for food anger rose in him, they had taken another of his friends, sent them to be alone in a world devoid of life. Another soul they had just given up on. "If you're going to imprison us, then at least keep us here." He spoke to the air and kicked a tree. His anger finding form as his hands balled into fists and he punched the bark.

His fists were soon bloody but he didn't stop, there was no one to hurt for hurting his friends but himself, and the trees but he couldn't stop the anger, it swirled around him and he was powerless to stop it.

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Shion sat down when made to and blinked as his hand was cured, everything back to how it had been before... like nothing had ever happened.

If only all hurts could be healed like that.

"Thank you..."

Well, the blood itself won't have faded - Riku's magic doesn't reverse time after all, but he is very glad that he could heal this much. It's funny to think that a year ago he wouldn't have been able to.

"You are welcome."

That was the easy part anyways... there is something else that he needs to address now that Shion is calm.

"...Do you often get angry like that?"

To the point of mindlessly hurting yourself?

Shion looked down, still staring at his hands, trembling again and wishing he was anywhere but here.

He nodded slowly, wanting to lie but even he could recognise when he needed help, because he obviously wasn't making anything better by himself.

"More and more often..."

Though the mindlessly hurting himself was the better alternative in his mind, to what he really longed to do, which was to mindlessly hurt all those who dare hurt his friends...

Riku nods to himself, that fits with the level of Darkness he had sensed.

"...If you keep going like this, it's going to consume you sooner or later. And if that happens you won't be the only one who gets hurt. ...You know that, right?"

There is no way anyone reaches this point without being aware of that much at least - of the fact that other people might be hurt. Not if they care about them.

Shion hugged his knees and nodded miserably, he knew... He knew the anger that he had felt when he had killed Reno, and it wasn't the first time, before coming to the tower even...

"I know..." His voice was a whisper, choaked. He didn't want to hurt anybody, not like that, not out of control.

Riku lets his eyes linger on the other, lips pressing together for a second - Shion knows he's spiraling, and he has likely no idea how to stop it. It's a feeling that Riku is very familiar with.

He sighs quietly, hand reaching up to push his bangs of his hair out of his face, he's not sure if he really can help Shion, doesn't know if his method of controlling his Darkness can be applied to anyone who's Darkness isn't manifesting in magic, but... he can't leave Shion like that either.

"...I can't make any promises that it will work, but if you want, I can try to show you how to control Darkness."

Shion blinked at him, in slight disbelief. Because even without promises this is the first time he had heard there was a way to control such things.

He blinked at Riku in surprise and then nodded slowly.

It's not exactly a well known art - in fact Riku doesn't know anyone beside himself who knows how to control Darkness the exact same way he does. He's tried to each the other Sora some of it, but well...

Still, he smiles at that confused look and then twists his hand to summons a tendril of darkness that spin it into a small sphere right above his palm before closing his hand and dismissing it again. Shion is far from the only one who ever had issues, though Riku's was never uncontrollable rage. No exactly anyways.

"When you feel ready, come to the clearing beyond the hedge maze on the twenty-ninth floor."

Shion blinked at the dark tendril, even more confused but he nodded, understanding that Riku was trying to prove that it could be done.

"I will... thank you..."

Edited 2013-05-05 20:14 (UTC)

Riku is trying to prove a little more than that, but that probably won't make sense without a little explanation how Light and Darkness worked and how they related to emotions. He nods and smiles and then pushes himself to his feet.

"You are welcome. And if you need anything..." He pauses a second, thinking how to best contact him. "...leave me a message at Mailbox Ninety-Two or come to my room, 2-14."

Or well, the meadow beyond the hedge maze, but that should already be given.

Shion nodded slowly, "I will..." He had a lot to think about, and at least it would distract him from his anger.

"Thank you again?"

Riku shakes his head lightly in return. "You don't need to thank me."

Not when he isn't doing this just for Shion's benefit alone.

"You are Xion's friend and important to her. I don't want to see her hurt."

Not when she's been hurt so much in the recent past.

Well at least that was a motive that Shion could understand and fully agree with. He didn't want to hurt Xion, nor let her be hurt.

"I don't want her to get hurt either."

Good that they agree on that; they'd have to have a serious word otherwise. Not that Riku had ever doubted that they would.

"We'll work something out."

Whether Riku's method works for Shion or not, there has to be some way to help him.

Shion nodded and managed a small smile despite all the pain and anger still running through him.

Keeping a clear head

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