towerofanimus | Wannabe Locksmith

Entry tags:

Wannabe Locksmith

Characters: Ventus and evrr'bodyyyy
Setting: Room 1-16 and Floor Fifteen
Format: Have prose, will action for CR
Summary: Ven is keybladeless, so he undertakes an endeavor to try and fix his tragic keepsake. Except he is not handy at all.
Warnings: Group B paranoia ahoy, especially since he's working on a weapon. Also splinters.

[Room 1-16]

Ven didn't have any qualms about lending his glider to Romeo; sure, it was convenient getting around the tower, but he had more physical training than most people, so it just a minor nuisance. What he didn't realize at the time was that it also left him without his weapon. granted, he hadn't really done much fighting since the phantoms showed up, but it was always important to be prepared, and it was hard to pull off a cure spell without the keyblade to focus his magic.

So his next idea was the broken training Keyblade he had gotten from Terra. Ven was kneeling in front of his trunk in his room, holding the two halves of the keyblade, one in each hand, looking at them with an uncharacteristic frown. He didn't even know how it had broken, because it was certainly in one piece when he had last seen it. Wonder what had happened....

[Floor Fifteen]

He couldn't spend forever moping around in his room though; there were people who were horribly disfigured and he had to do something to be on the way to helping! Ven had taken the two halves of the keyblade and ran off to the 15th floor. It was just a wooden dummy blade, but it was important to him! And since it was wooden, it couldn't be that hard to fix, right?

Of course Ven had about zero craftmanship skills, so even though he was set up with both halves on a work table, he had no real idea what he was doing. So he was basically going to go about this via trial and error. Someone stop him?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was the paranoia that had made her grab her long-deceased master's Keyblade from her trunk. She cared for it daily, cleaning and polishing it with the same care that she gave her armor, but the thought had never struck her to actually use it until, for some reason, she felt it was absolutely necessary to take any measure to defend herself. She hadn't practiced with two Keyblades, but she'd figure it out.

Aqua was slowly descending the highest floors to better acquaint herself with them, stopping every time a stray noise sounded over her shoulder. She eventually came to the fifteenth floor, where a familiar shock of spiky blond hair was waiting.

Despite the jumpiness, Aqua smiled. "Ven," greeted the woman as she began to approach. "What are you doing?"

Ven looked up when he heard his name; Aqua was possibly one of the only people who could show up behind him and not make him jump. Instead, he turned around when he heard her voice and grinned. "Aqua!"

When she got closer, he turned back towards the work table just a little and frowned at the wooden dummyblade. "The training keyblade I got from Terra was broken when I found it in my trunk..! I was going to try and use it to fight, but I don't know how to fix it.."

Sob Terra would be so upset with him.

Aqua closed the majority of the rest of the space between her and Ven so that she could look over his shoulder at the work table, eyebrows knitting together. Her first response was to glare at the poor dummied out weapon as if it had done her some personal offense. In truth, the blade hadn't done anything to her, but the one that had broken it certainly did.

It wasn't worth troubling Ven over right now, though. There was a more important matter she needed to press. "To fight? What happened to your Keyblade?" questioned the mage in confusion, gaze breaking from the wooden Keyblade so she could instead look at her friend.

"Did you see all the people that were...messed up in the cafeteria?" Stupid experimenty towery people grumble grumble argh jerks. "One of the people they experimented on was my friend. They...turned him into a deer or something." He barely understood it, and he looked off to the side a bit with a pout before looking at Aqua again.

"He was having trouble walking, so I lent him my glider to get around until he could walk."

Her expression turned considerably more troubled at that, and she shook her head to punctuate her answer: "No."

Ven's next sentence was nothing less than alarming, and Aqua's eyes widened accordingly. "They what?" If Ventus' friend had been turned into a deer, then, what about the others...?

She may have chided him for not thinking about the fact that he'd be without a weapon for doing that, but it was honestly such a Ven thing to do, she didn't have the heart to scold him. She looked to the Master Keeper clutched in her right hand, and then into the empty palm of her left. After a moment of consideration, Stormfall came to life in her vacant hand.

She offered the newly-summoned weapon to Ven. "Use mine until you get yours back, okay?" Her Keyblade wasn't as well-suited for a reverse grip and was a good bit longer than Wayward Wind, not to mention it completely lacked a curve. But spells would manifest much more easily for Ven by simply holding it; hopefully the ease of Cure spells would compensate.

Oh. Dang, she hadn't heard of that. Uh well then. Froooowny face goes here. "U-Uh..." Yeah now he felt kind of awkward bringing it up, but yeah, he'd explain it anyway.

"They took eight people and experimented on them or something. One guy had a bunch of stitches on his skin, and another one didn't have a face, and I think one girl had her arms sewn to her body...." His frown somehow deepened as he went on. He even shuddered a bit thinking about what had happened.

Ven blinked and just now noticed the Master keeper. Before he could ask though, she was handing him Stormfall, and he was looking up at her with surprise. "Are you sure..?!" True she apparently has Master Eraqus' keyblade, but it was hard using one that wasn't your own.

She wore a look of anger and disgust that gradually increased in intensity as Ven listed off the various different surgeries that had been performed. "That's insane," said the woman sharply, furious on behalf of the victims. Who could do such a thing? Maybe, if she encountered any of them, she could heal them...? She would have to try. Aqua was sure she'd know one of the patients if she saw them.

Still, she insistently kept Stormfall presented to Ventus. "You probably didn't know, but your Keyblade saved me once," she told him, her voice a little softer. "It's only fair if mine does the same for you. I'll be okay. I can use this one just fine."

"Yeah..." He looked down and shook his head. "I don't really know what they were trying to do, but..." Bad. Just, bad.

"Huh? It did?" Ven blinked in surprise. He sure didn't remember that, but cool! At Aqua's insistence, Ven carefully took Stormfall into his own hand--holding it in the reverse style-- and admiring it with a grin. "Don't worry, I promise I'll take good care of it!"

He spent another moment getting a feel for the Keyblade, before he lowered it just slightly and looked at Aqua again with curiosity. "Hey, why do you have the Master's Keyblade?" He asked, gesturing to the Master Keeper with his free hand.

Aqua still seemed quietly angry at the nameless experimenters, but she let it go without further comment, preferring to keep her loosely-constructed thoughts in her head for the time being. There was nothing she could do right now. There wasn't any point in getting herself too worked up.

"It did," she said instead, and then hesitated, the anger slowly disappearing from her face. Slowly, she realized that the case must have been that Ven hadn't heard of the news of the Master's fate; if he hadn't been there for the end of Master Eraqus' struggle with Terra, and hadn't spoken to Yen Sid...

"...Ven," she began quietly, averting her eyes. "Do you know how long it's been since we last saw each other? Before we got to this tower?"

Ven gave a cheerful laugh. "I'm glad it could help then!" He turned a bit and set Stormfall next to the broken dummylade before turning back.

His face fell considerably when she brought up the time lapse, and Aqua wasn't the only one looking away. "I...Naminé told me...that I've been asleep for ten years...."

He kept staring at the two Keyblades in front of him, fidgeting slightly and squirming a bit at the thought. It was...uncomfortable knowing you had lost all that time. Especially since the universe was apparently destroyed.

Aqua had to smile a little forlornly over at Stormfall and the broken practice Keyblade. Maybe she could try fixing it with a little magic at some point. It probably wouldn't be able to hold up for attacking, but it would look a little less sad, at least.

"...when Terra was trying to protect you from the Master..." she started, raising a hand to set it gently on the guard of the dummyblade as the smile fell away. "...he couldn't control himself. The Master was...he was struck down in the struggle," the mage eventually decided, using the same phrasing she had used when speaking to Terra about it.

Though that didn't explain why Aqua had his Keyblade, so despite that jarring news, she had to go on. "When I passed the Mark of Mastery exam, Master Eraqus told me that if anything ever happened to him, I could use his Keyblade to transform the Land of Departure, and keep all the secrets within safe." It was knowledge reserved only for masters, but the point was null now. "...so, that's where I put you while you were sleeping."

And yet, it still wasn't exactly clear why it remained in her possession, but she was reluctant to get into her ten years in the realm of darkness. This was a lot for Ven to shoulder as it was.

Ven looked up to pay attention to Aqua, but his face just started to fall when she brought up the last time he had seen the Master. And when she continued... his eyes grew wide and his face grew into horror.

"St-Struck down...?!" He stood up from his seat so fast he almost knocked it over, bumping the Keyblades slightly. "B-But...!!"

He had known Terra was going to fight the Master; what did he expect to happen? But to know that they had been fighting because of him, that it was technically his fault, and even if their worlds were still around, the Master was gone, even if he had been afraid..

Ven didn't even even seem to care about the fact that at least he had been on the Land of Departure while he was asleep, he just turned back to the table and sat back down, holding each side of his head and set his head on the table. "Why...?!" It wasn't fair.

Aqua's eyes fell to the Master Keeper in her hand. In the realm of darkness, it had resonated with her -- it felt different from Stormfall, but it still felt active, still felt alive. There was no connection with it now though. She didn't want to think of it as a dead hunk of metal, but...

"I'm sorry, Ven," she said, sincerely. "...you deserved to know." And then, as an afterthought: "It's not your fault."

She wasn't a mind reader, but she knew Ven well enough to know what he was probably thinking.

"Yes it is...!" His voice was a bit muffled against the table, and the blonde had moved to wrap his arms around his head, one around and one on top, and try and make himself as small as possible.

"Terra was fighting to protect me! I-If I hadn't listened to Master Xehanort...!!"

It was probably obvious he was trying really hard not to cry.

Aqua set a hand between Ven's shoulder blades, bending over a little so she could be closer to his head (and consequently, his ears). "It isn't your fault. You never wanted to make the X-blade or anything like that. This was all Xehanort," she assured him gently.

She stooped a little more so she could move her arm to rest across his back, just below his shoulders in a half-hug. "You didn't do any of this."

"I-I...." Of course he hadn't wanted to make the X-blade. He hadn't wanted anything to do with the darkness which was exactly why he had ended up in Land of Departure in the first place which of course he didn't regret, but it was because of him he got Aqua and Terra involved and then Master Eraqus was dead because he had wanted to go back and ask.... If he hadn't done anything, how come he still felt horrible?

When she stooped closer, Ven turned and shifted to wrap his arms around Aqua's torso. "It's not fair..."

Aqua wrapped her other arm around Ven to hold him close when he turned, stroking a hand gently over the spikes on top of his head. "...I know," was the response.

A moment of pause followed, before she went on in a voice that was soft, but no less confident. "The Master still lives on, you know. In your heart. And memories." She tightened up her hug just a little. "...he helped to keep you safe for all those years. He wouldn't want you to blame yourself for any of this." After all, without him, she would have never known how to create the fortress where Ventus had slept.

"I...I know...." He retracted one arm to place a hand over his chest. It did make him feel a little better. There was no way for anyone to be completely gone, right? He had always been telling himself that after all, just like how the worlds could never be really gone....

"But...." Ven started, but trailed off. But then what about the fact that the Master had attacked him in the first place...? He had been mad at Eraqus when he had gone there after all. Regardless, he apparently decided not to voice this thought, and shook his head slightly, curling a bit more into Aqua's embrace. "Thanks, Aqua."

Aqua didn't know exactly what Ven was thinking, but from the tone of his voice, she had a few thoughts. Thankfully, she had a fair enough sentiment that pretty much covered all of them. "...everyone makes mistakes," she reminded Ven quietly. Her, Terra, and even the Master.

She held her friend close, lips turning in a small smile. "It'll be okay," assured the young woman in response. No one knew what was going on, but things would turn out okay eventually. And at least they were together again.

Aqua was pretty good at this big sister thing. Her blanket statement, though he didn't feel completely chipper again, did make him feel a bit better. He wrapped his other arm around her and gave her another quick squeeze before he released his grip and withdrew.

Ven looked down for a moment, still a touch of a frown, before he looked back up at Aqua. "Um...Aqua?" He wasn't completely frowning, but he certainly didn't look happy. "What happened to you and Terra while I was asleep?"

The query made dread coil in her gut. Her outward response was only a small frown and an aversion of the eyes, but Ven knew Aqua well enough to pick up on the gravity and insecurity of the change in expression.

"Xehanort tried to take Terra's body as his own," she answered. "I...we fought him, after I made sure you were safe." She folded her arms delicately over her torso, letting out a small breath that was almost a sigh. "He was falling into darkness. I had to save him."

And then, a pause, indicating that her next words were probably not going to be pleasant news. "...I don't know if it worked," she admitted. "I left him in the realm of light with my armor and Keyblade...I haven't seen him since then."

He recognized the change in expression, and quietly steeled himself for what would come as he watched and waited for whatever she was doing to say next; he knew it wouldn't be good but... He couldn't just go around not knowing what happened to Terra.

The same creeping horror made its way onto his face when Aqua did speak though, but this time Ven tried to not let it outwardly show or freak out, and just slowly turned away a little and rubbed his opposite arm with his free hand. "O-Oh...."

"...--Huh, wait." He looked down at Stormfall, still gripped in his hand, and held it up slightly when he spoke. "If you left this with Terra, why do you have it here...?"

Aqua's lips curled down a little in evident thought. "...I don't know," confessed the young master for the second time. She was getting really uncomfortable with the amount of things she was finding she didn't know. "I couldn't summon it anymore when I was trapped in the realm of darkness."

Then she looked down to Master Keeper, and held it up next to Stormfall. "...the Master's Keyblade came when I called. I guess once I was on the same plane as my Keyblade, it could respond again." And then, as an afterthought, "I can't actually summon Master Eraqus' anymore."

Though this better explained to Ven why she still had it, if it answered her call when she was in that other world.

It sucked when Aqua didn't know, and got his frown to deepen even more, just slightly.

Ven hardly knew anything about how summoning the Keyblades worked really, for having worked with them all his life; he thought about it, and it appeared in his hand when he needed it. Of course he had hardly thought about all this Keyblade loaning, and it kind of just made him even more confused.

He lowered Stormfall once again, and looked back up at Aqua, not entirely depressed anymore, but just a bit..curious, although his disposition was still somber. "What's it like in the Realm of Darkness...?"

Aqua's comprehension of her Keyblade was mostly from personal derision. She didn't know specifically how Keyblades worked, and she didn't understand all of them, but she knew she understood hers. That knowledge had served her well enough until it came time to part with it -- and now, hopefully, it would serve her again.

The Keyblades were sort of like people, Aqua surmised. It was hard to generalize a how or why, but some people you could just predict, because you knew them so well.

At the question, Aqua turned her head, looking off into the distance and somewhere far, far away from Ven and even the Tower. "...aimless," answered the mage after a moment of heavy thought. "It's hard to tell time or where you are." She wouldn't have known how long she had been stuck there if it wasn't for her sheer determination not to lose herself.

"There's blue crystals in some places. They look like they just...come out of nowhere." She delivered the description passively, with an almost glazed look in her eye, as if she were still wandering that tiny path over that huge abyss. "...and there's a lot of monsters there, too. I think they're called Heartless."

Wannabe Locksmith

[Floor 15] ven you're doing it wrong

sh-shut up this is harder than synthesis sob

nuh-uh, there's not even gems involved

gems are easier to use they are shiney and magic

come on haven't you ever heard of wood glue

wtf is that he's never heard of that command

it makes things stick together, sort of like Magnet

oh snap what is this sorcery

it's ~science~

are you sure they're not the same thing

...pretty sure, go ask Ienzo though

>PROCCEED TO POLL ALL OF THE SCIENTISTS EVER

...i don't know if that'd end well

but at least it'd end hilariously

and probably in a magic science explosion, and then you get Heartless

...and now we know how it all started.

magic and science are basically like Romeo and Juliet in that regard

someone write that fanfic

...magic/science OTP? --wait who would top

uuuuh they trade off every week

...equality, i like this 8|a

they shall maintain the eternal balaaannccee

this will be a great step for magic's civil rights movement, you know

considering how long the Magical Civil Rights Bill has been blocked, it's a long time coming

and then magical theories will be able to stand beside scientific theories as equals

~and so the dream was made real~

insert "i have a dream" speech here.

so would MLK be a magician in this scenario

absolutely. so would Rosa Parks.

YOU'RE A WIZARD, MARTY