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?

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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."

Ven's face fell and he seemed to shrink away a little at seeing Aqua's expression. He didn't know anything about the Realm of Darkness except for bits from Master Xehanort, but to think that she had to live in a place for who knows how long....

"The monsters that rise from the shadows, right?" He inquired, hoping to at least bring Aqua out of the funk she had fallen into. "Yeah, those are Heartless. The Realm of Darkness is where they're from, so it makes sense that there'd be a lot."

"Yeah," she answered, still a little disconnected from the present but trying to bring herself back for Ven's sake. "They didn't seem to like me very much," remarked the mage with a small smile as she turned back to her friend, in an attempt to lighten up a little. "I fought a lot of them."

She did her best to maintain eye contact with Ven, but following that, her gaze began to wander again, ending up somewhere over his shoulder. "...that was when your Keyblade saved me," the master informed him absently, looking distant but a little less forlorn this time. "Terra's, too. I got tired of fighting...I was so ready to give up."

The smile returned and she brought herself to look at Ventus again. "But, the Keyblades-- they appeared, and took down all of the Heartless. So I knew I had to keep going." She reached out and affectionately brushed a bit of hair from the boy's face. "I'm glad I did. I missed you guys a lot while I was there."

"I don't think they like anyone very much. I mean they're worse than the Unversed," He said jokingly, letting out a small chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood. If she was trying to lighten up and feel better, he was sure going to do his best to help!

Ven went a little wide-eyed though at hearing about his Keyblade. How? Hadn't he been asleep for all those years? His face fell a little hearing why it was needed, but when she brushed his hair he could help but smile and teasingly try to push her hand away in indignation. "I'm glad I was able to help then...!"

She laughed at Ven's attempted mirth, relenting in her affections and withdrawing her hand. "That's saying something," she remarked with amusement. "Unversed aren't exactly friendly." Especially considering who their king was.

It was nice to have someone she trusted living here in the tower with her, Aqua realized. She didn't consider it as something she'd taken for granted before, but after being alone for so many years (in the physical sense), it was a nice welcome back, even if the new place she'd woken up in wasn't. "Your heart must have just been in the right place," joked Aqua on the matter of Wayward Wind coming to her rescue.

"Maybe together they'd both get along," He added with another laugh at the thought. It was more likely than not that they would kill each other, but hey.

And another laugh at the slight pun. "Well of course! I can help my friends in need even in my sleep!" ...That's a rather silly boast, but he's still going with it.

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Wannabe Locksmith

...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