Sora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
derping) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-08-18 06:16 pm
derping) wrote in towerofanimus2013-08-18 06:16 pm
Entry tags:
we are here to tell you [Open/Backdated]
Characters: Sora, OPEN except for one section
Setting: Dorm Hallway, Cafeteria, Media Floor, any other floor that tends to have a lot of people.
Format: I'll follow your lead!
Summary: Catch-all thread for Sora during the event. The first part is a reaction to his mailbox package, second is an open wandering around post during the main part of the event, third part is a narrative/closed to Kairi.
Warnings: TL;DR, emotions, otherwise nothing in particular.
Notes: His death on the 16th will go up on his journal later as a ficbit.
Mailroom/Cafeteria/Hallways/Stairs, Afternoon on the 12th and all day on the 13th//OTA
As a general rule, Sora only checked his mail a few times a week, and not at regular intervals - just when he thought about it. He never got a lot of mail anyway, and usually when he wanted to talk to someone he just tracked them down. But he had been hearing things all day about people getting weird stuff in their mailboxes...a lot of people...and even though he almost didn't want to know if he had something, he couldn't stop himself from going to check.
But at first, he wasn't sure what to think about what he finds. It wasn't as horrible as some of the other packages he heard about; there were no body parts or blood or dead things. They were just...things. Kairi's necklace, Riku's glove, pieces of wood (from the raft?) and other supplies and...ew, there's no way that seagull egg isn't rotten by now.
It made him sad, more than anything.
But then he carried the contents of the package back to his room, and thought about it some more. Everything was wet, like it had been tossed into the ocean. Maybe...had the raft survived that storm? He hadn't thought about it. In fact, he had almost forgotten about the raft completely after everything else that had happened. The world had been torn apart. What were the odds that it survived that? If what he had was real, or based on something that was real, then it probably had been tossed into the ocean. Sometimes that happened to even big boats during bad storms, and the raft hadn't even been that.
But then, the clothes...why were they wet, too? Kairi and Riku hadn't been tossed into the ocean. They had disappeared right before his eyes. He remembered, he was sure of it!
(as for what might have happened to them afterwards, he wasn't sure he wanted to think about it)
He tries to keep his thoughts from running away from him too much. He takes the objects back to his room. The only thing he has to dry them off with is the sheet on his bed, but it's better than nothing. He places most of them in his trunk, leaving it open so that they can dry out more as the day goes on. But two of them - Riku's glove and Kairi's pendant - he holds onto for a minute, staring at them...and then, once he dries them off as well as he can, places them in his pockets without thinking too deeply about it. He just felt like he should hang onto them, for some reason.
Later that evening, and throughout the next day, he can be found in the cafeteria and wandering the hallways, glancing around him periodically at the new...friends...he's started to pick up. Shadow children have begun to follow him in groups of three or four or five, and Sora is on the alert because of them. He's seen them following other people, too. What was going on?
13th-14th, any of the more popular floors//OTA
It was early on the 13th when the weird shadows began talking to him. At first, it was just whispering and mumbling; a lot of the time it sounded familiar, other times it was too quiet to tell. He heard a mixture of things - his name, mostly, at least at first, like they were trying to get his attention. That was when he first thought to start looking for people. No one knew what they were, but he knew what monsters in the tower were like, and he didn't want to get caught alone with them if they started doing something really bad.
But whether he found someone or not, that didn't stop their voices from getting clearer and clearer as the next couple of days progressed. He could identify all of them - Riku, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, his parents - and that made it hard to tune them out. But he tried, anyway, because...there was no way it could really be them, right? They kept talking about how their world was destroyed, how everyone was dead and it was all his fault. But there was no way his friends would say stuff like that.
Sora would have been lying, though, if he had said it wasn't bothering him. He can be found actively looking for company in areas with a lot of people, and especially looking to talk to his friends. He's also actively looking for something to do. In the cafeteria, he's probably gonna grab something to eat; in the media room he'll be shuffling through the available games, maybe trying out a bunch until he can settle on one; heck, he might even be going through books in the library, seeing if there's anything that can hold his attention. He'd much rather have people to do things with, though...and he might even abandon whatever he's doing to go talk to someone he knows.
14th, Dorm Hallway//Locked to Kairi
"Where are you going, Sora?"
He was going to the elevator, actually, and was intent on not stopping - not for the shadow children, at least. He was starting to feel...weird. Kind of tired, like he had been busy all day even though he hadn't done much of anything. He was probably just hungry, and the best way to fix that was to go eat.
He didn't need to tell the weird shadow thing that, though. Even if it did sound like Riku.
"Hey, Sora, get back here!"
"Why won't you listen to us? We're supposed to be your friends, ya?"
"Awww, aren't you even sorry, Sora?"
Or if they sounded like Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. Why won't they leave him alone yet? How long did he have to ignore these guys before they gave up, he thought? Not that Sora was really very good at ignoring anything, especially things that sounded like his friends, but he wanted to think that he was doing a good job.
"You should be sorry, you know!" screamed the one that sounded like Selphie. "We're all dead and it's your fault!"
"Man, I'm disappointed." commented the shadow Tidus. "Can't you at least own up to it?"
Sora finally stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the things that were following him. He'd was so sick of this!
"That's enough!" he yelled, not really caring if anyone walking by stared at him. "Stop pretending to be my friends and go away. I'm not falling for it!"
It was just a trick. Another weird, awful experiment that one of the admins set up. What else could it be?
"So you think we're fake, is that it?" Even though the shadow Riku didn't have much of a shape, Sora could have sworn it looked angry. Really angry.
"You think that? Please. When was the last time you ever thought about anything? Especially about all of us."
"That doesn't even make sense!" Sora argued. "I think about my friends all the time."
"Liar. Did you ever think about what happened to us? About where me and Kairi ended up after you came to this place? You didn't, did you? As long as you had replacements here, you didn't have to care."
"They aren't replacements." he replied, getting just as angry as the shadow he was arguing with. They weren't - even if some little things were different, the Riku (both of them) and Kairi he met here were still his best friends.
"Sure they are. You know that none of them are from your world - our world. As long as you have them, you don't have to think about us, right? Do you even care about the people who actually are? Answer me honestly, Sora - did you ever stop to think about what happened to us?"
That question makes Sora pull back just a little after he scrambles for an answer...and realizes that he doesn't have one. Not an easy one, at least. Had he? He had known, ever since he learned that all of their worlds were different, that the Riku and Kairi from his own world were probably...Sora reached into his pocket, feeling Kairi's pendant there.
He had known, but had he let himself think about it?
"I..."
"Figures." the shadow Riku replied before Sora had a chance to finish. "You always took us for granted, and now look at us. This is real, Sora. We're real. This is what we are now, and it's all because of you!"
It's not true, Sora tells himself. It can't be true.
But there's a part of him, a part that he can't quit down right now, that wonders if it might be. If it was true...what was he supposed to think?
And why was it his fault?
"What are you talking about?" Sora asks, and the angry bite that his words had before was gone almost entirely.
"What does it matter? It's not like any of us are surprised that you couldn't figure it out. You've never been good for much. You were always the slowest, the weakest, the dumbest..."
"What? My friends would never say that." Sora said, interrupting.
"Of course we never told you what we thought. We didn't want to hurt your feelings because we cared about you...and look at the thanks we got in return."
That couldn't be true. Riku and Kairi didn't think that...even if they were better at a lot of stuff than him. It had never mattered. Had it?
"We never would have expected you to save us. You're no hero, Sora."
He didn't know what to think anymore. But...it was true. He couldn't do anything...there were so many times when he couldn't do anything.
It's not true!
Sora's eyes widen in surprise, and he stands up a little straighter. That voice!
Was it another one of the shadows? No, this one sounded clear, normal...right. He could feel it, somehow.
"None of us ever believed in you. That's the truth, Sora, whether you believe it or not."
I believe in you, Sora. We always have, I know it.
He heard it again. That was Kairi's voice, he was sure of it! He looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
Don't listen. Just get away from them!
That urging was enough. But first, Sora had one more thing to say.
"I don't know if you're telling the truth or not...but if something has happened to you, I'm going to figure out a way to fix it! I promise!"
Without giving himself any more time to think about what had been said, or about how impossible it might be to keep that promise, he ran down the hallway, forgetting about the elevator. He just needed to go somewhere else.
And if Kairi was here, he needed to find her.
"Kairi!" he yelled as he ran, not even realizing that he was headed in the direction of her room.
Setting: Dorm Hallway, Cafeteria, Media Floor, any other floor that tends to have a lot of people.
Format: I'll follow your lead!
Summary: Catch-all thread for Sora during the event. The first part is a reaction to his mailbox package, second is an open wandering around post during the main part of the event, third part is a narrative/closed to Kairi.
Warnings: TL;DR, emotions, otherwise nothing in particular.
Notes: His death on the 16th will go up on his journal later as a ficbit.
Mailroom/Cafeteria/Hallways/Stairs, Afternoon on the 12th and all day on the 13th//OTA
As a general rule, Sora only checked his mail a few times a week, and not at regular intervals - just when he thought about it. He never got a lot of mail anyway, and usually when he wanted to talk to someone he just tracked them down. But he had been hearing things all day about people getting weird stuff in their mailboxes...a lot of people...and even though he almost didn't want to know if he had something, he couldn't stop himself from going to check.
But at first, he wasn't sure what to think about what he finds. It wasn't as horrible as some of the other packages he heard about; there were no body parts or blood or dead things. They were just...things. Kairi's necklace, Riku's glove, pieces of wood (from the raft?) and other supplies and...ew, there's no way that seagull egg isn't rotten by now.
It made him sad, more than anything.
But then he carried the contents of the package back to his room, and thought about it some more. Everything was wet, like it had been tossed into the ocean. Maybe...had the raft survived that storm? He hadn't thought about it. In fact, he had almost forgotten about the raft completely after everything else that had happened. The world had been torn apart. What were the odds that it survived that? If what he had was real, or based on something that was real, then it probably had been tossed into the ocean. Sometimes that happened to even big boats during bad storms, and the raft hadn't even been that.
But then, the clothes...why were they wet, too? Kairi and Riku hadn't been tossed into the ocean. They had disappeared right before his eyes. He remembered, he was sure of it!
(as for what might have happened to them afterwards, he wasn't sure he wanted to think about it)
He tries to keep his thoughts from running away from him too much. He takes the objects back to his room. The only thing he has to dry them off with is the sheet on his bed, but it's better than nothing. He places most of them in his trunk, leaving it open so that they can dry out more as the day goes on. But two of them - Riku's glove and Kairi's pendant - he holds onto for a minute, staring at them...and then, once he dries them off as well as he can, places them in his pockets without thinking too deeply about it. He just felt like he should hang onto them, for some reason.
Later that evening, and throughout the next day, he can be found in the cafeteria and wandering the hallways, glancing around him periodically at the new...friends...he's started to pick up. Shadow children have begun to follow him in groups of three or four or five, and Sora is on the alert because of them. He's seen them following other people, too. What was going on?
13th-14th, any of the more popular floors//OTA
It was early on the 13th when the weird shadows began talking to him. At first, it was just whispering and mumbling; a lot of the time it sounded familiar, other times it was too quiet to tell. He heard a mixture of things - his name, mostly, at least at first, like they were trying to get his attention. That was when he first thought to start looking for people. No one knew what they were, but he knew what monsters in the tower were like, and he didn't want to get caught alone with them if they started doing something really bad.
But whether he found someone or not, that didn't stop their voices from getting clearer and clearer as the next couple of days progressed. He could identify all of them - Riku, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, his parents - and that made it hard to tune them out. But he tried, anyway, because...there was no way it could really be them, right? They kept talking about how their world was destroyed, how everyone was dead and it was all his fault. But there was no way his friends would say stuff like that.
Sora would have been lying, though, if he had said it wasn't bothering him. He can be found actively looking for company in areas with a lot of people, and especially looking to talk to his friends. He's also actively looking for something to do. In the cafeteria, he's probably gonna grab something to eat; in the media room he'll be shuffling through the available games, maybe trying out a bunch until he can settle on one; heck, he might even be going through books in the library, seeing if there's anything that can hold his attention. He'd much rather have people to do things with, though...and he might even abandon whatever he's doing to go talk to someone he knows.
14th, Dorm Hallway//Locked to Kairi
"Where are you going, Sora?"
He was going to the elevator, actually, and was intent on not stopping - not for the shadow children, at least. He was starting to feel...weird. Kind of tired, like he had been busy all day even though he hadn't done much of anything. He was probably just hungry, and the best way to fix that was to go eat.
He didn't need to tell the weird shadow thing that, though. Even if it did sound like Riku.
"Hey, Sora, get back here!"
"Why won't you listen to us? We're supposed to be your friends, ya?"
"Awww, aren't you even sorry, Sora?"
Or if they sounded like Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. Why won't they leave him alone yet? How long did he have to ignore these guys before they gave up, he thought? Not that Sora was really very good at ignoring anything, especially things that sounded like his friends, but he wanted to think that he was doing a good job.
"You should be sorry, you know!" screamed the one that sounded like Selphie. "We're all dead and it's your fault!"
"Man, I'm disappointed." commented the shadow Tidus. "Can't you at least own up to it?"
Sora finally stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the things that were following him. He'd was so sick of this!
"That's enough!" he yelled, not really caring if anyone walking by stared at him. "Stop pretending to be my friends and go away. I'm not falling for it!"
It was just a trick. Another weird, awful experiment that one of the admins set up. What else could it be?
"So you think we're fake, is that it?" Even though the shadow Riku didn't have much of a shape, Sora could have sworn it looked angry. Really angry.
"You think that? Please. When was the last time you ever thought about anything? Especially about all of us."
"That doesn't even make sense!" Sora argued. "I think about my friends all the time."
"Liar. Did you ever think about what happened to us? About where me and Kairi ended up after you came to this place? You didn't, did you? As long as you had replacements here, you didn't have to care."
"They aren't replacements." he replied, getting just as angry as the shadow he was arguing with. They weren't - even if some little things were different, the Riku (both of them) and Kairi he met here were still his best friends.
"Sure they are. You know that none of them are from your world - our world. As long as you have them, you don't have to think about us, right? Do you even care about the people who actually are? Answer me honestly, Sora - did you ever stop to think about what happened to us?"
That question makes Sora pull back just a little after he scrambles for an answer...and realizes that he doesn't have one. Not an easy one, at least. Had he? He had known, ever since he learned that all of their worlds were different, that the Riku and Kairi from his own world were probably...Sora reached into his pocket, feeling Kairi's pendant there.
He had known, but had he let himself think about it?
"I..."
"Figures." the shadow Riku replied before Sora had a chance to finish. "You always took us for granted, and now look at us. This is real, Sora. We're real. This is what we are now, and it's all because of you!"
It's not true, Sora tells himself. It can't be true.
But there's a part of him, a part that he can't quit down right now, that wonders if it might be. If it was true...what was he supposed to think?
And why was it his fault?
"What are you talking about?" Sora asks, and the angry bite that his words had before was gone almost entirely.
"What does it matter? It's not like any of us are surprised that you couldn't figure it out. You've never been good for much. You were always the slowest, the weakest, the dumbest..."
"What? My friends would never say that." Sora said, interrupting.
"Of course we never told you what we thought. We didn't want to hurt your feelings because we cared about you...and look at the thanks we got in return."
That couldn't be true. Riku and Kairi didn't think that...even if they were better at a lot of stuff than him. It had never mattered. Had it?
"We never would have expected you to save us. You're no hero, Sora."
He didn't know what to think anymore. But...it was true. He couldn't do anything...there were so many times when he couldn't do anything.
It's not true!
Sora's eyes widen in surprise, and he stands up a little straighter. That voice!
Was it another one of the shadows? No, this one sounded clear, normal...right. He could feel it, somehow.
"None of us ever believed in you. That's the truth, Sora, whether you believe it or not."
I believe in you, Sora. We always have, I know it.
He heard it again. That was Kairi's voice, he was sure of it! He looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
Don't listen. Just get away from them!
That urging was enough. But first, Sora had one more thing to say.
"I don't know if you're telling the truth or not...but if something has happened to you, I'm going to figure out a way to fix it! I promise!"
Without giving himself any more time to think about what had been said, or about how impossible it might be to keep that promise, he ran down the hallway, forgetting about the elevator. He just needed to go somewhere else.
And if Kairi was here, he needed to find her.
"Kairi!" he yelled as he ran, not even realizing that he was headed in the direction of her room.
13th
His eyes were red from crying but when he saw a boy, who was also surrounded by shadows, looking at books he held one out. "This one's good... sorry... um..." He shuffled his feet.
14th // Dorm Hallway
Shaking her head, Kairi smacked the charm down against her bed and stood up. Sitting here moping wasn't going to do her a bit of good. She had to figure out something, some way to help those around her that needed it. Kairi just had to keep faith that it would all turn out okay.
And so she headed to the door of her room, sliding it open and stepping out into the hallway. Her ears perked up suddenly, as the redhead thought she heard someone calling her name, however distantly. "Hello?" she called back, wondering if she was simply hearing things.
hallway to cafeteria
"Hey, what's with the weird shadows?"
His voice is calm, but filled with concern. The black-haired kid lightly scratches the back of his head as he casually rests a hand on his hip. His brow is furrowed slightly.
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He takes the book, but his smile is obviously more of a reflex than anything this time - not that he isn't grateful for the help, or the company (he definitely is).
"Thanks, I'll..." Then he notices that the boy - who he doesn't know, but that never bothered Sora before - has red eyes, and his own crowd of shadows.
"Are you okay?" he asks, concerned.
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(And now you're running away? Pathetic!)
The shadows were still there. Sora still couldn't keep himself from resting his hand on the wall and leaning against it a little. Just for a second. After all, he still needed to figure out where that voice had been coming from...
And then he hears it again - more normal this time, like the sound was actually coming through his ears instead of just being there somehow, but it was still close.
"Kairi?" He looks up, and...he almost can't believe it. He blinks a few times, as if clearing his vision, just to be sure. Once or twice, the tower (and his mind) have played tricks on him, making him think he was seeing her there when he wasn't. Is that really her now?
He hopes so.
Kairi will notice, as soon as Sora starts walking towards her (he would run, except that he's still feeling almost as drained as he was before), that he's a little older now, a little taller (even though he's still stuck in his old clothes), and definitely looking worse for wear after the last couple of days. But there was no questioning that is was Sora, all right, just as any doubts about Kairi really being there start vanishing even more quickly than they appeared as he gets closer.
"Is that you?"
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"Oh...I'm not sure." he said, glancing back for a second at the few following him. "But I don't like it one bit."
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"So... they just follow you around, or something?"
The Deadman looks back at the shadows with a frown.
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She indeed notices the slight physical differences. He's taller than she remembers, and as she looks into his eyes she can see the shadows of fatigue. She doesn't know whether to smile or not, to be worried or overjoyed. Finally she settles on happiness, and her face breaks into a smile.
"Of course it's me," she answers finally, her voice cracking almost inaudibly on the last word. "I've been looking everywhere for you." And she steps forward now, meeting him halfway down the hall.
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"I'm Sora. Do you need some company for awhile?" he asked. Even if being around other people didn't really affect the monsters at all - though Sora was starting to think that it must - this person looked like they could use a friend, or at least someone to talk to.
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And he had missed her, more than he knew how to describe.
He wasn't going to lie to himself. He knew that she wasn't safe here - none of them were. But at least here they could look out for each other. At least they were all together.
Before he even realizes what's happening, before he can think about what to do now that he knows it's her, the combination of fatigue and relief makes his entire body goes limp. He plops onto the floor, right in front of her, catching himself with his hands and letting his legs fold under him.
Sitting. Sitting was good. Sitting was probably the best idea he'd had all day, now that he thought about it.
He looked up, smiling at her like nothing was wrong - and for the moment, it felt like nothing was.
"Sorry," he said. "It's been kind of a rough day." Sora must look like a mess, and he knew it. If he had more energy, he probably would've tried to laugh the whole thing off. Smiling would do for now, though.
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"I keep hearing them whisper, too, but I can't tell if they're really saying anything. I say be careful, though." He rests his hands behind his head, looking a little too casual for what he says next. "Knowing this place, they're probably just waiting for the chance to eat us alive or something."
'Or something', probably. Something worse. As if that would be a surprise.
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"Doesn't that... bother you?"
The look on his face was of concern. Is this the point he'd reach, as well? A point where it just... no longer bothered him that everyone is dying?
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But when he plops to the ground, and she gasps. Kneeling down in a vain attempt to catch him that doesn't quite make it, she finds her self right in front of him, her face very close to his. The tip of her nose practically brushes his, and she pulls back almost immediately. "A-Are you okay?" she finally asks, placing a hand on his and looking at him intently. "What happened to you?"
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There were a lot of places to do that in the library, after all. And no, the shadows weren't invited.
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But she was worried, and if he looked anything like he felt, she had good reason to be. She had always been good at noticing stuff like that - he could never get anything past her, so he didn't really try. Besides, she could probably see the shadows that must have caught up to him by now, too...
And that was when a thought occurred to him that made him look around - not around himself, but Kairi. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he didn't see any following her. At least one of them wasn't having to deal with this.
"Y-yeah, I'll be fine." he said, and he really was sure of it. It was just fatigue, and now that he had someone there to help chase the shadows off, he was sure he had nothing to worry about. "I just..." He looks back at the shadows before going on. "I've been having a lot of trouble with those things following me. I think I got a little in over my head."
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"It's really scary, but...well, it's kind of hard to explain." He looks away for a second, trying to figure out how to put it all into words - it was kind of a loaded answer, but it was also a loaded question, so it was probably fair.
"Right now I don't know if those shadows are just going to wander around and be scary, or if they're going to hurt people, and I don't think I'll be able to find out. And sometimes...sometimes there's nothing I can do even when I do find out. But if I just let myself be scared or worried, I won't stand a chance of helping anybody. At least...it's never helped before."
He pauses for a second, not sure if that made any sense at all.
"Sorry, I'm talking your ear off here and I haven't even told you my name. I'm Sora."
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"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad to hear it, honestly," he gives a faint laugh of relief, "My name's Luke, though. It's nice to meet you."
After a couple of seconds, the redhead folds his arms across his chest a looks down. Amazing how Sora managed to verbalize something that Luke had needed to hear, really. Sitting around... worrying..? It would help nothing. A faint chuckle escapes him, before he shakes his head once again.
"You're right, though. You're... absolutely right," the replica's brow furrows a bit as his expression falls, "It's not about stopping yourself from being scared, huh? It's about somewhat ...forgetting how scared you are and giving your all at doing something--anything--to help your friends. Is what what you were getting at?"
His lips twist into a forced smile. He hopes he understood correctly, at least. If not, that could be pretty embarrassing. Either way, he's pretty sure he at least understood it, somewhat.
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