towerofanimus | In which the entire tower collectively goes OH SHIT

[But she is, she is one of the reasons why he hadn't lost himself in guilt and loneliness in those months while working for DiZ. It doesn't matter that she maybe can't quite reciprocate, not when he is sure that she would if she had a heart.

They are friends after all.

A smile flickers over his face as her spell takes effect and the Berserker freezes under its weight. He isn't going to waste that effort, he thinks, sliding forward to unleash a combo of slashes that hopefully should be enough to wither away what the Nobody's health once the stop spell wears off.]

[She's never quite able to call someone a friend without at least a hint of uncertainty and a quiet guilt; what business does she have claiming such a thing when she's got no heart? ... But if that uncertainty was gone, and if she was aware she was permitted, she would happily claim him as a friend.]

[Just seeing him moving again is a relief, because it means he's not done for yet. She's not sure how injured he might be, but that he's still able to take vengeance on the Berserker, and that's a good sign. It looks, at least to her, like that particular Nobody is, in fact, done for as the spell wears off and the damage begins to catch up with it.]

[Well Riku isn't exactly saying it out loud either - he, too, considers himself unworthy of friends, even though for different reasons.

He watches grimly as the spell loses its effect, his blows rain down onto the Berserker and it finally fades into nothingness. The tension in his frame loosens just a little as he turns away and towards Naminé, a relieved smile flickering over his face as he walks over to her.

It's far from over yet, but if they are lucky they might have caught a small break. For now.]

Are you all right?

[Her exhale as she watches the last fragments of the Berserker disappear is a deep one, but her eyes don't linger on the now-empty space for long. She turns her attention to Riku quickly, the relief on her face shifting to concern as she hurries forward to meet him. The fact that he's smiling is reassuring, and she finds a similar quirk taking hold of her own mouth, but the tension in her face is still very clearly present.]

--Yes. I'm all right, thanks to you, but-- what about you? [That's the real question. She's not the one who got pounded on by a Berserker.]

[He crooks his head a little, that smile still on his face as he reaches down into his coat pocket and pulls out a Hi-Potion.]

It's nothing that can't be cured.

[She automatically follows the movement with her eyes and visibly relaxes when she sees he's come prepared. It doesn't quite put an end to her mentally chastising herself for not having learned to heal yet, but it certainly makes it easier to deal with. She exhales.]

Good...! [But that leads her to something else.] Riku, you could have gotten badly hurt. [Naminé, are you really telling him he shouldn't have saved your sorry behind?]

[For someone with so very little talent for magic and the ability at best maybe heal paper cuts, having some stock of potions and other curative items around is an absolute necessity - especially when that someone is more than prepared to walk right into trouble.

Like intercepting certain Nobodies that may or may not be the Other of his best friend.

So yeah, Riku generally carried around a potion or two. Or five.

One of which he is offering her now by the way.

He just looks at her as she scolds him - maybe a bit amused himself, because yeah, he is hurting and it could be even worse, but it's nothing the potion can't fix and to be honest, if put in that situation again, he would do the same as before. Without a second thought.

It's just physical wounds and the mere idea of not being able to protect her in that moment sends echoes of guilt and shame through him, because it would have meant failing. Again.

He absolutely refuses to.

He won't point out any of that though, because knowing Naminé, she maybe probably knows it anyways.]

I'll be fine.

[If he has any say in it, they both will.]

[The girl is aware he's usually quite well-prepared for such things, but she also knows he's been in the tower for a while, and recently, it's been one long, continuous fight - surely she can be forgiven for being afraid he might be running low. ~~Nevermind the apparently endless supply he carts around when he hangs out with Sora in the World That Never Was.~~]

[Her eyes light on the potion and then flit back to him. She wants to protest, to say that he should keep it, but she knows she'll slow him down if she doesn't do something to help herself keep up.]

[She might still have rejected the offer if she wasn't aware of just that; he doesn't want anything to happen to her. The less he has to worry about that, the better. It says more about him than it does about her. It's hard for her to admit to herself that she might have value to someone, and so she couches the idea of his consideration in the fact that she is, after all, the shadow of someone else he cares for. Thinking of saying that out loud, though, makes her uncomfortable, because some part of her knows she should have more faith in him than that (and does).]

[Finally, she lets out a quiet exhale and smiles faintly at his amusement, and, in a way, herself. ~~Silly girl, you know better than to think he'll suddenly stop believing he did the right thing because you don't think he should have let himself get hurt for your sake.~~ She reaches out and takes the offered potion with a quiet,] Thank you. [It's some consolation that she doesn't need to use too much of it.]

[When she looks up again, it's with an attempt at a better smile and a(n intended to be) teasing,] You'd better be. [Except she really does mean it, although it's not nearly as pushy as it could be.]

[~~Well to be fair, that's more a spell than an item actually and he hasn't really mastered that yet, so she's probably right to worry. Not that he'll ever admit anything like that.~~

He is glad that she just accepts the potion instead of trying to argue about it, because she is very much right to think that he would keep insisting.

Maybe, maybe it might have been like that in the beginning - but it has been so many months since, and how can he not see her as separate to Kairi when she is so different to the girl he grew up with even if she is so very similar to her at the same time?]

You are welcome.

[He hands her the potion and pulls out a second for himself - even if she doesn't need all if it herself, she should keep whatever would be left for later - this fight is not over yet and might not be for a while.

A soft chuckle escapes him, because while he knows she is just as much serious as she is teasing, it still makes him smile.]

Of course. Wouldn't want you to worry.

[Fortunately for him, if he does run out and she finds out that it was because he was being silly, she probably won't smack him upside the head like he'd deserve. That's Kairi's job. He might get a Look, though. Just saying.]

[Why is being right never a good thing, when it comes to her?]

[He'll have to tell her that, because once she's finished with the potion, she holds it out for him to take back. She may have behaved herself about taking it in the first place, but that doesn't mean she isn't going to try giving what's left of it back.]

[The chuckle makes it so much easier for her to smile. ~~It's always easier to reflect a smile than to create it.~~ That part about not wanting to make her worry, though, causes her to hesitate. It's an excuse, she supposes, and perhaps a joking one, but she wishes he could have a better one, that there was someone more important here to worry for him. That's not to say she'd wish worry on someone else, or hopes that someone else would be brought to the tower, it's just... surely it would be better to have someone here to support him that could put their whole heart into it, someone like Sora or Kairi. That way, he could finally be with his friends again.]

... That's right. [And she manages to keep the smile, but her voice doesn't quite sell it.]

[Getting the Look from her makes him feel about as bad as getting head-smacked by Kairi. Which is why he'll do his best to make sure that she'll never ever find out, should he ever find himself in that particular situation.

No idea, some kind of weird reflected karma, that she definitely doesn't deserve?

He just shakes his head, when she hold the potion out for him-] Keep it. [And yes, that is also a point, where he definitely won't give in.

He'd probably be angry, if he'd ever hear her put herself down like that - she shouldn't, shouldn't ever believe herself to be insignificant, and while she admittedly may not be quite as important to him as Sora and Kairi, she is very, very close to it. He might have voiced this in joke, but that doesn't make it any less true - he doesn't want her to worry about him, not now and not ever.

He frowns slightly - he is not quite buying this smile - but in the end he doesn't call her on it either, because now is not the time for that. Instead he just nods towards the wall.]

Come on. Let's get away from here.

[Standing in the middle of the room, while working quite well if you are out and ready for trouble, isn't that good an idea if you want to avoid it. And with Naminé so close, Riku is definitely going for latter now.]

[~~He'd get twice the Looks for trying to hide it, if he did and she was aware of it. She does have ways of finding things out.~~]

[Or some kind of reflected karma that she definitely does deserve.]

--.... [Her frown says it all, but she keeps her mouth shut and hangs on to the potion as instructed. He'd better keep being okay, because if he does get hurt, it's a safe bet that she'll feel responsible.]

[And that's precisely why he won't hear it. Upsetting him is not something she enjoys doing. She patiently maintains the smile through his scrutiny, but even she can't stop from getting a little weaker as he frowns. Fortunately a distraction comes along in the form of his nod and she follows it with her eyes before returning them to him. She gives him a return nod.]

Okay. [She sounds a little relieved because she is, even if she is willing to stay wherever he chooses to. ~~She knows he'll look after her.~~]

[~~...That probably wouldn't stop him from trying. As said, he really doesn't like other people worrying over him, okay?~~

Does not. Good luck convincing him that she ever deserved any bad kind of karma. :|

Well then, he'll watch out not to get hurt ~~too badly~~, if only to make sure that she doesn't blame herself for that. He frowns a little more at her - she is smiling as if to reassure him of something and he isn't quite sure what she is trying to hide. It doesn't matter anyways, at least not right now, he supposes as he gestures her to go ahead.]

[~~...Yeah, sounds about right. She would not even be surprised.~~]

[But she did Bad Horrible Things! :C]

[He'd better. That frown makes it harder to hide from him, but she's persistent (for his sake, not so much hers) and soon enough she has the opportunity to nod in response to his gesture and turn away so that she can begin to move on and turn her attention to making sure nothing's going to get in their way - or sneak up behind them.]

[She did have Marluxia and Larxene and Axel looking over her shoulder while doing them. She did what she could to help Sora to keep him from becoming their puppet. And she reached out to him before he had even heard her name for the first time, had enabled him to defeat Zexion. He could never be not thankful for that.

He is letting this go for now, but that doesn't mean he isn't notes, that he won't ever ask.

For now he'll just stay right behind her though, his right gripping Soul Eater tightly as he stretches his sense to be absolutely sure that absolutely nothing can sneak up on them.]

[Namié feels considerably more protected with Riku following after her, mostly because she is. Without any proper offensive power of her own that she can actually use on those monsters, she's spent most of this incident running the direction dictated to her by the placement of those monsters and which ones decided she'd make a nice snack. She has no desire to pick a fight with any of them even now, but at least she won't have to be quite so fearful, when Riku has her back.]

[There's a moment during which she hesitates, seeing their path blocked by a few Nobodies, and she glances about for a way around, but the creatures in question make the decision for her by noticing the two teenagers. That fact is not at all lost on Naminé, and a Stop spell is already headed the Nobodies' way when she says,] Riku...! [She's fairly certain he's already taken note, but it doesn't hurt to say something.]

[They'll probably have to work on that somehow and make sure that Naminé can put up a fight should ever find herself cut off from him or anyone else who could protect her. Riku knows he can't help her much with that though, because all he really has to offer in that regard is Darkness and that's about the last thing he wants her to learn.

By the time she calls out his name, Riku is already on the move, wrapping the Darkness around himself and using it to teleport himself near the Nobodies, Soul Eater already raised high. He doesn't plan on wasting any the time Naminé just bought with that Stop spell, intent to finish them of with quick, unforgiving strikes so that they can move on as quick as possible.]

[It's definitely something she wishes she'd already worked on, and has been wishing precisely that for pretty much the entire time she's been on the run. She's just not quite comfortable with the idea of giving herself even more ways to hurt people, not when she still fears that, no matter her strong her conviction, she'll be too weak, too selfish to stop herself the next time someone tries to force her to do bad things to others.]

[Just as expected of him. That wish that she could be more help doesn't go away, but for the time being, the best she can do is keep an eye on things and be ready to do her best to keep him safe. Fortunately, there aren't too many Nobodies this time, and they're not the particularly strong variety, so he can make short work of them. Once they're gone, the girl is quick to make her way over to catch up with him.] Good job...!

[She knows far more already than he would have given her credit for and he's glad for it. Because as much as he'd like to be able to reassure her that she does not have to learn how to hurt others, that he would always protect her, he is realistic enough to know that he can't and won't be there at all times.

He makes his way back over to her, lips twitching up into a small smile just for a moment.]

Only thanks to you.

[He's not the only one aware of that. She knows she needs to be self-reliant. Even if he was able to be there for her that much, she'd never be able to reconcile with that - she'd never be okay with taking up his time and attention like that, regardless of how much she enjoys his company.]

[A shy, slightly embarrassed smile eases onto her face at both the comment and the almost-smile on his. She shakes her head.]

You could have done it without me.

In which the entire tower collectively goes OH SHIT

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