018 - Let's go together...

[justabignobody]

Characters: [OU] Riku, [OU] Sora, [OU] Xion, [AU3] Riku and open to CR
Setting: over the first half of February, pre event
Format: Whatever!
Summary: Catch-all log for all and any post mirror-shenanigans
Warnings: KH spoilers, but otherwise this should be fine.

[See comments for scenarios!]

Comments

Xion and Sora - Floor 62

[attheclocktower]

[Thankfully Floor 62 isn't too far from an elevator. Xion's still fairly exhausted, and as such hasn't done her usual scouring of the beach for shells (though there is a few next to her). Instead she sits, boots off, her toes digging into the sand.

It's here that Sora will be able to find her. Should he come. She guesses she could understand if he wouldn't want to though. Everything from last month was so exhausting to deal with. Maybe he needed more time... or something.]

[derping]

[Well, Sora would never say no to spending time at the beach with his friends, and that included his little sister.

It takes him awhile, since getting around the tower is never exactly a cakewalk, but he does get there, and plops right down next to her. He even takes his shoes off, too, once he sees that she has. They might as well get comfortable, right?

After the last month, they probably have a lot of stuff to talk about.]

Sorry I'm late.

[attheclocktower]

Sora!

[There's both relief and trepidation in her voice. Part of her still doesn't feel ready to talk. But... ready or not, it was just about time.]

How are you?

[If he felt anything like her, it was tired as everything, but hopefully that was it.]

[derping]

I feel like napping for a whole month...again. [It was a joke, but a good long nap really didn't sound half-bad right now. But, no matter how exhausted he was, he couldn't just sleep all the time.]

But I'm okay, I guess.

[He did have a lot on his mind - which was why they were talking in the first place - but he couldn't say that it made him feel bad or anything. It was...different? Complicated.]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion's mouth twists]

Don't even joke about that.

[Please Sora. Please don't. Sleeping too long always has the tendency to make Xion really edgy, because more often than not, it's her fault. And she doesn't want to think about that here and now.

Still, she understands the feeling tired, leaning over to bump shoulders against him.]

Riku and open - Floor 100

[justabignobody]

[The very first few days, the exhaustion weights too great to do much of anything, but to sleep and try to get down to the cafeteria at least once a day so that he can get something in his stomach - and when he doesn't sleep, he thinks, about Ira (another friend gone, another soul at risk to be used by Ruana) and about the things the mirror had shown him, the flickers that had stayed with him.

Not all of it makes sense, his recollection of fighting Roxas is a strange mix of fighting and trying to talk him down, all the memories of the times he's failed, that he died or lost himself in darkness are incredibly disturbing and yet there are also good things... the moment that reunited him with Sora and Kairi is clear in his mind, the relief, the happiness of that one single moment...

There are so many more things to figure out, to wonder about, to deduce from the things he's seen, that may take a while to sort out, and yet he knows he can't cling too much to those images - they are possibilities at best and illusions at worst and to make the best of them true they need to restore the worlds first anyway.

Still, his mind keeps going there, especially after he gets Xion's letter (he wonders what she has seen, fears it a little - there are some things he didn't tell her and he didn't say anything about them for a reason).

Eventually, once he's stronger, he makes his way three floors down, his heart aching when the empty floor takes the appearance of Destiny Islands, of the play island that he's spent so much time on in his childhood and teenage years... he sits down at the beach and watches the waves, the ground beneath his hands isn't sand, the waves reaching for his feet aren't real either - it's all illusion, and yet, if he closes his eyes, he can almost imagine being home.

Don't linger, he tells himself - not on the memories, not on the illusion, but with the things revealed and the people that keep disappearing he is just starting to become so tired of it all.

Just a few minutes of imagining are not going to hurt anyone, are they?]

[lethechained]

[Knowledge can be a difficult burden to bear. She's always known that, almost since the very beginning of her life. What to tell, what to keep - how to deal with the facts in your own head. The truth is all too often ugly.]

[She hasn't read his mind when she steps down onto that particular floor to find that it's in the form of a very familiar beach. She does not look into his memories then, either, but as she looks up and sees him sitting there, she feels in an innate kind of way that she should probably go and keep him company.]

[She does, footsteps crunching faintly in the sand as she walks toward him, hesitating only a moment there before sitting herself neatly, wordlessly at his side.]

[justabignobody]

[Riku tenses for a moment when he hears footsteps behind him, but that tension drains away just as quickly when he spots Naminé while he glances over his shoulder (he definitely longs for the time when his abilities will all be more stable again and he will no longer have to rely on just sound and sight), and he smiles quietly as he watches her take place right at his side from the corner of his eye.

He is so glad for her presence, he doesn't really have words for it - Naminé is still and always the one person who understands his troubles best, who knows him maybe not quite better than Sora or Kairi, but certainly in a different way than either of them. It's her advice that he needs now, her help - some of those memories are still utterly muddled and there is one other issue that is starting to worry him...

Finally, after keeping to the silence between them for a few more minutes he snorts and shakes his head.]

I can't even remember the last time I felt this lost.

[Until now, for the majority of time, things had been clear, there had been no use to think about anything but how to survive to the next day, how to deal with the situations inside the tower. There hadn't been a thought to be wasted on home, not really. Not until now.]

[lethechained]

[She does not hesitate at his tension. She knows it's justified, and though there is an unvoiced apology lingering in her throat, she does not say a word about it; he's smart enough to look before he strikes.]

[Instead she offers him all the more sympathetic a smile when she turns to regard him, head slightly tilted. She waits, too - waits for him to decide to speak. It wouldn't be too hard to ask him if he has need of her, to say anything else at all, but it seems like the sort of moment better left to silence, to quiet contemplation and a rare few minutes of peace.]

[It's at his voice that she turns her eyes from the (false) horizon and back to him. Her silent study of him only lasts another few moments before she very gently places her offer.]

Would you like to tell me about it?

[After all, it has so long been her duty to guide those who are lost, even when she was lost herself.]

[justabignobody]

[Smart enough to look and if he's totally honest, maybe a still a little too exhausted to put up much of a fight if he is attacked (the chances of that at daytime are thankfully slim enough, even with his pathetic luck stats).

He shoots her a faint smile though; she always knows him so well.]

If you don't mind.

[If there is anyone who can help him entangle this mess and figure out his way back on track, it's her.]

[derping]

[Sora was too exhausted to go down far - too exhausted to do much of anything, really - but he finally reaches a point where he needs to stretch his legs, to get out of his room and walk around. He didn't want to go too far, of course, at the risk of running into monsters, but he felt confident enough to go a little ways down the stairs.

He doesn't usually stop at floor 100. In fact, he was planning to just walk right past it, but he's already tired, and he needs to take a break. He knows what he's going to see on this floor, and he both does and doesn't like it. The islands - he knows it's not real, as much as he wishes it could be, but at least it's nice to see it. It's even better when he sees that there's a certain someone else already there.

Without a word he makes his way over to the beach, plopping down next to Riku. Normally he would say something, or start up a conversation, but nothing comes to him. Besides, he needs to catch his breath.

They can just sit and listen to the waves for a little bit, just like they did on a darker (but much more real) beach somewhere else, in a glimpse of a possibility that's burned into Sora's mind. He's alright with that.]

[justabignobody]

[Well that makes two of them - it's funny really; he's fought a week with close to no sleep before and yet he can't remember it ever being as bad as this. With all the things they've stumbled upon, maybe it's not that bad to be slowed down a little, he guesses.

Though, maybe, he should be just a little more attentive - he startles just a little when Sora suddenly sits down beside him (and it might show in just a little twitch of his shoulders) - and for a moment he considers to commentate it, but then he just smiles to himself.

It's comfortable, sitting together like this, comfortable and very familiar... the only thing, the only person missing... is Kairi. The thought alone makes his heart hurt - he misses her and he worries... the ones that had arrived in the tower aren't safe where they are now (not that the tower is really that much better...). But there is nothing they can do to change that right now, is there...

There is just going forward, always, but somehow that isn't quite as comforting as it used to be.]

[derping]

[Isn't that funny - Sora finally manages to sneak up on Riku, and he's too tired to appreciate it. Or notice at all, for that matter.

But he can appreciate sitting here on a familiar beach with him, illusion or not, even though his thoughts also drift to the one person who's missing. With so many of his tower memories gone he can't remember her disappearing for the second time, but that doesn't make him miss her any less.

Between his wandering thoughts and the calming sound of the waves, he can feel himself drifting off to sleep...which isn't good, and he knows it. The tower floors are a terrible place to take a nap.

Well, he had been wanting to talk to Riku, anyway, so...no time like the present, right? Besides, he was looking a little drowsy himself.]

Hey, Riku?

[justabignobody]

[Maybe, if he ever manages it again when they both aren't utterly tired, Riku will actually point it out.

They are and it really is incredibly tempting to just close his eyes and drift of a little, for all that it's dangerous, especially now while they are lacking the means to put up a proper fight - and still it's so comfortable and familiar with just the two of them here that he can't help but let his thoughts drift a little, though he snaps to attention immediately when Sora speaks up.]

Yeah? What is it?

[keybearer]

[His head's still spinning. The images he saw-- glimpses of possibilities-- still haunt him in a haze. Images of himself descending into darkness, losing control, making mistake after mistake. The specifics are lost and distorted. There are vague whispers--

You were just the delivery boy.

Quit while you can.

Of course, that's not all he saw. Somewhere in the bombardment of futures, he caught snippets of himself and the Replica, darkness bubbling out of him, Kairi assuring him that it's okay, and so much more...

It's too much to take in so, like his double, this Riku makes his way to floor 100, albeit absentmindedly. The sight of Destiny Islands ensnares him in a trap; he can't look away, much as he wills himself to do so...

And so he makes his way over to his double, breathing a heavy sigh.]

What a mess...

[justabignobody]

[It's so good to see their home as it should be, as it hopefully will be again when they've restored things - it's a reminder of the things they are fighting for,the place that Riku is longing to return to, ironic as that is... but it's so easy to get lost here too.

Company makes it easier not to though and Riku turns his head to shoot his double a tired, wry smile - he is almost tempted to mirror that sigh.]

You can say that again.

[keybearer]

You know, I'm almost tempted.

[Heh. But that'd be a bit redundant, wouldn't it? They both know how messed up that mirror was, and both probably faced twisted visions, prophetic or otherwise. The question is, what did his double see?

Maybe they should get to the point.]

So, what'd you think about that mirror? Don't know about you, but I don't even know what to make of it.

[justabignobody]

[He laughs lowly at that, his eyes drifting towards the faked horizon again as he words his answer.]

I don't really know what to think either. Part of me tells me to keep what I saw at a distance, because even if it's real there is nothing I can do right here and right now anyway... but on the other hand, it's hard to just shake it off and pretend I never saw any of it.

[attheclocktower]

[At some point, Xion slips down next to him. She remembers sending him the letter, and knows this isn't how she'd expected to meet but... she'll take it.

For a few minutes though, she doesn't say anything, because while he can see the beaches of his home, she can see the Clock Tower and Twilight Town, spread out below her. If only she had some ice cream to go with it. But life in general isn't that simple, hasn't been for a long time.

Eventually, she speaks. It's maybe not the best starting topic, but it's the first she thinks of.]

You never told me why I went back.

[There's no real reproach in her voice. More... just matter-of-fact, even some surprise.]

And... I guess I never asked.

[justabignobody]

[Riku just turns his head slightly to glance at her when she joins him - after that letter he has been expecting her after all and it's not hard for him to guess what she might have seen, hat she might know about now (The things he hadn't wanted to share, that he had never told her about because maybe they aren't in her future anyway, even if the are in his past, and yet...).

He nods in acknowledgment.]

I didn't.

[Not why, not how, nothing of the in between, of the manipulations, of bastards that can't take people making their own decisions and that's one thing he's sworn she'll have here, if things end well, if they have choices then. No matter what she decides, it will be her choice alone and anyone attempting to interfere will find themselves facing his Keyblade.]

If you want... If you tell me what the mirror showed you, I will fill in the things I know. How it happened in my universe at least.

[attheclocktower]

[Xion hesitates. Does she want to know? Does she really want to know the full circumstances of what she saw? It's a future she doesn't want to go back to. It's one she might have to go back to anyway because who knew what would happen?]

I guess... I should, huh?

[It's funny. She knew they needed to talk about this, but now that the time has come, she's... almost scared to.]

[AU] Riku - OPEN - Floor 25;

[keybearer]

[He's pacing, Keyblade in hand, stopping every now and then to catch his breath. The images he saw-- experienced-- still flicker in the back of his mind. They're jumbled together, making it hard to discern them all.

He saw what could have been-- another version of himself trying and failing to grapple with darkness, pushing aside his own best friend out of some sort of jealousy-- he thinks it was jealousy. He saw possible futures where the darkness overwhelmed him-- perhaps he lost his heart, perhaps his body, and in some cases, both. He saw himself willingly take to the darkness to protect a child-- a mouse-- and Kairi reassuring him. Telling him it's okay. Possibly. It's all so vague now...

A past he never had, trained by a stranger who visited the islands long ago, and still more remains...

By the time he stops pacing, Riku flops down onto the grass, reaching for his brow.]

What am I supposed to even do about all this? Does it even mean anything...?

[He's lost, of that he's certain. It's too much to take in, too many possibilities, which could all be mere illusions, and even the peace of the meadow isn't helping clear his mind.]

[derping]

[Tired or not, Sora had to go down for food sometime. Because he was so tired, though, he didn't really feel like going all the way back up to the dorms, even in the elevator. The meadow floor was a good place to stop, he thought, just for a few minutes.

His timing must have been pretty good, too, because there was Riku, flopped down in the grass and looking not too great. And, naturally, this was concerning and Sora figured he should probably go over there and make sure nothing happened.]

Uh...Riku? You okay?

[keybearer]

[He freezes once he hears Sora's voice. Really, he should've known he'd get company. In the interest of not worrying his friend, Riku feigns a smile as he looks up at him.]

Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit... tired, I guess.

[Tired, confused, and above all else lost. He just doesn't want to dump that all on Sora.]

[derping]

Tired, huh?

[And, in response, Sora flops down dramatically right next to him, unable to hold back a laugh when he's done.]

Yeah, me too.

[Though he suspects that's not the only problem here...]