Regardless of Warnings

[attheclocktower]

Characters: Xion, her close CR (for some prompts), and (for others) everyone.
Setting: Closed - wherever you guys prefer, Open - Graveyard Floor, Beach Floor, Hidden Floor, and anywhere
Format: At this point you guys know I don't care, whatever you prefer
Summary: The events of Ex Machina helped Xion make a very very important decision. All that's left is to talk to people about it and prepare for what might happen
Warnings: Nothing right now? Will add if something comes up

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1 - Closed to Close CR/People who have been talked to about Xion approaching them

[For some of them, she sends letters. For others, she seeks them out. In either case, the situation is the same. In the days that followed their infiltration, Xion had rested and healed, but more than that she had thought. It was a restless sort of thinking.

"We will never give up fighting for a future we can believe in!" Those were the words she'd said. And she'd meant them. Every single one. And in that moment, they'd achieved what felt like the impossible. And they'd done it on their own. When Jason had been killed, Ruana had been pulling the strings.

But this? This was all them.

They could do it. They had control of the machine. There had to be a way to restore their worlds with it, right? They could do the impossible. And if they did... Why could doing the impossible stop there?

She'd known. A part of her had always known she couldn't abandon the people from home, couldn't abandon Sora and Roxas and Axel... even for her family. Even when she'd told Reno she wanted to stay, or to go with them... some part of her had always known. Even for the people she cared about most. It would be a wrenching pain, to leave them; the idea hurt even now. But the others, back home... They'd made her who she was. She had a responsibility to them.

And besides, if she completed the impossible of surviving, who was to say the impossible thing of finding them again wasn't also within her grasp?

But before that... there's people she needs to talk to. And information she needs to get. And so to that end she searches, whether their meeting was pre-planned or she knew them enough to check their regular haunts.]

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2 - Open like an open thing

[Another thing that happens in the days following the infiltration is a sort of restlessness sets in. It oscillates, between a sort of anxious energy, which leads her to move quickly between the floors, sometimes stopping on one of the open ones - particularly the 20th, the meadow floor, or the gym floor - to train, whether with her Keyblade or otherwise, or else sending her time on the Hidden Floor, pacing around the room and often returning to DJ's terminal. There's so little time left, and yet it feels like all they're doing is waiting...

Other times, it's a bittersweet sort of nostalgia, walking through the safer floors of the Tower, running her fingers across shelves, plants, objects, as if to memorize the look and the texture underneath her fingers. If she is going home, her time in the Tower is almost up. And it's really strange to think about, given this place has become a home to her more than anywhere back on their worlds.

Some particular places she can be found during these periods include the graveyard, quietly talking to the graves of those she cares about and misses most - particularly Sora's and Ira's and Roxas' and Axel's - and the beach floor, picking up a last few shells and tucking them into her pouch. With her departure from the Tower imminent in one way or another - either through death or returning home - they've suddenly become as precious as the ones that Roxas gave her.]

Comments

Option 1: The Meadow

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid picks the meadow as their meeting place because it's quiet. It's also been the scene of many important conversations in the past and this, he can tell, is going to be an important conversation. From the look that had been in her eyes back when she had returned from the infiltration to the note she had sent him, it's clear that she has found her path. Now it is time to follow where it leads.

But where does it lead?

He's smiling as he enters the floor, moving to stand beside her.]

Hello, Xion. I hope you haven't been waiting long.

[attheclocktower]

[Xion had been picking her way through the flowers, remembering all too many important conversations here, even as recently as a month ago. She smiles.]

Don't worry about it. [She looks up and shifts her weight back until she's sitting, and jerks her head a little to the side to indicate that Diarmuid probably should too. This was going to be a big conversation, and quite possibly a long one.]

Thanks for coming.

[oathshackledbird]

There is no need to thank me. You know I am always glad to be there if you need me.

[Diarmuid sits down next to her, plucking a flower and handing it to her.]

So what is on your mind? You said I was even more right than you thought I was?

[attheclocktower]

[Xion accepts the flower, twirling it around in her fingers and seeming to examine it closely as she measures her words carefully.]

I think... I'm going to go home. When we fix the worlds.

[Being stubbornly optimistic about the worlds' future]

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid's first reaction is surprise and then sorrow since he remembers the fate she is facing if she returns. However, he also remembers how happy she had been when she came back up from down below and somehow he has a feeling that she wouldn't haven just given up after such a hard fought battle. She is stronger than that.]

There is more...isn't there?

[Xion isn't the only stubbornly optimistic person in the room, after all.]

Hidden Floor

[midgarhorizon]

[Xion will definitely find Reno, albeit passed out, with his face firmly planted into a report that he was writing. Or... something. It looks like a report. Now it might be an ink smudged mess...

And snoring.]

Zzzzz...

[It appears he is pulling a Waver.]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion puts a hand up to her mouth to hide her giggle as she spots Reno. Crossing the room she slides into a seat next to him, speaking rather softly]

Dad?

[If he wakes up, they can keep going, otherewise she'll let him sleep for now and wait, maybe go visit DJ]

[midgarhorizon]

Not now... Got to finish these AVALANCHE punks off...

[Reno's eyelids flicker, and then he lifts his head briefly, page stuck to his cheek, and lays it back down facing the other way.

That page is still stuck to his cheek...]

[attheclocktower]

[Oh no she's having trouble not giggling even harder now. Reaching over, she slowly peels the paper off his cheek and looks at it. Looks like the ink smudges did a number on it.]

Dad, I'm pretty sure they can wait.

2, beach

[notsogrimreaper]

[Ryoji approaches with a light smile during one of the days Xion collects seashells. He comes out here once in a while just to look at the waves. His tone is soft, nostalgic... a bit melancholy. He knows his time is running out.]

Even if it's an illusion, it's beautiful, isn't it? There are a few floors like this one I might miss.

[attheclocktower]

[Xion looks over at Ryoji, smiling softly.]

Yeah... This has always been the floor that reminded me most of... well... of home.

[The word almost doesn't feel right, calling it that. The Tower has been her home for so long. And yet... given the decision she's making, she needs to start thinking about it like that again, doesn't she?]

[notsogrimreaper]

Did you have a beach like this back in your world?

[He frowns when he realizes something.]

I never really got a chance to visit a beach like this before now… it’s kind of disappointing.

[attheclocktower]

Not my world, exactly. There's lots of worlds where I come from. But... a world that's really important.

[For her, and for a lot of the people important to her. At his comment though the smile turns a little wry.]

I guess I never thought of it like that... the thing is, there's a lot of things I was never able to experience at home, too. [And not all bad things, though she hopes that goes without saying] Maybe I'll never get the chance, I don't know.

Even if it is here, it's still real, isn't it?

1

[lethechained]

[Even though she's always had a particular fondness for floor 62 herself, Naminé cannot help a sense of trepidation as she steps out onto the sand. The crunch under her feet is familiar now, almost achingly so - but she focuses instead on having a look around for Xion.]

[They have things to discuss, after all.]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion's been doing shell collecting even now, though she does look up and around periodically to see if Namine's come. And when she does spot the other girl, she raises a hand to wave her over.

She is smiling, if a bit nervously and sadly, but still smiling.]

[lethechained]

[Naminé spots her probably before Xion waves, but it's only once that wave is offered that the blonde starts to head the other girl's way in earnest. And if Xion's smiling, shouldn't Naminé? It's with that inclination that she offers her own smile, almost careful, and waves back. Once she's nearer,]

It's good to see you, Xion.

[Better to start it off easy.]

[attheclocktower]

[Xion bows her head once.]

It's good to see you too. Have you been okay?

[Especially with what Riki pulled just over a week ago... Namine wasn't among the people who'd gone down to the admin levels, so she must've stayed up here.]

you okay with it being forward dated to today?

[savedbyasong]

Isolation. Lonliness had always terrified Shion. As a child it had been desperate lonliness that had made him open his window to let in the storm and a drowned rat of a child who had changed Shion's life completely. He had thought he knew lonliness then but it was nothing compared to the emptiness of what he had felt these last weeks, months? He had long lost track of time.

The last clear thing he could remember was the city, coming back from it to the tower and then the emptiness of his dead world. It was so vast, an entire world of nothing, an entire universe. No stars no life. His world had been broken and hurt for a long time, he had been born into a world clinging to the edge of life. But a broken world was not dead and this nothingness made everything, even the cruelties and evils of No. 6 seem small and insignificant.

Even more insignificant was his hope of restoring it. You couldn't bring back the dead, dead was dead. A corpse and even if this was one was not rotting... that just made it worse. Rotting was still change, from life into death. This was... this was just nothing.

You couldn't change nothing, multiply zero by anything and it was still zero.

It was not the first time he had came here, and he knew people had been on their dead world for longer than he had been. But they were running out of time, had ran out of time... time was hard to measure but the deadline had been close... What if it had past... everyone in the tower was dead and this was his fate. Stuck here for ever.

Sometimes Shion hated his mind, hated how he couldn't stop thinking, hated how is mind took ideas and wouldn't let them go. He couldn't close his eyes without seeing Xion or Reno's faces, twisted in pain, dead. Or banished to their own worlds, alone like he was.

Xion didn't deserve to be alone, she deserved a beach and ice cream and friends who would never leave her and it was the one thing that kept Shion's mind from breaking. He had to keep going, because if he ever got back to the tower, if by some mirical it wasn't too late then he had to be sane. Sane enough to help.

So even when he wanted to scream at the empty sky or berserk at himself he forced himself into calm, banishing tears, swallowing emotions.

It had perhaps worked too well because when he woke back in his bed in the tower he felt no relief, no triumph that somehow he wasn't too late. Just the same numb determination that had kept him going.

He penned a quick message to Reno, not sure what to write and then dressed and went out, his feet taking him to the graveyard.

He had guessed she would be there and he approached, coughing softly to let his sister know, he didn't want to startle her.

Only if you're okay with how late this is sob

[attheclocktower]

The cough got her attention, easily enough, and she half-leapt to her feet when she saw who it was, turning and all but flying into his arms.

"Shion!"

She couldn't help it. She'd been so afraid for him. Afraid what being on his world would do to him, afraid Ruana might do something to the ones who were gone, afraid that he might never come back somehow. But he was back. He was safe. He wasn't too late.

All thoughts of the news she would have to give him about, about her decision, were at the back of her mind. For now, she's just relieved he's there.

of course I am <3

[savedbyasong]

Shion caught her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to leave you." His voice was tight as he tried to control his emotions, to stay calm. At least the numbness was fading fast, seeing Xion brought back emotions in a torrent.

"Are you alright?"

Re: of course I am <3

[attheclocktower]

"It's okay, I know," she laughed a little, helplessly, her arms tightening around him, a hand reaching up to grip his shoulder. She knew he never would have left willingly. Not now, of all times.

Very slowly, she pulled away a little, at least so the could look each other in the face. "I'm fine. Better than fine, actually."

1 - the beach floor; I'm so sorry, this is late orz

[justabignobody]

[Riku smiles quietly to himself when he receives Xion's note; happy to know that she's made up her mind and even more happy (and honored) that she wants to share it with him – she's done it before and he's promised to support her regardless of what she does, but still.

There isn't a time or a place on her note, so he goes looking for her in the places he knows she likes to linger.

(When he ends up on the beach floor, he can't help remembering the second time they talked and somehow that makes the notion of finding her here just a little ironic.)]

No worries at all!

[attheclocktower]

[The sound of footsteps on sand makes her look up from where she's crouched, having just found a couple more appealing shells on the beach. She stands upright, still holding one in her hand.]

Hey Riku!

[She considers the shell in her hand before holding it up, to show him. It doesn't look native to Destiny Islands, and maybe earth either. It's probably why she likes it.]

I thought I'd collect a few, before... well, everything.

[Who knew what would happen, come the end. Though that might be a big clue she's not intending to stay in the Tower, at least]

[justabignobody]

[He smiles faintly and nods – he knows what she's doing and why. The days ahead will be trying and there is no telling if they'll succeed. The future is uncertain, now more than ever, but it's not like they don't have reasons to hope. Riku himself chooses to look ahead and believe in their numbers and in the common goal they share.

They will restore their worlds. They will find a way back home. The idea of failure isn't an alternative, not until there is truly reason to consider it.

In any case, this is not what they are here to talk about.]

You said, you found your answer?

[attheclocktower]

Yeah.

[Straight to the point, though this wasn't really time for beating around the bush anyway, she supposed. She reached her other hand up to brush some of the sand off the shell, before putting it in her pouch. Her words are a little more practiced now - Riku isn't the first person she's told - but there's still a hesitancy to them. This is Riku. The one who gave her this choice in the first place.]

I'm going to go back. To our worlds, I mean.

[She pauses. Because here was the crux of the matter.]

But... I'm not going back to Sora. I'm going to find another way.