towerofanimus | Endgame: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms; Part Two

[It's a parody of a blessing.]

[For as long as she lived in the mansion hidden away in the forest of Twilight Town, she'd wanted the chance to see the rest of the city for herself. But it was almost entirely in memories, in data, that she had the chance - and it was not, in any satisfying kind of way, truly real.]

[Now she walks broken, empty streets, and the pain in her chest is made even more sharp by how well she still knows them without having seen them for herself. She spends the first few hours searching, sensing, looking for any sign of life, any whisper of a heart somewhere out in the ruins of a once quiet but living place.]

[There is nothing.]

[It makes her sick, almost, makes her angry at herself in a peculiar sort of way, for what her past self wished. Now, it's so viscerally unpleasant an experience that she can't even begin to enjoy it. The sky itself seems to mock her as she climbs to the top of the station tower, makes her way to the edge--]

[And sits down at it, closer to the stairs than many groups of friends have placed themselves in the past, because the places they chose are not hers.]

[Still, she does not cry. Instead, she waits - dry-eyed and patient no matter the clawing, terrible panic in her chest - and she watches, eyes cast down upon the town she never had the chance to explore for herself.]

[When Xion walks through that particular rip in space to this particular world, her heart stops. She recognizes it immediately. Of course she does. No matter how far away she's been, no matter how long since she's seen these streets... how could she forget?

And yet it makes her want to cry. To see the buildings broken, the people lifeless in the streets ~~like puppets with their strings cut~~. She takes her time, not entirely paying attention, walking dreamlike through the area, trusting Shion to keep up, talking with him some, explaining, showing. After a while they make their way to the Station Plaza.

Xion had saved this for last. Dreading what she might find at the top of the Clock Tower. To her surprise though, it's definitely not unoccupied... but by someone who looks to be sitting up. She turns to Shion.]

I think there's someone up there!

[The person they came to this world to look for maybe? It could only be one of a few people... Xion rushes her way towards the door, wincing a little at the pain in her knee as she rushes.

And once she's inside... well, she might be getting ready to go up all those stairs herself.]

[So this was Xion's world... or a version of it. He follows Xion, keeping up easily and listening to her, staying close.

He looks up the clock tower, there was definitely someone up there. He follows her.] Xion. [Hopefully enough to stop her] Get on my back.

[The instant she sees motion, she's leaning over far enough to make her feel as though she'll fall. She corrects the situation immediately, of course, and through the rush of adrenaline both from that and the idea of there being another person (two other people) around, all she can think to do is hope desperately that her eyes aren't playing tricks on her.]

[She has enough faith in them that as soon as the figures below are out of her sight, Naminé's rising to her feet to make her way a little closer to the stairs, stopping only at the corner of the wall. The wait is agonizing, but she can't shake the feeling that she ought to keep her patience, if only for the sake of being sure this isn't some exceptionally cruel trick.]

[It isn't quite enough to stop her, though the first few steps slow her down more than enough he'll probably catch up to her. And while part of her wants to protest, at that point she lets him rearrange them both until he's able to carry her.]

I think I know who's up there...

[There were so few people from their worlds left. And most of them had been in the cells. Both Rikus, Aqua... She wasn't sure if she'd seen Ven in the cells but she was also fairly certain it wasn't him up there. So unless it could be people who'd been sent home... but they hadn't found anybody like that yet. Only people who'd been in the Tower when Ruana had finally lost her temper.

More than that... Xion herself wants to get to the top too. To see who's there... and what's there. She calls ahead of them though.]

Naminé?

[It was hard to carry her, she wasn't all that much smaller than him but he tried his best.]

Namine? [He vaguely knows who she is, that she is from a version of Xion's world. He picks up the pace trying to get up the stairs as quickly as possible]

[Anxious though she may be, it's not until Naminé hears someone calling her name that she finally allows herself to move closer to the stairs. She lingers again at the door, then--]

[As unsafe as it might be, she steps into the stairwell, stopping to lean just a little bit over the railing and look down at the stairs below. She recognizes the other girl's voice, at least, whether she can catch a glimpse of the two of them or not. After a moment she calls back a,]

Xion...?

Yes it's us. [He's assuming she is calling Xion, not him. They get higher until they can finally see her and Shion climbs the final few steps before carefully putting Xion down]

[Xion is more than relieved to be put down, not having felt the most secure. And not liking having to have been held the whole time. She smiles up at Naminé, relieved.]

Yeah, it-

[And then for a moment her eyes drift past out to the horizon, and she freezes, smile fading, almost as if she can't really believe her eyes. It'd been so long and yet-

Later. Later. She turns back to Naminé]

Yeah. We're here.

[The boy is less familiar than his companion, but at the moment, Naminé is entirely too busy being relieved to do more than give him the benefit of the doubt, considering his company.]

[Her fingers curl inward slightly as she sees Xion look past her. The feeling of seeing that horizon is one Naminé is all too familiar with. Even so, she manages to keep her smile, weaker though it may be. It... almost makes her feel guilty, interrupting such a thing.]

I'm so glad...! What's happening--?

[With the tower, with everyone.]

[Shion looks out as well, taking in the view. It is very beautiful and he looks back to Xion, noting her reaction.] We were all in cages and the power went out, however a portal opened and we ended up on Reno's world, every time we go through a portal we find someone else and every time we find someone we feel stronger.

At the moment the common theory is we need to gather everyone up and get back to the tower, to fight Ruana.

[Xion smiles a little sadly, reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder.]

Slow down a bit. [She doesn't even remember if she saw Naminé in the Hidden Floor before the fight. She might not even know what was going on in that regard. She turns back to Naminé.]

Riki is dead. He was trying to break into the Hidden Floor, to get to Zo and Aria, so we ended up fighting him and... we actually pushed him outside the Tower. [She shakes her head] Ruana came down after him. We... [She hesitates, but she knows better than to let Shion know what actually happened] We confronted her, and she lost her temper. She said she'd show us all, though what she wanted to show us...

[Xion shakes her head]

After that, it's like he said. A lot of us woke up in these cages, but not all of us. We're trying to find everyone who wasn't there.

[One hand moves to cradle her opposite arm as she listens, silent, her lips curled into a thoughtful frown.]

I see....

[How much of it she was aware of she does not say, but it's good to hear at least what happened since she was sent away.]

How many of us are missing? [She can't help but ask, even though she expects it's probably not the easiest question to answer. Perhaps easier,] Or -- of the people you know? [Whom Naminé might also know?]

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[Unlike Naminé, Riku has seen Twilight Town many times before. After meeting DiZ, it became a home base-- a place to rest between worlds and escape the trials of fighting Heartless, the Organization, and the slew of villains lurking across space.

And yet here, it's just a shadow of what it used to be. The once green trees have shriveled away. The sounds of laughter faded. He was so grateful to have never seen his dead world and yet, is this really any different? Just looking at his surroundings leaves him with a sick, twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It's by sheer will power alone that he makes it to the station, where he spots Naminé from afar. Eyes widening, he hurries into the station, darting up the steps at a speed so fast his legs feel as if they've been impaled by daggers and pins. His chest heaves, and when he finally reaches the top, his adrenaline comes crashing to a halt, and he falls back against the tower's outer wall.

He pants, wiping sweat off his face, and watches.]

...Maybe I shouldn't have pushed it so hard.

[But, darn it, it's good to see someone alive.]

[If she were more the type for covetousness, she might have had it for his freedom, trials or no trials. But she's not so inclined, and it's not something that has any cause to be in her mind when the first hint of movement she sees has her head turning fast enough to make her neck hurt.]

[He certainly does make good time. She's waiting for him when he reaches the top of the tower, already on her feet and a few steps closer to the stairs than she was previously.]

[She raises a hand purely on reflex as he falls against the wall, as though she might intend to catch him; she needn't as she doesn't, but he sentiment, perhaps, is there. In its wake she is left to fumble for words, because this whole time, she was too busy hoping and looking for someone, anyone to come to think about what she'd actually say if they did.]

[In the end, the thing that comes out of her mouth is,]

I wasn't going anywhere.

[So a 'probably not', then.]

Well, yeah, but--

[He stops, taking another second to catch his breath before shaking his had.]

No, you're right. And after hopping between worlds, I should've known at least somebody'd still be around.

[His face falls, and he straightens his stance after pushing away from the wall.]

Think we could both use a little company right now.

[She feels a little bad just for a moment as he starts to answer. Shaking her head, she's just about to say that she didn't blame him, but it's the rest of that thought that makes her stop short, fingers curling and uncurling once.]

Hopping worlds?

[Quietly, she assimilates this information - and cannot help but be hopeful that he means recently, not just in his past experiences. At the other portion, though, she finds herself sobering as well.]

... Mm. I know I could. This is--....

[What can even be said about the state of this world? She finds herself unable to find the appropriate words, other than,]

... It's terrible.

And we have Ruana to thank for this.

[He grimaces, rolling his hands into tight fists. He casts a glance over the edge of the tower, thankful for the relative emptiness below.]

But it doesn't have to end this way. When I said world hopping, I meant it-- there's portals opening up and leading to everyone who got thrown outta the tower, and I think we might be able to work our way back.

We've usually had someone to thank.

[At this point, she's more or less gotten used to the idea - but there's still a frown on her face, her eyes lowering and lighting briefly on his balled fists. She realizes only belatedly that her own fingers are curled inward - less tightly, but that way all the same.]

Everyone? [Really everyone? She thinks, of course, of faces and names - some more clearly than others. No -- they'll have to find out if it's every one of them over time. No opportunity to fret now.]

... I figured that couldn't just be it. So that's the plan, then? Look for the others, go back, and hope for the best?

Well, if not everyone, then a good chunk of us. Enough to make a difference.

[He's looked, but hasn't seen Kairi, Sora, either Replica... so there's a chance that it's just the people who were in the tower up until Riki's death. Still, as long as they can get a few people back, they can at least hope to even the odds. Ruana may be tough, but she can't really be invincible.

Oddly enough, a smile starts to form along Riku's lips, and he tips his head back to gaze at the sky.]

And maybe, if it all works out, you'll be able to enjoy the sunset for real.

[When the trains whistle and trail off into the horizon, when the salty sweet smell of ice cream drifts through the air... So much brighter than the bleakness surrounding them.]

I suppose there would be a lot of us to look for.

[If it were broader than the people in the Tower at the time. She'll find out eventually, she supposes.]

[In any case, as she looks over at him, she sees that smile. It's... comforting, truthfully. It's the words, though, that make her turn her eyes away, because they are too close to her heart, to the things she really has always wanted but even now worries she oughtn't hope for.]

I'd like that.

[It's quiet, even in the bleak stillness of this ruined place. It does not, however, lack for sincerity.]

I'd like that very much.

[A beat, then,]

Maybe you'll be able to, too.

[Even if he's quite probably already done it before, himself.]

[He has-- several times, in fact, but that was before everything turned upside down. Before Ruana ravaged the worlds, dragged him to the tower, and put him through hell.

Back then, he didn't think much of it. It was a great view, sure, but he never would've guessed that his time with Kairi up on the clock tower would be his last real sunset with her, possibly ever, if they can't turn things around.

So the sentiment hits close to him, and one of his hands slides down to where Kairi's charm would be, if it wasn't just a film duplicate.]

We'll get our chance. Ruana might be tough, but there's no way she's invincible, and I'd say it's time we show our 'thanks' for wrecking all our homes.

[They've got different but similar enough reasons to want to see it, she'd suppose. He has her sympathies, if nothing else, though she makes no comment as her eyes catch his movement.]

No one is invincible.

[Or at least, she's never seen it happen. Still, there's a firmness in it.]

And you're right. I guess it really is time. [As bittersweet as it may end up being.]

... But you know? There's a part of me that's--... glad I got to meet all of the people I did. Even if it wasn't in the best of circumstances.

Yeah...

[He squeezes the charm, shutting his eyes for a short, sweet moment.]

It's been a rough ride, but I'd be lying if I said it was all doom and gloom. Think we've all made at least a few good friends, even if some of them got left behind.

[His eyes crack open again, and he removes his hand from his belt, snapping it back into a fist, which he places over his heart.]

Who knows? If we beat Ruana, there's a chance that we'll be able to fix their worlds. At least then they won't have to be alone.

Mm. Whether we expected to or not.

[Or even thought it to be possible at all. As for the ones left behind - her gaze falls from the sky at the thought, then turn toward him as he places a hand over his heart.]

Maybe. That's one of the most important goals, I think. No one deserves to be alone that way. Especially not-- [She hesitates, raises a hand in a half-hearted gesture.] ... Not with everything like this. I wouldn't wish it on the worst person in all the worlds.

[Whether it would be better for everyone else for some of them to be isolated, though - that was something else. She just... didn't have it in her to actually want that for any purely vindictive reason.]

Much less the others. They deserve better.

Endgame: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms; Part Two

Naminé | Twilight Town

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SOB I'M SORRY I MISSED THIS

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NO WORRIES, happens

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