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

[animusmods]

Characters: open
Setting: travelling through dead worlds
Format: any
Summary: The power has gone out, but a portal opens. Maybe all is not lost if you can gather up those who are missing...
Warnings: general animus endgame warnings

Comments

[keybearer]

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.

[lethechained]

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?

[keybearer]

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.]

[lethechained]

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.]

[keybearer]

[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.

[lethechained]

[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.

[keybearer]

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.

[lethechained]

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.