towerofanimus

Entry tags:

001

Characters: Riku and OPEN
Setting: Dormitories + Floor 20-18
Format: Action, though I'm fine with Para if that's more your thing
Summary: Waking up in a new world with no clue how he actually got there is not entirely new, The sleep paralyzis and the collar are both however pretty original. Needless to say, Riku is not amused.
Warnings: Non... for now. Will add as needed.

[Riku awakens with a low groan, blinking beneath the cloth of his blindfold - what is he doing here; hadn't he just been in the World That Never Was, watching, waiting for just the right moment to intercept Roxas? His mind goes blank with panic for just a moment - he can't move his body, why can't he move his body - memories of being drowned by darkness, of a malicious laugh, of losing control over of himself, rising, rising...

He snaps himself out of that thought, scolding himself, doing his best to push away the fear and disgust of the thought of being possessed again. He can't dwell on anything like that, can't grant the faint, amused whispers in the darkest corner of his heart any more power over him.

Finally, after what feels like eternity, he finds himself able to move again, immediately jumping of that bed, twirling around, trying to orientate himself, to get a feel for this place he had found himself at... how had he drawn here; was this perhaps another trap of the Organization... just like Castle Oblivion?

He flips up one half of his blindfold; frowning as he reads over the two letters... the Islands destroyed!? As if he'd believe that, he thinks with a snort, absently reaching up to his throat, expression tightening at the feel of the collar around his neck.

Someone is playing with him.

Letting the cloth fall back into place, he draws up the hood of his cloak to hide his tell-tale hair - even if this is an Organization trap, even if they know that he is the one posing as one of their own, he isn't about to make it easy for them - and then he is off to explore the hallway and the nearby floors.

Time to find out just what kind of mess he has stumbled into this time and how to get out of here and back to where he should be. The rest of Sora's memories won't return to him by themselves after all.]

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--....

[It's further back than she'd hoped, but she hadn't really put much faith in that hope, anyway. When was the tower ever that kind?]

The tower... does strange things to time. People from different points in their world's timeline can be here together, at the same time-- I mean, what seems to be the same time here. I think... that I'm from later in our world's timeline than you are. The last thing that I remember from our world happened a while after you did that. ...Do you understand?

[Riku takes a moment to process that - he has heard and seen many strange things in the past year and a half, but this? A world where people from different times can co-exist? He has never heard of anything even close to it.

Naminé has no reason to lie to him though, would never lie about something like this he knows and even though he still can't quite wrap his mind around it and probably won't for a while, if she is from his, their, future then there is just one question he really needs to ask.]

...What happens to Sora? Does he...?

[...wake up?]

[Naminé gives him all the time he needs to try and work things out, regarding him quietly in the mean time. It's good to see him, regardless of the circumstances. ...Perhaps even more so, considering the circumstances - what happened in the nightmare realm still haunts her. It may have been fake, but... seeing, even through memories, the death of nearly everyone she's ever cared for, is not something that just goes away.]

[His question comes as no surprise to her, and it's equally unsurprising that it's the first one he asks. She's so happy to be able to say,]

Yes. He does. And... up until the time I was taken, he was okay. You did it, Riku.

[And she wants to say that Sora still will be okay, even after that point, but that nightmare holds her back, because, false world or not, it's still possible. She has no proof that it's not the truth, that it's not really their future. An ugly truth can hurt more than an ugly lie, and she just wishes she could figure out which one it actually is.]

[Quiet relief washes through him, tension ebbing away a little - after seeing that fake just after arriving, he couldn't help worrying... and he should remember asking Naminé about that. Because as much as he would like to deny it, that woman's words had raised quiet doubts...

(No. That has to be a replica. Naminé would confirm that, he is sure.)

After a moment he straightens again, giving her a quiet nod.]

Then that's all I need to know. [About the future anyway. He hesitates a moment before voicing his next question.]

Naminé... what is this place?

[She leaves him to his relief, lets him enjoy it and keeps her mouth shut about the possibilities the future holds, at least for now. She knows all too well how the tower likes to hurt the people it's captured, and if she can keep it from hurting one more person with its lies, she's happy to do so. If only she knew, with absolute certainty, that it was a lie; then she wouldn't have to fight off the guilt creeping into the back of her mind, urging her to tell him, no matter whether it might plant invalid concerns or not.]

[The girl draws some fragment of relief for herself that he says that's all he needs to know about the future, because it makes it a little easier to keep that nightmare to herself. The next question is one much easier to answer, and she throws her attention into answering it.]

It's a tower. No one's sure where it came from, or what its real purpose is, but no one has found a way out yet. It's... not that they haven't tried. [She pauses, the 'but' unspoken, then,] Did you read the letters? [They're usually a good base for further explanation.]

[It's all he needs to know, because he suspects his fate anyway - fighting Roxas is a close match, he knows, especially since fighting to capture is far harder than fighting to kill. Even if he survives - which apparently, he does - he might not make it out as himself. He doesn't need that possibility confirmed as fact.

He frowns a little - he had started on the assumption that this might be another trap of the Organization... but if it were, Naminé would have mentioned that right away, wouldn't she?

After another moment, he just nods.] I did. ...They said something about the Islands being destroyed.

[And that just can't be true, right? They Islands can't be gone, not again. He refuses to believe it.]

[She's kept her concerns about the Organization quiet for so, so long. They still linger, yes, but with each passing day, she becomes even less certain that the Organization is involved. It does show a few indicators of the possibility of their involvement, but so much of it is just... such a gigantic waste of resources, such a gigantic waste of time and effort, that it seems as if it would be much more a hindrance to the Organization than anything that they could conceivably benefit from. No one's even attempted to harness her powers, or anyone else's, and the only person besides herself that she's aware of with any hope whatsoever of maintaining an illusion - let alone such an enormous and thorough one, for so long, and against someone with powers such as hers - is dead and gone. ...Presumed dead and gone, anyway, although the presence of his Somebody in the tower has been a source of immense concern regarding that. Regardless, the number of times she's had to explain the tower to people without mentioning the Organization has removed it from her usual considerations in the explanation of the newcomer's situation. Of course, things are different with Riku. She has every intention of voicing her concerns, when the time is right. There's just so much to explain.]

They give those letters to everyone who arrives in the tower. Most people don't believe it. But... there are people who claim to have been sent home to barren worlds, devoid of life, and then brought back here. Even so, I'm not ready to believe that it's true. [There's a clear hesitation, and her already sober expression tightens as if she's trying hard not to frown. Now that she's on the train of thought, she realizes how relevant the events surrounding that nightmare realm really are to the explanation. She may not have a choice, whether she thinks the information may cause him unnecessary trouble or not.] A few weeks ago, they claimed they were going to send us home. Instead, they--... they used our minds to trap us in a world like our own, only-- it wasn't right. [And she'll curse herself forever for not being able to realize right away that it wasn't real, for being so weak, for being fooled, because if they can fool her that way, can't they fool her all kinds of other ways? What will they make her do next? What have they already made her do without realizing it?]

[He just nods; he can't believe it just with the words on a letter as proof. He won't.

When she tells him about the nightmare realm, he can't keep from frowning himself, because while she isn't even going into details yet... he really doesn't like what he is hearing already.

After a moment he reaches over to lay his hand on her arm, to silently offer her his strength to lean on, should she need it. She had helped him so often, had been there for him when he had almost lost himself in doubt... it's time to repay a little of that.]

[Her eyes flit to the side as if to follow his hand, her surprise peeking through the sober tone of her expression. She stays still for a moment once his hand is in place - even with her time in the tower, she's not used to physical contact, much less the kind that isn't unpleasant. While the texture of the glove is familiar in an unsettling way, she knows whose hand is underneath, and that's enough to make her shrug off any discomfort and focus on what support can be gained from the gesture. She knows he means well, and she appreciates it. The girl looks back up at him, offering a small smile.] Thank you.

[But there are things to be discussed, and the less time it takes, the better. Despite her intentions to continue right away, she hesitates. The more she thinks about it, the more she realizes it's probably better that he know about her nightmare realm, whether it would be unpleasant for him or not. If that does turn out to truly be their future, he should have the chance to be prepared, to change it for the better. There may be no better time to explain it than this, and it relates to some of the other things she's yet to tell him.] The worlds they put us in were... our worst nightmares. In mine-- [No, she can't back down now.] ... in mine, Xemnas--... he won.

[He shoots her a slight smile; there is no need for her to thank him, not for this - they are friends after all and this is the very least he can do.

The smile is replaced by another frown as she continues though, his heart tightening at the thought of her having to face a world like that by herself. Eventually he just squeezes her arm lightly, quiet determination and confidence flickering over his face.]

It's not going to happen. We won't let it.

[He knows that with certainty. Between them, DiZ, the king, Donald, Goofy and Sora, there is just no way that the Organization can win. It wouldn't be an easy battle, sure, but in any case they are at very least evenly matched.]

[She watches his face carefully, and she sees that look. It and the gesture do make her feel a little better. She knows how capable he is, and how capable Sora is, and how strong everyone else is, but-- it just seemed so real. It's too real a vision and too fresh a memory to wipe away easily. She still vividly remembers each and every moment she spent crying into her hands in that cave next to Kairi's motionless form.]

But--

[She wants to have faith in him, and she does. It's just that some part of her keeps trying to force her to blurt out, 'But you died, Sora died, the others died, I saw it--' even though she knows it was all just a nightmare. It's because she knows that it was fake that she holds her tongue and clamps her mouth shut, her teeth biting her lip just a little. Once she wrestles back those words, she lets out a slow exhale and says instead,]

... I know.

[Riku knows well enough just how powerful illusions can be, just how easy they can unsettle the heart (sometimes he still dreams of Zexion's trap, of the Sora that destroys him for being one of the darkness, and every time he awakens in cold sweat and shivering).

Still, they couldn't let themselves be unsettled for too long, couldn't let that vision stop them from moving forward. Neither the Organization nor Xemnas had won just yet; not if he truly would succeed in waking Sora just as Naminé had said, not when Kingdom Hearts was still only half complete.

But for all his certainty, he also knows Naminé well enough to be able to recognize her worry and uncertainty, and it takes a lot to wrestle down the question of just what else that illusion had shown her.

Instead he just nods again, seeing no meaning in pushing the issue; especially when there are other, just as if not more important things to talk about.]

When I arrived... I ran into a... kid that was claiming to be Sora. Except... everything about him was all wrong.

[He draws back his hand from her arm, fist clenching at the thought of that encounter, and he can still feel his own furry rise at the carelessness with that that had laid claim on Riku's life (or the right to end it anyways) and his best friend's name, when he had no right to either.]

[She, too, knows the power of illusions, and somehow, that makes it worse that she was fooled. She should have known better, she should have been stronger - there wasn't any real harm save for what was done to her, but she still feels ashamed, and even more so that someone had to come snap her out of it. The change of subject is a bittersweet distraction; the previous train of thought was unpleasant, but so is this one.]

--Oh. You've met him already. [Her frown is firmly settled on her mouth as her hands tighten around each other She'd hoped to have the chance to warn Riku about that particular towermate of theirs beforehand, but it looks like she's too late. It's not hard to see that they didn't exactly have a good first meeting. She hesitates, unsure where to start for a moment.] Besides what the tower does to time, there are... other things that it does. One of them... is that sometimes it brings people here who are from different versions of the same world.

['Didn't exactly have a good first meeting' doesn't even begin to cover it.

He freezes for a moment as he processes her words, as he compares them to what that woman had said...]

So... then he actually is another Sora?

[No. That just can't-]

...Are sure that he isn't just another replica?

[She nods, expression grim. She knows it must be hard. It's been strange for her, too, but she's had a long time to come to terms with it.]

Yes. I'm sure. [That's not something she dares be unsure about. It's a firm but gentle statement; she understands his disbelief.] I don't know exactly what happened to him, but... his life was very different from [~~our~~ ~~your~~] the Sora from our world's. And-- I don't think that it was a change for the better.

Edited 2012-01-04 23:25 (UTC)

[He shakes his head slightly; he can't believe it, he can't... that is supposed to be Sora?

No way.

But... this is Naminé... and he knows she wouldn't lie to him, never about something like this.

He shakes his head again, reaching up to rub his temples - he still needs some time to process this.]

[Naminé falls silent, electing instead to watch him for a moment. It's not hard to see that he's having trouble with this, and as much as she wishes she could say something to make it better, not saying anything seems the better way to help, at least for now. He needs to come to terms with it in his own way - she's only there to assist how she can. So, she waits patiently, quiet but ready to answer his questions, should they be asked.]

[He stays still for a while, then walks over to the stair case and sits down on one of stairs as he still fights himself about accepting that cruel truth.

Eventually, a shaky sigh escapes him, because as much as he hates even considering (never mind) accepting that truth, he knows he can't keep going on denying it for long eihter.]

How... Do you have any idea how tha- he ended up like that?

[She turns to follow him with her eyes, but stays standing when he sits, her hands clinging to each other. If only this were easier - although she thinks that more for his sake than hers. It was hard for her to wrap her mind around, too, but she'd spent her whole dealing with the bizzare and seemingly impossible, and at least she'd had that. The fact that she was familiar with another set of people from different universes had helped.]

[The question is not such a surprising one, but she does pause, her eyes drifting toward the ground.] ... I don't know everything, but... [She knows Riku won't like this. He already doesn't like it, and what she has to say won't make it any better Her frown is quite pronounced, but she carries on nevertheless.] ... a while ago, he put up a message on the network to try to find out if anyone knew his father. He drew a picture of him. He--... [She's not sure she should even say the name, but she has to let him know.] ... he drew Ansem.

[She is right - he doesn't like it. He doesn't like it at all.

...He almost wishes she hadn't told him, but ultimately he knows it's better this way. Knowledge is sometimes as much a curse as it is a gift, but (as much as he hates to quote Ansem) there is no understanding without knowledge and he needs to understand, if he wants to make sense of it all.

That doesn't mean he has to like it though.

He clenches his hands in frustration, in anger and wonders why just for once things couldn't just be straight forward.]

...Ansem, huh? If he's from another reality, then I guess that figures.

[He has her sympathy, and it shows in the way she watches him as he clenches his hands. She knows all too well the ways of knowledge of the painful variety. That burden has long been hers, and while she regrets having to give him a part of that, it had to be done. She exhales slowly as she considers her next words.]

As you can imagine, he's been raised very differently from the Sora we know. He believes that the light shouldn't exist. [Her frown is pronounced.] He's... dangerous. [The 'but' is obvious before she even speaks it.] But-- I think... that more than anything, he's lost. [And Riku can relate, can't he? He's wandered down the wrong path before. She pauses to regard him in the hopes of ascertaining how he's taking this.]

[Somewhere he knows that she'd maybe rather not shared this secret, but he also knows that staying ignorant of this would be far worse. It's a burden of necessity and at least in that it is somewhat familiar.

He closes his eyes as he listens to what she tells him next, something bitter and something sad flickering over his face before his expression settles into a thoughtful frown.]

...Dangerous... and lost... huh?

[He snorts, glancing over at her, unable to ignore the irony in all of it.]

Sounds quite like someone we know, huh?

[Her own expression is sad as she watches the sadness in his, but she, at least, is free of bitterness. Anticipating that how he would feel was not difficult at all, but she is quietly regretful for having caused those feelings. It was just one more thing he needed to know, something to temper any ill will toward the other boy which, she would freely admit, would be perfectly understandable, but not desirable. ~~She won't ask him to like the other Sora, but she does want to help Riku know him, at least, and all she can do is hope that that knowledge with at least keep them from being at each other's throats.~~]

[She smiles as he looks at her, but it's a very apologetic smile.] ... Yes. It does. [There's a brief hesitation, then,] But you and I both know how that turned out. [She tries to urge her smile larger, but fails, and after a moment, it disappears, but the apology still lingers on her face.]

I'm sorry, Riku. I know it's hard, but I-- wanted you to understand.

[If they'd ever talk about it, he'd tell her that there is nothing for her to regret - at least not in this - she is just the messenger after all. To be entirely honest he has no idea what to think or feel in regards of that other Sora; he had been so angry before - at the people that he thought had created him, at that brat for being so god damn stupid (so terribly, terribly much like he had been once) - but now... now he was just... empty.

He shakes his head, something between a sigh and a chuckle escaping him, because he knows she has faith in him, but he isn't sure if he'll ever be able to live up to it. Not when he...

Finally he looks up to her.]

I know. It's not your fault.

[Only the messenger or not, she still helped cause his discomfort. It's not hard at all to make Naminé blame herself. ~~Emptiness isn't exactly what she was hoping for, but perhaps it's better than being angry.~~]

[In a way, he already has. She'd be happy to tell him so.]

[She smiles a faint smile back down at him, for his sake, but her eyebrows are a little too tense for it to be convincing. There's a pause during which one of her hands comes up to rest, closed, against her chest.]

... I think maybe... there's hope that he can find another path. [Just like there was hope for Riku. The similarities might not be pleasant things to contemplate, but they're there all the same.]

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