cinderlea | (no subject)

(no subject)

[ Riku disappears first. Vanished in her sleep, in the middle of the night, collapsing in on herself in a shimmer of starlights. This isn't like last time. No warnings, no chances to say goodbye, no hesitation or resistance. She just isn't there.

Lea goes minutes after Riku, in the same way. But she's awake, lounging on her couch, having a conversation as she flips through her phone. Here and then gone, like a flame. This isn't the first time either of them have gone home, but it's the first time it's so abrupt. At least it isn't death. The last time Riku went home was seven years ago. She was gone for a month, and she came back with shorter hair and the Mark of Mastery. The last time Lea went home, no one really noticed. She thought she was used to it by now.

Things are different this time. Disorienting. Lea meets Kai in the training, for real this time. Riku has her memories, or at least most of them. They're hazy, dreamlike, but real. She has them all. She remembers how old she really is and how long she's been gone. She remembers everyone she cares about, and everyone that won't change here. She keeps her ice magic and takes what she's learned here to use there. But time is fluid. She doesn't feel like she's been gone for seven years.

Lea's are gone, for now. She lives everything new and fresh, with the dressing room appearing only in dreams vivid enough to unsettle her.

Things aren't the same for every world.

Things go better than expected.

The core story is the same. The heroes rescue the ones that need it, they bring everyone back, they defeat the darkness, and they go home. How and when and who — these things vary, but they do it all together and they go home together. And then their story is over, at least for now, and they come back.

Unlike how they went out, Lea and Riku reappear together on the beach. Coming back is just as disorienting, and neither has their phone, so they get their bearings and confirm memories with each other, of the dressing room and of home, and then separate to find their friends.

They've been gone two months. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he could be like that guy from men in black 2, it'd be hilarious and/or horrifying.]

Look, I'm not one to defend Xemnas any more than you are but... she was good to Isa. I don't think much of anyone came out of the Organization a good person, but all the really bad shit was Xehanort's doing.

[Ansem SOD was still a dick though, everyone can agree on that.]

[ Honestly it would've been a pretty hilarious Halloween costume or spell. ]

And Xigbar, apparently. That's pretty forgiving, putting it all on Xehanort.

[ She's not buying it. Xemnas did some bad shit to her and Sora personally. It's kind of like trying to talk to her several years ago about Axels. ]

Look, she told me about this one time, right around when shit was going down with Xehanort's Heartless and you and Sora and Kai. Xehanort was so focused on that that she pulled all control from Xemnas, which left her kind of... like she'd been turned off, I guess. Anyway, she thought Isa was Aqua, and then passed out to sleep for like six hours.

[this... doesn't excuse the bad shit she did, but it humanizes her and proves Terra was in there somewhere, and also that Xehanort's hold on things was that vital. Axel knows going on with more examples won't really help, and might even piss Riku off, which is why he's not doing it.]

[ Riku mostly looks uncomfortable as she's listening to this, but then by the end it's just 100% confusion. ]

What?

[which part is confusing her, because Axel's not great at explaining things as it is. he's doing his best, okay. also i'm yanking direct from my prose here.]

What what. Isa said it didn't click for her until she saw Aqua finally, but it makes sense, they have similar coloring. She said she couldn't tell what name Xemnas said, but that she said something about being afraid she'd lost Isa, or Aqua, to the darkness.

[ The part where Xemnas is anything remotely like a normal person. Also Xehanort having that much influence on Xemnas. Huh?? ]

It's just weird to think about.

[ Because honestly fuck Xemnas, even after that display when she died. Riku might be able to feel... a little sympathy, after what happened, in a way, but also no. She knew what she was doing. ]

[so did Isa, even in the first Organization. we're all assholes here, for whatever reason.]

Yeah. The Xemnas on my world was the same, never did any normal human stuff that I ever saw. I was only around him like, four or five times, total. We mostly dealt with Saix, like in most versions of things.

[ I mean, Riku's not arguing any of this— ]

Makes sense. Saïx was at the top right along with her. Uh, him?

[ Any incarnation of male Xehanort people still make her feel very uncomfortable. ]

Unfortunately, yeah. I didn't really know him very well either, except that he was an asshole and I'm glad I never had to fight him for any reason.

[you know, like Saix before we got all the backstory. bastard!Saix. and listen, apart from himself and Kai and their Riku and also Hachibi, everyone else is welcome to be girls, girls are nice to be around unless they're Larxene.]

[ Larxene is unpleasant to be around no matter what. ]

I don't advise fighting any Saïx. Ever.

[ She came real close to fighting hers back home, but she looks disturbed because of an entirely different Saïx. ]

[it's okay, he knows. :( and her secret is safe with him and Hachibi and Red, and anyone else she's told.]

Hey, that one here hasn't been around in years. I hope he fell in a hole and broke both legs and then was eaten by worms.

[ Just Kai and Nami, I think. ]

Arms first, right?

[ Riku that's so dark. ]

Ideally, yeah. Wouldn't that be great, if we'd just had a big pit we could throw all the assholes in?

[he gets the darkness, he's like that too. the few times he and Kai have really genuinely fought were mostly over how vindictive he can be and how revenge doesn't help anyone but boy does it feel good.]

We could probably find one. Or dig one, somewhere.

[ She says, as if 90% of the assholes don't have portals. ]

Did you and Isa talk a lot?

[it could be a magic anti-teleport pit, like those minecraft traps where you ring the doorbell and it drops you into a 30-deep shaft lined with bedrock and some lava at the bottom.]

Yeah! She sort of took over your role from the last time it was just Kai that disappeared, she stayed over a bunch, we ate way too much pizza, and talked. I've never met a Saix-shaped person who wasn't a total sociopath, so it was extra nice that she's so cool. She needed the company too, with all of you gone. Also I think she wanted to kidnap Serein.

Oh really? Well I guess you and Serein don't need me anymore, in that case.

[ As if, but as his sister-in-law she's obligated to tease him in this nature. ]

I guess that's true, although Isa and I certainly don't have the history that you and I do.

[can you feel the eyebrow waggle in that statement, and also Hachibi's presence. once you've slept with someone and also your head-monster tried to kill them, you're legally required to be best friends with them, those are the rules.]

[ They're definitely the rules. But Riku's still enough of a dweeb that she goes pink, and then aims a hard poke at his ribs. ]

Nice thing to say when you're practically laying on me.

Don't tempt me, I did really miss you, I could just turn into a blanket. Now that I've said that, though, are you expecting Red back at any specific point or...?

[true love takes priority, he gets it, and also he's not interested in fisticuffs today.]

[ Does that mean neither of you are in true love. Honestly. Riku looks a little suspicious by this phrasing so close together. ]

No, when I got home and she was here I sent him a text. Said I'd be back after I caught up on some things.

[maybe it's a sign of maturity that there only needs to be a couple of days of endless sex and crying and cuddling, instead of like a whole week. he and Kai have been together for years longer than Riku and Red have, so. also why is it suspicious, if he's going to turn into a blanket he'd rather not have Red walk in on it.]

Ohh. That's weird, that it plopped her in here after everyone else.

A little, but... not that much. She never came here before, and if she's going to show up anywhere, it might as well be my room.

[ She was in her Heart, after all. Is Axel going to turn into a blanket? Is she going to be covered? Is this a euphemism? ]

[ ;O no actually Riku's going to be the blanket, because the only person Axel readily tops is Kai. he's just gonna get more comfy on this couch and rearrange a bit so he's not squishing Riku, which means she's laying more on him now.]

Yeah. I dunno, I would've thought it'd be more like when Hachibi gets his own body, not her just showing up while you weren't here.

[ She'll allow herself to be maneuvered around. She's too happy to see him and too used to it at this point. ]

She has her own body, though.

Now she does, yeah. How'd she take the explanation about this place?

[Riku's the best pillow/blanket. Rikus in general are pretty good for that.]