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. ]

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I've been sleeping for days.

[ As if it matters much. Ugh, she hates how quickly she's getting sleepy right now, but she's not compelled to move, either. She missed Axel, and Hachibi, and everyone else too. ]

So? Sleep is important, you went through a lot.

[Axel is not the person to talk to about sleeping a lot, when one is attempting to not sleep more. hopefully no one calls either of them while they're napping, or comes over. he'd hate to have to like, flee because Red came back and found his girlfriend sleeping on someone else.]

As opposed to last time I left, when I slept the whole time.

[ At least her sass didn't suffer any from this visit home. Tsk. She's going to manhandle Axel a little since he's so bony so she can at least be comfortable. It seems she's given up trying to fight sleep. ]

[success! \o/ the only way this would be better is if Hachibi were out and they could just make a non-sexual Riku sandwich, but the couch probably isn't big enough for that, they'd have to move to a bed. Axel goes along with the manhandling, anyway.]

That doesn't count, you were doing stuff the whole time you were asleep.

You know what I wasn't doing? Eating. Not enough, anyway. Let's gorge on something after I take a nap.

[ She's a werewolf again, after all. She's waiting for Hachibi to give her a more personal hello, by the way. Butthead. ]

Sounds like a plan. Got anything in mind, or should I pick?

[he'll come out once they've all napped, or when she asks. Riku was Axel's friend first, after all, and he doesn't want to intrude yet.]

Surprise me.

[ As long as it's not flavored with darkness she's good with whatever. Also gosh, that's sweet. ]

[he tries. hell, maybe he'll be the one driving Axel's body around once Riku wakes up; Axel could use the sleep too, after being low-key stressed for two months straight.]

Hmm, maybe barbecue, and there's a good ice cream place right across the street from the place I'm thinking of.

[ Only low-key? Riku grumbles and tucks herself against Axel to suppress a yawn. ]

Barbecue sounds amazing. Thirty minutes.

[there'll definitely be a three and a zero involved in the amount of time they nap, don't worry. unless Riku's mental alarm clock is more accurate than Axel's, anyway. also yeah, low-key compared to previous times, once he was reassured that Kai wasn't definitely maybe dead at the end of things.]

Forty-five. Plus your thirty.

Fine, but when I wake up I'm waking you up right away.

[ The difficult choice between being tired and hungry. She's starting to doze off now. ]

[he'll keep his mouth shut then so she can go to sleep. it'll take him a few minutes, because he's actually as well-rested as he ever is and also is just sort of basking in being around someone he loev. Riku'll definitely be the one to wake up first tho.]

[ She usually is. She falls asleep pretty fast though, which is not the usual for her, but she was already so warm and comfortable that it comes as no surprise. One time skip and definitely more than thirty minutes later, Riku wakes up a little startled. It's because she's on the couch, and Serein's not here, and there's a man on her who is not Red. It's a good thing she doesn't get overheated, with all of these factors combined. But she realizes what's going on fast enough that she doesn't get spooked, which may also be because she's groggy. What happened? Oh, a nap... ]

Hey...

[excuse me, she was laying on him last i checked. but it's very possible Axel changed that in his sleep, he does enjoy being a blanket. regardless, he's still got his arms around her, and responds readily enough that clearly Hachibi was just dozing, if that. he looks glad to see her.]

Hello. That was more time than either of you said, I think.

[what the fuck even is time. fake, that's what.]

[ Yeah but he's so huge and long. Also: couch. Riku stares at him blearily and then breathes out a laugh. ]

How long was it?

You're asking me? A couple of hours, maybe. I wasn't paying much attention.

[it might've been a day, who knows. no, Axel's stomach would've woken him up before that. he stretches his legs a little, letting one hang off the edge of the couch.]

You're a big help.

[ It's sarcastic, but totally ineffective with how tired and affectionate she sounds. She stretches out over him, and it's a super good, hard stretch that she turns into a hug. ]

[he yawns over her head and returns the hug, nuzzling at her a little.]

I know. It's good to have you home. Axel was still a mess, but a much smaller one, at least.

I remember what he was like when Kai left the first time.

[ She can imagine how he was now, thinking something could've happened to him. The nuzzles are probably a little intimate but she bumps her face against his. Now she's properly said hello to all her important people. ]

[they were both rather heartsick until they got reassurance that Kai would be fine. Hachibi didn't even really have anything he could do to help at the time. also Riku can get out with her intimate nonsense, this is just normal interaction.]

I remember when Kai went in the pod, that was awful too, for everyone. This time was a lot better, even for our Riku.

[everyone likes Isa, because i say so and also it makes sense.]

[ Look, Things happened while she was gone and she had to evaluate a lot and have gay panic and all that jazz. She's back and Red is here but how do affection once you were sort-of-but-not-really a teenager again, for a little while. Which probably makes kissing your bff a bad thing, oops. ]

I'm glad things were better. I'm glad Isa was here to explain how things really went.

[Axel's like :eyes: right now, except he's asleep.]

I like her, she reminds me of Itoko. And it did help, how much she could tell us. I'm not sure what you would've come home to if she hadn't come over.

[something terrible, probably, if it has Hachibi pondering what-ifs.]

[ No u, Axel. Riku starts trying to sit up, which isn't easy when there's so much person on the couch with her. Maybe she'll just sit on him. ]

Like I said, I'm glad she was here, especially after what Axel told me happened in the game.

[that's fine, he doesn't mind that as much as he used to, and Axel's body doesn't mind it at all. he'll move his arms so she can sit up more easily, at least.]

It was... distressing. And stupid, a lot of it. But he told you about those bits.

[but the minigames were also stupid and Hachibi didn't understand their purpose, and there was a lot that went unexplained that was dumb as well.]

[ Fine then, she's gonna crawl back and sit on him in that way that kind of puts her mostly against the couch with her legs over him. Comfy. ]

Yeah. It sounds stupid. I didn't even know I was leaving, not like last time. I slept really well and then I woke up and I was at the tower. It was just like— "I guess I'm back." I felt like... I would come back here, though. When things were over.

[ A pause. ]

It kind of scared me when weeks started to go by after we won.