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

Me personally or Axel's body? I've never had anything last long enough to scar, but those claw wounds Axel got on his face that you stitched up were the last thing for him, I think.

[they're still there, too, but somewhat faded, since it's been... almost seven years since that happened, jfc. that was a good thread and a good time for everyone.]

— Uh. I meant, you were the last person to scar me. I think? I would have always thought you and Axel weren't capable of being scarred, if not for that.

[ Seriously, she saw his face grow back from skull in places. ]

Oh. Yeah, he doesn't normally, but because I mostly left it alone so it could heal the regular way, since it was so bad, it scarred on the surface. Things that I've healed quickly leave scar tissue down in the muscle, but nothing on the surface, usually.

[and facial/head wounds are special anyway, they require so much more delicacy because of all the muscles and nerves involved.]

What's the fastest you've ever healed something?

[ Because she's suddenly curious. It's neat, the way he works. ]

Hmm. You've seen how fast I heal from things like water or ice, but deliberately healing... there was one time, Axel nearly had his arm taken off, some special jutsu that cut through all the muscle and was partway through the bone, but I had it pulled back together and healed almost before the attack stopped, because he needed to be able to retaliate.

[he was never that fast with previous hosts, because previous ones weren't Axel. also these fools left the apartment and are on their way to food now, yes?]

[ That was a little bigger than what she was expecting. A cut or a gash or a stab or something, maybe. But almost losing a limb? ]

That's... I can't even imagine it.

[ Also yes, definitely on their way to food. Riku is hungry, dammit. ]

Don't ask me how it works, because I don't think I can explain.

[not for lack of trying; Axel wanted to know how it worked, early on, and they both got frustrated when Hachibi couldn't explain.]

Magic. ...I wonder how much of you and your powers are connected to your world.

[ Since that's how it works in Kingdom Hearts, a lot of personal things are linked like that. ]

Not as much as you're used to, I don't think. There are some greater powers out there on our world, but I don't think the world itself has any power, or a heart. It's all very individual, as far as I know.

[except for people like their Xemnas, who were eventually going to try and combine lesser powers to make a greater one, but that plan is moot now anyway, he's only got three people left to work with, if that.]

Every world has a Heart.

[ She looks dubious, but not about that — about him saying such a thing. There's no way he could convince Riku otherwise, when she knows so much about the worlds. Keyblade Master, remember? ]

Well, if it does, it never had any bearing on anything in the time I was there.

[he shrugs a little. granted, most of his time on that world was spent inside a human body, and he was busy being extremely angry for the bulk of that time. titles mean nothing to him, she's still babie compared to him.]

[ Babie will kick his ass!! ]

That part I can believe a little easier. I think some worlds... interfere more than others, if that makes sense?

[she can try, he'd probably just interpret it as flirting.]

That makes sense. Some of them have louder hearts than others.

[ Maybe she is. ]

Mm. Like people. Hey, when's the next full moon here?

Hmm, another week or so, I think. Why?

[where are they even, have they arrived at food yet.]

I'm more hungry than I was back home. It's not the same kind of hungry I get before the full moon, but I guess... I didn't realize it was full time now?

[ The werewolf thing is just so ingrained at this point. ]

It's been with you for years, your body adapted. Axel still eats a ton even when I have a separate body.

[granted Axel can also still do all his usual fire stuff then, and his healing is mostly intact, since they are still linked in some way.]

Ugh. At least we don't have to pay for it here.

[ She likes the werewolf thing now, not-so-secretly, but it's still a pain to feel that hungry now that she's aware of it. Or it is in concept, anyway. After all, it was never a problem before. ]

Yeah. It was hard back on our world, but that was one of the few good things about our Organization, it meant we didn't have to just be hungry all the time anymore.

[tinyxel is seriously so lucky he's here and didn't have to go through puberty without adequate food. hell, that's probably part of why Axel's so dumb about a lot of things, he didn't get enough nutrients growing up.]

[ I mean, it's possible. ]

I can't even imagine living like that, still. I'm glad those days are done for you.

Mm. There was a lot to dislike, but that aspect was near the top of the list.

[until the Organization, at which point existing on the same planet as Zexion jumped to #1. Axel's just glad he seems to have fucked off from the dressing room, but Hachibi'd still like the chance to kick the shit out of him, just a little. also they've arrived at the bbq place, because i say so. he'll hold the door open for her because she's a lady, or something.]

[ What a gentleman. If she were a Kairi she'd curtsy, maybe. Instead she walks in and takes a minute to just look around, because food, and I don't know what it looks like. Happy Thanksgiving. ]

[Merry Christmas, you mean. it's the same place olderxel and olderku went that one time on Axel's birthday (the big 40), and idk, it looks like a standard korean bbq place with the small grill in the middle of the table to cook the meat on. it smells like meat and other food in here, unsurprisingly.

tbh it may have been a reflex of Axel's body to hold the door open, we may never know.]

[ Excellent. Just don't give her any sake. If it's the same place that means there's shadow people, right? Well... She's going to find a table, then, and gesture for Hachibi to follow her. ]

Do you have a favorite meat?

Ribs from anything. An entire ham is up pretty high on the list too.

[she probably meant like pork vs beef or whatever, but he's going for cuts of meat, like some sort of intelligent carnivore who should never have had the ability to speak or learn words. he follows her to the table and parks himself, managing to not do that thing where he looks like he's never sat like a people before.]