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

[ Riku is frowning. ]

I'm not—

[ Huff. ]

Happy. You've seen her. Them. She's glad it's over, glad everyone can go back to their lives and relax. It's been going for... years. We didn't even start training again, we were just busy catching up back home.

That's good. All of you deserve the break. Some of you have grown up doing this, and Axel's definitely the best case scenario for how that turns out.

[mmm this meat has become charcoal on the outside. lov the cronch.]

[ It is a good cromch. Riku shrugs, because that's just how things are, and she knows they all have trauma to deal with. She still does, even after all this time in the dressing room. Going back... wasn't altogether great for it, but she's trying not to get back into that mindset. ]

Pretty sure we're all lucky we ended up here.

I'd drink to that, but, y'know. Also if you're still interested in ice cream after this I'll hand Axel back over for that, I'm not a fan of it.

[also he doesn't want to bogart the quality Riku time, not when Axel missed her just as much or more. hmm, is there anything left to talk about that won't make Riku sad?]

[ She's not really sad, jeez. She appreciates being able to talk to Hachibi, because he isn't going to give her nonsense answers or just cater to her all the time. It's reassuring. ]

Let's see how I feel after about... four more plates. You can let Axel appreciate some of this sauce, though.

[ As if he has more refined tastes. ]

[she's fortunate Axel doesn't automatically have memories from Hachibi, because he'd probably just be like 8D over her kissing Sora.]

I will when he surfaces again. He didn't sleep enough while you all were gone, he felt bad leaving Isa with no company, or only Riku.

I'm glad he and Isa were able to hang out. I hope she kept him busy, but I know Lea will be grateful too.

[ They're so fucking gay, Riku's just waiting on the inevitable. Also jeez, she'll tell Axel too, about her own gayness, don't worry. ]

She did, it was nice having her around.

[high praise from him, given his general attitude about girls. everyone around him is gay whereas he just enjoys fucking. :'( do u want some of this meat-flavored charcoal, Riku.]

She's... nice.

[ God it's still weird, okay. The science brigade is one thing. Saix actively tried to kill people, and seemed to like it. ]

Nicer than I would've thought. Quiet, but that's a relief when you've got Lea and Sora around.

[are you trying to tell me you never liked it, Riku. there was never even a single person where you were like "yes, thank god they're dead and it was me that did it/helped". really?]

Yeah. She's so different from our Saix, and it seems like that was probably true even when she was Saix and not Isa. Ours was quiet too, but not in a good way.

[ She's pretty sure she has no idea what you're talking about. Whatsoever. ]

I'm sure they were a lot different, just comparing Axel to Lea. But she was pretty scary, back when we fought the Organization together the first time.

[ Time to reach over and pluck a piece of sausage off the grill. ]

To be fair, I hadn't seen her powers before then.

She's never liked the uncontrollable part of them. She told Axel she's afraid of it happening here and hurting someone by mistake, which seems like a reasonable concern.

[dammit, there's no bacon here, unless Riku's hiding it somewhere. why is this.]

Can't imagine how that feels.

[ They could ask for bacon. Riku didn't think to, in the collection of other, more satisfying meats to grill. She leans back in her seat, head tilted back and eyes on the ceiling. ]

Maybe I'll talk to her about that. Not like anyone else back home would understand.

[he pokes at some of the meat on the grill and then, presuming Riku's had at least one rib the way regular people eat them, swipes the bone off her plate. after he's crunched his way through it:]

She did say that Xigbar gave her a lot of shit at first about her powers, made lots of werewolf jokes.

[ Honestly at this point in their relationship she just passes all the bones to Axel's plate anyway whenever they eat together. ]

Yeah, she seems like the type. Think you can come with us next time we have to go back and deal with whatever she's up to?

I would love that. I'm sure she's not nearly as much of a handful as ours was, that the other us somehow took out alone.

[you know, the other one on the spaceship, that we were getting info about via that link Kai had with the other Kai. Xemnas was pretty pissed about having lost one of his best men, too, last time they got sucked back home.]

I don't even know at this point, I just want the insurance. I think you could go two for two.

[ Fuck their Xemnas and also Xigbar, by the way. They all suck. Here, have a piece of this perfectly seasoned and grilled chicken. ]

I've found that there are very few things that can resist being slammed into something so hard they black out. After that I could just eat her.

[o thank u. he will attempt to slow down and appreciate it, since Riku put effort into it. is he assuming he'd be in his actual form for this encounter? it's hard to say.]

Gross. She's probably disgusting.

[ Honestly wouldn't that just be the best? Rolling up to the final battle except they've got this guy in his actual form? What a great "fuck you" ending for that whole saga. ]

Probably, but I've eaten a lot of disgusting things. This is not, though.

["haha what is that, some kind of dream eater?" and then she's dead. amazing. this chicken is very good, Riku.]

Thanks.

[ She knows. She has her own, and they're not small pieces at all. This is great, having buddies she can just gorge on meat with. Not that she can't with Red, but that's different. ]

[all i have to respond to that with is something something eating out something Riku's meat. or Red's, whichever.]

Oh, here, Axel's finally awake on his own.

[and bam, just like that they've switched. he's not gone, at least. Axel immediately yawns and rubs at his face, only slightly disoriented from his nap.]

[ God! That's so rude, even if he's not gone. Riku blinks at him a few times, then reaches over for another piece of delicious chicken and offers it to Axel this time, directly in front of his face. ]

Morning.

I'm full of meat already, how long have we been here?

[nomp. mmmmmm. full is an overstatement, he's nowhere close. also Hachibi says what, is he supposed to say goodbye or something when he's not really leaving?]

A while. You're nowhere near "full", Axel.

[ She'll set the chicken down on his plate since he's being a butt. Also yeah, he could!! ]