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[cinderlea]

[ 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. ]

Comments

[f1re0nthesun]

Uhh.

[he has to think for a second. also while he's distracted, if Riku's paying attention, his eyes go gold for a second in acknowledgement, sorry smolku if that's jarring.]

I think the easiest explanation is that these games are kid-friendly, and also all of the boy versions of Riku are idiots sometimes. Ri's a good example, actually. What happened in the game was that you-

[he points at smolku.]

Were inside of Riku for that fight in the maze, and kind of ejected yourself from her- him, and punched the heart or whatever out of the dark version and left the empty replica body behind for... Nami, I think is where it went. It was dumb and didn't make sense.

[benighting]

[ The gold is super jarring and makes her tense for a moment and look at Riku, but since Riku looks relaxed and she has no idea what's going on anyway, the replica doesn't freak out. She looks... less confused by that than she should, maybe, and turns a more skeptical look on Riku. ]

So I guess other yous just don't stop me?

[ Riku shrugs helplessly, because fuck if she knows how boy-hers work, but she looks somewhat disturbed by this information. ]

[f1re0nthesun]

Like I said, the boy versions are really dumb sometimes. Um. Okay, how do I explain the other stuff...

[he has to think again, and runs a hand distractedly through his hair. i could just handwave the explanation, but it's good to make Axel use his brain.]

I guess the short version is that time travel is horrible and bad. The longer version is that there was this person back before the first keyblade war called the Master of Masters, who wrote down a bunch of prophecies and then disappeared, leaving these five foretellers behind who had copies of the prophecies, and then a sixth person who had a page that had been removed from all the prophecy books who was just supposed to keep an eye on things, I think.

[with him so far? the next text wall will be bigger and will almost certainly skip some bits, but we may as well get it over with now.]

[dawnrise]

And this is before the first War.

[ What the hell is going on. Why does Axel get to know all of this stuff? ]

I'm not sure you should be telling us all of this, but at this point I guess I don't care. Especially if some people aren't even alive in those other versions. You're sure this happened in our world too?

[f1re0nthesun]

No, but I think the part where Xigbar's not dead happened, Isa said she'd sort of wondered why Braig didn't show up recompleted again, after everything.

[because it's funny, and because someone has to. actually blame Tanya, i think she had Kai show Axel the first game, and it was all downhill from there.]

[dawnrise]

I guess I never really questioned it.

[ That's suspicious. Why Xigbar, though? ]

So she time-traveled?

[f1re0nthesun]

She was the sixth person in the group of foretellers, yeah. Her job was to make sure the Master's keyblade - which is the one Xehanort had - got passed down through time so the Master could see what was going on through it. She was supposed to just observe and make sure the keyblade ended up with the person who would start another keyblade war, which ended up being Xehanort. So she could claim other bodies as vessel just like Xehanort could, that's how she ended up as Braig and then Xigbar.

[there, and he didn't even remember to explain about Larxene and Marluxia coming from keyblade wielders, or Ven being like a hundred years old, which is fine because that has no bearing on this current topic.]

[dawnrise]

[ Riku seems to be following it pretty well, but she's getting progressively more stressed by the idea. She's quiet when he stops, then goes somewhat paler. ]

So is it time travel, or has she been claiming vessels for... what, hundreds of years?

[f1re0nthesun]

Like a hundred years, I think. But the bit at the end of this most recent game showed her- him, talking to four of the foretellers, so they time traveled, I guess, but she didn't, she'd been body-hopping.

[which is a subject everyone here is familiar with, intimately. this is doing a lot for Axel's ego, being able to be the one who actually knows stuff for once, but also he wants to give Riku more hugs, since he stressed her out.]

[benighting]

[ Riku's just gonna hold her head in her hands for a second.

The replica looks a little more tolerant of the amount of bullshit being revealed, probably because she hasn't been in and out of the DR and this is all wild to her anyway. She crosses her arms and leans back against the couch. ]

So what do they want? What's the point of all of that?

[f1re0nthesun]

Dunno, now. There's also a box, only the Master of Masters and Xigbar know what's in it.

[he shrugs, and reaches over to pat the top of Riku's head sympathetically.]

Sorry for dropping all that on you when you just got back, but it seemed pretty important. Not that you can do anything about it right now, though.

[dawnrise]

So I guess we're not done and we'll go back one day? It's been, what, like six years since I went home last time?

[ The replica stares at her for that part. ]

I guess keep an eye out and tell me if another game shows up. We can use it as a warning.

[f1re0nthesun]

Yeah. I don't know what could possibly develop, with Xehanort finally gone, but there's always something going on, I guess.

[Rikuuuuuuu he missed you. there are practically little hearts radiating from him. but he's also really interested in the replica now. is she gonna get her own apartment? will she have a different name or is this another Riku to add to the confusion? ????]

[dawnrise]

I guess... I don't know what's going to happen if Sora's possibly-in-limbo.

[ She's eying him now, because she's wondering if he knew about that before she ended up leaving, and how long he knew.

The replica is just as lost as he is, and only took the dressing room explanation as well as she did because she hid in Riku's Heart post-Aqua rescue. ]

[f1re0nthesun]

If she was fine when you left I'm sure she's still fine.

[he did indeed know all of this before she left, but was hoping at least some of it would go differently for them, and it did!]

[dawnrise]

I mean, in the games. Sora was fine. We were all on the beach. All of us.

[ Now she's eying him for confirmation that this is not normal according to the games. ]

[f1re0nthesun]

Oh, yeah. No, it was weird in the game, everyone was on the beach except Sora and Kairi and then the two of them were sitting on the tree and then Sora just sort of faded out of existence. No one seemed bothered by it though, which was super weird.

[Riku, at least, is not the kind of person who would have fun ever again if her other best friend was in limbo.]

1/2

[benighting]

Your info source sounds like garbage.

[ Blunt. ]

[dawnrise]

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. Kai wouldn't just let Sora fade, anyway.

[ Since Kai would be there, even if the others wouldn't reach them in time. ]

Part of me wants to find a Riku from that timeline and figure out what the hell happened.

[f1re0nthesun]

It was pretty dumb, yeah. Like, there's a lot about what's happened to everyone that gets presented really differently in the games. I probably should've just stuck with the very first one that Kai showed me to help explain some of his history, and none of the ones after it.

[this is so meta, i hate it. Axel hates it too, tbh.]

[dawnrise]

Things were going to be different no matter what, since everyone in the games is from the "average" universe.

[ Air-quotes from Riku. When the replica looks confused: ]

The one where we're guys. Everyone still came back with their own bodies, right? Nami, Roxas, Xion...?

[f1re0nthesun]

Yeah! I haven't seen Lea since you all got back, it really sucks she only had that little bit of time with them. Isa too, but she's had two months to adjust.

[the replica may be perplexed at how deeply sad he looks, but Riku's familiar with how big his heart is. he may not give a shit about most Roxases at this point, but he still remembers what it's like to lose them.]

[dawnrise]

[ So everyone but the replica, but that's because he... sacrificed himself for Namine? What a dumbass. Him and the boykus, in her opinion. She nods though, satisfied with that answer. ]

She'll be okay, but I'm glad Isa is here with her. I kind of hope the others don't show up here, but... she might be happier if they did.

[ She ticks the first three off her fingers, then two more, and starts on the next. Let her just get through this and then they can talk about more fun things. ]

I'm guessing Terra, Aqua, and Ven are back too. And whatever's happening with most Soras, mine, Kai, and me got rid of Xehanort, so at least that's one thing out of the way... Whatever happens with Xigbar and this group from the past.

[f1re0nthesun]

It could be years before any of us find out, it was like... six years? Maybe seven? Between when this one showed up and the previous one did. But yeah, Xehanort was a major threat that's gone now, I dunno what Xigbar's gonna be up to besides being an asshole.

[he could mention the notion that Isa had during one of their meta hangouts while everyone was gone and he was showing her stuff, which was the theory about Demyx being MoM, because fucking look at each of them. but no, he'll let Isa field that one, off-camera sometime.]

[dawnrise]

[ Riku frowns, then shakes her head. ]

This place can't keep sending us back every time something new happens. We're older than that. Six or seven years?

[ Repliku looks smug, because she is still in fact young. ]