(no subject)

[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

[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. ]

[f1re0nthesun]

Listen, I had enough trouble comprehending the time travel involved with all the versions of Xehanort, don't ask me to make sense of you guys and aging.

[and he's gonna be 30 in a couple of months so just don't talk to him about aging at all ever, time is weird. he's extremely grateful Kai didn't come back as a teenager again, that's been weird in the past.]

[dawnrise]

[ Riku's extremely grateful that she didn't come back as a teenager. Being in that body again was super weird, okay. ]

I mean... that part made a little sense? But that's different than being thrown back into your past self's body.

[ Riku's- 26 this year? ]

[f1re0nthesun]

Yeah. Mostly I'm just an idiot, but you knew that already. Watch, the next one will actually be ahead of where you are now, everyone'll be in their mid-thirties and you'll have to age up when you go.

[the fact that the replica is here is keeping him from being as cuddly as he might otherwise be with Riku when she's been gone for two months. the one thing Isa didn't really do while hanging out was cuddling, because that's reserved for Lea, and rightfully so, but it means Axel's been deprived. actually exerting some self-control is making him itchy, like, emotionally.]

[dawnrise]

I don't know which is worse.

[ Imagine if she just teleported into a future where she has kids like some sort of shitty JK Rowling epilogue. Terrible. Riku wouldn't care too much if he was cuddly, since it's pretty much normal now, but the replica would be super weirded out. ]

Well, whatever. Not like we have any say in what happens in the future, but I guses extra information won't hurt. How long has it been since you played that game...?

[f1re0nthesun]

Fffive months? And then some bits more recently while Isa was over, mostly stuff near the end.

[which means he was sitting on that info for like three months, successfully. he should get a gold star just for that. also the future where she has kids, that describes olderku, basically.]

[dawnrise]

You kept all of that without telling us for five months?

[ She's quiet, but she's also stunned, and staring at Axel with slightly wide-eyes. He kept the possibility of Sora dying from her for five months? ]

[f1re0nthesun]

Three months, and then I could at least tell our Riku, and Isa. I know I should've, but I didn't want to influence anything, plus I was hoping it wouldn't go that way for you guys, there've been big differences like that in the past.

[don't yell at him, it all worked out fine and it seemed like the correct thing to do. :( ]

1/2

[dawnrise]

[ She's not going to yell at him, but she's torn on how to feel. She knows Axel keeping it a secret was the right thing to do, but what if Sora had died? How would she feel about it then. ]

[benighting]

[ The replica looks between both of them and then leans back in her chair. She's not a major dick anymore, but she's still cockier than Riku naturally is. She hasn't outgrown it like Riku. Here's a distraction— ]

You said Nami's here?

[f1re0nthesun]

Yeah, he's up one floor, left side of the hall.

[good, he'll be able to drape on Riku like he wants to and apologize six times without feeling like a tool. >_> not that the replica isn't also interesting, but.]

[benighting]

[ In some ways the replica is a little more tactful than Riku, in fact — better in control of her emotions because of what she recognizes herself to be, and their separate perspectives. Riku looks concerned when the replica stands up, but they just stare at each other for about two seconds before she nods, and the replica shrugs back, looking amused. ]

I think I can manage navigating that. This place can't be as bad as the Castle. Then you can run me through the proper introductions.

[f1re0nthesun]

[what's tact, can you eat it? he gives the replica a little wave, only slightly awkward because he hasn't been around an actual stranger in years. meanwhile Hachibi's making rude noises because he wants her to leave already so no one will find out what a big mush he is for Riku these days.]

He'll be glad to see you here.

[dawnrise]

[ The replica looks a little unsure, and a little embarrassed from hearing that, but she nods and waves back to both of them before exiting. God, that's probably an awkward, flustery encounter on her part. Riku watches her go, but then snaps her attention right back to Axel as soon as the door's shut. ]