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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[ She wakes up, but she doesn't move except for her arm, and she looks groggy and disoriented. It takes her a few seconds to remember, again, where she is and what's going on, but she's not met with crippling depression this time. ]

Food?

Food. C'mon, sit up.

[she sets the glass on the nightstand next to Lea and then circles to the other side of the bed so she can sit down with this food and her best friend. we're gonna fill up on dairy and then maybe kiss a little.]

Do I have to.

[ It's more of a statement than a real question or argument, and she sits up, expression bleary. She's going to down a solid half of that chocolate milk right away. Dairy is good. Kissing might be better. ]

I'm not going to feed you myself, so yes.

[Isa's sitting close enough that their shoulders can touch, because she knows Lea does better with physical contact. kissing might be better than dairy, yes, that remains to be seen.]

Ugh.

[ As if she's not already sitting up and hasn't drank a little over half a glass of chocolate milk in one go. She's going to lean against Isa pretty heavily, but not so much that they're uncomfortable. She will take the bowl on her own, at least. ]

Smells really good.

Hopefully it is, it's been a while since I made this.

[she'll go quiet while she's eating, unless Lea has anything to say. at the moment Isa's thinking about all that happened in the limited time they both had with everyone, and if there's anything pressing she should mention besides the Xigbar bullshit.]

[ Everything. Tell her everything. She's quiet and still kind of out of it until she starts eating, then she sighs, or rather exhales through her nose, since she has the spoon in her mouth. ]

Yeah, it's really good.

Good.

[the problem is that a lot of what she might say has to do with either Xehanort, who's a moot point, or Xemnas, who she's assuming Lea would be happy never hearing about ever again in her life. finally, after a few minutes of eating and also thinking so hard Lea can probably hear it, she sighs, and nudges Lea's shoulder with her own.]

Hey. I've got some bad news that doesn't really matter now that you're here and not there, but.

[ Normally she would've picked up on it and having Isa speak would be a relief, but she's so tired and trying to shake off depression that she had just kind of zoned out eating. Now, though. ]

I haven't had nearly enough mac and cheese to deal with this, but sure. What happened? Or is it going to happen?

Some of each, I'm not sure. Xigbar isn't dead, and isn't who we thought she was. If we were all pawns to Xehanort, Xehanort was a pawn to her.

[god, imagine if they'd known before everyone went back, that feels like a plot change that could only be good, if they just had someone hop the wall and go beat on Xigbar until she actually died.]

What.

[ Mac and cheese is good but she's looking at Isa now. ]

Excuse me?

[i tried to find the Sora version of that gif and i couldn't, idk where i put it. B( Isa looks contrite, but this is moderately important and has to be discussed at some point.]

It seemed weird she didn't just appear in Radiant Garden again as Braig, but it never occurred to me that it might be because she wasn't dead. Anyway, how's your history knowledge, did anyone ever tell you much about the first Keyblade War?

[ Where's Jiminy when you need the crickets? ]

I know there was one. Go back for a sec. What do you mean, Xigbar's not who we thought she was? Who was she, then?

She's part of a group of people that was around before the first war. Her job was to watch over the keyblade Xehanort had, as it passed from person to person, until it ended up with someone who could bring about the second Keyblade War.

[she's already doing better at this than Axel did, partially because she has more context for a lot of it.]

[ Wait. Hol' up. She raises a hand to stop Isa there, even though it seems like she's stopped on her own. ]

I was under the impression the first War was like, centuries ago. A thousand years, something like that.

I think it was only one century ago, I'm not sure. But she was body-hopping just like Xehanort.

[we won't even go into the fact that Ven was around for the first one, that's more bullshit than anyone here needs right now.]

[ Processing this. Xigbar has been bodyswapping for a hundred (or more) years. Xigbar. Lea puts her bowl down in her lap and pinches her arm to make sure she's not still asleep.

...

She's going to reach over to pinch Isa. ]

[ur gettin' swatted, miss.]

Quit that. She's also been looking after a box this whole time, but no one knows yet what's in the box, so that doesn't matter as much.

No. You're saying Xigbar's not dead, that she's some ancient puppet master from the first war. But what I'm hearing is that things aren't over and there's shit we're going to have to take care of back home. Can anyone tell me how we know there's a box, or how we know space case is still kicking at all?

[ Like are you shitting me right now. ]

We don't, for our version of things, but between the fact that she didn't reappear in Radiant Garden and what Axel showed me from the game, I'm guessing there's still something going on. Things went differently for us with Sora, but everything else seems to be about the same.

[we can stop talking about this and switch to makeouts any time--]

[ Makeouts would be so much better than this!! ]

So it was in the game. That's how we found out. So anything could happen at literally any time.

Yeah. But I don't know, I didn't get the sense that it would be imminent. And besides, it's usually at least a couple of years between visits.

[Isa's through eating, she's gonna lean on Lea now. P: ]

Or maybe we disappeared and we'll never go back and they'll have to deal with a whole new disaster without us.

[ She's only saying it out loud because she knows Isa knows she's thinking it. She's going to stuff the rest of her bowl into her face because fuck this. ]

I'm pretty sure neither of us would be as crucial as the people who've been handling keyblades for years. Besides, why would it stop sticking copies of people in when they're here?

[there's more in the kitchen, she made a lot. now Lea's getting a sideways hug that doesn't get in the way of eating food.]

Some big cosmic joke.

[ Clearly to personally target and kill everyone she loves. OBVIOUSLY, ISA. Lea's grumbling as she finishes her mac and cheese, but she is finishing it, and will want more later. ]