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Twelfth ★ [Video | Filtered from Aqua]

[...A feed during the attack? Seriously? There's only a brief glimpse of gold eyes beneath a hood before the SFC is tilted so only one of the kraken's tentacles can be seen. It takes five seconds before a deep, almost blank voice filters through the darkness.]

What do you do when you've been lost to despair. [A pause as disks of light(?) are tossed at it from behind the speaker.] What is it that you do when you lose sight of the hope you'd kept alive until now and realize that you don't have what it takes to protect others by your own power?

[He's silent for a long while, seemingly focused on dodging the retaliatory actions of the attacked appendage... until a black hand suddenly shoots electric shocks of the same white and pale blue energy at a now writhing mass of flesh.]

Tell me... What does one do with oneself then-?!

[Click.]

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Wouldn't it be wise to share that burden with others? [a beat] Even if one loses hope, it is possible to find it again.

[Yeah, she should know... even though she died discovering it again.]

[Poor thing...]

[Riku's hold on himself and the SFC waver slightly as the creature behind him attacks, heart constricting in his chest at the very thought. He'd become monster in his own eyes... so how could he face someone else like this, let alone those he knew and trusted?]

...I can't. [The tone just doesn't match the voice; scared and conflicted, in a voice that was always overconfident and arrogant.]

Then being alone would cause more sadness, more despair. Is that what you really want?

If it saves them... ['Is that what I really want, though? To pro-']

—Hnngh!

[There's the sound of an SFC clattering to the ground as both hands reach up to grasp either side of the head of one that didn't belong to him—a roar from the beast connected to his shadow shielding him briefly before vanishing in a swirl of the very darkness it's made of.

"Why did you seek power?" There was that voice again, asking him the same question as it always did. It never stops asking, and yet he always hesitated like he couldn't recall the answer.]

There's... someone back "home." Someone I have to—

['—protect.' It's all he's been thinking about since the door began to glow; all he's been able to think about since way before he could even begin to recall. Always in some manner, yet his heart... He's never been able to follow it. How can he now, when he looks so much like—?

In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings...

He can remember that voice so clearly now, but the face... It's almost as cloudy as Aqua's was. This stranger, that power he has yet to find...

His voice is heavy, mixed with so many emotions it's almost hard to tell where his begins and the shadows end.] ... "To protect the things that matter."

...I want to be home. To protect the ones— [—I love.] that need me.

I understand. [There's a small but kind smile forming on her lips] It is difficult to want that while trapped in this world. To be here while the ones who need you are far away...

Edited 2011-10-11 05:36 (UTC)

[He's silent for a while, and he hasn't even realized that the SFC, when dropped, changed to a video feed. Amber eyes are closed tight as he grimaces, fighting off all the hopelessness and the sting of listening to the heart he'd scarred so much with his own choices. It hurts to think about after a year and a half of waiting, knowing that it's only been a year back home, but feeling it being so much longer since he'd seen their smiles. One may be here now, but...

It would be a lie that he couldn't tell she was hurt just because of his condition when he couldn't help it.]

It's all I've ever wanted, yet I keep losing sight of that wish. ["—you know, like my friends!"] Why I even wanted this power to begin with.

Perhaps if someone would help you find what you have lost... will that ease the burden you feel?

[...Was it even possible to find himself within the black abyss he found himself in? No matter how many times he's tried, all that's happened is that he sees his face instead of his own.]

Is what's lost truly found? [Or is it remade?]

I believe anything is possible but... do you wish for it to be found?

[He glances at the screen, and seeing that face... he can't help but be reminded of another person. The methods may be different, but the effect is still the same.]

Of course I do.

Then you must seek it out. Being passive in your endeavors is possibly the worse thing you could do.

Edited 2011-10-11 07:20 (UTC)

[The man's silent for a moment before he wearily stands again. The creature doesn't reappear, and no blade comes to his aide... but that's just fine. He picks up the SFC with one hand, generating a shield with the other before slipping through the darkness at a faster rate than should be possible. He can't fight like this, can't protect anyone... so instead he appears farther away, still able to see it yet (relatively) out of harms way.]

['...Kairi.']

You're right. And if I let this win... [His voice changed just thinking about her; it wasn't deep, didn't match with the face he held now. Younger, uncertain, maybe even scared to see what his friend's reaction would be if she woke up to see this face. Yet there was still determination behind it. He couldn't just stay the way he was if she was here, still needing him to protect her—and everyone else—from harm.

He closes his eyes, and everything goes black. So tired...]

[Suddenly he was falling. Falling... but to where? He was so weary, he couldn't quite open his eyes until he felt as though something were about to crush him completely. Darkness... It was tightening its grip on him almost as if it were afraid it would lose a heart that it had won from the Light. It was familiar, but it never was this bad before... Was it because of his-?

Yet the Coat and false appearance disappear in the brilliance of the light that came into being as his feet touched down on what first seems to be sand, only to change into stained glass of many nostalgic hues when he steps forward. The colors dimly lit the area he found himself in once again—one he always fell in while he dreamt, but wasn't he awake—? The voices outside echo in his mind as if they're ghosts: Aqua's kindness, Katsu's similar determination, Tsukasa's aide, Mami's method of knocking some sense into his head, Amaterasu's mother-like and heavenly aura... Her red markings...

Sora's peaceful, sleeping face. Kairi's warm smile. That stranger's once-blurry appearance... It's all there, in the faint glow coming from the platform of his soul.

"We have waited for you, Riku."

"Who's there?" Riku looks up and all about him, but sees nothing but black and mist. "And what are you doing in my-?"

"Outside this tiny world... Is a much bigger one."

Riku blinks, but nods. Three items appear about him, and he glances at each of them. He can see himself in each of them, and as "Voice" speaks up again, he suddenly understands why.

"The power sleeps within you, still. Should you give it form, it shall give you the strength you need..." These weapons... They're a part of his heart? No, more like aspects of it. "Choose well."

He doesn't even think about it, walking right toward the third object. The boy can see it within his mind's eye: himself jumping between Sora, creating a barrier between him and the assailant. This was the power he had sought all along: to be the shield his friends and those who would ever try to hurt him again. As his hand approaches the metal, he can hear one thing very clearly:

"In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings..."

"The power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?"

A smile crosses his weary lips. He knew that is what he still desires; to protect those who mattered most to him... yet now it's so much greater. He wants to protect everyone from the threat on their second or third home and the forces that had once claimed him; to never fear the voice at the back of his head. The answer's a resounding, "Yes."

"Then through this simple act of taking, it's Wielder you shall one day be."

"Now what will you give up in exchange?"

Tired eyes look at both objects that remain. In the second, closest object—he could see himself causing large earthquakes, untold amounts of earth rising up from the ground as pillars, strong spells and a fierce determination etched across his face. Would he give that aspect of himself up, or-? ... He stared the only other object; it was sharp, unyielding. A sneer crossed that self's lips as he cut down any and all in his path. Yet it wasn't his eyes behind it—there was no warmth, no kindness from his old self.

"This is who you are meant to be, Riku. Who you truly are!" came the voice he always dreads to hear; one he fought so long to cause to fade entirely from his Heart yet could never shake off. Without a second doubt, he takes the final steps toward the object he knew would change the fates of countless others. He isn't a killer, and this would prove it in his mind.

"And you will find me, friend."]

[Riku took hold of the sword's hilt, hand resting under the blunt side of the double-edged sword he knew far too well. He knew this power, and he was ready. No matter how much this power had once seemed so very appealing—

"The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Do you give up this power?"

"No ocean will contain you, then."

The images fill his mind once again as he stares into the cold, metallic surface of the blade he holds in reverence. The darkness overtaking his home because of him, the faces of Alice and Jasmine in comatose states with the other Princesses because of him, Kairi's lifeless eyes... All of it was his fault...

Burdened by these thoughts, he lowers his head in shame. He'd clung to the others from the dark for this power—Maleficent especially. Now that he could see clearly, it was this power that caused him to be lost in a void that made him unable to see what was really in front of him. ...It was time.

"I already know the price behind this 'courage;' how many times it's hurt those who I cherish most...," he thinks, lowering himself to his knees. "I can't do that to any of them again. Take it; destruction was never the path I sought."

The blade vanishes, and he can feel himself beginning to sink once again through the same darkness that the sword was made of. It didn't wish to let him go, but this light... He didn't want to let it go, either.

"You've chosen the power of the guardian, yet given up the power of the warrior. Is this truly the power you've truly sought after?" ...The voice said that like he would ever change his mind. With that defiant thought, the voice chuckled. "That is very much like you, Riku."

"No more borders around, or below or above."

"You chose the path that began in Darkness. The path has not been an easy one for you, I know. Yet should you continue... you shall see the rising sun awaiting your journey's end."

He's falling again, weightless—the dark no longer gripping his heart like a vice. He was almost free... Sora... Kairi... Caden...

"So long as you champion—"

"—the ones you love."

[It's just barely audible, barely picked up as he lies there face-first on the wet and blood-stained street. Before he can even awaken, the SFC picks up on a flash of something in his right hand. Not dark, but not quite light, either...

Then it forms into something solid, Riku's grasp on it's hilt tightening as he begins to stir. It's also completely automatic that the blade points directly at the kraken's tentacle, firing off a blast of what appears to be blue fire. . .]

Thanks.

Ah, you're welcome, but are you... all right now?

Edited 2011-10-11 15:10 (UTC)

Even if I'm not now, I will be soon enough. [He pauses, then chuckles.] I didn't introduce myself...

Riku.

... Riku-san. [She gives a bow to the camera] My name is Mami Tomoe.

Nice to meet you. Though, I wish you didn't have to see me like this.

[If only Mami knew all the double meanings behind that one sentence. Then she'd probably understand why a smile still didn't touch the "man's" lips.]

It's a pleasure to meet you too.

[she shakes her head] Mmn, it's all right. We all lose our way sometimes.

Really need to kick that habit.

[He said that out loud, didn't he. ...Oops.]

Oh? Then perhaps you do need someone to guide you, Riku-san.

Twelfth ★ [Video | Filtered from Aqua]

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[voice] Why do I not have an Ansem crying- oh wait. :| /DONE

/pat pat pat

/patted. ;__;

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