caughtinanetwork | 002 | [dream/video]

The dream starts off fairly simply.

It's a black void. There's no visible floor or ceiling or anything to be seen, but Xion's heels still click as she walks like there was one anyway. Her gait speaks of confidence, her appearance is that of the black haired Kairi lookalike that she considers her own. Despite the fact that there's no destination in sight, her aimless walk is highlighted by some hidden spotlight. This continues for a while, until she begins to approach something in the distance.

What she's approached is a mirror, but what's reflected back is much different. The figure in the mirror has no face to speak of, and as she places her hand to the glass-- her gloves conspicuously absent-- she is startled by the articulate doll joints that now allow her hand to move instead of muscle and bone. She jerks back as if to gasp in surprise but she makes no sound. Putting her doll hands to her face, she's met with a smooth, blank expanse. The faceless figure in the mirror is her.

Her distress begins to build when she attempts to turn away from the mirror and finds that she can't. There's some unintelligible murmuring in the background now, and the invisible spotlight keeps trained on her fruitless attempts to move. Something is holding her back. She can see strings attached to her limbs now, and as the murmuring grows to become full fledged yelling, each voice jerks her bound figure in a different direction.

"The Organization has no use for a broken tool..."

"...They're gonna destroy you!"

"I can't save you, not even a memory..."

"Then come back with us..."

"...What's right for you and your friends, and everyone else..."

Each new voice pulls her this way and that, until she's so tangled in the strings she can barely move. They've wound around he neck, pulling tighter and tighter. Her clumsy doll fingers claw uselessly at her throat, and it doesn't matter that she has no way to breathe, she just wants to scream for everyone to be quiet. It's over, she did what she had to do, what else do you want? But of course she has no mouth to scream with and the strings just pull even tighter as the cacophony of voices finally join her own to say,

"It's time for this puppet to play her part."

[And with that Xion starts awake, the scream finally ripping its way out of her mouth. Breathing heavily, she runs her hands over her face feeling all the features and poking at her cheeks to feel that they really are flesh and blood. That fear allayed, she lets out a slow breath. Her sleep had often been fitful when she still had that choice to make, but her nightmares had never been as vivid as this. Apparently, she'd been wrong to hope they'd leave her be now.]

ooc: Tags will be slow ~~as if they aren't already, sob~~ since I'm out of town at the moment.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They had a habit of just not telling us anything if it didn't help their plans. It took me a lot of digging to even find out I was a replica.

[Her eyes are drawn to the other key in his hand, and then back to him, curiosity glinting in her eyes.]

It's strange... You're from ten years ago my time, but somehow you look just like my be-- my friend?

If Xehanort was a part of it, that's kinda the way he works. He spent years working on this plan to turn me and my darkness into a weapon. Until he was ready, he pretended to be a harmless old man.

Then... he was more than happy to manipulate everyone to do what he wanted.

[ At that comment, he looks away from her. ]

I've talked to him about it. It's... it's a long story.

Xemnas worked like that a lot too. The only reason he bothered to say I was a member of the organization was too keep anyone who didn't know what I was made for in the dark.

[She'll leave that long story for another time, they're both stressed enough as it is.]

I guess we sort of have that in common, don't we?

I've heard that name mentioned before. He sounds a lot like Xehanort.

He didn't tell Master Eraqus what he'd turned me into, either. He gave me enough information to get angry, and let me go home to do it myself.

After that...

[ He nods, and finally does what he's wanted from the start by leaning forward to hug her. ]

Yeah, we do.

[She pauses to consider the potential connections between their two stories. They're coincidences, most likely, and she decides to leave it until she can bring it up to he friends. She opens her mouth so say so but he catches her by surprise.]

--oh!

[She slowly returns the hug]

...I guess you're feeling a bit better now?

[ He sighs, lingering in the hug for another moment or two. ]

Not used to these, huh? [ Meaning the hug. Then.. ]

A little. But what happened to my Master was my fault. He attacked me, and Terra defended me against him.

Mickey said that Master was shielding Terra from Xehanort when he was killed. If I hadn't gone back home, none of that would've happened.

[ It's going to take him a long time to come to terms with this. ]

Edited 2012-05-02 21:23 (UTC)

You just surprised me is all.

[She moves out of the hug to hold him at arms length, looking at him determinedly. Her tone is adamant. In her last few weeks she had to do a lot of thinking on where blame should be placed or whether it really needed to be at all. Letting him think that is just another way Xehanort has manipulated him, really.]

Ven, from the way you say it, if Xehanort really wanted him out of the way, he would have found a way to do it whether you went home or not. You weren't the one who made that strike. You can't blame yourself.

Oh. I think we both kinda needed one.

[ He blinks at her, brow furrowing as time goes on. ]

I haven't thought of it like that before. I guess I've just been feeling awful for telling him I thought he was keeping me imprisoned on that world.

I know it's definitely not Terra's fault. And I... don't even think he knows.

[ And he has no idea if or when he can even tell him about it. Since he doesn't seem to have experienced it yet. Ven's gaze is thoughtful, as he eventually starts to smile a bit at her. ]

[She feels like she's accomplished something when he starts to smile. However she refrains from returning one of her own when she realizes the next conversation she'll be having about blame probably won't be so simple.]

You should tell him. Keeping a secret like that won't help anything, trust me.

[ If this were their own universe, they'd probably already have formed a d-link by now. She's accomplished enough. He rubs the back of his head, and sighs in response to what she's just said. ]

You're right. I just don't know how to do it.

I wish I could say I knew. I've been kind of stumbling through it myself.

[She lets out a small yawn after that. She's obviously fighting sleep now, but since the adrenaline from her dream has worn off it's becoming more difficult for her to hide.]

Maybe we'll be able to figure it out together.

[ His eyes are feeling like they're made of lead. But he won't be rude and presume that he's staying at her place unless she lets him take a couch or something. He smiles a little. ]

Getting sleepy, huh? I'll get going so you can rest now.

I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be in a hurry to leave if you weren't done.

[She hasn't noticed how tired he is, most likely due to her own lack of sleep catching up to her.]

i hope you figure out how to talk to your frineds about it. It helped me when I talked about some of it with mine.

[Nevermind the fact that they didn't know who she was, but details]

Hey, it's okay. We can talk about it another time.

[ he doesn't know if he'll go home, though. Facing Terra and Aqua right now before he's completely calmed down might not be such a good idea. Still, he'll reassure Xion by smiling a little. ]

I'll try. I hope you're feeling better, too. And thanks for listening.

[ :c Well, they probably don't feel very good about having forgotten. He'll try and help them remember once he finds out that Axel isn't really a grownup version of his buddy Lea. But.

He leans forward to hug her again before heading for the door. ]

Hope you sleep well, Xion. G'night.

[ And heading out to go somewhere and think about everything before going home. Hopefully he'll see her again soon. ]

002 | [dream/video]

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