Day 53: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

The commotion just after the intercom's jingle displayed the same kind of erratic energy that the Head Doctor had been exuding all day.

"Come on, get those papers out of the way - no, I don't...! Ah! Good evening, everyone, and I hope you all enjoyed the activities we had to

Comments

Re: M57

[itwillbecome]

The nurse had swooped in again, much to Terra's chagrin. She seemed to be under the impression that he was a child, with the way she grabbed his elbow and used it to steer him through the building. He kept an eye out this time at least, trying to remember the twists and turns of the near identical corridors (and there were a lot of corridors!) and he was sure that this was a different room to the one that he'd woken up in, but he hadn't exactly been in the best state of mind to appreciate the difference when he'd first woken.

The nurse kept talking, something about a roommate and that was fine with Terra because he could do with the distraction right now. Silence left him thinking too much and he had a lot to think about right now with this place and Riku and the shadow of Xehanort and Master Eraqus looming large over him, the loss of his friends an diquieting constant ache at the back of his mind.

The room was pretty much the same as the one from that morning on a cursory glance; bland and white and clinical, but that wasn't really what caught Terra's attention. Not when there was a man in the middle of the room doing squats and that head of spiked black hair was awfully familiar.

Terra took a step into the room, blinking in surprise, brow crinkled in confusion. The kid looked older, like Riku did and that kind of added credence to Riku's words earlier. But it was unmistakeably the kid from the Coliseum, the one that Hades had manipulated. "Zack?"

[zack_fair]

When the door opened, Zack had almost been expecting to see Locke's face there. Instead, he was greeted by someone a bit younger, who looked at him almost as if he knew him. He tilted his head at the kid for a second, but was further taken aback when his name was used.

"You know me?" he asked with a grin. Had the nurse told the stranger his name? But no, she would have used the name "Lance" instead, so...

Maybe he was just gathering that much attention. He didn't really think he'd done anything to merit that much notice, but he'd also ended up with a fan club back home... without really realizing how it'd happened. He'd made First Class and the next thing he knew, he'd had fans. Which wasn't a problem, of course, but that was Gaia and this was somewhere else. So who was this kid?

"But yeah, uhh, that's me," he said as he moved closer to his desk, giving the stranger his hand. "I'm sad to say I don't know your name, though. Care to share?" He didn't mean to offend, but this whole thing had been pretty unexpected.

[itwillbecome]

He'd been expecting a warm greeting, full of Zack's trademark enthusiasm and instead he got this. The grin was familiar, but there was no recognition in Zack's eyes. It was as though they'd never even met and Zack's next words just confirmed that. Zack didn't recognise him. Terra's face fell at the knowledge, his happiness at seeing a friend dimming somewhat. Another jolt that struck hard, after seeing Riku again, grown up and changed.

He stepped further into the room, a little awkward now that he could rely on shared memories. Or maybe... maybe Zack had just grown up and didn't recognise him? He looked a good deal older after all, memories could fade, right?

"Terra," he said. "I'm called Terra. We... we met at the Coliseum, with Hades and..." He trailed off, looking a little uncomfortable. What else could he say? Oh, you got controlled by Hades and tried to kill me, but it's okay, I saved you? Sounded kind of arroagnt and while he wasn't one to put himself down so much, he didn't particularly want to alienate Zack by making a big deal of it. There had been reasons.

[zack_fair]

It looked like he'd said the wrong thing, seeing how the kid's face fell as if he'd just kicked his dog or something. Zack didn't know what this was all about, but it wasn't too long before the young man tried to explain.

The names of both the people and places used in said explanation completely went over Zack's head, however. He blinked, standing there awkwardly as he let his hand fall back to his side. At first he just wanted to assume that the guy had mistaken him for someone else, but he'd said his name. What were the chances that there was someone else out there named Zack who looked that much like him?

The whole thing was just a little bit worrying, but Zack decided that the best thing right now was be apologetic. "I... really don't know what you're talking about," he admitted as sincerely as he could, "but if you explain it to me, that might be good. I don't know why I don't know you if I'm supposed to, but... a lot of weird stuff goes on in this place."

It was disconcerting, and he couldn't really deny that. What Coliseum? And what kind of name was Hades? It sounded more like a summon than a person, but...

No matter how many times he looked at Terra's face, though, Zack couldn't place it. He didn't know the kid, and while he could make up for that now, he felt like he'd already disappointed the boy. Which wasn't the best feeling, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

[itwillbecome]

Zack looked, to be honest, completely baffled. This did not help Terra's confidence any. He contemplated the idea that he'd made a mistake for a moment, but that was pretty unlikely. He had answered to the name, after all, and his look was pretty unique, even if he was older than Terra remembered him. The apologetic tone of Zack's voice just made things sting that much worse.

But he could explain, right? Not that there was much more to explain, he thought, not without getting into things he wasn't certain that he wanted to discuss. "I was visiting the Colisuem," he began, trying to hide his discomfort. "Near Thebes, I think the place was called. I entered the Coliseum battles and you were my opponent. Pretty powerful too and Hades' manipulation didn't help." He frowned, obviously confused. "I didn't think it was the kind of thing you could forget. Although..." he paused, rubbing the back of his neck and looking a bit embarrassed, "you were a lot younger then, but you aren't the first person I've met here who's the wrong age." Him and Riku. He couldn't even imagine how he could have missed so much time passing.

[zack_fair]

Even when Terra said the name, "coliseum" didn't ring any bells. It sounded a bit too outdated for somewhere like Midgar, but maybe there was another part of Gaia that was nicknamed that and he just didn't know? But Thebes didn't ring any bells either, and he was pretty sure he would have at least known one of the two. More than that, he didn't know Terra, so it was no surprise that nothing in his story was familiar to him.

But they had fought against each other? That was something that Zack could believe, since he did have some fondness for competitions. He wouldn't have wanted to beat someone so much younger than him, just because it seemed like overkill (so to speak). What he liked even less was the mention of manipulation, though. Who did this Hades guy think he was?

So he'd been younger, huh? In that case, the fact that they'd been fighting made sense. More than that, Terra must have known him pretty well if he remembered him now. Granted, his hair was pretty hard to mistake, so there was that. "That's weird. I don't think I would have forgotten something like that, either, even if I was younger," he said as he rubbed at the back of his head. "I haven't heard of Thebes, either."

He had no idea what was going on, but his instinct was to blame Landel. Sighing, Zack ended up just shrugging his shoulders as he tried once more to shake Terra's hand. "Well, if we somehow knew each other at some point, then we can get to that point again, right? It's nice to meet you, Terra." He knew they'd already gone through introductions, but he wanted to start on the right foot now.

[itwillbecome]

"No," Terra agreed, still frowning at the revelation. It didn't make any sense that he wouldn't be remembered, but this whole ordeal was proving to be nonsensical in his mind. Maybe his view of what was normal was a little skewed though, by most people's standards. "It wasn't really the kind of thing that someone would forget." He imagined that being posessed in such a way was the kind of thing that stuck in your mind for a good long while afterwards.

The gesture was so familiar though. He couldn't see how Zack could be anyone else than the kid that he'd met. Everything was the same except the age.

This time when Zack's hand was offered, Terra took it, albeit a little hesitantly. He shook it firmly, and at the introduction, a small smile curled his lips. At least Zack's temperament didn't seem to be any different. It would have been worse if Zack had started to hate him or something.

"Yeah, yeah we can. Nice to meet you too, Zack," he replied. And it was a little awkward, and a lot weird, but not half bad.

[zack_fair]

It seemed that something he'd done had been the right thing, seeing how he caught that little smile on the kid's face. It wasn't much, but it counted for a lot considering how weird this situation was between them. More than that, Terra seemed willing to start over, which was good news to Zack. He didn't know how else to approach this.

"So, where do we start?" he asked as he spun around on his heel and sat down at his desk once more. The food there was cold by now, but Zack still did his best to pick at it.

Seeing how Locke had been here just last night, it went to follow that Terra was new here. More than that, he was still pretty young, which meant he could probably do for some direction. "Well, as much as I'd like to learn more about you, I should tell you first that this place isn't as harmless as it tries to seem. If you're heading out tonight" -- had the boy even heard? -- "then you need to be careful."

It was easy for him to slip into mentor mode when he felt the need to, and it made him realize how old he really was. Blegh.