Characters: AU!Roxas, AU!Xion and YOU(Yes, you)!
When: Early to Mid-morning
Where: Starting in what's now an abandoned subway station
Rating: G to PG-ish? No swearing, but mild horror undertones.
Summary: Guess what Nesreca people. You've got some fresh meat.
(
And now for a change of scenery )
"...Come on then."
Taking the initiative was hard. But staying there as it was- It was harder. Facing the reality. That they couldn't go back. She took uncertain steps away from it, heading back towards the way they came. Ever attentive of Roxas, watching him out of the corner of her eye. She had been the idiot that had run off so focused on the impossible, after all, and in the end, that had cost him rather than her. So, she would look out for him. And make sure to at least set that right.
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It didn't take too long before their path took them back up the stairs she'd descended, his line of sight slowly sweeping about as he once more took in their new surroundings. Honestly, it was off-putting to say the least; to go from a city so full of life to one so almost senselessly desolate was an exceptional shock. And while the thought of giving Lucen back his life was concerning, more immediate worries came in the form of the basic essentials. They'd need to find food, water and shelter on a reliable basis if they were going to stay alive long enough to get to the bottom of this and hopefully, find a way to their new home... where yet more troubles awaited. But that was something he'd concern himself with later.
As their steps settled to a stop, he gave another quick study of their area before he speaks up again, "So where should we check out first? It's a whole city and I doubt we'll be able to cover it in one day."
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Seeing as it had eased, she left up the rest of her hold. But that didn't stop her from looking around, trying to find some place near by that might hint towards what she was looking for. A little more focused on that than the conversation at hand, it took her a second to really hear what he had just asked and another couple to actually process it. But finally, a dumb blink and then a nod. "-Yeah. ...Yeah, I know. ...We probably won't be able to, but..." ...She finally glanced at the building that seemed to be the least damaged of the ones in the surrounding area. "...Let's start there maybe?"
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When Xion points out a particular building, he nods and takes the lead. Old habits kicked in as a study of the area and comparing it to what he knew of started allowing him to draw conclusions. Though heavily damaged and overgrown in some places with untended greenery, he was willing to hedge a bet that with all the taller buildings that they were in some kind of business district. From what he could tell of the structural remnants, they stood in the intersection near an office park.
Roxas watches his step as he approaches the shattered glass doors, nothing but metal frames outlining where the panes had been and stepping through the opening carefully. The lobby he'd entered seemed as devoid of power as the rest of the city, so he was willing to bet that they'd need some proper flashlights or at least a torch to see what the deeper parts of the building had.
"Watch your step." He warned, sounding somewhat distracted as he was busy trying to think of where they'd be able to procure the supplies he knew that they would need.
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Her eyes trailed what could be seen so far of the building. Fortunately, there were enough windows at the front entrance that the lobby could be made out clearly, but as the main hallway stretched out before them, it was finally swallowed by darkness. A darkness that made her uncomfortable without any manner of light to manage. She tried for a moment to contain a fire spell in her palm, but it was useless. With a quiet sigh and a shake of her head, she studied the rest of the layout, noticing two doors, both located on opposing sides and still likely on the outer perimeter of the structure. And that meant more windows.
She headed over wordlessly to one of them, assuming he'd follow, and tried the knob. It gave easily... but then when she made to push it open... "It's stuck. I think something's blocking the way." She frowned as she rattled the door.
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When she started toward the door, he followed without saying anything further, observing as she was met with little success in getting the thing open. Taking a moment to run a few of his own thoughts through his head, an idea finally came to mind.
"Do you think this place could take it if we used a Firaga to blast through?"
Roxas knew she'd bring up the potency of their spells, but the grim smirk on his face said that he already had an idea of how they'd circumvent that obstacle.
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She had been in the middle of shaking it a bit more when Roxas offered up that suggestion. She looked back to him, skepticism undoubtedly clouding her expression for a moment. Hadn't he seen what little her spells had done back on the subway platform? But as she studied him, she slowly collected that look to him. That perhaps her first thoughts weren't exactly what he was hinting at. And that made her raise a brow. "I'm not sure, but... What do you have in mind?"
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"You remember how not long before we came here, I remembered how we were linked?" At this point, he's expecting an odd look or some question as to the relevance of that to their current fix, but whenever the look or comment comes, he'll explain as soon as he sees or hears it.
"It's a stretch, but I was thinking that if I just kind of relaxed, started that part of a spell where I'm gathering power for it while holding your hand and you did the whole motion of casting, you might be able to channel both our power and that just might work."
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So, she stood there. Simply biting her lip and letting a minute pass. But she knew the more time she relented on the idea, the more suspicious Roxas would become. And so, finally, with an air of reluctance, "Let's... Let's try it." Her voice came out soft, but the hand had that came out to grip his less injured one was firm as if she were grounding herself to this idea. Her glance falling back on the door.
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When her hand gripped his, he paused a moment. "Let's just change this real quick..."
He shifted their grip so his hand rested over the back of hers, his fingers loosely intertwining in hopes that somehow the gesture made it all work better. Besides, he figured that if she was casting, her palm would need to be clear to provide a 'firing point' of sorts to release the spell from.
Taking some comfort in that contact, he doesn't say anything further for a moment, letting his breathing come in slow and measured breaths as he went through his trained motions to draw power for their spell.
"I should have enough power in another second or two. You can start your part of things whenever you're ready."
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But then her attention was back on the task at hand. Listening to him, how he settled. And then... Then she felt something. Like she was starting to channel her own strength, but the thing was she hadn't even been concentrating on it even a second ago. And then realization hit her right then and she wanted to pull away. But instead her hand tightened around his fingers roughly as if to anchor herself. Just this once. Just this once. And with that thought, she narrowed in on the situation at hand, hand flexing before a fire spell, noticeably stronger than any of the ones she had cast before, tore from her palm and nailed the door. The force of it caused it to fling forward, whatever had been blocking it rolling back from the explosion that crashed the moment the spell had impacted.
Xion kept her hand tightly bound to his a moment longer, too caught up staring at their work to mind the taxing handle on his fingers.
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Either way, the result and the fact that the blast didn't set the building on fire was something he took as a positive note, allowing himself to grin at what he looked at as their momentary victory.
The tight grip Xion had on his fingers didn't escape his attention, Roxas offering her a reassuring smile, "Not bad, huh? Must've been one of the reasons why we were such a good team back then."
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Turning towards the now open frame where the door once stood, she started in first. Quiet... but then off hand. As if what he had mentioned had been not even a second ago even while she had let almost a minute's time pass.
"...We really were. A good team back then, that is. But I don't think I could see us that way just because of that." That link...
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Still, while she'd been lost in thought, he'd taken the liberty of recovering his belongings and advancing into the newly cleared area. While the effort had been impressive, he didn't see anything that was immediately useful. But he at least was consoled by the notion that if they needed some of their more potent magic to aid them, a cooperative effort like that had a good yield.
"It's not just because of that. I just figured that it was part of it, that's all."
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