[aim log/completed]

[repliku]

Character(s): Repliku and Xenos
Content: Haunted sleepover indeed. After a somewhat restless night, the clones decide to do some more exploring... but it leads to a somewhat diastrous result for Xenos.
Setting: Fortress of Darkness
Time: Tuesday
Warnings: None, except Repli's mouth.

He panicked a bit, thinking he was still in that place he'd dreamt of - then realised thast Repliku was using his stomach as a pillow, and that he was biting a toss cushion.

BRILLIANT.

He squinted around the room and then remebered where they were: the mansion outside Paixao, the dwelling place of the (late) Sorcerer Ansem.

He hadn't slept well. The dreams that he'd had were - well.

Some had been disturbing - he'd been wandering an empty house, then suddenly sunken into the floor and drowned int he dark he'd thought was solid stone.

Some were simply surreal - a palace, a library, men he thought he should know but didn't recognise at all.

The worst one was the one about the mirror. he'd been in this very room, alone, and glanced at the mirror only to see himself reflected darkly - amber-eyed and mad and when he touched the glass in horror, his reflection siezed his wrists and started dragging him through the glass.

everything is coming back to me, the true--

"Mmm..."

Indeed, Repliku had abandoned the somewhat uncomfortable pillow for his brother's general abdominal region, nuzzling his head against his brother's shirt. An arm was draped lazily around Xenos to keep the older clone in place so unnecessary movement would bother his sleep.

Still, now that Xenos was awake, Repliku frowned as he felt things shifting and cracked open an eye to protest when he realized exactly what he was doing.

"AHHH!"

Quickly letting go and getting up at the same time, Repliku lost his balance and proceeded to fall backwards with his back colliding the floor rather painfully.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL??"

Repliku did not like mornings.

Xenos jumped. "Gah-- Repliku are you all right--" He flailed to the edge of the bed and peered down. His brother did remarkable rug impressions--

Then he realised how close Repliku was to the space under the bed, remembered another part of the mirror dream, and started looking frantically around under the bed for anything with eyes.

first had come the eyes, and then the ink-vice tendrils - he'd seen them in the mirror and then they all burst through and coiled aorund him and tightened like a closing fist and his reflection just SMILED--

"Ow, fuck," The clone hissed, righting himself and sitting up. Goddamnit, he really hated mornings... and what the hell was that? He was about to apologize for apparently using Xenos as a human pillow, but his brother seemed to be occupying himself with looking under the bed.

The clone raised a brow.

"There's no monsters under the bed if that's what you were wondering. I mean, if there are, they don't come out during the mor-"

And that was when he had a brilliantly evil idea. Repliku's body suddenly jerked downwards as if being pulled under, and he flailed his arms a bit for dramatic effect. "AHHH!"

Yeah. Xenos could probably see he was being stupid, but hey, that's what happened.

Xenos YELPED and grabbed for Repliku, then realised he'd just been punked severely. With vigor and candor.

"Damn it--" he spluttered, and started attacking his brother with the gnawed pillow. "You wouldn't think you were so hilarious if you had the dreams I did. Gah. I am never, ever, ever looking up anything on the information network again if you tell me it's 'cool'." He gave Repli one last bap and then sulked.

Tentacles indeed.

The almost horrified look on Repliku's face turned into one of glee as he caught the look on Xenos's face. He fell for it! He found himself laughing so hard he didn't even try defending himself when he was attacked with a pillow. Alright, maybe he deserved it a little...

"What, you had nightmares? Awww..." Repliku 'cooed', although the fact Xenos was sulking made him soften up a bit. They must have been pretty bad if they were freaking Xenos out that much.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't know you had a bad sleep," He apologized, lifting himself back onto the bed. "But they're just dreams, Xenos, it's not real, so don't get too worked up about it..."

Repliku wasn't even sure if he himself dreamt at night. Everything came up blank for him.

Xenos stopped sulking a bit (and thus stopped looking like a rained-on cat). "I'm sorry. I know - I know it's not real. And I know you were just joking. And you really did do a remarkable impression of a guy being molested by some sort of amorous land squid? it's just..."

He sighed.

"All that nonsense from Vexen about me looking like Ansem, and just - the way this place felt last night. it's as if everything landed on my head at once. I dreamt of my reflection, only it wasn't mine - and he tried to pull me into the mirror..."

Repliku couldn't help but grin again. Yeah, he guessed he did a good job at freaking Xenos out... but this wasn't really the time, was it? He listened to his brother describe the dream, and just shook his head.

"A dream's a dream. If you let it creep you out like that, you're not going to be prepared for anything else we might face."

The words sounded a bit harsh but Repliku didn't want his brother to be scared of something as meaningless as a dream. It was nothing but pictures of his head, and if he let them scare him, who knows if Xenos would be ready to face other things? Repliku hated to think of his brother being... weak, even if it was normal to be scared of dreams. He just didn't want his brother to be like that.

"What I mean is that, you should ignore it and focus on more important things. Forget what Vexen says - he doesn't know jack shit."

Xenos nodded. "That's quite so." And telling Repli about the dream helped. It made it seems less - looming and inescapable. In daylight (dim as it was), the nightmares were just shado-puppets on a sheet.

But he stood and tapped on the mirror anyway, then made a smug face at it.

"Vexen was more than likely lying to me. If I could find a painting or a photo of this man, it would help. And - and even if I do look like him I am not him so what does it matter?"

Repliku nodded. That's the attitude he was looking for. Though, if it didn't matter, that was like questioning why they were here in the first place. But the fact is, Xenos's original might hold the key to why... well, why Xenos was like this in the first place. Repliku just felt like something here wasn't right and that they would find the answers here.

Hopefully...

But no matter what, Xenos was right. He wasn't Ansem, and that was what mattered.

"That's right. I'm not Riku and you're not Ansem. We're us," He added, as a note of finality. "But I guess we might as well stay and look around anyway, since the sun is out. Thank god."

Ahh, sunlight, how he missed thee.

Xenos smiled. "Yes. i - gaaah. There are too many damned shadows here. even when I had the light spell cast they were everywhere. it's as if - it's as if this place is the yin to Paixao's yang. or when Paixao was built all the darkness they cast out--"

fall to the darkness

"--All of it went here..."

He rubbed at the side of his head. Great, was he hearing things, or just remembering his dream? ...Ah, damn it anyhow. Who cared?

the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes

"Hmm..." That was an interesting way to put it. But it was creepy to think that this place could seriously be the opposite of Paixao and rule over shadows. Maybe that was Ansem's intention for building the place. Either way, this small 'fortress' was dwarfed by Paixao's size, so he must have either gave up... or died before it was completed.

"Well, it's not like we're going to continue what Ansem did here. We're just looking around," He shrugged, kicking at the floor as he grew impatient. There was a whole floor and then some to explore and the boy was itching to look around.

He noticed Xenos rubbing the side of his head and frowned, wondering if his brother was still getting headaches. It looked like this was a bit more serious then he thought.

"Xenos, are you alright?"

Xenos said, "I'm fine. I think I stood up too fast. Head rush." He brushed the last of the dust off his sleeves, then said, "Well - shall we see if we can find the library? Or SOMETHING written? All that's in here is probably dust and baroque carvings - unless--"

He pounced on a dresser and started rummaging through it. MAybe Ansem had a journal?

"Alright, if you say so..." Repliku shrugged, but the look of disbelief on his face betrayed what he was really feeling. This wasn't... something normal... he just wished he could figure out what it was before it drove him mad.

Speaking of insanity.

"What are you doing?"

Xenos was halfway into a drawer now. "I'm looking for a journal. Or - maybe hidden paperwork. People hide things like that if they're afraid of what others might think of it. remember how Vexen had things squirreled away all over the place?"

He sneezed.

"Maybe there's something like that here."

These were - really ostentatious clothes.

Oh. Journal. That explained it. Except he had no idea if this was even Ansem's room or if Xenos was even looking in the right place. Who hid a journal in your drawer? That was so juvenile and girly, if this Ansem really had something he wanted to hide, it would be in a book or even in a room of it's own. This place didn't look... studious enough to be a study.

Yeaaaah.

"I don't think he would have hid anything here. We don't even know if it's his room." Repliku was saying this partly to just get a move on. This very room was starting to irritate him simply by looking the same.

"That's tr--" Xenos sneezed again. Ugh. "..true. Argh. Yes, i think moving on is on order. Too much dust..."

he closed the drawer and smiles sheepishly at Repliku. Then the smile got impish. "Vexen hid his journals in a drawer."

Leaving Repliku to cackle at that, he lightly kicked the door open - and got another brief flicker of a headache. Don't be so disrespectful toward doors, young man, one never can tell what might be behind them...

"Actually, he left them lying out in plain daylight, because he's an idiot," Repliku smirked, remembering that well. Ah, well, that was Vexen, and he thought they were dealing with someone slightly smarter than that.

Keyword was thought.

He followed his brother out the door and frowned again when Xenos sneezed. Was he allergic to this place or something?

"Did you catch a cold?"

"oh." Xenos blinked. "Vexen. left his journals. Out in-- well then, he's a colossal fool and clearly doesn't know the first thing about keeping his research away from prying eyes." He crossed his arms and snorted. "What a complete imbecile. One would hardly believe him to be a genius. I wonder sometimes how he managed to create replicates at all."

Xenos looked a little imperious as he spoke, and his voice was pitched a little differently. He himself hardly noticed it. Vexen annoyed him. Annoyed, annoyed, annoyed. If they ever ran into the man again he'd

show him precisely whom the master is

...he'd get something for his headahce.

"I'm fine. let's - find the library..."

Ugh, the library. Repliku wasn't too fond of books, but that was the most logical place to look, wasn't it?

About to nod and follow his brother, the clone stopped, pausing as he listened to Xenos speak. It shocked him - Xenos sounded very... un-Xenos. Like something else within him was being vocal about his dislike for Vexen.

... Maybe he just really, really hated Vexen.

"I wonder if he had food here. Well, it's probably all moldy and shit now, but man, I'm hungry." Repliku decided not to bring it up anymore. it was obvious he wasn't feeling well, lord knows he didn't need his brother nagging on him about that constantly.

Maybe they were just really hungry.

"I am, too. Maybe here's something here we can - borrow, and sell?" Xenos looked mischievously at Repliku, then made a beeline for a door that looked as if something librarylike might well exist behind it.

At first, when he turned the doorknob, it caught - he thought it would be locked, and they'd have to kick the door repeatedly. He didn't really want to do that, but - well.

When he tried again, though, the latch clicked open. Odd. But it'd been--

Oh well.

He pushed the doors open and was struck right between the eyes by a flying wave of deja vu so massive it almost knocked him flat.

i lived here

Ahh, now Xenos was talking. Repliku gave a wide grin in return - he had a point. If nothing else, they could loot the place. Hey, no one else was here to use it and it wasn't like it was a crime if it happened outside of city limits. Did Paixao even deal with crime? Maybe this would have been completely legal anyway.

Caught up in thoughts of food and thievery, Repliku didn't note this time the apparent look of shock Xenos had when entering the room and trotted right past him, taking a look around. It was the library - who would have thought? Xenos sure had a knack for finding his way around. As if he was here before...

"Wow, how do you do it? You know just where to go." The clone observed, turning around to face Xenos.

"... Xenos?"

Xenos said "Erk," or somethng very like it. This was starting to get unnerving. He shouldn't have been able to just - FIND things like this. Bedrooms, then the library and...

He went to the book-cases as if he was being pulled there by a magnet .

"I think I've ... I think I've seen..."

One of the names on the A-shelf leapt out at him. Azal. Volume 3. The day and night sides of human souls and hearts. The necessaity of both. Balance. Yin and yang. And the disastrous conesquences of too much of light or dark...

"Huh?"

Xenos wandered to the book cases, muttering how he thought he saw... them? the books? this room? this place?

Repliku was worried, but he felt somewhat... annoyed at the moment. Not at Xenos, but at himself for not knowing what was going on. Either way, this was something he couldn't help with, it seemed, so he merely followed silently.

He hated not being able to do anything. Really.

Repliku was unusually silent as he chewed over this.

Xenos, a little afraid, held out the book.

"...Do you - do you recognise this name at all? Did Vexen have this book?"

Vexen seemed keen to keep Xenos the hell away from his books. Xenos sncuk them anyhow, and hid them under his bed and around rooms. He read quickly, too. he'd read anything he could lay his hands on. ...And Repliku got bored with him. Whoops.

"I'm sorry about being so quiet."

he never had much patience with my methods. rush, rush. how nice to be so young...

"Uh..." Repliku frowned, leaning to look at the book. Azal. An interesting title, but he knew nothing of the book. Then again, even if Xenos had snuck it in before, he wouldn't have remembered. Repliku didn't read Xenos's books.

"Sorry, I wouldn't know... and it's alright, take your time," Repliku shrugged, trying not to sound bratty or childish. His brother didn't need that at the moment. "I know you like books. There's probably some valuable stuff here anyway that I could ... take."

Xenos hee'ed at repliku. "There more than likely is. You can feel free to do that."

i could never let my knight be at a disadvantage after all.

"I'm just. i don't know exactly what I'm looking for. All I have are these naggy little familiar feelings, and I don't even know what they're about. And I'm whining and being annoying. I'm..."

There was a desk over there!

Uh-oh, he was getting apologetic again. Repliku attempted to do damage control, countering Xenos's flood of apologies with his own assertions that there was no need to apologize.

"It's OK, we came here to find out more about you, right? So just look around and ... you know, if anything is familiar it's probably important, I guess." Repliku felt odd, being the one to give Xenos advice. Usually he looked to the other clone for counsel but his problems were usually getting someone out of the way without killing them, and that was about it.

Repliku was very glad he held no memories from his original. He supposed he would have been bothered to have ghost memories that were not his own as well.

Watching Xenos trail off, Repliku followed his gaze to the desk. Wow, that sure stopped quickly.

Xenos took a step toward the desk.

This could be a terrible mistake, really. What if he found something here that he didn't want to see? What if someone still lived here, and that someone came home and found them? Repliku would stab him a lot and then where would they be?

He sat down in the desk chair without thinking, and this time it wasn't just a flicker of ghost-memory. It was an avalanche.

Unaware that Xenos was contemplating the possibility that the house was still inhabited, Repliku immediately went on his sacking spree, pulling out random books to see if they were switches or if they had clues hidden inside them. It seemed silly for him to think that the library had some hidden treasures, but hey, it could happen!

"... Not really," Repliku answered his own question, tossing a book over his shoulder. Forget this, there had to be valuable things in the various drawers around or something.

Xenos had a white knuckled grip ont he edge of the desk now and he was breathing shallowly and too fast. he was dizzy. His head hurt. And the bits of memories, their shattered fragments - they all hand points, and the points HURT.

"...I c--"

those without hearts...
i shall send her out onto the ocean of worlds
darkness. darkness within the heart.
so you have come this far, and still you understand nothing?
the heart that is strong and true shall bear the keyblade
o princess, your purpose is fulfilled
riku. i can see your heart.
my body is too frail for such a journey, but i must do this
it is i. ansem. the seeker of darkness.

"--Ow," he said, and fell out of the chair.

Walking towards a drawer, Repliku was about to give is a thorough investigation when he heard a thud on the floor, turning his head.

"XENOS!"

What the hell? With barely that thought, Repliku scrambled to his brother's side, checking him for any injuries. What happened? Were they being attacked? Repliku, naturally paranoid and now in hyperdrive, called his sword to his side and glanced around for any sign of an enemy, any intruder...

But his fears were unfounded. Xenos didn't have wounds whatsoever. At least, none that he could see. No blood, nothing... What happened then?

"Xenos? Are you awake?" He gently shook his brother, trying to coax the other clone awake. His voice shook with worry; what was going on?

"Ow," Xemnas said again, and curled up with his head in Repliku's lap. he had a raging migraine now, and he thought he was hearing whispers in the shadows. "I just - I must've - triggered a spell or something. something like that. Just. There were memories. Ones like I keep having but there were more and they were so clear and - gah. pointy. If a memory can be pointed these ones were like saw blades. Or... Ow."

He opened his eyes, then shut them tight. "Aaugh all right light is bad--"

Repliku shifted so that it would be easier for Xenos to lay his head on his lap, looping an arm behind Xenos's neck for support. The clone was babbling for a bit, something about memories and ... saw blades? Did it hurt to remember that much at once? He could only guess Xenos had some memory overload... but why? What caused it?

Even stranger was the apparent sensitivity of light. What? How could that be? Either way, just opening his eyes caused Xenos a great deal of pain and Repliku hunched forward to shield Xenos from the offending rays.

"It's OK, I can take you back to that room... I'll close the curtains and stuff," He quickly offered, desperate to get Xenos somewhere safe. This place... This entire place was bad for him!

"I'm sorry about this," Xenos said, and he remembered (ow) someone like Repliku, but with bright green eyes - someone looking at him with completely unhidden longing. Someone who he'd hurt?

No. Not him but - before -

"I'm sorry about everything..."

Naturally, Repliku didn't understand whom the apology was meant for, but he didn't care at the moment. Xenos didn't have to apologize for anything... what did he do? It wasn't his fault that this place was messing around with his head.

"What for? You didn't do anything, it was... Vexen and his damned experiments..." Repliku hissed the name with hatred, firmly believing these recent problems with Xenos were all his doing. If he ever saw Vexen again he'd -

"... you can still stand up, right? I'm not that strong," Repliku sadly admitted. He'd kill Vexen later, he had to get Xenos somewhere safe first.

Xenos sat up, then stood a little shakily. He beamed. Ha HA. He wouldn't take this nonsense lying down. not by a long shot.

"I - aa. I'm dizzy but I'm not finished off."

hardly finished - i gave you the dark -

"...I think I - I'll stay away from this desk though."

The desk? Repliku gave it a glance. It seemed to be any other normal desk... He stood up as Xenos did, ready to give his brother a helping hand. He was still worried about Xenos, though little did he know that if he were in Xenos's position he'd a helluva lot more stubborn about getting help in standing up.

"Xenos, if you're not feeling right, we gotta get you somewhere to rest." Repliku nagged, sounding like an overconcerned mother (or girlfriend). He couldn't help it though, Xenos was his brother and if anything happened to him ...

Xenos made an it's-no-big-deal-really gesture in the hopes that Repliku wouldn't worry so much and this feeling of horrible guilt would go away.

my knight, what have i done, what sin have i committed against you...

"...I just want to look for one more thing."

He'd gotten an image of notes in a drawer. All of them labelled as reports, and written in a code that he could somehow read. He tugged a drawer open carefully. "I'll be fine. I promise. If I gets worse we'll leave."

Repliku shook his head, grabbing Xenos's hand before he could open the drawer. If Xenos got knocked out just sitting on a desk, he didn't want to spare his brother any more pain. Whatever was in that dresser had to be important if Xenos was going to rifle through it, and it would probably...

"Let me do it. I'll hold whatever's in there until we get back to Paixao. If you're going to faint again, I'd rather you do it in a place with a hospital and shit," Repliku explained, and he forced the drawer open, reaching in to grab whatever was inside.

His fingertips brushed against some paper and he pulled out notepaper, with some... stuff scrawled on it. A code? He showed Xenos the papers, but held onto them in a manner that showed he wasn't going to let Xenos read them until they left.

Xenos tried to look at the paper, but - no dice. Repliku had the business side of them well hidden.

He scowled a little.

"I'm not made of glass--"

It was completely useless to argue with his brother. he knew that very well. Repliku made granite plaza sculptures look downright portable and wifty, with how damned rockheaded he could be. even though Xenos knew that the writing was hidden for his own good he had an almost frightening urge to grab the notes.

"Xenos, you fainted because you sat at a desk."

Repliku let the sentence hang in the air for added effect.

"Exactly. I think we should just leave, I think we got enough for now," Repliku added, not sure if he wanted to come back either. This place was alright enough but he didn't like the reactions Xenos had to this place. It was like he was just allergic to it.

"I'm serious. I think we should go. I'll let you read the notes, I promise." Repliku nodded, grip still tight on the leaflets of paper. Was it just him or did Xenos look like he wanted to snatch them right out of his hand...?

Xenos drooped. "I know. it's absurd. I - it had to be some latent enchantment. Some sort of triggered spell to - to - keep anyone not the master of this palace from--"

What in hell? He knew Ansem's NAME so--

"...You're right. we should go."

The longer he was here the more he was sure he saw shadows moving where they shouldn't be.

"I want to look in the basement first, though, just in case."

He really didn't. What.

Repliku raised a brow. The basement? What the hell were they going to do there? No, he said that they were going and that was final, if the normal levels of the house caused such terrible reactions to Xenos lord only KNEW what the basement would do. Lord only knew what the basement even held.

"We're not going to the basement. We're going back to Paixao." Repliku stubbornly insisted, grabbing Xenos's arm and jerking him towards the door. He was sick of this stupid house.

Xenos growled when Repliku grabbed his arm. He jerked his hand away, and snarled softly at his brother.

"You would dare to command me?"

with that he turned on his heel and strode out of the library, his pace quickening until he was running outright. he didn't bother with the stairs; he vaulted over the railing, and, crossing his arms over his heart, willed his descent to slow. He landed on one foot, looked over his shoulder to ensure Repliku was following, and grinned.

He lifted one hand and beckoned.

"Come."

Hearing xenos growl, Repliku immediately let go as Xenos jerked his arm away. He flinched at the harsh, commanding voice that Xenos used. and could only watch as Xenos started to go out, with a stride that soon turned into a jog.

"XENOS!" He called out, watching his brother jump over the railing. What the fuck?? Had he gone INSANE? Repliku ran to the railing, the notes clutched to his chest as he watched Xenos order him once more before going off once more.

Repliku was aware his breathing was echoing in the halls.

"XENOS, GET BACK HERE!" Repliku snarled, but he wasn't like his brother. He practically flew down the stairs, taking the steps twice at a time and running after the... the thing that possessed his brother. Stopping right in front, he let out another shaky breath, pointing a wavering sword right in Xenos's face.

Oh God, I don't want to do this...

"... Xenos... Just... stop right there. Don't move."

Xenos stared at the sword.

soul eater.

He put a hand on it, looking as if he were sleepwalking and still wearing that eerie little smile.

"O knight, where is your keyblade? Or has your heart weakened once again...Riku?"

"Wha...?" Repliku frowned. Xenos obviously wasn't right, but what was this? He knew damn well that he wasn't Riku, so it could only be...

"... Ansem." Repliku snarled, though the name was meaningless to him, unlike it's meaning to Riku. He didn't care what deal Ansem and Riku had in the past. But if Ansem was possessing his brother, he wasn't going to fucking stand for it.

"Let my brother go." He said this with more conviction, the wavering gone as he jerked the sword away from Xen- Ansem's hand. No, that thing in front of him wasn't Xenos. He looked like Xenos but he wasn't acting like Xenos. Ansem had his brother and he wanted him back.

"...I am..." Xenos closed his eyes. "am - reborn rightfully. I understand now that I was a fool. everything casts a shadow in a world of light, and thus must there be two sides to each existence. light and dark. Before, I was incomplete..."

He tilted his head back, arms raised.

"it's so clear now. So perfectly clear. I was so blind. I was a fool--"

The smile vanished and Xenos wavered a bit.

"godsbelowwhathaveidone."

Repliku shook his head again. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was like he wanted to just shake the entire thing out of his mind, because this had to be an illusion. Reborn? Incomplete? Goddamnit, he didn't care, xenos was none of those. Shaking now from complete frustration, Repliku found himself at wit's end.

Xenos. He wanted Xenos.

"GODDAMNIT I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" Like a mad animal, he lunged forward, the notes hitting the ground like his sword as he grabbed Xenos's shoulders, shaking the clone fiercly.

"YOU'RE XENOS. XENOS. MY BROTHER. NOT ANSEM, NOT ... NOT ANYONE ELSE, YOU'RE XENOS, WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP DAMNIT!!!"

Xenos yelped as Repliku collided with hm at high speed. he overbalanced and crashed to the floor with his brother on top of him. His head hit the stone and he squeaked, then saw stars.

"Anghh--"

He clutched at his head and twitched. He felt rather like he was going to experience lunch in reverse now, and - he felt divided. Split in half and pulled apart. He was going to be ripped in half if something didn't give and his head hurt--

"WAKE UP DAMNIT!"

The pulling feeling ended in a snap that made Xenos's whole body spasm. He YOWELED, then went limp and stared at the ceiling, gasping for breath.

"...gnhngh. n-never want to do that again--"

Repliku wasn't thinking when he practically attacked his brother, crashing into the older looking clone and sending them both on the floor. He was too determined to get him out and Repliku was still shaking him and screaming and -

He stopped when Xenos yet out a yelp of pain and went limp, quickly letting go. Repliku let out another shaky breath, practically gasping for air.

Did he... did he...

""...gnhngh. n-never want to do that again--"

The clone was silent for a moment, listening to the quiet mumble of his brother. He hastily remembered where he was and scrambled off Xenos, at his brother's side the next instant. Yet he didn't touch Xenos, simply stared with a horribly concerned expression.

"X-Xenos...? Are... are you OK?"

His voice was unusually soft. Needless to say, Repliku was terrified.

Xenos rolled over and clung to Repliku for dear life, shaking a bit.

"There was someone else inside my head. Someone not - but - there was no one. Only myself. I'm - I'm - not...I am not Ansem. I - I can make my own destiny. I am my own m-master. I'm not Ansem."

Repliku clung back, awakwardly running a hand through the shaking clone's hair as he tried to calm his brother down. He barely heard Xenos's babble though; Repliku was more scared about what he was doing prior to that. Was that... was he really Ansem? Did he actually lose his brother for a second?

Augh. He had enough. They were going home.

"... We're going back to Paixao, OK?" Repliku asked, voice still wavering in shock. "As soon as you've recovered, we're going back tp Paixao. We're going to leave."

It made him feel better just saying it. The door was right before them but it seemed like an eternity before they could exit.

"I want to leave," Xenos said. "I'm through with this place forever. There's nothing at all here but ghosts, shadow and dust. A monument to ruin, and a reminder never to make the same mistakes again."

He found Repliku's heartbeat really comforting. He started purring, and there was a little bit of a rattle to it, as if his motor was misaligned.

"I'm still Xenos," he said "I promise I am."

Repliku looked down, really looking at his brother for the first time since he ran out of the library. He looked like Xenos, he acted like Xenos... and his eyes. There was that glimmer of light shining in them. He really was Xenos. That was a fucking huge relief. Repliku actually sighed this time as he nodded, simply listening to Xenos rumble. He did that sometimes. More proof he was Xenos, not some batshit crazy fucker who was supposed to be dead.

"... I dropped your notes." He announced, looking behind him to the papers that lay scattered behind them. "... Do you still want them?"

Xenos looked at them.

He made a face.

"Not anymore."

with that he slid his head into Repliku's lap and closed his eyes.

"i'm going to sit here until the room ceases to go around and around at high speed. Sorry. I don't - no. I know what came over me. memories. Vexen replicated me. but not-me, since I'm not Ansem and I never was Ansem. I'm Xenos. No one else. Your brother. I promise."

He rolled onto his back and looked up. His pupils were dilayted in the dim light, but the light was back in his eyes, and he no longer looked half-asleep, amorous and megalomaniacal.

Repliku nodded, letting Xenos rest on his lap. Some people might have thought it was odd they were this close but goddamnit, he was terrified back here. He was just relieved to have his brother back.

And he didn't want those notes. Good. Repliku forgot all about the sword, though it had long gone by then. Whatever.

"Yeah, get your strength back. I think you hit your head pretty hard when I tackled you." Repliku laughed a little nervously. He actually thought he killed Xenos for a moment. Him. Killing Xenos. God, never again.

"I saw stars," Xenos giggled. "Ow. Ouch. I'll heal though. I promise you."

He wasn't Ansem and really, he never was Ansem. He thought they'd given him another name, once but that didn't matter. Nothing did but here and now. Repliku and living this life. If he was reborn, it was for a reason. To begin anew.

And if he wasn't reborn, and was only what he was, that was just as good.

"love you."

Repliku winced a bit. Stars? Did he have a concussion? He would move Xenos's head to check, but that was a bit counterproductive, wasn't it? He remained still until Xenos decided when he had to get up. Even if his legs were cramping a bit and he felt like his back was going to give out. Oh god, people should not stay in positions like these.

But all the pain seemed to melt away when he heard those words from Xenos. Repliku gave a faint smile. He could stand being like this for a couple more minutes, then.

"Love you too. Even when you scare the shit out of me. You know I'll always be there for you anyway."

Repliku just wanted his brother to know that he wasn't alone. Plain and simple.