The World that Never Was, and then Room 206 Once More - Tuesday Evening
Kairi's head was spinning, and all of her skin tingled. That girl. Naminé. She was gone. She had disappeared.
Kairi didn't mean to make her disappear. And there was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong, and a wave of grief that didn't even feel like hers, and she still had no idea who most of these people were or what was going on.
She sank to the ground and watched her toes for a few seconds. Her toes made sense. She was going to sit here, with her toes, until everything else started to.
Riku rested a hand on her shoulder. "Breathe," he said to her. To both of them. "You're all right."
He owed her an explanation. Possibly a long one, depending on whether she'd had a chance to talk to Naminé. All of that would have to wait.
Valentine couldn't look up. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't.
Valentine couldn't.
He would try, but it all fell apart inside of him, and then his legs gave out under him, and breathing turned into choking and shaking and gasping, and she was gone. She had said she would leave.
She was gone, and Valentine couldn't...
Jamie reached over to Valentine to help pick him up of the ground.
"Valentine... I'm sorry."
Someone, something, right there, was trying to help him back to his feet.
But Valentine didn't want to be on his feet, didn't want help, didn't want ...
"She..."
Oh. Oh, he was... standing up. Okay. He could do that.
"She's."
Damn it, speaking would be easier if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't breathe. Or think. Or do much except want to fall back down again.
Jamie looked at Valentine square in the... eyeholes?
"It's not going to end this way," Jamie said firmly. "This isn't how it's going to end for her. I know it is."
Sokka looked around in shock, and wandered vaguely over to Valentine, because he'd promised her he would... no, Jamie'd got Valentine, for now. That was good. So he headed over to the girl who looked nothing like Naminé. "Are you... all right?" he asked. And then he added, with a sad little sigh, "...Any chance you can give her back? Or something?"
"I'm sorry?" Kairi said, looking up with wide eyes. "I didn't mean to. I didn't do it on purpose."
She'd vanished. Why had she vanished? Kairi wanted to sit and talk to her, and she was gone.
She had the strangest impulse, then, to hug the boy in front of her and say something about snowmobiles. Snowmen. Snowmonsters?
Her head hurt.
"It doesn't work like that," Riku said, squeezing the hand on Kairi's shoulder. "Are any of you hurt?"
He was standing somewhat protectively over Kairi. These were friends of Naminé's, they had no reason in the world to threaten her. But it didn't stop him from shifting his weight instinctively, and letting them know that, if they did, they would have to get through him first.
Jamie was looking at Valentine.
"Define hurt."
"We're fine," Sokka told him. "We're just..." He sighed. "She knew. She knew..."
He looked over at Valentine, and then looked deep into Kairi's eyes. "I'll watch out for him, for you. I promise."
Yurika shook her head, still in shock. "No, no we aren't fine, and Naminé isn't fine, either!" The glare she shot Riku spoke volumes. "But it doesn't work like that, right?"
"No, it doesn't," Riku said, holding her gaze calmly. "They'll be whole again. That's the best I can give you."
Riku was relieved that Kairi was safe, although worried about how she was adjusting, and not at all looking forward to the lengthy conversation they would need to have. And somewhere underneath that, he was thinking of how Naminé had borrowed Kairi's form to find him, when he was drowning in light. The months they had passed in Twilight Town, when he would visit the White Room as she sketched. He knew better than any of them that Naminé wasn't gone, but in his own way, he would miss her, too. How maudlin.
Sokka turned his eyes on Riku. "What's-his-name is wrong, you know." His brow furrowed, as he tried to remember the name of Naminé's nemesis. "The guy who thinks he's a good guy but isn't. Uh... Mr. Dizzy. He doesn't know the first thing about Nobodies, if he thinks they don't have hearts."
"She has a heart," Valentine mumbled quietly, gaze on the floor and pit in his gut settling somewhere inside of his head. "DiZ was wrong, everyone was wrong. She has a heart."
Has, like she's still there. Stupid, stupid Valentine. It's over.
"She was whole already."
Over and she's gone and he wanted to crumple up and rip himself to pieces and drift away.
"I'm always with you," Kairi said, looking up suddenly. She didn't know why she said it, it just stepped out of her mouth without ever going past her brain. Which was okay, since her brain was pretty fried at the moment.
She looked over at Riku. "I don't ..."
Could he do something? Please?
"I know," he said, nodding. He turned to the group. "We can't stay here and talk. This fortress isn't safe. I have to get her to Sora. Did you fly here? I can get you to your ship."
Portals were handy like that.
"No ship," Valentine was saying, words rolling past his lips that meant nothing to him, while he looked at the floor, didn't dare look up. Up was her, and she had swallowed Naminé away and everything was spinning and stopped and dead in his head, even while his lips stated flat truths that meant nothing to him. "Just a portal. From home."
Home.
Home would be so empty. Rather not like home at all.
"Naminé brought us here," Sokka elaborated. "And she's... uh. She's... I guess we need Sora's ship, too."
"You don't," Riku said, shaking his head. "I can create portals, too. I just need a location."
"Room 206," Kairi said, not looking up. "Fandom Island, Fandom, Virginia."
Sokka nodded, looking sadly at Kairi. "Naminé's home," he whispered.
The portal closed behind them, leaving them back in dorm room number 206. There were drawings and paintings on the wall, there was a bed that hadn't yet been made today, and everything seemed cold.
Valentine's room. Their room, hers and his and theirs.
But his, because it was just him now, wasn't it?
He didn't say a word as his gaze turned toward the pictures hanging on the wall. Crayon doodles and smears of paint that they'd so casually look at and smile over. Her handprints.
He couldn't breathe again.
Sokka stepped up and silently put a hand on his shoulder.
Valentine looked at the hand on his shoulder for a moment, staring as though he'd never seen a hand in his life and was attempting to figure out what sort of sense he was supposed to make of it.
Sense wasn't happening, so he just gave a small sort of nod, and then looked at the floor again.
Jamie looked around and shook his head. "This isn't over, everybody. I've seen her down the road. She comes back somehow. I know it."
"She'd promised that if there was any way at all, she'd find it," Valentine murmured, looking up again.
He took a deep breath. Exhaled. Took another. That's right. She promised. Promises were...
"Down the road...?"
"She's going to get back. I've seen it and I know it's going to happen. After all the crap I've been through in the past few weeks it's the only think I can hope for. She'll be back. I know...." Jamie paused and grinned. "I'm Jamie Madrox. I know stuff."
"You're Jamie Madrox, and you're a weirdo," Yurika corrected, poking him in the arm. When in doubt, revert to sarcasm, otherwise she'll start screaming. "Either of you dorks going to walk a girl to the weapons locker, or do I have to go alone?"
"Hey! Just because I'm weird doesn't mean I'm right," Jamie said walking to the door with Yurika. "She's coming back. I swear!"
Sokka squeezed Valentine's shoulder. "This is Fandom. Anything's possible. We'll get her back."
He looked around the room at all the pictures, all the evidence of Naminé's presence filling the room. "I'll hang out here for a bit, if you want me to."
Valentine had watched them head for the door, not bothering to say a word.
Even if they had all decided to stay in the room, he'd be standing there alone.
...
But she'd promised.
(OOC: preplayed with the excellent importantman, multi_madrox, sarcasm_guy, and dojima_hime. NFI. The return to 206 (without Naminé) is okay for broadcast, the rest is NFB for distance. OOC is love.)