[COMPLETE]

[crepusculine]

Who: Zack, Naminé
When: Shortly after the Hojo-fiasco. (So, a few days ago.)
Where: Upper level, Zack and Nami's place.
Rating: to be updated
Warnings: to be updated
Summary: Zack and Naminé reflect on the entire kidnapping mess.

Comments

[zacked]

Not thinking about it, in Zack’s opinion, was the best option there was.

There wasn’t really anything to be said of the matter, he thought. What had happened-it was over and done with. (At least for now.) Naminé was safe, Kairi was safe-that was what counted, right? That they’d made it out and done so without any real harm? (Couldn’t say without complete harm, because he knew it had at least been quite stressful for both of them.)

… ah, yeah. Whatever. Zack was glad to be home and glad to have Naminé with him.

Anything else-

Not going there.

Following Naminé into their home, Zack also took off his shoes by the door (along with the Buster Sword), stretching afterwards. He blinked and looked around, arms folded behind his head.

“Never thought I’d be so glad to see this place,” he commented, almost absently. “How’re you feeling, Princess?”

[crepusculine]

Naminé gave that question due consideration before nodding briefly as she turned to him completely. "I'm all right. Kairi's safe." That was all that mattered.

She slipped over to Zack, arms winding around his waist suddenly so that she could hug him tight.

Maybe there'd been a brief, brief moment in Hojo's house that she'd been afraid of not making it out of there alive. It was hard to keep in mind the knowledge that one would come back in this place, after all, and it had been the last thing on her mind at having a mutating Hojo coming after her.

Pressing her face into Zack's chest, she exhaled. "...Better now. Everything's better."

[zacked]

Zack nodded slightly, moving then so that his arms could fall around Naminé’s waist, certainly holding her every bit (perhaps more) as tightly as she held onto him.

He would not say-

(But he knew.)

… it felt good to hang onto her again, to be able to be like this without having to worry about dark approaching or other separations.

And Zack just had to admit, softly and entirely serious, “Don’t expect me to let you out of my sight any time soon.”

[crepusculine]

Naminé exhaled and only nodded, fingers clutching tight at the fabric of his shirt. "I don't mind, so long as you don't expect me to let you go."

The tiredness she felt then was very sudden in its onset; there'd been little sleep for her ever since Zack had been banned from the upper level (even that one night she'd slept on the stairs and woke up achy and sore as a result), and she imagined with how much he'd been working, sleep had been scarce for him, as well.

"...I still need to ask Medea for my powers back," she sighed, but didn't seem inclined to release him just yet.

[zacked]

Zack nodded. “I don’t have a problem with that,” he answered, honest. To him, right in that moment, they could just cling to one another for the rest of time and that would have been quite all right with him. (Certainly, nothing like that would happen again, if it were so.)

“So why don’t you?” was the next thing he said, referring to asking Medea for her powers back. The Gods came when and wherever you called them, right? So it could be over and done with right then and they wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

… not that Zack was all that inclined to release Naminé, either.

[crepusculine]

She nodded briefly, but made no immediate move just yet. She stayed in Zack's arms, cheek pressed to his chest and soaked up the warmth and comfort being near him always offered.

The rest of the world rarely mattered when they were like this.

And hey, she decided it didn't necessarily require her to move away from Zack in order to summon Medea. She merely tilted her head slightly, looking skyward (ceiling-ward?). "Medea?"

[zacked]

-hey, that was fine with Zack. His only response was to lift his head in curiosity, so that he could see when Medea arrived.

Which was, of course, within the next moment. Her expression was something unreadable then, different from that lightness she usually carried, and she had her arms folded across her chest. For a brief second, she just watched both of them, before she spoke. “Yes~~?”

[crepusculine]

Naminé couldn't help it; being in Medea's presence always made her nervous. Perhaps it was because ultimately, this being could easily keep them apart and make their lives extremely miserable, or... be their best friend and hope for having a good life there.

But her nervousness never stopped her from smiling, and this time was no different. "Thank you," she said, "for helping us get Kairi back." Because sealing Naminé's powers was helping; Hojo never would have agreed to meet with her otherwise.

[zacked]

If Naminé was nervous, then Zack definitely wasn’t. Then again, he was used to seemingly crazy people having massive amounts of influence over how easily (or difficult) his life went, being a part of ShinRa and all, so he wasn’t much worried about it; he knew how to handle things well enough and how to play by the rules.

To Naminé’s words, Medea gave a slight incline of her head. “Of course,” she answered, softly. (As ever, revealing nothing.)

[crepusculine]

The blonde hesitated again. She reluctantly pulled away from Zack so she could face Medea proper, hands lifting and fingertips touching lightly together in that shy way she had.

"If it's not too much trouble... I'd like to ask to have my powers unsealed again." Because being without them felt unpleasant and weird and so very... not herself.

[zacked]

Medea watched Naminé for a long moment, considering the request. She hadn’t been happy to seal them in the first place-it was effectively making her play along the game of some mortal and she resented that-and now she showed the same reluctance in unsealing them.

“I will never meet another request like this from you during the rest of your stay,” she said flatly. “Your powers are to be determined by us. Not by you or by any other mortal in this realm.”

[crepusculine]

Naminé quickly bowed her head and gave a short nod. She was all too aware of how much she owed Medea for doing what she did. The image of how things might have gone otherwise was -- no, Naminé didn't want to think about it. Not now, not ever. Hojo likely wouldn't have killed Kairi, but there were fates far, far worse than death where that scientist was concerned.

"I understand," she said quietly. "I'm sorry..."

[zacked]

Medea closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. It was difficult, sometimes, dealing with these mortals, but this was what she had chosen, wasn’t it? And Medea would not-could not-admit any sort of defeat. (At least she could soon leave this place and go back to Asclepius, who, whilst possessing a certain frustration all his own, did not give her the headaches mortals could.)

Without so much as opening her eyes or moving a hand, Medea then returned Naminé’s powers to her. “Was there anything else?”

[crepusculine]

She could feel it, the moment her powers were restored, and a tension she hadn't realized was in her body eased and suddenly, the world was wonderful again. Simple as that.

Naminé offered Medea a warm smile, then, sincerely grateful. "No, ma'am. Unless there's something I can do to thank you for your help."

[zacked]

“If I think of something, I’ll let you know,” Medea replied. And she would, as well. But, for the time being-there was nothing she needed or wanted, aside from simply to return to her own realm and think not of this further.

Which was what she was going to do then, actually, since she had completed her given task and was not much in the mood for pointless socialization. “Now that I am done here, I shall leave you be,” she said, vanished and already working on finding Asclepius before anything else could even be said.

[crepusculine]

Naminé nodded, watching as the goddess disappeared from view. For some reason, she still felt... ...

She turned to look back up at Zack, smiling faintly. "I guess she's still angry with me." And Naminé felt both bad and bitter about that. She didn't usually mind Medea all too much, and to upset her, well... it brought on a sense of guilt that served to annoy her because she didn't agree with any of them being in this place, anyway.