Wednesday, December 21st, The Midnight Channel (Last Night!)
Who: The Port's Latest Shadow Televisions Stars! And Thousands of Home Viewers!
When: Midnight, Wednesday December 21st
Where: In front of your Television Sets or Streaming NV TV. (Digital Cable? You'll still get the analog effect.)
Summary: Full Plot Details Here
Warnings: Please Put 'em In the Subject Lines As Necessary, Kids?
( Can you set me free from this dark inner world )
When: Midnight, Wednesday December 21st
Where: In front of your Television Sets or Streaming NV TV. (Digital Cable? You'll still get the analog effect.)
Summary: Full Plot Details Here
Warnings: Please Put 'em In the Subject Lines As Necessary, Kids?
( Can you set me free from this dark inner world )
The space out ahead of the camera looks a lot like your average Sector 4 neighborhood, with a single line of houses showing off to the right. It's also a typical Siren's Port night scene, complete with the Darkness' grime and rot, and distant shadows betraying the location of at least some of the monsters roaming the area.
A man moves stiffly into view. He is half-wrapped in an unzipped leather coat that's seen better days: one sleeve has been torn away to make room for the gnarled plates of armor that cover his left arm, some of the coat's seams are threatening to unravel, and the material itself bears jagged gashes, even though the clothing underneath it appears undamaged. In his right hand, he carries with him a long, key-shaped blade, black and red and, like its surroundings, showing distinct signs of decay. Two yellow eyes adorn the key: one is set into the far end of the weapon and one swings freely at the end of a keychain clipped onto the blade's pommel.
Terra's shoulders are rounded into a slump and his armored arm is crossed over his chest. His free hand clutches the beaded chain on the leather coat. He turns toward the camera, wide eyes flicking this way and that, from the camera to the nearest house to something off in the distance, back to the camera, back to the houses, pinpoint pupils on irises of his usual gold searching endlessly. He walks on, slowly making his way toward the nearest house. The camera follows him.
His hand trembles slightly as he untangles his fingers from the chain.]
A lot of people believe that they can keep themselves safe from the Darkness with enough locks on their doors. With enough Darkness-proofing.
[He shakes his head, his expression fearful, despondent.]
That's not true. The darkness is already inside your house. It's deep in your heart and it's there to stay. Watch, you'll get swallowed up. It's only a matter of time. And then the Darkness will catch you, too. It'll take everything from you.
[Stopping at the door to the house, he points his Keyblade out in front of him. The whites of his eyes flash with his increasing anxiety.]
Your family, your home, your friends. It'll cut into you as the darkness in your heart is cutting out.
[A thin beam of light fires from the end of the key. When the light reaches the door, it ripples over the surface, working its magic. It takes a few moments, but there's finally an audible click. Terra tenses where he stands.]
You'll have nothing left. Nothing but all that darkness, some of it that's yours and some of it that belongs to another. Darkness from monsters.
[The camera zooms in on the door as it swings open. For a second, there is only silence and stillness. The end of his Keyblade drops to rest against someone's porch as the camera pulls back. Then the Darkness surges. A flurry of shadowed figures pass by Terra, some of them all dark and some marked by beady, glowing eyes. What little can be seen of the house's interior fast turns to ruin.]
That's how monsters are made. When you get to thinking you've got it under control and then you wake up and it's... it's the other way around.
[He sucks in a breath as screams rise out from deep within the house. Hunching over further, he backs away, eventually turning to follow the sidewalk to his next destination.]
I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.
[The camera hangs back a moment, waiting to record another phenomenon involved in the destruction: as the clamor inside the building dies down, a brightly glowing orb makes its way out one cracked window. It floats amiably to the retreating Keyblade wielder - or, more specifically, to the hand he outstretches as he walks off. Around his fingers, a dark flame has whisked into view. The orb vanishes in his grasp.]
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I didn't want to be a monster. I never wanted to be one. I was going to be a hero and protect the light. But I wasn't good enough. I tried... I really tried, but I was too dark and I was too weak and everyone could tell. Maybe they could tell all along. What a failure. What a terrible Keybearer, he'll let the worlds down.
[A pause. The next few words have a peculiar emphasis to them.] He'll go astray again.
Turn into a monster.
[He slows before the next house, staring forward and down. There's a visible shift in his countenance, the horror and dismay replaced by something more subdued. More numb. His back straightens and his voice reflects the change, too: when he speaks again, his words drag their way out.]
It's okay, though. [He sighs, hefts his Keyblade up, and another house falls. More literally, this time. He draws back but waits as the shadows ravage the building's occupants... and then the building itself. Darkness- darkness, with a purplish cast, flecked with spots and veins of pulsing orange, rips through all the forms of rock and glass that make up the house. A number of monsters retreat from the shifting pile of rubble left behind. That house produces five of the glowing orbs, each of which is drawn and engulfed by the light-less flame Terra summons in his hand.
The tears still grace his cheeks despite the composure that has, at least for the moment, taken him over.]
Once you reach that point where all you have is the darkness, everything can be different. The darkness is power. Even if you do lose your heart... Even if you end up cast into the deepest, darkest abyss, your heart consumed, your body darkness... You'll have the power you've needed all along. Power you can use to make things right for the people who matter. [He reaches his left hand out and closes it over nothing.] Any price can be paid then.
[The slouch returns as he glances at the camera out of the corner of his eye.]
Why don't you come out? I can show you... I can show you what it is to be a monster. To have the power you need to truly keep important things safe.
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[The things that are in our hearts and minds deserve to stay there. Learning about friends from friends is a privilege. Not something he wants to learn by accident. That's why watching Terra's midnight channel makes his stomach turn. He knows exactly who's to blame for the this. Even now, after he's gone from the port, he's still ruining things.]
[Terra has his friends, his most important people now. They understand him the most, and know the intimate details of what he's been through much better than Sora. But still. He still remembers what it was like when Terra reached out to him.]
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[He had hoped everyone he knew would be.]
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[He has last night's shadow fiasco to blame for that. Wouldn't you know, getting brain-boggled is tiring.]
You?
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Don't think either of us'll get to sleep now.
[A small laugh as he clicks the send button.]
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[Like Ven. Terra suspects Ven and energy drinks would be a very bad combination indeed.]
No. It doesn't seem like it.
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It felt better knowing somebody else was awake too, you know?
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And then sometimes, we'd talk about stuff we did in the past. Things we wish we did, and then other stuff we wished we could do all over again.
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After everything was over and we went home, me and Riku got to talking once about darkness.
He and the King said that we're afraid of the darkness, because of what's lurking in it. But really we need both. Darkness and light. Two sides of a coin.
I told Riku once, that the most important thing to remember about having darkness inside your heart and doing thing we regret... is that it's not all you are. The kind of person you are is everything else too: the people you protect, the friends you make, even just wanting to do the right thing. Even if we make a couple mistakes along the way.
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I've got to go, Sora.
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