identity wank ahoy

[lamentless]

Characters: Roxas and Aqua to start...Ven and Nams later on since I'm not wasting space making multiple posts for his angsty business.
Setting: People's rooms, though he's going to move around quite a bit.
Format: Whatevs, we coo' guys, we coo'.
Summary: Set after this thread. Roxas, naturally, has to go inquire about this possibility with a few

Comments

[prayerless]

Her eyes flickered down to the string on his finger. "I don't think you would ask about it if it wasn't important to you," she returned softly. But, instead of following up on an argument, she looked back up to Roxas' face before she answered his original question.

"I don't know where Ven was born. We never really talked about it." Especially considering that even Ven himself wasn't aware he'd lived anywhere else besides the Land of Departure for a long time. "He began his training under a different mentor than the one Terra and I were raised by, though. Ventus came to us after something...happened to him." But she didn't think it was her business to say what that was.

She briefly glanced away from Roxas to slip a hand past the knots of her sash and pull out her Wayfinder. Aqua eyed it with nostalgia as she spoke. "But he slowly got better after that day. The three of us trained under the great Master Eraqus. We're best friends."

Following that, she brushed a thumb over the links of the lucky charm, stowing it away again following that. "I'm afraid I don't really know what else to tell you. I'm not really sure what kind of information you're looking for."

[lamentless]

The information took it's time to absorb, and Roxas took an unusually long pause after Aqua had finished speaking. This was a lot to think about- and a lot he could ask about, but the blonde still was trying to keep from giving in to his paranoia.

"Who was the other mentor?" A pause, and he seemed to be getting more anxious-sounding. "Do you know where Twilight Town is? Has anyone ever mentioned it to you?" It was obvious she didn't want to explain about the 'something' that had happened, but he'd pulled the string completely off by then. He had to go through with this, even if he was getting a bit worked up. "What happened to him?"

[prayerless]

"Please don't get upset," was the first thing Aqua said to the slew of new questions. "Whatever possibility you're thinking about, nothing I say is going to help you if you lose your head."

That said, she deemed it appropriate to continue, her voice a gentle calm in contrast to Roxas' urgency. "The other mentor is...was known as Master Xehanort." Her tone didn't change, but her countenance suddenly looked troubled as memories of Terra's fate reared up in her head. "...he forcefully removed all of the darkness in Ven's heart for his heartless scheme."

Her fingers curled in on themselves within the folds of her sleeves, fists clenching in anger at the man who dared call himself a master. "He ruined our lives," Aqua summarized, only a very faint hint of rage working its way into her voice.

A few moments passed before she let her hands go slack, breathing out her masked anger in a sigh. There was no point allowing her bitterness to overtake her. It had been over ten years now. "I'm sorry," the blunette apologized, her calmness back in full control. "I've never heard of a place called Twilight Town."

[lamentless]

He gave Aqua a guilty look when she asked him not to get upset, glancing either way down the hall to ensure they weren't garnering eavesdroppers. These were personal questions, and here he was demanding she answer them in public.

"Xehanort...?" The name felt funny in his mouth, but he didn't even dwell on it. "Wait, darkness? How do you even do something like that...?"

He regretted asking when he watched her face, finally stilling his hands when she offered her apologies. "No, I...I shouldn't be bringing this stuff up." He could at least give her honesty in return, right? "Someone here brought up that...Ven and I might be alternate universes of each other." He frowned, looking like he didn't know what to do with himself physically for a second, before taking up a very small area of the floor to pace as he explained. "I'm from Twilight Town. I don't have any 'Masters' there, just my friends. But there's a girl here...she says she knows me, and that I lost some of my memories. She offered to tell me, but I...was afraid." He stopped, and abruptly turned back to face Aqua. "I don't know anything about keyblades, or magic, or other worlds, anything like that. But we...look so alike, so unless I have a brother I didn't know about..."

Roxas seemed at quite the loss for explanations.

[prayerless]

Aqua didn't seem offended at Roxas' apparent regret. She heard him out patiently, and the look of concern on her face said that she wished she had some way to disprove the theory that was bothering him. But if he didn't remember parts of his life, then there was probably nothing she could use to reassure him.

A few seconds of silence reigned following the blond's worries. "...Xehanort was a master of the Keyblade, just like Master Eraqus. I know you may not want to hear this, but...I think you need to know, Roxas," said the mage solemnly, raising her hand and studying the palm of her glove. "The Keyblade is an unimaginably powerful weapon. Those who wield it are capable of many kinds of creation...and destruction."

She looked back up to Roxas following that, gaze set in some effort of stony dissociation. "Xehanort used the Keyblade to damage Ven's heart. He isolated the darkness from the light and created a monster."

The master took a breath before she ventured, "You probably won't want to do it any time soon, but...I think you should learn to control your Keyblade, Roxas." And then, a little more hesitantly: "...I can help you." She put her hand down after that statement with the intent to get back to relevance. "And, for what it's worth...I don't think it matters too much if you are an 'alternate universe' or anything like that. You're your own person now."

Aqua bowed her head respectfully. "I'm sorry that I can't be of more help. Maybe you should talk to that girl."

[lamentless]

...this wasn't what he wanted to hear about, not at all. He'd set himself up for a yes or a no, not stuff about the damned-

Unconsciously, he'd already brought about Kingdom Key. The weapon seemed to startle him, but instead of dropping it, his hand just tightened. It took all his effort to throw the damn thing again, since he'd already learned how futile that was. It always just came back.

"I just don't get it! Why do I have it? I didn't ask for this, I just want to be normal." He eventually gave in, dropping the key at his feet and holding the side of his head. "Once I discovered it, I started seeing things, and weird things kept happening...those stupid cloaked guys trying to take me somewhere, and none of my friends ever even saw them! I keep blacking out, waking up in my bed, and none of it makes any sense! Who would want any of this?! I just want it to go away!" His voice cracked, but Roxas kept raving. "Now I'm apparently missing my memory, my friends are dead, and I might be some alternate, thing. I can't take all this..."

[prayerless]

Aqua closed her eyes once Roxas began to freak out, taking in a deep breath and willing herself not to succumb to empathetic distress. Calmness retained, she crouched briefly to gingerly pick up the discarded Kingdom Key. It didn't resonate exactly the same way that Ventus' did, but something about it was nonetheless strikingly familiar. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"A lot of people don't ask for it," said the magician softly as she ran her fingers up the length of Kingdom Key's shaft. "I'm sorry, Roxas." For the third time this conversation. "Do you want me to help you back to your room?"

[lamentless]

With his freakout successfully over, he seemed to stand there drained, rubbing his face with a scowl at the situation at large. Immature, but he felt so much better.

"...I can manage." He wasn't about to get in to the fact that he wasn't keen on going to his room still. Kingdom Key was taken back, and dissolved in a flash of light soon after. "Thanks, though. Sorry I said all that... none of it's your fault." He finally looked up, trying very hard to keep an even stare but failing pretty spectacularly. "I...might take you up on that offer. Maybe."

He had some other things to take care of, first.

[prayerless]

Aqua gave Roxas a small smile that she hoped was reassuring and not insensitive. "Don't worry about it." She knew it wasn't personal. She lowered her hands back to her sides. "I hope you find out everything you want to know. If you have any other questions, you can ask me. I may not know the answers, but, I'll do my best to help you."

With that, she -- somewhat hesitantly -- reached up to gently smooth a hand over the spikes on top of Roxas' head, as she often did with Ven. "Good luck."

[lamentless]

He tilted his head up slightly at Aqua's touching his hair, unsure how he should be reacting- but he let it go with a small smile. She was...a very easy person to believe in, for some reason.

"I will. Thanks, Aqua." And he meant it, too. Roxas still looked worn out, but he was feeling better after that, turning and walking down the hallway, waving after a small distance.

[prayerless]

"No problem." With another smile, she waved back to him in turn. And, once he was far enough down the hall, she retreated back into her room, to presumably resume her work on her spells.