001

[justabignobody]

Characters: Riku and OPEN
Setting: Dormitories + Floor 20-18
Format: Action, though I'm fine with Para if that's more your thing
Summary: Waking up in a new world with no clue how he actually got there is not entirely new, The sleep paralyzis and the collar are both however pretty original. Needless to say, Riku is not amused.
Warnings: Non... for

Comments

[lethechained]

[Naminé's been working hard lately on a project she hopes to finish before Christmas, spending a lot of time out of her room and on floors where there's actually a table at which she can draw comfortably. The slight discomfort she feels when leaving her room that she's never quite been able to shake has been worse, lately, after the incident with the nightmare realm, but she has a goal in mind and come heck or high water, she will reach it. She woke up this morning with every intention of grabbing breakfast and getting straight to work, and that intention remains intact until the moment she comes far enough down the stairs to the 20th floor to catch sight of a mass of black on the edge of her vision that is exactly the right shape to be an Organization coat.]

--?!

[She freezes in place right in the middle of the staircase, tensing automatically as she desperately tries to make sense of what her eyes are telling her she's seeing. There's no doubt about it; that's an Organization coat, as much as she doesn't want to believe it, and she feels her blood run cold at the sight before she even has the presence of mind to try to figure out who might be wearing it.]

[justabignobody]

[Riku startles a little at that familiar scent, like sea and sunshine and a ting of nothingness - how can he not recognize it, when she is one of the very few people he had talked to in the last ten months...]

...Naminé?

[It takes him a moment to actually spot her then, a small smile flickering over his face, when he finally does. He is a little torn between the relief of seeing a familiar face and worry - just how had she gotten caught up in this as well? ...And why did she look like she had seen a ghost?

...

...Oh. Well that had been the effect he'd been going for, hadn't it? A moment later, he is already reaching up and pulling back the hood again.]

[lethechained]

[Silently, Naminé chastises herself for deciding to take the long way this morning. She'd wanted fresh air and a little walk, but when was she going to learn that it was too dangerous to wander the tower? Perhaps she's gotten too comfortable; this cage is larger than any other she's ever had, and moving to the farthest point its bars would allow is just too tempting. She starts to back up, only to have her heel hit the stair above the one she's standing on, and she's just about to turn and make a run for it when she hears her name.]

[She knows that voice, even though she hasn't heard it in some time, and it makes her stay put, her eyes widening. There's no doubt about what she's heard when he reaches up and pulls his hood down.]

...Riku?

[It's hard to believe when she knows how much the tower likes to play tricks, and it's even harder to believe after the tower has so recently played such a vile one. Still, the possibility draws her down to the bottom of the stairs with ginger footsteps, at which point she stops to regard him cautiously. It's been a long time since she's used her powers, but in this instance, it's better to be totally sure than to be caught in one of the tower's traps, so she reaches out with her magic to quickly glance over his heart, just to make sure that he's real. It might be possible for him to feel it, if he's paying attention.]

...It really is you...!

[justabignobody]

[He feels whispers of her power wash over him and opens himself up, so that she can be sure - he is not an illusion, not a trick, but the real thing.]

Yeah... it's me.

[The fact that she thinks it necessary to check makes him worry though, along with her presence in this place - had she been taken as well? In that case, had their hideout in Twilight Town been found out? And what about Sora and DiZ? Were they safe?

So many questions to be considered, sorted and asked, yet there is just one that takes absolute priority.]

Are you all right?

[lethechained]

[She's grateful for and relieved by the assistance; she'd have hated to upset him with such an intrusion, but there had been no other way to be sure. Even her powers have seemed untrustworthy, sometimes, but they're the hardest to fool out of all the methods available to her. She exhales a quiet sigh as she steps forward again so that they're at a more comfortable speaking distance.]

I'm all right. [His blindfold worries her, though, as does the Organization coat, and it shows on her face and the way she's searching his, brow knitted.] Are you? Riku, why are you wearing your blindfold again? Did something happen?

[justabignobody]

[He can hardly be upset when he approves of her making sure; if this place is anything like Castle Oblivion, then it's better to question everything than to take for granted.]

I'm fine... [Except that that other question leaves him rather confused actually.] What do you mean by again? I haven't taken it off in months.

[lethechained]

But--....

[--Oh. It's been so long since she's met a newcomer from her own world that it was easy for it not to come to mind immediately that not everyone is on the same point in the timeline. She exhales an,] ...Oh. [of understanding, a frown settling on her face. Perhaps it had been too optimistic of her to hope that he'd be from he same time; she hadn't looked closely enough at his heart to ascertain more than that he was who he appeared to be. Now, how to explain it?] It's... probably better if I explain it this way. Riku, what's the last thing that you remember from before you woke up here?

[justabignobody]

[He frowns right back - the question seems just so very strange to him. But he trusts her, knows that if he answers she will hopefully be able to explain just what in the world was going on here.]

I was in the World That Never Was... waiting for Roxas.

[lethechained]

--....

[It's further back than she'd hoped, but she hadn't really put much faith in that hope, anyway. When was the tower ever that kind?]

The tower... does strange things to time. People from different points in their world's timeline can be here together, at the same time-- I mean, what seems to be the same time here. I think... that I'm from later in our world's timeline than you are. The last thing that I remember from our world happened a while after you did that. ...Do you understand?

[justabignobody]

[Riku takes a moment to process that - he has heard and seen many strange things in the past year and a half, but this? A world where people from different times can co-exist? He has never heard of anything even close to it.

Naminé has no reason to lie to him though, would never lie about something like this he knows and even though he still can't quite wrap his mind around it and probably won't for a while, if she is from his, their, future then there is just one question he really needs to ask.]

...What happens to Sora? Does he...?

[...wake up?]

[lethechained]

[Naminé gives him all the time he needs to try and work things out, regarding him quietly in the mean time. It's good to see him, regardless of the circumstances. ...Perhaps even more so, considering the circumstances - what happened in the nightmare realm still haunts her. It may have been fake, but... seeing, even through memories, the death of nearly everyone she's ever cared for, is not something that just goes away.]

[His question comes as no surprise to her, and it's equally unsurprising that it's the first one he asks. She's so happy to be able to say,]

Yes. He does. And... up until the time I was taken, he was okay. You did it, Riku.

[And she wants to say that Sora still will be okay, even after that point, but that nightmare holds her back, because, false world or not, it's still possible. She has no proof that it's not the truth, that it's not really their future. An ugly truth can hurt more than an ugly lie, and she just wishes she could figure out which one it actually is.]

[justabignobody]

[Quiet relief washes through him, tension ebbing away a little - after seeing that fake just after arriving, he couldn't help worrying... and he should remember asking Naminé about that. Because as much as he would like to deny it, that woman's words had raised quiet doubts...

(No. That has to be a replica. Naminé would confirm that, he is sure.)

After a moment he straightens again, giving her a quiet nod.]

Then that's all I need to know. [About the future anyway. He hesitates a moment before voicing his next question.]

Naminé... what is this place?

[lethechained]

[She leaves him to his relief, lets him enjoy it and keeps her mouth shut about the possibilities the future holds, at least for now. She knows all too well how the tower likes to hurt the people it's captured, and if she can keep it from hurting one more person with its lies, she's happy to do so. If only she knew, with absolute certainty, that it was a lie; then she wouldn't have to fight off the guilt creeping into the back of her mind, urging her to tell him, no matter whether it might plant invalid concerns or not.]

[The girl draws some fragment of relief for herself that he says that's all he needs to know about the future, because it makes it a little easier to keep that nightmare to herself. The next question is one much easier to answer, and she throws her attention into answering it.]

It's a tower. No one's sure where it came from, or what its real purpose is, but no one has found a way out yet. It's... not that they haven't tried. [She pauses, the 'but' unspoken, then,] Did you read the letters? [They're usually a good base for further explanation.]

[justabignobody]

[It's all he needs to know, because he suspects his fate anyway - fighting Roxas is a close match, he knows, especially since fighting to capture is far harder than fighting to kill. Even if he survives - which apparently, he does - he might not make it out as himself. He doesn't need that possibility confirmed as fact.

He frowns a little - he had started on the assumption that this might be another trap of the Organization... but if it were, Naminé would have mentioned that right away, wouldn't she?

After another moment, he just nods.] I did. ...They said something about the Islands being destroyed.

[And that just can't be true, right? They Islands can't be gone, not again. He refuses to believe it.]

[lethechained]

[She's kept her concerns about the Organization quiet for so, so long. They still linger, yes, but with each passing day, she becomes even less certain that the Organization is involved. It does show a few indicators of the possibility of their involvement, but so much of it is just... such a gigantic waste of resources, such a gigantic waste of time and effort, that it seems as if it would be much more a hindrance to the Organization than anything that they could conceivably benefit from. No one's even attempted to harness her powers, or anyone else's, and the only person besides herself that she's aware of with any hope whatsoever of maintaining an illusion - let alone such an enormous and thorough one, for so long, and against someone with powers such as hers - is dead and gone. ...Presumed dead and gone, anyway, although the presence of his Somebody in the tower has been a source of immense concern regarding that. Regardless, the number of times she's had to explain the tower to people without mentioning the Organization has removed it from her usual considerations in the explanation of the newcomer's situation. Of course, things are different with Riku. She has every intention of voicing her concerns, when the time is right. There's just so much to explain.]

They give those letters to everyone who arrives in the tower. Most people don't believe it. But... there are people who claim to have been sent home to barren worlds, devoid of life, and then brought back here. Even so, I'm not ready to believe that it's true. [There's a clear hesitation, and her already sober expression tightens as if she's trying hard not to frown. Now that she's on the train of thought, she realizes how relevant the events surrounding that nightmare realm really are to the explanation. She may not have a choice, whether she thinks the information may cause him unnecessary trouble or not.] A few weeks ago, they claimed they were going to send us home. Instead, they--... they used our minds to trap us in a world like our own, only-- it wasn't right. [And she'll curse herself forever for not being able to realize right away that it wasn't real, for being so weak, for being fooled, because if they can fool her that way, can't they fool her all kinds of other ways? What will they make her do next? What have they already made her do without realizing it?]

[justabignobody]

[He just nods; he can't believe it just with the words on a letter as proof. He won't.

When she tells him about the nightmare realm, he can't keep from frowning himself, because while she isn't even going into details yet... he really doesn't like what he is hearing already.

After a moment he reaches over to lay his hand on her arm, to silently offer her his strength to lean on, should she need it. She had helped him so often, had been there for him when he had almost lost himself in doubt... it's time to repay a little of that.]