Not Rinoa. Rinoas. All of them, in flux, in one moment. A Sorceress. A Caraway. A girl who would never even know she was a Potential. A SeeD. A hundred Rinoas, all shimmering and resolving in one body in the woods.
She opened her eyes, and saw that she was lying on the ground, on the freshly-dug-up earth. The doors were gone. And the man. And the girl.
The others, they were here. Squall -- Squall -- Squall, who she'd been so scared for, Squall, who'd been a stranger, for weeks, lying there on the dirt. And near him --
Near him, Jono, her old friend, getting awkwardly to his feet. He even seemed to have a head again.
Her heart twisted. One by one, the other Rinoas were fading out, leaving only her behind. But one of them lingered, screaming out, hands reaching to embrace
( ... )
//Rinoa...?// She was kissing him. He felt it, as much as his psionic senses would allow. Not physically, but she was there. And she was her.
Her, and somebody else entirely.
He'd said goodbye like this to somebody before, hadn't he? Clinging to an echo that was giving way to who had always meant to be there. He didn't recall feeling himself being peeled away layer by layer, though. Just a bottomless well of nothing at all, and he felt as though he was going to fall into it.
He wrapped his arms around her, too, and he sent back the closest thing to a kiss he could manage, telepathically. Another whisper, and an unspoken promise of his own. He'd be waiting.
It was hard, trying to kiss fire, and Rinoa was fairly certain that someone non-magical might have ended up a touch singed for her trouble. But it was worth it. Lady Caraway deserved this goodbye, and so did Jono, whichever Jono he was now.
But Lady Caraway was mostly gone, and it was Rinoa's eyes that found Jono's. She could only offer him a sad smile. She wasn't his, not the way the other Rinoa had so quickly come to be. The other Sorceress was gone. She couldn't be sorry -- she was too selfish to give up her life so that the other girl could take her spot -- but she did feel the weight of it, nonetheless, and she was sad to know of his loss.
And then, having done what she must, she was off to return her attention to Squall. Squall, who'd been nearly eaten by some doors and that was seriously not okay.
Jonothon let her go. Watched with borrowed eyes as she walked back to Squall, as a Rinoa that was far closer than the one he remembered from school walked back to the man she was meant to be with.
And then he dropped his gaze to the ground.
He would have laughed, except that was something he still wasn't capable of doing.
He would have cried, except...
Everything was fuzz around the edges. Maybe what he really wanted right now was to just go home.
//We saved reality,// Jono replied, glancing at Cecil before looking away again. //Yes. And we turned a man away from the island with a babe-in-arms.//
Jono... was not proud about that fact. For all that it had to be done, for all that reality was hell-bent on tearing itself apart trying to repair the damage Booker had caused.
They turned away a man looking for a safe haven.
He winced a little, put a hand to his face - his face! - and wiped a small dribble of blood away from his nose.
//Price of saving the day. Usually how it goes, I suppose.//
"I'm sure he'll find someplace," Cecil said. "It didn't sound like he was in too much trouble, right?" He gestured with...limbs that weren't there anymore, and squirmed a bit, then grumbled. "Do you think I could get my tentacles back? They were pretty...well, handy."
He tried not to think too much about missing being grown up again. He'd get there eventually, right?
"They just sort of happen." Maybe if he could recreate the glitch that had given them to that other him? He shrugged it off.
"The universes are a big place, though. And Fandom wasn't safe for them, either." He looked up again and tried to focus on Jono's face. "Are you okay?" He looked remarkably less helmeted; that was a good thing, right?
Cecil shrugged. "Everything's sort of fuzzy and only 3D. And I feel off-balance. And I miss my voice and height again. I'll probably sulk for a bit, then I'll get used to it."
//I haven't been the sulking sort since... since something that... half of me doesn't think happened at all. And... a few weeks ago. Sulking really seems like the right course of action right about now.//
He barely knew which way was up, part of him felt violated on a mental level and part of him was more than just a little heartsick, and nothing made sense. He was well overdue for a good sulk.
Cecil perked up. "We could make that the next class, and all sulk together!" He deflated just a little. "Oh, except I'm not really a teacher, am I? Now I know what you meant when you said you'd fail me."
Not that he was terribly concerned about that; it wasn't like he even needed to graduate again. It was just pretty confusing.
//I was just worried. Little upset, maybe. I wasn't going to actually fail anybody.// He slumped a little in the shoulder. //For what it was worth, you were a good teacher. And a big help. What in the world I'm doing teaching a class on coping...//
Well. It made slightly more sense right now than it did over the past month.
"You've been doing a pretty good job," Cecil protested. "Teaching, I mean. But coping, too." He smiled. "I'm glad I could help, though. And I still think we should have a class just on properly sulking, but I guess you can just take that as a suggestion."
Not Rinoa. Rinoas. All of them, in flux, in one moment. A Sorceress. A Caraway. A girl who would never even know she was a Potential. A SeeD. A hundred Rinoas, all shimmering and resolving in one body in the woods.
She opened her eyes, and saw that she was lying on the ground, on the freshly-dug-up earth. The doors were gone. And the man. And the girl.
The others, they were here. Squall -- Squall -- Squall, who she'd been so scared for, Squall, who'd been a stranger, for weeks, lying there on the dirt. And near him --
Near him, Jono, her old friend, getting awkwardly to his feet. He even seemed to have a head again.
Her heart twisted. One by one, the other Rinoas were fading out, leaving only her behind. But one of them lingered, screaming out, hands reaching to embrace ( ... )
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Her, and somebody else entirely.
He'd said goodbye like this to somebody before, hadn't he? Clinging to an echo that was giving way to who had always meant to be there. He didn't recall feeling himself being peeled away layer by layer, though. Just a bottomless well of nothing at all, and he felt as though he was going to fall into it.
He wrapped his arms around her, too, and he sent back the closest thing to a kiss he could manage, telepathically. Another whisper, and an unspoken promise of his own. He'd be waiting.
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But Lady Caraway was mostly gone, and it was Rinoa's eyes that found Jono's. She could only offer him a sad smile. She wasn't his, not the way the other Rinoa had so quickly come to be. The other Sorceress was gone. She couldn't be sorry -- she was too selfish to give up her life so that the other girl could take her spot -- but she did feel the weight of it, nonetheless, and she was sad to know of his loss.
And then, having done what she must, she was off to return her attention to Squall. Squall, who'd been nearly eaten by some doors and that was seriously not okay.
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And then he dropped his gaze to the ground.
He would have laughed, except that was something he still wasn't capable of doing.
He would have cried, except...
Everything was fuzz around the edges. Maybe what he really wanted right now was to just go home.
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He sighed heavily and looked around, then squinted up at Jono, trying to focus with two eyes again. "Does that mean we did it? Stopped him, I mean."
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Jono... was not proud about that fact. For all that it had to be done, for all that reality was hell-bent on tearing itself apart trying to repair the damage Booker had caused.
They turned away a man looking for a safe haven.
He winced a little, put a hand to his face - his face! - and wiped a small dribble of blood away from his nose.
//Price of saving the day. Usually how it goes, I suppose.//
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He tried not to think too much about missing being grown up again. He'd get there eventually, right?
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And now he was mentally kicking himself for never asking what they were on the run from.
//As for the tentacles... you'll have to take that up with whoever hands them out in Night Vale, I suppose.//
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"The universes are a big place, though. And Fandom wasn't safe for them, either." He looked up again and tried to focus on Jono's face. "Are you okay?" He looked remarkably less helmeted; that was a good thing, right?
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That's what you got when you got two of your major senses back, Jon.
//It feels like there are two of me in here, clawing around and trying to figure out which is which. So... nothing new.//
He winced.
//I'll be fine. Are you okay?//
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//I haven't been the sulking sort since... since something that... half of me doesn't think happened at all. And... a few weeks ago. Sulking really seems like the right course of action right about now.//
He barely knew which way was up, part of him felt violated on a mental level and part of him was more than just a little heartsick, and nothing made sense. He was well overdue for a good sulk.
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Not that he was terribly concerned about that; it wasn't like he even needed to graduate again. It was just pretty confusing.
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Well. It made slightly more sense right now than it did over the past month.
But still.
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He didn't even know how he was going to be doing by the end of the week. He wasn't entirely certain who it was he was turning back into.
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