[Seasalt 1 || Down the Rabbit Hole | Video]

[lady_thirteen]

[Roxas is ready when the vine transforms into a mirror, smiling shyly at the mirror before looking down at the scroll in her hands. Still dressed in her shift, but her usual clothes are in her lap, waiting to get changed into.]

You are cordially invited to join us in the Gardens...

And I thought my dreams could get any weirder. I guess he won't be

Comments

[Video]

[namedforthesky]

Hey, I have friends who're a duck and a dog!

[A pause, then a momentary facepalm.]

Er. I'm Sora! Welcome to the Gardens!

[Video] 1/2

[lady_thirteen]

[There's a long silence, on Roxas' end. Now way. No. Way. But- he's a guy, and that's a girl, and-]

[...What-]

[Video] 2/2

[lady_thirteen]

[Well, so much for not seeing her in this dream.]

Yeah, I know you do...

Uh, I mean, I'm Roxas. And thanks.

[Video]

[namedforthesky]

Nice to meet you, Roxas!

[A beat.]

But yeah, one of our neighbors keeps ducks. And then there's this dog down the street... They don't talk like the ones you mentioned, though.

[Video]

[akubby]

[That voice, that face is familiar enough to stop Axel in her tracks mid-exploring the garden. Something's a little off about it, but she can't pinpoint what and what's-more is that she doesn't care...

Too much time had passed since Axel'd seen that face. She'd expected to never see it again.]

Roxas!

[Video]

[lady_thirteen]

[Roxas blinks, taken aback with how her name is spoken, with such familiarity and relief. She tries to pinpoint exactly where they could have met before- but no dice. There's no memory there to fall back on.]

Uh, hi.

Have we met?

[Video]

[akubby]

[No. No no no no, no. Axel had already done this once in Twilight Town, she didn't want to go through it again. She had just died in hopes of seeing Roxas, for Kingdom Hearts' sake, could Wonderland ease up on her? Wonderland or the afterlife or whatever this was...

But Roxas didn't recognize her, regardless of what this world was.

She shakes her head, giving blondie a sad smile. He hadn't remembered her last time either, not until it was too late.]

You don't know me...? You just look like a Roxas.

[It had to be a common name somewhere.]

[Video] Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier, dear.

[lady_thirteen]

[She just looks so sad, Roxas bites her lip and goes to say something- anything, to make her feel better. But the redhead speaks up before she can, so she puts on another shy, encouraging smile, and answers as best she can.]

Well that's my name, so a lucky guess for you, huh?

video;

[gravityfists]

Sorry, dude, but this isn't a dream.

... but if you have talking dogs and ducks when you're awake, I'm not sure I wanna know how crazy your dreams would be.

video; Sorry for not getting to you sooner

[lady_thirteen]

The duck and the dog were in my dream too; talking animals happens in dreams, right?

[She shakes her head firmly.] This is a dream; it has to be.

video; no problem!

[gravityfists]

I guess so! [ I mean, I do know Man-Bat, and there's that one green guy from the Teen Titans. ]

And sorry, but it's not a dream. I've been here for over a month, so unless this is a collective coma, I'm gonna say we're both firmly awake.

1/idek

[mnementomori]

[for a moment she wonders if she's still asleep, dreaming. Ever since she made the clock tower, she's had dreams of the good old days. She'd be happier if they didn't all seem to end with her falling.]

[she's sitting inside now, at the top of the stairs, listening to the tick tick thunk of the great clock. It took only a day or two for the Vine to twine its way through the structure, all the way to the top. She didn't question it.]

[she stares at the mirror, dumbfounded. She'd know that face anywhere. She barely hears any of the words over the sound of her frail little heart beating frantically in her chest.]

[mnementomori]

[anything was possible here. Sora was here. Sora. But with her memories gone, so that meant Roxas was still alive. Xion knew that, she'd worked it out, but it seemed like a silly, foolish hope at the time. Especially because they couldn't remain like this. Sora deserved her memories back, there was no other way...]

[she reaches out, gloved fingers brushing over the surface of the mirror, her hand trembling.]

[mnementomori]

[she swallows the lump in her throat. Would he even remember her? Everyone was supposed to forget. But she hadn't disappeared. Was it something the Queen did? Or did it mean those memories could stay.]

[she realizes after a moment that she's scared. Terrified. That's what this feeling is. Spending so much time believing she couldn't feel meant that she had a hard time identifying emotions. But she recognizes it from before, the way she shakes, her stomach clenching.]

[but there's nothing else to be done.]

done dfjahjlfg sorry XD

[mnementomori]

[she looks up, her eyes bright with unshed tears, pressing both palms to the mirror. It's all or nothing.]

Roxas...?

[border_phantasm]

If you think this is a dream, then this place is only more likely to become a nightmare.

sorry for getting to you so late

[lady_thirteen]

A nightmare?

[She looks concerned, which is fairly understandable when someone you've dreamed up tells you not everything is what it seems.]

What do you mean, a nightmare?

No prob.

[border_phantasm]

Because we can't wake up.