First Journey // Video

[lockandkeyblade]

[Sora looks like he’s had a fist fight with a loaded paintbrush. White smears of paint are streaked down his cheek, all over his jacket and gloves. One of those paint-smudged fingers happens to be tapping the screen experimentally-probably what triggered the message to start.]

So all I gotta do is turn this thing on and ask everybody if they’ve seen

Comments

action; at some convenient later moment that's in time to block losers in helmets

[pullsheavendown]

[By the time Roxas finished working on the latest schedule for Kahve and checked out the latest network happenings, it's a little later, and a little later still by the time he manages to stop staring at the video.

It's Sora. He's back-again. It's not disappointment welling up inside him, but it's not exactly relief, either.

He could message him, but why wait? He might as well get it out of the way in person. With siren coming soon, he throws on his coat and opens a dark corridor to outside the starter apartments. Without thinking about it, he's put his hood up. It's so he'll be fully protected against the darkness, he tells himself, and not because he's unsure whether he'll be able to control his expression.

Right.

And there he is, alive and well. Roxas hesitates a little ways away. How's he going to explain things to him?]

action;

[pullsheavendown]

[A cautious sense of relief. Could Sora actually...be getting it?]

That's what I'm saying.

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

And that means we can talk whenever we want, right?

action;

[pullsheavendown]

[OR NOT]

Um...I...I guess?

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

[Sora's almost-smile dims. Just a little. The atmosphere's gotten weird all of a sudden. Weirder than normal, anyway.]

Something wrong?

action;

[pullsheavendown]

[He doesn't say anything for a moment. For all his mixed feelings thoughts about Sora, he doesn't want to hurt him or make him sad. But it's never been easy to find the right words around his other half.

He's done this twice already. It shouldn't be so hard. But it is-every time, it's the hardest thing in the world.]

You were here twice before, you know?

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

That's what everybody's telling me. I don't remember any of it.

[And then something dawns on him.]

... I forgot something really important. Didn't I?

action;

[pullsheavendown]

A lot of people don't. Sometimes people remember when they come back, but not often.

[Yes and no, Sora.]

Kind of. It's just...see...did they ever-did they ever tell you much about me?

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

Not really. I knew you were my other. And that you left the organization.

They also said that you left because you wanted to meet me.

action;

[pullsheavendown]

I did leave it. They were...you don't even know some of the things they've done. I should have left way before I did.

[The memories wash over him as he speaks. It still hurts, long after the fact. Maybe it always will. He walks over to the stairs and sits on them.]

[He says the next part carefully.]

That's true in a way. I left because I wanted to know who I really was, and they were never going to tell me the truth. Finding that out would have led me to you.

I'd heard your name. I knew you had something to do with why they said I was special. I wanted to find you...but I didn't know who you were. I didn't know you were-me. I still didn't know when I first got here.

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

[He rubs the back of his neck. It's not necessarily disappointing. Well, maybe just a little bit. But he still gets to talk to Roxas at least. To find out what he's like. That's something, right?]

Did you ever get the answers you were looking for?

action;

[pullsheavendown]

I guess. I know who I am now, where I came from. [He looks at Sora and nods lightly.] That's something.

[Even if he'll never have a heart.]

Riku told me who you were after I got here. Seems like forever ago...and then when you were here before, I met you myself.

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

That's good, isn't it?

[Now it's Sora's turn to ask. Why does it feel weird about asking if they were 'friends.']

What was it like? I mean with the other-me. Did we talk at all?

action;

[pullsheavendown]

Yeah.

[Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to.]

Some. We have a lot of the same friends; it wouldn't make sense to just ignore each other.

[Awkward fidget]

I...tried to at first, though. But that didn't last.

action;

[lockandkeyblade]

[ His heart might have sunk a little, but he can't tell; it happens as he's lowering himself to sit down beside his other.]

[Roxas, that skates dangerously close to a 'no.']

How come? Did something happen?

action;

[pullsheavendown]

[He doesn't answer at first, instead leaning back on his hands as he looks up at the sky. But he doesn't move to put more space between them.]

Sora, do you remember the day you were born?

[It might sound like a non-sequitur and a rhetorical question to boot, but he's going somewhere with this.]