Fifth Fire || Flame Without a Glow

[prominence_glow]

Characters: Lea and vatheon (Mingle thread? Go for it.)
Location: All over Vatheon... but ending somewhere near the ghost ship.
Time: Sometime in the morning
Style: It's aaaaall good
Status: Open like you wouldn't believe. Threadjacking? Encouraged. Not even dealing with Lea? Perfectly alright. Dealing with just fire? Dandy.

Good morning, Vatheon. Guess what

Comments

Damn it all why did you make me break my hiatus for this? ;___;

[wayward_faith]

[Ventus had only been back for two days, and already things were looking like hell... literally. Holy crap did he have some fires to put out in Vita, then he decided to follow the trail of smoke. After all, it always left a trail.

It... was a very good thing that Vanitas' disappearance from the face of Vatheon had snapped him out of his zombie-like state. Though, he doubted he'd be the same because... tears were still falling down his face with a letter clenched in his non-wielding hand. Isa... He'd blamed himself for all of that?

He wipes his tears away, but his eyes were still red and puffy as he neared the pirate ship, spying the circle of fire and the one inside it.]

...Lea.

Because you're my bitch. Obviously.

[prominence_glow]

Shut up and go away.

[Someone's not in a talkative mood. That's putting it lightly, of course, especially considering things are far from smoothed out, from his perspective, between him and Ven.

But he'd been so close. So close to awkwardly, tentatively realizing what he wanted when it came to the other complicated situation on his hands. How he felt about... joining. Isa and Demyx. The old scab had been reopened, fresh and new, but now... now...

He'll never be able to do anything. The thought makes Lea curl up on his side even tighter.]

Am not. :|

[wayward_faith]

[Ven doesn't budge, but doesn't try to cross the threshold of flame, either. He knows he'd hurt Lea, knows just how much damage he'd done to everyone... but he wanted to make it up to them all, to make things right. But how could he when things were like this?]

No. I'm not leaving.

['Not when you need your friends... if you still consider me one.' The sentiment is there, even if it's unspoken. He can't mend the hurting if the others refuse to let it be fixed... and now that all his closest friends were gone besides Lea and Riza, there wasn't much left for him.]

That's what they all say. :>

[prominence_glow]

...S'hurts...

[There are others. There's always going to be others, other people who're friends. But none of them were Isa. None of them were Axel, either, which was a different matter entirely but still had as much of a punch.

They... They'd been doing something. Getting past the differences, the misunderstandings. But he'd left.

And Isa, and Sora... Everyone.]

[ironyloli]

[Dress on fire! Dress on fire! Aaahhhhh! Who knew floor-length gowns would be such a hassle? Yeah well, guess who forgot she fire-proofed her own dress?

So in her rushing, she eventually found her way to the ghost ship and completely disregarding her still burning dress (though thankfully it's not causing much damage to her) in favor of paying attention to someone in need.]

Mister? Oh Mister, are you okay?

[crackle crackle sizzle]

[prominence_glow]

[If he could move without his head feeling like shrapnel was stabbing into it repeatedly- not that it didn't hurt anyway- Lea would look up to see who the heck was bugging him. But for now?

All he can do is cough and rasp out words. Expending all that energy? Bad idea.]

N..No. Never. Hate this stupid place, hate the stupid locals, hate the coral, hate whatever brought us here in the first place... and takes people away...

[ironyloli]

[A pout and she wrings her hands together. She knows the pain. Sora left, after all.]

... but it also gave us the chance to meet those people. We got to have such fun times with them here. I would not trade those times for the world.

And I know in my heart that a day will come that we shall see them all again. For if we didn't, only then would it be truly unfair.

May I do anything for you, Mister?

[prominence_glow]

Don't even know...

[Luckily, a coughing fit interrupts the extreme pessimism which is plaguing him lately. Okay, maybe the fire ring was a bad idea. Stupid smoke. But Lea really isn't feeling up to trying to move around.]

Can't move...

[colorme_in]

Namine was sitting on a bench, drawing away as she tried not to cry. This was too much. First Roxas, then Axel, and now Sora and Isa...how come everyone she was close with was leaving?

Her eyes started to water with tears, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. Suddenly, a spot of orange appeared at the corner of her sketchbook.

It was on fire.

Namine leapt up with a gasp, tearing out the page as fast as she could before it reached her other drawings. Fire. There could be only one person responsible for this.

After a moment of searching, she made her way to the ghost ship. There he was. Clutching her sketchbook closer to herself, she approached his prone form timidly.

"L-Lea?"

[prominence_glow]

No answer.

That's for a number of reasons. A lot of it has to do with the after effects of using all this magic- more than he's used to, maybe supposed to right now. the migraine makes it impossible to think and has his stomach churning. And the smoke? Hurts his throat. When he finally does manage to acknowledge the voice, he simply curls up tighter.

He hates this. He thought he would be able to get through it, but no. No no no no no no no. Too far. This stupid, worthless, crap city took away something too important.

"No. M'nobody, so go away." His voice is raspy, harsh from the smoke.

[colorme_in]

"No, Lea."

She tries to step closer, but the circle of fire grabs eagerily at her feet, so she stays in place, unsure what to do.

"You're not nobody. Just because he went home...you don't need to take it out on everyone. Please, Lea. I'm still here for you. I'm not going anywhere..."

She gazes in concern as the smoke continues to get thicker. This wasn't good at all.

"Lea...could you please put it out?"

[prominence_glow]

How does she know? Axel wasn't supposed to leave either, let alone Isa. This place is the worst. It hurts people. Gives them so much, only to yank it away like some demented playground bully.

Steals them away right when Lea needs them the most.

When Namine asks about the fire, Lea just stirs slightly before curling back into himself. "Dunno how." A raspy, bitter laugh accompanies the admission. "Too tired. Hurts."

[ninthserenade]

[The best thing about controlling water? He can put that ring of fire out if he wanted to, but it's the last thing on his mind. Instead, he simply stands just outside that ring with his hood up and an identical letter in hand.

Part of him had hoped the fires were Axel's own doing, but... They were too small. Too wild to be his.]

Lea.

[prominence_glow]

[Of all the people who had to find him... Lea doesn't respond, not right away. He just curls up tighter until he's nothing more than a little ball. He doesn't to see, hear, or anything if it concerns Demyx...

He just brings back bad memories.]

Shoulda said yes...

[ninthserenade]

[He frowns slightly, pushing a hand into the fire. Instead of burning him right away, it steams for a few seconds. Isa was gone, and Lea was upset--He was too, wasn't he? ...He didn't know.]

...Lea. S'me.

[prominence_glow]

I don't care!

[He really shouldn't have raised his voice. Not with this migraine. With a whimper, he digs his nails into his scalp and shakes.]

Why're you...

[xlillackeykitty]

[ HOLY SHIT MAMA'S SCARF! Cue slight flailing as he tries to stamp out the fire before the rest of his precious heirloom is eaten up by the flames. Thankfully, just the edges are singed. But he'll follow that fire source. Someone who set his precious scarf aflame must pay!

Until he sees who it is. ]

...Just not your day?

[prominence_glow]

["Not his day" would be the light way of putting it. But there's just no snark in Lea right now to come up with something, even weak.]

They're gone... [Thanks to all the smoke, his voice is raspy and interrupted by coughing.]