Feels Like We've Been Here Before [Riku]

Beast's Castle.. Xion knew she had been here before. In the past..a long time ago, it felt like. But was it a good memory? Was it a real memory? She wasn't sure. But she was sure she had been in this same exact spot. Standing on the bridge outside the gate to the Castle's main courtyard, Xion wondered just what had brought her here. Was she merely following past footsteps? Retracing her paths through the Worlds, in a way?

She was still frustrated by the feeling of missing memories, not being able to remember everything. But something important had happened here, in her past. She was certain of it. As she walked around the bridge, Xion remembered a fight had happened here. Yes, it was here she had fought a then-unknown opponent.. But she knew him now. Or at least, she remembered him. His name didn't come readily to mind, but she couldn't truly forget him... Somehow, she felt different, thinking about him. It wasn't something she could explain. After all, Nobodies weren't supposed to really feel, right? She did recall Roxas saying something about someone telling him that he and Xion were different..special Nobodies. But what did that mean? How were they special?

She absently moved through the same steps she had taken during the fight, though instead of using a weapon she simply acted out her strikes with her right arm held out, her feet taking the same turns and stances as they had before. Without the stress and urgency of an actual fight or opponent, Xion found it was both familiar and much like a training exercise. She continued to move through the steps of the encounter, ending where she had fallen the first time.

Xion had the oddest feeling that something was going to happen..But she couldn't quite figure out why, or what it was.

~*~*~*~

OOC: Deja-vu? Tag!: @riku

strength, to protect what matters

Retracing memories was always something that Riku was good at. Ever since the beginning he was a person who was consistently living in the past, and he had been told time and time again that it simply wasn't good for him. He was beginning to believe that now, realizing that doing so only lead to solemnity and regrets on things that he could have done to change things for the better. The past was an easy place to retreat to when one loathed their own being. Riku, honestly, wouldn't admit, even to himself, that this is what he felt on a daily basis, but it was plain and clear more than anything else about him.

Riku had wound up at Beast's castle, though it wasn't necessarily in order to brood - for once. Ever since he and Sora had reunited, their next order of business was to locate Kairi, that that wouldn't have any chance of happening if they just lazed around and waited for her to come to them. It required them going out and actually searching every world and asking if anyone had seen anything of the redheaded girl. Riku hadn't any intentions of actually asking any of the inhabitants of this castle if they had seen her, but instead decided it would be best to simply look around the courtyard. Kairi wasn't one to barge into a castle that wasn't her own and was completely unfamiliar..

Okay, this was Kairi we were talking about, maybe Riku needed to rethink his plan...

He was contemplating the situation before something caught him off guard, a voice that sounded achingly samilar to the one on his mind; it automatically robbed his attention away from anything else, and he rounded a corner, peering from behind a large stone pillar. His sea-foam eyes widened instinctively, and he retreat back behind the large structure. It was.. That girl. The one that he had persuaded to return to Sora back in the days of the Organization.

What was her name...? Even though he was aware that the memories would become hidden, he was still trying with all that he had to recall the name given to her - he came up with nothing. Not yet, at least.

"You look lost." The teen suddenly piped in, waling around the pillar and making his way up to her. He tried not to look awkward, but of course he succeeded in failing at it wholeheartedly. Riku didn't know how to communicate with others very well, but he would honestly try for this Nobody. She was special, he remembered that much, and he remembered the awful pity that he held for her. She wanted nothing more than to be with the others that made her happy, when her purpose was to serve a much bigger and noble cause. Sora's awakening meant nothing anymore, and the pre-keyblade master was still feeling a bit displaced because of it. Time was messed up beyond recognition, it seemed. That would explain why Xion and Roxas had reformed.

"Do you remember me?"

aeron at thq

Xion

Xion was lost in a memory, her mind filled wandering the pieces of a confrontation, and the odd feelings she had felt when she had encountered that stranger, who wore the same cloak she did now and always had worn. What had those feelings been? Confusion, hurt, and yet...something else in there entirely, that made her want to show him she wasn't nothing. That she could hold her own, couldn't be knocked down and not get back up.

"You look lost."

She had knelt to touch where she had fallen..and was startled when a voice, soft and familiar, interrupted her reverie. She froze, turning to look at the direction the voice came from, her blue eyes wide beneath the black bangs that hung over her face. I know that voice... She was sure, more sure of that than anything else in this singular moment. It stirred recognition inside her, a mix of feelings that she couldn't explain. When he made his way over to her, she slowly rose from her crouched state to stand, facing him, though she had to tilt her head up a little to look him in the eyes.

"Do you remember me?"

She shivered, though she wasn't cold..she didn't know why, it was more like an involuntary reaction. She didn't move away from him, didn't look away, as she searched his face; the answer was there.. and in her own mind. And then..then it clicked. Like pieces falling into place.

"R-Riku....?"

She felt that stirring of emotions and memories become something different as they settled, and though she still didn't understand what they feelings were, other than relief, uncertainty, and happiness at the success of recognition. It was almost like meeting Roxas again..except somehow, very different. She felt..different. Why?

Her hands clasped together, fingers interlocking as she stared up at Riku, her eyes both confused and yet shining with a hope that she couldn't explain. Maybe things were changing..for the better. Maybe her memories weren't all lost.

~*~*~*~

OOC: Wonder anew.. Tag!: @riku Notes: The past brings back memories..but the present rewrites them!

strength, to protect what matters

It was as if he actually watched the light bulb above her head gain the ability to switch on. It radiated brightly through the azure glimmer of her eyes that matched Riku's beset friend all too much and gave him a strange, nostalgic feeling that caused him to smile in the slightest. When he had awoken back into existence in this strange timeline, he had been without the blindfold that he had grown so accustomed to.

Now, Xion was seeing him without that veil for the first time, and she would be able to notice all of the regret that he housed just below the surface of his being. But.. Sora was trying hard to teach him that such things were okay and he didn't have to hide anything. His friends wouldn't leave him, like he had left them in the past. God, how selfish he had been. Kind of like how the small bunch of Nobodies in the Organization had been to try and stay with each other, but of course they were being selfish for a much nobler reason than to go see new places.

She said his name with a bit of a shaky voice, one that allowed all of her insecurities and confusion to sneak into her tone. That, too, was perfectly okay in the opinion of the pre-master. She was damaged from what she had been through; the two had some.. Common ground, as sick of a thing as it was to say such a thing.

"It's alright." He tried his best to soothe, though there was an extreme awkwardness threatening to show itself, taking a few steps forward. Xion was new to this world as well - Riku might not have been a Nobody, but he knew the sensation of being lost and how unpleasant it was. No home base, no place to feel safe and secure in, no relaxation in the slightest, and absolutely nobody close to your heart that could help out of the declining rut. Riku reached his hand out, placing the palm atop her head, feeling her black hair against his skin. He smiled gently down to her, remembering that he had used this gesture in the past, except on her shoulder.

She hadn't been able to truly see him for the person he was back then, but now, he was attempting to not hide anything. There was no sense in doing so, as hard as it was for him to accept.

"How long have you been separated from Sora?" As he heard her speak and felt the physical contact, he was beginning to feel a name from the depths of the memories in his heart try to rise; it was on the tip of his tongue, but he figured it would take just a little bit more time.

aeron at thq

Xion