compnetwork | RIKU → first dawn || video

[That was... not what she expected to find when she logged on to the network today.

The loss of all of her friends some scant few weeks earlier still stung terribly within her heart, and she had emotionally prepared herself to be without them for goodness only knows how long. Yet... here was a familiar voice and a familiar face, one even more so than his two counterparts here had been. This was... her Riku? Really, truly?

She hadn't meant to turn on the video so quick, she had wanted time to prepare as her hands shook terribly and her voice stuck in the back of her throat, so she just kind of... gapes. Gapes because she isn't sure what exactly to say, yet ready to say a million different things at once. Wasn't an F3, wasn't Facility, I can't believe you're really here, I've missed you so much...

If anything, the sight of the familiar redhead (looking a bit more grown than she was in Facility, and much healthier at that) with an even more familiar black collar would grant the proper response for this situation. Hmm, now wasn't she supposed to be dead?]

[He definitely remembers her termination -- hers, and all the other ones. He wonders abruptly whether this means he's been terminated too.

She's staring at him, and he nearly runs into a signpost because he's staring right back. Riku stops, takes a breath, looks back at her.]

Hey.

[How nonchalant. He frowns a little, then opens his mouth again.]

You're... real, right?

Edited 2013-07-13 07:20 (UTC)

[She nods back slowly, eyes refusing to peel back from the video feed as they hold eye contact. Kairi wouldn't cry, she refused to cry, not when he was there in front of her and safe in Hinoto-ri. She'd already shed enough tears this month as it was, no more needed to be wasted on what was a joyous and wonderful occasion.]

...I've missed you.

[Her voice isn't much more than a whisper, and it cracks a little as she finally urges the words out. Kairi's expression slowly starts to break out into a relieved smile rather than the shocked disbelief, hands shaking even more with the adrenaline that was starting to course through her veins upon finally speaking. It began to bubble like a hot fire through her arms and legs, and she couldn't sit still; she needed to get up, she needed to run, she needed to get to where he is and hug him and feel him and know that this truly really real and not just a projection on the screen. Her voices raises to a confident pitch and she's already on her feet, hands tightening into fists as she prepares to throw herself anywhere in the city in a hot minute so she can see him again.]

Can you tell me what's around you? A landmark?

[Riku can't help but smile -- by her expression he can tell she's holding back tears. He can feel a swell of pride -- she's so strong. She's always been so strong.

His voice is quiet in return.]

Me too, Kairi. When you guys all left...

[He nods at her second question, looking around him quietly. It's a pretty nondescript street, so he continues to walk, coming out into a larger one rather than the sidestreet he must have been on before.]

Um, there's a coffeeshop...

[He grins quietly, eyes flickering back up to the sky. He can't help but stare -- it's beautiful, realer than any he's seen in years.]

Come find me, okay? I'll wait for you.

[Oh Light. It's like she's seeing ghosts. Naminé's hand goes up to her throat to touch her own black collar, a twin to this Riku's, and suddenly her mouth goes dry. It's her and Kairi's Riku, there's no doubt about that. But it's so soon after all of their other friends have gone. She hasn't had time to recover from the loss...and yet, here he is, like a delivered apology and a prescribed balm for the suffering she and Kairi are going through.

She can't help but laugh a little helplessly at the thought. Hinoto-Ri sure likes to keep its guests on their toes. It's like an emotional roller-coaster, one she can't ever get off of.

(Oh Light, he just missed Sora. He just missed Sora.)]

Riku...welcome to Hinoto-Ri.

I will. I'll be there soon, I'll see you soon.

[She nods rapidly, already out the door at a brisk jog. Kairi keeps the feed on, not wanting to disconnect from Riku's voice even as she works her way through the busy streets, trying her best not to push or be rude despite the urgency welled up within her. Aquarius, where her house was, was all the way across the city from Virgo, the district Riku had woken up in. There was nothing more she wanted in this moment than to have access to the darkness portals Naminé was able to summon... but she wasn't with her at the moment, and Kairi was out of luck. She'd have to run down streets, squeeze her way onto the busy aerial tramways, anything she could to expedite the process that already took much too long for her liking.

By the time she's off the stop at Virgo, Kairi's at a full out sprint. She knows the exact shop Riku was near, she and Nami had gotten drinks their many times before, and the time left until she hits it is ticking down in her head like a countdown clock. Chiming along was the HORUS system on her COMP, beeping to indicate the proximity of a new arrival, the proximity of Riku. Once she finally rounds the corner to where he was waiting, she kicks forward with an extra boost of speed, enough to get her across the final expanse of ground to where he stood. Kairi skids to a semi hault as she approaches, finally gets there, hoping to not blow him over as she immediately throws her arms around him and latches like her life depended on it.]

Edited 2013-07-13 08:09 (UTC)

[Naminé. Another body burned, another person looking back at him through these unnatural glasses. His arms are at his sides now, standing against the wall of a shop waiting for Kairi to find him.]

That's... what this place is?

[He twists the ring around the finger on his left hand quietly, not sure what to say after that. He rubs at his collar again, a small frown on his face.]

... you're alive, too. I'm... really glad, Naminé.

[He's standing against a wall when she arrives, and he smacks his head off it with the force of her hug, but he can't help but grin, burying his nose in her red hair and hugging her back as tightly as he'll allow himself without squishing her with his right arm. It's Kairi, here in his arms for real, not another ghost wandering the station, not another body burned to ashes. Kairi, the real one, smelling of bright light and magic and the sea. Smelling like home.

It occurs to him again how much he missed her, and his grip tightens for a moment before he pulls away enough that he can brush the hair from her face and get a look at her.]

Kairi.

[She'd apologize for the inevitable bump later; for now, she was too distracted pressing her face into his shoulder, standing up on her tiptoes to make up for their rather substantial height difference. Riku's scent was just as much the scent of home for Kairi as hers was to him, a scent that she had missed terribly and just wasn't quite the same with the other Riku's she had met since leaving the station. She lets it engulf her senses like a comforting blanket, muscles relaxing contentedly in his hold.

The redhead gives him another big squeeze before they separate somewhat, looking up at him with glistening eyes and a stupidly happy smile as her arms linger around his shoulders. The face he sees is one shining with health and color it never had with the poor nutrition and artificial lighting in Facility, more reminiscent of the Kairi she was created from back on the Islands. Her hair was longer that it used to be, longer than it had ever been with her real self, pulled back in a ponytail with bangs just a bit too long framing her face; funny, considering how much she'd tease Riku for the same problem. All in all... an extremely happy face.]

You're here, Riku. You're really here.

Yeah.

[He can't help but... smile. She looks so, so good. Healthy and well, and happy. Like much of the weight of the Facility has faded. Kairi's perfect, the way she should be. The way he always wished he could see her again, and now she is.

He lifts his left hand, rubs the moisture from the edges of her eyes with his thumb. He's glad to see her cry happy tears, if she has to cry.]

Yeah, it... looks like it. I'm... kind of confused, though, you know...? You were... terminated. Everybody but me and Sora...

[She presses her hand against his hand, carefully working her fingers to entwine between his and give it a soft squeeze.]

It's...

[Kairi pauses, trying to think of the best way to explain the situation without it being confusing.]

Do you remember the dream you had before you came here, Riku? Of the man with the butterfly mask? He takes people from other worlds and brings them to this world to help save it, and grants us a power in exchange. And for those of us from Facility... he saved us all from the brink of death. He gave us a second chance at life, away from Val and away from the Consortium, completely out of their reach. This isn't Facility trip... this is a real world with a real sky. No more experiments, no more death... just life.

[He squeezes back instinctively, but his grip loosens as she explains everything to him. He listens attentively, then... leans his head against the wall gently, turning it a little when pain blooms across his skull again. He looks... relieved. More relieved than he ever managed to look at the Facility, even when amazing things happened.]

... I never... thought something like this could ever happen, ever. I... wow.

[Naminé gives him a small smile. She can't say she blames him for being quiet in the face of seeing her again. That's just the way he always was. Observing and calculating the situation before reacting. Judging by his expression, he is either shocked at seeing her again, or thinks its another Facility experiment. Or both.]

Yes, you're safe here. And yes, I am. We're really glad to see you again. We have so much to tell you about this place.

[She laughs faintly.]

Though, Kairi's already on her way to see you, isn't she?

[He's just... it's amazing. He never thought... to see her again. The thought that he really might not have hits him like a brick, and for a moment his frown deepens.]

Yeah, she is.

[He isn't sure what to say. On one hand he's so, so glad to see her, but on the other, it feels almost unnatural.]

Naminé, you and Kairi and the others... it's just amazing that you're... alive.

We thought the same thing.

[She shakes her head, recalling the day she woke up in Hinoto-Ri.]

I don't know how much time has passed for you, but when I arrived here, it was like I'd just gone into a coma and woken up in a new place.

So...I can't even imagine how hard it must have been after I'd gone, and seeing me now. But Kairi and I-- we are real. Please believe us.

Yeah.

[He can't help but smile.]

I asked Kairi that, even.

This place... yeah, it was me and Sora left, back then. But I only remember a month or so passing... so I must have gone after you. I don't know what happened to him.

[His mind catches up with his words after a moment -- he doesn't know what happened to Sora.]

... shit, I...

[Oh Light. She'd been hoping he wouldn't wonder this early on about Sora, but this is Facility's Riku. Her and Kairi's Riku. Of course he would ask about Sora-- more than any other Riku she's known in her time in Hinoto-Ri. She bites her lip, mind racing with half-starts of consolation and explanations. None would ever be appropriate or good enough of an answer for him.]

He-- he was here, not too long ago.

... Was he?

[The sensation that washes over his heart is cold. He hadn't realized... that something like this was possible. Sometimes, though... the world has other plans, it seems. He wonders idly whether he did something to inflict karma on himself.]

... how was he?

[She smiles widely, tilting her head down a little as goosebumps ran up and down her arms; no matter how long she stayed here, she was always renewed with a sense of vigor and energy explaining their situation.]

Neither did we. But we're here, and more of us are arriving every month. Right now it's Naminé, Joshua, and me, along with one man I don't know too well. Sora...

[Kairi pauses, letting out a small sigh as her free hand moved to rest on her heart.]

He was here, but I think he went back to the Facility. Ever since he arrived, he talked about going back to save more of us... and one day he just disappeared again.

Maybe... that's what he did.

[It seems like something Sora would do. If there was a way out, why leave others trapped?

Riku lifts his left hand idly, stroking her hair in one smooth motion and then letting it drop back to her shoulder.]

I hope he'll find his way back out. I... don't want him to be trapped there, you know?

It's a very Sora-like thing to do, that much is for sure.

[She looks back up at him, expression melancholy.]

I don't know if he can easily make his way back, but people have done it before. If we just hope... I know he'll come back okay. We're all connected after all, right?

[Xion, who was mostly just out and about, looking around the city, spots them.

Or, to be more specific, first she spots that tall guy with silver hair. The one who beat her down, called her keyblade a fake and her too. Then called what was basically the only family she'd ever known a bad crowd.

And then she realizes who else is with him. Kairi, who (from what Xion has gathered from Daytime TV dramas) she's in love with. And Kairi doesn't really look all that happy, and that imposter is touching her and she really, really really needs to fix whats going on here.

Xion isn't particularly tall. But she does have quite an aura as she practically stomps towards the pair and- yep, that most certainly is a keyblade that's in her hand. And she most certainly looks willing to use it]

Get away from her...!

Edited 2013-07-14 06:12 (UTC)

[The scent of someone familiar enters the area, is what he realizes first. Then, the acrid scent of anger. And he looks up to find bright blue eyes, Sora-eyes, glaring up at him. He pushes Kairi gently away from him, stepping forward a little to put himself between her and Xion -- because unlike the little sister he's come to know and love, this Xion looks... like she hates him.]

Xion...?

[What is she doing?]

What's wrong?

[Oh. Oh goodness. She hadn't had time to warn Riku about how the Xion here in the city with them was from much farther back on the timeline than them, and acted way differently than the Xion they were used to did. While a small part of her was kind of tickled that Xion had actually began to like her enough to want to protect her (though she wasn't sure what she thought she was currently protecting Kairi from) considering all the hard work she'd had to put forth so far in order for the black haired girl to give her the time of day, the bigger part of her was extremely alarmed that she was charging towards Riku with her keyblade in hand.]

W-wait!

Edited 2013-07-14 06:21 (UTC)

I said get away from her!

[She's not stopping. Xion charges right at Riku and swings her keyblade with as much force as she can possibly muster within her small frame. It was normal, after all, to protect someone you cared about, and she honestly believes Kairi might be in danger from him. She knows exactly what he's capable of, that he could probably cut her down as quickly as he had the first time, but she won't stop until she can't move he body. She's already decided that much.]

RIKU → first dawn || video

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we interrupt this kawaii reunion to bring you:

oh god

xION

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