lightwithin | 5th ♥ [Audio]

All right, you win.

[Another sigh, and then Riku's going to drag himself upright, summoning a corridor of darkness to cross through. There is absolutely no way he's got the energy to walk all the way across the keep.

He takes the shortest path he can--within a few seconds, Kairi will see a corridor of darkness opening in the library study. A couple moments after that, Riku will be making his way through the portal, and doesn't he look great? He's got his hood up and his gloves on, but he can't hide that one sleeve of his coat is ripped, nor the blood (mostly dried now) on him. He's walking carefully, watching his steps to make sure he doesn't lose his balance, to keep the nausea down.

Well, you asked for him.]

[Kairi doesn't hear him. But the hair rises on the back of her neck as that inky blotch mars the wall and Riku steps through.

Immediately she's on her feet and a moment later, hurrying forward and reaching out to him.]

Riku!

What happened?

[Riku starts to shake his head--then stops as a wave of colors overtakes him, threatening his balance. To his credit he doesn't put out his arms for balance, but he does have to take a step backward.]

It's nothing.

[But he knows he won't be able to fool her any more.]

I went to go see Varric. He said that he'd been getting better.

[She can probably see how well that worked out.]

He wasn't.

[It's not a question.]

Over here,

[She grabs the chair she'd been sitting in, an old wooden thing stacked with cushions, and gestures for him to sit down.]

Take that off, it's got-,

[She waves towards his coat.]

It's dirty.

No. He wasn't.

[Riku slowly makes his way toward her, but when she tells him to take off the coat, he stops short. Take it off? But it's so -cold- in there. He's already cold, if he takes off his coat...

But he also knew Kairi likely wouldn't take no for an answer.

But if he had to take it off, he wouldn't be able to hide the bruises on his neck, either.]

It'll be all right.

[...yeah, okay, that sounds like a pathetic defense even to -him-. Riku frowns, but he can't think of anything better. So he gives in, unzipping the coat and shrugging out of it. But he's not showing Kairi his arm yet, and he -thinks- his hair is mostly covering up the bruising. Right?]

[It isn't, but she isn't going to spoil the small victory but making a big deal out of it. That's probably why he didn't want to show her in the first place. Instead she just frowns, looks aside, and squashes the impulse to hug him. It won't help.]

Xanth and Ironhide went for food, but there's still a little bit of water here.

[And she heads for a side table.]

You could try to clean...

[She waves at him generally. Is he bleeding? She's learned her lesson; cleaning cuts is important. She offers the pitcher.]

Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

[Not that he's bleeding anymore, but cleaning up the areas where Varric had managed to break through the skin (one big one on his hand, several other, smaller ones on his wrist and forearm) is still a good idea. Riku accepts the pitcher from Kairi and sets to work, ignoring the goosebumps that rise on his arms as he touches the cold water.]

Have the three of you been here the whole time?

More than a day.

[She's scrutinizing him out of the corner of her eye the whole time.]

Ironhide blocked the door.

[She wanders over to the rumpled pile of linen and blankets in the corner and picks up one, bunching it up in her hands.]

Hey,

[And she tosses the blanket to him. He looks awful. He should sleep.]

Good. At least that way, nothing can get in.

[Riku glances over when she calls for him, reaching out to catch the blanket--and missing. He looks at it, a little bit bewildered, as it falls to the floor, but bends and snags it back up after that, wrapping it around himself.

He'd -missed-.

Excuse him, Kairi, he's just going to be really taken aback by that little fact for a moment.]

[Kairi nodded, but paused mid-motion when she heard the flump of the blanket hitting the floor.

She glanced up at Riku through her eyelashes.

He'd missed.

Riku didn't miss.

He'd fended off every blitzball that Wakka had ever thrown at him for as long as she could remember, even the ones from behind, even when it had been three on one and Sora and Tidus had been coming at him from the front.

He had sliced through every shadow that came leaping for his head even as they'd buried her under the power of their own numbers.

Riku never missed.

He was already picking up the blanket.

His arm was probably hurt. He just hadn't been fast enough, that was all. Too late, she closed her mouth and looked away. He was tired.]

They won't be back for a while. You could sleep-

[Lie down, rest, recover.]

-until they get here, and then there'll be food.

[Riku doesn't -want- to sleep. The one time he's tried so far, all he'd been able to see was the blood on his hands, the blood of an actual -person-, the blood of somebody he'd known. Over the past year he's gotten used what it feels like to constantly fight for his life, used to what it feels like to kill. But this is entirely different--partly in how much it was the same. It had been as easy as killing the Heartless, killing the Nobodies.

But the meaning was entirely different.

Still, he can't deny that he's exhausted, and there's still that pounding in his skull to be dealt with.]

What about you?

[But he's already making his way toward the corner as he speaks, trying to choose a spot where he'll be out of the way but still have enough room to lie down without being too cramped.]

[She studies him as he walks, unaware how obvious she's being, but alert for any other injuries. She can't find any.]

Oh, I already slept.

[The lie comes easily, and far too quickly. She avoids looking directly at him as he approaches the heap of blankets.]

I'll be okay. Rest.

[The pile of blankets, that's not what he wants. He can't sleep on those when there are several others that might need them. Riku keeps moving until he finds a suitable space, then looks back over to Kairi.]

All right. If you're sure.

[He carefully, slowly lowers himself to the floor, settling into a (relatively) comfortable spot and getting his blanket situated as well.]

Wake me up if anything happens.

[And unless anything else happens, Riku's just going to lie down on his side, back against the wall in a protective habit that just hasn't worn off, and try to go to sleep.

It's been a long couple of days.]

[She nods; she's sure.

Kairi keeps an eye on Riku until she's sure he's settled, before sinking back into the chair he vacated to begin watching the door. She tried to ignore the niggling sensation of hunger, or the slight dryness of her throat. Xanth and Ironhide could be back soon. They would have food and water. She could wait until then. Until then, all she had to do was keep watch.]

[It doesn't take long for Riku to fall asleep. It's a restless sleep, though, a troubled sleep. He can't seem to decide if he wants the blanket or not, finally settling for having it cover his shoulders to hips, leaving his legs sticking out. As time goes by and he begins to dream, he grows even more restless.

In his dream he's at the Beast's castle. At first he's fighting Xion, but then there are more people around him. The people he knows from the keep. His friends. Sora. Kairi.

He sees one of them in the back begin to turn, mowing the now-faceless down as it races toward him. He tries to turn over his shoulder, to try and sprint way because he can't attack them again, but he's stuck in place and he can't move...

And the scene changes, changes to the beaches of Destiny Islands at sunset (and outside of his dream Riku stills, sighing). He heads toward the smaller island with the paopu tree, stopping once he realizes that there's somebody in the tree.]

You're going to fall if you keep trying to get up there, you know.

[He's talking in his sleep--a rarity, considering the necessity of silence in the past. But he's feverish and dreaming, and mumbling the words aloud, a slight smile coming to his face as he dreams.

Any moment now, Sora's going to fall out of the tree and into the water. Just like always.]

[Time stretches endlessly as Riku sleeps. At first the minutes drag because she's sure that, at any moment, something is going to happen. She has to be ready. She has to look out for her friend. She can’t escape her own unease and she doesn’t like it.

It's strange; Riku never really needed her before, not like this. Not to cover his back and look out for him. He had always been so self-sufficient, even when they were small. He had been the one looking out for her, and Sora.

Now?

She wouldn't fail him.

But as time begins to drag, her attention gives way to boredom. Restless, she needs to get up and move to keep herself alert, to stop herself from drooping into a daze.

And then something happens.

Riku speaks.

Kairi whips round and stares at him for a moment before what he’s saying begins to make sense. Except that it doesn’t make sense at all.]

Heh, what?

[Kairi's words reach him in his dream, even though they don't come to him as being hers. It's Sora saying it, poking his head out of the tree to see him. "I'm not gonna fall!" he continues, making a face at him. A knowing smirk comes to Riku's face as he rests one hand on his hip, watching.]

All right, if you're so sure. But don't come whining to me when your shoes are still squeaking tomorrow morning.

[Kairi stares at him a moment longer before getting up, walking over and crouching down next to him, peering into his face to make certain that he is indeed asleep.]

Riku? What are you talking about.

[-Now- the words are Kairi's. She's walking up to him, following his eyes and looking toward the tree as well, even as she asks him what he's talking about. Sora's disappeared again, though the movement of the branches is still proof of his presence.

Riku folds his arms, still watching in expectation.]

Sora's just being a moron again, that's all.

[But there's a hint of a grin on his face as he says it.]

[At that, she can't help but giggle. For a moment, it's as though the pair of them are in a different time and a different place, like he's fallen asleep on the shoreline in the middle of the afternoon instead of huddling under a blanket battered and bruised.]

Riku, are you dreaming?

[A slight smile comes to his face, outside of the dream.]

Yes.

[Surprised by his answer, Kairi can only stare at him for a moment. She wants to wake him, to ask him what he's dreaming about, but he doesn't smile like that very often.

She couldn't.

But that won't stop her asking.]

Oh? What about?

[Will he even be able to answer? It doesn't matter. Kairi's smiling too.]

Sora's trying to get the paopu fruit.

But it won't work. He forgot about the data.

[That's right, the data. Abruptly, the paopu tree flickers, and Sora immediately drops from it into the ocean. He looks back up at it, surprised, and Riku shakes his head at him. Surely he knew that DiZ had been working on codifying entire worlds?]

The data?

[That doesn't make any sense.

And yet,

It's funny.

Kairi tries to stifle her laughter, first closing her mouth and then covering it with both her hands. But she can't help it. It's so silly, on top of everything, for Riku of all her friends to be talking like this.

And so she laughs.]

Mm-hmm. DiZ did it.

And he took all the fruit off the trees.

[It would be pointless to waste his efforts on something like that, he'd said. The islands were just a trial run, to ensure everything would work correctly should they later need the data-simulated worlds.]

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[Commentlog] ...I GET TO USE THIS ICON. |DDDDD

[Commentlog] D-DAAAW SNEEPY!

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