Riku ("Ansem") (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
justabignobody) wrote2014-12-25 10:28 pm
justabignobody) wrote2014-12-25 10:28 pm
Entry tags:
Nobody Only Lives Once
Characters: Riku and Puberty!nort
Setting: The Summit in the Land of Dragons
Format: action brackets, because for some reason this wanted to be written like that. Even if it's more. A fic thing.
Summary: Riku's experiences in the tower and resulting attempts to make his universe a better place have caught the attention of a certain Nort. Since Riku has become an unappreciated irregularity, steps are taken.
Warnings: Violence, character death... of sorts
[Things... have been going well for him, for Sora and for their Universe at large, as far as Riku has been able to tell – Naminé and Roxas are both alive, are both well, and will not be needing to give up their existences any time soon (at least as long as Riku has any say), Sora and Kairi are together, both growing stronger with every passing day, the Heartless are slowly but surely being beaten back and there is only so much of the Organization left...
Well. There is Xemnas and Xigbar and Saix – the most dangerous of the bunch of them – and there is also Axel, ever the wild card he's always been, but. It won't be long until they can take them – at very least Mickey and Sora and Roxas and Riku; and between them they will definitely fall.
(He has not-memories of dying a thousand deaths at Xemnas hands, but surely he is stronger than the him that fought those fights. That Riku hadn't – more or less – survived the hell known to selected few as the Tower of Animus.)
The Organization will stand even less a chance, if he just manages to track down the Keyblade Wielders that had been lost to Xehanort's plot, if somehow he finds Terra or Ventus or Aqua.
(If he finds a way to bring Xion back from within Sora's heart.)
He should have asked Mickey for more concrete pointers – the mouse king had been sure that Aqua had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, but Ventus and Terra... there is no telling where either of them truly are.
(There is another not-memory of meeting Ventus at the shores of the play island, just after Roxas, just before Xion and DiZ, of a question asked...
"What is the one thing you care about more than anything else?".
The answer to that is the same it has always been.)
As it is, Riku is drifting from world to world, looking, searching for clues that may or may not help him in this quest and that's exactly what has led him up to the summit of the mountains in the Land of Dragons. It hasn't been long since Sora has sealed off the Heart of this world and it seems unlikely that he'll find what he's looking for here, but.
The thoughts of probability disappear from his mind the moment he sees the cloaked figure before him, the one who's stature doesn't match anyone Riku has ever seen wear this particular coat. (Too tall for Roxas - or Xion or Ira - and not tall enough for Axel or any of the others left.)
He can't quite help the way his eyes widen when the hood falls back and he recognizes the figure beneath it after all.
(Riku not-remembers the edge of another mountain, of fire rather than snow and ice, of amber eyes burning with distain-)]
The boy chosen by the Keyblade - Riku. Master Riku now, is it not?
[It's that voice, the edge of mockery that snaps him out of his not-déjà vu and right into reality. Riku may not have yet have the certainty that the title should entitle him to, but... he's not about to let this guy see that. Not when he knows him as enemy beyond any doubt.]
So I am. Were you waiting for me?
[The other ignores the question.]
It was yours first, wasn't it? But you succumbed to the darkness you could not control, and your prize--the Keyblade--passed onto Sora instead. Your mistakes always end up being other people's problems. Or they used to, at least...
[The cloaked stranger paces a little, cold eyes never leaving Riku.]
You have always performed predictably, on one scale or another, but... in the last few months you have not moved as we foresaw. Too much so, to be discounted as coincidence or miscalculation. You have learned too much, in ability, in knowledge – much more than you should have had time to.
[Riku can't help a small, grim smile at that – he knows this, he knows why, where he's had the time. He isn't about to share.]
How about we skip the small talk and you tell me just what exactly this is about? Who are you? What are you to Xehanort? And what does your lot plan with Sora?
[There is an unreadable flash in the other's eyes, something sharp, something calculating and later Riku just might wonder if he hadn't overplayed his hand there, revealed too much off the things he knows that may or may not come to pass – but there is no time to think, not when the other has already started to talk again.]
I am he who came before. The one who will and has become he who you should not yet know to call Xehanort. Xehanort of the most distant past, if you will.
I don't know how you know as much as you do or what you have done to change yourself so much beyond our expectations, but-
[And Riku really can't help neither the sharp draw of breath nor the flash-feeling of déjà vu all over again, not when the words he hears next are exactly the same as the once he heard so many months before in the mirror]
-you really have found a way to trap darkness inside your heart. And a boy who's immune to darkness is of no use to us. Not when he knows too much now already when he should know nothing at all.
[Somewhere in the deepest corner of his heart, beneath the faint shock and dread that those words call upon, Riku feels a vicious flash of pride and satisfaction at knowing that his attempts to change things have affected the other, that he is making a difference, but he doesn't get to linger on any of that, not when Xehanort holds out his hand and curls his hand in a far too familiar gesture, air humming and ringing as a Keyblade forms and falls into his hands, and dark promises slip past his lips.]
Your abyss awaits.
[There is barely time for Riku to summon his own Keyblade, to call Highwind to his side, to even register Xehanort's faint narrowing of eyes at the sight of the Dream Eater before the other is upon him and the only thing Riku dares to think in that very second is 'Fast-' before he finds himself dodging and blocking and trying as hard as he can to find an opening to get hits in of his own.
It is not that Riku isn't used to fighting at speed – he has spent a lot of time being trained by Terra after all, who, as Riku has learned to attest to more than once, can move at almost frightening speeds when he starts to get serious; Riku knows speed because his strategy of choice has almost always been to dart in, hit and get back into distance.
It's utterly ill-suited against an opponent who is on-par, if not out-speeding him.
(The last one to do so was the Replica. Ira. Riku was fighting for his life back then too.)
There is no time to think much about that in this particular battle even with Highwind for back-up, not when Xehanort is using the kind of speed, when distancing himself is utterly useless because he can turn that Keyblade into a whip-
(he remembers, he's seen Terra do this too, but there hadn't been enough time, not to learn that nor so many other things).
Then there's one misstep too many and Riku finds himself staggering, white-hot pain racing through his body when the whip-blade digs into his left side, cutting through cloths, through flesh-
(he's died like this once, Xemnas' killed him like this once, he remembers-)
Riku is on his knees, Way to the Dawn vanished and his right hand pressing into his side, feeling the blood run through his fingers, eyes wide as he stares up to the impassive face above him, Xehanort's Keyblade high above his head and Riku is frozen because all he can think of is the dead certainty that he is going to die right here-]
Begone!
[There is a sharp shriek as Highwind comes barreling down from the side, tackling Xehanort with all the force his little body is capable of to give Riku the precious second he needs to catch himself, but still he can only watch horrified as Xehanort turns his blade on the Dream Eater–]
You are not meant for this era.
[-and rips into him with his Keyblade, Riku's eyes wide as he sees his partner go down, one last soft noise escaping him before he lies still in the snow-]
Highwind!
[-but before he can scramble up towards the Dream Eaters side, Xehanort has turned his attention back towards him, has raised his Keyblade again, except that this time Riku is ready, pushing his hand out just as the blade comes down, letting it collide with a blue-black-white gleaming barrier of magic, folding it all around him.
The barrier is stable, even as the second hit of a combo rains down at it, but it's not going to work indefinitely, it will start breaking soon, and there's Highwind right over there, dead, dying to protect him–
And unless Riku does something right now he's going to join him. Between physical and emotional pain-shock-despair, it's that thought that gives him back clarity.
Just as the third hit connects and Xehanort pulls back to deliver the fourth and final one, Riku pulls all the anger-fear-despair into his Darkness, not really thinking as he forms it into a counter and wills his barrier to become a weapon, to splinter into shards of magic and push Xehanort backbackback-
Finally there is room to breath, to stop pressing fingers into the wound long enough to let healing magic work on it – it's a patch job at best, enough to take the edge off the pain, to stop the bleeding for now, enough to allow Riku to dark roll to where Highwind used to lie, where there's now only dream pieces left, swallowing a gasp, swallowing tears-
(later; he can allow those tears later)
Then, just as he's gather the dream pieces up in one sweep, Xehanort is back on his feet, advancing fast, but this time Riku is on his feet again and he has no intention to shield. Way to the Dawn falls back into his hand just as he angles his arm towards Xehanort, eyes narrowing as he unleashes the strongest and most appropriate spell he has mastered under Terra's watchful eye.]
Fire!
[Mega Flare explodes over the summit, Riku can feel the heat washing over his skin as he angles his Keyblade backwards, willing it to open a portal, to create pathway that will lead him far, far away from Xehanort – for all that the haze of exhaustion and pain and grief is starting to settle over him again, he knows well enough that there's probably no worse idea than trying the Dark Corridors to escape the man before him.
(In different way, the Lanes Between are probably just as risky... but what choice does he have.)
The fires of his spell are starting to fade when the portal opens, but Riku doesn't risk to look back as he takes the final leap to escape.
To survival.]
Setting: The Summit in the Land of Dragons
Format: action brackets, because for some reason this wanted to be written like that. Even if it's more. A fic thing.
Summary: Riku's experiences in the tower and resulting attempts to make his universe a better place have caught the attention of a certain Nort. Since Riku has become an unappreciated irregularity, steps are taken.
Warnings: Violence, character death... of sorts
[Things... have been going well for him, for Sora and for their Universe at large, as far as Riku has been able to tell – Naminé and Roxas are both alive, are both well, and will not be needing to give up their existences any time soon (at least as long as Riku has any say), Sora and Kairi are together, both growing stronger with every passing day, the Heartless are slowly but surely being beaten back and there is only so much of the Organization left...
Well. There is Xemnas and Xigbar and Saix – the most dangerous of the bunch of them – and there is also Axel, ever the wild card he's always been, but. It won't be long until they can take them – at very least Mickey and Sora and Roxas and Riku; and between them they will definitely fall.
(He has not-memories of dying a thousand deaths at Xemnas hands, but surely he is stronger than the him that fought those fights. That Riku hadn't – more or less – survived the hell known to selected few as the Tower of Animus.)
The Organization will stand even less a chance, if he just manages to track down the Keyblade Wielders that had been lost to Xehanort's plot, if somehow he finds Terra or Ventus or Aqua.
(If he finds a way to bring Xion back from within Sora's heart.)
He should have asked Mickey for more concrete pointers – the mouse king had been sure that Aqua had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, but Ventus and Terra... there is no telling where either of them truly are.
(There is another not-memory of meeting Ventus at the shores of the play island, just after Roxas, just before Xion and DiZ, of a question asked...
"What is the one thing you care about more than anything else?".
The answer to that is the same it has always been.)
As it is, Riku is drifting from world to world, looking, searching for clues that may or may not help him in this quest and that's exactly what has led him up to the summit of the mountains in the Land of Dragons. It hasn't been long since Sora has sealed off the Heart of this world and it seems unlikely that he'll find what he's looking for here, but.
The thoughts of probability disappear from his mind the moment he sees the cloaked figure before him, the one who's stature doesn't match anyone Riku has ever seen wear this particular coat. (Too tall for Roxas - or Xion or Ira - and not tall enough for Axel or any of the others left.)
He can't quite help the way his eyes widen when the hood falls back and he recognizes the figure beneath it after all.
(Riku not-remembers the edge of another mountain, of fire rather than snow and ice, of amber eyes burning with distain-)]
The boy chosen by the Keyblade - Riku. Master Riku now, is it not?
[It's that voice, the edge of mockery that snaps him out of his not-déjà vu and right into reality. Riku may not have yet have the certainty that the title should entitle him to, but... he's not about to let this guy see that. Not when he knows him as enemy beyond any doubt.]
So I am. Were you waiting for me?
[The other ignores the question.]
It was yours first, wasn't it? But you succumbed to the darkness you could not control, and your prize--the Keyblade--passed onto Sora instead. Your mistakes always end up being other people's problems. Or they used to, at least...
[The cloaked stranger paces a little, cold eyes never leaving Riku.]
You have always performed predictably, on one scale or another, but... in the last few months you have not moved as we foresaw. Too much so, to be discounted as coincidence or miscalculation. You have learned too much, in ability, in knowledge – much more than you should have had time to.
[Riku can't help a small, grim smile at that – he knows this, he knows why, where he's had the time. He isn't about to share.]
How about we skip the small talk and you tell me just what exactly this is about? Who are you? What are you to Xehanort? And what does your lot plan with Sora?
[There is an unreadable flash in the other's eyes, something sharp, something calculating and later Riku just might wonder if he hadn't overplayed his hand there, revealed too much off the things he knows that may or may not come to pass – but there is no time to think, not when the other has already started to talk again.]
I am he who came before. The one who will and has become he who you should not yet know to call Xehanort. Xehanort of the most distant past, if you will.
I don't know how you know as much as you do or what you have done to change yourself so much beyond our expectations, but-
[And Riku really can't help neither the sharp draw of breath nor the flash-feeling of déjà vu all over again, not when the words he hears next are exactly the same as the once he heard so many months before in the mirror]
-you really have found a way to trap darkness inside your heart. And a boy who's immune to darkness is of no use to us. Not when he knows too much now already when he should know nothing at all.
[Somewhere in the deepest corner of his heart, beneath the faint shock and dread that those words call upon, Riku feels a vicious flash of pride and satisfaction at knowing that his attempts to change things have affected the other, that he is making a difference, but he doesn't get to linger on any of that, not when Xehanort holds out his hand and curls his hand in a far too familiar gesture, air humming and ringing as a Keyblade forms and falls into his hands, and dark promises slip past his lips.]
Your abyss awaits.
[There is barely time for Riku to summon his own Keyblade, to call Highwind to his side, to even register Xehanort's faint narrowing of eyes at the sight of the Dream Eater before the other is upon him and the only thing Riku dares to think in that very second is 'Fast-' before he finds himself dodging and blocking and trying as hard as he can to find an opening to get hits in of his own.
It is not that Riku isn't used to fighting at speed – he has spent a lot of time being trained by Terra after all, who, as Riku has learned to attest to more than once, can move at almost frightening speeds when he starts to get serious; Riku knows speed because his strategy of choice has almost always been to dart in, hit and get back into distance.
It's utterly ill-suited against an opponent who is on-par, if not out-speeding him.
(The last one to do so was the Replica. Ira. Riku was fighting for his life back then too.)
There is no time to think much about that in this particular battle even with Highwind for back-up, not when Xehanort is using the kind of speed, when distancing himself is utterly useless because he can turn that Keyblade into a whip-
(he remembers, he's seen Terra do this too, but there hadn't been enough time, not to learn that nor so many other things).
Then there's one misstep too many and Riku finds himself staggering, white-hot pain racing through his body when the whip-blade digs into his left side, cutting through cloths, through flesh-
(he's died like this once, Xemnas' killed him like this once, he remembers-)
Riku is on his knees, Way to the Dawn vanished and his right hand pressing into his side, feeling the blood run through his fingers, eyes wide as he stares up to the impassive face above him, Xehanort's Keyblade high above his head and Riku is frozen because all he can think of is the dead certainty that he is going to die right here-]
Begone!
[There is a sharp shriek as Highwind comes barreling down from the side, tackling Xehanort with all the force his little body is capable of to give Riku the precious second he needs to catch himself, but still he can only watch horrified as Xehanort turns his blade on the Dream Eater–]
You are not meant for this era.
[-and rips into him with his Keyblade, Riku's eyes wide as he sees his partner go down, one last soft noise escaping him before he lies still in the snow-]
Highwind!
[-but before he can scramble up towards the Dream Eaters side, Xehanort has turned his attention back towards him, has raised his Keyblade again, except that this time Riku is ready, pushing his hand out just as the blade comes down, letting it collide with a blue-black-white gleaming barrier of magic, folding it all around him.
The barrier is stable, even as the second hit of a combo rains down at it, but it's not going to work indefinitely, it will start breaking soon, and there's Highwind right over there, dead, dying to protect him–
And unless Riku does something right now he's going to join him. Between physical and emotional pain-shock-despair, it's that thought that gives him back clarity.
Just as the third hit connects and Xehanort pulls back to deliver the fourth and final one, Riku pulls all the anger-fear-despair into his Darkness, not really thinking as he forms it into a counter and wills his barrier to become a weapon, to splinter into shards of magic and push Xehanort backbackback-
Finally there is room to breath, to stop pressing fingers into the wound long enough to let healing magic work on it – it's a patch job at best, enough to take the edge off the pain, to stop the bleeding for now, enough to allow Riku to dark roll to where Highwind used to lie, where there's now only dream pieces left, swallowing a gasp, swallowing tears-
(later; he can allow those tears later)
Then, just as he's gather the dream pieces up in one sweep, Xehanort is back on his feet, advancing fast, but this time Riku is on his feet again and he has no intention to shield. Way to the Dawn falls back into his hand just as he angles his arm towards Xehanort, eyes narrowing as he unleashes the strongest and most appropriate spell he has mastered under Terra's watchful eye.]
Fire!
[Mega Flare explodes over the summit, Riku can feel the heat washing over his skin as he angles his Keyblade backwards, willing it to open a portal, to create pathway that will lead him far, far away from Xehanort – for all that the haze of exhaustion and pain and grief is starting to settle over him again, he knows well enough that there's probably no worse idea than trying the Dark Corridors to escape the man before him.
(In different way, the Lanes Between are probably just as risky... but what choice does he have.)
The fires of his spell are starting to fade when the portal opens, but Riku doesn't risk to look back as he takes the final leap to escape.
To survival.]