Open Interaction Post!

[chakramkeyblade]

[Permanent, open interaction post for Lea (and Axel). Let me know if you'd prefer me to do a starter, or just jump in with whatever!]

Comments

[chakramkeyblade]

[He smiles, barely. Weird. He's taller than her now, by a good amount. He figures it's just as odd for her, considering he was fourteen the last time he saw her.

But eventually he pulls away, leading her down a hallway and into a spare room. Dilan is asleep on his bed, curled up slightly, his locks sprawled out on the pillows behind him. Lea enters quietly, setting the pitcher down on a small table. He turns to leave again, gesturing to Elizabeth. He figures Even's probably in the library or something...so instead he closes the door to Dilan's room and takes her to one of the castle's many balconies overlooking the city.

The restoration is coming along well, at least. But it's still nowhere near Radiant Garden's old glory.]

So you wanted to know what happened to Radiant Garden...and to us. [He sighs and rests his elbows on the ledge, purposefully keeping his gaze out at the town below and not Elizabeth.]

The short of it is, Xehanort happened.

[cageunemptied]

[It's more than odd, considering that it was only yesterday for her that Lea had begrudgingly been swept out of the castle, seeming as though he was practically made of limbs as he flailed about. The grin on his face as he'd waved goodbye to Elizabeth later, though, had told her he would try again tomorrow.

She smiled at the memory even as worried as she was, and followed Lea out after smoothing Dilan's covers.]

Xehanort? [The mention of what had been the newest addition to their home caused her to frown. Certainly, she had not been close with him, but he had always been polite. Even so, there had been something odd about him, though Elizabeth had chalked that down to not being entirely used to the him.]

What do you mean?

[chakramkeyblade]

....He's not what they thought. [Lea peeks back at her. How can he even begin? How is he supposed to even admit to the things he did when he was a shell of his old self? ...At the beginning, what else is there?]

It's a long story.

[But he tells it well, even if it takes him over an hour. Some parts he just...can't go into detail. He glosses them over, trying not to think about them too hard. At the end, he trails off, staring down at his right hand. The warmth is there, almost solid, just waiting for him to will it into existence. He tentatively raises it, the keyblade sparking into existence in a crackle of light. He holds it outward, gazing at the flame-shaped blade, the emblem on his old throwing discs, the deadly spikes of Axel's chakrams.]

It's going to be a hard road. But I have to take responsibility for what I've done. See this through, to the end.

[cageunemptied]

[And she listens, just as if she was listening to one of Ansem the Wise's tales. She watches his face, his actions, and while she can tell she's not getting the whole story, she can also tell that he's regretful.

She holds back a "How could you?" directed at all of them, but it's in her eyes, for a moment.]

I can't say I understand how this happened, but I'm glad you told me. Thank you.

[But that still doesn't explain how she ended up the way she did, or why she hadn't aged in all this time (and Dilan, too, looks exactly the same as he always has). It doesn't explicitly the sneaking suspicion that all this somehow includes her. But that can wait.]

Where are the others?

[chakramkeyblade]

[It's a look he can't stand. They feel bad enough on their own, they don't need her judging them, too.]

That's what happens when you start playing around with darkness. Sooner or later you get burned. They just took seven more of us down with them.

Dilan's asleep, obviously. Even's probably in the library. Aeleus is out doing patrols, and Ienzo's crunching numbers and trying to get what he can from Ansem's database. As for the others...no clue. Xigbar and Isa are wherever Xemnas is. Other than that your guess is as good as mine.

[cageunemptied]

[Elizabeth has always had high moral standards, and she has always made that abundantly clear. Whenever one of the others had done something that she considered immoral, she'd always made her displeasure known - especially Braig, who as easily the most morally loose of the group (although he'd hid the worst of himself from her).

However, now was not the time to start preaching, so she held her tongue.]

And Ansem?

[Her voice breaks as she says his name, and although Lea hasn't told her of his fate, she does not have a good feeling about it.]

[chakramkeyblade]

They banished him to the world of Darkness. It didn't kill him...not right away. He stopped what Xemnas was trying to do with Kingdom Hearts, according to Yen Sid, but... he ended up getting himself killed in the process.

[cageunemptied]

[Elizabeth's heartbreak is clear in her eyes, and she shakes her head, almost desperately, her eyes wide as they look into Lea's. He's not lying. She knows he's not.

After a moment, she begins to sob quietly, her hands held over her face.]