tall_dark_and | a day's rest and retreat ; twilight town

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a day's rest and retreat ; twilight town

Our scene is set in the World That Never Was, sometime in the morning. Or at least, what passes well enough for morning - it's not as if the lighting changes, but it is sometime after people wake up, at least.

The specific setting for this venture is in Namine's Tower, where a dark path is opening. Out of this steps Riku. Today is the day that Riku and Namine have planned to take a trip to another world, and he wanted to come as early as possible. Partially in case they run into any problems, and -- well. Partially because he would just like to spend as much time with her as possible.

He has prepared for the occasion, and this fact is obvious from one glance at him. Riku has taken the trouble to ditch his usual outfit, and get ahold of something nicer. Hanging around Hollow Bastion for a few hours can prove to be a beneficial venture. It earned him some nice slacks, and a white dress shirt. His hair is pulled back into a simple ponytail.

That is not all the preperation he has done. His left hand is hiding somethng behind his back - but what could it possibly be?

"Namine?" he asks, his voice a little hesitant and soft.

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"Be careful," she warns, noticing the skateboard.

They walk on for a bit with her occasionally stopping to quickly sketch what she sees, great ideas coming into her mind as she takes in her surroundings.

The marketplace is her favourite location so far -- there are so many things to see! People walking everywhere, merchants calling out their sales...it's all busy and wonderful.

Her hand rarely leaves Riku's except for when she's drawing.

"It was hard for me to handle this type of place for awhile," Riku comments, as he leads her through the marketplace and towards the sandlot. "I was stuck in the Shadow Realms for so long, that I didn't really know how to deal with people anymore."

She nods, blindly following Riku.

"The Shadow Realms can do that," she muses thoughtfully. "You should never have gone...it can do terrible things to good people."

"I had no choice," Riku says. "There was no other way to make things right."

Besides, he would have never met her.

And in the same way, she would never have met him. But that isn't quite the point.

She likes Riku -- she likes him a lot. Yet...no matter what, she doesn't think he belongs there...in the darkness...with so much uncertainty, shadow, doubt and beings with no hearts.

"I know," she says, her voice quiet.

Her fingers tighten around Riku's hand ever so slightly, unbeknown to her. She knows it was not exactly a conscious choice on Riku's part -- that there were things he just had to do. But...if there was another way...

She doesn't want to think of herself as a monster because she does not have a heart, but the thought springs to her mind. Someone like Riku belongs in the light with his friends, with Sora...and Kairi...where he can laugh and his heart can be free. She is just a shadow, an empty body without a beating heart or any heart of any kind.

"But it's not all that bad," Riku states, as the sounds of the sandlot get much closer. "Good company, and some interesting sights. And a bunch of unused space. I'd make a killing on real estate."

...you gotta joke sometimes, even if it's a bad one. How would you survive otherwise?

She laughs a bit. "If anyone would be willing to live there," she says quietly.

She hesitates a long moment before taking a breath to ask the question she's so curious about. She isn't sure whether it's appropriate to ask, but she needs to know. "When you...finish what you have to do, will you leave and go back to where you belong?"

Riku pauses at that.

It's a good question. He would like to... but. Wanting something and actually getting it are two different things.

"I don't know," he says, finally.

He doesn't know if he deserves it.

She grips his hand tighter, as though to tell him she never wants him to go, ever.

But her words say otherwise.

"You should go back," she says, her voice barely a whisper, "if you get the chance. You belong there."

Riku isn't sure what to say to that. He knows that's what everyone will be saying - and that Sora and Kairi wouldn't even let him try to think otherwise. But.

He just had a few things to sort out, before he could even think about what was coming after.

"This is a little out of nowhere," he says, instead. "What brought it on?"

She shrugs. "I don't know," she lies, and she tries her best to make sure Riku can't tell that she's lying.

This moment, right now, is paradise and it will possibly be the best thing she'll ever experience, the nicest memory she can burn into her mind until she fades away into nothingness.

After this, what then? What will happen? They can't keep this fairytale up forever, no matter how much she might want it. She's a Nobody, and he...he has a heart, and even though she doesn't want him to leave, she knows that she would rather he be happy where there was sun and brightness and people with hearts instead of remaining in the dark, ominous shadow realms where the darkness could do terrible things to someone's heart.

"Never mind," she says, and suddenly her eyes are blurring with tears. "It's...not important." She is a Nobody -- how is this hurt possible?

Riku doesn't quite miss the lie. He definately doesn't miss the tears. He pauses for a moment, before pulling her down a side path, into one of the brick alleyways.

"Tell me what's wrong," he says. He's got her backed into a wall, his hand pressed against the brick just over her shoulder. He's leaning in close, and the concern on his face is so, so obvious.

"I want to know."

She shrinks back a little and tries to look away, though it is difficult with him so close to her.

"I'm sorry Riku," she says instead, shaking her head. "I didn't mean t-to do this...and now the day's r-ruined, isn't it?"

Naminé blinks, and tears slowly run down her cheeks. Suddenly, she wraps her arms around him, clutching him tightly.

"Of course it's not," he says, his voice barely more than a whisper. He holds her just as tightly. "How could it be? You're here."

For each tear that falls, he presses a kiss to her wet cheeks, as if this could possibly erase them.

She sniffles, gasping for breaths and her tears won't stop. A Nobody should not be able to feel like this, or to...have such an effect on someone else...

And yet.

She doesn't let go of him. She never wants to. And it hurts so much -- some place within her, without a heart to justify it -- to know that this shouldn't even be happening.

"I don't want to let you go," she whispers. It's barely audible.

"I'm happy around you," Riku informs Namine, resting his forehead against hers. "I... haven't been able to be happy in a long time."

He feels that this is necessary to express. It can't just go unspoken.

She nods her head, strands of blonde falling into her eyes. Her fit of sorrow slowly passes with every kiss and every second that he has his arms around her.

But we're so...different, she wants to say. How can he find happiness with...someone who has no heart, no pulse?

Instead she tells him in a soft whisper, "I'm always happy around you, too." Because she is. He makes her feel. Sometimes she even questions whether she might have a heart somewhere inside her, beating silently, but there nonetheless.

"You don't seem very happy right now," Riku says. He presses his lips against hers for the briefest of moments. He wasn't that bad at reading signals - and even if he was, her emotions were ever so obvious.

She closes her eyes, breathless again -- breathless as always -- when Riku kisses her.

It's true, she wasn't happy just then, but only because she's so caught up in what will happen to them in the future. And she's never thought about the future before. Not until now. Not since Riku.

The memory-witch always focuses on the past, on memory. So, now? Her entire world -- as far as she knows it -- has been flipped upside down. She's been forced to think about different things.

When the kiss is over, she manages a small, soft, somewhat weak smile. She wants him to promise her something, but...it seems so much to ask of him.

Riku doesn't pull away after the kiss. Something about all of this makes him want to cling as much as possible, not put distance between them. He's still close enough for his lips to brush hers when he speaks, for their collective breath to mingle.

"What can I do?" he asks quietly. "How can I help you feel better?"

She's warm all over, and the tingle in her lips as Riku's brushes them makes that invisible non-pulse in her quicken.

For a moment, she doesn't reply. She wants to tell him what she has in mind, but she isn't sure how...and it's selfish of her to ask of him such a thing...

So, instead it is her turn to kiss him, sealing the very small space between their lips.

Was that what Riku had in mind? Not exactly, and he has a feeling that she's delaying something. But he didn't think there was any harm in letting her, for a moment or two.

He stops holding her quite so tight, just to concentrate more on this. One hand back on the wall, the other resting gently on her hip. In the past, they've only shared brief kisses, but he doesn't part their lips so quickly now.

After all, there's no rush, is there?

No rush at all.

A slight shiver runs up the length of her spine.

She doesn't know what she's doing, or what's going to happen as this has never happened to her before, but her mind is unable to process all of these things. It's mostly fuzzy, a bit of a blur, and the only thing she can clearly think of is how this makes her feel.

And it makes her feel... unexplainable.

She isn't sure where to put her hands, so she merely holds onto him, her eyes closed as she kisses him back. Again, and again, and again.

There's no rush, but Riku does have to chuckle into one of the kisses. "Am I going to have to coax the question out of you," he says, before kissing her once. twice. three times more. (There really is no hurry, see.) "Or will it ever make it to the light of day?"

He sounds more than a little breathless.

"I can be very... persuasive."

She does allow herself to smile a little against another of his kisses, but the sound of his voice and the way he speaks to her is making her blush far more than she thought it possible.

Breaking off their kiss, she shakes her head. Her face feels flushed. "You can try," she whispers, "if you want."

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