oathbreakers | [012//Audio & Commentlog?]

Riku?

Who's that?

[Oh, great. Kairi. Normally hearing Kairi's voice over the comms would be a good thing--but maybe not so much today. Particularly when a lot of the things his shadow is saying concern her.]

It's nothing! It's--

You can't lie to her, you know. Why do you keep trying? I bet you she already knows you--

[There's a loud sound, blocking out whatever it is the other voice is saying. It sounds like Riku just stomped on the floor.]

You're trying to stomp on me? Like that's going to do anything! But then again, that's all you can ever do, isn't it? You can never do anything useful.

[The shadow is still talking in the background, but Riku's ignoring it. He's very deadpan when he speaks, and Kairi can probably just -see- the unimpressed look on his face.]

It's my shadow.

Lie...?

[Whoa. His shadow?]

Where are you, in your room?

[There's a hesitation before his response. The way his shadow keeps trying to taunt him, there's a very real possibility of it revealing something he doesn't want Kairi to know.]

...Yeah, I am.

Hah! What now, are you hoping that--

[The feed cuts out, muting the rest of the shadow's taunt. Riku scowls at it. Obviously he'll have to resort to what many of the other passengers are doing.]

Don't listen to anything it says.

Heh. I know not to listen to shadows already, you dope.

[It takes her a few minutes to get to his room; she wasn't in hers. But soon she's knocking.

Despite her cheerful tone, she looks a little apprehensive. Riku's shadow is talking. That... That can't be a good thing.]

[Riku shakes his head at the response; maybe she already knows not to listen to shadows but this one is kind of difficult to ignore.

But regardless, when Kairi knocks on his door, Riku's gonna answer it. But it's time for the mouthy shadow to start up again!]

You actually think something's gonna come of this? You really think you even have a chance? Come on, Riku, first Sora and now Xanth, you're never gonna have a chance, are you? Maybe you should just learn to accept it.

Shut. Up. Just shut up!

[Luckily, Riku's commands overlap the shadow's words, so if Kairi hears anything at all, it'll be garbled at best. He scowls at his shadow (which thumbs its nose back at him with a laugh), and then turns back to open the door.

He looks a little bit frustrated.]

...hi, Kairi.

Hi.

[She waves, but immediately looks past him at his shadow spreading across the floor. There are no yellow eyes staring back at her, and no nauseous feeling twisting the pit of her stomach. It emboldens her, and she steps into the room, not smiling but not exactly frowning either.]

Well... It doesn't look so bad.

[She tries to catch Riku's eye.]

Are you okay?

[Riku shakes his head, starts to reply, aaaaand--]

Well, what'd you expect, princess? This isn't some Heartless scare. I'm him.

[Riku scowls at the shadow again.] No, you're not.

Oh, no? I know everything about him--deepest fears, most protected secrets, everything he's never told you and everything he hasn't told himself. Like how about the fact that S--

[Wait, is that--panic on Riku's face? Surely not! It disappears in an instant, hidden behind that same mask of irritation.] You don't know what you're talking about!

[But the shadow just laughs mockingly. He looks to Kairi then, expression turning a little bit -pleading-. He actually has no words for once!]

[Kairi frowns and props her hands on her hips, though it's more in response to being called "Princess" than anything else. Whether the talking shadow is Riku or not, it obviously shares enough knowledge of her to know what she was thinking and why.

But just to make sure, she crouches down and runs her fingertips over a shady part of the floor; nothing.]

You don't know everything.

[It doesn't know the future. It's no real consolation, but it's enough to dismiss the claim. Kairi stands up.]

And if you're not a Heartless, then you're not dangerous.

C'mon Riku.

[They're going to need more lights.]

[Riku isn't so sure about that. It might not be dangerous to them in the way Kairi means, but it's dangerous on an entirely different level--it's proven that several times over already. He and the shadow speak at the same time.]

I know as much as you do and more.

All right, where to?

[Riku's still keeping a wary eye on his shadow, but he's also relaxing slightly. Kairi's as unwilling to listen to it as he could have hoped--and if it tries to spill anything, he can talk over it.

Right?]

Do you have some sort of plan?

You can't know what I know.

[She sounds just the tiniest bit peevish.]

You're not my shadow.

[And she nods, and starts heading for the elevators.]

Deck twelve. If we get enough lights... Heh, well it's worth a try.

Struck a nerve, princess? I may not be your shadow, but anyone can see what you don't know, and I'm not just talking about when you look at Riku here.

Stop it--stop talking. You don't know what you're talking about!

Or what? You're gonna try and stomp on me again? 'Cause that worked out real well last time. Just like that puppet you tried to--

[Riku slams the door of his room, his shadow still stretched half inside as he does so. But it doesn't help, and why would it? The shadow flows onto the door, just as it always would. But it distracts the shadow from what it had been about to say, and that was all Riku had hoped for.]

You think a door's gonna hurt me any more than stomping on me would? I'm your shadow, Riku, you can't be rid of me no matter what you do.

[Riku rolls his eyes as the shadow's laughter begins again, following after Kairi.]

Yeah. Anything's better than just sitting here listening to this.

What do you mean-?

[Kairi stops and looks over her shoulder as the door slams, but stops herself. It's just goading her. It could easily be lying. She's better off asking Riku about it all later.]

How long has it been like that?

[She calls the lift]

[The shadow seems thrilled that Kairi keeps asking it questions.]

What do I mean? Why don't you give it a shot, princess? Think about it for a change. But I'll give you a free one--haven't you ever wondered what they're not telling you? All those dirty little secrets everybody else keeps hidden from you, how they're all determined to protect the precious innocent princess?

[Riku stomps on the shadow again, tries to do -something- to distract it, but this time the shadow won't be deterred.]

I know! Why don't you ask him about what happened to him and Xanth the night you died?

[His breath catches in his throat and Riku stops dead in his tracks.] Stop it.

Stop it!

[It's like a punch in the gut; all of the rising defiance and indignation is knocked out of her, breath stolen from the tip of her tongue with that word.

Died.

The elevator pings it's arrival. Kairi stands taut, her mouth slightly open. Then she closes it, presses her lips together in a firm line. When she speaks, her voice is calm but low, and so very soft.]

What happened?

[Riku is trapped, and he knows it. He can't avoid telling her, because if he declines to answer he -knows- his shadow will start spouting off again. He can't ask her to wait until his shadow is back to normal, either, because she'd imagine that he was doing so in order to lie to her--after that last outburst from the shadow, why -wouldn't- she? But he doesn't want to say, doesn't want to tell her that while she was being killed, he was off on some sort of "adventure" with Xanth. Even if it had turned for the worse, it still grated on him that he had been off on what had started out as a fun adventure when he should have been nearby to protect her.

He's trying not to reach out to her; he doesn't know if it would be welcome or not right now.]

It was nothing, it--

If you call almost getting killed by the plague star "nothing."

It was nothing in comparison, I'm saying. [He glares at it, then looks back to Kairi, pleading with his expression for her to understand.] We went exploring, we went into the temple to see what was inside it. There were a bunch of doors in a hallway, and behind one of them... but we found shelter. We were fine, not a single scratch. That's nothing compared to what... what happened to you.

[He trails off lamely. What else can he say, and he feels horrible for the topic even having been brought up.]

Kairi, I'm sorry.

[For what his shadow's saying or for not having been there? He doesn't know.]

Plague Star?

[She's barely heard half of what he said, and for the parts that she has heard... She wasn't there. She couldn't help them. But then she couldn't have helped them even if she had been there. She had been killed by a stranger with little more than a blow to the head.

Helpless.

In the way.]

It's okay.

[It isn't.]

[It's not, and he knows it's not. He can't help himself now; Riku reaches out with the intent of placing his hand on her shoulder.]

Kairi, no.

I should've been there. With you.

You see? And that's only one time. What else aren't they telling you? How do you know when they're lying to you?

[Kairi leans into the contact, but otherwise doesn't move. The lift has come and gone and they are still standing here. Whether it's at that, or out of some kind of necessity, Kairi manages a watery smile. But she doesn't have it in her to lie.]

What would you have done? It was so fast. He would have got you too.

I'm glad you were somewhere else.

[She doesn't want to be protected all the time, especially if it puts her friends in danger.]

I don't know, when you're not tell me things. But I know that when I need to know them, I will.

[He doesn't deserve you as a friend, Kairi. He really doesn't. The way she reacts to his touch and the look she gives him mean that Riku's going to be reaching out to pull her into a full hug if she'll let him, holding her tight.]

I could have done something. Anything would have been better than...

[He can't say it. Someone else can, though!]

Than hearing that post on the network when you got back, he'd rather die a hundred times than see you hurt once, blah-blah-blah. This has gotten boring fast. Who knew it'd be so easy to break the princess?

[Riku succeeds in holding back the hiss of annoyance that had been threatening. But his arms tighten around Kairi ~~if they're there~~, silently urging her not to listen to it.]

Any ideas on how to shut that thing up yet?

[Kairi doesn't argue. He wasn't there; he can't know. Instead she lets him hug her, and after a moment, hugs him back.

She ignores the shadow, though it's words lend a genuine edge to her smile. She may be hurting, but she'd far from broken.]

Light. Lots of light.

Bright light to banish the shadows, huh?

[But Riku thinks he has a better plan. He loosens his hold on Kairi, though he doesn't let go entirely. His arm still around her shoulders, perhaps.]

Before we do that, I have an idea.

It won't work.

Wanna try it?

You're stupid if you think something like that's gonna work! Maybe Sora was right about you!

[But Riku's not listening, instead smiling back at Kairi as he nods his head back the way they'd come.]

Edited 2010-10-23 12:04 (UTC)

[Kairi hesitates, but then the shadow speaks and her mind is made up. She nods.]

Mm.

[And she starts walking, following the direction he'd given.]

[The shadow's protests only make Riku more certain of his plan. They head back to his room, where Riku shuts the door and grabs a couple towels from the bathroom. The shadow is still talking, angry now, and Riku finds himself having to interrupt it more and more often so that it doesn't let something slip. He covers up the porthole, covers anything that would let light in from outside, jams the crack under the door with a towel and eventually rejoins Kairi near the door.

And he smiles again.]

And I'll bet you never said a word to her about the--

Ready to see if this works?

--hiding for two full days. You were still you--you were just older!

[Riku snaps off the lights and plunges the room into total darkness. Darkness, where there's no light to make a shadow--not even a tiny one hiding under his feet.]

[Kairi watches, bemused, as Riku darts about the room, his shadow prattling away. Her attention divided between it's words, his actions and her own thoughts, she does miss some of what it's saying.

And then he flicks of the light and there is a moment of clear, wonderful silence.

Kairi sinks to the floor, smiling into the dark, her back pressed against the door.]

I can check the network, if you like. This could be happening to a lot of people. They might know when it's going to end.

[The communicator will make light. She could go into the bathroom though.]

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