Ash and dust

[wheretheresawill]

Who: Terra and other(s).
What: Terra finally pulls himself together enough to take note of his surroundings.
Where: Starting at Terra's heart station.
Warnings: TBD.

He doesn't notice the change at first; the inside of one heart is much the same as another, in many ways. But slowly, he realizes that this is different: there's no smothering cloud, no one stopping him. There's space, of a sort. Slowly, he begins to piece himself together.

The result is still a little strange by the time he realizes he can speak: his skin has a dull sheen to it, like metal, and his movements are slow and strange. He's in half a suit of armor, give or take, bits and pieces interspersed with his ordinary clothes.

But he has his voice, and he hopes there's someone (someone else) to speak to.

Aqua? ...Ven?

Then, less clearly, as he hesitates, worried about what the answer may be,

Is there anybody there?

Comments

[afterthemoon]

"Who's there?"

Isa might not have been the first to hear him, but he was the first to answer.

[wheretheresawill]

"My name is Terra." The voice sounded familiar, but at the same time not quite. "Who...are you?"

[afterthemoon]

"Terra?"

...But wasn't Terra the one who had struck up a conversation with him?

"I'm Isa."

Rather than questioning the voice right away, Isa decided to play along, figuring that would be an easier way to get information from him.

[wheretheresawill]

"Isa, I -" He knew Isa, from - memories not quite his (but not quite not his) burst behind his eyes like fireworks. IsaSaïxvictimtraitorpawnseneschal -

The voice cut off with a much less verbal cry of pain and a swirl of unintentionally projected emotion as Terra failed, at first, to keep those memories and his reactions to them under his control.

He wasn't - he didn't do all those things, did he? No; for all their vividness, the memories are distant somehow. He just watched. He always just watched.

[afterthemoon]

Isa was not prepared for the sudden rush of painful emotions, he could barely handle his own, dealing with someone else's was overwhelming.

With a yelp of pain, Isa fell to his knees, cradling his head in one of his hands.

[wheretheresawill]

Ironically, hearing Isa's pain helped Terra get a handle, however temporarily, on the memories. He'd hurt Isa enough; he wasn't going to hurt him anymore.

"I'm sorry." Between his tone and the extra emotion carried through this heartspace, it was clear he wasn't talking only about the accidental projection.

[afterthemoon]

Isa wasn't able to reply, he was still reeling from the pain of Terra's memories. What was going on?

[halfdarkened]

Riku had been pacing around his station. Something about the steady tick of the pieces of the window moving beneath him helped him keep rhythm, and thus, alertness. A familiar voice helped, too.

Though what was said was... odd.

...Yeah? We're still here. Did something happen? Something new?

[wheretheresawill]

The voice that drifted back was familiar to Terra too, but this time he was able to recognize it without being drowned. It was a voice from one of his own memories, the ones that were really and solely his.

You're...Riku, isn't it? I met you once...on a beach.

[halfdarkened]

...Yeah? Got a reason for the stroll down Memory Lane? Terra was acting strange.

Where are you? Destiny Islands again?

[wheretheresawill]

Terra drew back a little, mentally. Riku didn't sound...well, after everything, it wasn't strange that he wouldn't appreciate hearing from Terra. Sorry.

I'm - here. Where I woke up. He didn't know he could be anywhere else. Why?

[halfdarkened]

...You don't need to be sorry. It's just out of the blue. Really strange.

Your station? Because I'd like to pay a visit if that's okay. Because you're acting like you lost memories... Could Kingdom Hearts have...?

[wheretheresawill]

Terra flinched again. Riku might not have meant it in a general sense, but Terra did need to be sorry. And from the most disorienting and nauseating of the sets of memories crowding his mind, maybe to Riku most of all.

It's okay. But still...he would like to see him. He would like to see anyone, really, anyone other than himself and him.

[leavetheirmark]

While Terra was never one of his, Terra was one of the few that had spent any significant time at the Keyblade Graveyard. Or at least, his armour had, and that, with the vague remembrances of the fight, the light of Kingdom Hearts, and smothering darkness, is enough to draw the world's attention.

"'t is thou..."

[wheretheresawill]

That's not a familiar voice, but all the same, there's something about it that...tugs at him, like a voice he heard in dreams.

"Who are you? How do you know me?"

[leavetheirmark]

"Thou knowest not me as a man, and thou mayest not remember me beyond my name, but it was I who cradled the last of thy will, keeping it as though thou wert my own, through the years."

It's odd, in a way... a detestable keybearer, but one who has suffered enough that it manages to illicit that small flicker of sympathy in the bitter world.

[wheretheresawill]

"You - you're the world? The Keyblade Graveyard?" Those memories aren't overwhelming; they're his in a way some of the others aren't, but by comparison they're almost peaceful. And he remembers that world.

"But - how can you be here?" Terra hasn't questioned how he's inside someone's heart, of course not, but a world?

[leavetheirmark]

"Aye, that ist the name thy kind hast given me. Thou rememberest me... as I remember you."

His tone changes slightly, as though that of a chiding father to a child who has not done their homework. What are these new keybearers taught?

"All worlds have hearts, do they not? An it hath a heart, it heedeth the call of our Mother. All were gathered here, those who liveth freely... and the worlds that nurtured all such life came too."

Tiredness creeps in, a coldness that infiltrates every limb. "And then I as well, who will never see rest even with this second end."

[wheretheresawill]

Terra was taught enough lore - and enough extra has bled through - that he understands the Graveyard's words, mostly. "Where are we? Is this - Kingdom Hearts?"

He raises a hand to reach out without realizing until he's done it that the world is too far away to touch, if he even could. "I'm sorry." He's learned a lot about waiting, and being alone, and this world has been alone for far longer with nothing to wait for.

[ttlynotanagent]

[Perry's been deep in thought (not at lot else to do around here) but he looks up when he "hears" a voice.]

There are.

You sound strange...are you okay?

[wheretheresawill]

Strange as it is, Terra's happy to hear somebody else.

I'm - he starts, but while he's not hurt, he doesn't think he's 'okay'. He settles on - disoriented. My name is Terra. What's yours?

[ttlynotanagent]

Perry.

[The name is sent along with the image of a platypus of all things. One with a fedora. There's a moment of silence and then.]

Sounds like you just woke up. This place is a little strange, but you start to get used to it...well not really, but we're trying to figure things out.

[wheretheresawill]

I'm...starting to get that feeling. Terra doesn't consider the whole platypus thing worthy of comment. Nice to meet you, Perry.

[ttlynotanagent]

Same.

Don't know what else to tell you.

We're kind of stuck.

[wheretheresawill]

Sorry you're stuck. ...It could be worse. Terra's spent a lot of time in places like this. He's getting used to this one, too, bit by bit. Enough to wonder...

Have you seen my friends? The images are somewhat blurred and shaky, Terra not being used to this form of communication, but it should be possible to distinguish two faces: a blond boy with a bright smile, and a blue-haired girl with kind eyes.