reflectionsofdestiny | Be my guest, be my guest... [RP scene: 'KH2' era] [3D spoiler warning]

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Be my guest, be my guest... [RP scene: 'KH2' era] [3D spoiler warning]

This was a nice ballroom, once. A place where the cultured and refined could waltz through the night... princes and princesses and all their likes having a beautiful time as the music played.

Tonight, however, that was not on the cards.

The small exploratory party hadn't had the best of times here, as scorch marks and ruined pillars told a story about what had just been happening. A fight.

But at least that Keywraith'd been finished, right? That thing, that bundle of thorns and rose petals, was lying inert on the floor...

Xeha took a moment to glance over at Dilan and Braig, his current companions, before stepping in to make sure the job was done.
Perhaps he shouldn't have been so hasty, he quickly found himself thinking, as it erupted upwards: that didn't look anything near so good. And the last fight hadn't been good already, Dilan already rather wounded. Not that he hadn't given every bit as good as he got. And as far as people to have on your side in this situation went, the ex-guards were some of the best.

Still, Xeha couldn't help but give a call out of exasperation and overall pain, as he took a step back, ready to fight...

"Not again!"

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Braig breathes a sigh of relief as the creature falls as well, stretching in unconscious imitation of Xehanort's own stretch. It's only once he realizes that he's not in control of his own actions and that Xeha's dropped the chain into his pocket without even thinking that he gets the suggestion that things might not be quite right. And he knows just how to deal with that.

Hey! Hey, squirt!

Did he just hear something? He's sure he did, but there's no-one he can see around except Dilan, and it didn't sound like - Ugh. Right now, he doesn't want to think about a thing except perhaps collapsing somewhere.

He gives Dilan a wave on. Time to leave.

"Come on. Let's go."

Something's nagging at him, though. What now? What's he forgotten?

There's a brief moment of stunned silence at that. He knows that he's got a little bit of the old man in him, but really, can't the kid remember who he is enough to separate the two? Hell, surely Dilan has something to say about the strangeness, too.

But since he can't wait for Dilan to catch one, he stretches as much as he can in the space he's been given, risen on to his toes before all but 'shouting' back.

Hey! Xehanort!

He stops dead in his tracks. Yeah. He heard that one, okay. Loud and clear and cracking through his mind. It takes a little for him to orient himself, though.

"Dilan, did you just - did someone shout my name?"

The look he's getting back is of pure incredulity. Something's wrong. Something's very wrong.

His mind floods with panic. What's just happened... He's missing something, he's missing someone, he's -

He responds again, out loud. "Braig?"

The fact that Xeha actually stops is a moment of pure relief. He wasn't sure what he'd try next, if the kid had heard him. He's only got so much to try and it's not like he can - or entirely wants - to kick out all that Xehanort is. He just wants to actually be in control of his body again.

I'm right here! Come on, Xehanort, look at yourself. Really look.

His voice is still raised, although it's not the shout of earlier. Now that he's caught something of the kid's attention, he's fairly certain he doesn't need to yell again.

"What? Where? What am I looking at?"

He lifts up a hand, looks down his arm - what he's thinking of as his arm. Okay, so far so good, but something's missing, something's...

It hits him like a jolt, and he catches his breath in shock, running that hand up to his face.

No. Not his face. Not as he touches eyepatch, scar, point to ear...

"I... I just..."

Stuck in their shared body as he is, he can tell when the shock of realization hits. It's a relief, and at the same time he can't help but feel a little bad for the kid. He hasn't wanted to burden Xeha with what his predecessor had given him, mostly because he knows the explanations would get awkward fast.

Save it for later, kid. I'm the one who invited you in, remember? But if it's all the same to you, I'd kinda like to have my body back.

"I - your - yes, yes, right..."

Xeha stammers out a reply, closes 'his' eye to focus briefly, but it's a hurried affair as he Drives his way out again, a sudden jolt compared to the smooth takeover in the way in.

As he reforms into his usual body, he looks absolutely distraught. How could he even do that? He'd just completely forgotten, just lost himself, and the idea's sending shivers through his system...

He looks around wildly, staring back at Braig.

Braig doesn't comment on the less than smooth transition this time. He knows the kid is flustered and out of sorts - way out of sorts - and so he lets it pass by. Besides he's just glad to have his body under his control, and once Xeha's gone he stretches for no other reason than he can.

He turns in time to catch Xeha's frantic stare and he offers a grin in return and a brief thumbs up before he digs the keychain out of his pocket and tosses it Xeha's way.

Clearly there's no hard feelings here, at least.

Xeha barely catches the chain, and almost drops it. It seems he's not quite as in control of his usual shape as he typically is. The arms are too short, the perspective odd... in any case, he fumbles the chain into his own pocket.

"Th- thanks..."

He starts to move off, heading back, but halts, legs like jelly. That pillar looks like a really good thing to collapse against right now. Really comfortable - he just about flops onto the ground.

"No problem."

He certainly can't use the keychain, even if he has had his eye set on eventually having a weapon like Xeha's. For now, he'll settle for what he's already got though. He went through a lot of trouble for 'em after all.

He waves Dilan over, once Xeha decides that the ground is more comfortable. Not to give the kid a look over, but more because there's no since in Dilan going too far away. No one's really fight for another fight just now with the exception of him and he can't pull all the weight.

For a moment, Xeha's quiet, just taking deep, ragged breaths. It takes him a little while to respond as he gets his thoughts together. Only one's really coming to mind, though.

"... I forgot. I completely forgot... how does that even happen?"

He looks down at himself, now. At the body he's spent the rest of his life in. And he wonders how it can be that a simple magic trick can make it seem like a vanished dream so easily.

Braig shrugs, as if he's got no clue quite how it happened either. A little lie will go a long way here, or so he rather desperately hopes. The conversation about the truth isn't one he really wants to have when Dilan is right there.

"Maybe it's all the darkness in there? Or hell, maybe I've just got an accepting sort of heart."

He gives a weak laugh at the second half. "Pretty accepting. If you hadn't been saying anything, I'd have forgotten even sooner... maybe it was something to do with the darkness. I probably shouldn't have put myself so near it." A long, lingering sigh. "It still doesn't make much sense, though. I could've just walked off, if you hadn't - heh."

He manages a faint smile. "You used my name."

"You can always blame Even," Braig comments, with another shrug. "Who knows what all he was doing with my heart, right?"

Better still, he was the only one who'd been used as a test subject. There won't been anyone else to prove his oddness isn't just a result of Even's meddling - or even that Even has been involved. His secret will be safe for a little longer.

"I had to catch your attention somehow, didn't I?"

"You did that. I'd almost thought you were allergic to it or something," he remarks, recovering his composure a little as the topic of conversation draws him away from his fears.

A little.

"But yeah. Huh." He thinks for a moment. "You think it might have been him - doing whatever - that helped... take the barriers down, maybe? There weren't any restrictions. Any walls. Other people have had them. You don't."

Not that he noticed, anyway.

"It's as likely as anything else, right?" Braig answers with a shrug. "I mean, I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional or anything, but I was doing a lot of odd things in those. So maybe those knocked down the walls along the way."

He wonders, rather idly, if it would have been the same if he'd tried letting one of the others into his heart instead, but the point is moot anyway. They aren't the one with the keyblade.

"It'd make sense, I guess... I can't think of anything else at the moment that would." Xeha's at least thinking about the situation more rationally, now. A definite improvement on what had just been. "It's still weird just how familiar it all felt, though. It helped, but..."

Slowly, he lets out a sigh. "I don't want to forget again! Not with you, not with anyone... I mean, what could've happened?"

"Then how about this. Next time you try and lose yourself again, I'll just call you on back. Sound like a deal?"

After all, he is the one who knows Xeha the best. So it stands to reason that he'd be the one best suited to figure out how to get the kid to snap to the next time something like this happens.

"Yeah. Alright."

He gets to his feet, even if he's leaning on the pillar still for support. Things are looking up again, he's starting to think. It wasn't even like he was trying to lose himself... or was he? Was some subconscious bit of him just trying to take over? No. No. He was just getting - too focused, that was all, he tells himself.
He knows he likes being himself. Even if it had been fun.

"Sounds like a deal."

Braig offers a hand without even thinking about, as Xeha climbs to his feet. He knows for sure that the kid hadn't been trying to get lost. It was just a little accident between him and the bit of the old man he still carried with him. Nothing to worry about at all, or at least, not until the next time they decided to try the same thing.

"You got it, kid."

Just a little accident. Just a bit of strangeness. He suspects it'll be a while until he tries another Drive with anyone, all the same - time enough to get his confidence in his ability back. Gratefully, he takes Braig's hand as he stands up.

"About time we headed back, then... I think we're done here."

"Yeah," Braig answers with a nod. "Other places to go, and all that."

Besides, there's still the rest of the castle, and taking down the biggest of the nasties doesn't mean that the little guys are gonna be gone. Not yet anyway.

"Mm." A look over at the - seemingly still a little perplexed - last member of their group, and Xeha gives Dilan a wave over. "Come on. Let's go home."

A brief pause, and Xeha gives a bit of a laugh. "I hope the owner isn't too angry about what we did to his ballroom."

"We can always talk to him if we run into him," Braig comments, with a slight shrug. Even if he could deal with some of the assorted mess, he's not really feeling up to it at the moment.

"Besides, we took care of the monster for him, so that's gotta count, right?"

Walking on, leading the way back, he manages to smile.

"He'd better appreciate that much."

No matter what else might have happened today? That job was finished. And he's pleased about that, at least.

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Be my guest, be my guest... [RP scene: 'KH2' era] [3D spoiler warning]

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