middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The battles rage loud and ferocious at the gates of the city and off in the ruined wastelands of Erda, and on the walls a struggle of a different kind occurs. The team who stayed behind at the towers are small but determined as they move stoically across the walls to right the stones that have become misaligned, even as their friends battle not too far away.

The city begins to hum. It's a quiet hum, not loud enough to be heard out where the others are fighting but it vibrates even through stone. The recovering monks assure them that it is done, the wards are back up and no demon will be able to enter the city.

Eventually the battle is won, all three battles. The demons fought back and killed, a major blow to their gate system that will keep them back for hopefully a long time. Those waiting in the caverns return to the city and by the time they get there the illusions are gone. Everyone can see the world for what it really is.

But despite the ruins of their world the people are relieved, the adrenaline of the fight coursing through their veins and the mood is one of hope. They will build again, their people will survive.

All Voidtreckers please return to the Voidtrecker Express. Departure will be in a few hours

It has landed not too far from the city, cloaked to make it unnoticeable to the citizens, for all the good that does. No one has been particularly subtle this last week. People can begin regrouping, packing up the camp and getting any wounded not already healed to the train.

However roughly half an hour later another message appears on their SCA.

Passenger Persephone has requested we remain on system System #86525656412355 for an additional day to further assist the people of Erda. The Voidtrecker Express will depart on the morning of Day Fifteen of the month of Kazoo.

The train remains where it is, so the voidtreckers can use its facilities. There is definitely a lot that can be done to assist those of this world and the citizens will welcome any helping hands.

After an extra day they finally depart, returning to the void once more.

(OOC Note: Once the wards are up any characters who are demonic in nature will not be able to enter the city either!)

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"Perhaps, but it would have been a risk. Xehanort's Heartless was already likely to be suspicious of me. He knew someone within the Organization had rescued Lord Ansem from him, and myself and Saix were the only ones with any sort of motivation to do so. We needed someone Xehanort would not suspect."

He gave a faint, but knowing, smirk.

"And you cannot tell me that anyone would ever suspect you and Saix of being part of the same conspiracy."

"Course not." Demyx said, lightly. "He yelled at me the most."

He sighed a little. "Well, I guess, glad to help?" He didn't know what his future held, or if he even had one, but he'd gotten out of being killed so far.

"Survived another day. That's enough, probably."

"It's certainly an accomplishment in its own right, this past week."

He reached over to give Demyx a light, brief pat on the shoulder.

"And your help has been very much appreciated, both here and during the Keyblade War."

Demyx blushed lightly under the praise, not quite sure how to answer it really, he just rested his chin on his sitar in response, a little embarrassed.

Something was probably wrong with him. Maybe he was sick.

"It would also be appreciated, however, if you actually tried to take care of yourself a little bit. You've been worrying me."

Especially with using the dark corridors unprotected, but he's already been thoroughly clear on that point.

His eyes widened like he was surprised and then he laughed a little bit.

"Geeze, way to nag me." He complained lightly.

He just smirked in response, though it lacked the arrogance that used to accompany his expressions of amusement.

"You had best get used to it. Lord Ansem and Ienzo will both tell you that I'm prone to lecturing about such things, and Aeleus has similar tendencies. Though, I've doubts that he'll need to force you of all people to rest from time to time."

"Ha, I do like sleeping. What's not to like about it?" Demyx grinned at him. "You should try it sometime." Take that, Vexen.

"The train makes certain I get six hours of sleep a night, thank you very much." Demyx probably wasn't expecting a serious answer to his joking question, but...Vexen sighed. "What I dislike about it is the reminders of my mistakes, and of...events I would rather not recall."

He absently reached for his wrist, nudging his sleeve back to touch what Demyx would recognize as a Firaga Bangle.

"I guess." Demyx said. "You're not alone in that, but you know..." He sighed. "I don't know how much sleep we need or anything, but I always feel better after rest."

"I haven't seen any difference in fatigue between humans and Nobodies. Our partially non-existent nature may alter what our bodies require, but our minds are still human."

He shook his head and pulled his sleeve back down over the bangle.

"Rest and sleep are different matters altogether, however. I do not enjoy waking with regrets fresh in my mind."

"Guess I can't really relate. All my dreams don't make sense, for the most part." So Demyx had no idea how he felt about them. Disconnected, maybe.

It was just how things were.

"That battle was so weird. I wonder if I'll dream about it."

"It's quite likely. Dreams often function as a method for the subconscious to work through things that are confusing or otherwise difficult to process. If nothing else, I expect you're likely to have some sort of dream regarding that injury."

He dreamed about his own death often enough, he doubted a near death experience would fail to interrupt sleep at least once.

"Oh, I don't want to dream about that, it was...it was too weird. I did...well that whole thing was strange." Demyx admitted with a little frown.

"I don't know why I did that."

"Perhaps for the same reason I was without Frozen Pride for that crucial moment. It looked to me as if you had been attempting to protect someone."

Honestly, he wondered if Demyx had even realized that he'd sent his shield to intercept the second whip on purpose.

Demyx blushed.

"I was." He admitted with a groan. "But why would I do that?! I just...he came to fight with me, we were fighting together, he stepped in front of me and I was-" Reno protected him to. Reno also helped save him.

"Argh."

"Perhaps because you care about him. That is the typical reason people take risks for one another."

"Uhhhh Vexy, I can't do that." Demyx pointed out and tapped his chest. "No heart, remember?"

"Not a full one, perhaps. But I am quite sure I, at least, retained what I had begun to regrow by the time of my death in Castle Oblivion." He heaved a sigh. "It's been causing me quite enough grief this past month to make its presence more than obvious."

"I don't really know about any of that. Real talk, I'm pretty sure Xehanort had it somewhere." Demyx frowned.

And he would like it back. He left that unsaid but he figured Vexen might get it.

"There's nothing I can do about it though. And so I can't really like him. He's....fun, but that's not really an emotion, I think. I don't know why I saved him. Why he saved me. I don't get it."

"Oh, I'm quite certain of that. No doubt mine would be in the same position, had I not willingly relinquished it before leaving Radiant Garden."

He couldn't imagine Xehanort not wanting that extra layer of control.

"But that does not necessarily mean he removed your partial heart along with it. The two are separate, and I am proof that retaining the beginnings of a secondary heart is not enough to prevent the transformation into a Nobody."

"Then how would that work? If I replace it with something else then I'm still not..."

He frowned. "I wouldn't be my Somebody anymore would I?"

"I...don't know." He shook his head. "There is much we still don't know about Nobodies. Whether the new heart is a recreation of the original or something entirely different, and your lack of memories of your original self complicates matters. I am little different from my Somebody, but my new heart developed with the guidance of my knowledge of who I had been as Even. There is also the question of what becomes of a Nobody who grows an entire new heart, if that has the same effect as recompletion or results in the paradoxical half-existence of a being with the properties of both a human and a Nobody."

Sometimes, very few times at that, Demyx would let on that he was understanding something. That question had come from there, a shimmer of intelligence he wasn't willing to let through otherwise.

He shouldn't have asked the question, he didn't know what to make of the answer. Without his memories to guide him, just what could he become?

More importantly, Demyx would cling to whatever it was.

He responded, not with words, but by getting to his feet, clinging to his sitar.

"I'm going to catch a nap." He didn't offer a smile. It also wasn't true, he needed to think. He opened up a portal and fled.

He sputtered at the appearance of the portal, and called out a hasty "At least borrow my coat if you're going to do that!"

By the time he'd stumbled to his feet, however, Demyx was already gone. He wasn't sure if he'd even heard him inside the dark corridor.

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The Will to Fight: Conclusion

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