tampered | Log; On-going [Just a Little Chat in the Forest...]

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: Forest
Current Music: Forest Sounds

Log; On-going [Just a Little Chat in the Forest...]

When; Late Night July 22nd/Early Morning July 23nd
Rating; PG
Characters; Jowy

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Summary; Quite a few people have been acting under quite a few wrong assumptions for quite a while now. Expect a lot of "You faked your death?!?" to be on-coming...
Log;

He wondered if he was going insane.

Except for a brief respite while Nanami had been in the city, Riou had been chasing after a way to return home ever since he had been snatched from his world those long months ago. But for the past couple of days he had been physically chasing after shadows and flits of images between the trees, of home, of faces and places he knew that danced tantalizing close at the edges of his vision. Was the city just playing further tricks with his mind?

Riou topped a small rise and paused, winded, as he brushed damp hair out of his eyes. And then stared at the sight of North Window Castle hanging in between the trees like the gossamer of some spun spiderweb. A portal. A doorway in between time and space. Home. Finally... He began to launch himself at his long sought target.

"Don't rush so recklessly into something you don't fully understand," chimed a voice within his head in the odd yet oh-so-familiar tones of a certain albino squirrel.

In confusion, Riou stuttered to a halt a few mere steps away from the waiting doorway. He stared hard at the shimmering window of light, at the familiar expanse of the castle within. A trap, perhaps? Or maybe... And then he saw them, hanging silently at the edges of his sight, to the right and to left of the of the portal before him. Two more gateways slid out from between the trees, the vistas held within them quite different from the first.

North Window Castle stood before him, and to the right and to the left hung windows to the Tenzan Pass.

Tenzan Pass. Again.

What the hell...? Riou gaped at the three doorways before him. He paused, took a tentative step forward, unsure of which gateway to approach, and hesitated a moment longer-- and then before his eyes, cracks and fissures began to spiderweb through the left door to Tenzan Pass. For a moment the window flickered as the fractures widened and spread, melting into each other. And then with a silent shriek, the entire portal shattered like a broken mirror, shards raining down upon Riou as he staggered back and fell to one knee.

For a moment Riou gazed down in shock at the shallow lacerations that crisscrossed the skin of his arms before turning towards the two remaining gateways. They darkened and drifted back, fading away before his eyes. He lunged to his feet towards them, and then-- finally, inexorably-- the many sleepless days and nights spent chasing through the woods caught up to him. A tremor of exhaustion shivered through his legs and he dropped back into a crouch. Only for a moment, but it was long enough.

Tenzan Pass and North Window Castle evaporated away like mist in the first rays of the morning sun, gone as if they were never there. Half in shock and half in despair, Riou knelt alone amongst the weedy forest floor and cursed quietly to himself.

"Damn...!"

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Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Riou's best friend and very irritated sister made their way through the trees. Said sister cursed to herself and squinted her eyes to see if she couldn't catch a glimpse of her brother through the darkness.

"RIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOUUUU! Honestly, the forest? He couldn't have gone to the library?" Nanami grumbled, and knocked out yet another creature that attempted to launch itself at her head.

"Hey Jowy, if we don't find him, how about you'll be my brother instead?" Though she didn't mean it, of course, she just needed to say something ridiculous like that so she'd take her mind off her worry. If they didn't find Riou soon, she was likely to go crazy.

Jowy understood Nanami's worry and though he was worried about Riou too, it was not to the same extent as Riou's sister. He had faith in Riou and even if he was prone, they were both prone, to doing idiotic things, Jowy believed Riou was in no danger at the moment.

"Nanami, I don't think I can be as submissive as Riou, I'm sorry," he replied.

Nanami turned and made a face at Jowy, sticking her tongue out for good measure.

"I wouldn't want you to be like Riou! Didn't we agree that he's an idiot? Besides, you're basically like a brother to me anyway, so--"

Nanami stopped short, eyes going wide, as she spotted what was undoubtedly Riou's form hunched over some distance away.

"Ah! Aaaahh! Riou!" Nanami shrieked and sprinted at top speed towards her brother. She flung herself at him with full intentions of tackling him from behind.

Jowy winced when Nanami flung herself at Riou. He slowed down into a walk when he came closer and placed his hands on Nanami's shoulders. "Be gentle, Nanami... you might kill him," he joked lightly. He hoped it wasn't too close to the truth. He didn't want to think they went this far only for Riou to be killed by Nanami's enthusiasm.

"Riou, you worried us."

Five months of searching, five seconds too late... Riou knelt numbly, head down, and staring sightlessly at the ground before him. The full weight of that long search-- hunting, investigating, chasing after and trying to do things he was vastly unsuited for, seemed to bear down on him in that moment, leeching whatever energy he had left from his body.

And then a sound began to finally sink into the --admittedly rather foggy at the moment-- depths of his mind. A rather familiar... shriek? What the-- He lifted his head to gaze at the two people approaching him.

Nanami made another face up at Jowy, but didn't refrain from throwing her arms around Riou in a bone crushing hug from behind.

"Riou! What have you been doing out here?"

Nanami. And Jowy walking up to him, who he hadn't seen since-- his mind shied away from that thought.

"...Nanami?" A pause as his brain fought valiantly to fight off the cobwebs. He might not have had too much sleep lately, but the continious rushing to and fro through the forest had at least given his mind a bit of a rest. "You're real?"

Wait, hadn't he said that already? When she had first arrived and-- he really was being hugged, could feel it even through the early morning forest chill. He began to stir in her embrace. "...You're back?"

Or he really had gone insane and was thoroughly hallucinating and raving to himself in the middle of the woods right now.

Jowy could only smile at Riou. He really couldn't say anything, or rather, didn't want to. For now, he was satisfied with just watching over his friends.

Nanami released Riou and sat back on her ankles.

"Obviously I'm back!" Unfortunately, her mind added as an afterthought. She could tell, they weren't the same Riou and Jowy she'd left back at home, but it wasn't worth getting upset over. Even if they were different, they were still her brother and best friend.

"There's a lot I want to tell you!" Nanami turned and stared up at Jowy. "You too, Jowy!"

She was back. Then, perhaps, if it was true, if this was real, then it didn't matter that he had lost... Riou shifted around and snatched at his sister's hand.

Warm. The dead within the city, those who died there and those who were already dead when they arrived, they were cold to the touch, without heartbeat or breath. And she had come right before Rockaxe last time and now...

"When are you from?"

Nanami shifted her attention back to her brother, but hesitated for a moment. This would no doubt be a repeat of what had happened when Riou and Jowy returned to Kyaro, and therefore a lot of yelling would probably result. But they had been happy, too, and that had weighed out everything else in the end.

"After the war," she stated simply.

That could only mean that Nanami was dead. Jowy thought it would be wise not to say that aloud. They both knew.

"After the war...?" Jowy echoed absentmindedly. Then he held Nanami's hand in his.

Riou's sister was warm. Living. Jowy couldn't find the appropriate words for a question to address that fact. It was a contradiction to facts.

For a moment Riou simply stared at his sister. A moment that seemed to stretch on endlessly as his mind kept repeating 'after the war'.

"...after the war," his lips finally repeated as well.

The hand within his grasp was still warm to the touch; faintly beneath his fingertips he could feel her pulse. He had tried, every waking moment and maybe in some sleeping ones as well, tried to think of some way to save her when she had remained in the city. Even against her own wishes, he had skulked around behind her back, trying... Had it... really been possible?

"Did you not go to Rockaxe?"

Something had changed?

Nanami squeezed both of their hands, enjoying the moment before she slowly pulled her hands away. Well, here goes... Nanami thought, and stood up.

"...No, I went to Rockaxe. I went and I jumped in front of those arrows to protect you two, just like I was supposed to," she said bitterly, recalling the moment and the shock and pain of that last arrow, and both of their faces... "I...really thought I was going to die, but..." Nanami hesitated again, but finally continued on, "I told Doctor Huan to tell you that I didn't make it."

Silence stretched out between the three childhood friends. The pain that had built within Riou's chest as Nanami described how she had marched off to her inevitable death-- why was fate accepted so unquestionably and yet, she was still alive how-- froze numbly at the end of her speech.

If he had thought that he had been staring before...

"...you," Riou had not the faintest clue what to think or say. "... you what?"

Riou was going to explode, that was for sure. Jowy wasn't too concerned about that, though. Riou had every right to do so. However, before that happened, Jowy wanted to ask something first:

"Ultimately, it was Riou's strategist who let you go on with your plan, wasn't it?"

Nanami stared directly down at Riou for a moment and stated calmly, "you heard me."

But then she shifted her attention to Jowy and furrowed her brow. "Yeah, that's right. I knew that bastard wouldn't have any problems with it, and besides, we made a deal," she said, confirming Jowy's suspicion.

Think logically, Jowy told himself. Riou was yet to explode. "I'm surprised Shu was willing to take that risk. Riou could have crumbled under the news... Think of Riou's reaction and how it felt for him..."

Nanami frowned and looked pointedly away from both of them.

"Of course I thought about Riou, but that's just it. I couldn't stand it any longer. Seeing him in pain and knowing that somewhere else you were in pain, too. I spent the whole war thinking of nothing but Riou and his feelings, it finally reached the point where I had to think of myself for once."

And so, she had, by faking---?!

"You faked your death," Riou repeated blankly.

The blond ex-King nodded slowly. "She did, Riou, apparently." Whether it was a result of Riou's interference or simply the course of destiny, Jowy didn't know. He doubted speculating it would give him anything but a headache too.

Nanami slowly turned her gaze towards Riou and frowned further.

"I had to. I had to. Hate me all you want, but that's what was needed. I was going to get away regardless, and if you had known I was still alive, I know you would have followed me. I couldn't let that happen when you were too far involved to back out. I knew, from being here, that you would make it through the war just fine without me..."

Nanami's fists clenched slightly as she continued, "I supported every decision you ever made during the war. No matter how much I hated it, no matter how painful it was, I stood by you through everything. I always put you above myself, even though you didn't think of how I felt through it all. Yes, I faked my death. That was me making a decision for myself for once."

She-- she had hated it that much? He had known that Nanami had never grown to consider North Window Castle as a home like he had, but--

"I would never have kept anyone there like that, least of all you! If I had known that you just wanted to leave... I would have been relieved if you had gotten away from it all! But you-- you--"

That horrible guilt and regret that had eaten away at him from that moment onwards, that had made him give up everything from his past as lost, that had made him press onwards ceaselessly for some purpose, some reason to keep from thinking and breaking...

"YOU FAKED YOUR OWN DEATH!" Riou shot to his feet.

Too fast.

Too many days of little food, too many nights of little rest, and too much charging through the trees in the interim had finally taken their toll on the half-rune bearer. His sight darkened and the world tilted rather alarmingly to the side. He reeled backwards for balance.

And Jowy was suddenly at his side, supporting his weight. He said nothing for a while, even kept himself from sighing. In war, there were two sides, two different perspectives. This was much like war, on a smaller scale. Perhaps, if Nanami hadn't faked her death, things would have ended differently, or not. Either way, Riou's side and Nanami's... Jowy could not carelessly speak his thoughts now and alienate one of them.

"Let's get you home, Riou, we've been out here too long. I still need to feed the dogs too."

Rather than rush to his side like her instincts told her to, Nanami just closed her eyes for a moment before she turned around and blankly stared off into the trees. Riou didn't need big sister breathing down his neck anymore, wasn't that what she had decided?

"Think whatever you want, Riou. I don't regret what I did."

There was obviously no point in attempting to justify her actions any further, she'd already had this conversation once before, and it had been much of the same. He'd never listened to her before, why would he start now?

"Jowy's right, it probably would be best if we started heading back."

"I'm fine," Riou snapped and pulled away from Jowy.

He made his way over to a nearby tree, felt his legs start to buckle, and ended up leaning against it a tad harder than he had intended. Wait, wait... he had to think. He had spent the past week running away from such, trying to escape his thoughts regarding his sister and best friend, but now...

It niggled at him. Riou dropped his head into his hands. He believed her to be dead and lost in his past. Within the city he had tried to save her... by putting her into a different timeline where she did not die at Rockaxe. Infinite worlds, infinite timelines, all of them springing from different choices, or so he had been told by others within the city.

Perhaps... perhaps this was merely the manifestation of that. This way, she could still be alive in his world without destroying the timeline he knew but... he wouldn't know for sure. He wouldn't know if Nanami was truly alive or dead in his own world until he went back. By then it would be too late.

She wasn't dead here and now, and that's what mattered the most. But still...

"You. Faked. Your. Death."

He laughed and there was the slightest sliver of an edge of hysteria to it. Family and friends he had known since childhood. Apparently he wasn't very good at reading them at all.

"I'm sorry... I'm glad that you're alive," he finally said.

You faked your death?! Well, that was one way of doing it...

Nanami rolled her eyes, but didn't look back. "Somehow I doubt that."

She started walking back the way she came, but stopped for a moment. "You can stay out here if you want to, that's your decision. I'm going back."

You... doubt...

"Nanami..." Riou watched his sister walk away from him. Alive here, but back home...? "Nanami! At least tell me where you were! Back in Kyaro?"

Otherwise, he might never know for sure.

Leaving Riou sounded like a good idea. The brunet was upset but it didn't give him a right to act irrational. He was tired and potentially vulnerable and leaving him alone would only lead to risks Jowy was not willing to take. "I'll help you home," Jowy said as he looped an arm around one of Riou's arms. "Nanami, if you want, you can stay in my apartment for now."

Nanami finally relented to stop and turn around for a moment. She sighed and scowled slightly at her brother.

"It doesn't really matter where I was," she said, and then considered Jowy's offer.

"That's probably a good idea for now, Jowy," Nanami agreed, and continued to exit the forest. "Make sure he eats something, okay?"

Make sure he eats something? It took a while to process but once it sank in, Jowy began panicking. "Nanami! I meant- I'll take Riou to your place... and then you can stay with me at mine!" This wasn't good at all, he felt like there was a misunderstanding a-brewing. "Riou, where are you staying right now?"

Riou looked after his sister his heart dropping with every step. There would be time, he hoped, to get the answers from her later. Running after her now would probably accomplish nothing and-- he had to admit, that it probably was also physically impossible at this point.

He just hoped-- oh, now would be the time for a portal to open up and swallow him whole, the way the city worked. Already that night he had almost...

"That's not necessary. I've already been out here for a week or so," Riou quietly told Jowy as he tried to extricate himself from the blonde. He was more than content to brood in the clearing that had once housed the three gateways.

Jowy rolled his eyes at the pathetic display from Riou and forced the younger boy upwards. "Shut up, Riou, I'm hauling you out of here if I have to. You can't even support yourself anymore. Let's go."

Nanami stopped short--again--and turned back to raise an eyebrow in Jowy's direction.

"That's what I thought you meant, Jowy. What I meant was to make sure Riou eats something before you leave him. I don't know where your mind is..."

But then her gaze fell on Riou and her heart clenched. So pathetic looking, so in need of comfort. She couldn't turn her back on him, not now. She sighed and walked quickly back to where Riou and Jowy were standing, gave Jowy a sheepish smile, and then folded Riou in her arms.

Shu and Huan and Nanami had... why? Nanami had-- he still didn't really understand. But the others? Why had they lied to him like that? Trying to preserve the timeline perhaps? But would they have believed Nanami's tales about different worlds, inescapable cities, and people from different timelines? And even so, surely Shu would not have been controlled by something like that!

He was apparently very bad at reading people.

"You know," he mused almost to himself. "There was a gateway home here a few minutes ago. Three of them. But they were different somehow. I... hesitated too long and they disappeared. If I hadn't, if I had made my way through..."

I never would have known. And crap-- Jowy, really was going to physically drag him out of here. Riou was finally jolted out of his thoughts.

"Hey!" Riou protested. "I'll probably never find this place again!"

He put a bit more energy in his struggle to pull away from Jowy and then froze as he felt more arms go around him.

Nanami smiled slightly even though Riou went completely still.

"I know you're angry, I expected you to be, but you could try to be happy, too?"

She didn't release Riou, but steeled herself for a possible onslaught.

"I am happy that you're alive-- so happy-- it's all I've thought of since you first arrived in the city. But this is such a shock for me. I have so many questions..."

...If you're really still alive in my timeline...

Riou shifted around and released his hold on Jowy so that he could hug Nanami... perhaps leaning on her a bit more than he would have wanted. He really had been acting stupidly, to have let himself go this far. He'd no idea he'd been so exhausted since the sudden appearance-- and disappearance-- of the gateways.

Nanami had to take a step back to support Riou as he nearly slumped against her. She frowned for a moment, finally noting the dark circles under his eyes, but knew that it would do her no good to fly off the handle on him. Instead she adjusted her hold on him and smiled fondly.

"I still have a lot I want to tell you, too," Nanami said, but didn't finish the thought. About the three of us. You, me, and Jowy, and the end of the war... She brushed Riou's hair out of his face and inwardly cringed over his sorry condition. "But you haven't been taking care of yourself while you've been out here, have you? We're going back, and I'll let Jowy drag you if that's what it takes."

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Log; On-going [Just a Little Chat in the Forest...]

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..... oh yeah, let it begin. XD

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