tampered | Log : Completed : Leavetakings

Log : Completed : Leavetakings

When : February 28, Late Night/ March 1, Early Morning
Rating : PG
Characters : Nanami

bright_shield
Summary : Two siblings, displaced by time and fate, spend a last few moments together before taking their leave of the city.
Log : )

He awoke with a start, something thrumming through his senses even in the midst of a dreamless sleep. In his head there was a ticking, yet not quite the same sound as the clock that reverberated through anyone's head when they were alone. This was fainter, more like an echo... a memory. And in his bedroom there was a soft flickering of pale blue light.

Riou glanced over toward the small darkened shape at the side of his bedstead, the apparent source of the strange soft illumination. The Blinking Mirror. After two years of its powers being quelled by the unknown force within the City it was finally activating.

It was time.

A year of leading an army through a war when battle could come at any time, two years of waiting at a moment's notice for a curse or some other strange event where the city watch needed to intervene, they had all prepared him. He leapt gracefully from his bed, shifting into his old armour before he pulled on the largest knapsack yet. He'd suspected for awhile now. You never really knew in this place, but two years of waiting and watching had perhaps given him an inkling.

He'd stuffed the pack with gifts -- from his friends in the city, to more friends back home-- with gadgets and bits of technology that he'd hoped to bring back to his world, with notes and schematics and drawings -- somewhat sloppy if in his own hand, he wasn't an artist by any stretch of the imagination!-- of things too large to bring back, with food from different worlds, and books on different worlds, and anything and everything else that came to mind that could fit within. Two years of memories took up quite a bit of space.

As quick as these thoughts flitted through his mind he was done and gathering up the pets within his arms, black cat --fully grown and no longer a kitten--, small pink elephant content to perch on his shoulder, and one shy flying squirrel much smaller than the ones he knew back home. For once Squirrel remained a soft fuzzy presence on his bed and didn't flee at his approach. Perhaps even the pets realized that it was time.

The Blinking Mirror came to hand. Within its depths he could almost make out the figure of... what?

His grace finally gave way as he half stumbled out of the door to his room. And most important of all--

"Nanami!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Her heart clenched at the sound of his voice, she hadn't slept a wink that night, and with some effort she managed to swing her legs off her bed. The room was clean, most things had been thrown out or given away, and what little she thought she could bring home with her was packed in the small bag she had left Kyaro with so long ago.

So it was true, they were finally going home.

Home. It would be almost odd after all that time to return to their world to travel with Riou and Jowy, without a care in the world, instead of waking up to another day in the City, not knowing whether there was a curse or a serial killer on the loose. Such things had almost become routine, and it would be tough to break at first, but she'd be lying if she said she'd miss that part.

No, her true anxiety lay with the boy calling her name from the other room, and what fate awaited him when they returned. Of course, she trusted that her brother would live a fulfilling life no matter the outcome, but at the same time it would be comforting to know that some version of herself waited to smother him in all the love he had missed out on in her absence from North Window. That they shared the same future.

At least she could say goodbye to him properly this time.

The bag was slung onto her back as she cast one last look at what was no longer her room, and then the door was closed behind her for the last time as she went to meet Riou.

"Ready?" Her voice was stronger than she felt, but she couldn't break down now. Not yet.

Edited 2009-03-01 02:19 (UTC)

At her appearance, the sound of her voice, Riou released a pent up breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, more than half afraid that he was too late again, that she had already left, been spirited away. So it seemed that his suspicions might have been true after all. Had he been the one keeping her here all this time? But... no matter now, that was behind them. Or nearly so.

If I look back, I'll be lost.

Wasn't that how he had managed to push himself through the war? Within his hand the Blinking Mirror flickered.

He gave a short nod and then looked worriedly at the scanty few things she carried with her. "Do you have enough? Do you need more potch or...?"

"Given that we-" She hesitated at using that word, but at least in some way it was true. "...we're traveling back home, I really shouldn't carry much with me. As for the potch, we're resourceful people!"

There really was a stark contrast in how much she carried versus how much baggage Riou had, but he also had an army, no...a whole country depending on his safe return, and the more things he had to support him when he returned, the better. There was sure to be some confusion as to why he suddenly had so many strange items, but no doubt he'd handle any explanations. Or at least she hoped he would.

Since his hands were full, Nanami linked her arm with his. "Well...shall we?"

"I understand. Yes..." Riou was more than happy to keep up the guise of them both returning to the same time and place for the moment.

He looked around them. Familiar white walls, familiar simple furniture. No, not here. It wasn't here. Something was pulling at him, something that had steadily been swelling within him over the past couple weeks. It was calling and he could finally hear it.

"Let's go."

A smile in her direction and then he squared his shoulders and walked silently through the bare shadows of the apartment, paused at the threshold of their apartment door, and gazed back. It seemed so empty now. Two years. Twice as long as he had spent at North Window Castle. It... had really been home during that time, hadn't it? He'd refused to take an apartment at first, merely wandering from building to building as he sought some way out, refusing to give up or accept being trapped within the city. Until she had appeared and they had taken this apartment together.

Home, yes. It was the people that made it home. Funny how from nearly the first moment he'd sought a way out again and now that he was really leaving, he was filled with regret. It seemed some things you simply couldn't appreciate until they were gone.

If only...

if only...

He could have been content here. He had friends, relationships he'd never been able to make back in Kyaro, a job, his sister there beside him, and the success of a dojo they'd been denied back home. He had come here the Leader of the New Alliance Army, de facto ruler of the newly established Dunan Republic, and had been so desperate at the time to return to the responsibilities that awaited him there. Given a purpose. To take his mind off other...

But now, he was...

he was...

He didn't know anymore. Except that he was pretty sure that if push came to shove, his country would be fine without him. The city had given him another chance, if not exactly to be a normal boy, then to at least be something else than the tenkai, the warlord, the hero specifically created for that war. At some point he really had started believing in Shu's stories about himself, hadn't he? The indispensable hero, ha.

He could have been happy to remain here. The city was a place of second chances, where anything was possible. Even reuniting with lost loved ones. He'd even made his peace with Jowy here. Perhaps if the other boy ever returned, then they... but no. The city could be a terrible place as well. Even more so than the war back home. She had already died twice here. He could not simply accept that. She was safer back home. At least there she could only die once. Had perhaps already died once in his timeline.

But in her timeline, back there, she'd found her happy ending. That was why he had continued to search all this time for a way back, even when he'd given up hope of his own return after all those years, wasn't it? For Nanami's sake.

Go forward. That's always what remained. Go forward. He stepped through the door.

What Riou didn't know was that Nanami, or at least a part of her, wanted to return with him and not to the Riou who she traveled with back home. At least that Riou had Jowy, and a bright future, but this Riou...she didn't know. She didn't want him to be alone, didn't want him to go home and find that she was really dead and reconciliation with Jowy wasn't possible.

But such a scenario was impossible. For one, she wasn't even sure she could go with him. Besides that, what if she was alive? There couldn't be two of her. If she was dead? Perhaps Shu, Huan and the others would react the same way Riou had done during that curse where he had believed he had killed Jowy. How would they see Riou? That he had gone insane in his grief to believe that she could possibly be alive? Maybe they would try to kill her, and she couldn't begin to imagine what sort of effect that would have on Riou.

Her grip on his arm tightened ever so slightly as they stepped through the door. She wouldn't look back, and worse, she wouldn't look at Riou. She didn't trust herself to hold it together.

The door clicked shut quietly behind them. It might as well have clanged shut with all the finality of a closing dungeon door. But they had managed to escape all those dungeons and prisons and jail cells in the end, hadn't they? And this... it was perhaps the most warded apartment in all of the city, by a slew of different people from different worlds, all that he had once considered friends. Maybe it would give its protection to others some day.

With even steps he walked the hallway to the bank of elevators for the final time. They were so much more elegant and advanced than the one that Adlai had worked so hard to create in the castle back home. The inventor would certainly want to see his pictures of them. He'd probably be just as excited to see the pictures -- no, photos was the proper word, wasn't it? He ought to be careful of that now. Every memory was precious, he ought to make certain he was as true to them as possible.

Even as they reached the main entrance to the apartment building and stepped out into the waiting night, he kept his silence. After two years, what was there left to say? What could he say? He could feel it at the edge of his tongue, he'd start babbling nonsense and... he took a deep breath and glanced over at Nanami.

The city never fully slept, but at this hour it was quieter than most. There would be few to see them slipping silently off into the darkness. In his hand the Blinking Mirror continued to flicker and something continued to pull, to call to him from the depths of the city. Apparently there was one last adventure to have. Shinobi gave a mournful 'mew' from within his arms.

"Nanami, I..." he finally said.

At his side, Nanami's eyes began to tear up. After so long, it really was hard to say goodbye. To Riou. To the friends who wouldn't know they were gone until it was too late. To the city itself.

And here, now that they were so close to leaving, all she could do at that point was throw her arms around her brother in a tight hug.

Riou shifted the pets around in his arms enough to tightly return the embrace. Should he have spoken up at all? He was no poet, no true speechmaker, he had no idea how to express what lay in his heart now. He would just have to hope that she already understood.

This is for the best.

"It's all right," he finally said. "It'll be all right. I'll be right there when you return."

Some version of him. He had come to accept that. At one point he had hoped that he might-- but, no. When Nanami first came to the city from before she was fated to die at Rockaxe that had been his only hope to save her. Another timeline. He couldn't change the past, his past, but perhaps he could send her into another timeline where she lived instead. Multiple timelines. Infinite parallels. Million worlds. And so, even if she was truly dead back in his timeline... even if he was endangering his own world and timeline to do it... even if...

It was the better choice, wasn't it? It explained the distance he found in the city between him and the ones from his world that he had called friends. It would explain the differences. Better that he was from a different timeline entirely than that he failed utterly to live up to their memory of him. Better that than letting her die again because it was fate. He had accepted that.

"It's all right," he said just as much to himself as her.

Nanami was a mess, just as she feared she would be. Weeping into his chest and clinging to him like she'd never let go. She didn't want to let go, but eventually she'd have to.

What about you?, her mind screamed, but she couldn't say that. She couldn't add to any doubts he had about his own return home. All she could do was assure him that, like she had told him many times, no matter the outcome, his sister would always be with him.

'I love you. I love you' was repeated over and over with an occasional 'I'm sorry' interjected between. She wanted to say so much more, but she was blubbering enough as it was without her trying to form a coherent, heartfelt declaration instead. As long as he knew, as long as he at least had no doubts about how much she cared about him.

"Nanami..." he whispered quietly, voice strained.

Heat pricked at the back of his eyes, but he stubbornly closed them. He'd lost his tears during the war, not even during her death.... he wasn't about to cry now.

Shadows moved silently in the night around them, giving them a wide enough berth to maintain their privacy. Apparently this was a common enough scene on the streets of the city that they garnered no undue attention from their fellow citizens. In all actuality this was probably a very mundane scene compared to what else the residents would be used to by now.

"Don't be sorry. It's all right. I'll always be there for you and--"

Something was still rising within him, responding to the siren call of the city, luring, trying to pull him further to... what? At the edge of his vision something still flickered. Was it the light from the Blinking Mirror or...?

". . . . I love you too."

Nanami finally let go of him and furiously scrubbed at her eyes. How foolish of her to break down at a time like this, but Riou's passive behavior, even now, was just too much.

"You don't always have to act so strong! You don't have to think about me when it's you you should be worrying about! Stop doing that all the time! Depend on people from time to time! You have so many wonderful people waiting for you to come home, but how would they feel if their leader has a heart of stone?!"

She immediately regretted that, but it was too late to do anything about it. The ground was suddenly the most fascinating thing in the world as she sniffled and wiped at her eyes in an effort to get her emotions under control.

Riou finally released her, allowing her to slip from his grip and step back. He reached up to gently brush at her cheek as she scrubbed at them before her words sank in and he froze. Both his hand and his gaze dropped as he stared down blankly, not really seeing anything before his eyes.

Was that how he came off? In the end he suspected-- no, realized-- that it really didn't matter what happened to him anymore. He had seen the end of the war and with it his role had also come to an end. That was all he wanted back when he thought his rune might kill him before he'd finished his task.

Within the city he'd had the chance to meet Nanami and Jowy again. To make his peace with the other boy and discover that at least this Nanami had a happy ending waiting for her. To become aware that everyone else had already moved on from the war-- the Dunan Unification War, the name he had discovered that they had come to call it-- while he... had not. Had not at that time, that was. And now? Now, there was only moving forward.

Although he didn't think she would appreciate hearing that. At least not in this way. Arguing about his relative importance at a time like this. But what was there to say? Heart of stone...

A long pause and then...

". . . . . . . I'm sorry."

She laughed bitterly in response and let out a defeated sigh. This was the kind of thing she had wanted to avoid, and she mentally kicked herself for even saying it.

"Yeah, yeah. You really believed that? You can be really stupid sometimes, Riou," she hiccuped out in between her now quieting sobs. "I know, I know. You're a strong boy and you'll be all right no matter what."

She hoped she hadn't sounded as sarcastic as she thought she did, because even for all her regrets that Riou wouldn't show any emotion even if this was goodbye, she did, truly, want her brother to be all right. She had to have faith that he would be.

Nanami...

He stared back over at her, remembering another similar speech that seemed like a lifetime ago. She hadn't really been joking then either, had she? Back at Tinto, a chance to run away. A choice that he had come to regret, to wonder about, if she would have lived if he had accepted, if he had just entertained the thought of... His jaw tightened and his fingers clenched around the packs he carried, whitened knuckles at least hidden by gloves.

I don't know what to do. I never have. You're far better off with the Riou back home, the one who found a way.

He lifted his head, looked down the darkened street, and swallowed hard. And silently offered his hand to her.

Nanami stared at his hand, and then stared at him. No, not yet. Taking another deep breath, she stepped forward and wrapped him in a gentle hug. She'd do it right this time, without the hysterical crying and incoherent rambling.

"I love you! So...so much..."

She paused for a moment just to squeeze him and bury her face in his neck, even if he didn't reciprocate the embrace, and then eased up again to continue.

"I want to be around to hold you and stroke your hair and make you go to bed early and eat your vegetables and love you so much it won't matter if you don't love yourself forever, but..."

Again, she trailed off, wondering if she should go on. She didn't want to say it, even if was the truth. But no, better to say it now.

"If that's...not possible, don't...don't forget that your big sister will always love you? That way, I can always be with you."

But he does reciprocate the embrace, quite tightly, tightly enough that several of the pets loudly give their protest at the movement. "I love you too, Nanami. Despite everything that's happened, I don't regret coming here. Because I got to be with you again. I just wish..."

No, he doesn't want to think too much upon that, the rest of her words. Not now. He wasn't going to break now.

"I know, Nanami... I know..." he said softly.

Nanami pulled back ever so slightly so she could brush a kiss across his forehead and then smile at him. A genuine smile.

"Let's go home then, Riou!"

He smiled back at her and offered her his hand once more.

"Yeah, home..."

Although what 'home' truly meant anymore could be up for debate.

Nanami did take his hand, giving it a light squeeze. There were plenty of other things she wanted to say, but she'd said too much to him those past few weeks anyway. She cast a reassuring smile up at him as if to tell him to lead the way.

Riou returned the squeeze as they started off once more. His glance fell all around them as they walked, lingering on various buildings and monuments and sights that had become so familiar after all that time. The sweeping stone front of the Opera Abandoned, often filled with too much excitement for its own good and where so many friends lived; Cafe Juliet, always a favorite place for its desserts --how many times had he and a friend stopped by there?; the simple chic design of Pandora's when an expensive dinner was called for; the building that once housed Jeane's Rune Shop and was now Clow and Negi's store. He could even see the top of police headquarters poking above the curved shadows of the roofs of other buildings-- something that had become such a large part of his life in the past year. Only back-up indeed.

He tried to burn it all into his memory. He was not the same person who had arrived in the nameless city two years prior. He didn't want to be. He didn't know if he was a better for it -- in ways he thought he might have lost the aspects of himself that had once let him be the leader of the New Alliance Army. The confidence -- competence?, the self assurance -- not always feigned, the certainty that came with having a purpose. The way he needed to be.

But that person wasn't really needed anymore, were they? And he did not want to return to the anger and grief he felt back then, hidden and submerged but still there, biding beneath the surface. Most of all, he didn't want to pose a risk to Jowy back in their homeland. The way he had been then...

I would most certainly would have killed him, if we met at Tenzan Pass.

No, he wouldn't return to that. He must remember, in his heart, if not his head.

But most of all his glance kept sliding to his sister at his side. She was going to be safe. Traveling the world like he and Jowy had once dreamed. He must not regret... at least, not regret this.

And then they arrived. It simply felt right. This was the place. This was where the flickering called him. Even at the peak of night, the city was lit from within, like a thousand sparking stars come to rest upon the ground. The light played across the glimmer and glitter of water, sparkling and reflecting through the air, creating the faint flash of rainbows even in the darkness. A familiar scene, one that he'd become very intimate with, both from within and without. Even above the echo of ticking within his mind came the soft sounds of water splashing and lapping against its bonds.

The central fountain. Of course. He chuckled softly to himself.

At his side, Nanami also took one last look at the familiar landscape and buildings of the City. This was probably the last time she'd ever see it, so she took it all in as best she could until Riou stopped.

"Riou..?" she started to ask, peering up at him with a curious look, before she took in the sight before her.

The fountain.

It was only right, wasn't it? He had apparently arrived there, she had arrived there, all those times he had been cursed to believe he was brand new he wound up near the fountain. Then there was all the other meetings there, the time she had been drunk and Riou had been trying to send them home with the Blinking Mirror, and when she had waited for him there when Riou had organized the attack on the barrier.

She recalled the last two with a slight grimace, particularly the latter, considering the week that had followed that incident. Unconsciously, her hold on his hand tightened.

So they were leaving through the fountain, for real this time. So that was why Riou had been trying to use the Blinking Mirror that time, that was how they were going home, wasn't it?

"So...this is it, huh?"

His fingers also clenched unconsciously around hers as he stared down at the sprays of water shimmering before them.

"It looks like it," he said.

He should step forward. But he can't. Instead he glanced down at the tablet, still being carried at his waist, snugly tucked away in his armour. There was still time to use it, to call out a final farewell to his friends. But he was so terrible at goodbyes. And he had been obliquely -- or maybe not so obliquely in some cases, subtlety had never been his strength-- taking his leave from them for a little while now.

At least he'd had the chance to make certain the city watch had been as set to rights as possible before he slipped away. It was more than he was able to do when he had taken from the army those long years ago. Although now he was certain that they were fine without him, it certainly hadn't helped his peace of mind at the time...

... well, he'd have to see what was truly what when he returned, wouldn't he?

Finally.

Just a small step forward.

A rushing noise rose in his ears. And far in the distance someone was singing. A song that he himself had been humming just a few scant days ago himself, to try and distract his mind from the current curse.

Going with the silver flow
Of river wide with current deep and slow

I rest my wings made to soar
But can I fly anymore?

Annallee?

All around them the denizens of the city continued in their not quite so normal lives, a few of them even flitting around the fountain itself, not paying any mind to the two siblings standing before it. His hand spasmodically clutched at hers.

Nanami watched him with careful concern as he apparently fought some battle with himself. His hesitance to take those final steps was obvious, and she couldn't blame him, for various reasons. It was hard to say goodbye, when they had been there so long.

With more confidence and strength then she actually felt at that moment, Nanami took his hand in both of hers and smiled brightly at him.

"Come on, Riou! I'll be with you, so it'll be all right!"

The river it goes ever on
Can heart keep pace rushing swollen 'til dawn?

"Of course..."

The song rose and waned, and for the moment he ignored it. He gazed intently at her face, not budging an inch, half afraid that if he dared to turn around now he would find something that wasn't there before. And would lose something that was right in front of him. She was smiling at him though, and so he smiled back.

He was afraid. This was what he had been searching for all those years, but he had to give in and admit it... he was afraid. Of what was waiting back home. Of what might not be waiting back home. A single moment. Or two years? A dead sister or one who had merely run away. A best friend or a mortal enemy? A new country that needed him or one that was better off without him. Was it his memories of back home that had betrayed him or the new ones that he had made here?

Now I shake off weariness
And go to meet what I can't guess

A single step. He could do it. But first, one last bit of hesitation.

"You're... certain about the pets?"

Her smiled faded slightly into a confused blink. What about the pets?

"Eh? What do you mean?"

He glanced down at the three animals being held in his arms, clinging to his chest, or in the case of Pinky, nestled rather comfortably on one shoulder.

"You sure you want me to take them all? . . . . . I'm kind of surprised Squirrel-kun-chan" he used the little flying squirrel's rather embarrassing full name for perhaps the first time for Nanami's benefit, "hasn't fled in horror from me yet."

Edited 2009-03-01 05:15 (UTC)

"Well, considering your luck with Mukumuku and his friends back home..."

She smiled slightly to herself and then reached a hand to pet each of the animals one last time.

"You guys will like North Window, there's plenty of space to run around and plenty of people who will pay lots of attention to you and give you treats!"

With one last lingering scratch behind Shinobi's ears and a slightly sad smile, she turned her attention back to Riou.

"It would be better for them to have a stable place to live, rather than traveling around without a secure source of food or shelter. They'd be a lot more comfortable and happier if you take them."

"I understand. That's probably wise," Riou said.

It was pretty much as he had expected. Although if he truly was returning to the same moment as he left, than his was also probably not the best place for them either. Riding into possible battle over the remnants of the enemy army never was. But if he did return to that time... that place... they were going to have to stop for a lot of explanations anyway. Hopefully they wouldn't think that their commander had gone completely mad. But at least the pets should be safe enough.

He also reached down to scratch a furry head. But he had put it off long enough, hadn't he? This was what was best. He had to keep telling himself that. His eyes slid over to their hands still entwined. He made a slight forward motion with his.

"Shall we?"

She gave his hand one more squeeze and nodded. He'd have to lead the way, he at least seemed more sure of how and where they'd leave. All she knew was that, yes, they really were leaving.

But he doesn't really know what he's doing, where he's going. He never did. At this point he's merely following instinct. Edging closer to the fountain step by step as in his free hand the Blinking Mirror fitfully flickered.

*Flicker*

For a moment a large stone castle on a cliffside that overlooks a lake wide enough to be a sea seemed to rise before him. A town turned to a castle turned to a town once more, achingly familiar yet also strange to see after so long. He'd been gone twice as long as the time as he had spent within its walls as its lord.

The song rose again, North Window Castle flickered from sight.

People move from home to street
No one blinks as day yields to day, life is fleet

Where are you from?
Where are you going, Water Traveler?

Where am I going?

Another moment of hesitation.

". . . . . . Nanami?"

"Riou?"

Was this it? The longer Riou hesitated, the more restless she became. If he delayed much longer, she was certain she'd lose her will to leave at all. But did she have a choice in the matter? If she stayed, Riou might still leave, and she didn't want to be left behind without him. No, she couldn't be left behind without him anymore, she'd grown too dependent on his presence.

The mournful wind blows ever on
Can I keep flooded love for you 'til dawn?

She's still there. For the moment.

". . . . it's nothing."

Forward. A step. Another. It brought them to the very edge of the fountain, the waters lapping at their feet. Hopefully it was enough. It was rather brisk that night, just like it was the day that he had first arrived. He didn't need to go cavorting through the chilly fountains again and drag Nanami with him.

*Flicker*

This time the scene that arose around him was even more familiar. So many curses had sent him here, again and again, as if he was repaying for not returning to this mountain path of his own free will before his arrival within the city. The peaks reached into the heavens to one side, a waterfall rumbled deeply in the distance, a frothing river whose current had once seemed far too strong to survive flowed a dizzying distance below. And directly behind him an 'X' was curved into the stone, marking the spot where it all began. Where their former life had ended in a way. A promise deflected.

I never promised to meet you here. I said we'd make it together.

Tenzan Pass.

If he remembered anything of his time spent in the city, he would remember this.

He closed his eyes and when he opened them again it was Nanami looking back at him. The lights of the city still twinkled around them and the water that fell did so with a quiet swish and tinkle instead of a rumble of thunder.

Now I stretch out my wings again
And take back what I lost then

"I think this is it."

Nanami's smile had faded completely into a mildly impatient, but certainly stern look.

"Riou, please, I know it's hard, but it's not getting any easier by hesitating."

*Tick...*

Riou shook his head and leaned in close one final time, faintly amused. No more hesitation or putting it off. And nothing more left to say, right? This was better than when she had been weeping earlier. He reached deep down and found a smile for her.

"No, this is it. I'll... see you on the other side, then?"

Edited 2009-03-01 05:53 (UTC)

Nanami was the one to hesitate this time, exactly as she had feared. Her eyes were fixed on the fountain, but she wasn't seeing it.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go home, because she did. She missed Jowy and wanted to see him, and wanted to continue traveling around the world and living the peaceful life she had always wanted. But...

But...

Her gaze lifted to Riou's arm. The ribbon, her hair ribbon, was wrapped around his arm with the good luck charm her younger self had picked out for him neatly woven into it. So that, should they ever wind up together in another place where there could exist multiple timelines and multiple people, she'd know it was him.

And therein lay her hesitation.

The Riou standing next to her was the one she had spent her entire stay in the City with, the one who she'd grown so close to, endured curse after curse with, fought and made up with time after time. The one who would hug her, tell her he loved her, and...she knew they were selfish thoughts. The Riou back home was still her brother, still the person she loved most, even if the circumstances were different. She couldn't be torn between two versions of the same person.

She had never mentioned the City to them, Riou and Jowy, and had never looked for the familiar ribbon on her brother's arm. Perhaps, just maybe, they were the same Riou, and all these thoughts were for nothing, but either way...

Her gaze lifted slowly from the ribbon to Riou's face and tears glistened in her eyes as she struggled to say...something. Anything. There was plenty to say, but words failed her.

"Riou..."

She sounded weak and desperate, but she didn't care. She wouldn't break down again, but she wouldn't pretend that everything was fine, either.

*Tick...*

He didn't say anything at first. Perhaps this was the reason that people were usually given so little chance to prepare when their time to leave the city had come. Perhaps it would have been better -- less painful for them both-- if they had simply slipped away from each other unknown, unseen, as most people here did. But he'd had no chance to say goodbye before and...

I don't want to say goodbye.

"I know...." he finally said. A half-step forward and he pulled her into a tight hug. "Give Jowy's ponytail a tug for me?" he whispered into her ear.

She let out a sob at that, but didn't actually let any tears flow this time. She did return the hug tightly, almost painfully, and stayed like that for a few lingering moments.

When she did finally ease up, it was only enough that she could pull his head down, kiss his forehead one last time and then stare up at him with still glistening eyes.

"Take care of yourself, Riou. Eat well, get plenty of sleep, keep up with your training, and put yourself first sometimes. You're too precious to lose and..." She lowered her gaze. "...don't forget me."

*Tick...*

He trembled slightly at the sob and blinked hard a few times, his arms also unconsciously tightening around her for those few moments.

He was tempted to hold unto to her and never let go. To somehow try and drag her back into his timeline with him instead. But that wasn't right. Nevermind what damage it might cause to the timeline and their respective worlds back home -- he certainly hadn't cared back when he was trying to save her from Rockaxe-- if someone should go missing in one time and appear in another...

Appear in the past, Riou had to remind himself. She was further forward than him now. Truly the older sister.

But even more than that, what she returned to was so much greater than he. A country at rest, a brother and best friend free of responsibility and able to devote their full attention to her, a life of freedom and peace. All that he could offer in his time was uncertainty. In the end, if you truly loved something you had to let it go, right?

His let his arms fall away from her. A half step back. Something glimmered on his cheek. Obviously only the moisture from the fountain water that still continued to fall all around them.

"I will, Nanami... I won't ever forget you."

He did not ask the same in return. Some part of him truly believed she would be better off forgetting him -- the Riou who had been trapped in the nameless city, who may not be the brother from her timeline, who could not live up to the expectations set up by the other one.

Go home. Be free.

We'll meet again someday, I promise...

He wouldn't want to hear that, so she didn't say it out loud. But she promised him, and herself, regardless. It wasn't goodbye, not really. So she wouldn't say it.

She still had unshed tears in her eyes, but she managed a genuine smile and wrapped an arm around him.

"Let's go home then, little brother."

Her arm around him tightened, and she rested her head on his shoulder. One last embrace. One last bit of affection, just in case...

Be safe, Riou. I'll look after you, one way or another.

*Tick... tick... tock*

The faint light of the Blinking Mirror flickered within his hand like a heartbeat in tune with the ever present clock. He reached an arm around her for the final time.

"Home, yes." A pause. "Perhaps we'll both end up back here one day," he said, not knowing her mind. Although for her sake alone, he hoped not. At least not until the deities and the curses that plagued this place had been overthrown. Time will tell... The ticking alone should remind them all of that.

And in his head... or was it?... the song rose again, stronger than ever, driving out the clock once and for all.

The heart has its secret currents
Deep and without guide

And then a fallen city rolled out behind him, pale stones half gleaming, half charred from recent battle. Once the capitol of his homeland, then the headquarters of the enemy country, and now merely one of many cities within a newly formed republic. In the long spanning greenery that surrounded L'Renouille's outer walls, companions waited for a misplaced comrade.

"Take care, Big Sister," he said at last. Better than goodbye.

*Flicker*

The Blinking Mirror flashed, a brilliant hue that lit up the fountain for one brief moment, before it disappeared, taking the figures of both siblings with it.

To find out where they will lead
I take the plunge eyes wide

Onward, to destiny.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Log : Completed : Leavetakings

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject