#cetrith

She saw the scar.

It’s an ugly, audacious thing, and when Kairi is afraid to sleep, she digs her nails into it.  There are other scars, of course; smaller ones, most gained from training with Lea --- “Kairi, c’mon, maybe I should ---” / “No!  I want to get strong!  If you really want to help me, then come at me with everything you’ve got!” --- but only one that SHOUTS the way the one on her back does.  Aerith has never seen her train, so she’s never seen her in the sports bra that she trains in --- at least until now.

Kairi is sick of the pity when others see it, of the sadness.  Is sick of people wondering WHO COULD DO THIS TO SOMEONE SO GENTLE as though Kairi is so weak that the very idea of harming her is anathema.  She knows --- or tells herself, at least --- that Aerith is not pitying her, does not think she’s weak.  The older woman closes the gap as Kairi wills the blade from her palm.

“------ It’s from Xehanort,” she says, voice flat, by way of explanation.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Aerith says, voice not pitying, not degrading.  Almost understanding.  Somehow, that only makes it hurt WORSE.  “You didn’t deserve that.”

Kairi’s hands curls into tight fists.  She doesn’t remember the dying / remembers the being dead.  Remembers being taken.  Remembers fighting Xehanort and Xemnas, and failing.  And because of that failure / that weakness, HE KILLED HER, and to bring her back, Sora had to...

Her teeth grit.

@cetrith​​ said:  wallflowers rarely have any fun, are you sure you don’t want some company? at the royal ball sentence starters.   accepting!

Doesn’t Lillian know it.  Different kinds of aloneness, too, which is worse than just the one.  The absence that’s never been filled but you can sense it ought to be kind that always drove her mad, thinking that she’d never really had friends, so it shouldn’t hurt so much to be without them.  That she shouldn’t notice the lack that had never not been, but she did.  And the being left behind kind, a very different isolation, piercing where the other is dull, dad, please, don’t leave, i’m sorry.  The aloneness that should be good, or safe, the kind that feels like hiding but you want to be found, the kind where you know that’s not allowed.  The kind where you beg to be found, where you scream, and the ones who are supposed to hear and protect don’t.  Or choose not to.

All because she’s mute.  All because she’s different than the other kids.  Lillian knows.

But ------

But Cameron has her cornered and she doesn’t want to give him her bag this time because she has library books into it, and before he can reach for it again Hop barrels into the scene and knocks him over.  But aloneness gets quieter when he’s around, until she realizes that it’s gone entirely, at least most of the time.

Because sometimes you get saved, right?

<  i’m sorry you’ve been alone,  > she signs, and she is.  Lillian knows how much aloneness hurts, and worse the moments where it doesn’t.  <  but...unique doesn’t mean alone forever.  right?  >  But Hop holds her hand.  <  You’re not alone anymore.  >

@cetrith​​  said  :   ❛   yay  !  teamwork  !   ❜

𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒  beam  with  excellence.  he  can’t  reach  up  to  give  her  a  high  firve,  but  he  holds  out  his  hands  anyway,  prepared  to  jump  if  need  be.   ❛   we  did  it  !   ❜   it’s  ————  exhilarating  being  able  to  help.  to  do  something  other  than  be  party  to  the  events  in  motion,  always  needing  to  be  rescued  or  gently  corrected  when  his  assumptions  lead  him  down  the  wrong  road.  he’s  learning.  he  always  wants  to  be  learning,  but  he  also  wants  to  be  useful  too.  brave.  intrepid.  plucky.  no  more  hiding  away  in  his  rooms,  allowing  the  world  to  end  because  he’s  scared  of  the  spectre  wearing  doland  noble’s  face.  he  wants  to  help  make  the  world  better,  one  puzzle  at  a  time.  

❛   the  professor  always  said  solving  things  is  always  better  with  two.  i’m  glad  we’re  in  this  together  ————  &  don’t  you  worry  !  if  there  are  any  nasty  creatures  lurking  about,  i’ll  protect  you  !   ❜