#dcvotion

@dcvotion

Now that Paris was finally at peace, the calmness gave the dancer a lot of time to process everything as her guilt had widened from being pushed aside for so long. She appreciated the reassurance from her newly friend, but still couldn’t help but blame herself for what had occurred. Letting out a sigh, she turned her gaze towards the ground. “I don’t know, Riku. Even though I didn’t stop fighting, I still feel like I let you and everyone else down.” She was just grateful he, Sora, her people, Phoebus, and Quasimodo, were all safe.

How long had he been wandering? Lost to foreign streets and blazing fluorescent lights and a deep sense of estrangement? When had he last seen anyone? Heard a word or felt a presence? He had been little more than a ghost in an empty, modernized city for far too long. 

There were bright sides, he supposed. There had been no darkness, even if there was no light. No enemies, even if there had been no friends. He was safe, as far as he could tell, traipsing through that hollow world with it soulless atmosphere, even if it always felt like he could sense the presence of others. Like seeing movement in one’s peripheral vision. Shadows within the world, itself. 

He knew he wasn’t meant to be there. Had walked through a door, somehow, but had stopped halfway. As if he had nestled into a crawlspace in the walls of some old house. Maybe, he had thought at some point, he was just dreaming. 

No. He was dead, wasn’t he? It had been the price he had paid for seeing through a mission he should never have gone on, but could never say no to. For Kairi. Always for Kairi. She had been safe, in the end; the memory of her bittersweet smile still held strong as he felt his consciousness fade before he had awoken in that strange in between cityscape. 

It was worth it, he told himself to keep impending misery at bay. Chirithy had warned him, after all, and he had refused to listen. It was worth it, for her. For all of them. 

And still....

He hoped, maybe, that someone would come and find him.

And then, he hoped that nobody would try. What would be the point if they all kept lining up to sacrifice themselves for one another? An endless chain of martyrs... Maybe Xigbar had been right, in the end. Not that Sora would ever regret what he had given up for those he loved, but...

He was tired. 

There, alone, maybe he could finally rest. And everyone else would finally be safe. 

Then he felt it. A familiar tug. An unexplained warmth. His lungs unbiddenly pulled in a sharp breath, like the first gasp of life. Blue eyes widened, almost frantic as they scanned the endless, empty streets. He knew that presence. The call of a light. The Light. Something so absent from that cold, hollow world. 

He knew what it meant, and for a moment too long, he found himself torn. What did he feel? How should he feel? 

What did you do, when you had spent so long feeling lost, and you finally might be found?

     Being forced back into sleep was always both a blessing and a curse for the ancient mage. After weeks of sullying his hands with acts that he would rather not speak of, the very thought of them making him feel as if he would wretch, Khalid almost welcomed being returned to the tablet which housed his soul, a monument of stone that acted as both his sanctuary and his prison. His heart had been left broken and his spirit heavy yet again, a sensation that the mage should have been used to after all this time.

     And yet, it grew no easier, being forced to commit acts so heinous that Khalid doubted the gods would ever forgive, regardless of how unwilling a participant he’d been.

     Even in that forced sleep, however, the magician was given no rest - not truly. Maybe it was a punishment, the way his mind warped memories of his deeds into nightmares so that he might experience them anew, sometimes made more horrific than what had truly transpired. Trapped in that darkness, unable to wake himself up, Khalid’s spirit was left at the mercy of its regrets, his apologies and his pleas falling upon the deaf ears of whichever force believed that he deserved such torment. More than once, the mage had begged for it all to end - for his existence to cease and for his presence to be erased from the world, so that he might be truly forgotten, never to wake, but also never to dream again.

     Of course, he would not be so lucky. Not when another master called him forth from the tablet, beckoning the Egyptian once more into the land of the living.

     That first rush of air that filled his lungs as his form emerged from the stone was always a relief, as if he’d been holding his breath for far too long. The light that flooded his vision forced crimson eyes shut, while the sensation of, at last, being given a physical form once more had Khalid stumbling for a moment under his own weight, swaying as he, once more, grew accustomed to it. Muscles twitched for the first time in millennia, the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears seeming almost akin to the beating of a drum.

     It was both the overwhelming sensations that flooded through him and instinct that had Khalid dropping down on one knee, his head falling forward as he waited, for another moment or two, for himself to settle back into his own skin. Only when his head was clearer did he lift it once more, eyes that were already weary from events long gone by and dread for what he imagined was to come this time settling upon the force who had summoned him.

     Upon he who would be commanding him this time.

     He blinked at the sight of a young man who appeared to be close to his own physical age, eyebrow raising slightly in surprise. Those who called him forth were usually far older, master magicians in their own right, weathered generals who had use for a being with such tremendous power. It mattered not in the end, however - Khalid could already feel himself bound to this boy, his soul shackled to like a prisoner who had no choice but to be dragged by his captor.

     “What do you wish of me, Master... ?” The words fell from his lips in a hoarse whisper, spoken more than once to dozens of men who had come before this boy. A command would come, he was sure - perhaps after his new master appraised him, perhaps straight away, but in any case, it would come all the same.

@dcvotion​ asked:

“It’s dangerous to walk at night alone.” //For Sora c:

    Sora was enjoying some time with nothing but the crisp night air. He wasn’t going anywhere in particular, but on nights when he couldn’t sleep he’d take a nightly stroll in hopes of making himself tired. Though it usually didn’t work, it did give him something to occupy his mind so he wasn’t stuck in his bed overthinking. His pace had slowed significantly since he started and his gaze was up at the night sky at the far-off worlds. 

    A voice behind him made Sora jump and snap his head back. He looked like he was caught in an act he wasn’t supposed to commit- but he wasn’t doing anything wrong. But Sora was quick to recognize the voice and the figure lit up by the moon and lonely street lamp. Sora relaxed and smiled, throwing his hands behind his head casually.

Aqua couldn’t help but put care into her approach. Her footsteps were louder. Even. She could hear the grass shifting beneath her boots, and the earth crunch with added weight. The feeling of light within her spread, reaching out like a gentle caress, the feeling of a comforting hand on one’s shoulder. A reassurance. A warm greeting.

She didn’t feel the need to be cautious around Riku for any fear of him. Rather, she had seen the haunted looks in Terra’s eyes. Remembered her own nightmares. She knew the effects of being so intimately acquainted with darkness, and though she would never seek to treat someone like a fellow Master with kid gloves, she would rather keep from alarming him.

Meme /// Accepting

Aqua didn’t think that he had any idea how much that reassurance meant to her. The look in his eyes made it seem like anything but a throwaway comment, his expression shining bright with his genuine nature, but it was said with such nonchalance. Like she should have known the extent of the faith he had in her. 

As if, even after everything, there was no question about her loyalty to him. That drive to teach and protect and bolster. 

There were certainly others who had done more to remove themselves from the good favor of others. Traitors and liars and all sorts of untrustworthy individuals that Riku had crossed paths with over the years. Those who would use him and manipulate him. Hide the truth, either because they couldn’t trust him, or because they knew that what they were doing was wrong. He had stepped into the darkness enough to know what sorts of people hid in the shadows. But that couldn’t stop her from second guessing herself, either. 

She could still hear Ven’s voice in her head. It was soft and small, incredulous, and carrying enough hurt for himself and Terra when they felt she had betrayed their trust. 

“You’re awful, Aqua.”

And it had stuck with her. And her failure in keeping them safe. And breaking her promises to Master Eraqus to protect them. And losing herself, along the way, swallowed up in the very darkness that she had resented.