#tidalcove

It's hard to know what direction they're spiraling in sometimes. Things don't always sync up as expected, leading to disjointed messages tossed like bottles into the sea. Sometimes they wash up on the shore in the right order, and sometimes they don't. She can always hear the frustration, the confusion, in Saga's voice over the phone. This isn't easy for her -- having come so far and with so much to lose. Alice doesn't want to be cryptic but it's easier this way, far less complicated than trying to piece together even half an explanation in these fragments where they align.

They've done all this before.

They might very well do it again.

Even if Alice wants to believe that it's different this time.

Her own name perches on her tongue, but she catches it between her teeth. She has no place in this story save for the one that she's carved out for herself, nestled safely in the margins where Alan won't be able to see her. And it's there that she needs to remain -- especially now, so close to the ending. Who she is doesn't matter. "Did you find the shoebox?" That's the only thing that does matter. The Clicker. The Bullet of Light. She tries not to think about where that bullet will end up, but with Alan's bloody, blown-apart face staring up at her from a dozen nearby photographs, it's difficult not to.

"Saga," she starts again, where she should have started in the first place, but the end always becomes the beginning anyway. God, she's tired of thinking in loops. When she gets out of here she's going to buy hundreds of those page-a-day calendars and derive a perverse amount of joy each time time marches forward and she can tear off the previous date. "You're close. I promise." This time, next time, the last time. One of them is going to be the last time. "You need the tools, and then you need the ending, and then it can be over."

⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧ ┆ rivalry inspired sentence starters . ❪ selectively accepting !  ❫

Deities were solitary creatures , disconnected from the mortal society they were ordained to rule . By no divine right did Yozora choose to isolate himself , but rather , out of the distrust of others . Through betrayals and broken bones , had Yozora become acquainted with the absence of companionship , that he rejects every opportunity to forge one .

In the case of Rinoa Heartilly , founder of Quadratum's Restoration Committee , it was more of an alliance . Whilst the king of truth was loathe to join Rinoa's group of misfits , he was not adverse to lending them his strength . After all , both he and Rinoa shared the same objective : claw back control from the nebulous wraiths invading their realm .

Heartless . How ironic , to be called the very thing he sought to destroy .

Objectively , Yozora did lack a heart ⸻ his mechanical core whirred with displeasure at Rinoa's playful accusation . ❛ I said I work alone . ❜ Night sky sharply corrected , ❛ Not that I wouldn't help . ❜

@tidalcove !