VERUM/REX

and he wonders ( it’s all he can do, nowadays ) if the uncertainty was meant to be laced between those words. one lost heart wandering this endless horizon was bad enough —— to have two? pity settles somewhere between his ribs and he offers what he can only hope is a smile ; doesn’t feel quite right / doesn’t quite make it all the way but he tries it all the same.

❛  i didn’t think i’d see anyone else here.  ❜ a lie ; he’s seen too many come and go but none ever truly saw him ( for he was nothing but a phantom in a forgotten dream now / a memory that will wash away once the waves crash upon the shores ) or at least none have ever seen him —— until now. ❛  i was starting to wonder if i’d ever see anyone again, really.  ❜

he’s  worn   /   that  smile  is  forced   ,   a  reflex   you  wonder.   he’s  tattered   &   torn   /   yet  he  still  holds  himself  together  with  nothing  but  a  wish.   he’s  lost   /   yet  he  finds  you   (   &   you  don’t  quite  know  what  that  means   ).   you’re  both  stranded  in  a  sea  of  consciousness   /   the  light  of  a  lighthouse  doesn't  reach  you.   left  with  nothing  but  your  thoughts   /   &   bodies  tearing  at  the  seams.

❝    i  wandered  for  so  long   ,   but  it  felt  so  empty.    ❞   yet   /   that  emptiness  felt  like  a  second  home.   you  were  always  just  wasted  space   /   how  heavy  you  feel   &   yet    (   null   /   devoid  of  something   /   you  are  not  whole   ).   ❝    nothing  but  souls   &   fleeting  promises.    ❞   &   you  start  to  wonder   /  if  this  too  is  a  fleeting  moment.   if  sora  will  slip  through  your  body   /   as  if  you  were  nothing  more  than  a  phantasm.

‘     you seem so glum all of the time …     i thought a smile might cheer you up !     ’

and he wonders —— he really wonders. the answer eludes him / blinks in the starlight of the ghosts of worlds passed / fades away like a fleeting heart and what’s left? he’s not sure. he’s been having such weird thoughts, lately.

❛  i’m sora.  ❜ it’s muscle memory / a memorized speech but the meaning is lost on him ( who is sora? has there always been a sora? who is he / she / they / them? he can’t —— there’s no —— ) ❛  so now it’s your turn ; who’re you?  ❜

❝    i’m  yozora.    ❞   you  answer   /   uncertainly.   it’s  just  a  name   /   that’s  your  name   (   you  want  to  believe   ).   where’d  you  hear  that  name   ?   /   you  don’t  remember.   yet  it’s  all  you  cling  to  nowadays   /   for  your  body’s  been  ripped  from  you   (   this  isn’t  you   /   you  don’t  look  like  this   /   do  you   ?   ).   perhaps  that  stranger  in  the  mirror  is  the  real  you   /   you’re  not  so  sure.

nothing  feels  real  anymore   /   almost  like  a  dream.

before  you  let  sora  speak  again   /   there’s  another  comment  that  passes  through  your  lips   (   a  lot  more  confidently  than  answering  what  your  own  name  is   ).   ❝    i  guess  we  have  a  lot  more  in  common  than  we  thought.    ❞