[ oh, this is bad. this is very bad. she’s only seen snow for the first time this week, so she can’t react in time to the ice, and it burns her skin in ways she’s never felt before.
she drops to the ground and rolls with a screech that turns into a groan. beau is frozen, and she can’t stay down. she can’t stop.
she has to move, and she gets to her feet, struggling through the pain. but she’s used to pain, isn’t she?
with newfound strength, she launches herself again at the blizzard lord with her keyblade. she knows nothing of elemental weaknesses i’m sorry. ]
First of all: good boy Taichi does pretty much the equivalent of Amp It Up. All four of them feel a swathe of energy swoop up through their bodies from their core. A strong, warm, burning fuel straight from the heart. They feel rallied! They feel strong, and a little bit faster which blankets over the pain of their injuries.
Also, Beauregard is literally frozen. Memshare can happy because that's sad and funny. Everyone gets a mem! Kaine can be frozen, too, if Ara wants to be really mean. If so, both of them will be encased in a thin layer of ice and trapped. It sears their skin, but more importantly, it makes their heart heavy with chill. Cold. Dark. Suffocating. They might can break free if they struggle...
Meanwhile, Taichi and Ichiro are on tank and DPS duty when the Blizzard Lord--pops? It explodes into what look like ten cat-sized ice cubes. They scatter in every direction toward Taichi and Ichiro, skating through the air. Here come the icy boys! If the ice cubes hit them, that body part will freeze, so... try not to do that!
What's interesting is the lightning boys are still shooting bolts of electricity at them, too, but... the bolts hit one or two of the ice cubes. And the ice cubes explode into sparkles and vanish. Hm!]
[ its okay this big man's keyblade was ichiros destiny i deeply feel like theyd be bros
anyway! that surge of energy hits ichiro and for a minute, he completely forgets that he got shocked within an inch of his life as he jerks himself back up to his feet and slams down on the ground, defiant and ready to push back. taichi's energy flows through him, and he manages to put himself back into the moment in time to watch the little ice cubes come popping out. they're kind of adorable but once electrocuted, twice elemental shy, so. he dodge rolls out of the way of a lightning bolt that fires a cube next to him, blinks, and realizes something. ]
Taichi! [ taking on a fight alone is what made ichiro fail, didn't it? being terrified, pushing his partner into changing too fast, too soon? is he going to let that happen now?
fuck no. ] We got this, come on! Split up the ice guys!
[ he is hella not interested in getting electrocuted, again, so he pushes off from where he's standing and starts running, leading a few of the ice cubes after him - he deflects one that leaps at his wrist with the keyblade and keeps his eyes on the stupid lightning lantern that attacked him earlier, hoping to draw half of the ice cubes in his directions.
if there's one thing he's good, it's being super loud and drawing attention to himself, so that is exactly what he's going to do. he hears a little voice in his head that sounds like viola that says "please take better care of yourself" but absolutely ignores it and yells at the lightning boy - ] Hey! Come on, motherfucker, light me up!
[the strength feels nice! she feels rallied, but she is also frozen and in thin ice, and that just makes the little wisps of memory stronger. cold, dark, suffocating. she almost doesn't want to fight.
It's snowing. And you're in pain.
You've never felt anything like this before. Not ever, this sort of pain - you're used to it, normally. You've spent your whole life being punched, and you'd revel in it because it makes you feel alive, but not this. No, this - this is searing. You can't think, you can't move.
You can't see it, but you can feel it, under the shrieking, white hot agony pulsing through your head - blood, pouring from your eyes, your mouth, your nose, your ears. You're dazed by the sensation, but not enough to not notice the purple tiefling in front of you. He lifts you off the ground by the throat and you can't even scream. It's too much, it's too much.
Distantly, you hear him. His voice, shouting to the others, to your friends (friends? are they your friends, where did you meet ichiro, taichi, kainé?), out in the swirling ice storm:
Is this really how you want this to go?
As he carefully slides the edge of his blade up his chest - you can see the iridescent glow of the sword in the corner of your vision, but you're fading. You're dizzy with the pain, trembling, unable to even grab for the hand around your throat. He's going to kill you. You're pretty sure he's going to kill you, and you --
You're sad.
it's always the cold. she fights a little, trying to breathe, trying to take the warmth from taichi's ability and use it. she's sad. she's scared.
It's chaos.
This dirt road - this isn't how you'd all really planned to do this, so much. The plan is haphazard, but that's how you do things. None of you think, before you jump in. It's cold, the snow makes it hard to see - you can still feel the ache of sleeping on the icy ground in your bones, but you ignore it. You have to, because you're in the middle of a fight, your fists clenched so tightly you can feel the fingernail crescents in your palm forming.
You frantically look ahead of you, as Mollymauk - as Mollymauk stumbles, and drops. Blood drips from his sword, as his knees hit the dirt, and he stares up at Lorenzo with an unfocused gaze. And the bastard - Lorenzo doesn't falter. He strikes.
The blade sinks seven inches into Molly's chest - blood splatters from Molly's mouth, and your blood turns to ice. No, no, no, this won't happen. You won't let this happen, you've already lost some of your friends to this asshole and you refuse to let him win. You try - you try to hit, you swing, and you miss, and he just grins in your face.
Lorzeno looks you in the eye. "An example it is," he says. He's bleeding, Molly is bleeding, scrabbling at the blade in his chest, but when Lorenzo turns to him --
Molly, the son of a bitch, spits blood in his face.
"Respect," Lorenzo says, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand. And then he twists the blade, and there's a crack in the air as you watch the life leave Molly's eyes.
and beau - shouts, because no. not again. not her friends. no amount of brain scramblies can stop her from wanting to protect people. so she struggles, and fights to break free of the cold trying to pull her under. that's her turn!]
[he's momentarily frozen by the memories that hit. one of them is familiar, a memory he saw from beau previously. but the other...the other's gutwrenching, horrific and just plain sad to watch the death of a friend and know there wasn't a way to stop it.
isn't that a familiar pain? (is it? it's hard, memories muddled and confused in a tangle of what is and isn't really his.) friends betraying friends, friends being used, friends dying as an example.
he can't stand it. he stalls just a beat too long before he realizes an ice cube runs straight at his left arm and he doesn't have time to deflect, the arm freezing a bit too literally. there's an angry yell as he tries to move it, the arm encased in a block of ice before he registers what ichiro says.
it doesn't matter what people do and don't have, how strong their bonds are with other people and he thinks about something beau said to him just earlier this week. he has something to prove for the people he wants to be friends with. ]
Right! [he's run on worse injuries before, back when...when...that fucking clown tried to kill him and he had to protect...he had to wait...
...?
it doesn't matter. all that matters right now is following ichiro's lead as he rounds up the other half of the ice cubes, darting under the lightning boy and swinging his keyblade one-handed to get its attention.]
Hey! You missed!
[very glad it's two morons trying to get electrocuted again, good job.]
Kainé is frozen. It's not an unfamiliar feeling, only colder, much colder than what she knew. The memories slam in and suffocate her. They claw and pierce at her and her heart for how painful and heartwrenching the experiences are. It's the pain, the sorrow, the heartbreaking loss—
It resonates in ways that only amplify her worst feelings, her worst fear. The coldness brings out her solitude and loneliness, the unbearable loneliness that comes every time she lost someone she cherished.
However, the strength, that fuel from the heart surges through. It washes over her and reminds her she isn't quite alone. There are still people fighting, there are still people waling, there are still people who, for some reason, don't want to lose her— That overrides everything else.
She struggles to break free because she has the strength to go on. ]
The orbiting ice cubes continue to spin across the platform, trying to hit Taichi and Ichiro without any organized reason up until--well, the lightning isn't very great, is it? A chunk of them wink out of existence in a flurry of sparkles under the zapping of the Nocturnes.
(Who end up smacking directly into each other because they are trying to zoom after Taichi and Ichiro together. Doing so cause a loud thunderclap to echo over the platform.)
The rest of the ice cubes hastily start zipping to one side of the platform to reorganize back into Mister Blizzard Wizard. Strangely, looking through his transparent stomach--the vortex of ice inside is withered up and thin, barely going. His stomach enlarges again, but this time when he rolls forward to breath out...
...it's just a puff of cold air.
Beauregard and Kainé manage to break free of their icy shackles with the renewed energy given to them by Taichi! Yay!]
anyway - Ichiro sees beau’s memory too, and part of it is familiar. he already knew molly was dead, but to see him taken over like that is shocking in real color. it builds the determination of their conversation just a few days beforehand, though. she’s gonna get him back. he’s too good of a guy not to. (the critrole gods said so.)
he’s feeling emboldened, now. there’s not too much time to focus on the memory, though. he has to dodge out of the way of ice cubes, wincing when one catches his ankle but refusing to let it hold him for too long. the cold sucks, but he smacks the edge of the keyblade against the ice sticking out and keeps running- The thunderclap makes ichiro’s already ringing ears ache - he reaches up and claps a hand over one of them but otherwise, that worked great!! he throws Taichi a huge grin and a - ] Nice work, man!
[ because hey, they make a hell of a team!
he’s then rushing over to beau and kainé, immediately moving to give either of them an arm, to help pull them up to their feet if they need it, so they can face the remains of this blizzard fucker together. ] One more, one more!
the ice shatters, and beau drops to one knee, instinctive. her brain feels like soup, after all of the memories, but it's fine. she's going to pull herself up on her own, except ichiro is there, reaching to help her up, and she just... lets him. the paranoia screaming in her head is uncomfortable, and she can't help but pull her arm away after he helps her up, but it's okay. she can apologize later. for now, they have a monster to kill.
she picks up her keyblade, and shakes it out. gets ready. she can't really hear anything at all after the explosion and the thunderclap, but she doesn't need to. all she needs to do is beat the shit out of this big dude in front of them, which she will do!]
[even when the thunder echoes and makes him flinch there's a grin back, strangely, and oh yeah. oh yeah, this is what he's all about, isn't it? working with others. protecting people. fighting monsters and saving the world. right. so he nods when ichiro says one more, but he mimics the motion and tries to shatter the ice around his arm with his keyblade before turning his attention on the nocturnes again.]
Take care of the big one, I've got these!
[he may not got these, actually, but he's hoping the nocturnes are disoriented enough and still clustered together as he runs at his usual athlete speed, jumping once more as high as he can to strike across both of them in the hopes of eliminating them, electrocution be damned.]
[ Kainé drops to her knees and hands once she's free. If she gives herself a second to think, a second to rest, the cold will set in and she won't stop shivering, so she doesn't. She gets right back up, accepting Ichiro's help and ignoring the pain with the help of the renewed energy.
She won't be shaken. One more, one more, or however many more it is after this, they are getting through this no matter what.
Taking her keyblade, she'll help Taichi, if his strike doesn't take care of it first. She has been frozen enough, and a little electrocution never bothered her anyway.* ]
Both of the annoying little Nocturnes get slashed into a spray of sparkles. These don't hurt, thankfully, but they do sort of make a little shiver go through the body. Spicy.
The big one is all that's left. He's looking pretty worse for wear, honestly. He can't even make it very far off the ground, not at all like he had been doing before. The quick double-team with Ichiro and Beau--
They cut through, everything around them and their movements slowing down almost to a stop as it bursts into sparkling nonexistence. Very Kingdom Heart. And then they speed up again, returning to normal. Four pieces of papers flutter down. Doodled onto the pages are: something monstrous, a man, two boys, and a group of friends.
They can feel the memories of them being pulled away, torn from their grasp. They're gone, but not swapped. Instead, they are replaced by another one: a reunion.
The pod on the other side of the platform opens, but nothing is left inside except a drawing on a piece of notebook paper of a young girl who looks like Taichi, smiling. The final set of stairs folds open, spiraling up, and up, and up.]
[ ichiro can feel the pull of a memory, and he hates it. as he stands up from this speed down and slow up nonsense, breathing heavily and pushing himself up onto the keyblade, he reaches and grabs the front of his shirt, as if he can hold onto whatever it is.
but like that, it vanishes, and he watches the papers, as the one with the man in the sunglasses landing by his feet. it doesn't matter. he's pretty sure it doesn't matter. ichiro pays it no mind as the reunion appears, though, and it just - it aches. it aches like something familiar. it aches like being pulled away from something you love, like watching someone who you can't remember scream how much they hate you, it aches like the relief that ached through ichiro's body when he was reunited with something important, something that was taken from him.
the name, riku, feels familiar, but when they shift into the darkness and he sees his face - well. by the time the memory fades, ichiro blinks into reality, and looks up towards the stairs, trying to get his bearings before looking at the other four. wearied and battle scarred, but alive. the girls are probably freezing - he starts to take off his coat as he processes what he's seen. ]
... that was Luke, right? [ riku.
ichiro's head hurts. he shakes off a chill and nods to the other four. up the stairs to kainéland. ]
time zooms right back to normal, and beau actually - reaches out. she reaches out for the memory she's losing, for the people she's losing. her family, the people keeping her standing. but she has - no, that's not right. right? she has two brothers, and she... can't remember what she was doing before this. she was in the snow? she was out in the snow alone, she was there for some reason. it was important.
was it to find sora? kairi? that must've been it. she was supposed to find sora, out in the snow. with the help from her brothers. her mind desperately tries to fill in the gaps as she forgets an entire year of the family she found.
a beat, as she looks down at the singed paper again. who... who?
she seems very disoriented.]
Riku. [she mutters. and then stumbles after ichiro. up the stairs.]
[teamwork!!! he feels the pull of a memory and he tries desperately to reach for it, feeling the last threads of yamato ishida slip through his grasp. as he feels himself forgetting their bond, forgetting omegamon, forgetting the way the two of them are always in sync when their partners fuse, it’s like he can hear yamato’s voice whispering as the paper flutters away.
“... I can't... lose you again. I can't do it again.”
…but what does that matter? maybe it doesn’t? he’s just a strange blonde boy he’s seen around campus. it’s not like the bond from the reunion he’s witnessing. no. the reunion that’s his? are these people he’s fighting for? are they the ones waiting for him? it’s hard to remember what he’s doing here the higher they climb and it’s almost on autopilot as he goes to collect the paper drawing from the pod.
the smiling girl’s face means nothing to him, but he folds the paper to tuck in his pocket anyway. he’ll take the other paper, too, he guesses.
he’ll follow ichiro’s example and begin shedding his coat, ignoring the frostbite and the burns on his arms from fire and ice. the girls need to stay warm. it’s up to them if they’ll take it though and he begins to climb the stairs.]
Sora... [why does he say that name with such certainty, suddenly? onward and upward.]
[ Before she knows it, it's gone: one of the major signs of how much her grandmother meant to her is gone. Her years' quest for revenge and how she was eventually befriend by Nier is gone to replaced by a reunion that aches as much as it gives her warmth, these hearts that are connected, these hearts that should always be connected.
These hearts that are connected to hers....?
She shakes her head and collects whatever papers are left. She doesn't know what they mean, but they have to mean something even if that grotesque monster (it looks like it could be a Shade, but is it...?) would be better abandoned and destroyed.
Her right hand curls around her left arm where all the bandages have burned away. ]
You're still Riku, no matter what.
[ She echoes softly under her breath, as she walks up and up. ]
The voice from before speaks into their hearts. The deeper into the darkness you go, the longer in the darkness you stay, the more you lose sight of the light. It feels like the things hanging heavy on their hearts are growing. Anger, fear, jealousy, sadness.
Etched into the stained glass of the last platform is Kainé, reclined against the curve of the circle with a blade in her hand. A white-haired man, a round-faced skeleton, and a book sit in the stylized bubbles near her. The egg-shaped pod at one side of the platform is already starting to close around Nier, tucking him in for sleep.
But... standing in front of him is a girl with a notebook in her arms. She turns around to face them.]
[ ichiro skids into the top floor once he's sure these two angry punchy ladies are okay enough to keep moving, still holding his keyblade in one hand, and the front of his shirt in the other. he's not - his head is pounding, as he holds onto that reunion, that feeling of return, of love, of determination. it's so frustrating, he feels like he doesn't even know why he's here. what's he fighting for? is there even anything? angry and alone, has there ever been anything?
(there's the three people with him. beau, taichi, kainé. he knows them, and he knows they've struggled up these platforms together for some reason, and now he's holding onto riku's memory as tight as he can as a reason to keep moving forward.)
when he gets to the top of the stairs, ichiro stops, putting himself in the front of the group with the keyblade in front of him and making enough room for everyone to get up, ready for a fight. he looks past the girl for just a second and spots nier -- and then feels that anger bubble ferociously in his chest. ]
Who - who are you. [ is what he manages to say, white knuckling the blade. please do not let him attack naminé. ]
[oh i realized he took his coat off for them and forgot to respond to it because i was so emo about riku kingdomhearts. kainé can have it though. oh jk both of them did, beau will take one i guess!
beau is shivering by the time they get up to the top, holding her keyblade tightly. she's - kind of shut down a little, expression harsh. funnily enough, though, like - when she sees nier? she startles. wow! someone she still knows! and the fear bursts bright and sharp in her heart as she takes a few steps forward, like she's going to be able to get him out of the fucking pod.
she stops, though, when ichiro holds out his keyblade defensively, and clenches her fists.
she's not going to fight whoever this is, but. she's wary.]
[up they go, and when they reach the platform he spots nier disappearing into his egg. goodbye nier. there's a still barely-there flutter of bitterness upon realizing that kainé has nier still, and he thinks about the journey upward. he's trying to hold on to the thought that they're working together and they have each other, but...there's still so much missing. there's so much he wants, and so much he will never have.
how much more does he have to give to have something that gives back?
he holds his keyblade loosely in his hand, though he steps ahead to make sure he isn't blocking kainé from seeing what's going on.]
[ oh i was also too emo about riku kingdomhearts to respond. jacket for beau!! and jacket for kainé!! she'll take it because she doesn't care to be that cold. thanks for the kindness.
The more you lose sight of the light, the voice says, but the lights in her life are etched on glass on the platform. Only... she doesn't... recognize the skeleton....? Who....? Something irreplaceable is missing, too many irreplaceable things are missing or replaced, and it brings out an emptiness that makes her want to cry.
She sees Nier being enclosed in the pod and doesn't stop to think. It may be an illusion, but it doesn't matter. She may have seen every other floor below and how it worked, but all that goes flying because it's Nier, and she can't lose him— ]
No!
[ The others have the questions down. She runs for the pod. ]
[Turning both arms over, Naminé settles the notebook on both her forearms even as Kainé races by to the pod. The notebook paper looks decidedly familiar. In their pockets (or even their hands), the papers they've gathered begin to gently quiver. The drawings pull away from them, zipping from where they're kept. One by one, they latch themselves along the spiral of the notebook and flatten themselves into place. One, two, three--slow, and then faster, and faster until they're all tucked away.
Naminé closes the notebook.]
There you go.
[It feels like little threads are being pulled from within their chests. The memories that don't belong, removed. The ones that should be there, neatly put back. A clarity twinkles down into them, even if the disorientation of remembering the chaos of the mix-up is still there. They still have memories of those memories, huh?]
Memories are important. The ones that belong only to you. You aren't really who you're supposed to be without them. Try not to lose them, okay?
he watches kainé, worried, knowing what's coming - enough that he misses the papers fluttering back into the notebook, until suddenly, there's utter, bright, clarity, and ichiro takes a breath like he's been punched.
he remembers kuko, first. he remembers his stupid, loud laugh, and his dumbass antics, and his buddhist sayings that may or may not have been real. he remembers how it ripped his heart out of his chest when he left, when he screamed in his face that he hated him out of nowhere and it destroyed an ichiro who'd only been just built up.
he remembers his dad. rei amayado, rei yamada, his fucking dad, piece of shit that he is - the man who lied to him about his mother. who lied about everything. the reason ichiro cut and run away with them; he remembers facing him on the division stage, remembers the way adrenaline cut through his veins when rei admitted that he was trying to get them to move back in with him and leave ichiro behind, he remembers the look on his face when they won, buster bros, a team, a unit, --
--his brothers.
he remembers his little brothers.
jiro, 17 years old, good at sports, kind of an idiot but so much like ichiro that it hurts him to look at him sometimes. saburo, 14 years old, the smartest kid you've ever known, clever and maybe not as nerdy as you are but perfect. the three of you have been through everything together. ichiro's lost them and found them and lost them, over and over again. his purpose, his heart. his everything.
he's not sure if he wants to scream or cry, at first, and ichiro takes a stumbling step backwards, forgetting about every injury he has for a moment because he forgot about his little brothers. it's overwhelming - shock and recollection and aching pain and love, so much love it threatens to overflow him, for a second - and then fury.
he white knuckles the keyblade in his hand. it is only that sheer force of anger that keeps him from dropping it, and he swipes outwards with the blade - gesturing, emphatic, not attacking, but because he's going to explode and he's so angry he's going to lose his mind. the shout rips out of his chest and ichiro practically snarls - ] What the hell did you do to me?!
[she pulls her coat closer, shivering, eyes distant - until her memories get knocked back into her.
it's a different experience for her. she gains - yasha's smile, the memory of shouting drunk and joyous at the fireworks in hupperdook, being pulled down a street by a cheerful blue tiefling and feeling accepted for the first time in her life. she gains her friends, and the stark reminder that she lost one.
she loses her brothers. they weren't - hers? they weren't hers. they never were. she gains her father, she remembers, abruptly, the fear and anguish of not knowing why she could never do anything right. she loses the reunion, she loses the feeling of her heart being connected intrinsically to two people, no matter how far she is from them. she loses a blood family all in one go, loses the feeling of unconditional love and it brings her to her knees.
she chokes on it, her hair messy and unkempt and in her face for now. round two of bluescreening!]
[the papers flutter. memories begin to slot themselves back into place one by one, and while the loss of the memory that isn’t his doesn’t exactly bother him, it’s regaining the ones he had. it wasn’t just a grandmother who loved and accepted him. it was his parents, people who loved him unconditionally and didn’t always know what was going on but tried their best to stay involved. it was friends, all of them, his whole team that followed his lead and helped him stand his ground in every battle. it was his partner, agumon, who had spent his whole life waiting for taichi and taichi alone because he knew he could be the one to give him strength. it was yamato who was…his partner in a different sense, someone who knew him better than anyone else and the only person who could sync with him to create a miracle.
above all else, it was…
“I will probably never forgive you, Taichi. But that’s why I’ll fight with you.”
the memories hit, and he suddenly realizes what he’s done.]
Hikari!
[it’s an almost shrill sort of sound as he suddenly turns, racing back for those stairs. it doesn’t matter that her pod was empty, she’s not here. she’s not here, so she has to be somewhere else. it’s an insane need to find her, because without him she’s in danger. she’s the one thing people can’t take away from him and so he runs at full speed to the edge of the platform where the stairs once were, immediately bouncing into the barrier with an angry shout. he’s further away from the group now but he turns with a ferocity they may have never seen from him.]
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she drops to the ground and rolls with a screech that turns into a groan. beau is frozen, and she can’t stay down. she can’t stop.
she has to move, and she gets to her feet, struggling through the pain. but she’s used to pain, isn’t she?
with newfound strength, she launches herself again at the blizzard lord with her keyblade. she knows nothing of elemental weaknesses i’m sorry. ]
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First of all: good boy Taichi does pretty much the equivalent of Amp It Up. All four of them feel a swathe of energy swoop up through their bodies from their core. A strong, warm, burning fuel straight from the heart. They feel rallied! They feel strong, and a little bit faster which blankets over the pain of their injuries.
Also, Beauregard is literally frozen. Memshare can happy because that's sad and funny. Everyone gets a mem! Kaine can be frozen, too, if Ara wants to be really mean. If so, both of them will be encased in a thin layer of ice and trapped. It sears their skin, but more importantly, it makes their heart heavy with chill. Cold. Dark. Suffocating. They might can break free if they struggle...
Meanwhile, Taichi and Ichiro are on tank and DPS duty when the Blizzard Lord--pops? It explodes into what look like ten cat-sized ice cubes. They scatter in every direction toward Taichi and Ichiro, skating through the air. Here come the icy boys! If the ice cubes hit them, that body part will freeze, so... try not to do that!
What's interesting is the lightning boys are still shooting bolts of electricity at them, too, but... the bolts hit one or two of the ice cubes. And the ice cubes explode into sparkles and vanish. Hm!]
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anyway! that surge of energy hits ichiro and for a minute, he completely forgets that he got shocked within an inch of his life as he jerks himself back up to his feet and slams down on the ground, defiant and ready to push back. taichi's energy flows through him, and he manages to put himself back into the moment in time to watch the little ice cubes come popping out. they're kind of adorable but once electrocuted, twice elemental shy, so. he dodge rolls out of the way of a lightning bolt that fires a cube next to him, blinks, and realizes something. ]
Taichi! [ taking on a fight alone is what made ichiro fail, didn't it? being terrified, pushing his partner into changing too fast, too soon? is he going to let that happen now?
fuck no. ] We got this, come on! Split up the ice guys!
[ he is hella not interested in getting electrocuted, again, so he pushes off from where he's standing and starts running, leading a few of the ice cubes after him - he deflects one that leaps at his wrist with the keyblade and keeps his eyes on the stupid lightning lantern that attacked him earlier, hoping to draw half of the ice cubes in his directions.
if there's one thing he's good, it's being super loud and drawing attention to himself, so that is exactly what he's going to do. he hears a little voice in his head that sounds like viola that says "please take better care of yourself" but absolutely ignores it and yells at the lightning boy - ] Hey! Come on, motherfucker, light me up!
[ sir this a kid's game ]
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it's always the cold. she fights a little, trying to breathe, trying to take the warmth from taichi's ability and use it. she's sad. she's scared.
and beau - shouts, because no. not again. not her friends. no amount of brain scramblies can stop her from wanting to protect people. so she struggles, and fights to break free of the cold trying to pull her under. that's her turn!]
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isn't that a familiar pain? (is it? it's hard, memories muddled and confused in a tangle of what is and isn't really his.) friends betraying friends, friends being used, friends dying as an example.
he can't stand it. he stalls just a beat too long before he realizes an ice cube runs straight at his left arm and he doesn't have time to deflect, the arm freezing a bit too literally. there's an angry yell as he tries to move it, the arm encased in a block of ice before he registers what ichiro says.
it doesn't matter what people do and don't have, how strong their bonds are with other people and he thinks about something beau said to him just earlier this week. he has something to prove for the people he wants to be friends with. ]
Right! [he's run on worse injuries before, back when...when...that fucking clown tried to kill him and he had to protect...he had to wait...
...?
it doesn't matter. all that matters right now is following ichiro's lead as he rounds up the other half of the ice cubes, darting under the lightning boy and swinging his keyblade one-handed to get its attention.]
Hey! You missed!
[very glad it's two morons trying to get electrocuted again, good job.]
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Kainé is frozen. It's not an unfamiliar feeling, only colder, much colder than what she knew. The memories slam in and suffocate her. They claw and pierce at her and her heart for how painful and heartwrenching the experiences are. It's the pain, the sorrow, the heartbreaking loss—
It resonates in ways that only amplify her worst feelings, her worst fear. The coldness brings out her solitude and loneliness, the unbearable loneliness that comes every time she lost someone she cherished.
However, the strength, that fuel from the heart surges through. It washes over her and reminds her she isn't quite alone. There are still people fighting, there are still people waling, there are still people who, for some reason, don't want to lose her— That overrides everything else.
She struggles to break free because she has the strength to go on. ]
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The orbiting ice cubes continue to spin across the platform, trying to hit Taichi and Ichiro without any organized reason up until--well, the lightning isn't very great, is it? A chunk of them wink out of existence in a flurry of sparkles under the zapping of the Nocturnes.
(Who end up smacking directly into each other because they are trying to zoom after Taichi and Ichiro together. Doing so cause a loud thunderclap to echo over the platform.)
The rest of the ice cubes hastily start zipping to one side of the platform to reorganize back into Mister Blizzard Wizard. Strangely, looking through his transparent stomach--the vortex of ice inside is withered up and thin, barely going. His stomach enlarges again, but this time when he rolls forward to breath out...
...it's just a puff of cold air.
Beauregard and Kainé manage to break free of their icy shackles with the renewed energy given to them by Taichi! Yay!]
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anyway - Ichiro sees beau’s memory too, and part of it is familiar. he already knew molly was dead, but to see him taken over like that is shocking in real color. it builds the determination of their conversation just a few days beforehand, though. she’s gonna get him back. he’s too good of a guy not to. (the critrole gods said so.)
he’s feeling emboldened, now. there’s not too much time to focus on the memory, though. he has to dodge out of the way of ice cubes, wincing when one catches his ankle but refusing to let it hold him for too long. the cold sucks, but he smacks the edge of the keyblade against the ice sticking out and keeps running- The thunderclap makes ichiro’s already ringing ears ache - he reaches up and claps a hand over one of them but otherwise, that worked great!! he throws Taichi a huge grin and a - ] Nice work, man!
[ because hey, they make a hell of a team!
he’s then rushing over to beau and kainé, immediately moving to give either of them an arm, to help pull them up to their feet if they need it, so they can face the remains of this blizzard fucker together. ] One more, one more!
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the ice shatters, and beau drops to one knee, instinctive. her brain feels like soup, after all of the memories, but it's fine. she's going to pull herself up on her own, except ichiro is there, reaching to help her up, and she just... lets him. the paranoia screaming in her head is uncomfortable, and she can't help but pull her arm away after he helps her up, but it's okay. she can apologize later. for now, they have a monster to kill.
she picks up her keyblade, and shakes it out. gets ready. she can't really hear anything at all after the explosion and the thunderclap, but she doesn't need to. all she needs to do is beat the shit out of this big dude in front of them, which she will do!]
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Take care of the big one, I've got these!
[he may not got these, actually, but he's hoping the nocturnes are disoriented enough and still clustered together as he runs at his usual athlete speed, jumping once more as high as he can to strike across both of them in the hopes of eliminating them, electrocution be damned.]
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She won't be shaken. One more, one more, or however many more it is after this, they are getting through this no matter what.
Taking her keyblade, she'll help Taichi, if his strike doesn't take care of it first. She has been frozen enough, and a little electrocution never bothered her anyway.* ]
Just die already!
[ *citation needed. ]
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Both of the annoying little Nocturnes get slashed into a spray of sparkles. These don't hurt, thankfully, but they do sort of make a little shiver go through the body. Spicy.
The big one is all that's left. He's looking pretty worse for wear, honestly. He can't even make it very far off the ground, not at all like he had been doing before. The quick double-team with Ichiro and Beau--
They cut through, everything around them and their movements slowing down almost to a stop as it bursts into sparkling nonexistence. Very Kingdom Heart. And then they speed up again, returning to normal. Four pieces of papers flutter down. Doodled onto the pages are: something monstrous, a man, two boys, and a group of friends.
They can feel the memories of them being pulled away, torn from their grasp. They're gone, but not swapped. Instead, they are replaced by another one: a reunion.
The pod on the other side of the platform opens, but nothing is left inside except a drawing on a piece of notebook paper of a young girl who looks like Taichi, smiling. The final set of stairs folds open, spiraling up, and up, and up.]
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but like that, it vanishes, and he watches the papers, as the one with the man in the sunglasses landing by his feet. it doesn't matter. he's pretty sure it doesn't matter. ichiro pays it no mind as the reunion appears, though, and it just - it aches. it aches like something familiar. it aches like being pulled away from something you love, like watching someone who you can't remember scream how much they hate you, it aches like the relief that ached through ichiro's body when he was reunited with something important, something that was taken from him.
the name, riku, feels familiar, but when they shift into the darkness and he sees his face - well. by the time the memory fades, ichiro blinks into reality, and looks up towards the stairs, trying to get his bearings before looking at the other four. wearied and battle scarred, but alive. the girls are probably freezing - he starts to take off his coat as he processes what he's seen. ]
... that was Luke, right? [ riku.
ichiro's head hurts. he shakes off a chill and nods to the other four. up the stairs to kainéland. ]
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time zooms right back to normal, and beau actually - reaches out. she reaches out for the memory she's losing, for the people she's losing. her family, the people keeping her standing. but she has - no, that's not right. right? she has two brothers, and she... can't remember what she was doing before this. she was in the snow? she was out in the snow alone, she was there for some reason. it was important.
was it to find sora? kairi? that must've been it. she was supposed to find sora, out in the snow. with the help from her brothers. her mind desperately tries to fill in the gaps as she forgets an entire year of the family she found.
a beat, as she looks down at the singed paper again. who... who?
she seems very disoriented.]
Riku. [she mutters. and then stumbles after ichiro. up the stairs.]
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“... I can't... lose you again. I can't do it again.”
…but what does that matter? maybe it doesn’t? he’s just a strange blonde boy he’s seen around campus. it’s not like the bond from the reunion he’s witnessing. no. the reunion that’s his? are these people he’s fighting for? are they the ones waiting for him? it’s hard to remember what he’s doing here the higher they climb and it’s almost on autopilot as he goes to collect the paper drawing from the pod.
the smiling girl’s face means nothing to him, but he folds the paper to tuck in his pocket anyway. he’ll take the other paper, too, he guesses.
he’ll follow ichiro’s example and begin shedding his coat, ignoring the frostbite and the burns on his arms from fire and ice. the girls need to stay warm. it’s up to them if they’ll take it though and he begins to climb the stairs.]
Sora... [why does he say that name with such certainty, suddenly? onward and upward.]
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These hearts that are connected to hers....?
She shakes her head and collects whatever papers are left. She doesn't know what they mean, but they have to mean something even if that grotesque monster (it looks like it could be a Shade, but is it...?) would be better abandoned and destroyed.
Her right hand curls around her left arm where all the bandages have burned away. ]
You're still Riku, no matter what.
[ She echoes softly under her breath, as she walks up and up. ]
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The voice from before speaks into their hearts. The deeper into the darkness you go, the longer in the darkness you stay, the more you lose sight of the light. It feels like the things hanging heavy on their hearts are growing. Anger, fear, jealousy, sadness.
Etched into the stained glass of the last platform is Kainé, reclined against the curve of the circle with a blade in her hand. A white-haired man, a round-faced skeleton, and a book sit in the stylized bubbles near her. The egg-shaped pod at one side of the platform is already starting to close around Nier, tucking him in for sleep.
But... standing in front of him is a girl with a notebook in her arms. She turns around to face them.]
You made it. Oh. You brought them. Good.
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(there's the three people with him. beau, taichi, kainé. he knows them, and he knows they've struggled up these platforms together for some reason, and now he's holding onto riku's memory as tight as he can as a reason to keep moving forward.)
when he gets to the top of the stairs, ichiro stops, putting himself in the front of the group with the keyblade in front of him and making enough room for everyone to get up, ready for a fight. he looks past the girl for just a second and spots nier -- and then feels that anger bubble ferociously in his chest. ]
Who - who are you. [ is what he manages to say, white knuckling the blade. please do not let him attack naminé. ]
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beau is shivering by the time they get up to the top, holding her keyblade tightly. she's - kind of shut down a little, expression harsh. funnily enough, though, like - when she sees nier? she startles. wow! someone she still knows! and the fear bursts bright and sharp in her heart as she takes a few steps forward, like she's going to be able to get him out of the fucking pod.
she stops, though, when ichiro holds out his keyblade defensively, and clenches her fists.
she's not going to fight whoever this is, but. she's wary.]
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how much more does he have to give to have something that gives back?
he holds his keyblade loosely in his hand, though he steps ahead to make sure he isn't blocking kainé from seeing what's going on.]
And brought what?
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The more you lose sight of the light, the voice says, but the lights in her life are etched on glass on the platform. Only... she doesn't... recognize the skeleton....? Who....? Something irreplaceable is missing, too many irreplaceable things are missing or replaced, and it brings out an emptiness that makes her want to cry.
She sees Nier being enclosed in the pod and doesn't stop to think. It may be an illusion, but it doesn't matter. She may have seen every other floor below and how it worked, but all that goes flying because it's Nier, and she can't lose him— ]
No!
[ The others have the questions down. She runs for the pod. ]
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[Turning both arms over, Naminé settles the notebook on both her forearms even as Kainé races by to the pod. The notebook paper looks decidedly familiar. In their pockets (or even their hands), the papers they've gathered begin to gently quiver. The drawings pull away from them, zipping from where they're kept. One by one, they latch themselves along the spiral of the notebook and flatten themselves into place. One, two, three--slow, and then faster, and faster until they're all tucked away.
Naminé closes the notebook.]
There you go.
[It feels like little threads are being pulled from within their chests. The memories that don't belong, removed. The ones that should be there, neatly put back. A clarity twinkles down into them, even if the disorientation of remembering the chaos of the mix-up is still there. They still have memories of those memories, huh?]
Memories are important. The ones that belong only to you. You aren't really who you're supposed to be without them. Try not to lose them, okay?
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he watches kainé, worried, knowing what's coming - enough that he misses the papers fluttering back into the notebook, until suddenly, there's utter, bright, clarity, and ichiro takes a breath like he's been punched.
he remembers kuko, first. he remembers his stupid, loud laugh, and his dumbass antics, and his buddhist sayings that may or may not have been real. he remembers how it ripped his heart out of his chest when he left, when he screamed in his face that he hated him out of nowhere and it destroyed an ichiro who'd only been just built up.
he remembers his dad. rei amayado, rei yamada, his fucking dad, piece of shit that he is - the man who lied to him about his mother. who lied about everything. the reason ichiro cut and run away with them; he remembers facing him on the division stage, remembers the way adrenaline cut through his veins when rei admitted that he was trying to get them to move back in with him and leave ichiro behind, he remembers the look on his face when they won, buster bros, a team, a unit, --
--his brothers.
he remembers his little brothers.
jiro, 17 years old, good at sports, kind of an idiot but so much like ichiro that it hurts him to look at him sometimes. saburo, 14 years old, the smartest kid you've ever known, clever and maybe not as nerdy as you are but perfect. the three of you have been through everything together. ichiro's lost them and found them and lost them, over and over again. his purpose, his heart. his everything.
he's not sure if he wants to scream or cry, at first, and ichiro takes a stumbling step backwards, forgetting about every injury he has for a moment because he forgot about his little brothers. it's overwhelming - shock and recollection and aching pain and love, so much love it threatens to overflow him, for a second - and then fury.
he white knuckles the keyblade in his hand. it is only that sheer force of anger that keeps him from dropping it, and he swipes outwards with the blade - gesturing, emphatic, not attacking, but because he's going to explode and he's so angry he's going to lose his mind. the shout rips out of his chest and ichiro practically snarls - ] What the hell did you do to me?!
[ i hate being mean to naminé i'm so sorry ]
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it's a different experience for her. she gains - yasha's smile, the memory of shouting drunk and joyous at the fireworks in hupperdook, being pulled down a street by a cheerful blue tiefling and feeling accepted for the first time in her life. she gains her friends, and the stark reminder that she lost one.
she loses her brothers. they weren't - hers? they weren't hers. they never were. she gains her father, she remembers, abruptly, the fear and anguish of not knowing why she could never do anything right. she loses the reunion, she loses the feeling of her heart being connected intrinsically to two people, no matter how far she is from them. she loses a blood family all in one go, loses the feeling of unconditional love and it brings her to her knees.
she chokes on it, her hair messy and unkempt and in her face for now. round two of bluescreening!]
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above all else, it was…
“I will probably never forgive you, Taichi. But that’s why I’ll fight with you.”
the memories hit, and he suddenly realizes what he’s done.]
Hikari!
[it’s an almost shrill sort of sound as he suddenly turns, racing back for those stairs. it doesn’t matter that her pod was empty, she’s not here. she’s not here, so she has to be somewhere else. it’s an insane need to find her, because without him she’s in danger. she’s the one thing people can’t take away from him and so he runs at full speed to the edge of the platform where the stairs once were, immediately bouncing into the barrier with an angry shout. he’s further away from the group now but he turns with a ferocity they may have never seen from him.]
Why can't I go back?
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