☾ 𝐑𝐢𝐤𝐮 ☽ Bemusement accompanied by speculation traveled across the contours of his face delicately, the cold tundra blue of his eyes kept upon the head of a person he thought very much deceased. Still images of his body melting into darkness shot through the real one’s thoughts, recalling the replica’s last words when he faded into an empty abyss. “A faithful replica until the very end… that’s… okay.” And just like that, he was no more. Something about the existence of him, the death of his clone, all of what he represented never agreed well with Riku’s heart. There was a chance that whole mess had to do with why he felt a need to eliminate Roxas rather than talk to him. In the end, there can’t be two of one person, it will always brew conflict. At least, that is what he used to believe.
❝How about we skip the pleasantries. How are you… alive?❞ Vigilance armed throughout words of caution, unable to discern if the replica was here to simply chat, or to pull a fast attempt upon the real one’s life. But Riku genuinely was curious, tucking toned arms in a fold across his torso as he looked down at the other with an intense half-lidded gaze. ❝Nobodies coming back are one thing. But you’re not one. You’re a fake.❞ A harsh truth, but it was the truth nonetheless. Naught but logic and reason mingled with his tone, void of emotion until he was certain that this was not about to lead to a clash.
“This fake isn’t here to deliberately ruin your day, if that’s what you’re hinting at.”
Truth be told, he’s almost a little offended. The both of them know himself well enough that if this were a true confrontation, he’d be doing far less teasing and much more fighting. Riku’s copy has never been anything less than openly aggressive towards those he has any kind of qualms with, and holds little patience for anyone who doesn’t hold his respect in some way.
“I guess you could call it surviving out of pure spite. The dark never scared me
much, anyway. Totally not my scene.”
It’s a rather blasé way of talking about one’s own demise, but could they ever really expect anything more from him than a completely deflective and unhelpful answer? This particular replica hasn’t got much of a track record for being cooperative with much of anything, and this conversation seems no different.
Riku is wary. That’s to be expected, he supposes; the two of them were never really fast friends.. Or even friends at all.. Yes, he did try to take his original counterparts life on numerous occasions, after all, but the boy isn’t stupid. He’s well aware just how unmatched he truly is this time around... And, for once, that’s alright with him. As of late, he’s grown so tired of fighting.
“What really matters is that I no longer listen to anyone unless it suits me.
Whatever I think, whatever I feel, it’s mine -- that’s what’s real.”
And he’ll be damned if he ever lets anyone take that away from him again.