#onlythelightremains

[shadows-twisted-reflections]

Christmas Presents

((For the Nomuras, Kairi, and Riku. Ienzo will be getting his tomorrow. Under a readmore because IMAGE HEAVY.

And please note that Sora made all of these things. The biggest of them is 8 and 1/2 inches tall. ))

Mom:

Van:

Ven:

Rox:

Xi:

Riku:

Kairi:

[uncoveredillusions]

(text) If you are reading this text, it means I have a favor to ask of you.

I need you to pick your favorite Winnie the Pooh story and record yourself reading it, preferably on video. It's for Sora's Christmas present, and I need to get started ASAP.

If you don't want to or feel you can't bring yourself too, that's ok. But I think it would be a good way to show him that you're thinking about him and want him to be happy out there until he can come back.

Thanks in advance, guys.

[shadows-twisted-reflections]

The Journey

Second Stop: The Land of Departure

...been a while since...since I've been here.

This place...this place is memories upon memories. Sometimes I feel as though I was here as the Remnant, though I know that's not true. I never got out of the Keyblade Graveyard then. That was my birth and deathplace back then...so the fragments I have are just...from when I looked at Ven and Lady Aqua before...

Before.

The memories of Oblivion itself are odd. They're there, I remember everything, but so many things in that remembering are...gone. Parts of me are still gone. I know Riku and Namine did their best to repair what broke...I know Nami didn't mean to break it in the first place, but it still did. And parts of me just...never got found.

I spent a whole year in that coma, in a nightmare that never let me sleep, just kept me from moving, from waking, while Nami and Riku put my mind back together. I watched every moment of their work from inside my own head, as things rearranged, became warped or disappeared, only to reappear and reorient somewhere else. They worked so hard...but some things are still gone. I don't...I don't think they'll ever come back. I know they're gone, both memories that are just empty spots and...other things. Feelings that I only have memories of, that I no longer know how to feel.

I think that's the first time I've written that down. Maybe that I've dared to, more like. Like so long as I never mention it anywhere, no one but me will ever know. I guess that's true, but then again...who's gonna ever read this but me?

Maybe that's why I was pulled here. To say that out loud. To let it be final, and let the...the burden settle instead of hitting me at odd moments. At least in finality I know where it is.

Then here again to get Ven's body, the only happy time I've been here. Getting his body so he could have it back, get out of my head. ...he didn't tell me where it was. I just...knew. I remember leading Riku and Kairi right to it, and looking at the face of one of the brothers I had never seen. I remember wanting to cry, but...I didn't. I waited.

I...do a lot of waiting, don't I?

Maybe that's another reason I came here. This place is really a land of waiting, isn't it? A land where empty things come when they're not really ready to die.

Kingdom Hearts knows that's true of me.  I'm just...an empty tool to be used. I have no other purpose, no other...destiny. I don't get to shape my own life like everyone else does. There are days that that hurts.

I hate this world so, so much. But I can't leave yet.

...I hate this place.

[shadows-twisted-reflections]

To anybody who bothers to come see why I've not left my room in a week:

I’m not here any longer, if everything I own being boxed up or gone isn’t a clue. I don’t know where I am, or where I’m going, but it’s not here. I’m finishing my training. Oh, and Mom? Don’t worry about school. I dropped out. Completed paperwork should be in my desk for proof.  There’s no point in continuing to go, and no point in me staying here. Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. Anyone else? ….don’t come searching for me. It’s stupid. I’m gone for a reason. I’ll see you around. Still love all of you, no matter what you think of me. Bye. —Sora

[twilight-nurse-blog]

[Oh look, a worried brunette nurse-in-training checking her phone again for the millionth time. Seems like Ven hasn't texted her back. Like he hasn't been texting her back or talking to her since...well. Since. 

She's not sure if just marching into the apartment and flopping on him in bed until he's willing to talk will work, but after three months of radio silence...three months of stonewalling, of curling up in bed, of doing just enough to survive...

He was never very good at taking care of himself, was he?]

[shadows-twisted-reflections]

...and the Worlds come tumbling down...

[uncoveredillusions]

Come to Me

It was sunny in Radiant Garden, with clear, cloudless skies. Ienzo had almost expected rain, but somehow, this was better. It made it feel like Sora was there with them, watching.

Aeleus and Dilan had closed off this portion of the gardens for now, which made Ienzo grateful. None of the silent, solemn faces around him needed the gawping of passerby, even if they wouldn't be bothered by them otherwise. Vanitas and Ventus especially-he was going to keep a very close eye on them as soon as he was certain that he was done giving life to random Sora illusions.

They didn't need that, either.

He hesitated for a moment over the hole he had dug, jasmine in hand. Putting it in would be final for him, even if it wouldn't be for anyone else, and he didn't want to make it that way. Eventually though, he knelt quietly and gently placed the flower into the hole, filling in with dirt until it was almost impossible to tell that the plant had never been there.

Then he stood, a silent tear trickling down his face until he wiped it away and left a streak of dirt in its place.

Hope you like it, Sora. ...Wherever you are.

[uncoveredillusions]

Drink With Me

(text): Demyx, we have the jasmine and are on our way. You might want to find a small table or something to put it on so we don't dirty the carpet.

Ienzo was grateful for texting right now. He had the feeling that his voice would be near-unintelligible over the phone right now, and besides, he needed a little time to just be silent and order his thoughts and emotions. The process of preparing the Corridor and protective spells helped somewhat, especially since he had to make sure that the Aero was strong enough to keep the Reflects bound to them yet gentle enough to keep from ripping the flowers and leaves off of the jasmine. By the time they arrived, he was fairly sure his facsimile of calm had become the real thing.

That feeling became more certain when he called out to Demyx, "We're back," and found his voice to be mostly steady. He just hoped that Lea and the others were approaching 'just as ok.'