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@zelda-from-skyloft
Ooc:
This is a blog following @/knight-in-training-sky’s timeline so just keep that in mind if you’d like to send an ask :)
Zelda doesn’t know why, but she wanders, white dress lapping at her heels. Impa follows, ever loyally, but suddenly frowns. “I sense something. I’ll go on a little ways ahead.”
Zelda nods, for lack of a reason to argue, and watches the elder move quickly further up the path. She fidgets nervously with her bracelet and then turns and…is that…Glancing once back at Impa, she walks off the path and sees someone lying, unconscious on the ground.
With a lurch and a rapidly pounding heart she rushes over, examining this someone’s face. “Hello?”
She remembers the millions of times she’s had to wake up her Link. She taps this girl lightly on the shoulder. “Please, wake up.”
-@zelda-from-skyloft
*The woman is completely unconscious, and soaked. It had been thundering earlier, but stopped not long before your walk. There's a sudden crack of thunder, the lightning striking the woman, and then she's awake.
"Where the fuck am I?"
*She's on her feet, green-blue eyes loking around quickly.
"Where the fuck is Marluxia? Who are you? Why are you just a kid?"
*She flinches at the sudden thunder and lightning and reaches out but freezes when she sees the woman doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that she literally was just struck by the skies. Zelda looks back...somehow Impa wasn't back at her side at the loud noise.*
"Oh, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm not sure what Marluxia is but my name is Zelda. I'm..." A graduate, she wanted to say, but Skyloft's academy does not exist anywhere on the Surface. "Not a child."
Maybe in the past, her response would've been more tentative but she's a little bit on edge. She's met some wonderful, new people, but Impa has taught her to be more wary of people wandering the Surface.
"What about you?" Zelda asks, and then slowly, as if carefully delivering each syllable, adds, "And are you okay?"
“What are you, 16? That’s a kid, dummy. He’s a pink-haired loser that likes roses. Kinda looks like a chick.”
*She stretches her arms out, then with miniature bolts of lightning, three throwing knives appear between her fingers. She looks at them closely before they disappear again.
“I’m fine. Lightning is like my whole thing. Name’s Larxene.”
*She knows her lightning scars are hidden under her stupid coat, and frankly she’s glad for it.
"Oh, yeah I've never seen anyone like that sorry," Zelda ignores the insult.
At the bolts of lightning and the throwing knives appearing between Larxene's fingers she doesn't notice she's holding her breath until they disappear. She is curious as to the whole lightning deal, but she stays her tongue.
"Nice to meet you Larxene...Are you sure you're fine?"
“Oh relax, I’m not gonna hurt you. Just making sure I still have the suckers.”
*Zelda may not have noticed, but Larxene sure did.
“I’m fine, sweetie.”
*The way she says sweetie is almost condescending.
“What about yourself? I’m not stupid, you’ve got scars.”
*Of course, this girl in front of her also has strong power, but that’s not the point right now.
*Somehow the reassurance doesn’t land with Zelda, when the almost condescending tone doesn’t miss her ears. She has had too many interactions with Groose. She doesn’t relax but she replies anyway, “I’m unhurt.”
Zelda doesn’t know why, but she wanders, white dress lapping at her heels. Impa follows, ever loyally, but suddenly frowns. “I sense something. I’ll go on a little ways ahead.”
Zelda nods, for lack of a reason to argue, and watches the elder move quickly further up the path. She fidgets nervously with her bracelet and then turns and…is that…Glancing once back at Impa, she walks off the path and sees someone lying, unconscious on the ground.
With a lurch and a rapidly pounding heart she rushes over, examining this someone’s face. “Hello?”
She remembers the millions of times she’s had to wake up her Link. She taps this girl lightly on the shoulder. “Please, wake up.”
-@zelda-from-skyloft
*The woman is completely unconscious, and soaked. It had been thundering earlier, but stopped not long before your walk. There's a sudden crack of thunder, the lightning striking the woman, and then she's awake.
"Where the fuck am I?"
*She's on her feet, green-blue eyes loking around quickly.
"Where the fuck is Marluxia? Who are you? Why are you just a kid?"
*She flinches at the sudden thunder and lightning and reaches out but freezes when she sees the woman doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that she literally was just struck by the skies. Zelda looks back...somehow Impa wasn't back at her side at the loud noise.*
"Oh, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm not sure what Marluxia is but my name is Zelda. I'm..." A graduate, she wanted to say, but Skyloft's academy does not exist anywhere on the Surface. "Not a child."
Maybe in the past, her response would've been more tentative but she's a little bit on edge. She's met some wonderful, new people, but Impa has taught her to be more wary of people wandering the Surface.
"What about you?" Zelda asks, and then slowly, as if carefully delivering each syllable, adds, "And are you okay?"
“What are you, 16? That’s a kid, dummy. He’s a pink-haired loser that likes roses. Kinda looks like a chick.”
*She stretches her arms out, then with miniature bolts of lightning, three throwing knives appear between her fingers. She looks at them closely before they disappear again.
“I’m fine. Lightning is like my whole thing. Name’s Larxene.”
*She knows her lightning scars are hidden under her stupid coat, and frankly she’s glad for it.
"Oh, yeah I've never seen anyone like that sorry," Zelda ignores the insult.
At the bolts of lightning and the throwing knives appearing between Larxene's fingers she doesn't notice she's holding her breath until they disappear. She is curious as to the whole lightning deal, but she stays her tongue.
"Nice to meet you Larxene...Are you sure you're fine?"
Zelda doesn’t know why, but she wanders, white dress lapping at her heels. Impa follows, ever loyally, but suddenly frowns. “I sense something. I’ll go on a little ways ahead.”
Zelda nods, for lack of a reason to argue, and watches the elder move quickly further up the path. She fidgets nervously with her bracelet and then turns and…is that…Glancing once back at Impa, she walks off the path and sees someone lying, unconscious on the ground.
With a lurch and a rapidly pounding heart she rushes over, examining this someone’s face. “Hello?”
She remembers the millions of times she’s had to wake up her Link. She taps this girl lightly on the shoulder. “Please, wake up.”
-@zelda-from-skyloft
*The woman is completely unconscious, and soaked. It had been thundering earlier, but stopped not long before your walk. There's a sudden crack of thunder, the lightning striking the woman, and then she's awake.
"Where the fuck am I?"
*She's on her feet, green-blue eyes loking around quickly.
"Where the fuck is Marluxia? Who are you? Why are you just a kid?"
*She flinches at the sudden thunder and lightning and reaches out but freezes when she sees the woman doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that she literally was just struck by the skies. Zelda looks back...somehow Impa wasn't back at her side at the loud noise.*
"Oh, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm not sure what Marluxia is but my name is Zelda. I'm..." A graduate, she wanted to say, but Skyloft's academy does not exist anywhere on the Surface. "Not a child."
Maybe in the past, her response would've been more tentative but she's a little bit on edge. She's met some wonderful, new people, but Impa has taught her to be more wary of people wandering the Surface.
"What about you?" Zelda asks, and then slowly, as if carefully delivering each syllable, adds, "And are you okay?"
*You can sense a Heartless outside the Temple. Just one, oddly. You can also sense a heart of mostly darkness chasing it.
*When you go to investigate, you hear a hoarse shout. Sounds like Sora.
DON’T HURT HIM!
*A Heartless comes into view, but something seems off about it. You can’t quite tell what it is. The Heartless…Has a bell in its mouth?
*A boy with dirty blond hair runs after it, panting.
Sora you asshole! Get back here!
*His hair is odd; not in the way it swipes to one side, but in color. Some parts are rich brown. Others are a pale, platinum blond. Most of it seems to be somewhat of a mix.
Why the FUCK are you so fast?!
*The Heartless shakes its head in almost a response, dodging the boy’s attack. The boy has the exact same skin tone and scarring that Sora does, you realize. Yet he called the Heartless by the other’s name.
*The Heartless suddenly drops onto the ground as a shadow, the bell left behind, and runs to behind Impa. It strangely doesn’t try to attack. The boy scoops up the bell before putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
You little- you lit- god, you’re a bitch! Have I told you I hate you?
*He’s still talking to the Heartless, before looking up at Zelda and Impa.
Hey.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda is instantly alert when she senses the heartless. "Impa," She says and the other instantly draws her blade.
They go to investigate immediately, and Zelda startles at the hoarse shout. Impa twists around when the strange boy with a bell runs behind her, almost attacking on instinct but she pauses when he scoops up the bell, on his knees, and seemingly uninterested in hostility.
Zelda meets the teal eyes of the boy very similar to Sora. "Who...are you?"
Name’s Roxas. Sora’s, uh, Nobody. It’s a- thing. That Heartless? That’s him. For now.
Sorry, he just- I chased him like… God, I dunno, maybe half a mile? I’m tired!
*The Heartless in question is still behind Impa, flat against the ground. Roxas rings the bell, trying to get it to come over to him so he can grab it. It doesn’t move.
Yeah, well fuck you too buddy.
Impa quirks an eyebrow. Zelda’s eyes widen. “Sora is a heartless?…That’s…”
Impa sighs and tries to grab the creature.
He’ll be fine. He hasn’t really tried to attack anyone? I mean, I haven’t fucking let him, but…
*Impa finds that she can’t touch him. He’s like a shadow, in this state.
It can be fixed. He’ll be fine.
*He just has to take Sora to a guy that hates him. It’ll be fine, right? Of course it will be.
*Sora moves closer to Zelda, staying flat like a shadow. Roxas watches him, almost glaring.
Zelda nods. “So you have a plan to get him back to normal? If so, I’d like to help in any way I can.”
She nearly jumps when Sora moves closer to her but, seeing how Impa’s hands merely passed through—and she was scared to use light magic against him in any way—she just let him. Impa narrows her eyes. “How did this happen?”
Mhm. I dunno if you can help at all, sorry.
*Roxas shifts, ready to dive at Sora is he gets too close to Zelda. He’s still almost glaring at the Heartless.
Wasn’t there for it, but Sky says Vanitas went fucking batshit. Ven tried to stop him, but as a last ditch, the bitch stabbed Sora and did this. And that brought me out.
I mean..Glad to look like me, but not really like this..
“I see,” Zelda says at Roxas’s answer.
She’s disappointed but she tries not to make that visible. She just wants to help Sora, after what he’s done for him and Impa…but she does still have her role here. Impa tenses when Vanitas is mentioned.
“Who is Sky?” Zelda frowns.
One of the- heroes, or whatever, I have no fucking clue nobody explains shit to me.
*He waves it off, assuming she already knows.
Looks like your guy though. But older.
Oh, uh, try- not to use magic around him. Terminating him might not be the worst thing, but I’d rather have fuckin’ Yen Sid do it, or whatever. I dunno. Like I said; nobody ever fucking explains shot to me.
*It’s clear that this is a point that makes him angry, but he’s trying not to be.
*He then tilts his head, obviously thinking about something.
*Oh. She had met an older version of herself…maybe that was true? She wonders if that was due to time travel or just, alternate universes. She nods at Roxas.* “I won’t. I suspected using my light magic wouldn’t end well. Do you think he’d…attack anyone in this form? He doesn’t seem very hostile…”
At this point I have no fucking clue, honestly. Not like I’m letting him even fucking try it, though. He did show me some memories once, remembering what happened the first time he was like this..So he could be aware?
This shit is confusing!
*Sora goes back over to Roxas finally, climbing up his body until he can snuggle in the boy’s hair. Roxas rolls his eyes.
Little ass.
*His tone is somewhat fond.
Zelda can’t help but smile at the pair, at the fondness in Roxas’ tone and the mischievous yet warm nature of Sora despite being transformed into a Heartless. She asks quietly, “How long have you…known Sora?”
*Roxas sighs.
That, is a hard question. I am Sora, I have his body. Came to exist when he turned himself into a Heartless to help his buddy. But I didn’t learn about him until..Almost a year after that? When my best friend said she had to go back to him. Kept seeing his memories, though, between then. Recombined with him not long after that, and he only truly learned about me a few months later, during that same adventure.
He’s the reason I’m here. Everything thought we were the same person….Everyone but him.
*There’s guilt, Zelda can see, but she can’t tell why.
*Zelda listens attentively, fidgeting loosely with her white sleeves. She instinctively wants to be able to ease that guilt but she doesn’t mean to pry. Instead, she just hums slightly, the tune of Zel’s lullaby. She could remember gently plucking the strings of a harp, she could remember Link’s smile. “It sounds like you really care for him,” She says after a moment. “I can see why.”
Please, who wouldn't care for him?
*He tilts her head at the tune.
What song is that? It's...Pretty.
*She smiles softly. “That’s true.”
“Link—or I suppose Birdie—and I call it Zel’s lullaby. His idea. Before I knew what the Ballad of the Goddess truly meant, before I knew what my fate would be, I just..I just decided to reverse the Ballad for fun. And then it came out like this and it stuck.”
*Something twists behind you in a way that’s just wrong, and then there’s weight on your head. A man’s voice, smooth and amused and a but gravelly, speaks from above you.
“Well now, my little prince, here I was thinking you’d never wake up~”
*You realize he’s leaning on you; his arms and head resting on top of yours.
*Something about him is just wrong. He doesn’t feel like he belongs in this body.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda flinches at the weight on her head, stiffening when she hears the man’s voice. Little prince rings weird to her. Impa narrows her eyes, blade drawn in an instant. “Do not touch her.”
Zelda senses the feeling of wrongness…the sense that his soul does not match his body. She pulls away immediately. This is unlike even Groose, a gut feeling twisting her insides out painfully. She senses he’s mistaken her for someone else so he’s lucky she didn’t try to break his nose.
*He isn't at all threatened by the blade, a smirk on his face as he lifts his hands and steps back.
"Alright, alright. No need to get so aggressive~ I had the wrong kid, so what?"
*He looks at Zelda, and just his one-eyed gaze alone is enough to set off all the alarm bells. His eye is the same unnatural yellow of a Heartless.
"So then, if you're not my prince, then who are you, little goddess?"
Both Impa and Zelda are incredibly wary. Impa brews a plan in her head just in case they need to flee.
Zelda does not give that information away freely, heart pounding at being instantly recognized for her goddess blood. “No. Who are you? And then maybe I’ll talk.”
*He doesn't seem like he's going to attack, even if his body language isn't the most comforting.
“Who am I? Ah, that’s a good question. Already you seem much smarter than that other man.”
*He reaches over and ruffles Zelda’s hair, ignoring Impa.
“But I asked first, dear girl.”
Zelda takes a step back, not out of fear but annoyance at the hair ruffle. Even though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to attack, she isn’t just going to let a stranger touch her hair. “I know. I meant what I said though. You first, or I won’t answer.”
Impa wonders what this man intended before, when he had mistaken Zelda for someone else. What reaction he was expecting. She waits for the two to reach some sort of conclusion, ready for even the slightest twitch of movement. Right now it seems like it might just end up at an impasse.
“You sure you wanna play that game?”
*He leans down, like he’s talking to a child.
“I just want your name, girl. Then I’ll share mine.”
*Zelda can tell that if she doesn’t give him a name, he’s going to start taking more drastic measures.
Zelda inhales sharply, letting a tiny hint of defeat enter her voice. “My name is Navi.”
Impa accepts Zelda’s response immediately. “But you will refer to her as Your Grace.”
*He blinks, staring at her for a long minute. Then he cackles, bursting into laughter.
“Like hell it is!”
*He calms himself, still grinning.
“If your name is Navi, then you can call me Brain.”
*He turns to Impa, his wicked grin still there.
“Then what’s your name? She’s Navi, I’m Brain, you?”
*He’s having fun with this. He knows Zelda lied to him, but he doesn’t seem to care.
“Impa,” Impa responds with a flat voice.
Zelda doesn’t really care for this man’s whole…demeanour but she sighs.
"Impa! Not bad, not bad. Not nearly as bad as Navi."
*HIs grin is either teasing or mocking. It's hard to tell which, but it is clear that he's having fun with it. He doesn't care that Zelda lied to him and gave him the wrong name.
"So, what're you guys doing all the way out here?"
Zelda looks to Impa and the other nods. “You certainly seem to think yourself smart. Look around at this place, the mossy ruined cracks in the walls and the light shining in through the dusty windows towering above us.”
The princess just looks distant, formulating something in her head.
*You hear humming, and when you round a corner you see a girl with magenta hair. She’s currently braiding it.
*She feels similar to Ven, but different. She has no tie to the ‘bad’, and her ‘good’ has been like this since she was born. You get the sense that she was relocated from her home, to one she likes much more now. She doesn’t look over at you, though she knows you’re there.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
“Hello,” Zelda says politely to the magenta-haired girl. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I think I’m lost.”
*Impa waits in the shadows, guarding. Zelda senses the familiarity to Ven, and her ties to good and the lack of one to evil. She hopes for more camaraderie, down in the Surface. Other than Sora and Impa? She’s been met with the bloodthirsty fangs and claws of monsters and the wicked spirit Ghirahim.*
“Oh!”
*She looks over, giving a somewhat embarrassed grin. You can sense her closeness with Sora.
“Um, me too. My name is Kairi! What are your guys’ names?”
*She looks between Impa and Zelda, smiling warmly and earnestly. The woman was seen easily to the teenage girl, who’s a few inches shorter than Sora.
*Impa steps out, a little bit disgruntled at being noticed, but she remains respectful. Zelda eases at the smile. “My name is Zelda, and this is Impa.”
“So, we’re all lost. Great,” Impa sighs. “It’s very nice to meet you Kairi.”
Zelda nods and then hesitates, already sending the answer to her brewing question but wanting to know more. “Do you know a Sora?”
*Kairi laughs, the sound soft.
“Do I know him? I grew up with the guy! I’m not surprised he managed to make his way here before I did. He’s saved me…What, three or four times now, I think?”
“How did you guys get here? We can use that to get somewhere you know.”
“I—“ Zelda’s vision flashes with the memory of a hero buried in the hands of history but she barely acknowledges it for now. “I found my way deeper into the Sealed Temple and then, well…”
Impa finishes, “The door we passed through shut, and vanished. Possibly a trap set for any evil creatures looking for the Triforce.”
“Hm….Well, I’m not sure what the Triforce is, but…”
*She grins, and with the imagery of flowers blooming, summons a Keyblade to her hands.
“Take me to this door and maybe I can unlock it again.”
“That’s our problem,” Impa says. “The door it, vanished without a trace, leaving us stranded.”
“But we can take you just around the corner to where we came from,” Zelda suggests. “Your Keyblade is very pretty!”
“Thank you! It’s called Destiny’s Embrace. Look, the keychain is a Paopu fruit!”
*She shows off the star-shaped keychain, smiling happily as she follows them around the corner. She looks up at the wall, tilting her head.
”I’ve never heard of that fruit before,” Zelda admits, and Impa guides them both around the corner as Zelda admires Destiny’s Embrace.
”Can you sense anything, Your Grace?” Impa asks.
Zelda shakes her head. “Not even a trace of what once was.”
"It's a fruit that grows on my home. They say that if two people share it, their destinies will become intertwined."
*Kairi lifts her Keyblade, giving a hum.
"How does Sora do this... Okay."
*She takes a breath, holding her Keyblade up. A beam of light shoots from it, almost knocking her back. Kairi keeps her footing, though, and.. Nothing happens. She drops her Keyblade with a slightly startled yelp.
"Okay, yeah, that...Did nothing."
Zelda wonders how far Kairi and Sora are in the future, thinking about destines being intertwined by a fruit. Impa raises her blade, protecting Zelda as Kairi is almost knocked back by a powerful beam of light.
“Are you okay??” Zelda calls worriedly.
“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, just- I never realized how powerful that is… Geez, Sora’s.. really cool.”
*She picks up her Keyblade, letting out a breath.
“Goes to show how much weaker I am than him…”
*She shakes her head.
“Either way, we won’t be able to go back that way. I guess we’ll have to find something else.”
Zelda’s long ears twitch at her self-deprecating comment. “Please don’t compare yourself to him like that. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Add that to the fact no two people are the same…if you compare who you are or your abilities to someone else, you’re doing both them and you a disservice.”
*Impa is staring elsewhere, trying to formulate a plan in her mind. She’s not the best at comforting, after all.*
“I say that because I’ve done the same thing,” Zelda continues and then hesitates, changing what she’s going to say before she said it. “I think it’s impressive that you’re able to do that in the first place.
Impa nods to Kairi’s comment on discovering another way. “The only way to do that is to move forward. Let us go.”
“Hm… Maybe. Sora is just awesome with everything he does, so, I guess he’s not the best person to compare to anyway.”
*She gives a soft laugh, though she’s still upset by her inability to open the door. Sora would be able to do it easily.
“You have? Huh. A Princess and a goddess, more alike than they thought…”
*She doesn’t really mean for her words to be heard, though she said them aloud. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts, nodding in agreement.
“Right! Yeah, let’s keep going.”
*She stares at the door for a moment longer, before following the other two away.
Zelda admits, “I’m not fully a goddess. And I don’t—maybe it’s wrong but I don’t consider myself even anything like a goddess. I’m still just Zelda, just…my memories are sometimes not my own. And my path is not my own.”
*she looks embarrassed momentarily, for the small rant, but she nods as they go. Dust fills the space, thick and almost visible. Impa finds many engravings of the Triforce, and strangely, there’s another door not far away, coated in moss.*
“…I’m not really a princess, either. The title’s more symbolic, I think… I don’t even remember my mom and dad, just my grandma…”
*She falls quiet for a minute, looking away.
“Destiny is….It’s a strange thing. So worthless, but so….Everything. I mean, are my choices really mine? Have I done the right things? All I’ve done is get kidnapped and used to motivate a boy who doesn’t love me like I love him..”
*She shakes it off, noticing the door.
“Oh- hey, there’s a door here!”
*She moves over to it, starting to pull away the moss. She’s always kinda liked getting her hands dirty; makes her feel much more involved.
Zelda’s ears droop slightly, though she doesn’t seem to notice how evident her reaction is. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
She listens to her raptly, and her eyes flit to the mossy stone of the oppressive ceiling. “I…I’ve struggled to wrap my head around Destiny as well. My life now, like the flip of a switch, revolves around walking a path carved by fate, and coming to terms with…with who I am supposed to resemble.”
*As Kairi pulls away the moss and opens the door, it leads into what’s seemingly an abyss, a sea of darkness. One torch stands ominously in the distance, lighting up the floor beneath it and nothing else.*
“Eh, the memory stuff is…Mostly whatever. Didn’t remember my home or my grandma until I was 14 anyway.”
“Sora’s friend Ven says there used to be a Book that foretold the future. Said one of his family got it, and was super protective of it. I mean- he also said that none of the others would look in it if the guy just asked, but he did his best not to leave it behind anywhere.”
*When Kairi sees the darkness, her breath catches and she steps back. Her hand trembles.
“………Sora showed me this cool trick, once.”
*She puts one hand on her chest and closes her eyes. When she slowly pulls it away, a small ball of light is in her hand.
“I’m not trusting that torch, given the storybooks I’ve heard, it might be a trap..” l
“I’ve heard much about prophecy,” Zelda tells her. “I shudder to think what would happen if something like that fell into the wrong hands.”
She can’t help but feel a bit awed at the magic. Yes, she has light magic of her own but isn’t drawn out the same way Kairi does it. If you had told her before coming onto the Surface that it would hold people who were able to summon Light like that, she might not have believed you.
“Good thinking,” Zelda says after a moment.
Kairi is able to light up around them a little bit, and the wall brims with engravings, and messages hidden in ancient languages that even Zelda was never taught. The moss spreads on it like a plague, and the ground looks to be uneven, certain changes in shape that don’t make any sense. Beyond that the darkness is thick, and they’re unable to see anything else.
“From my understanding, I think that the Book was lost or destroyed or something? Ven doesn’t know what happened to it at any case.”
*The light floats off her hand, into the air, and she tilts her head at the text. She pulls out her Gummiphone, snapping photos of it.
“I’m sure somebody will be able to decipher this.”
She steps forward, trying to pull some moss away from where it’s hiding some of the text.
Zelda blinks at the…the object that Kairi pulls out. “I…I’m sorry, but what is that? Is that…a slate of some sort?”
*The moss gives way but the text remains indecipherable from first glance. There’s an image drawn of a lyre, and lines coming out of it.* “That looks like the Goddess Harp,” Zelda murmurs.
“Huh? Oh! This is a Gummiphone! Something we’ve started using to talk to each other when we’re not nearby! It does a lot of things, including take pictures! Here, look.”
*She shows Zelda the photos she took, but swipes too far and shows one taken of Roxas drawing on the arm of a boy with silver hair next to a man that looks like Birdie, but older, both asleep. The silver-haired boy has multiple drawings on his skin — all male genitalia. She smiles at that one.
“Whoops, scrolled too far, sorry!”
*She takes an image of the newly revealed things, but when she starts to get up she stumbles.
“Oh, that’s really nice,” Zelda says and looks over to see the photos, marvelling slightly at the technology. “Who…who are the people in those pictures, if you don’t mind sharing? I know Roxas but…”
*She notices Kairi stumble and startles.* “Are you alright?”
Impa remains silent, looking at the text over and over.
“The boy with silver hair is Riku, Sora’s best friend and longtime crush, and in the green is Sky. They were Dream-hopping to try and find Sora. Roxas, uh, he doesn’t particularly like Riku. So he’s always messing with him.”
“Uh- yeah, I’m okay. Just..Not used to using the tricks Sora does. I’ll be alright.”
*She gives a smile, being honest.
“I see,” Zelda murmurs. She nods at Kairi’s honesty. “Please, if you need to take a rest let me know.”
Impa traces a hand over a symbol of a flower, lost in thought for a moment. But any hint of pain, any hint of wonder any vaguely reminiscent look erases from her face once she lets go. “Let’s keep moving. We don’t have time to waste.”
*Kairi doesn’t notice the expression on Impa’s face, but she feels the emotion from the woman’s heart. She decides not to question it.
“Right. Stay behind me, okay?”
*Kairi leads the way, one hand up again to keep the ball of light in the air.
“If there’s Heartless here, there’s a very high chance we’ll be attacked by them.”
Zelda obliges and hesitates, but eventually asks, “Impa, were you able to read the text?”
Impa inhales sharply. Breathes out slowly. “No, Your Grace. In any case, we should exercise caution continuing forward. But that’s not anything we didn’t know already.”
Zelda remembers being able to do very little against the Heartless when the temple was swarmed with them. A phantom ache spreads across her body where wounds were healed in an instant, as if reacting to her memories. She asks, “Kairi, are you able to defeat the Heartless?”
As they continue forward, there’s a door, thorns wrapped around the doorknob and crawling out of the slot beneath it. Another door, seemingly innocuous with nothing but stone visible. Not even moss or dust or anything that would reveal it had been down here for years. Then lastly, to the other side, a door that’s missing a doorknob, and the symbol of Din, is engraved on it.
Three torches, just as odd as the one like before, accompany the doors, flame wavering and reaching to them as if curious to what they’ll choose.
“I know people who’d be very interested in at least trying to decipher it, so don’t worry about that.”
"Yeah! I was trained with my Keyblade, the Destiny's Embrace, so I know how to use it. And I can sense them better than Sora can, too."
*She gives a hum as she looks at the doors, before approaching the one ith thorns.
"Out of these three, I think I'd rather try this one. What do you guys think?"
Zelda eases a little bit. “That’s…that’s good.”
Impa nods at her choice. “Yes, that sounds good. The other two are mostly likely traps.”
They approach the door, and the other flames go out. The one next to the thorns burns brighter and once the door is opened it reveals the thorns practically cover the room, following beautiful crimson roses that make up the ground. Stepping inside is begging you to trample the innocent flowers in order to get across a long, vast hallway.
*Something twists behind you in a way that’s just wrong, and then there’s weight on your head. A man’s voice, smooth and amused and a but gravelly, speaks from above you.
“Well now, my little prince, here I was thinking you’d never wake up~”
*You realize he’s leaning on you; his arms and head resting on top of yours.
*Something about him is just wrong. He doesn’t feel like he belongs in this body.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda flinches at the weight on her head, stiffening when she hears the man’s voice. Little prince rings weird to her. Impa narrows her eyes, blade drawn in an instant. “Do not touch her.”
Zelda senses the feeling of wrongness…the sense that his soul does not match his body. She pulls away immediately. This is unlike even Groose, a gut feeling twisting her insides out painfully. She senses he’s mistaken her for someone else so he’s lucky she didn’t try to break his nose.
*He isn't at all threatened by the blade, a smirk on his face as he lifts his hands and steps back.
"Alright, alright. No need to get so aggressive~ I had the wrong kid, so what?"
*He looks at Zelda, and just his one-eyed gaze alone is enough to set off all the alarm bells. His eye is the same unnatural yellow of a Heartless.
"So then, if you're not my prince, then who are you, little goddess?"
Both Impa and Zelda are incredibly wary. Impa brews a plan in her head just in case they need to flee.
Zelda does not give that information away freely, heart pounding at being instantly recognized for her goddess blood. “No. Who are you? And then maybe I’ll talk.”
*He doesn't seem like he's going to attack, even if his body language isn't the most comforting.
“Who am I? Ah, that’s a good question. Already you seem much smarter than that other man.”
*He reaches over and ruffles Zelda’s hair, ignoring Impa.
“But I asked first, dear girl.”
Zelda takes a step back, not out of fear but annoyance at the hair ruffle. Even though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to attack, she isn’t just going to let a stranger touch her hair. “I know. I meant what I said though. You first, or I won’t answer.”
Impa wonders what this man intended before, when he had mistaken Zelda for someone else. What reaction he was expecting. She waits for the two to reach some sort of conclusion, ready for even the slightest twitch of movement. Right now it seems like it might just end up at an impasse.
“You sure you wanna play that game?”
*He leans down, like he’s talking to a child.
“I just want your name, girl. Then I’ll share mine.”
*Zelda can tell that if she doesn’t give him a name, he’s going to start taking more drastic measures.
Zelda inhales sharply, letting a tiny hint of defeat enter her voice. “My name is Navi.”
Impa accepts Zelda’s response immediately. “But you will refer to her as Your Grace.”
*He blinks, staring at her for a long minute. Then he cackles, bursting into laughter.
“Like hell it is!”
*He calms himself, still grinning.
“If your name is Navi, then you can call me Brain.”
*He turns to Impa, his wicked grin still there.
“Then what’s your name? She’s Navi, I’m Brain, you?”
*He’s having fun with this. He knows Zelda lied to him, but he doesn’t seem to care.
“Impa,” Impa responds with a flat voice.
Zelda doesn’t really care for this man’s whole…demeanour but she sighs.
*Something twists behind you in a way that’s just wrong, and then there’s weight on your head. A man’s voice, smooth and amused and a but gravelly, speaks from above you.
“Well now, my little prince, here I was thinking you’d never wake up~”
*You realize he’s leaning on you; his arms and head resting on top of yours.
*Something about him is just wrong. He doesn’t feel like he belongs in this body.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda flinches at the weight on her head, stiffening when she hears the man’s voice. Little prince rings weird to her. Impa narrows her eyes, blade drawn in an instant. “Do not touch her.”
Zelda senses the feeling of wrongness…the sense that his soul does not match his body. She pulls away immediately. This is unlike even Groose, a gut feeling twisting her insides out painfully. She senses he’s mistaken her for someone else so he’s lucky she didn’t try to break his nose.
*He isn't at all threatened by the blade, a smirk on his face as he lifts his hands and steps back.
"Alright, alright. No need to get so aggressive~ I had the wrong kid, so what?"
*He looks at Zelda, and just his one-eyed gaze alone is enough to set off all the alarm bells. His eye is the same unnatural yellow of a Heartless.
"So then, if you're not my prince, then who are you, little goddess?"
Both Impa and Zelda are incredibly wary. Impa brews a plan in her head just in case they need to flee.
Zelda does not give that information away freely, heart pounding at being instantly recognized for her goddess blood. “No. Who are you? And then maybe I’ll talk.”
*He doesn't seem like he's going to attack, even if his body language isn't the most comforting.
“Who am I? Ah, that’s a good question. Already you seem much smarter than that other man.”
*He reaches over and ruffles Zelda’s hair, ignoring Impa.
“But I asked first, dear girl.”
Zelda takes a step back, not out of fear but annoyance at the hair ruffle. Even though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to attack, she isn’t just going to let a stranger touch her hair. “I know. I meant what I said though. You first, or I won’t answer.”
Impa wonders what this man intended before, when he had mistaken Zelda for someone else. What reaction he was expecting. She waits for the two to reach some sort of conclusion, ready for even the slightest twitch of movement. Right now it seems like it might just end up at an impasse.
“You sure you wanna play that game?”
*He leans down, like he’s talking to a child.
“I just want your name, girl. Then I’ll share mine.”
*Zelda can tell that if she doesn’t give him a name, he’s going to start taking more drastic measures.
Zelda inhales sharply, letting a tiny hint of defeat enter her voice. “My name is Navi.”
Impa accepts Zelda’s response immediately. “But you will refer to her as Your Grace.”
*Something twists behind you in a way that’s just wrong, and then there’s weight on your head. A man’s voice, smooth and amused and a but gravelly, speaks from above you.
“Well now, my little prince, here I was thinking you’d never wake up~”
*You realize he’s leaning on you; his arms and head resting on top of yours.
*Something about him is just wrong. He doesn’t feel like he belongs in this body.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda flinches at the weight on her head, stiffening when she hears the man’s voice. Little prince rings weird to her. Impa narrows her eyes, blade drawn in an instant. “Do not touch her.”
Zelda senses the feeling of wrongness…the sense that his soul does not match his body. She pulls away immediately. This is unlike even Groose, a gut feeling twisting her insides out painfully. She senses he’s mistaken her for someone else so he’s lucky she didn’t try to break his nose.
*He isn't at all threatened by the blade, a smirk on his face as he lifts his hands and steps back.
"Alright, alright. No need to get so aggressive~ I had the wrong kid, so what?"
*He looks at Zelda, and just his one-eyed gaze alone is enough to set off all the alarm bells. His eye is the same unnatural yellow of a Heartless.
"So then, if you're not my prince, then who are you, little goddess?"
Both Impa and Zelda are incredibly wary. Impa brews a plan in her head just in case they need to flee.
Zelda does not give that information away freely, heart pounding at being instantly recognized for her goddess blood. “No. Who are you? And then maybe I’ll talk.”
*He doesn't seem like he's going to attack, even if his body language isn't the most comforting.
“Who am I? Ah, that’s a good question. Already you seem much smarter than that other man.”
*He reaches over and ruffles Zelda’s hair, ignoring Impa.
“But I asked first, dear girl.”
Zelda takes a step back, not out of fear but annoyance at the hair ruffle. Even though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to attack, she isn’t just going to let a stranger touch her hair. “I know. I meant what I said though. You first, or I won’t answer.”
Impa wonders what this man intended before, when he had mistaken Zelda for someone else. What reaction he was expecting. She waits for the two to reach some sort of conclusion, ready for even the slightest twitch of movement. Right now it seems like it might just end up at an impasse.
*You can sense a Heartless outside the Temple. Just one, oddly. You can also sense a heart of mostly darkness chasing it.
*When you go to investigate, you hear a hoarse shout. Sounds like Sora.
DON’T HURT HIM!
*A Heartless comes into view, but something seems off about it. You can’t quite tell what it is. The Heartless…Has a bell in its mouth?
*A boy with dirty blond hair runs after it, panting.
Sora you asshole! Get back here!
*His hair is odd; not in the way it swipes to one side, but in color. Some parts are rich brown. Others are a pale, platinum blond. Most of it seems to be somewhat of a mix.
Why the FUCK are you so fast?!
*The Heartless shakes its head in almost a response, dodging the boy’s attack. The boy has the exact same skin tone and scarring that Sora does, you realize. Yet he called the Heartless by the other’s name.
*The Heartless suddenly drops onto the ground as a shadow, the bell left behind, and runs to behind Impa. It strangely doesn’t try to attack. The boy scoops up the bell before putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
You little- you lit- god, you’re a bitch! Have I told you I hate you?
*He’s still talking to the Heartless, before looking up at Zelda and Impa.
Hey.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda is instantly alert when she senses the heartless. "Impa," She says and the other instantly draws her blade.
They go to investigate immediately, and Zelda startles at the hoarse shout. Impa twists around when the strange boy with a bell runs behind her, almost attacking on instinct but she pauses when he scoops up the bell, on his knees, and seemingly uninterested in hostility.
Zelda meets the teal eyes of the boy very similar to Sora. "Who...are you?"
Name’s Roxas. Sora’s, uh, Nobody. It’s a- thing. That Heartless? That’s him. For now.
Sorry, he just- I chased him like… God, I dunno, maybe half a mile? I’m tired!
*The Heartless in question is still behind Impa, flat against the ground. Roxas rings the bell, trying to get it to come over to him so he can grab it. It doesn’t move.
Yeah, well fuck you too buddy.
Impa quirks an eyebrow. Zelda’s eyes widen. “Sora is a heartless?…That’s…”
Impa sighs and tries to grab the creature.
He’ll be fine. He hasn’t really tried to attack anyone? I mean, I haven’t fucking let him, but…
*Impa finds that she can’t touch him. He’s like a shadow, in this state.
It can be fixed. He’ll be fine.
*He just has to take Sora to a guy that hates him. It’ll be fine, right? Of course it will be.
*Sora moves closer to Zelda, staying flat like a shadow. Roxas watches him, almost glaring.
Zelda nods. “So you have a plan to get him back to normal? If so, I’d like to help in any way I can.”
She nearly jumps when Sora moves closer to her but, seeing how Impa’s hands merely passed through—and she was scared to use light magic against him in any way—she just let him. Impa narrows her eyes. “How did this happen?”
Mhm. I dunno if you can help at all, sorry.
*Roxas shifts, ready to dive at Sora is he gets too close to Zelda. He’s still almost glaring at the Heartless.
Wasn’t there for it, but Sky says Vanitas went fucking batshit. Ven tried to stop him, but as a last ditch, the bitch stabbed Sora and did this. And that brought me out.
I mean..Glad to look like me, but not really like this..
“I see,” Zelda says at Roxas’s answer.
She’s disappointed but she tries not to make that visible. She just wants to help Sora, after what he’s done for him and Impa…but she does still have her role here. Impa tenses when Vanitas is mentioned.
“Who is Sky?” Zelda frowns.
One of the- heroes, or whatever, I have no fucking clue nobody explains shit to me.
*He waves it off, assuming she already knows.
Looks like your guy though. But older.
Oh, uh, try- not to use magic around him. Terminating him might not be the worst thing, but I’d rather have fuckin’ Yen Sid do it, or whatever. I dunno. Like I said; nobody ever fucking explains shot to me.
*It’s clear that this is a point that makes him angry, but he’s trying not to be.
*He then tilts his head, obviously thinking about something.
*Oh. She had met an older version of herself…maybe that was true? She wonders if that was due to time travel or just, alternate universes. She nods at Roxas.* “I won’t. I suspected using my light magic wouldn’t end well. Do you think he’d…attack anyone in this form? He doesn’t seem very hostile…”
At this point I have no fucking clue, honestly. Not like I’m letting him even fucking try it, though. He did show me some memories once, remembering what happened the first time he was like this..So he could be aware?
This shit is confusing!
*Sora goes back over to Roxas finally, climbing up his body until he can snuggle in the boy’s hair. Roxas rolls his eyes.
Little ass.
*His tone is somewhat fond.
Zelda can’t help but smile at the pair, at the fondness in Roxas’ tone and the mischievous yet warm nature of Sora despite being transformed into a Heartless. She asks quietly, “How long have you…known Sora?”
*Roxas sighs.
That, is a hard question. I am Sora, I have his body. Came to exist when he turned himself into a Heartless to help his buddy. But I didn’t learn about him until..Almost a year after that? When my best friend said she had to go back to him. Kept seeing his memories, though, between then. Recombined with him not long after that, and he only truly learned about me a few months later, during that same adventure.
He’s the reason I’m here. Everything thought we were the same person….Everyone but him.
*There’s guilt, Zelda can see, but she can’t tell why.
*Zelda listens attentively, fidgeting loosely with her white sleeves. She instinctively wants to be able to ease that guilt but she doesn’t mean to pry. Instead, she just hums slightly, the tune of Zel’s lullaby. She could remember gently plucking the strings of a harp, she could remember Link’s smile. “It sounds like you really care for him,” She says after a moment. “I can see why.”
*You hear humming, and when you round a corner you see a girl with magenta hair. She’s currently braiding it.
*She feels similar to Ven, but different. She has no tie to the ‘bad’, and her ‘good’ has been like this since she was born. You get the sense that she was relocated from her home, to one she likes much more now. She doesn’t look over at you, though she knows you’re there.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
“Hello,” Zelda says politely to the magenta-haired girl. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I think I’m lost.”
*Impa waits in the shadows, guarding. Zelda senses the familiarity to Ven, and her ties to good and the lack of one to evil. She hopes for more camaraderie, down in the Surface. Other than Sora and Impa? She’s been met with the bloodthirsty fangs and claws of monsters and the wicked spirit Ghirahim.*
“Oh!”
*She looks over, giving a somewhat embarrassed grin. You can sense her closeness with Sora.
“Um, me too. My name is Kairi! What are your guys’ names?”
*She looks between Impa and Zelda, smiling warmly and earnestly. The woman was seen easily to the teenage girl, who’s a few inches shorter than Sora.
*Impa steps out, a little bit disgruntled at being noticed, but she remains respectful. Zelda eases at the smile. “My name is Zelda, and this is Impa.”
“So, we’re all lost. Great,” Impa sighs. “It’s very nice to meet you Kairi.”
Zelda nods and then hesitates, already sending the answer to her brewing question but wanting to know more. “Do you know a Sora?”
*Kairi laughs, the sound soft.
“Do I know him? I grew up with the guy! I’m not surprised he managed to make his way here before I did. He’s saved me…What, three or four times now, I think?”
“How did you guys get here? We can use that to get somewhere you know.”
“I—“ Zelda’s vision flashes with the memory of a hero buried in the hands of history but she barely acknowledges it for now. “I found my way deeper into the Sealed Temple and then, well…”
Impa finishes, “The door we passed through shut, and vanished. Possibly a trap set for any evil creatures looking for the Triforce.”
“Hm….Well, I’m not sure what the Triforce is, but…”
*She grins, and with the imagery of flowers blooming, summons a Keyblade to her hands.
“Take me to this door and maybe I can unlock it again.”
“That’s our problem,” Impa says. “The door it, vanished without a trace, leaving us stranded.”
“But we can take you just around the corner to where we came from,” Zelda suggests. “Your Keyblade is very pretty!”
“Thank you! It’s called Destiny’s Embrace. Look, the keychain is a Paopu fruit!”
*She shows off the star-shaped keychain, smiling happily as she follows them around the corner. She looks up at the wall, tilting her head.
”I’ve never heard of that fruit before,” Zelda admits, and Impa guides them both around the corner as Zelda admires Destiny’s Embrace.
”Can you sense anything, Your Grace?” Impa asks.
Zelda shakes her head. “Not even a trace of what once was.”
"It's a fruit that grows on my home. They say that if two people share it, their destinies will become intertwined."
*Kairi lifts her Keyblade, giving a hum.
"How does Sora do this... Okay."
*She takes a breath, holding her Keyblade up. A beam of light shoots from it, almost knocking her back. Kairi keeps her footing, though, and.. Nothing happens. She drops her Keyblade with a slightly startled yelp.
"Okay, yeah, that...Did nothing."
Zelda wonders how far Kairi and Sora are in the future, thinking about destines being intertwined by a fruit. Impa raises her blade, protecting Zelda as Kairi is almost knocked back by a powerful beam of light.
“Are you okay??” Zelda calls worriedly.
“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, just- I never realized how powerful that is… Geez, Sora’s.. really cool.”
*She picks up her Keyblade, letting out a breath.
“Goes to show how much weaker I am than him…”
*She shakes her head.
“Either way, we won’t be able to go back that way. I guess we’ll have to find something else.”
Zelda’s long ears twitch at her self-deprecating comment. “Please don’t compare yourself to him like that. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Add that to the fact no two people are the same…if you compare who you are or your abilities to someone else, you’re doing both them and you a disservice.”
*Impa is staring elsewhere, trying to formulate a plan in her mind. She’s not the best at comforting, after all.*
“I say that because I’ve done the same thing,” Zelda continues and then hesitates, changing what she’s going to say before she said it. “I think it’s impressive that you’re able to do that in the first place.
Impa nods to Kairi’s comment on discovering another way. “The only way to do that is to move forward. Let us go.”
“Hm… Maybe. Sora is just awesome with everything he does, so, I guess he’s not the best person to compare to anyway.”
*She gives a soft laugh, though she’s still upset by her inability to open the door. Sora would be able to do it easily.
“You have? Huh. A Princess and a goddess, more alike than they thought…”
*She doesn’t really mean for her words to be heard, though she said them aloud. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts, nodding in agreement.
“Right! Yeah, let’s keep going.”
*She stares at the door for a moment longer, before following the other two away.
Zelda admits, “I’m not fully a goddess. And I don’t—maybe it’s wrong but I don’t consider myself even anything like a goddess. I’m still just Zelda, just…my memories are sometimes not my own. And my path is not my own.”
*she looks embarrassed momentarily, for the small rant, but she nods as they go. Dust fills the space, thick and almost visible. Impa finds many engravings of the Triforce, and strangely, there’s another door not far away, coated in moss.*
“…I’m not really a princess, either. The title’s more symbolic, I think… I don’t even remember my mom and dad, just my grandma…”
*She falls quiet for a minute, looking away.
“Destiny is….It’s a strange thing. So worthless, but so….Everything. I mean, are my choices really mine? Have I done the right things? All I’ve done is get kidnapped and used to motivate a boy who doesn’t love me like I love him..”
*She shakes it off, noticing the door.
“Oh- hey, there’s a door here!”
*She moves over to it, starting to pull away the moss. She’s always kinda liked getting her hands dirty; makes her feel much more involved.
Zelda’s ears droop slightly, though she doesn’t seem to notice how evident her reaction is. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
She listens to her raptly, and her eyes flit to the mossy stone of the oppressive ceiling. “I…I’ve struggled to wrap my head around Destiny as well. My life now, like the flip of a switch, revolves around walking a path carved by fate, and coming to terms with…with who I am supposed to resemble.”
*As Kairi pulls away the moss and opens the door, it leads into what’s seemingly an abyss, a sea of darkness. One torch stands ominously in the distance, lighting up the floor beneath it and nothing else.*
“Eh, the memory stuff is…Mostly whatever. Didn’t remember my home or my grandma until I was 14 anyway.”
“Sora’s friend Ven says there used to be a Book that foretold the future. Said one of his family got it, and was super protective of it. I mean- he also said that none of the others would look in it if the guy just asked, but he did his best not to leave it behind anywhere.”
*When Kairi sees the darkness, her breath catches and she steps back. Her hand trembles.
“………Sora showed me this cool trick, once.”
*She puts one hand on her chest and closes her eyes. When she slowly pulls it away, a small ball of light is in her hand.
“I’m not trusting that torch, given the storybooks I’ve heard, it might be a trap..” l
“I’ve heard much about prophecy,” Zelda tells her. “I shudder to think what would happen if something like that fell into the wrong hands.”
She can’t help but feel a bit awed at the magic. Yes, she has light magic of her own but isn’t drawn out the same way Kairi does it. If you had told her before coming onto the Surface that it would hold people who were able to summon Light like that, she might not have believed you.
“Good thinking,” Zelda says after a moment.
Kairi is able to light up around them a little bit, and the wall brims with engravings, and messages hidden in ancient languages that even Zelda was never taught. The moss spreads on it like a plague, and the ground looks to be uneven, certain changes in shape that don’t make any sense. Beyond that the darkness is thick, and they’re unable to see anything else.
“From my understanding, I think that the Book was lost or destroyed or something? Ven doesn’t know what happened to it at any case.”
*The light floats off her hand, into the air, and she tilts her head at the text. She pulls out her Gummiphone, snapping photos of it.
“I’m sure somebody will be able to decipher this.”
She steps forward, trying to pull some moss away from where it’s hiding some of the text.
Zelda blinks at the…the object that Kairi pulls out. “I…I’m sorry, but what is that? Is that…a slate of some sort?”
*The moss gives way but the text remains indecipherable from first glance. There’s an image drawn of a lyre, and lines coming out of it.* “That looks like the Goddess Harp,” Zelda murmurs.
“Huh? Oh! This is a Gummiphone! Something we’ve started using to talk to each other when we’re not nearby! It does a lot of things, including take pictures! Here, look.”
*She shows Zelda the photos she took, but swipes too far and shows one taken of Roxas drawing on the arm of a boy with silver hair next to a man that looks like Birdie, but older, both asleep. The silver-haired boy has multiple drawings on his skin — all male genitalia. She smiles at that one.
“Whoops, scrolled too far, sorry!”
*She takes an image of the newly revealed things, but when she starts to get up she stumbles.
“Oh, that’s really nice,” Zelda says and looks over to see the photos, marvelling slightly at the technology. “Who…who are the people in those pictures, if you don’t mind sharing? I know Roxas but…”
*She notices Kairi stumble and startles.* “Are you alright?”
Impa remains silent, looking at the text over and over.
“The boy with silver hair is Riku, Sora’s best friend and longtime crush, and in the green is Sky. They were Dream-hopping to try and find Sora. Roxas, uh, he doesn’t particularly like Riku. So he’s always messing with him.”
“Uh- yeah, I’m okay. Just..Not used to using the tricks Sora does. I’ll be alright.”
*She gives a smile, being honest.
“I see,” Zelda murmurs. She nods at Kairi’s honesty. “Please, if you need to take a rest let me know.”
Impa traces a hand over a symbol of a flower, lost in thought for a moment. But any hint of pain, any hint of wonder any vaguely reminiscent look erases from her face once she lets go. “Let’s keep moving. We don’t have time to waste.”
*Kairi doesn’t notice the expression on Impa’s face, but she feels the emotion from the woman’s heart. She decides not to question it.
“Right. Stay behind me, okay?”
*Kairi leads the way, one hand up again to keep the ball of light in the air.
“If there’s Heartless here, there’s a very high chance we’ll be attacked by them.”
Zelda obliges and hesitates, but eventually asks, “Impa, were you able to read the text?”
Impa inhales sharply. Breathes out slowly. “No, Your Grace. In any case, we should exercise caution continuing forward. But that’s not anything we didn’t know already.”
Zelda remembers being able to do very little against the Heartless when the temple was swarmed with them. A phantom ache spreads across her body where wounds were healed in an instant, as if reacting to her memories. She asks, “Kairi, are you able to defeat the Heartless?”
As they continue forward, there’s a door, thorns wrapped around the doorknob and crawling out of the slot beneath it. Another door, seemingly innocuous with nothing but stone visible. Not even moss or dust or anything that would reveal it had been down here for years. Then lastly, to the other side, a door that’s missing a doorknob, and the symbol of Din, is engraved on it.
Three torches, just as odd as the one like before, accompany the doors, flame wavering and reaching to them as if curious to what they’ll choose.
*Something twists behind you in a way that’s just wrong, and then there’s weight on your head. A man’s voice, smooth and amused and a but gravelly, speaks from above you.
“Well now, my little prince, here I was thinking you’d never wake up~”
*You realize he’s leaning on you; his arms and head resting on top of yours.
*Something about him is just wrong. He doesn’t feel like he belongs in this body.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda flinches at the weight on her head, stiffening when she hears the man’s voice. Little prince rings weird to her. Impa narrows her eyes, blade drawn in an instant. “Do not touch her.”
Zelda senses the feeling of wrongness…the sense that his soul does not match his body. She pulls away immediately. This is unlike even Groose, a gut feeling twisting her insides out painfully. She senses he’s mistaken her for someone else so he’s lucky she didn’t try to break his nose.
*He isn't at all threatened by the blade, a smirk on his face as he lifts his hands and steps back.
"Alright, alright. No need to get so aggressive~ I had the wrong kid, so what?"
*He looks at Zelda, and just his one-eyed gaze alone is enough to set off all the alarm bells. His eye is the same unnatural yellow of a Heartless.
"So then, if you're not my prince, then who are you, little goddess?"
Both Impa and Zelda are incredibly wary. Impa brews a plan in her head just in case they need to flee.
Zelda does not give that information away freely, heart pounding at being instantly recognized for her goddess blood. “No. Who are you? And then maybe I’ll talk.”
*Something twists behind you in a way that’s just wrong, and then there’s weight on your head. A man’s voice, smooth and amused and a but gravelly, speaks from above you.
“Well now, my little prince, here I was thinking you’d never wake up~”
*You realize he’s leaning on you; his arms and head resting on top of yours.
*Something about him is just wrong. He doesn’t feel like he belongs in this body.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda flinches at the weight on her head, stiffening when she hears the man’s voice. Little prince rings weird to her. Impa narrows her eyes, blade drawn in an instant. “Do not touch her.”
Zelda senses the feeling of wrongness…the sense that his soul does not match his body. She pulls away immediately. This is unlike even Groose, a gut feeling twisting her insides out painfully. She senses he’s mistaken her for someone else so he’s lucky she didn’t try to break his nose.
*You can sense a Heartless outside the Temple. Just one, oddly. You can also sense a heart of mostly darkness chasing it.
*When you go to investigate, you hear a hoarse shout. Sounds like Sora.
DON’T HURT HIM!
*A Heartless comes into view, but something seems off about it. You can’t quite tell what it is. The Heartless…Has a bell in its mouth?
*A boy with dirty blond hair runs after it, panting.
Sora you asshole! Get back here!
*His hair is odd; not in the way it swipes to one side, but in color. Some parts are rich brown. Others are a pale, platinum blond. Most of it seems to be somewhat of a mix.
Why the FUCK are you so fast?!
*The Heartless shakes its head in almost a response, dodging the boy’s attack. The boy has the exact same skin tone and scarring that Sora does, you realize. Yet he called the Heartless by the other’s name.
*The Heartless suddenly drops onto the ground as a shadow, the bell left behind, and runs to behind Impa. It strangely doesn’t try to attack. The boy scoops up the bell before putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
You little- you lit- god, you’re a bitch! Have I told you I hate you?
*He’s still talking to the Heartless, before looking up at Zelda and Impa.
Hey.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
Zelda is instantly alert when she senses the heartless. "Impa," She says and the other instantly draws her blade.
They go to investigate immediately, and Zelda startles at the hoarse shout. Impa twists around when the strange boy with a bell runs behind her, almost attacking on instinct but she pauses when he scoops up the bell, on his knees, and seemingly uninterested in hostility.
Zelda meets the teal eyes of the boy very similar to Sora. "Who...are you?"
Name’s Roxas. Sora’s, uh, Nobody. It’s a- thing. That Heartless? That’s him. For now.
Sorry, he just- I chased him like… God, I dunno, maybe half a mile? I’m tired!
*The Heartless in question is still behind Impa, flat against the ground. Roxas rings the bell, trying to get it to come over to him so he can grab it. It doesn’t move.
Yeah, well fuck you too buddy.
Impa quirks an eyebrow. Zelda’s eyes widen. “Sora is a heartless?…That’s…”
Impa sighs and tries to grab the creature.
He’ll be fine. He hasn’t really tried to attack anyone? I mean, I haven’t fucking let him, but…
*Impa finds that she can’t touch him. He’s like a shadow, in this state.
It can be fixed. He’ll be fine.
*He just has to take Sora to a guy that hates him. It’ll be fine, right? Of course it will be.
*Sora moves closer to Zelda, staying flat like a shadow. Roxas watches him, almost glaring.
Zelda nods. “So you have a plan to get him back to normal? If so, I’d like to help in any way I can.”
She nearly jumps when Sora moves closer to her but, seeing how Impa’s hands merely passed through—and she was scared to use light magic against him in any way—she just let him. Impa narrows her eyes. “How did this happen?”
Mhm. I dunno if you can help at all, sorry.
*Roxas shifts, ready to dive at Sora is he gets too close to Zelda. He’s still almost glaring at the Heartless.
Wasn’t there for it, but Sky says Vanitas went fucking batshit. Ven tried to stop him, but as a last ditch, the bitch stabbed Sora and did this. And that brought me out.
I mean..Glad to look like me, but not really like this..
“I see,” Zelda says at Roxas’s answer.
She’s disappointed but she tries not to make that visible. She just wants to help Sora, after what he’s done for him and Impa…but she does still have her role here. Impa tenses when Vanitas is mentioned.
“Who is Sky?” Zelda frowns.
One of the- heroes, or whatever, I have no fucking clue nobody explains shit to me.
*He waves it off, assuming she already knows.
Looks like your guy though. But older.
Oh, uh, try- not to use magic around him. Terminating him might not be the worst thing, but I’d rather have fuckin’ Yen Sid do it, or whatever. I dunno. Like I said; nobody ever fucking explains shot to me.
*It’s clear that this is a point that makes him angry, but he’s trying not to be.
*He then tilts his head, obviously thinking about something.
*Oh. She had met an older version of herself…maybe that was true? She wonders if that was due to time travel or just, alternate universes. She nods at Roxas.* “I won’t. I suspected using my light magic wouldn’t end well. Do you think he’d…attack anyone in this form? He doesn’t seem very hostile…”
At this point I have no fucking clue, honestly. Not like I’m letting him even fucking try it, though. He did show me some memories once, remembering what happened the first time he was like this..So he could be aware?
This shit is confusing!
*Sora goes back over to Roxas finally, climbing up his body until he can snuggle in the boy’s hair. Roxas rolls his eyes.
Little ass.
*His tone is somewhat fond.
Zelda can’t help but smile at the pair, at the fondness in Roxas’ tone and the mischievous yet warm nature of Sora despite being transformed into a Heartless. She asks quietly, “How long have you…known Sora?”
*You hear humming, and when you round a corner you see a girl with magenta hair. She’s currently braiding it.
*She feels similar to Ven, but different. She has no tie to the ‘bad’, and her ‘good’ has been like this since she was born. You get the sense that she was relocated from her home, to one she likes much more now. She doesn’t look over at you, though she knows you’re there.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
“Hello,” Zelda says politely to the magenta-haired girl. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I think I’m lost.”
*Impa waits in the shadows, guarding. Zelda senses the familiarity to Ven, and her ties to good and the lack of one to evil. She hopes for more camaraderie, down in the Surface. Other than Sora and Impa? She’s been met with the bloodthirsty fangs and claws of monsters and the wicked spirit Ghirahim.*
“Oh!”
*She looks over, giving a somewhat embarrassed grin. You can sense her closeness with Sora.
“Um, me too. My name is Kairi! What are your guys’ names?”
*She looks between Impa and Zelda, smiling warmly and earnestly. The woman was seen easily to the teenage girl, who’s a few inches shorter than Sora.
*Impa steps out, a little bit disgruntled at being noticed, but she remains respectful. Zelda eases at the smile. “My name is Zelda, and this is Impa.”
“So, we’re all lost. Great,” Impa sighs. “It’s very nice to meet you Kairi.”
Zelda nods and then hesitates, already sending the answer to her brewing question but wanting to know more. “Do you know a Sora?”
*Kairi laughs, the sound soft.
“Do I know him? I grew up with the guy! I’m not surprised he managed to make his way here before I did. He’s saved me…What, three or four times now, I think?”
“How did you guys get here? We can use that to get somewhere you know.”
“I—“ Zelda’s vision flashes with the memory of a hero buried in the hands of history but she barely acknowledges it for now. “I found my way deeper into the Sealed Temple and then, well…”
Impa finishes, “The door we passed through shut, and vanished. Possibly a trap set for any evil creatures looking for the Triforce.”
“Hm….Well, I’m not sure what the Triforce is, but…”
*She grins, and with the imagery of flowers blooming, summons a Keyblade to her hands.
“Take me to this door and maybe I can unlock it again.”
“That’s our problem,” Impa says. “The door it, vanished without a trace, leaving us stranded.”
“But we can take you just around the corner to where we came from,” Zelda suggests. “Your Keyblade is very pretty!”
“Thank you! It’s called Destiny’s Embrace. Look, the keychain is a Paopu fruit!”
*She shows off the star-shaped keychain, smiling happily as she follows them around the corner. She looks up at the wall, tilting her head.
”I’ve never heard of that fruit before,” Zelda admits, and Impa guides them both around the corner as Zelda admires Destiny’s Embrace.
”Can you sense anything, Your Grace?” Impa asks.
Zelda shakes her head. “Not even a trace of what once was.”
"It's a fruit that grows on my home. They say that if two people share it, their destinies will become intertwined."
*Kairi lifts her Keyblade, giving a hum.
"How does Sora do this... Okay."
*She takes a breath, holding her Keyblade up. A beam of light shoots from it, almost knocking her back. Kairi keeps her footing, though, and.. Nothing happens. She drops her Keyblade with a slightly startled yelp.
"Okay, yeah, that...Did nothing."
Zelda wonders how far Kairi and Sora are in the future, thinking about destines being intertwined by a fruit. Impa raises her blade, protecting Zelda as Kairi is almost knocked back by a powerful beam of light.
“Are you okay??” Zelda calls worriedly.
“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, just- I never realized how powerful that is… Geez, Sora’s.. really cool.”
*She picks up her Keyblade, letting out a breath.
“Goes to show how much weaker I am than him…”
*She shakes her head.
“Either way, we won’t be able to go back that way. I guess we’ll have to find something else.”
Zelda’s long ears twitch at her self-deprecating comment. “Please don’t compare yourself to him like that. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Add that to the fact no two people are the same…if you compare who you are or your abilities to someone else, you’re doing both them and you a disservice.”
*Impa is staring elsewhere, trying to formulate a plan in her mind. She’s not the best at comforting, after all.*
“I say that because I’ve done the same thing,” Zelda continues and then hesitates, changing what she’s going to say before she said it. “I think it’s impressive that you’re able to do that in the first place.
Impa nods to Kairi’s comment on discovering another way. “The only way to do that is to move forward. Let us go.”
“Hm… Maybe. Sora is just awesome with everything he does, so, I guess he’s not the best person to compare to anyway.”
*She gives a soft laugh, though she’s still upset by her inability to open the door. Sora would be able to do it easily.
“You have? Huh. A Princess and a goddess, more alike than they thought…”
*She doesn’t really mean for her words to be heard, though she said them aloud. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts, nodding in agreement.
“Right! Yeah, let’s keep going.”
*She stares at the door for a moment longer, before following the other two away.
Zelda admits, “I’m not fully a goddess. And I don’t—maybe it’s wrong but I don’t consider myself even anything like a goddess. I’m still just Zelda, just…my memories are sometimes not my own. And my path is not my own.”
*she looks embarrassed momentarily, for the small rant, but she nods as they go. Dust fills the space, thick and almost visible. Impa finds many engravings of the Triforce, and strangely, there’s another door not far away, coated in moss.*
“…I’m not really a princess, either. The title’s more symbolic, I think… I don’t even remember my mom and dad, just my grandma…”
*She falls quiet for a minute, looking away.
“Destiny is….It’s a strange thing. So worthless, but so….Everything. I mean, are my choices really mine? Have I done the right things? All I’ve done is get kidnapped and used to motivate a boy who doesn’t love me like I love him..”
*She shakes it off, noticing the door.
“Oh- hey, there’s a door here!”
*She moves over to it, starting to pull away the moss. She’s always kinda liked getting her hands dirty; makes her feel much more involved.
Zelda’s ears droop slightly, though she doesn’t seem to notice how evident her reaction is. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
She listens to her raptly, and her eyes flit to the mossy stone of the oppressive ceiling. “I…I’ve struggled to wrap my head around Destiny as well. My life now, like the flip of a switch, revolves around walking a path carved by fate, and coming to terms with…with who I am supposed to resemble.”
*As Kairi pulls away the moss and opens the door, it leads into what’s seemingly an abyss, a sea of darkness. One torch stands ominously in the distance, lighting up the floor beneath it and nothing else.*
“Eh, the memory stuff is…Mostly whatever. Didn’t remember my home or my grandma until I was 14 anyway.”
“Sora’s friend Ven says there used to be a Book that foretold the future. Said one of his family got it, and was super protective of it. I mean- he also said that none of the others would look in it if the guy just asked, but he did his best not to leave it behind anywhere.”
*When Kairi sees the darkness, her breath catches and she steps back. Her hand trembles.
“………Sora showed me this cool trick, once.”
*She puts one hand on her chest and closes her eyes. When she slowly pulls it away, a small ball of light is in her hand.
“I’m not trusting that torch, given the storybooks I’ve heard, it might be a trap..” l
“I’ve heard much about prophecy,” Zelda tells her. “I shudder to think what would happen if something like that fell into the wrong hands.”
She can’t help but feel a bit awed at the magic. Yes, she has light magic of her own but isn’t drawn out the same way Kairi does it. If you had told her before coming onto the Surface that it would hold people who were able to summon Light like that, she might not have believed you.
“Good thinking,” Zelda says after a moment.
Kairi is able to light up around them a little bit, and the wall brims with engravings, and messages hidden in ancient languages that even Zelda was never taught. The moss spreads on it like a plague, and the ground looks to be uneven, certain changes in shape that don’t make any sense. Beyond that the darkness is thick, and they’re unable to see anything else.
“From my understanding, I think that the Book was lost or destroyed or something? Ven doesn’t know what happened to it at any case.”
*The light floats off her hand, into the air, and she tilts her head at the text. She pulls out her Gummiphone, snapping photos of it.
“I’m sure somebody will be able to decipher this.”
She steps forward, trying to pull some moss away from where it’s hiding some of the text.
Zelda blinks at the…the object that Kairi pulls out. “I…I’m sorry, but what is that? Is that…a slate of some sort?”
*The moss gives way but the text remains indecipherable from first glance. There’s an image drawn of a lyre, and lines coming out of it.* “That looks like the Goddess Harp,” Zelda murmurs.
“Huh? Oh! This is a Gummiphone! Something we’ve started using to talk to each other when we’re not nearby! It does a lot of things, including take pictures! Here, look.”
*She shows Zelda the photos she took, but swipes too far and shows one taken of Roxas drawing on the arm of a boy with silver hair next to a man that looks like Birdie, but older, both asleep. The silver-haired boy has multiple drawings on his skin — all male genitalia. She smiles at that one.
“Whoops, scrolled too far, sorry!”
*She takes an image of the newly revealed things, but when she starts to get up she stumbles.
“Oh, that’s really nice,” Zelda says and looks over to see the photos, marvelling slightly at the technology. “Who…who are the people in those pictures, if you don’t mind sharing? I know Roxas but…”
*She notices Kairi stumble and startles.* “Are you alright?”
Impa remains silent, looking at the text over and over.
“The boy with silver hair is Riku, Sora’s best friend and longtime crush, and in the green is Sky. They were Dream-hopping to try and find Sora. Roxas, uh, he doesn’t particularly like Riku. So he’s always messing with him.”
“Uh- yeah, I’m okay. Just..Not used to using the tricks Sora does. I’ll be alright.”
*She gives a smile, being honest.
“I see,” Zelda murmurs. She nods at Kairi’s honesty. “Please, if you need to take a rest let me know.”
Impa traces a hand over a symbol of a flower, lost in thought for a moment. But any hint of pain, any hint of wonder any vaguely reminiscent look erases from her face once she lets go. “Let’s keep moving. We don’t have time to waste.”
*You hear humming, and when you round a corner you see a girl with magenta hair. She’s currently braiding it.
*She feels similar to Ven, but different. She has no tie to the ‘bad’, and her ‘good’ has been like this since she was born. You get the sense that she was relocated from her home, to one she likes much more now. She doesn’t look over at you, though she knows you’re there.
@keyblade-wielder-sora
“Hello,” Zelda says politely to the magenta-haired girl. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I think I’m lost.”
*Impa waits in the shadows, guarding. Zelda senses the familiarity to Ven, and her ties to good and the lack of one to evil. She hopes for more camaraderie, down in the Surface. Other than Sora and Impa? She’s been met with the bloodthirsty fangs and claws of monsters and the wicked spirit Ghirahim.*
“Oh!”
*She looks over, giving a somewhat embarrassed grin. You can sense her closeness with Sora.
“Um, me too. My name is Kairi! What are your guys’ names?”
*She looks between Impa and Zelda, smiling warmly and earnestly. The woman was seen easily to the teenage girl, who’s a few inches shorter than Sora.
*Impa steps out, a little bit disgruntled at being noticed, but she remains respectful. Zelda eases at the smile. “My name is Zelda, and this is Impa.”
“So, we’re all lost. Great,” Impa sighs. “It’s very nice to meet you Kairi.”
Zelda nods and then hesitates, already sending the answer to her brewing question but wanting to know more. “Do you know a Sora?”
*Kairi laughs, the sound soft.
“Do I know him? I grew up with the guy! I’m not surprised he managed to make his way here before I did. He’s saved me…What, three or four times now, I think?”
“How did you guys get here? We can use that to get somewhere you know.”
“I—“ Zelda’s vision flashes with the memory of a hero buried in the hands of history but she barely acknowledges it for now. “I found my way deeper into the Sealed Temple and then, well…”
Impa finishes, “The door we passed through shut, and vanished. Possibly a trap set for any evil creatures looking for the Triforce.”
“Hm….Well, I’m not sure what the Triforce is, but…”
*She grins, and with the imagery of flowers blooming, summons a Keyblade to her hands.
“Take me to this door and maybe I can unlock it again.”
“That’s our problem,” Impa says. “The door it, vanished without a trace, leaving us stranded.”
“But we can take you just around the corner to where we came from,” Zelda suggests. “Your Keyblade is very pretty!”
“Thank you! It’s called Destiny’s Embrace. Look, the keychain is a Paopu fruit!”
*She shows off the star-shaped keychain, smiling happily as she follows them around the corner. She looks up at the wall, tilting her head.
”I’ve never heard of that fruit before,” Zelda admits, and Impa guides them both around the corner as Zelda admires Destiny’s Embrace.
”Can you sense anything, Your Grace?” Impa asks.
Zelda shakes her head. “Not even a trace of what once was.”
"It's a fruit that grows on my home. They say that if two people share it, their destinies will become intertwined."
*Kairi lifts her Keyblade, giving a hum.
"How does Sora do this... Okay."
*She takes a breath, holding her Keyblade up. A beam of light shoots from it, almost knocking her back. Kairi keeps her footing, though, and.. Nothing happens. She drops her Keyblade with a slightly startled yelp.
"Okay, yeah, that...Did nothing."
Zelda wonders how far Kairi and Sora are in the future, thinking about destines being intertwined by a fruit. Impa raises her blade, protecting Zelda as Kairi is almost knocked back by a powerful beam of light.
“Are you okay??” Zelda calls worriedly.
“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, just- I never realized how powerful that is… Geez, Sora’s.. really cool.”
*She picks up her Keyblade, letting out a breath.
“Goes to show how much weaker I am than him…”
*She shakes her head.
“Either way, we won’t be able to go back that way. I guess we’ll have to find something else.”
Zelda’s long ears twitch at her self-deprecating comment. “Please don’t compare yourself to him like that. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Add that to the fact no two people are the same…if you compare who you are or your abilities to someone else, you’re doing both them and you a disservice.”
*Impa is staring elsewhere, trying to formulate a plan in her mind. She’s not the best at comforting, after all.*
“I say that because I’ve done the same thing,” Zelda continues and then hesitates, changing what she’s going to say before she said it. “I think it’s impressive that you’re able to do that in the first place.
Impa nods to Kairi’s comment on discovering another way. “The only way to do that is to move forward. Let us go.”
“Hm… Maybe. Sora is just awesome with everything he does, so, I guess he’s not the best person to compare to anyway.”
*She gives a soft laugh, though she’s still upset by her inability to open the door. Sora would be able to do it easily.
“You have? Huh. A Princess and a goddess, more alike than they thought…”
*She doesn’t really mean for her words to be heard, though she said them aloud. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts, nodding in agreement.
“Right! Yeah, let’s keep going.”
*She stares at the door for a moment longer, before following the other two away.
Zelda admits, “I’m not fully a goddess. And I don’t—maybe it’s wrong but I don’t consider myself even anything like a goddess. I’m still just Zelda, just…my memories are sometimes not my own. And my path is not my own.”
*she looks embarrassed momentarily, for the small rant, but she nods as they go. Dust fills the space, thick and almost visible. Impa finds many engravings of the Triforce, and strangely, there’s another door not far away, coated in moss.*
“…I’m not really a princess, either. The title’s more symbolic, I think… I don’t even remember my mom and dad, just my grandma…”
*She falls quiet for a minute, looking away.
“Destiny is….It’s a strange thing. So worthless, but so….Everything. I mean, are my choices really mine? Have I done the right things? All I’ve done is get kidnapped and used to motivate a boy who doesn’t love me like I love him..”
*She shakes it off, noticing the door.
“Oh- hey, there’s a door here!”
*She moves over to it, starting to pull away the moss. She’s always kinda liked getting her hands dirty; makes her feel much more involved.
Zelda’s ears droop slightly, though she doesn’t seem to notice how evident her reaction is. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
She listens to her raptly, and her eyes flit to the mossy stone of the oppressive ceiling. “I…I’ve struggled to wrap my head around Destiny as well. My life now, like the flip of a switch, revolves around walking a path carved by fate, and coming to terms with…with who I am supposed to resemble.”
*As Kairi pulls away the moss and opens the door, it leads into what’s seemingly an abyss, a sea of darkness. One torch stands ominously in the distance, lighting up the floor beneath it and nothing else.*
“Eh, the memory stuff is…Mostly whatever. Didn’t remember my home or my grandma until I was 14 anyway.”
“Sora’s friend Ven says there used to be a Book that foretold the future. Said one of his family got it, and was super protective of it. I mean- he also said that none of the others would look in it if the guy just asked, but he did his best not to leave it behind anywhere.”
*When Kairi sees the darkness, her breath catches and she steps back. Her hand trembles.
“………Sora showed me this cool trick, once.”
*She puts one hand on her chest and closes her eyes. When she slowly pulls it away, a small ball of light is in her hand.
“I’m not trusting that torch, given the storybooks I’ve heard, it might be a trap..” l
“I’ve heard much about prophecy,” Zelda tells her. “I shudder to think what would happen if something like that fell into the wrong hands.”
She can’t help but feel a bit awed at the magic. Yes, she has light magic of her own but isn’t drawn out the same way Kairi does it. If you had told her before coming onto the Surface that it would hold people who were able to summon Light like that, she might not have believed you.
“Good thinking,” Zelda says after a moment.
Kairi is able to light up around them a little bit, and the wall brims with engravings, and messages hidden in ancient languages that even Zelda was never taught. The moss spreads on it like a plague, and the ground looks to be uneven, certain changes in shape that don’t make any sense. Beyond that the darkness is thick, and they’re unable to see anything else.
“From my understanding, I think that the Book was lost or destroyed or something? Ven doesn’t know what happened to it at any case.”
*The light floats off her hand, into the air, and she tilts her head at the text. She pulls out her Gummiphone, snapping photos of it.
“I’m sure somebody will be able to decipher this.”
She steps forward, trying to pull some moss away from where it’s hiding some of the text.
Zelda blinks at the…the object that Kairi pulls out. “I…I’m sorry, but what is that? Is that…a slate of some sort?”
*The moss gives way but the text remains indecipherable from first glance. There’s an image drawn of a lyre, and lines coming out of it.* “That looks like the Goddess Harp,” Zelda murmurs.
“Huh? Oh! This is a Gummiphone! Something we’ve started using to talk to each other when we’re not nearby! It does a lot of things, including take pictures! Here, look.”
*She shows Zelda the photos she took, but swipes too far and shows one taken of Roxas drawing on the arm of a boy with silver hair next to a man that looks like Birdie, but older, both asleep. The silver-haired boy has multiple drawings on his skin — all male genitalia. She smiles at that one.
“Whoops, scrolled too far, sorry!”
*She takes an image of the newly revealed things, but when she starts to get up she stumbles.
“Oh, that’s really nice,” Zelda says and looks over to see the photos, marvelling slightly at the technology. “Who…who are the people in those pictures, if you don’t mind sharing? I know Roxas but…”
*She notices Kairi stumble and startles.* “Are you alright?”
Impa remains silent, looking at the text over and over.