onepassingnight | two | which to bury, us or the hatchet?

[ the classroom is utterly silent.

there are twenty polished wood desks of high caliber, each stamped with 'Alabaster Boarding School for Youths' in gold leafing. of the five in the first row, Riku is seated atop the third desk in a school uniform, pressed navy blue blazer and trousers with a sky-blue tie, a white dress shirt underneath (oddly enough, no shoes). the teacher's desk is empty, every desk is empty, and the back half of the classroom is practically shrouded in darkness.

none of that matters to Riku, though. he's just staring ahead to the dry-erase board in front of him, staring at it.

it's covered in red marker, messages ranging from 'you're a fake' and 'stop conning us' to 'please just talk to us again' and 'i miss having you around', although the latter are marginally less frequent than the formers. and in the middle, the only phrase in black, is you're a menace.

there are no erasers or markers anywhere near the board, or on Riku. as the door opens to shed more light, he looks over. ]

Why are you here?

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No. [She says it more forcefully than she intends, too revealing; but does he have any idea how long and hard she fought for this? In the Dark Kingdom, she was supposed to lose everything; her entire reason for existing was supposed to only be fighting.

She couldn't live that way.]

Don't be a fool. You're like anyone else. You have the things you want to do. You have the things you like and the things you hate.

I don't. I don't want anything, I just want to protect the people that I care about. I don't care about anything else.

I don't want to go to college or start a family. I don't need that to be happy.

Then that's what you've chosen to want to do.

[A few years ago, she might have called it a dream. In a way, she understands it even now, this girl who still became a doctor because she didn't want to be helpless when those precious few - so few - people close to her were hurt.]

So you're more than your job, even though your job might be a way of doing that.

[ a sigh; he shrugs at that. ]

If you say so. It doesn't matter, in the end.

[She's not really good at comforting people anymore. She's not even sure why she is trying, which only makes her vaguely irritable. It's just that she can't leave loneliness alone. That feeling of being shut out is the same.

And spurred on by the fire within her, she can say it so much easier right now, even if it still doesn't come smoothly. She leans forward, though she stays casually perched on the desktop.]

Let's go somewhere else, away from it. Staring at it won't do you any good.

[ somewhere else.

away from it.

he closes his eyes, the room shifts and merges, becoming more blinding white as they end up at a crossroads, outside. there's no wind, but the snow is about midway up one's calves. snow falls gently, and one way is to the forest surrounding the town and the other is into the town itself. behind them is a lake. ]

[The lake would be a perfect place to suit her; did he choose it intentionally? Ami gives Riku a quick, questioning glance before looking behind them, where it stretches across her view. The snow, despite not truly being dressed for it, doesn't seem to disturb her in the least. She likes being surrounded by her element. It feels safer, always.

But Riku is turned away from the lake and to the forest and town. Those, she would not prefer.]

Do you intend to go to the forest?

It's safer in the forest.

[ he notes; and turns back towards her and the lake as a brisk wind passes, flutters their uniforms. night has fallen, suddenly. he frowns, straightens. ]

People skate on the lake in the day. They're both better than town.

Is this where you usually come, then?

[She's still sounding him out, this strange Riku, now that they've managed to find at least this tiny shred of common ground. It's enough, at least, for her to step forward as though ready to follow him to the forest at his word.]

No. I stay at home. The snow makes my headaches worse.

[ he says but he still starts to walk towards the forest. it's not pitch black, but it's shadowy and dark. it's peaceful. nothing jumping out of shadows, because the darkness is not always evil. ]

[Around so much obvious wood, she doesn't summon her sword (flame, of course), though she'd feel more comfortable with it in her hand.]

The snow does? Why would that be?

When it's daytime, the sun reflects off of the snow and creates glare. It's too bright for me.

[Well, it's better that way for her anyway.]

I don't like the cold anyway. [Not like this, not when her core is fire instead of ice. Tell her there's somewhere they can warm up.]

[ he sighs softly and shrugs off his large coat, putting it around her shoulders. it's lined to the brim and already quite hot from his own heat. he's wearing a sweater underneath. ]

[Such a simple gesture takes her totally by surprise. Ami glances at Riku, startled and almost wary, but after a moment, she nods. Then, even more belatedly:]

Thank you.

It's what people do.

[ he says softly, then frowns. and he revisits his idea. ]

Or what they should do.

[She considers this.]

Where I'm from, it's more like we only come together to defeat our enemies.

[Or maybe that's her own stubbornness refusing to see the people she lives among now as 'friends' when that word, when the first time in her life she had people to call that word, ended so badly.]

That's where you're from. In dreams, you visit other places.

[ there's a rustle of dry pine leaves ahead, he knows it's just the wind. ]

You get to see places through someone else's eyes.

Like this? The forest here, through your eyes?

[Despite herself, she's being lulled by the forest, and by the kind gesture. Despite herself, she wants to reach out to someone. She shrugs her shoulders just enough to make the sweater cover more of them.]

Yeah. People have been murdered here before. It's not supposed to be a safe place in reality.

But it's my dream, and this place isn't full of horror for me. It's a sanctuary.

[There are few humans who'd stand a chance against her powers, if murderers lurked here after all.] I'm not afraid.

[That fear keeps everyone else out, instead of hurting him. She can understand the thinking. Besides, as he said, this is a dream. She has the unsettling feeling of wanting to do something to repay him for this gesture, and for showing her a place so important to him, but she doesn't know how to say it.

Instead, Ami walks on.]

If it's somewhere you come to be safe, I want to see it.

[ soft, wry chuckle. ]

That's a change.

A change from what?

[The tone suggests looking too closely at how she chooses to present herself might be best handled very, very carefully.

Of course, he might have only a meant a change from the people who are afraid.]

two | which to bury, us or the hatchet?

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/wibbles THIS SHOULD NOT BE SO CUTE T_T but i love it <33

|D;

a-awww

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