onepassingnight | Flip the Chessboard

The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.

[But perhaps in this case, it was different. Prosaic and memorable as those words may be, they don't hold true to this moment.]

The closer you get to the light, the slimmer the chance you'll survive.

Isn't that right, Roxas?

[A pause, and the boy laughs, cold and chilling, staring about the dream world once shared by two close individuals with extreme interest. Roxas screams in his mind, but it's oh so easy to simply block him out- he'd learned to do that years ago.]

[There was so much here, so much to ruin, so much to-- break.]

[So many people.]

[So little time.]

[Lips curl upwards into a cruel smile, and the illusion of Roxas simply lasts but a moment. Then it's gone, and a shadow stands in his wake. Solid, alive... and with a stark, chilling resemblance to Sora that Roxas has never held.]

Let's go have some fun.

[OOC: all replies will be made with the journal

endinsentiment. The flip of the chessboard occurs in the opposite other being in play-- and Roxas falling under possession instead of Sora. Please be advised violence and character injury is liable to occur-- please let me know if character death is okay.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He's getting somewhere. As simple and easy as can be, and he's only barely scratched the surface of Roxas' memories of this child. Sora, but not the one he's looking for. Useful for one thing--]

[And Vanitas can feel it inside him, the steady tides of darkness that swell and grow with anguish and pain, barely stifled in their attempts to erupt over the edge. He can fix that.]

Your heart knows.

Trying to ignore it, but it says everything, doesn't it? [He steps forward, looking down at Sora like something disdainful.] Useless. And Roxas calls you his strength?

No wonder he fell so easily.

[Roxas fell?

Useless. You're useless.

It's your fault.

You have no purpose. Barely even worth the stolen heart he took. He wasn't even after yours.

Shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup.

Sora clenches a fist. He shouldn't be taking this. He shouldn't. Roxas would be sitting there, telling him it's not true, that he's stronger than he seems. But you're not, are you?]

Shut up!

[And that's it. Fight or flight has kicked in, and it's telling him to run. Not because he's not brave, but because he can't possibly win this fight. The darkness is stifling, choking, and it's something he's beginning to hate. He needs away from it--even if it means running to those islands with their sun and the daylight and painful memories and guilt. He'll run, even if he feels exhausted, because that thing isn't something he wants to face.]

Edited 2011-10-04 13:55 (UTC)

[So easy to get a reaction. Sora's heart swells with it; his body recoils, and Vanitas is this close to reaching out, satisfying himself with just how thick and rich the dark emotions swirling in one boy really are.]

[Except he knows it can be better. Roxas knows it could be worse.]

[So he let's Sora run. Let's him think he's escaped, if only for the moment. Back to Destiny Islands, sun bleached sands and peaceful skies, where the guilt will simply grow more and more heavy.]

[He doesn't even need to speak. Doesn't need to act-- Sora's doing all the hard work for him.]

[And that's exactly where he ends up: Destiny Islands. It's as far from the strange boy as he can get. And when he gets there, he crawls on hands and knees, staining his pants and palms with sand, into the Secret Place. And once inside, he hides himself, back to the sole rock jutting out of the ground, knees hugged to his chest.

Finally, despite the guilt twisting at his heart, despite the fear raising hairs on the back of his neck, he can breathe. Because Vanitas isn't here.]

[Except he is. With all the darkness and negativity rolling off Sora in waves, it's not hard to track him down. Not hard to casually walk through the streets, until the pavement turns to soft sand. Not hard to find that "secret" opening and lightly crouch, stalking down the narrow corridor of space.]

[Right there, in the only entrance and exit into this place. Arms folded as he leans against a rocky outcrop, simply watching Sora from behind his mask.]

Not much of a sanctuary, Sora. Looks just as broken as you.

[Panic. Sora panics when Vanitas enters. And especially when he speaks. He's trapped, nowhere to go. He's visibly tense, but otherwise not moving, keeping a close eye on Vanitas. If he watches closely, maybe if Vanitas comes towards him, he can get around him and escape.]

...It's not broken.

[He won't be moving anytime soon. By the time he does, Sora won't be in the state to care.]

Not yet.

But then...it will be. Has been. [He closes his eyes, cracking them open with a lazy grin that Sora can't see.]

Hasn't it, Sora?

[For just a brief, singular moment, the world shift, changes. They aren't in a cave anymore--they're sitting there, on an island of sand, floating in a swirling violet vortex, with a strange, pulsing sphere high above as winds whip through the air. But it's just long enough to feel the wind, just long enough to taste the darkness, just long enough to let the guilt and the self-loathing become visible.]

...N-Not this one. It hasn't. S-So shut up!

Flip the Chessboard

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject