diatuooc | Test Drive #2

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Test Drive #2

Test Drive #2

That Wand Is a Wonder!

You pulled down a book from a tall shelf in the Library of Starchime and promptly got hit in the head by a wand that was resting atop it. It looks innocuous, a cylinder of wood, but as soon as you pick it up, light streams out of the end. The barest motion is enough to make fantastic colors, and with a gesture you send light streaming across the library!

Light is all it does, right? Right?

Pranks for the Memories

Diatu Magicademy is a school -- one with different social groups, different Houses, different classes, different levels of experience... in short, pranks are inevitable. The latest one to make the rounds is the Sticky Glyph: step on a certain mathematical rune and the next person you touch sticks to you like glue. Casually brush against them, shake their hand, bump backwards into them -- however you did it, you have a new friend now, like it or not. The glyph wears off in about an hour -- do you wait it out, ask for help, or try to undo it yourself?

The Dueling Club

One of the more popular magical clubs, the Dueling Club is precisely as it sounds: wizards crossing spells, each trying to be the one to 'defeat' their opponent. How to do that varies by the sort of duel -- knocking your opponent off a platform, or getting them wet, or just good old rendering them unable to keep dueling. Less experienced students, like you, get the "water duel" treatment. Use your spells to get your opponent off of their stool in a small pool of water before they do the same to you! Losing means soggy shoes and a laugh at your expense; winning means pride, respect, and a chance for advancement into the club's informal ranks.

Chimera!

Transporting chimera is highly illegal without proper permits -- which is precisely why smugglers do it, and precisely why smugglers are valiantly struggling to extinguish their airship, while the beast responsible ambles down the gangplank and people flee like crazy. A small chimera, its shoulders are about shoulder height to a man. The goat head jabs at the cargo and building it passes, the lion head maintains a watchful forward guard, and the dragon head has taken the "burn it all, burn it all!" approach to greeting its new circumstances.

This is your chance to be a hero, and save the city of Anastara from certain doom at this beast's claws, heads, horns, and fiery breath. Or your chance to run like heck and hope it doesn't notice you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lea wasn't sure what reaction he'd been expecting, but it sure wasn't that one. "Hey, wait!", he said, but too late; the figure was already pelting it out of the library.

Leaving the mysterious wand where it was for the moment, Lea almost instinctively gave chase, dodging around chairs, tables, and startled students as he ran out of the library and down the hall in pursuit of the strangely familiar figure. He saw them vanish though a door that led out into the courtyard and followed after; they had a good head start, but his longer stride was gradually making it up, and when he got outside, it seemed like the figure was running out of steam. Or at least they seemed to be slowing down.

"Stop, would ya?!", Lea called after the figure as he began to rapidly close the distance between them. "I promise, I'm not gonna hurt you!"

She froze, and not just from the cold. She reached up to make sure her hood was in place and held it there, covering her face, even with her back to him. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," she said, softly.

Lea to finally came to a stop a short distance away, only now noticing the cold; his coat was still in his hand rather than on his body. He quickly slipped it back on as he took a moment to catch his breath. That soft, female voice only added to the nagging familiarity he felt toward this person. It made something in his chest clench a bit in a way that had nothing to do with the running.

"Why'd you run off like that?", he asked. "And why do you think I'd hurt you?" He paused, gazing intensely at the figure, as if he could somehow see through the hood if only he stared hard enough. "Who... are you?"

Her shoulders slumped. "You don't remember..." she said softly. "You're not supposed to," she added, more to remind herself than to tell him. "It's better that way. Just... forget you saw me." Why did she hurt so much? Why did this hurt?

"I can't," Lea said. He took a cautious step toward the girl, hoping that she wouldn't run off again. "I... you're from back home; you've gotta be, with that outfit. But it's more than that."

"I... I know you," he said. "I can't remember, but I should. I can feel it; it's right there. Just please... tell me who you are. Or at least put your hood down if you can't, so I can see you." All the time he'd been training with Kairi he'd been trying to remember something, something extremely important, and now he was right on the cusp of it. He just needed the last piece to make the connection.

She shook her head. "You shouldn't. You and Roxas are better off forgetting me!" she said. She turned to face him, shaking. "Just... Choose. Walk away and forget me... or... or finish what should have been finished before I wound up here. Take me down, Axel, and don't hold back...."

Those words. The same ones from before. And just like before, his heart clenched and he felt tears on his cheeks almost before he was even aware they were coming from him. But unlike before, something clicked into place, and he winced, pressing a hand to his head as memories came rushing back. Jumbled and disjointed for now, but he knew. He remembered.

"I can't," he said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Because I already promised. I promised... that I'd always be there to bring you back. I promised I'd bring all my friends back... Xion."

Her eyes closed, and something wet spilled from them. Like that last time with Roxas, when she thought she was ceasing to be, going back to Sora like she was supposed to.

She closed her hands over her chest and shook her head. "You can't remember me, Axel... and you can't save me. I have to return to Sora. Riku explained it all to me. I have to return... or the Organization will kill either me or Roxas, and Sora will never wake up. He's Roxas' Somebody... isn't he? Roxas can have a heart...a real life... but not if part of Sora is trapped inside of me. You need to let me go, Axel. You need..."

She broke. She couldn't do this. Not again. She turned on her heel and tried to run. She was too much of a coward, too much of a failure. But every time she'd decided to go... every time he'd tried to bring her back, and every time until that last... she let him. But she couldn't let him. And... And for Roxas... she knew he'd make the right choice. Let her go to save Roxas....

Right?

Lea could only stand there in confusion as she went on about the Organization, Roxas, and Sora needing to wake up. Things that had already happened months ago. Was it really just months? So much had happened since then, it seemed longer. But regardless, Xion clearly didn't have all the facts.

Lea snapped out of his stunned stupor though when it looked like she was going to run off again. He closed the distance between them in a few quick strides and caught her shoulder. "Xion, no!", he said. "You don't..." He paused, took a deep breath, and started again. "Xion, all that stuff already happened. Months ago. Roxas rejoined Sora, and I'm guessing you did too somehow. Sora woke up. And the Organization you remember is gone; Sora and Riku beat them."

"You did it, Xion," he said quietly. "It's OK. You can stop now." Not everything was OK. In fact, things back home were far from OK overall. But this? After far too long, this was.

She had tried to pull away when he first caught her shoulder. But this was Axel. When he spoke she listened. Even when she didn't like what he had to say, she always at least listened. So his words penetrated in a way no one else's would have.

She twisted to look up at him, hood still in place, covering her. But she could see him and... noticed that his face... was... was different. The marks under his eyes were gone? But...

"Months ago? Sora... Sora woke up?" she asked, a whisper. She wanted to believe. She did. But things she wanted didn't come true and unlike Roxas, Axel would lie to her. To them. If he thought it was for their own good, he would lie.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. "You... you came to bring me back, then?" Which would mean that nothing had actually changed, but at least then she could find Naminé again. And... it would be okay if she had ice cream with them... one last time... first, right?

Yes, Axel- now Lea- would lie if he felt it was necessary. But the irony was that that was one of the things he felt the worst about now; how much he had lied to his friends. Because he'd come to realize that it hadn't been nearly so much for their good as it had been for his. He'd been afraid of losing them, and in his attempts to keep them with him, had only ended up causing them harm. But no more; now he was trying to do things right for a change.

"If you mean 'came into the courtyard' then yeah, definitely," Lea said. "But if you mean 'came to this world', then no. I'm here for the same reason all us 'Sundered' are: a bunch of idiots decided to fool around with illegal magic. I wish I'd come here on purpose, 'cause that would mean I could leave on purpose and take you home with me. I could introduce you to Sora and Kairi and Master Yen Sid and everyone... and truth be told, we could really use your help."

"But right now? It's just so good to see you again." He crouched down and pulled Xion into a hug, tears stinging his eyes again. "I missed you, Xion," he murmured. "Even if I couldn't remember you properly, I still missed you."

"You... you can't RTC ei..." she started to ask and then... she was being hugged. And.. she was not quite sure what to do with or about that. But... But was it okay if.. if just for a moment she believed the lie? If she let herself be happy? So long as she remembered reality right after?

She dropped her still hooded face against his shoulder. "Need my help?" she asked, her voice small. "I can't even summon my magic any more, let alone my Keyblade. It's Roxas' somebody you need, Sora, not me." She wanted to know... and didn't.... About Sora.... And she would ask. She would be brave enough to ask. But...

"How could you miss someone you don't remember?" she asked, trying to sort all of this out, and why the odd pain had.. shifted. It was less, but also... somehow... more?

"You were connected to me and Roxas," Lea said quietly. It felt good just holding her like this, even if he was starting to become accutely aware of the cold air and colder flagstones. "And even with you inside Sora, nothing could really erase that connection completely. Even if I couldn't remember you, I could still tell that something important was missing. I kept trying to remember what I'd forgotten; sometimes there were fragments, feelings that would surface, but nothing I could reach consciously. Not without something to unlock those memories."

"And yeah, I've noticed," he said. "Because of the weird way magic works here, we can't summon our weapons or do anything like we'd normally be able to. But back home, you could, and we need all the Keyblade wielders we can get right now. That's part of why we're working on trying to get Roxas back too, without hurting Sora."

"A lot's happened," he said. "And it's kind of an insane amount to try and get memorized. But I'll try and explain. We should probably go back inside first before I do, though; it's cold out here, and I can't make us a fire like I normally could."

There was.... that was a lot to take in. And she couldn't process it all. Not at once. So she fixated on one of the easier parts first. Where they could go. The cold didn't bother her all that much; she had gotten used to it by now. But she didn't want him to be cold. So she pointed to the clock tower she had found. "There is a room at the top with gears. The kind of place heartless sometimes linger. But no heartless. I've checked." And they could talk there... and then go out to watch the sunset.

Lea nodded, getting back to his feet and wiping the tears from his eyes. "Right," he said. "One good thing about this place; no Heartless." Which was a very good thing, since there were also no Keyblades.

He kept a hand on her shoulder as they walked toward the building's entrance. Not to keep her from trying to flee again, as he was fairly confident that she wouldn't. But just to reassure himself that she was indeed actually real and there. That she wouldn't vanish again.

"Not even sure where I should start," he confessed. "I've never had to actually explain all this to anyone before." He considered a moment. "Any questions about the stuff I've already mentioned, before I get into anything else?"

Yes. She had questions. Lots and lots of questions. But she figured there was one she should ask before they got to the clock tower.

"Are you too cold for ice cream?"

It wasn't this easy. Not by a long shot. But the thought that it might actually be over... that she actually had succeeded. And that... that they might actually need her.... it was a lot to take in. And really... she wanted what time she could have with Axel before the illusion shattered and reality set back in.

But she did reach up... and tentatively pulled down her hood. Better to know now if he would see her... or Sora... rather than waiting until they got onto the roof.

Lea smiled a bit. "Not if you don't mind eating it inside for a change," he said. "That is, assuming we can find some; I asked about it at the cafeteria, but they said they don't usually have ice cream this time of year."

His smile broadened when she lowered her hood. Judging from his reaction, he didn't find anything unusual or alarming about how she looked, but he didn't comment on it outright.

"I found a place that sells, but I don't know what flavors they have. I usually just buy three of whatever is on top," she admitted.

"Nice find," Lea said. "Though we'll have to see if they have sea-salt ice cream later."

"For now though, lead the way," he said, gesturing vaguely ahead of them. "Once we get the ice cream, we can go inside and talk."

She nodded and headed for the small ice cream shop she had found. She had a ton of questions that she wanted to ask. So much that she needed to know. About Roxas, about him, about everything...

When they get there she pointed to the small freezer they had that was self service so that she just had to grab the bars, and pay at the counter. Minimal interaction. She grabbed two off of the top and went to the register with them. She was almost out of the limited funds she had been given, but she didn't care. This was more than worth it."

It was indeed worth it. Though Lea did clue into the fact of their limited funds; even with both of them together, the limited money they'd been given wouldn't last long, especially if they needed to use it for things other than ice cream.

"You know," Lea said as they headed back to the clock tower, "if we're going to do this regularly, we'll eventually have to pick up some odd jobs or something to earn extra cash. Can't exactly just go and bash a few Heartlesss when when you want some extra munny around here."

"There... has to be something we can fight. I just... didn't look into that," she said, heading for the clock tower, holding the ice creams. But we'll find a way, Axel." For ice cream, yeah, they'd find a way. "If we work hard, we have to have the icing on the cake, right?" she asked, opening the door so they could start the climb to the top.

Lea nodded. "We'll figure something out," he said, brushing a few snowflakes from his hair as they headed inside. "Though honestly? Right now I think getting to see you again is the real icing on the cake. And the ice cream is more... those little candy sprinkles that just make it even better, you know?"

Actually it was quite possible that Xion didn't know, at least in the literal sense, though that didn't occur to Lea. The analogy was likely clear enough though.

She shook her head. She could guess, but since he more or less answered, she replied.

“Axel... is there actually such a thing as cake.”

Well that was an unexpected question. Lea just stared at Xion in surprise for a moment before realization hit. "Oh! Yeah, cake is definitely a real thing," he said. "I'll have to see if I can find a bakery in town so I can show you."

"Cake and ice cream actually go really well together," he added. "And there are even places that make cakes out of ice cream. But I think we'll try and keep things simple for now." Nothing else was going to be simple; the least he could do was keep ice cream that way.

Test Drive #2

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Changing the title, since yeah, they've entirely forgotten the wand. X3

Lol, okay, you get an iPad tag. Please forgive odd typos

Always. Typing with a touchscreen is hard. X3

YEP

Re: YEP

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