kingdomdressing | hearing your laughter

[the sound of wood cracking against wood is coming from one of the training rooms. inside, Sora is taking her wooden sword to a dummy; both the dummy and sword are looking pretty worn, and she's looking pretty tired out. this is how training sessions go now. she wants to be stronger. if she was weak enough to let her Keyblade get destroyed like it had been ages ago, how would she ever protect her friends, here and back home? that's what's driving her. she's been at this for a while, the loud cracking noises continuing for some time before--

CRACK

--the sword snaps in half against the dummy, the broken off part spinning across the floor. Sora stares ahead of herself at the dummy in disbelief, not even really seeing it for a moment. and then she screams, rage rushing through her. she swings her fist at the dummy in her anger, just letting it press against the battered wood for a moment, breathing heavily. her eyes are wide and her body is shaking, and it takes a moment for the smell of burning wood to reach her. her head snaps up to stare at where she punched, slowly pulling her trembling fist back; there's a faint burn to the wood, wisps of darkness rising from it.

the sight makes her fall to her knees in front of the dummy, broken sword clattering beside her. it's probably a good thing she wasn't made aware of the already fading gold rings around her pupils, too.]

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[gasp!]

Sora?!

[... boy. Did this Repliderp pick the wrong day to check out the training room.

Is that... Sora? Using Darkness?! Gonna keep staring from his place in the doorway.]

[she might as well have not heard Kira, for all the reaction her voice gets. she's too caught up in what just happened.]

[it was indeed Sora using Darkness! definitely not a common occurrence, and definitely not something she meant to do, given her reaction to it.]

[Well. Brain to mouth filter is a little busted on this one, so--] Was that what I think it was?

[Nothing accusatory. Just. Shocked. Congrats Sora, you broke him.]

[unfortunately, she heard it rather accusingly anyway and she nearly jumps in surprise. w-when did someone else get there ;;]

[well she's hurrying over and throwing her arms around you in a hug]

[Excuse him while he reboots his brain. He only got there near the end of that--y'know, when you set the thing on fire with black flames of darkness?] How did you of all people get enough Darkness in your Heart to use it?

[Again. Nothing accusatory. Just. Stunned, and curious. ... wait, are you a girl?!]

[her shoulders hunch at his words, whether they were accusing or not. she's not sure how to answer, and she doesn't really want to anyway. it's like it would make it... more real, or something.]

[Ack. Sad Sora's are never good. Now he's mentally kicking himself.] Look, it's... not really that big a deal, right? Everyone's got a bit of Darkness in their Heart.

[That's your first big clue that this isn't a Riku.]

[she tenses up so much at that, caught by surprise and not sure what to think. why is she being hugged, she just did something horrible.]

[she glances over her shoulder at him after a moment, scrubbing at her eyes. they've no longer got any hint of gold to them, at least, but they're looking a little wet now.]

It's n-not the same.

Why not? [Eyebrow-raise, and arms are being crossed over his chest. Though... thinking about it...] Because you did your best to warn off the real thing from that stuff?

[He uses it rather liberally, or he used to. But. Another story.] Or is it because your Heart's supposed to be stronger than that?

[Nothing angry, or degrading, or even remotely teasing in his tone. Just... pure inquisitiveness, coupled with a tilt of the head and an honestly curious expression that just isn't Riku.]

[she looks away and down; it's pretty much both of those things, though the second more than the first.]

[Mopey Soras are just not natural. So, he just sighs, shakes his head, and drops his arms to his side. What is he doing?] Sora... what happened?

[There's obviously a story here. Darkness doesn't just suddenly appear like that--it had to grow from something.]

I don't really wanna talk about it...

[even if she has told people what started it all before.]

[hugs make everything better, and she hugs you even more]

... it's okay, Sora...

[well, she's just going to... kind of break down and start crying now, turning into the hug. she hadn't meant to use Darkness. the very idea of it still scares her so much, after everything that happened to Riku.]

[Terra nudges the hilt half of the sword away from her with one of his shoes, far enough away that he's able to bend over and pick it up comfortably. He heads over to retrieve the other half, too, and fits the shattered ends together to look over the broken weapon.]

Thought you didn't need the power of anger and hate, young wielder.

[her head jerks up, eyes wide at his words. there are tears threatening to fall, and she looks... scared of what just happened, most of all.]

I don't!

[He doesn't look at her, keeping his eyes trained on the sword even when he hears the emotion in her voice.]

Then why are you using it?

I didn't mean to!

[she doesn't want to cry in front of him and scrubs at her eyes for a moment, trying to make the tears go away.]

I really didn't...

[He glances briefly in her directly and scowls, but his voice is a touch softer when he goes on.]

Didn't mean to doesn't count with the darkness. You should know that.

I know that, but I really didn't! I wasn't even- I don't want to use it! I was just...

[angry. because things keep breaking on her and she just wants to be strong.]

What? You were just what?

[He turns to face her, dropping his hands to his sides but holding on to the two halves of the sword.]

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hearing your laughter

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fff---the clock says bed time. I think I'll heed it. G'night!

night!

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