PHASE I [ 6 00 ] You wake up, and you're in a camp ground. The graphics aren't bad here, not really, but they're definitely last gen -- not the type of quality expected out of ViViD. On top of that, every once in awhile, the scenery sort of... glitches before going right back to normal as if nothing ever happened. If you're particularly unlucky, your own body parts might glitch out for a moment too, appearing as nothing more than broken code and then back to normal. Pretty weird, right? Oh well, don't worry about it. Totally harmless.
Glitches or not, you're still in a camp ground along with everyone else. There's a fire, there's some tents, some trees. Maybe some s'mores? You got it all. You're also not wearing what you were before. No, now you're wearing some sexy shorts, or maybe you've got a whip at your side, or maybe you've got a really classy fedora. And if you're one of those lucky few who have all three at once? Good for you! Try not to blind everyone with all that sexy.
Or, you know, the game will glitch out again and you'll be stuck wearing something else. That's definitely not as sexy.
PHASE II [ 730 ] If you decide to finally go exploring that crazy jungle, you'll find that you have a wide range of exploring options. Seems ViViD's taking a crack at their very own open world game -- this one modeled after your run of the mill adventure game. There are rivers to swim through (complete with alligators)! There are cliffs to scale (complete with angry birds ready to peck at your face)! There are even ravines to swing across on vines (just like Tarzan)!
Actually, the game is made to allow you to do just that -- those vines are all conveniently lined up for everyone to use them to swing across. Go on, it'll be fun. If you miss, you'll just lose a life, right?
Of course, if you overshoot your goal, you might run into one of the other glitches; the white space that you'll stumble into implies that you flew right off the world map and are now in unprogrammed space. Don't worry, you'll dissolve eventually, slowly but surely, and will reappear on the cliff so you can try again. There's no other way around that ravine either. Still, it's only a little frightening watching your body disappear piece by piece, right?
PHASE III [ 900 ] If you manage to scale one of those cliffs or swing across that ravine or cross that river, you may find yourself a chest. It's a treasure chest, and you don't even need a key to open it! Open it right up, a cute little jingle will play, and… nothing will be there.
Or the item will be there, hovering in the air, something amazing, fantastic, incredible that you've always dreamed of having and wanting, and -- you can't touch it. No matter what you try, it hovers right out of reach, and you can't interact with it at all.
Oh, and the cute little jingle is going to follow you around now, on constant loop.
PHASE IV [ xxxx ] So you died.
No big deal. Perhaps you got eaten by a crocodile. Perhaps you fell off a cliff. Perhaps another player stabbed you (that's rude). Either way, you've only lost one life and you have two more so it's nothing. After all, this is just a video game, right? It's fine.
Except it's really not fine.
You'll find yourself in a graveyard, tombstones all around you (maybe one of them has your name on it -- hope the epitaph doesn't suck). It's nighttime, it's foggy, and you're with the other players who have also lost a life. For a while, nothing will happen. The cold and quiet of the night will start to seep into your bones -- and then a figure appears. It can't be killed, it is silent and grim, and it does not speak.
Instead, it approaches each person there, reaches out and touches them on the forehead. Even you. All you can see for a long moment is corpses around you, the dead faces of everyone who had been with you in the ViViD level, flesh rotting away and faces caught in expressions of horror --
And then you're all dropped back into the camp ground together again. It's sunny and cheery and everything is fine, and you're down to two lives. Just, you know... don't lose the rest, okay?
BONUS [ xxxx ] You have a butler now, congratulations! He's following you around everywhere. He's an NPC, and not a very well-made one; sometimes his face glitches out, and he doesn't so much walk behind you as just… appears right next to you. He's handy though because if you ask him to, he'll pull up the start menu. You can sort out your inventory there and exit the game if you wish (except no matter how many times you press the "quit" button, you... can't).
Sometimes, though, that doesn't work out so well. Not the start menu but the butler himself. He might appear next to you on a narrow cliff face, knocking you right off the edge, or appear right on top of a hornet's nest, making them angry enough to go after, well, you. Maybe he accidentally summons a bear when all you were trying to do was ask him where the next dungeon is. That's unfortunate.
You can't seem to get rid of him either, no matter what you do. How annoying. Hopefully he doesn't cause you too much trouble because that bear... well, that bear's pretty angry.
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one would expect more information to clarify things; it does the opposite and only raises more questions. riku's own brows furrow, his confusion growing with each word spoken. doesn't know about the future... wait wait wait, can that mean... his eyes widen when that thought pops up.]
In the future? Then... you're from the past?
[time travel, restricted as is it, does exist. at the same time, those restrictions make this whole situation even odder. if ceres pulled them here then terra ought to be from the same point in time or at least be aware of what happened. if so then how can terra not know what the future holds? going forward through time means knowing your future (at least until returning to the past).
what is going on? and what are the chances of it NOT being another evil xehanort scheme? low, very low, but riku won't jump the gun in assuming that just yet. first thing first: let terra explain.]
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[He indicates knee high. What a cute tiny kid!!]
I know time moves differently between worlds, but something else has to be at work here. [Which is when a thought occurs to him--] Riku, do you remember being here in Cerealia before at all?
[He has to ask, because he'd seen him before, but that Riku looked very different to the Riku he sees before him now.]
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something else being at work feels right on the money. too much remains unknown to determine for sure, but with so little adding up, the xehanort explanation fits. dwelling on the possibilities gets cut short at terra's question. riku blinks.]
No, I don't. [the list of worlds visited isn't that long and this place definitely isn't on said list.] Why?
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[A pause, and he decides to clarify.] ...Well, it was sort of you, but not. It was corrupted code, so it was like looking at an empty shell. You had long hair, and a blindfold, and a black coat.
Some people told me they saw you in the city before. And that you disappeared one day, which meant your code was corrupted and you were put into storage... I arrived in the city after that.
[Amongst other things. Terra had heard how Riku had used the darkness, too, and it's been deeply troubling for him ever since. Seeing him as he is now has put some of those fears to rest, but it's not something he can cast out of his mind easily. He'll take one thing at a time, though, and so he frowns and looks back at Riku.]
Am I making sense?
[It's confusing for him, too. He's not exactly an expert on technology.]
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riku nods. it makes more sense than terra thinks. some of the particulars, like the storage part, go a tad over his head, but chances are it'll make more sense after doing some research on ceres later on. to make it simple: some part of him remained after being put in storage, terra saw that but it was an empty seal and riku lacks recollection of any of it. this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?]
It boils down to me having been here before but just not remembering it, right?
[but can that be true? there's no feeling a familiarity about this place, not even the smallest fleeting feeling. could he have really forgot? or is there more to it than that? considering the potential perpetrator, a fake lookalike is a definite possibility.]
I mostly get it, but... [he pauses] Are you sure it was really me here before?
[as opposed to a replica or some illusion or whatever else? if he had used a keybl-- wait, no that point in time could've been prior to being able to summon it. damn, an easy way to figure that out flew out the window. determining the truth hinges on if that him left behind any noteworthy clues, ones terra might've somehow picked up from whatever source mentioned riku's prior stay here.]
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[Terra has no idea how Riku will react to him talking about Roxas -- maybe with the same anger that Roxas talked about Riku? -- but he's prepared to handle that. Ever since speaking about it with Roxas, he'd been expecting to have hostilities to diffuse on either end, if ever Riku came back here again.]
One thing did bother me, though. A girl said she met you... and she said you used darkness. [There's no judgement in Terra's voice, not when he's still struggling with his own darkness, which only seems to grow and burn slowly away at his heart by the day. He is concerned though, and it shows.] ...But she said you didn't use it for long, because you were afraid of hurting her.
Does that sound like something you would do?
[The fact that Riku appeared to have control over his darkness, and self-awareness enough to recognise how it could harm others, is a small comfort. It sounds totally unlike Terra's darkness, a seething, black pit of fear and anger, a volatile force that could surge out of control at any moment.
But it's only a small comfort. Would Riku, someone Terra had found with such a strong light, really fall prey to the darkness in the same way he had? Maybe he should have seen it coming, when he'd seen so much of himself in Riku... Maybe this was another of his failures, too.]
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Roxas might not be able to tell the difference.
[it isn't something riku would expect him to be able to do. very small ways exist to tell fakes from the real thing, one of the major ones being whether a keyblade is real or not. roxas, in possession of the real thing(s), wouldn't be able to tell even if him at that point at time had been capable of wielding one. riku, having held a fake one-- ...wait, had he?
the mention of darkness causes both the fake keyblade train of thought to derail and some light tensing. he appreciates the lack of a judgmental tone in terra's voice. not everyone is like that. he hadn't been like that toward himself. if it wasn't for friends who knocked sense into him then where would he even be today? probably a pawn of xehanort's. he frowns and hesitates, if only momentarily, before replying.]
It fits with how I was then.
[so scared of the darkness and using it that he blindfolded himself in order to fool himself. that fear then lead to almost losing himself to it again. fun times. his shoulders relax and his voice holds full confidence (not overconfidence, either) upon speaking again.]
You don't need to worry; it's not the same now.
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[It explains the lack of a blindfold, and the now shorter hair, if the Riku he'd seen before had been from the past. Which means CERES had brought back his data from another point in time...
Terra's proud, but also envious. He'd travelled to so many worlds to find a way to tame his darkness, and he'd only made it worse. Xehanort made it worse. Even knowing Xehanort was behind it only builds on his rage and grief, making the darkness stronger and stronger.]
Then maybe you never needed me after all. [Terra says it quietly, looking away. He thinks he might have just led Riku astray, deeper into darkness... and he wouldn't be all that wrong, either.] I never became the kind of Master I should have been for you. I'm sorry.
[He stands up straight, arms at his sides, and offers Riku a deep, formal bow.]
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a bow and an apology? it takes him off guard for a second if only because he never expected anyone to do either for him. usually the one apologizing for bad behavior and failing others is riku himself. considering that those he'd failed forgave him, no reason exists to deny terra the same. yes, maybe things would've ended up better had terra been there. they also could've not. who can say for sure? terra himself doesn't even know what happened due to not being from the same point in time. yeah, blaming him even knowing that won't be happening. instead, riku offers him a kind smile.]
It's not too late to change that. [it's never too late to change. ah, but one thing might help speed that up.] Maybe you could start by finally giving me a name to go with the face?
[it HAS been over a decade. a name is definitely a solid start for a master.]
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Still, he offers a sheepish smile in return.]
I never gave you it, huh? [That's right... Back on the island he'd been so intent on his goals, and Riku was distracted by his friend, that they didn't get a chance to talk at length. It's amazing that Riku even remembered as much as he has. Still, at least lost time is something they can make up for here.]
It's Terra.
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[he repeats, making sure to keep it memorized (axe-- lea would approve). and he will. the name will join that memory in never getting forgotten. something so important simply can't be. that smile grows a little wider into a playful smirk.]
I think I'll pass on calling you Master Terra, though, at least until you do change things.
[just think of it as riku's own personal mark of mastery exam. it's also a backhanded way of implying a desire to get to know terra properly. he really wants to. just who is the man who set in motion everything? however long this stay in cerealia ends up being, a portion of that time will be used to finding out. the rest of that time? spent on figuring out how much a hand xehanort has in all this.]
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[Xehanort may have considered him a Master, but for what? To get Terra onside as his willing apprentice, to make him turn to the darkness, even destroy his own real Master -- his father -- in the process?
No, he definitely doesn't deserve a title like that.]
I still have a lot of things I need to set right. Abandoning you is only one of them.
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right. crocs. they seem to have decided that a still target on land is as good as a moving one in the water. out running them shouldn't be any issue but standing around won't end well. after eying the creatures for a moment longer, riku's gaze turns back toward terra.]
You'll have to tell me more about that later. [because he really does want to know and potentially help out, if possible.] Why don't we get out of here for now before we end up being lunch.
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Get moving, and I'll slow them down.
[He raises his Keyblade and casts Mine Shield, a row of glowing magical mines appearing on the ground between them and the crocodiles. Even if their programming is particularly smart enough to go around the mines, it'll buy more time to cover his and Riku's retreat.]
no subject
Got it.
[once that gets said, he starts running. it's not a super fast pace, enough to get away from the area but not so fast that it's difficult to keep up with.]