voidtreckerexpress | Some long overdue conversations

Entry tags:

Some long overdue conversations

Who: Lea and Xehanort, Lea and Vexen (plus also possibly Ienzo and Ansem), Lea and Ken, then later Lea and anyone up late
Where: The Library/Quiet, Lab, Games/Garden, and Standard cars, respectively.
When: Nebula 17, various points throughout the day
What: Della's departure, among other things, have prompted Lea to stop putting some things off
Warnings: Discussion of KH canon nastiness and probably some strong feelings in the Xehanort thread, otherwise TBD, but probably not much

For Xehanort

Even as he approached the table in the library where Xehanort was sitting, Lea still wasn't sure this was a good idea. Nor was he sure how he felt about the silver-haired man. But one thing he was sure of, was the fact that it was necessary. And if he waited until he was sure how he felt about the whole thing, it would probably never happen.

So here he was, coming him with a cup of tea in either hand, ready to at least try this thing. "Hey...", he greeted Xehanort awkwardly, by way of announcing his presence. "So... when you first showed up, I promised I'd talk to you about what happened from my point of view. Did you... still want to hear that? Cause if you do, well... I'm ready to talk." And if he wasn't interested... well at least Lea could leave him the cup of tea as a peace offering.

For Vexen, and possibly Ienzo and Ansem

The hardest thing he needed to do over with, Lea sought out Vexen in the lab car. There was a good possibility that Ienzo or even Lord Ansem might be nearby too, and if they were so much the better. There were a few things Lea wanted to ask Vexen specifically, but the main thing would benefit from as many smart people from his world knowing about it as possible. "Hey Vexen," he said as he entered, pausing by the door of the lab for the moment. "Can I talk to you for a couple minutes? There's some things I want to ask you about. And something I want to show you too."

For Ken

His business with Vexen taken care of, Lea looked for Ken, finally finding him in the games car. "Hey there, Ken," he said. "Glad I found you. You doing anything major right now? Cause if not, I was wondering if you might be interested in your first official lesson in fire magic?" After having gotten a few tips from Vexen he was fairly confident he could at least teach Ken the basics when it came to fire. Though he'd leave the rest of it up to Vexen.

Semi-open, later at night

It had been a busy day, and much of the train had already gone to bed, but Lea was still up, sitting in the standard car, recording a rather long train log entry. He seemed to be concentrating on what he was doing, or at least unaware that there was anyone else in the car at that late hour. But once he finished his message and looked up, he abruptly seemed to realize he wasn't alone. "Oh, hey...", he said. "Didn't see you there. So, I... guess you probably heard at least part of that, right?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Every move Lea makes is watched with the alert wariness of a well-kicked dog, but Xehanort's not running, not yet. He's spent the last two months very deliberately staying out of the way of anyone who had echoes of the darkness he'd heard on that platform and Lea was one of those; it had served well enough til now. Staving off more violence, or simply trying to prevent more of the same misery he'd apparently already caused? Even he doesn't know.

"It might fill in some gaps." Which there were more than a few of, even now. "But I have learned enough where if it is too uncomfortable for you, it is not required."

An out. For himself? Or for Lea?

Lea didn't miss the out that was offered, nor how wary Xehanort looked. He couldn't say he really expect any less, given their first encounter; he'd have probably felt the same, if the situation was reversed.

But while the conversation would likely never really be comfortable, he didn't take the out, shaking his head slightly. "No," he said. "I think it's important that we talk about it. It'll probably be really awkward, but no more so than trying to dodge each other forever on a crowded train would be."

"We probably don't want to talk out here though; we should likely find a Quiet Car compartment or something." This would likely be difficult enough without having to worry about other people listening in.

"I would prefer not." The response is immediate, with the sort of swiftness that suggests deep underlying reasons and not merely whim, no matter how controlled he's keeping his voice. And he seems to be aware of it, given the moment of subtle floundering that follows, and a continuation that, while reasonable, has the sense of an excuse. "Somehow I don't think it's wise for either of us to be stuck in a small space with only one exit just yet."

He hasn't been in one of those isolated little sections of quiet since the first week he'd been on the train. "I will know if someone's lurking around. Besides which, it seems my ... future antics are an open secret at best regardless."

Lea blinked in surprise at the sudden rejection of the idea, but nodded. "Alright," he said. He didn't quite buy the reason Xeahnort offered- or at least, he doubted it was the only reason-, but he was willing to let it go.

He offered Xehanort one of the two cups of tea before moving to sit across from him. "I dunno if you're more a coffee guy or not, but tea's what I know better," he said. "Made the mistake of trying some coffee Xigbar- Braig's Nobody- made once, and it was bad enough to put me off the stuff ever since."

He had to think a moment about Xehanort's last comment though. "Maybe among people from our world, but otherwise I don't think I've really heard anyone mention it. And I know I haven't really said much anything about it to anyone who didn't already know myself." Granted, their initial encounter on the platform had been rather difficult to miss and had undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows, but Lea hadn't had anyone outside the group from their world bring it up with him.

The cup is taken carefully and ... set aside. It isn't a rejection, it's just still warm enough where simply holding onto it might get uncomfortable quickly. "Coffee was the preferred drink amongst Master Ansem's students." There were alternatives but if you wanted to fit in.. "Braig's version is ... meant to be had primarily with bacon the morning after quite a bit of drinking. A hangover with his recipe would clear up in twenty minutes. Without that first.. I suppose you could use it as paint thinner."

Braig was, sadly enough, the closest ally he'd had in the castle. He didn't know why, but the gunner was always faithful, if obnoxious. Maybe the gunman would show up one day, and then what? Did he have to deal with as much animosity as Xehanort did?

"Mm. Perhaps my perception of it is .. by necessity somewhat different. I don't know all of the people who've accosted me over it, which makes it hard to tell if they're simply ... over-eager heros looking for something to fight over, or if they are victims. Or both." He still manages to keep his tone and expression fairly neutral, as if none of it really bothered him. It did, and immensely so - but that would be pretty akin to baring his belly to the knife and hoping Lea's not simply putting on a polite act the way he himself was.

Lea grimaced slightly, recalling the taste of the coffee in question. "Yeah, that about describes it alright," he said. "I should've known better when even Vexen wasn't touching it, but..." He trailed off with a shrug. When one was still half asleep, bad decisions like that happened.

At the news that people had people had been pestering Xehanort about it though, he frowned. "If there's anyone who keeps doing it, let me know who, and I'll tell them to back off," he said. "For better or worse, this is our little group's mess to sort out; other people trying to get involved'll only make things harder, whatever their intentions are."

"For all that it's a lovely thought, somehow I suspect doing any such thing will make things worse, not better." Ansem had made a similar declaration.

He hadn't taken that one up either. Why should random people care what Ansem said? Or Lea, for that matter. And then he'd just be using others for his own ends again.. The thought is waved off; that is his problem to contend with. "It can't be helped. But it does include you in that number of unknowns taking umbrage." There's no heat in the accusation, no anger, just a stating of fact.

Lea is a complete unknown.

"Where do you fit into this?" He sets his book aside, however reluctantly, alongside the teacup. "What will I do to you or your kith and kin, that your reaction was ... as it was? Are you an over-eager hero, or a victim?"

Lea's frown remained, but after a moment, he nodded. "OK," he said. "Long as they don't do it when I'm right there, I'll keep my mouth shut." If someone did do it right in front of him, it would be much more of a situational thing. He knew himself well enough to know that he tended to react before thinking a lot of the time.

But ah, there it was. Now they were getting down to business. "A bit of both, by this point," he replied after a brief moment of thought. "I never really knew this version of you, not like the others did; my best friend Isa and I were just kids back then. I dunno if you ever saw us sneaking around the castle, but from what Vexen's said, I'm sure you must've heard Dilan complain about us doing it at least once or twice."

"Long story short, Isa and I got caught snooping in stuff we shouldn't have been in the lab. We'd seen way too much of what was going on there to let us go, so... our hearts were stolen. Isa and Lea became Siax and Axel, Numbers VII and VIII in the Organization, respectively." He paused, took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "I'd... say it was you who took our hearts, but the Organization numbering means that you and the other apprentices were already Nobodies by then, so technically it was Xemnas. But... yeah, that's how I first got mixed up in this." There was obviously more to tell, but he paused there to let Xehanort respond or ask questions about what had been said so far if he wanted to.

Silence for a time, as presumably he works on fitting those bits of information into what he already knows like some sort of grand misery-inducing puzzle.

Children sneaking around. Had Dilan ever mentioned it, even in passing? Was that something already happening? Should he have paid attention more, or less to such things? "Your best friend." Isa, Saix. Did it matter which name? "What does he look like?"

It doesn't have the sense of trying to match to someone he already knows, and given what's happened before, he's probably simply making sure he recognizes someone likely to attack him as the others had.

So far, it's his only question, and continuing will be unhindered for the moment.

During the ensuing silence, Lea quietly took a sip of his tea, hoping to make it feel less awkward. It worked, but only slightly. At least Xehanort's question was fairly easy to answer. "He's got light blue hair, blueish-green eyes, and an X-shaped scar in the middle of his face," he said, using a finger tip to trace an approximation of Isa's scar on his own face. "It's not nearly as gnarly-looking as Xigbar's, but it's really distinctive." Not for the first time, he wondered what happened to Braig to cause such prominent scars, but quickly shoved that thought aside. Now wasn't the time for that particular tangent.

"Anyway, Siax and I were officially members of the Organization. Aside from each other, we didn't trust anyone in it as far as we could throw the castle, for obvious reasons, but where else were we going to go? We were literally Nobodies with nothing. Still, I think we both might have run out on it early on, before things were really established, if we didn't think that Xemnas had some information we wanted."

"Turns out he almost certainly didn't, but it was our only lead. So Siax and I came up with a plan; he'd work to climb the Organization's ranks and get close to Xemnas, while I hung back and worked to make that easier for him. Eventually, I became the guy who made the Organization's problems- and the sources of those problems- go away. I commanded the Assassin Nobodies, and that was... sadly pretty accurate at the time. I mean, I wasn't generally a sadist like Larxene, but..." He trailed off, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Xemnas lied to us all and told us all that the only way any of us would ever have hearts again would be to follow his plan. That any flickers of emotion any of us felt were just or imaginations playing tricks on us. And like idiots, all of us, including me, believed him. So for a decade, my body grew up into what you see now, but inside? I started to become less and less like anything resembling human. As Axel, I was cruel, manipulative, and perfectly willing to kill anyone who turned on the Organization or got in Siax's and my way."

"Then Sora came along, and eventually Roxas and Xion. That's... when everything really started to change."

That's fairly distinctive, enough where he's pretty sure if he spotted someone like that he'd be able to avoid the situation entirely. All he really had to do was keep alert on platforms, or experiment a bit more with illusion magic. There's a short nod of acknowledgment; it'd be remembered.

There's little bits that fill in a gap here and there that he'd missed, and some of it is outright new. Even didn't discuss the Organization much, by way of what it actually did and what people's roles were within it. "What sorts of 'problems' would a super powered group of people need assassins to handle instead of outright public murder?" And more importantly why would anyone care? "It seems wasteful."

Among other things.

Something in what Lea says does catch his attention, but he waits - it will be asked about but not right away. "I'm afraid I don't know those names either. I assume they lead to the end of my reign of terror, by context?"

"Internal problems," Lea said. "The Organization wasn't the kind of group that accepted resignations, if you know what I mean. So if any of the members decided they were tired of following Xemnas and tried to leave, or tried to run their own schemes on the side to try and take over? I was the guy in charge of eliminating the 'traitors'. Or dragging them back, on the rare occasions Xemnas thought they were valuable enough to warrant it."

"But for the most part the Organization tried to keep a low profile until Xemnas was ready to make his move. Flying under the radar of those fighting on the side of light. It worked surprisingly well, given how much the uniforms made us stick out on most worlds; Black Coats are useful, but inconspicuous, they're not."

As for Sora, Roxas, and Xion... "Eh... sort of? It's complicated and still ongoing in the time I'm from. And you're about the only version of you who isn't part of the whole 'reign of terror'." Seriously, there were so many Xehanorts.

"Anyway, Sora came into the picture first. The first new Keyblade wielder to pop up in quite awhile, and the only one that was know to be active at the time. At one point in the process of stopping the mess your Heartless was causing with the worlds, Sora lost his heart too. It was only temporary, thanks to Kairi, but it was long enough to create a Nobody: Roxas. Because of the weird circumstances, though Roxas didn't have the memories of his human Other like the rest of the Organization did."

"What he did have, and what the Organization needed him for was that he could wield a Keyblade. That meant he could use it to collect the hearts left behind when he destroyed Heartless, and finally put Xemnas' plan into high gear. But Xemnas wanted to cover his bets, so he had Vexen use one of his Replicas to try and copy Roxas' powers. That Replica eventually became Xion."

"Well I guess she was always called Xion, technically. But she was never supposed to be anything more than a puppet; a vessel to be used as a backup of Roxas. But since Replicas couldn't be created without at least the basics of a heart, the more she interacted with others, especially Roxas, the more she became her own person." Pause. "She's actually here on the train, by the way. If you see a smallish person hanging around in a Black Coat with the hood up? That's her. She probably won't approach you though; I can barely get her to talk to people she likes, most of the time, so... yeah."

"Anyway, after a long series of events at an Organization facility called Castle Oblivion, Sora needed to be put into a deep sleep in a stasis chamber. His memories had been tampered with and rewritten thanks to a plan of Marluxia's, and he needed to sleep while they were being restored to normal. Marluxia's plan turned out to have way more side effects than I think he ever intended though. For Roxas, for Xion... and for me."

"Even had given me the impression that Nobodies who could think were exceptionally rare. How many 'traitors' had Xemnas told you to be rid of?" The Organization must have had quite a few in it; even if there were only one or two per world destroyed, that could potentially be dozens.. and not everyone got along, surely, even without hearts. There is a soft huff and a muttered give it time at Lea's claim that he's the only one not involved in the reign of terror. That'll change, eventually.

There are things called 'replicas', and they are meant to be vessels. There's a pause; by his expression this is another thing he'd never encountered before, but after a slow nod seemingly it's just accepted. Of all the nonsense and ridiculous notions he'd heard of so far, this one is the only one that actually seemed reasonable to him, given what he knew (falsely) of his own nature. "I think we'll be able to avoid each other easily enough so long as she doesn't choose to attack me." Whereupon he'll retaliate; it might not go well for him, he still wasn't particularly amazing at fighting, but that wasn't the point as far as he's concerned. Not being anyone's easy victim however was.

But he'll remember it. Yet another person who's darkness will scream terror and hate at him should he encounter them unexpectedly--

"What an ominous sounding location. Is Marluxia one of the traitors, or someone considered loyal?" It's a complicated story and there's too many names going on, he needed something to keep notes with. Focus on the clinical side of it, then he doesn't have to let the rest of it eat away at him. Facts, names, places..

He heard the muttered words, but didn't comment on them for now. There was still a lot to cover. "Honestly? Not many," Lea said. "Like I said, everyone pretty much bought into the whole 'following Xemnas is the only way to get your heart back' thing, so no one was gonna risk turning without a solid plan, especially since they knew what would happen if they failed. Most of my time was taken up with regular field work. But when there was an icky job that Xemnas needed done? I was his man."

"Course I was also working with Siax. So anyone who got a little too close to our plan was on my hit list too. Six members of the Organization were sent to Castle Oblivion. Out of those six? I was the only one who came back alive. Between me, Sora, and Riku, we took out close to half the Organization. And so I thought, cleared the way to the top for Siax." So he'd thought. So they'd both thought at the time.

"And yeah Xion was... pretty keen on going after you at first, when she found out you were here. Vexen and I convinced her otherwise, so that shouldn't be a problem. Unless things change pretty drastically, you can both probably just go on avoiding each other, no problem."

"And Castle Oblivion is every bit as ominous as it sounds, but the Organization had a use for it. It was located exactly between the realms of Light and Darkness, and the castle itself had special properties. The rooms could shift around at random, and people's memories in the form of special cards could be used to generate illusions in it. Places you'd been, people you missed... combined with the shifting rooms, it was a dangerous place to go into without a solid plan for getting out." Or just in general, honestly.

"As for Marluxia, he was a traitor along with Larxene. They were scheming together to use Sora to take down Xemnas and take over the Organization for themselves. After all, if they had their own Keyblade wielder to gather hearts, Xemnas wasn't necessary any more. Needless to say, it didn't work out for them."

"And I know this is a lot to get memorized; I have trouble keeping everything straight myself sometimes. But after Castle Oblivion things got a little bit simpler, at least in terms of the number of people involved. Course they made up for it by getting complicated in other ways, thanks to those side effects I mentioned."

It sounded like the answer to how many Axel was expected to kill was two, and everyone else his own ex-friend had gotten him to handle.

He supposed better really couldn't be expected out of people who either had no emotions or barely did, even though they very obviously didn't follow logic and common sense either. "Your ... friend sounds a bit more ruthless and inclined to kill than Xemnas, from this rendition." That was something he was going to remember, above and beyond the parade of names and events (which Riku is now added to as a Miscellaneous Side Person). Isa was going to be a problem if he suddenly turned up, and dangerously so, but Saix may or may not be able to be kept tabs on depending on whether or not the act was ongoing. Xion is put aside, she's not particularly high on his concern levels for the time being.

"Why were you sent to Oblivion? Not ... the pursuit of your own goals, but the original reason half the Organization was sent there, by context many of its most loyal members if their elimination meant a swift rise in power for your friend. There must have been a very good reason, beyond whim or vacation, to send all the faithful away at once."

Side effects of random castle: memory shenanigans and cards. "And were there long-term side effects of this location? Who set such a spell into place to begin with on it?"

The answer to how many he had been expected to kill was 'as many as necessary, as long as his actual targets were eliminated'. It had just wound up that two was how many he head killed. Three, if one counted driving Riku Replica over the edge and leading to his death too, but he wasn't planning on bring up Riku Replica and Naminé more than necessary; it was hard enough keeping the story from diverting off onto tangents as it was and both of them were Complicated for their own reasons.

"We'd all pretty much reached peak awfulness by that point," he said. "Me included. But Siax... I didn't know it at the time, but Siax had a chunk of Darkness inside him that wasn't his that was pushing things further than he might have gone on his own. Vexen has the same problem now; he's got a much better handle on it though, and is working on getting rid of it."

As for what they'd been sent there for... he considered for a moment what he'd say. "Well, Vexen had a lab there, in one of the basement levels. Zexion worked there with him, and I guess Lexaeus was there with them as a guard; neither Vexen nor Zexion are the toughest physically, and some of the castle's unique properties limited what could be done with magic in combat. I don't know all the details- I tried reading Vexen's notes one time, but you've seen his handwriting-, but as I understand it castle being right on the border between Light and Dark made certain aspects of their research much easier."

"But that wasn't the main thing; just a bonus. The main thing we were there for was the Chamber of Waking. It's a room, supposedly hidden somewhere in the castle, and in such a way that only the castle's creator would be able to find it. But there was something in it that Xemnas wanted, so he wasn't about to let that stop him. I'm inclined to believe it really is there- all evidence is that the castle was made as weird as it is on purpose, and it being basically a security system would be a good reason for that-, but I'm also inclined to believe the bit about only the castle's creator knowing how to find it. I searched that place from top to bottom more than once and didn't find any trace of it; if it is there, it's not a place you're gonna find just by looking."

"As for the side effects, they weren't really from the castle itself, but from me encountering Sora, and Marluxia messing with Sora's memory in hopes of controlling him. For me, encountering Sora kickstarted the development of a new heart, though I didn't know it at the time. It's hard to explain, but if you ever meet him you'll probably get why he'd trigger it."

"For Roxas and Xion, though..." He sighed. "Roxas was Sora's Nobody, so he and Sora were already connected. And Xion was a Replica designed to copy Roxas' powers and connected to him through the use of copies of Sora's memories. And all that might have worked fine, had it not been for Marluxia's meddling."

"Sora was in a deep sleep while his memories were being reconstructed. But because of the connection to Roxas and Xion, some of those memories kind of... got lost, and wound up stuck inside them. And as they became more and more their own people, eventually the only way to get those memories back into Sora would be for both of them to merge with him. And as an added bit of ickiness, this also turned up the connection between her an Roxas way beyond what it was meant to be; instead of just copying his powers, she was unintentionally drawing them all into herself. Basically, she was unwittingly sucking the life out of Roxas just by being near him."

"And all this was even further complicated by the fact that they'd become best friends with each other... and with me. I found out the basics of the situation, and did what I could to try and protect them both, but... between Siax being jealous of me having friends other that him, and the Organization eventually deciding they only really needed one Keyblade wielder, I knew I was fighting a losing battle. If I couldn't think of something, I was gonna lose one or both of my best friends, and I was fresh out of ideas." He scowled into his tea at his own dim reflection in the liquid. "Well, out of good ideas anyway. Everything I tried to do from that point only seemed to make things worse."

There's silence for a time as all of this is considered, dissected and filed away. The chunk of darkness is of course, his own, he could recognize it well enough in Even so logic followed that Saix was another of these.

"Given my introductions to every single person who recognizes my name," the young researcher murmurs, "I'm reasonably sure all I'll get out of encountering this 'Sora' is mayhem." Would that trigger a new heart in someone? Perhaps, depending on the reasons.

The chamber of waking, whatever that might have been, possibly held some key to whatever it was that drove his future selves. But if Lea didn't know what was in it, that too would remain a mystery. "How does that conflict end?"

Xion's obviously alive, and he saw nobody on the roster named Roxas, though that didn't mean much.

"You might be surprised," Lea said. "Sora is the kind of guy who can befriend pretty much anyone who isn't actively trying to kill him. And sometimes I doubt whether that would stop him, if the person offered a sincere enough apology. Which is admittedly not the brightest move sometimes, but it seems to work for him."

"As for how it ended... in short, not great. Xion fled the Organization and I let her; I didn't know it at the time, but she'd decided that the best thing for her to do was to merge with Sora willingly. And it wasn't long after that that Roxas confronted me about the information I'd been keeping from him, about Xion, and about Sora. And when I still refused to tell him, he fled the Organization too, though a lot more violently than Xion had, fighting his way out of the castle and past Siax. He met me on his way out of the city, and I tried to convince him it was too dangerous to turn on the Organization, but he wasn't having it."

He looked down at his tea. "In hindsight, I probably should've gone with him. Or told him what he'd wanted me to tell him before. Or... done pretty much anything besides what I did do, which was just let him walk away."

"The next day I was sent to bring Xion back. I confronted her, and I was... well I was a lot of things and didn't know it at the time, since I still wasn't aware I was growing a new heart. I was angry. Frustrated. Scared. Probably mostly scared, and desperate to salvage something. We ended up fighting and I won, though only barely, and even then, only because she was trying to lose on purpose. I managed to bring her back to the castle, but ended up collapsing in the middle of a corridor. So I didn't salvage anything; all I ended up doing was practically giftwrapping her for Xemnas."

"What happened next I only know second hand, because Xion told me. She was sent after Roxas, and pretended to go along with Xemnas' plan to fight him and absorb him, but in the end, Roxas won, just like Xion had actually wanted. She was absorbed into him. And with here gone, all memory of her started to bade pretty quickly; since her entire existence was based on someone else's memories, once she was gone, there wasn't really a 'her' to remember, magically speaking. Even when I got my heart back I couldn't remember her properly til I saw her again, though the connection between us never really went away."

"After Xion... was lost, it wasn't long, til Roxas was captured, but not by the Organization. Instead he was captured by Diz, the one who was using Naminé to reconstruct Sora's memories in hopes of using him for his own purposes. He altered Roxas' memories, making him think he was just a normal kid, put him in a simulated town while he finished working on Sora. The Organization tried more than once to get him back, first with Dusks, and then by sending me, but in the end I failed, and Roxas merged with Sora too. So I ended up losing both of them after all."

"No, I'm not busy." He set his deck back into his bag, smiling brightly at Lea. He'd been excited for this, but he hadn't wanted to push Lea. Still, after the last mission made using Dike more difficult... he was ready to get another tool under his belt to use in those kinds of situations.

"Though... probably not in here." Not a good idea to set the cards on fire.

Lea looked around at all the various paper and cardboard things in the game car and gave a wry smile. "Yeeeaaah, this car's a bit too flammable for a first lesson in fire magic, " he said. "The rock garden car would probably be best; not much there that can burn if things get a little out of hand."

"Let's get going, then." He stood up and stretched, turning towards the rock garden. It was just one car over, so it wouldn't take long to get there.

"I remember nearly setting things on fire when I started using Nemesis... I had to learn to not aim at metal stuff."

"Heh, yeah, Larxene had to learn that one the hard way too," Lea said. "She was the one in the Organization whose thing was Thunder magic, in case Vexen never mentioned her. She was also really into knives and violence. And I mean really into it, more than probably anyone else in the Organization. Makes me wonder what her Somebody's like, honestly..."

"Anyway," he said as the entered the rock garden car, moving off to one side to be out of the flow of traffic, "fire magic. Your basic fire spell's about as standard as they come; one small fireball." He held out his hand and one appeared hovering just above it. "If you do the spell right, this is basically what you'll get. But the intent you put behind the spell makes a lot of difference; this same fireball can be launched at a target, dropped lightly on a pile of wood to start a campfire, or just sit here like this. It's surprisingly versatile."

"What's also important with fire magic is control. That's generally important for all kinds of magic, but it's doubly so for fire magic, because fire wants to spread; that's just its nature. Thankfully learned spells are easier to control and less reactive than natural magic like mine or Vexen's, but it's still really important to be careful, especially for beginners. Basically, the rule with fire magic is to never call up more than you're sure you can control and put out. Got all that memorized so far?"

"Knives are Koromaru's thing, and he was the fire guy in our group. Fire and Darkness, actually. ... Different kind of Darkness." Lest he give Lea even more reason to worry.

He set his bag down and listened intently, forcing himself to focus on Lea's words. Intent... Persona were all about intent, too. A different kind of intent, but he could get the basic idea. He watched the flame flicker and cast its light, and then looked up and locked eyes with Lea.

No more than he was sure he could handle. Right. He nodded firmly, and then frowned. "Do you... not you, I guess, but do people get burned by their own spells?"

"Not usually in combat- unless your target has Reflect up-, since you're launching it away from you then," Lea said. "But yeah, it can happen, and not just with fire spells. Normally, spells like this don't affect the one casting them; sort of a built in magical safety feature. But when someone's just learning a spell, there's always a chance that it could backfire or go off the rails a bit."

"Which is why I've got a potion and a regular first aid kit in my pocket, and another reason why we're here in the garden car. To start with, we're gonna have you try and summon the fireball onto one of the bigger rocks, rather than into your hand. A lot less chance of you getting burned that way, if the spell doesn't work properly."

"Got it." Reflect was easy enough to understand. "But all of that makes sense." He shuffled his feet and watched the fire, trying to study it.

... It looked like a normal ball of fire, or at least as normal as a ball of fire could be. "How do I start with this?" On one of the rocks, yes. But trying to figure out where to even start with the spell was probably going to be one of the trickier parts.

"That's always the hardest part," Lea said, letting his own fireball dissipate. "Starting out, I mean. At least, given what Vexen told me. I imagine I'll find out for myself when he starts teaching me other kinds of magic."

Lea moved to kneel down by a large, flattish rock, gesturing for Ken to join him. "You already know how to summon your Persona. There's actually some basic similarities between that and this since magic is magic at the most basic level; just a kind of energy. A Persona's one form that magic energy can take, spells like this are another. Now a Persona's way more complex obviously, but with that you have an external tool to help you form it. This, it's just your will making it happen."

"Hold out your hand towards the stone. Try and reach for that same energy that you'd use to summon your Persona, except this time picture the fireball you want to appear. How it looks, the heat you can feel from it, anything you think will help you form it. Then, when you think you've got that set, say 'Fire' and will the fireball you pictured to appear on the rock."

He followed along, kneeling and taking in what Lea had to say. The same kind of energy as his Persona, huh? ... Hm. Maybe he could try using it to summon Dike differently... but those were experiments for another time. And probably with Vexen supervising.

He shook his head and tried to focus, tried to imagine fire vividly in his mind as he closed his eyes. The warmth of it to the scorching heat, the range of it from a match to a burning building. The smell of it, stinging his nose and the way it moved in the wind.

"Fire!" He stuck his hand out and opened his eyes to see... not much. The tiniest ember flickered in the air for a moment before sputtering out, and Ken frowned. "Oh..."

Lea didn't look nearly as disappointed as Ken did with the results of the spell. "Not bad for a first try," he said. "Proves you're on the right track, and you've got the general concept at least."

"Try it again. Get your mental image, focus your energy, and try to pull it together around that little flicker. Fire wants to grow and expand; don't be afraid to let it do that a bit."

Grow and expand... a little like lightning. Fast, growing, lighting up the winter night. He took a deep breath, trying to focus his energy up his body, down his arms, into his hands and fingers. He pushed away how strange it felt and focused on the feeling. He could feel his arms growing warm, and when he thrust his hands forward again a tiny flame no bigger than a match appeared on the rock.

"I did it!" The flame wobbled dangerously, and he scrambled to pull his attention back to it. No letting it get out of control. "... How do I put out my own fire, actually?"

It wasn't much, but it was an actual fire. Lea grinned. "Nice!", he said. "It's definitely a good start."

"As for how to put it out, honestly with something this small, it'd probably just go out on its own once you stopped actively trying to maintain it. But since you'll need to learn anyway, to cut off a fire spell you do the opposite of what you did to start it. Draw power away from it; picture it being smothered and disappearing. The more fire you have, the more assertive you'll have to be when doing that, because it's the opposite of what the magic wants to do, but just remember that you're the one in charge here. You made this fire, and you can unmake it."

The flame flickered a little bit as Lea spoke and Ken nodded, imagining the power pulling back into his fingertips, down his arms, into his chest. The flame disappeared without leaving so much as smoke behind, and Ken wiped his forehead. There was already a small headache forming and he sighed.

"I think... it's going to take a lot of practice. But at least I got something."

That was the beauty of magical flames; since they weren't actually burning physical fuel, there was nothing to make smoke. Lea nodded. "Yeah you did," he said. "And the more you practice, the easier it'll get and more natural it'll feel."

"Think you're up for trying again, and making it just a little bigger this time?" He was keeping an eye on Ken to make sure he didn't look too tried, but otherwise he was willing to go on a while longer if Ken thought he could.

"I think so." He took a few deep breaths, focusing on the rock in front of him. "I can do it." He was good with magic, dammit. He picked up how to use his Persona's magic easily. Even if it was a part of him, it still took some doing - but he took to it like a fish to water.

He could do this, too.

He held his hands out, trying to increase the heat that he felt before. He just needed a little more... there! A small ball of flame a little bigger than a golf ball appeared on the rock in front of him. He held his hand out towards it - could he...

It slowly rolled to the right, and Ken grinned.

Lea grinned too. "Hey, not bad!", he said. "You can even move it too; wasn't expecting that this lesson. Now for the important part though; can you put it out?"

"Um. I think so?" He definitely hoped so. He focused on trying to draw the heat back into his fingers and watched as the flame wavered slightly. Ken frowned and put one hand on the wrist of the other, supporting it as he kept focusing.

Slowly but surely the flame grew smaller and smaller before puffing out. He sided and rubbed his temple with the heel of his palm. His head was really starting to hurt.

Lea noticed Ken's discomfort but nodded in satisfaction at the result. "Good job," he said. "Though I think that might be enough for now; don't wanna push you too hard the first lesson."

Vexen is focused on a partially disassembled medical laser when Lea approaches, etching magical circuits into it while muttering about steel and magical conductivity. For once, he doesn't seem annoyed by the interruption, instead rubbing his eyes as he turns.

"Yes? Whatever you intend to show me, I hope it does not require close inspection."

"It doesn't," Lea said. "Well, at least not right away. I dunno if you might wanna take a closer look at one later or not." He also noted what Vexen was muttering about and the apparent eye-strain it was causing, but resolved to get the main thing he'd come to talk about out of the way first.

"Back on the fake Diagad, I ended up having to rescue somebody. While I was trying to get him to the safer part of the city, we came to an illusion bridge that we had to get across, but it was flickering in and out like crazy. There wasn't any way around it, and the guy was in no shape to go through a Dark Corridor, even with protection. So I did the only thing I could think of, and pulled out my Keyblade. I pointed it at the bridge, thinking that maybe since Keyblades are supposed to be able to lock or unlock anything, it might be able to 'lock' the illusion in place long enough for us to cross."

"Except that's not what happened. While I was there focusing on how much we needed to get across, I somehow opened a portal with the Keyblade. Two portals, really; one on either side of the bridge. It was like a Dark Corridor, but it was light instead of dark. Is that something you've ever heard of happening before?"

He turns in his chair, tapping his chin in thought.

"Not directly. Mickey's first visit to our world was via rather more...unstable methods, some artifact he could not fully control. However, there was another Keyblade wielder who visited that same day, well before the Garden's barrier was broken. The boy had not a drop of Darkness in his heart, so he most certainly was not using our usual method of bypassing the walls between worlds. Clearly he must have had some alternative method of creating such pathways, as even Gummi ships cannot enter a world that is yet entirely secluded from Interspace."

A Keyblade wielding boy, who was traveling between worlds and visited Radiant Garden before everything had fallen apart? That could only be... "You met Ven too?", Lea said. "Isa and I ran into him in the plaza. He seemed pretty down about something, so I decided to try and cheer him up, and challenged him to a little sparing match."

He gave an amused smirk. "He kicked my butt, to the surprise of no one. But it did seem to help him feel better, and we all had a good laugh about it afterwards. Isa and I couldn't stick around long after that, but somehow in that short time, we became fast friends." He paused, looking thoughtful. "I wonder if he'll remember me when we eventually find him? ...Probly not; I'd almost forgotten about him til I first met Roxas."

He's not sure if he should be surprised Lea ran into Ventus or not. It's a major coincidence, or perhaps it's simply fate. Even back then, he'd known that there was something special about that boy.

"You recall the 'monster' influx we were dealing with around that time? I had to prevent Aeleus and Dilan from recklessly following him when he chased one, if you can believe it." He sniffs, as if to suggest he'd expected them to be smarter than that. "Evidently, I was the only one of us three who realized he was more than capable of handling himself."

The reason the guards on duty shouldn't have abandoned their post to go help someone who didn't need it is self-evident, he hopes.

"He saved Ienzo's life, as well. I had a suspicion we would meet again, after that, so you can imagine my curiosity upon meeting Roxas."

"Yeah, I remember," Lea said. "I kinda wanted to find one, because I was young and dumb and had watched one too many episodes of Prismatic Guardians, though thankfully I didn't. What kept it in my head after the fact was that my dad kept talking about it though. Before that, most of his business was in regular jewelry, but after that it was more armor and protective charms than anything else." The 'monster' influx had unsettled everyone, probably more than he- as a carefree youngster- had realized at the time. It likely would have died down eventually, but as it had started to fade from immediate memory, a new darkness had begun to creep in in its place.

"But yeah, I didn't have a clue at the time that he was more than just a regular kid with a funny toy sword either. Guess it just goes to prove the whole 'not judging a book by its cover' thing."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Some long overdue conversations

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Ancient tag ahoy?

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