( closed ) embrace the darkness that's within me

[shadowedheart]

Who: Riku and Vanitas ( Riku and Arden later )
Where: The slums
When: Middle of the month
Format: [ like this ]
closed
Summary: Just Riku and Vanitas having a nice little chat with each other. Yep.


[ Riku doesn't like this and for more than one reason.

Despite his earlier regret with the situation of Vanitas stealing Naminé's amulet and how he had been asked to stay back and be with her while Sora and Ventus retrieved it, he had done what Sora had asked of him even if he had "hung up" on him and stayed out of it. Much to his frustration.

But for Vanitas to reach out to him... well, this was clearly a recipe for disaster, wasn't it?

Truth be told, it had been Riku's intention to ignore the little punk when he contacted him over the amulets with his beef. But when an unversed had tapped at the window of his room at the "KH Clubhouse" with one of Ven's wrist bands in its mouth, Riku had left his bed and decided to take this bait from Vanitas.

He hadn't said a word to anyone with his departure and followed the unversed to the slums, a part of the city that Riku couldn't exactly say he had ever been to before... and was another reason why he didn't like any of this.

It's somewhere a little ways off from the more populated area of the slums and more near the industrial part of it that the unversed seems to stop and Riku takes it as this being "the meeting place" for them. Even with hands in his pockets, he's on high alert, glancing around through his blindfold without even moving as he stands there just outside the abandoned warehouse.

He doesn't even bother calling out to Vanitas, he knows he's here, can smell him. ]

Comments

[boundbynaught]

[ ... But he had. Obviously, right? He'd made it in some form or another. The blindfold was still there after all. That shouldn't have been something that concerned Arden. It was the kind of thing that Riku had trouble facing, the kind of thing they'd talked about before - both Riku now and Riku back then. The problem is in Riku's tone of voice, Arden decides; because of how exhausted Riku is, he can't really tell whether Riku succeded or failed at that control. Or if he feels like he needs to admit a failure to someone other than Sora before it slips out later. ]

You pulled out all the stops.

[ Just like he'd feared. If Riku's this exhausted, then he really is susceptible to despair swallowing him whole the way it had Arden... before he was 'Arden.' ]

Don't worry about that right now. Just don't fall asleep yet. Please.

[shadowedheart]

[ Well, that's easier said than done when saying that to someone whose eyes literally feeling like they're being dragged down by invisible weights.

Still, Riku finds himself leaning against Arden the best he can despite whatever maneuvers may be made to him by the other to make this easier on him. ]

Everyone... Sora... they didn't want me to go near Vanitas, worried I couldn't handle him because of my Darkness.

[ Somehow, he gets the feeling that maybe Arden can understand that frustration of being told that, let alone with yourself for being "weak" for it. ]

But I couldn't... I couldn't lose control, not this time.

[boundbynaught]

... Not everyone.

[ The tone is bitter, but not at Riku. The same "everyone" hadn't wanted him near Vanitas either. But he focuses on readjusting Riku while he keeps walking, but he's starting to slow down now that they've gone a block. Arden's strong, but his endurance is terrible. He could blame Vexen but he hasn't exactly made an effort either, and he uses Dark Corridors to get everywhere. Maybe Noctis had had a point. ]

You're not the type to back down.

[ There's a small smirk on Arden's face. Because neither is he. And he knows why. But it's one of the aspects he's proud of - one of the things that Minnie called out when she knighted him. ]

[shadowedheart]

For our own good, right?

[ And there might be, strained and soft as it is, a bit of a chuckle in the back of his throat at that. Because, yeah, he definitely gets the feeling Arden knows exactly how that feels. ]

But I wouldn't... I wouldn't let him dictate my heart anymore. Try and tell me that I'm weak, that I'm useless, that I failed protecting Naminé, that no one needed me here with Sora around.

[ His words fall softer and softer as he speaks, tired from everything but at the same time, feeling as though he needs to say this. ]

I needed to show that I'm the one in control and that the Darkness doesn't control me anymore.

[boundbynaught]

[ Arden nods with an empathetic grimace. For their own good indeed. And then Riku is repeating himself. At least, that's what Arden thinks. He doesn't know why Riku could have failed to protect Naminé, but the rest of it he gets, in the sense of things that would goad Riku. He imagines it in Larxene's voice, but the impact is comparable.

Realization is creeping into Arden's face. He stops there in the street, craning his neck to see Riku's expression. ]

... The mark on my arm disappeared. I thought you were dead. It felt like you were dying.

[ Or maybe it wasn't Riku. Not all of him. ]

Riku... Did you show him?

[shadowedheart]

[ To think that it felt like he was dead... that it felt like he was dying... had that something to do solely with the fact that Arden had absorbed some of his Darkness by accident that one time? Or was there more to it? Was there something else at play there? Was there beginning to be more of a connection between them after all? ]

Sorry... wasn't trying to die.

[ He wants to chuckle a bit at that but, still... so tired. The question, however, regarding whether or not he had shown Ansem, has Riku hum for a moment.

But before he can even properly answer Arden, his head drops against the other's shoulder... and it stays there, Riku falling and pressing against Arden with the bulk of his weight.

Having passed out on him. ]

[boundbynaught]

[ Arden groans in frustration, knowing full well that Riku was on the cusp of going unconscious this whole time, but... after he breathes for a minute... and realizes that the darkness isn't coming to envelop him. He gets to walking again.

And calls Sora to warn him. ]