tunein | 04 ❥

[No. No, he didn't. He refuses to believe it. He makes his way towards the pair, staring the shadow down with that flat expression he always had.]

She's going to die if she stays too long. I'm not leaving her here.

Maybe she doesn't want to go back. She tried! She did! But it didn't work. It never works out like we want it to. Even when we want to change the world for other people. Isn't it better if we stay here? Both of us. With father, and mother. It's better here.

Edited 2013-10-11 16:45 (UTC)

It's not better. It's-- [--Turning away from the truth. Running from what you have. Running from the one who chooses to help her no matter what.] It's turning away from the opportunity to change. To better yourself.

Whether she wants to leave Inaba or not won't change my mind. She doesn't deserve what they've given her.

[Nor did she deserve the pain of dying alone.]

Edited (...More rewording because flubs everywhere. 8'|) 2013-10-11 17:06 (UTC)

[The shadow stands, finally relenting on her touch of Lucina's forehead. She looks angry. Distraught. A mixture of many things, all shifting, fighting for dominance.]

She wanted to change. But it's too late. It's just too late. Why won't you leave me alone?

[The last part is said through tears.

Relieved of the hand on her forehead, the persuasion to stay in dreams, the real Lucina stirs.]

Because it's too soon for her...for you...to give up.

[The World Arcana materializes in his hand. He's ready for it. If it goes berserk...he knows exactly what is asked of him.] I'm not losing her to this world, when she still has so much to do!

[It sees the card, the arcana. The shadow shakes its head frantically, screaming through tears. Whilst this place was quiet before, now it stirs, planets shifting and moving and irises bloom at her feet as each tear falls.] Stop it! I don't want to go back! I can't face anybody! [The voice grows distorted, interlaced with that of the real Lucina.] I can't even face myself!

[An admission. A hint of true feelings.

The shadow quietens, looking to its future self, past self, just self, with a long look. Voice calm. Still.]

And she won't. She won't even wake to look.

[Souji's expression changes little. That lack of strength, the lack of conviction to face life's troubles head-on...it was nothing new. But that unwillingness to look at even the one friend she had...it hurt more than he can say. It brought a sharp pain that none of the other Shadows ever did.

If he stopped here, though...she'd never see that light. That hope she's reaching out to in vain. He makes a wary step forward.]

Continuing to run away won't help anyone. Sooner or later...you'll have to come to terms with it.

[In response, the Shadow steps back, guarded, attempting to shield the real Lucina.]

You don't know anything! Don't you think she's tried? She did what everyone asked of her! She did it all! [Then she crouches back down next to the Earth, next to Lucina. It's a hard expression to name, one that's cruel, grim, and hopeless.] And she failed. [She reaches out to take hold of herself's face, small hands against cheeks, far too strong for a child. It's enough for the real Lucina to open her eyes, dazed, mostly gone, still lost in that dreamworld where her father is alive and her mother is alive and there's so much hope and no pain. Her grip on Lucina is strong, not just in actuality; but in mentality, as well.] Didn't you? What would mother and father think if they could see you now?

[Souji is silent for longer, as soon as he hears its words.

Did he not know? Maybe. He had a much better time of it than Lucina ever did, because he had a steadily growing circle of new friends, people to call family. He had them to count on if he had a problem. He had them looking up to him whenever they had problems, and he delivered.

Lucina didn't. She remained alone for her stay thus far in Inaba. She was isolated for everything that made her stand out. Rumors piled up left and right, all of them to either mock her or add to twisted admiration that was only as shallow as her appearance. They didn't understand her. They didn't comprehend what she stood for. They didn't bother to reach out in return. She, for all intents and purposes, was one girl trying to make an impact without a foothold. It hit home, not because of how it was a grim reminder of what he could have been, but because it was the very thing that he was before he came here, different circumstances be damned.

He was a boy who had nothing.]

Edited 2013-10-12 15:38 (UTC)

[But times change. And it changes people along with it, for better, or for worse. He was no longer that boy. He's become something much more -- someone with a true sense of purpose in life. And if it can change him into what he is now...it can surely change her.

Souji takes another, more firm step this time.]

Maybe so. But that leaves one question of mine unanswered.

Why did she choose to do all this by herself, even knowing she has someone to rely on?

Because everyone always leaves.

[It's said with a glint of malice, a true enough statement of sorrow warped into something else. It's true. Her father left, her mother left. Lucina left so she wouldn't have to lose anyone else, as well as to make a difference.

Don't you see, Souji? She can't bear to lose someone else.

So she wouldn't allow it to happen. Her shadow will stop it. For good.

Now, now she, it, it speaks of itself as a seperate entity.]

And I won't let it happen again. I won't let you take her back. You'll stay here, Lucina. Stay. Dream.

[She presses her hands harder into Lucina's cheeks, leaving indents of fingers, but the dazed expression remains. She doesn't quite close her eyes, though. Maybe it's Souji's proximity, the fact she can tell that are others are near, invading on the dream of happier days... maybe it's the fact they've come.

You should probably try to get the shadow away from her... it's clearly draining her ability to wake and to face it.]

...is that so? [She wasn't going to die. Not if he had anything to say about it, and if he had what it took to bring her out of this twisted dream...

What had been a simple step suddenly becomes a sudden run, and an attempt to drive her away -- for as soon as he gets close, he finally crushes that card in his hand, Izanagi emerging from within the sea of his soul and staring down at the Shadow with every inch of his master's intent.]

Then I'll be the one to make a difference.

[The shadow isn't stupid. Her previous reaction to the card's appearance is enough for her to again, stumble back, to well up with tears, to pretend to be the child.

For a few seconds, it continues this charade, until it gives him a grin that is hardly human.]

You really think so? You really think you're a prince come to save her?

[Even with Izanagi meters away, it still continues baiting.]

Try, then. You wake her up. Wake her. Go on.

[Because it's impossible. She's in too deep.]

[Souji stares back, meeting her inhuman smile with his calm stare.] I'm nothing of the sort. It's as you said...I'm the one friend she made.

[He doesn't wait for a response -- merely goes to try and shake Lucina awake. If he didn't try, then he came all this way only to witness someone's death...!

Come on...you can't be gone yet...! Stay with me!]

[The shdaow watches, clasping its hands behind its back again, walking to stand next to the pair of them.] It's not enough. I told you so.

[--or is it?

Lucina is dreaming. But that dream is crumbling. Where she was with her family, her baby brother asleep in her mother's lap as they watched a movie, her father vanishes. She turns around to ask her mother where her father is but she's gone, too. She looks down. She's older. She looks to the side. There's Inigo, asleep on the sofa next to her. A clock strikes a little past eight. Snow is falling outside. A phone rings somewhere in the house.

She knows this.

She knows this day like she knows herself. Hears the distant voices. The heavy footsteps. The phone answered. Then slower footsteps, until-

Miss Lucina. You may as well wake Inigo.

And Inigo is awake.

And their maid tells them the news she already knows she is going to hear.

Your mother, she... Lady Olivia didn't pull through.

The furniture go, the walls go, the house goes. The people beside her go. She's standing in a field of irises. Everyone always leaves.

Stay with me.

She doesn't recognise the voice. Something heard that couldn't possibly have been heard, somewhere distant, far away. But she walks. She walks through the field towards it. The distant murmur. It's better than standing here alone.]

[It's not over yet.]

[There's no visible sign. But the shadow knows it's falling. She made a mistake. Maybe not even a mistake. Maybe it was simply time, after they had come here. She should have made them go as soon as they got here.]

No! How can you... Lucina, don't! It'll hurt! It'll hurt us so much!

[Lucina opens her eyes.]

[There was a moment in which he faltered while he tried to wake her up...a short sliver in which his hope withered, and his heart sank. Why wouldn't she...? She couldn't have been dead... Was he really too late?

Had he really lost her to this?]

Edited (No repeating words here... >8C) 2013-10-12 16:56 (UTC)

[But it's when she finally opens her eyes that, without thinking, he holds onto her tightly -- letting the relief that washed over him calm his nerves. She was safe...alive...awake. Breathing. She might even feel a small tear fall as he continues holding on.

Make no mistake. It was his.]

[She's dazed. Everything is too loud, distant, too bright. But she knows someone is holding her up, off the ground, in... an.. an embrace?

She can't make it out. She can't figure out why. She can't think who it is. But she feels a tear and she blinks. It's not hers.

She blinks again. Again. Vision swirling. Difficult to focus. Fog everywhere.]

Sou... ji?

[He gives her a weak squeeze in response. It was him, alright...that same boy that supported her as best as he could.] ...Mm.

I'm right here...Lucina-san. [Still holding onto her, he spares a look for the Shadow, to not only keep her from seeing his sadness, but to make sure it hadn't done anything else.]

[She's still too out of it to hug him back or be embarassed about it... but it's a comfort.]

Where are we?

[She can barely make it out, as is, without the whole cosmos thing going on around them. Even as she attempts to look around, her eyes fall on her shadow.

Then they go wide in surprise.]

I remember... you were... you were here when I...

[She trails off. Ow, headache.]

[The shadow is quiet.

In fact, she has, for the most part, shut down.

Upon Lucina's awakening she dropped to her knees, before scrunching herself up into the equivalent of a ball, head against her lap and her hands over her head, holding herself together.]

No! No, it hurts too much... w-we can't... I don't want to!

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