A Disorganization Of Introductions - OTA

[nobodys_puppet]

Now that Xion and Lea have found each other, Xion isn’t letting him out of her sight if she can avoid it, afraid to find out that this wasn’t actually real. And that seemed to be mutual, so the two can be spotted the next day constantly with each other, as Xion shows him around from what she’s discovered. Which… mostly means good places to hide.

Xion’s hood would seem to be up to everyone but Lea until she actually pulls it down in the individual threads.

(Feel free to poke here to get a two for one reply!)

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[bearshermark]

Eleven turned from his prayer, eyes widening to find the two of them standing there, then settled into an uneasy smile.

He nodded.

"My power comes from Light and Life. Once I regain it, I believe I will be able to. There is a Heart I need to restore in my own world, too."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea had been about to greet the other young man, when somewhat to his surprise, Xion did so for him. Apparently she and the other boy had met before. But the request she made of him had him returning the other boy's rather uneasy smile with one of his own. He suddenly very much regretted not giving Xion his planned explanation before they'd set off on this little tour.

"Er, yeah, about that...", he said awkwardly. "That whole Nobody thing... not really an issue any more. At least not for me."

[nobodys_puppet]

Xion looked back at Lea, so confused. "Axel...?"

She wanted to hear more about what Eleven had to say, now that she no longer thought she had to be forgotten and die. If nothing else, maybe it could help Roxas. But... what did Axel mean about.... it not being an issue for him any more?

[bearshermark]

"Oh," his smile fell to relief, briefly assured he wouldn't need to be performing any miracles just then. "Is that so? I'm glad to hear it. ...Could I ask how it happened?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"I was gonna tell you after the... tour thing," Lea said to Xion. "It was supposed to be part of the big explanation. See, I did get my heart back. And so did most all the others who originally became Nobodies in Radiant Garden. That guy I mentioned, Ienzo? He's Zexion's Somebody. And I'm Lea again. You can still call me Axel, though."

He turned to the other young man, expression still sheepish. "Well, first someone with a Keyblade must have defeated my Heartless," he said. "Did Xion tell you what those are? And then my Nobody was destroyed too. At the time, I thought that was it, but then suddenly, I'm waking up in the castle at Radiant Garden's basement lab, whole again."

[nobodys_puppet]

Okay, Xion was super confused now. And a little staggered. Axel... had his heart back. And so did Zexion.... and he was helping them?

Yeah, she was out of the discussion for a moment, trying to process that.

[bearshermark]

Graced with only a half-remembered conversation as reference, Eleven only partially understood the explanation itself. He chanced a glance at Xion, briefly concerned for her, then turned back to Axel- ..or Lea?

He fidgeted. "I don't believe so. Xion said she'd lost her heart and that was why she is a Nobody, but then.. what is a Heartless?"

[nobodys_puppet]

She winced a bit, but did not clarify. Technically she had said that was how Nobodies were made, and that she was a Nobody and never corrected the very strong implication there. But Axel was one of the few people who knew the truth.

Knew that she never had a heart to begin with. That she was an experiment, not even a true Nobody.

But... But... if Axel had a heart now.. if he was a Somebody... why did he still want to be best friends with a Nobody like her? HAd... Fluttershy been right? That it didn't matter if she had a heart, so long as the other person did?

[hotheadwarmheart]

"A Heartless," Lea explained, "is what becomes of someone's heart when it's stolen. It's consumed by darkness and turns into a monster that can't itself feel anything, or even think, really. All a Heartless has is the instinct to attack people and steal their hearts in order to make more Heartless. Only a Keyblade can defeat a Heartless for good; other weapons work temporarily, but since they don't purify the heart and get rid of the darkness like a Keyblade does, the Heartless will just reform someplace else a bit later."

Lea noticed how quiet Xion had gotten during his explanation and frowned slightly in concern. This was partly why he'd wanted to get the whole explanation out of the way at once, and in private if possible. "Hey," he said, resting a hand on Xion's shoulder, "it's OK. I'll explain everything later, but for right now, don't overthink it. There might be a little more to me now, but it's still just me. And even if other things change, it's not gonna change the fact that we're friends. Got it memorized?"

[bearshermark]

The blood ran out of his face and for a moment, the world swam. Eleven braced himself on a pew in a way he hoped looked casual and pressed a hand to his chest. His heart thumped a quickening rhythm.

"Consumed.." He swallowed, the word oddly distant to his own ears. His skin flushed far too hot for his robes. "What is a keyblade?"

[nobodys_puppet]

She looked up at Axel with a small smile and nodded. "I've got it memorized," she said, softly. I guess I missed a lot..."

Then she looked to Eleven.

"If my powers worked here.... I could show you. That... was why they made me.. to have another Keyblade," she said, softly.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea gave Xion a small smile in return. "You could say that," he said. "I'll try and get you caught up later, though." Hopefully not too much later; he'd rather avoid any more such awkward situations.

He then nodded solemnly, looking somewhat concerned about how the other young man paled. Not that the idea of being turned into a Heartless wasn't deserving of such a reaction, but Lea had long ago become used to it. "Yeah," he said. "At least that's how it works in our world. Though if you haven't got a bunch of shadowy things with round, blank yellow eyes running around in your world, chances are, yours is probably different." Hopefully that would be at least a little reassuring?

He nearly said that he'd be able to show the other boy too, if not for their power loss, but managed to catch himself before doing so; instead he just explained. "Appearance-wise, a Keyblade is exactly what it sounds like; a sword that's shaped like a key," he said. "Some of them look more key-like than others. But aside from just being magical weapons, they also have other powers, like being able to lock or unlock pretty much anything."

[nobodys_puppet]

Well that was news to her. "Our Keyblades have powers other than just feeding Heartless to Kingdom Hearts?" she asked, a bit startled. Though it shouldn't surprise her any more, to know that information had been withheld from her about what she and Roxas could do.

She did trust Axel completely that he would catch her up, like he said he would.

[bearshermark]

The Sword of Light wasn't a keyblade by the sounds of it, but it could dispell darkness if the legends were true. ..Not that it mattered, corrupted as it was now by the very power it was meant to vanquish.

"I think I understand," he said slowly. A thousand thoughts overlapped and left him dizzy, but they spiralled around a central truth. He was closer than ever to understanding what he needed to do. "For Xion to be whole again, her Heartless has to be defeated by a keyblade? And the keyblade is a weapon that dispels darkness? ..I wonder if that isn't the only way."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea nodded to Xion. "Yeah," he said. "The locking and unlocking thing didn't really come up where you and Roxas were concerned, though. Apparently they can do even more than that, but I don't really know the details there. Sorry."

As to the other young man's question, Lea shrugged. "It's the only way I know of," he said. "Or at least, the only way that's at all practical. But I'm no expert on that kind of thing. Someone like Master Yen Sid or Merlin might know more."

He considered a moment before adding. "And that's how it works for most Nobodies, yeah," he said. "Xion... is kind of a special case, just like our other friend Roxas, but we're working on that back home already."

[nobodys_puppet]

It made no sense, if the Keyblades could do more, that they hadn't been ordered to use that more..... Something to think about. Later.

Eleven had helped her. So she only hesitated a moment before facing him. "I never was a Somebody. I've never been a person. I was built out of the memories of Roxas' Somebody. I've never had a heart to be returned to me. I was an experiment to harness the power of the Keyblade, so that Xemnas could have two of them at his command. But the experiment failed, and I was less than useless."

All of that was spoken very matter of fact. A simple and obvious truth.

[bearshermark]

Eleven stared at her, the hollow feeling in his chest growing wider. He didn't understand- not really. How could someone be created and not born? It defied Yggdrasil. Would she be a leaf upon Her boughs if the World Tree existed here?

His hands came together in the first spell he would attempt to cast.

"Benevolent Goddess Raida, thy humble disciples seek thy guidance and yearn to find thine embrace. If it is thy will, may her heart be revealed to thee."

For a moment he felt it- a brush of magic warming his chest- but though he concentrated on it, no divinely imparted knowledge made itself known. His fingers came apart and he stared at his hands, then turned his gaze to Xion.

"Did She speak to you?"

[nobodys_puppet]

She was... very confused. "Did....who speak to me.... when?"

[bearshermark]

"Raida," he answered, feeling rather foolish suddenly. "I felt something.. but I guess I'm not good enough at Intimation yet. Sorry. I thought it might help."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea wondered what the other young man was doing at first, and how he thought it might help. It wasn't until he heard the words that he understood. For a number of reasons, he didn't expect it would have any effect, but he did smile a bit anyway at the other's willingness to help.

"Thanks for trying, anyway," Lea said. "Though I gotta admit, that kind of magic's a new one on me. Where we're from, it's usually just 'point at whoever or whatever you want to affect and call out the name of the spell'. And if you're good enough at it, sometimes you can skip the latter part and just think it."

[nobodys_puppet]

Xion nodded at Axel's assessment and the rest processed slowly.

"You... were trying... to find my heart?" she asked. "But... I never had one... So there wouldn't be anything to find."

[bearshermark]

"Thaumaturgy," Eleven nodded to Axel with a smile. "But Intimation is based on prayer."

He sobered a bit in turning back to Xion. "I wonder if that's true. Maybe it is and the spell worked but couldn't reveal anything. Or maybe you do have a heart somewhere, and you just aren't aware of it because you don't know what you're looking for."

He shifted his weight, not quite sure he's articulating anything well. "..I want to help, however I can- if I can. When I'm stronger, I'll try it again."

[nobodys_puppet]

"I.... don't understand," she said softly.


She meant she didn't understand why he wants to help her, and didn't realize that there were other ways that could be taken....

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Thauma...? Why am I not surprised that they gave a simple kind of magic such a grandiose-sounding name here?", Lea said with a sigh. There likely was more to it than he was aware of, but still, it seemed a needlessly showy term for what in his world was just 'magic'.

There were a number of things he wanted to mention, to explain, but that would only complicate matters further at this point. Best to wait until he explained things to Xion first; that way he'd only have to field questions from one direction. Xion was obviously confused right here and now though, so he did the only other thing he could think of and rested a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"You know, you remind me of somebody that way," he said with a bit of a smile as the other boy. "He's always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needs help. Sometimes even before he finds out what they need help with."

"And by the way, I don't think I caught your name," he said. "Xion mentioned a few people she'd run into, but I'm not sure if you were one of them."

[bearshermark]

"Oh!" Eleven flushed. "I'm- my name is Eleven. Not-" he hastily amended, remembering the misunderstanding from last time. "Not number eleven or anything like that. I'm only me. It's good to meet you."