Breaking Point

Breaking Point
Date of Scene:	29 November 2012
Location:	Traverse Town-Beach
Synopsis:	A conversation turns quickly into a battle for survival as Riku loses control over the darkness within him and lashes out at the closest available dark knight/Mercenary. Drama to follow.
Cast of Characters:	Angantyr, Riku

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Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr has been here before, though not much caring for the city. He didn't have much time for luxary, not enough money or time to afford it...but there was one pleasure he took. A small pleasure that he has come to enjoy over the years. He closes his eyes, as the day turned into night, and feeling it slowly become dark...the sea at night was peaceful...but no less dangerous. It was calm where he was...but the ocean still breathed life. There was a beauty here that he didn't often get to see in other places...but he does admit that might be because he simply isn't looking hard enough.

Then man stands, opening his eyes as the moon was already high in the sky, shining down over the water as the waves continued to break. Angantyr was a tall man, a powerful man, he was caught in the dressings of a warrior, a dark knight easily identified by his dark armor and large mace completely spiked. The spikes more resemble talons than anything,...

Still here he was, at night, enjoying the ocean. Somehow, despite everything, it allowed a time for him to reflect on things...on choices. Perhaps on his own opinions of the future. Too much had happened lately, he needed time to collect his thoughts.

Riku has posed:
So many oceans on so many worlds and they all looked the same to him now. They all looked like home. Echoes of Destiny Island, fragments reaching out to snag his attention. Splinters of dream to prevent him from focusing.

Yet-- this was a time for calm. When his hands began to shake and his shoulders tremble and his breath come in small, wounded gasps he had known it was time to leave Hollow Bastion again. The raw wounds on his mind he had bound around with clarity and purpose were not still. As much as he didn't want them too, images of rain and nightmare and Leida's pillar of darkness burnt the inside of his mind. So he took a walk down a pleasant night time beach while he worked on regaining control of himself. There was nothing to be afraid of anymore. There was nothing ahead of him but one simple task in front of the other.

One foot. Then the other. Walk down this beach. Everything else can wait. Everything else is not of consequence. Calm.

Riku looked to left and right, eyes scanning the beach but clouded and glazed with inner concentration and so he does not immediately register Angantry's presence. He is not too far away, just a teenager in dark clothes with his sneakers practically at the edge of the ocean looking out at the dark horizon.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr is a dark presence, but...not a malicious one. It's hard to have these things seperate...because they are often not. Angantyr, however, was always aware of his surroundings. He does not often let himself the level of relaxing that would allow him to be completely unaware...to do so would invite Garland to ambush him, and of course punish him for the crime of indulgence. It was nice to relax, but Angantyr hasn't been able to fully come down from being alert in years.

The presence of Riku catches his attention, which causes him to of course consider the source of the sound. It was the same boy from that meeting...which of course causes him to think about what was said. Funny, despite the small amount of time has passed, to Angantyr it was not that little. A bit changed sense then, but still...not changed enough one might say.

"Yo." he finally says to the boy. "So you come to get away from it all too? Can't say that I blame you."

Riku has posed:
Riku looks at Angantyr and suspicion flashes across his eyes, then dies away to something more like fatalistic resignation. He is not hiding his darkness either. It crackles and sparks off him like the smouldering coals of an invisible fire, a faint heat mirage effect flickering about him as he raises his eyebrows slightly at Angantyr. "I didn't catch your name." he cracks the knuckles of both hands, letting out a quiet breath as he scuffs the moonlight silver sand with one shoe. "Too busy quaking in my boots, I'm sure. I'm Riku."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Ha!" the mercanary laughs back. It is short, but not unfriendly. "Angantyr Vespar. You can call me just Anantyr. Dark Knight, sell sword, dashing rogue. You know, all the characteristics of an upright and outstanding citizen." he says, with a bit of a self depreciating jab, however it is probably a joke in some reguard. He shrugs his shoulders a bit, and walks forward to better talk with the lad.

"Gota say, you have a big pair to try and interfear with the master like that. I can't say that I don't blame you a little though...but I have to wonder...is it because you are afraid, or because you are lookin' to carve out your own empire in the darkness." he says. It's a serious question, for once.

"Sad though. To be so young and having to mess with that stuff. But, hey, we all have our circumstances. Some of us are born into it..." that last bit was obviously about himself. "Some are tricked into thinking it's the only way...and sometimes it might be."

Riku has posed:
"Dashing rogue, huh?" Riku snorts faintly, his own laugh a trifle scornful but not particularly malicious either. He looks out at the far horizon, where the two edges of darkness meet in a single almost invisible line that slashes across the world. "I'm not interested in your pity, or your shallow attempts to shield the obvious doubts you harbor. I guess it takes someone else being afraid to sniff out the same." Riku smiles then, without rancor, but also cynical and without humor.

"But I'll let you in on a secret, for whatever worth my words are to you. There is no destiny that you don't make for yourself. Waiting for it to come on you, to free you, waiting for someone else to give it to you-- I think that takes more courage than standing in front of a bunch of madman and sniping at their attempts to smile and be nice while they sharpen their own knives." He says 'courage' in the same way one would say 'Stupidity' and applies the tone to himself as well as Angantyr.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Ha! Destiny? The *GOOSHONK* is that?" he pauses...damn these geese just won't leave him alone, as he stares at a flock walking near him. "Oh no, you think you're the only one that believes in that truth? You think I am looking for some greater destiny in all of this? Yeah, no. I didn't become a sell sword because I had dreams of a better world. People like me don't have greater destinies...we create them from blood and deed. Assuming we don't die horribly to our enemies and sang as monsters."
"Doubts?" he says, laughing. "Oh no little man. You act like nobody has doubts. Do you think there is a moment that does not go by that people don't doubt themselves? The mind is a terrible thing sometimes..." he says. "Everyone has doubts...but it's the difference between controlling it and you. If you really believe in something, then stay on the path...if not...well..." he shrugs. "As for courage or whatever you call it...well, there is much to be said of knowing how to play your cards right and when to not play them at all. Playing the game is not the same as being in it. But...hey, whatever you wana do man." he shrugs.

"I tell you one thing. Something I learned long ago...something I ingrained deep into myself." he says, looking at Riku. "The power you yeild is not for anyone. People claim to be strong enough to overcome it...but you don't overcome darkness. Never. Well, I take that back, you might overcome it to throw around spells of light. Quite a few of those stories around...but you never overcome it. Darkness is a power that rests in every heart...some more than others."

"It is a destructive power, a power that can not be controled...directed, but never completely controled. You have to make peace with that...know that you can not tame a fire that is burning your house...but you can direct it. You can steel yourself from it if you understand and accept it's true nature. The shadow lords talk about darkness as the ultimate power...some even worship it...but.."

"The true power is mastery of the light inside. Letting it never burn out. Never giving yourself over to that last bit of temptation. Let that light burn, let it guide you to your goals. Whatever they may be...even if they are terrible...even if they are noble." he pauses...

"But hey, what do I know. But I'll also say this...the brighter the light, the darker the shadow."

Riku has posed:
"You do like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Riku snorts again, this time full of internal derision. "But then I suppose I do too." he doesn't want to deign to stand here and be lectured by Garland's pocket tin can, but he doesn't want to start a conflict that would interfere with the things he must do. So he refrains from rolling his eyes, just barely.

Whether any of what Angatyr said actually sank in is unknown. He does take the preogative of the young and foolish to snipe when other people would be wisely silent. "Look. Do you do this to everyone? Because that has to be a really sturdy soapbox to not collapse under the weight."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Oh ho ho!" Angantyr laughs...oh man, to be his age again!

The words only cause the Dark knight to laugh all the more... "So young! So full of yourself!" he laughs quite a bit. "Go ahead, roll your eyes. Get it out of your system, I ain't Garland, boy. I am not going to get offended if you disreguard what I have to say. He demands attention, I don't give a crap." he says.

"But you see. I was thinkin' that maybe I don't wana see another youngster destroyed by his own power. Well, I ain't old myself, yet. Not even thirty yet, not that I expect to ever see passed fourty." he comments dryly. "Anyway, kid. You ain't got nothin' to worry about from me. He trains me, but I ain't bowin' to him. That's not the relationship we have, but I do call him master because it is a sign of respect. You respect people who helped you out, and that's just curtosy...but eh. Maybe you came from a world like Manhattan where concepts like mine are outdated things!" he laughs again.

"Anyway, I'll stop...after all you know better right?" he says. Oh man. To be his age again! He can't help but laugh again.

Riku has posed:
"Manhattan." Riku says this in a quiet, almost sad tone. He shakes it off, shrugging. "A fragment of a broken world. It's not going to last long with the Shadow Lords grouping together. They'll tear it apart, just like anything else they get their hands on." he shakes his head. "And it's not worry, and I'll be courteous if I need to. You just haven't particularly merited it yet." he snorts again, then rubs the back of his neck.

"Look. I don't know what your angle is. Everybody I've met always seems to be saying they are one thing and then actually being someone else. Or.. something else. So forgive me a little but of cynicism when I examine these things to see where the cracks are."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"My angle kid? I like money. If you got some, and you wana make someone disappear...or you got a monster that needs killin', or whatever you might need a sell sword for? I'm your man." Angantyr says. "That's what being a Mercenary is about. Just consider the other stuff I said free advice." he says, "Not that I should make a habbit out of it I guess." he chuckles.

"And no, you're right. Though it's a bit impressive to see someone your age being so...mature. Well, mostly." he says, laughing again at the know it all attitude. Ah...to be his age again! It's funny...

Then the talk about Manhattan, "I don't know. I hear they got a lot of muscle over there. Xanatos is a big man, with a lot of tech to back him up. Not to mention, worlds of people are flocking to him to make something for themselves...names, money...maybe just to spit in the face of the Heartless." he shrugs.

"Not me. I am actually busy on a job right now. I can't take another one with this one needing my full attention." he says, "Anyway, I doubt I'd get a job anyway. They'd call me a spy no doubt, tis the price of power...or rather, being born wrong."

Riku has posed:
"Even Xanatos can't be everywhere at once." Riku says quietly. "And he can bring as many heroes as he can pay off. It won't matter. It can't." he gestures vaguely to the ocean as if shearing off the subject to avoid unpleasant consequences of staying too long on it. "But what does it matter. Rise or fall, that's a shadow lord concern and not particularly too interesting to me. Like you, I'm not looking to carve a kingdom out of the sea of stars. I have.."

he looks extremely pensive, glancing at Angatyr before continuing, as if leaking the poison out of a wound by expressing it to a stranger who couldn't give a damn. "..a very few things that need to be done-- and then honestly I don't care what happens to me. -- I don't put great stock in my living long enough for anything I actually want to have enough time to even matter."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr frowns after a minute.

Then slowly, the hand moves over his mace.

"Is that so? So...let me ask.." he says, before slowly moving the hand away. "Do you think that your death will rid you of what's inside?" he says. "Or do you think the Darkness will even let you die? It's persistant..." he says, thinking of how to best approach this. "Anyway. If you want the cowards way out...stay still. I can give you that myself, free of charge. I'd be even able to make sure you didn't come back. However kid..." he says, looking right at him. "Don't throw your life away. You only get one of those...no matter how tough things might look, no matter how grim it might seem. There is always a dawn. Always."

"You see those hero's going to Manhattan? They have hope. It's dangerous...it can inspire great things...or lead you to your doom. But..." he pauses, "Without it...you're dead anyway. You might not realize it, but you're really no better than a corpse."

Riku has posed:
Riku finds himself mouthing 'do it' before something inside him reaches up and chokes the words before they reach his lips. It might very well be him, the part broken off by the black out that has been keeping him going even when all he wants to do is.. Riku closes his eyes, rubbing hard at his forehead and the bridge of his nose, knuckles digging into his skin and the discomfort driving away the moment of suicidal eagerness. The part of him that would rather die than face the things he must do is locked up again where it can scream all he likes, like he has been screaming for some time now. "You have no right to call me a coward."

Riku says in a dangerously soft voice, yellow leaking into his eyes as ghostly flames start to flicker across his aura. "Wasn't that what you said? That the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows?" he shakes his head. "I have to face one of those shadows. And I'm not ready-- and I'm not.." he swallows, and then starts to growl very softly. "But I'm doing it anyways, so with whatever it is you do, you have no RIGHT to think I'm throwing my life away for nothing. You throw yourself at problems for coin. I do it because it's the right thing to do, laugh if you want. It has to matter. IT HAS TO, but I don't have to have any hope about my chances. Hope is for heroes, and fools and people with lost puppy complexes."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Maybe I don't." Angantyr muses after a minute. "And yeah. I do. Tis a thing I do because I have goals of my own. So go on thinking what you want about me. That's fine. I'll even let you take it to your grave, maybe you'll even get someone to put some flowers on it? Will that make it better for you? 'Here lies some kid. He died throwing himself at something he was too weak to beat.' People will cry, I am sure, maybe a little. Might even get a sob!"

"Then nobody will remember you. You'll be a corpse in the ground...if your lucky. So whatever, boy. I ain't no coward though. I face what I am every day, I get up every morning to do what I do...and eventually I am going to die. Maybe it's going to be spittin' in the eye of the Arcadians. Maybe its' going to be in a gutter to some thieves' knife because I missed him. Death comes for us all.."

"Don't go lookin' for him."

Riku has posed:
Riku shakes his head slightly, eyes unfocusing as he stares slightly past Angatyr. Kairi is standing behind the dark knight. The vision is so abrupt it knocks the wind out of his lungs. She looks at him with such a look of sadness and doubt, the moonlight filtering through her translucent skin and making her glow faintly from within. She looks.. and the expression registers. She looks profoundly disappointed, and then she is gone, leaving Riku with his grief and his doubts and the boiling rage that spills forth from a breach in his carefully hard earned self control.

'You're not worthy. You never were.' comes the bland voice of the past as Angantyr's words roll on and roll on, heaping stones on him, burying him under the weight.

He's not ready. What the sorceress showed him, the person he could be-- that Future seemed impossible now. As impossible as grasping twilight. He would never be that person. The one who was in control. The one who could save his world, his friends.

He would never be ready. Terra chose him out of pity. The swordsman's promise was a lie. Sora is gone, taking the last vestiges of that destiny with him. He was a weak and foolish boy. An echo hollowed out and refilled with purpose and resolve that crumbled at the faintest brush of a great darkness.

He was too weak to live.

He was too weak to be the hero.

Riku just lets go. He held onto his mind. Held onto his purpose-- held on as the fear raked him... and he just lets go, and let's it take him where it wanted.

Riku screams in rage, the sound predatory and so harsh it sounds like it is ripping up his throat to make that sound. He lunges at Angatyr in the midst of that scream, wanting only to thrash and tear and somehow make the pain stop by inflicting it on himself or others.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr wasn't facing Riku directly...

That dark power errupted, it was explosive...and something that gives him pause. Turning, he spins, the Mace out in a flash as he challenges the attack. A streak of darkness spins as he moves to smash the weapon into the Dark Friga.

There is a brief moment where the two powers smash into each other, competing for dominace...until the dark ball shatters under the weight of Angantyr's mace, the attack exploding around him, but not actually getting through the armor...just barely, too...it was sheer luck that he swung the weapon when he did. However the darkness from the swing lashes out towards Riku, aiming to strike him senseless.

"..." he pauses for a moment...but only just a moment. His hand, the one holding the weapon shook for a moment...it was an impressive attack. "And you say you're not ready? No, we're going to test just how strong you are kid! Get ready!" he says, and then dives right towards Riku, the mace moves...

One hand moves the darkness around Riku, aiming to cause it to explode around him, dark flames burning where they could. However, the Mace itself swings, aiming to crash the weapon right into his body, and cause it to rip away armor and flesh as it can. It is a brutally effective attack...

"Come on! Is that all you have?!"

Riku has posed:
The darkness blisters around Riku like the heart of a furnace, raw anger boiling out from the cracks as his self control shatters completely. There is something that might be called consciousness still somewhere but it's drowning. Drowning the the dark waters and screaming as he hears someone laughing, so very amused at his pain and doubt and inadequacy. No words. No echoing footsteps. Just the sense of that mocking laughter, driving him deeper into his despairing rage.

Riku goes flying across the sand, the wicked mace shredding one side of his armor and into his flesh. He is shrouded in so much pain and darkness that the blow barely registers at all. He lays there on the sand, eyes closed and getting up only so much as to crouch like a cornered animal, one hand digging into the sand as he wraps the other around his side. Dark wind snatches at the silver sand as he draws the darkness into himself, pulling more and more of it inside regardless of what it will cost him.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Riku draws the darkness into himself.

Angantyr doesn't draw anything, if anything the darkness seems to EXIT him. It's strange almost, to someone who uses darkness like Riku, it's not supposed to happen like that...unless they of course were beings of Darkness. Angantyr clearly was not the case, he was no heartless, no demon...but here he was. A font of darkness in the world of light...and not weakened by being in it at all. This too, must have it's own drawbacks...

Angantyr doesn't run back, he keeps putting the presure on Riku. Every time Riku tries to get away, he moves to get closer, not afraid to keep this close and personal. The Mace moves in one hand, despite the fact this thing should be weilded in two. The weapon spins, aiming to collide into Riku's legs to cause some pain there, before the weapon moves down, aiming to cream him right across the head, before he moves to hold it infront of himself.

"Stop drawing on it like that. Draw it...but COMMAND it. Don't let it seep into your heart, but force it where you will it, and not where it wants to go!"

Riku has posed:
Whether it was strange or not would probably register on the at least partly sane. As Riku is not someone to do things by halves, even though he IS pretty much constructed of them, he has gone completely over the deep end.

The sword of dark mist smashes into Angantyr's Mace, pulling and deflecting but mostly it is Riku who gets the worst part of the bargain in every exchange. He steps back and back, the sword barely raising in time to keep him from having his head battered from his shoulders. Riku unconsciously limps from the force of the attack to his legs but his wide and staring eyes, now completely consumed by yellow are boring straight into Angatyr but not really seeing him. Whatever opponent he is fighting, it may not be the mercenary.

The dark flames surge to a crescendo, then are drawn away back inside Riku. There is an eerie silence in the moments before the inevitable backdraft that comes with the roar of a towering wall of flame. Riku vanishes, flickering behind Angantyr and striking. Flicker. Slash. Flicker. Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash. To the side, to the front, above, behind.

Riku ends the last strike and reaches for Angantyr's neck, his arm dripping shadow to the elbow as the scaled and clawed hand reaches out to pull the mercenary off his balance and slam him into the sand.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Left! Right!

The attacks came from him in every direction, it was hard to counter each and everyone, and it was soon apparent that he was going to be overwhelmed...so at the last strike, he moves out to smash the kid down from his assault, but only to meet the darkness sword as he managed to hit him. Both were injured now quite a bit, blood could bee seen running down, hitting the ground. Angantyr realized he wasn't fighting the kid...there was something else...

"Whatever you are...you picked the wrong dark knight to try and consume." he says, before...SOMETHING exhudes from him. Darkness leaves his body, pooring out through wounds...his mouth...anything it can as it wraps around his body. The armor is transformed, becoming more plate armor. It is solid black, infact it is almost like staring into the abyss...it is...and is not there. Whisps of darkness snake off of the armor..

Then the helmet slides over his head, creating a full visor of armor, and the only thing coming from the inside of it was a crimson hue from where the eye slits should be. The darkness burns around him, creating a distortion around him... And then the whisps grow stronger, as he starts to prepare his attack...

Riku has posed:
Something of who Riku should be, something of what he needs to be refuses to give in as the rest of him has.

He's locked inside a burning room of mirrors, each of them showing a different reflection. Dark flame beats against the mirrored walls, licking at the ceiling in great arcs of burning shadow. The fire is oddly cold. It drained the warmth instead of giving it, sucking life and heat from the faint echo as he staggered around crying out for someone to hear him. Each reflection is a different part of his life, a different part of his future run at the speed of molasses. Everything seems slowed by the hideous cold flames that have run amuck without him like a forest fire. It would be so easy to just give up.

There was no escape from the room. No escape from the burning that was very shortly to follow. Riku slammed against one burning mirror only to find himself in the same room over and over again, bursting through one mirror only to find more room. More mirrors. More reflections of how things SHOULD be. How they might be. Some of the images are stomach turning. Others are full of such impossible hopes that he has to turn his face away. Nobody comes to help him. It was always him. As before-- if he wanted to save anyone, if he wanted to do anything-- he would have to do it himself. Even the Sorceress could only point him towards the future. She could not give it to him. Riku would have to fight for it.

Riku shudders and twitches under of the control of the dark blaze, drawing more and more darkness in to fuel the flames. That draw starts to peter off and still, the angry flames roaring and hissing and dying away-- slackening, just a bit as Riku stares at Ang but does not immediately roar onto the attack again. His muscles jump and the sword raises slightly but nothing else.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Good!" Angantyr shouts, he's doing it, he thinks. That's right...focus it!

"Darkness makes a terrible shield...but a powerful weapon! Forge it like you would any weapon...only your will can determine how sharp the blade is!" And then, he pulls back...nope! Angantyr moves forward again, as Riku tries to retreat...there was still something wrong...and Angantyr could fix it.

Angantyr suddenly, and brutally, used his free hand to grab at Riku. The hand, however, grew into a dark claw, not unlike a demon, but completely consumed in darkness. He lifted the boy up, aiming to try and lift him off of the ground before... "Never retreat! The moment you do from darkness is the moment it finds where it needs to be and destroys you!" he shouts...and then the claws dig in, aiming to drain the darkness that SHOULD not be there, aiming to try and turn it into life for himself.

Then hundreds of claws came as a red mist forms under the two, hundreds of them aiming to tear into Riku. However, Angantyr knew he'd survive...

Riku has posed:
Riku struggles. He thrashes in the grip of the demon claw. The dark blaze retreats, hissing and crackling as the red mist claws up his kicking legs. A numbness spreads from his feet to his legs as the crushing pressure digs into his body, drawing the darkness away.

It doesn't stop. The red mist continues to consume and consume the fire.

The room of burning mirrors shatters with Riku still inside it, his body twitching in uncoordinated spasm. The absence of fire leaves the entirity of his insides burnt, no more than a spark of light and ash left behind. When the claws of red mist reach his heart, it stops. Riku sags limply in Angantyr's grip for a space of about five seconds before drawing in a gasping, choking breath of air.

He manages to wrench enough darkness away from Angantyr in a reflexive spasm to warp a short distance away to collapse onto the sand.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr tried to draw in a large amount of darkness at once... Riku was pretty potient in this stuf... and it was for a little bit almost more than he could chew. His own wellspring of darkness starting to swell to try and eat the new darkness. Angantyr grunted...trying to focus it away from him, the dark power courses through his body like electricty before...

Turning away from Riku he releases a massve wave of the stuff in a powerful bolt that will fly over the water. The man falls to a knee, panting like mad trying to try and recontrol his own power flows. "*pant* Jeeze kid...are you alright..?" he says, through ragged breath as he starts to walk towards him. The weapon is still drawn...in case. "Look...if you don't attack...I got a potion kid.." he continues to breath deeply.

Riku has posed:
There is a hollow boom somewhere at the horizon line as the bolt of raging fire sears across the night time ocean. Riku's darkness is still ebbing away from him in tendrils, the little he managed to tear away from Angantyr already slipping away from him as he lay on the sand. He should be drawing it back inside. He should be returning to a balanced state but the teenager continues to let the essence slip away and dissipate. Why is he just laying there?

His skin begins to turn vaguely greyish around the edges. "it's going.." Riku whispers as he lays in the sand, chuckling faintly although the sound is a short, harsh rasp of sound. "I don't have to hear it anymore.." he draws in another painful breath. "I don't have to--" his voice trails off at the end, shrouding whatever he was going to say as the whisper dips down into sound too low for Angantyr to make out.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Damn." Angantyr says. He didn't want this kid's blood on his hands. He moves grabbing what he had on hand, this was pretty messed up. Grunting, he finally puts his hands on a potion, and trakes Riku's mouth. Quickly he pours the liquid into the boy's mouth and moving for something on him that might keep him stable for a actual healer to get to him... Come on, Ang, you gota have something in your inventory.

"Shit. It's too early to be saying stuff like that kid. You hear me? Cowards cut and run.." Angantyr curses to himself, it would have been different if he were older somehow.

That doesn't even make sense to him now. Angantyr breathes deeply, "This is bullcrap! You hear me? Live! This isn't where you're supposed to die, kid." why did he suddenly care? He was trained to kill, he had spent his whole life in either wars or as a sellsword.

Of course, Riku was the youngest by far and Riku didn't afford him the luxary of being able to hold back.

Riku has posed:
Riku shakes his head slightly, mumbling. "Oh hey. You're right." The potion doesn't seem to have quite the intended effect because not all of his wounds are of the physical variety that can be easily mended. It does strengthen the part of him still screaming to fight back, to live, but he could barely make that out from the roaring silence in his head. A peaceful silence, actually.

"..flowers as well?" So when that stubborn shard of willpower hijacked him and wrenched another chunk of darkness away from Angantyr, Riku gasped with pain and surprise, back arching. Darkness spread in a pool underneath him and he fell through it to places unknown.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
And then the kid was gone. He wasn't sure if he lived or not, nor is he sure how to think about this based on his luck. Slowly, he rises, dragging the weapon with him until he slipped it back on his back holster. His own wounds were demanding his attention, as he hisses in a breath as the pain starts to flow through him. The adreniline wares off, and he starts focuses, a portal of his own creation forming infront of him.

He needed to heal, rest, and pray this didn't give him any nightmares. "Idiot kid."