Memories of Destiny

Memories of Destiny
Date of Scene:	11 June 2013
Location:	Archades
Synopsis:	Sora visits Archades in the aftermath of War. Which means that Riku couldn't possibly show up to see him, right?
Cast of Characters:	Riku, Sora, Alma Hyral

---

Alma Hyral has posed:
Archades was still a mess.

After the trip to Mauna Loa, once the final stimulants and anti-fatigue potion had worn off, she quite literally toppled over, and slept for a full twelve hours.

Then she went back to work. Her triage tent was set up in the Lower City of Archades.. and casualties still floated in. One's who had been buried by the fall of Upper Archades, and had to be dug out. Others with horrible burns who lingered in a state between life and death. The worst of all was when mothers brought in a child who was.. blue, stiff. Dead for hours, maybe even days. And she had to tell them through tearful eyes that there was nothing she could do.

It was a soul-crushing experience for her. It was part of the horrors of war and the little tragedies in the aftermath that were often forgotten.

For the moment, all of those within the medical tents were stabilized, so Alma Hyral took a brief break.. she was walked throughout the streets of the Lower City, just looking at the ruined and burned buildings. She tried not to pay any attention to the looters.. she just walked onward, aimlessly, not going in any particular direction.

Sora has posed:
Things exploded in Archades.

Therefore, it's no surprise that Sora, who seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders at times, has decided to make Archades his next adventure - in as much as helping fix a city that's so destroyed is an 'adventure'.

There is a loud noise from the side, as Sora frowns at a few of the looters, before he summons the Keyblade and waves them at them threateningly enough that they all break and run, spooked, past her.

"Hmph." Sora mutters, mostly to himself.

Alma Hyral has posed:
The Looters run past her, and Alma Hyral stops in her tracks. After a moment she backpeddles, and actually falls back clumsily on her rear when she stumbles on a stray rock. All that emanated from her throat was a muffled gasp of suprise as she landed on the ground, raising a dust cloud.

She watched them run away, then she looked in the direction she came.. only to see a boy, wielding a.. key? Was that an actual keyblade?

Clearing her throat, she took off her wire-framed glasses, trying to clean them on her dusty robe, before raising them up to the sun, examining them. She'd then put them back on, before scrutinizing the boy again. And then she'd start to rise, her voice tremulous,

"U-Um hello t-there. Are you.. S-Sora?"

Sora has posed:
Sora hears a voice, and looks back towards where the looters ran off too. He makes an ah noise, stepping towards the girl before offering her one hand to help pull her up out of the dust.

"Yes, I am." He confirms, then places the voice. "Ah, you're the Lady Hyral... Alma, isn't it? Sorry about them." He gestures down the alleyway with a hand-flap.

Alma Hyral has posed:
There is a pause, as she looks at his hand with an expression that holds some lingering doubt as to whether it might actually bite her. /Everything/ these past few days had been horrible, and even beyond the horrors of war had been eldritch horrors of both light and dark that had threatened to shatter her mind. After a moment she decides that it isn't likely that anyone who was a friend of Riku's would harm her.

She takes his hand, with a thin smile curving upon her lips, "J-Just Alma. You d-don't have to call me Lady H-Hyral. And t-thanks. But you d-don't need to apologize for them. T-They.. many of them are p-people who have lost e-everything. Who are j-just trying to survive."

She dusts herself off, before giving him another look, "S-So..um.. a-are you here to see R-Riku?"

Sora has posed:
"I know." Sora says, quietly. "I've seen a lot of it... people trying to make their ways in worlds they know nothing about because what they did in their world they can't do anything more, or their world got attacked or so screwed up that all they had to do was steal."

"It sucks."

"Oh, Riku hangs out here?" He sighs. "I'd like to see him, I doubt we'll catch him; life is funny like that." He stretches, before realizing he's holding the Keyblade still. "And yeah, this is the Keyblade." He holds it out so Alma can peer at it.

Alma Hyral has posed:
She nods in response to Sora, her expression sad, and still a touch nervous, "I-It really does. S-Suck that is."

And then on the subject of Riku, she warmed up to the boy just a little, "Oh, well, y-yes. He's a Judge-Cadet h-here. I see him p-pretty often actually, so maybe you'll get l-lucky."

Him holding out the keyblade to her, suprises her. She holds out a hand unto it, almost as if to touch the metal, but.. she stops short before contact with the weapon is made. Her hand trailing back down to her side, "I've heard about t-them. How does it work? Well, for r-restoring World shards, that is? Soan still has the one we f-found."

Sora has posed:
Sora smiles. "You did mention that, I think. I'm not sure what being a 'Judge-Cadet' entails, but I hope he's found something that... he's good at." Sora frowns a bit. That didn't come out the way he exactly meant to be.

Alma's reticence about touching the Keyblade gets a much bigger smile crossing his face.

"I guess the best way to describe it is like a key unlocking a lock, or in this case, the keyblade unlocking the shard." He shrugs. "I'm not really sure the whole details, but that's what it's like."

Alma Hyral has posed:
"I'd say it's a s-safe bet that he's g-good at it." She manages a sort of fond smile, at that. "H-He's found a place where he belongs.. e-even if he still longs for h-home."

She listens to his explanation of the keyblade, nodding thoughtfully, before continuing. "So d-do we have to be at the l-location where the s-shard is m-meant to go? Or do you p-pick a place?"

Then there's another pause, before she states quietly, "I um, I sort of n-need to interview you to g-gather data on Destiny Island... R-Riku wants me to start trying to l-locate it. But I n-need more details."

Sora has posed:
Sora tries to think about the answer to this question. Finally, he tilts his head to the side, puzzled. "I don't ... think we have to be anywhere specific. I was in the middle of Traverse Town when I helped with the Tiki Room shard and that still worked, soo..."

Shrug.

"A ... interview? Details, okay. I can give you details. What do you need to know?"

Riku has posed:
Speak of the Judge-Cadet, and they shall appear.

There is a sound of a truck and the brief sound of conversation, muffled and indistinct before the silver haired teenager in question turns the corner. A bronze duster with the emblazoned glyph of the Archadian Judges hangs over his shoulders over dark and ashen clothing.

A black blindfold has been tied over his eyes, but while they are completely concealed he doesn't seem to have too much trouble navigating other than an occasional gloved hand touching a wall or an obstruction.

He stops in the street still a short distance away.. and he doesn't say anything at all. He does not seem to react, or even know how to react, so he simply -- stands there, looking in the general direction of Alma and Sora.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Oh, w-well then I need to f-find Soan, if it's t-that easy. Do you just k-know instinctually w-where it was r-restored?"

She nods after a moment's thought, then takes out a notepad, and a pen from her satchel, clicking the end of it. Taking a deep breath, she begins to fire off a battery of questions, "It was an I-Island. Did s-ships come in frequently? W-What other locations were there in y-your world that they m-might have v-visited? Do you r-remember the names of any of your c-constellations, or s-stars? H-How many days in a y-year were there on the Island? W-Were there seasons?"

Those questions.. die in her throat, as she seems to feel another set of eyes on her. A glance sidelong at Riku is given.. and she just falls into awkward silence. After a short time, she speaks in a quiet tone, "Um, H-Hi Riku."

Sora has posed:
"Yeah, it's pretty much instinct." Sora confirms. "I don't ... really know, to be honest with you, Alma, I just sort of got tossed into this stuff and while I've got some great help there are just a lot of questions we all have and not enough people that can, well..."

"Give us the answers."

Sora doesn't seem to notice Riku, until Alma just goes quiet and looks to the side, and Sora looks over his shoulder. "Hey, Riku!" He says, happily. "What are you doin'?"

Riku has posed:
"We didn't get much in the way of ships. There was only the mainland and the smaller islands. People... weren't much interested in the other side of the ocean. If there even was one."

Riku walks slowly and steadily towards the pair, fingertips touching the side of the wall. He leans against it, crossing his arms as he tilts his head up towards the sky.

"So there weren't any other locations as far as I know. People rarely would come or would rarely leave, but most of the time things just stayed the same. Don't you remember /anything/ Sora?" Riku asks this in an empty, emotionless voice.

He smiles and it is not a unpleasant expression. Just a flicker of something extremely dark and angry around the joking words.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"W-Well.. m-maybe before this is done I'll be a-able to give you more.. p-practice, so you can b-better learn how it works." She offers a reassuring smile to Sora, "I'm s-sure there are answers out there for you to f-find."

There's a flicker of emotion on her expression, almost as if seeing Riku in this way is just causing actual pain to her. She's silent for a time, but looking down at her notepad, she takes up the pen and begins to write. She writes down every little detail. Then puts little notes beside each one marked as speculation or conjecture from her own inferences. Even though these little things didn't give her any actual hints as to the position of the stars on their world, it might help her later.

She'd give Sora another sidelong glance, as if seeing what his reaction to Riku's statements would be.. or if he had anything more to offer.

Sora has posed:
Sora, shaking his head, "You just didn't give me a chance to answer, Riku!" He says, crossing his arms, Sora frowning slightly as he observes his silver-haired best friend.

He can't help but feel... nah.."

"Most of the adults didn't leave the mainland, either; the kids were the ones who'd go out and adventure around. Like Riku, Kairi and I did. We never really had bad weather, either... the only storm I can remember was .. well, I don't think it was even a 'storm' - it was the world the Islands fell into darkness."

Sora does not look at Riku as he says this.

"But Riku's right, people coming or going was always met with a lot of noise and curiosity... when Kairi arrived, when she was little, there was a lot of commotion."

Riku has posed:
"Then think faster on your feet, moron." Riku ripostes with something more similar to a smile than the grisly expression of empty anger that came before. He coughs and folds his arms even tighter, putting one foot up against the wall as he casually remarks.

"I think the best shot we have is anything we can remember about stars. We spent so much time looking at them. They might as well have been good for something." he snorts faintly, head sinking down as Kairi is mentioned.

"Yeah. Everybody made a really big deal out of it.."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma would nod thoughtfully, continuing to write down what they stated, pausing to put the back of her pen to her chin, tapping it lightly. "W-Well.. these are h-helpful details.. for c-clueing in on how w-where I might find the c-charts. But..if e-either of you know the names of your s-stars.. c-constellations.. and how many s-stars were in each, it'd help more as I c-could start to narrow down which s-sector of the sky your world was in. Sure. And the s-seasons and l-length of the year let me determine w-where the world was in r-respect to the closest s-star."

And then she'd trail off from that train of thought when they both mentioned Kaira's appearance when she was younger, "W-What was unusual about Kairi's a-arrival?"

Sora has posed:
"We were only ... what, five? There had been a meteor shower the night before, I never really asked anyone about it, but the next day, she had been taken in by the Mayor... this was right before we found the Secret Cave, wasn't it?" There is a brief pause, then he nods.

"Yeah, that's pretty much right. I was sort of into star gazing and stuff, let me see if I can remember anything..." Sora goes off into silence, frowning.

Riku has posed:
"Yeah.. sounds about right." Riku says in an abstracted voice. He falls quiet for a few moments, then says aside to Alma in a stage whisper.

"We can leave now. Have you remembered to eat something yet? Maybe the gears will stop smoking by the time we've gotten back." his shoulders shake slightly as if laughing but the movement is so restrained it barely registers.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma considers what Sora says about Kairi's appearance on Destiny Island, "You know even though it may sound a l-little silly since she's from your w-world...t-that almost sounds like many cases of appearances into t-this world happened a-after a world fell.. and t-they're almost always by a b-beach. It's like the s-sea is an a-actual reflection of the sea of s-stars in a metaphysical way. My reappearance was a little different t-though..." She falls quiet for a time, considering Sora expectantly for any possible details he might have about the heavenly bodies of his homeworld.

She gives Riku a suprised look, then glances at Sora. Maybe her smile even becomes a little impish as she leans in to whisper to Riku conspiratorially, "You m-might be right... maybe I should g-go make us s-something. I can always bring Sora back s-something to-go. A little food might grease that s-squeaky wheel."

Sora has posed:
Sora's complete and utter concentration on trying to remember star forms - even just the forms, not even the names - is completely destroyed by by Riku and Alma mentioning food. The skinny fourteen year old has his brain-gears come to a screeching halt, then start spinning another direction.

"Food?" He asks, hopefully.

Meanwhile, the actual joke goes over his head.

Riku has posed:
"Why don't we talk about it while we eat? Maybe I can draw something if I can remember it clearly enough."

Riku brings up a hand and rubs his eyes. He looks towards Sora for a long time then looks away. "It's better than standing around in the street, at least. I've got nowhere to be but here."

Alma Hyral has posed:
She nods, "A-Alright, follow me.."


/FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER/

They're by the food stations set apart for the volunteers helping with the relief effort. Alma was at the grill cooking. And both Riku and Sora each have perhaps the best burger they've ever tasted in front of each of them along with a glass of water. It's seasoned with something they just can't quite.. place. SLEEP TOXIN MWAHAHAHAHA. No, not really. But whatever it is, it's good.

She'd seat herself down last with her plate in front of them. "So, any t-thoughts?"

Sora has posed:
Om, nom, nom.

Sora is too busy devouring the burger to think all that hard, before he eventually gets to the end of it, looking happy. "Thank you very much for the meal, Alma." he says, being polite and not letting out a well-earned good-meal burp.

With this done, Sora frowns and dips into one of his numerous pockets, pulling out pen and paper even as he carefully doodles out a star formation, the one he saw nightly when looking out of his window.

Riku has posed:
You FOOLS, YOU'VE Triggered My Trap Card.

Wait. Wrong series. Sorry.

Riku has let the intervening minutes pass mostly in silence. He takes out a small black journal but doesn't open it yet, one hand resting on the binding as he takes a bite of the hamburger with the other.

He chewed thoughtfully for a while and then puts it back down again, wiping off his hands and flipping through the pages. He peers over at what Sora is doing and snorts faintly to himself in quasi-derision as he takes another bite of the hamburger. He pauses for a moment on a drawing of Destiny Islands that is laid open on the journal. A somewhat competent drawing that has been crumpled but then painstakingly put back together again and redrawn.

Riku rests his fingers on the mangled page for a moment before carefully flipping past it and reaching a fresh page. He taps his fingers against the table and doesn't draw anything at all, simply looking down at the piece of paper abstractedly for a while before raising his face to Alma. "There wasn't all that much in the way of seasons." he frowns slightly at this.

"--The tide went in and the tide went out and not very much changed at all."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma would take a small bite of the burger, before glancing towards Sora, offering a small smile of pleasure, "You're w-welcome Sora. I'm g-glad you like it." She peers across the table, to look at the star formation, noting the number of stars. The number would tell her more than anything, as many constellations had different formations, and names when looked at from a different perspective from other worlds. At that point she could plug in the data, and see what possible planes it could be viewed in when compared to different formations of the same number. That'd at least give her a sense of what /direction/ she was looking in, from the position of that formation.

She'd glance idly towards Riku's black journal, but tore her gaze away, he hadn't shared.. any of that with her yet. And so she didn't want to pry without his permission.

When he speaks to her, she'd look his way again, pushing her glasses up, before writing something down on the notepad as she ate, "No seasons? Hrm. That implies no a-axis to your w-world.. and t-that it was a-always equidistant from your s-star. Did you h-have a moon, if there were t-tides?"

Sora has posed:
"The weather was always mild and lovely, yes. We never really had anything major like storms, so when they did happen they were really rare and unusual. Most parents and adults thought the ocean was calm enough that even when we were little, we were still allowed to play in the surf."

She asks about a moon, and Sora looks over at Riku, briefly. "I don't think they were waves, but we did have a moon."

Riku has posed:
Riku shrugs a shoulder. "Yeah.. I guess." his voice has flattened out again and he starts to draw several patterns but every time he stops for awhile and then starts on something else. There is a mote of irritation that flickers across his face as he rubs one temple.

"I can only remember it raining a handful of times, really. It was--" he trails off and then continues. "It was always just a big deal about nothing." he snorts, gritting his teeth slightly as he continues to draw, stop, then start again.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Really? Rain was that rare?"

This seems to shock her, as if nothing but a desert clime in her mind, or some frozen tundra should lack so much rain. Growing up on Ramuha, the storms were fierce and constant. The sky could rarely ever be seen. "Huh.. strange."

She scribbled down more details, taking a bite of her burger, chew chew chew. "It's like your world was some sort of idyllic paradise by.. the standards of most human cultures." Not hers though, the lack of rain and the ocean sun would have probably put her off.

Sora has posed:
Sora nods. "It was like living in Paradise. Everyone was happy, we all had what we wanted... except for adventure.... that's why we originally made our raft... that's why we became friends with Kairi. She was something new, someone from another place, someone that wasn't from our islands..."

Sora looks down at his plate, letting out a huff.

Riku has posed:
Riku slowly closes the black journal, giving up on remembering star configurations and quietly putting it back in his pocket.

"Everyone was happy because they didn't ask questions." he takes another bite of the burger and mutters. "Of course. We asked 'Whats on the other end of the ocean' and look where THAT one got us." sarcastically.

He growls something inaudible and gets up from the table. "Thanks Alma." he huffs, swiping the rest of the hamburger off the plate. "/Try/ not to work so hard you fall asleep standing up. Then there'd be an outbreak of Archadian Gauze Mummies, and that's just too weird even for me."

Alma Hyral has posed:
"I wasn't a very adventurous person I guess. I dreamed for it, longed for it, but didn't have the ambition to make it happen until I came here.. Sounds like the three of you were quite the characters together." The three main characters in fact! As she looks in Sora's direction.

She actually manages a chuckle at that, "Oh, so you're saying that civilization is going to /fall/ if I continue to ask these uncomfortable questions?"

But then she offers Riku a smile, "Just..if you see someone named Helena Celba around, do /not/ let her near the medical tents.. else that may actually happen."

Sora has posed:
"... Riku..."

Sora sounds hurt as he gets growly and sarcastic, although the boy knows his friend better than that, and so he takes a deep breath.

"... have a good night." He feels a bit confused, though. Has he missed something?

Answer: Yes.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral moves over to the other side of the table, beside Sora, seating herself down, and putting a hand over his once Riku had left.

"Sora.. Archades.. Riku t-took so long t-trying to make it his second home.. and he did.. and now look.."

She gestures in a wide arc with her arm at the devastation, "He just needs some time..."

Sora has posed:
"Riku's always been a little..." Sora hesitates. "A little gruff, you know? He was the oldest of us kids, back on the Islands, and he was always so excited to be doing something unusual... things got ... boring, I think it is, for him fast. That's why he enjoyed talking to Kairi. She was a breath of life."

Sora has a fond, derpy smile on his face when he starts talking about Kairi. "But we all enjoyed being around Kairi, no matter what our ages were... she was..." He corrects himself, "She /is/ something exciting."

Alma Hyral has posed:
"He promised me he'd introduce me to her some day..she must have been.. someone truly special to you both." She smiled, one hand still upon Sora's, but she slowly allowed it to drift away. "...and yeah, he's gruff, but he's been through a lot.. since he left the island, I can tell. Sometimes.. you can just see such pain in him, he's truly hurting."

She looks down at the sketch Sora has drawn again, "It's a start...I can't promise anything, to either of you.. but I'll definitely give it my all."

Sora has posed:
Sora flushes a pink.

"I ... don't think, he's probably not told you what happened the night Destiny Islands fell, did he?" Sora asks, quietly, before he lets out a breath. "Actually.. that's more his story to tell, than mine, even if it did influence mine, I think." He waves a hand and rubs his face face with the other hand.

"er... sorry, Alma. Were we of any help?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral states gently, "No, he hasn't... there are too many.. sharp edges, to some memories. I'm not pressing him. When he's ready.. but if you'd like to tell me, I'll listen. If you think I should wait for him... then I will.."

She'd smile to Sora, nodding, "A little. I have something to start on. I'll need more information, a lot more.. to get anywhere, but for now? It'll do. But anything else you remember? You have my frequency. Until then.. do you mind if I call on you whenever I find a new world shard?"

Sora has posed:
Sora shudders, before looking back at her. "Those are -- stories for another time." Sora whispers, his voice quiet and miserable for a brief second. Even as a awesome fourteen year old, there are still things that give him nightmares.

Living nightmares, too.

"But... yes, you may. What's more, if you ever need any assistance, in any way, so long as it's for the light, you may call upon me, and I and my blade will be there at your side, Alma Hyral."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Eldritch horrors of the light still danced within her mind, as she thought of Alberic Lux. And her skin turns from a sickly pale, to distinctly ashen. She swallows, and then..

"Sora. I may have to take you up on that.. and don't worry, I swear by Cosma that I only serve the light."

Her expression seems, uniquely troubled by that.

Sora has posed:
Sora looks at Alma, and watches her go from her normal sickly pale to a distinct sort of ashen that makes the Keyblade Wielder frown. The troubled look that it is accompanied by makes him frown, briefly, before Sora forces a smile on his face.

"I trust you." He says, simply. "If you're that full of light, you must be a proper Princess, then, aren't you?" He swings himself away from the bench, not looking at her.

"I've got to go - thank you, Alma, for this chance to get back a place I love in my heart, deeply." Then Sora gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, then wanders off.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral just looks at Sora, about to refute the princess statement with the "I'm no.."

And then comes the peck on her cheek, and her pale face becomes decidedly flushed. The heat in her cheeks might as well be a minor fusion reaction caused by the result of that.. What just happened!? She's entirely speechless.