Kingdom Hearts: Recollect

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It was a relief to see that that accursed circle gone when he had gotten back from breaking the last crystal, though Cerdic's request had caught him off guard. "Uh no, I'm not comfortable with that either." The only person that he planned on hitting was Ria and that was a feeling that was likely agreed upon among the group. Kara soon woke up afterwards thus reducing the need to hit her in order to wake her. That was followed by a pretty strong desire for Chrono to start casually whistling while Ceridic went off about wanting to kill Ria and Aveum. Ria being killed he didn't care about at all, Aveum on the other hand he did care for reason that will not be shared to him. Least not until he could sort through his memories and figure out everything.

Chrono had only a brief second in which he was able to look around before a sharp pain shot through his head and seemed to grow to the point where in he was clutching his head with both hands to try and cope with the pain. The attempt did naught to help as the pain only continued the more the memory played back in his head. By this point he had collapsed onto his knees and was screaming, violently screaming at that. The memory was the last thing he could think of, let alone focus on. He just wanted this pain to stop.

 

Well, it seemed that his cover had worked about as well as he had thought it would. No matter. He readied himself for what he felt was an inevitable attack, but... it never came. Instead he heard a brief muttering that seemed to indicate that Ria had no more power to harm this place or anything in it than the heartless did. In retrospect that seemed like it should be obvious. Not definite, true, but a strong possibility he had failed to consider. Unfortunately, that didn't make his overall prediction any less accurate: it had taken relatively no time for Ria to detect his presence, and once he had, all possibilities of learning information had vanished... that was of course... other than what Ria wanted him to know.

Which of course is why the memory that he had been given had left a bitter taste in his mouth: It wasn't that the man who had did this to them had Chrono's face, heck no. It was that the only reason he even knew was because Ria had apparently decided he should. There was also the matter of their possibly being only three other remaining members of the group besides himself and Chrono. However, that was far less important at the moment. If Ria could give him a memory just by sticking a sword to his chest, then he could do the same thing for any of the others. Which meant...

They were all completely at his mercy. If he could pick and choose whatever information he wanted them to receive, then he could easily revive grudges long past, lead them on pointless side excursions, and... make them turn on one another. So Aevum had Chrono's face.

Who freaking cared?

So did Ria after all. Who was to say there wasn't a third? Not to mention that it seemed despite knowing them all so well, Ria seemed to have forgotten a very important fact about him.

"So tell me Ria, if you know us all so well... then why the heck do you think I'm dumb enough to just up and trust anyone that I've met since waking up in this sorry situation?" Chrys summoned Light Seeker and began swinging it around a bit as he continued. "Oh that's right I'm sorry; The Chrys you knew actually was dumb enough to take whatever information was spoon fed to him... How tragic for you.

"Let me inform you about a very crucial difference between me and the Chrystopher Light you knew: I don't know any of you. I have no reason or real desire to be anyone's friend here. Until further notice I know absolutely nothing about them. So IV may have been the one to betray us... based on what little you've given me. That still doesn't change that as far as I know, you're the only one actively trying to kill me."

"As far as I know."

"You see, whether the others like it or not, we're all pretty much just sacrificial pawns in this little game. A game in which you seem to be the King. I'll be honest: that terrifies me. We can't do anything about that though. You can't win a game if you can't even move the pieces. So no matter who is playing what, I will wait and I will watch. If you truly know anything about me, then you know that is what I do best." He snorted. "After all, I hardly stopped anyone from dying by lazing about in here."

Chrys stared vacantly at his keyblade. For someone filled with only light, he felt that perhaps he was dismissing his comrades far too easily. His own revelation that they might have walked into a trap had only caused him to run and hide, even if his goal had been to come up with a plan, he had ultimately failed them in the end, and he felt that was something he would dearly pay for later. He honestly didn't believe for a second that any of them harbored any ill intent. He wasn't a liar either though; whether or not they meant him harm, he still couldn't really trust them. What little faith he had given them was quickly shattered under the weight of their own ineptitude, and any one of them could still be used by Ria.

To think these thoughts about others... and people who might have once been his friends? Not to mention his own failings, having pulled this stunt would likely cause them to lose faith in him as well.

He had to wonder if Ria had really taken all of his darkness after all.

"If I am fated to fall, then I shall not do so floundering about with no proper fight. If any of them were ever my friends... then you can't begrudge me that."​

 

Daeni watched in silence as Kara woke up. She even hugged Cerdic, which was odd, but Daeni didn't react. Her head was hurting too much to think before she looked over to see where Alder was. But then, she didn't see him and she wondered where he had run off to. She must have missed that part, but right now, she wouldn't quesiton it. Instead, she'd stay there until told otherwise.

Then the memories started to come back. The memories melded together with the ones she had seen from Marley's point. And her own only intensified her sorrow for losing some of them. Her hands scratched at her head as she tried to stop the pain. She tried using Cure, but it did nothing for her. All it did was cause her to feel weak and drained. Instead of trying to stop the pain, Daeni simply decided to let it run it's course as she started to feel tears come down her cheeks. She opened her eyes when she heard screaming. She looked over to find that Chrono was on the ground and Cerdic was standing over him.

As soon as Daeni saw the keyblade, she ran over and used her own keyblade to block Cerdic's, grunting at his attempt at killing Chrono. She wanted answers from Chrono. Having him dead would be a terrible idea. Especially if he didn't tell them his own reasons why he was doing this. These memories told them much of the story, but not all of it. Daeni wanted to know more before she came to any verdict, but through it all, she was still trying to fix her own head. She wanted to speak. Although her mouth opened, all that game was her stuttering and sputtering out syllables before she gave up.​

 

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For a moment, Kara said nothing and instead allowed all the frustration and sorrow to begin flowing out of her through her tears. Sure enough, Cerdic had been reassuring when she'd needed him to be. He promised that he'd make the ones who had inflicted this pain upon all of them pay, which while she was all for stopping Ria she wasn't sure that she could bring herself to actually take the life of somebody else. She was about to open her mouth and tell him that, but right as she was about to a flood of memories entered her head.

Well, if she'd had any doubts about Aevum betraying them before they were certainly not there now. He'd taken their darkness, which didn't sound so bad until she remembered that a person had to have a balance of both to function properly, at least that's what she thought. Some had tried to stop him but from what she could remember he had succeeded, though he'd been in some kind of horrendous pain for it. Had it really been worth it? Thinking of all the memory problems Chrono had seemed to have, she figured the answer was probably 'no'. She wasn't sure what to think of Chrono now. She knew he was Aevum, or had been Aevum, and though he'd fallen for the same trap she had and he'd fought by their side....hadn't she trusted Aevum too? She'd had complete faith in him, and look where that had gotten them.

She was brought out of the world of her memories by Chrono's screaming. He sounded like was in terrible pain, had his memories come back too? Maybe he was re-living that? She felt bad for him and wanted to try to help, but she wasn't sure how. From the looks of it, he was about to be in even more pain too as Cerdic stepped forward and went towards him. He began yelling at Chrono and summoned his keyblade, leaving Kara shocked. Was Cerdic really about to kill him? She knew that he'd said he would but this wasn't Aevum, this was Chrono. Sure they probably shouldn't trust him entirely, but was that really grounds to murder him?

Cerdic glanced back at her as though to make sure she was still okay, but she was beginning to freak out. She got up on shaky legs and tried to summon her keyblade, but she was too emotional and all she got was a useless shaking of her hand as she tried to summon it. If she didn't snap out of it soon though, another friend would be killed one way or another. She had to do it, but she couldn't. Thankfully Daeni wasn't as incompetent as her and actually managed to get up and stop the strike from hitting Chrono. "That's not what I meant, Cerdic! Chrono is our friend, he's been helping us and he lost his memories too, and look at the pain he's in. Please, don't kill him!" she screamed, her voice shaky and emotion very clear in her words. It wasn't very hard to tell the girl was barely holding it together, but honestly after what they had all been through was there anyone who was coping well?

 

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Voices, the faint sound of voices barely managed to break through the barrier of pain and memories in which Chrono was dealing with. After a while the pain started to subsided gradually, which actually gave Chrono a small chance to think about the memories that had arisen before the overwhelming pain did. Memories that were vanishing as the pain did! Yet again memories that he had regain were being stripped away from him before he could make any sense of it all. Even if it only was the second time it has occurred to him, did nothing to change how infuriating it was.

His screaming had come to a stop and was replaced with heavy breathing. The last bit of memories finally ebbing away from him and leaving him with the certainly that he was indeed Aevum and the lingering feeling of anger and annoyance. Whatever he was trying to do in that memory, he seemed to be angry amidst the pain he felt. Without the pain, the voices around him became clearer and more recognizable. This prompted him to look up at the exchange going on before him. "The...journal."

 

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Cerdic was annoying. But even so, the memories Daeni saw all pointed to Chrono being the one that caused this, but even then, some things didn't connect and it caused Daeni more pain. She held her keyblade firmly and looked to see Alder asking Cerdic to stop. Thankfully, she wasn't alone in this. Killing Chrono wouldn't fix anything and that certainly wouldn't help them if they were forced to continue on with only four people. Who knew where Chrys was or if he was even alive. Daeni thought and felt like he was alive, but that point was pushed out her head as more throbbing ebbed it's way forward, causing her to tremble a bit. She wanted to cry in hopes the pain would stop.

Closing her eyes, she heard the thud of something on the ground and Chrono's voice speaking about....the journal? Daeni opened her eyes again and blinked. Oh how she wanted to read that journal. It was something she had aimed to read even before all of this, but stupid Cerdic snatched it away and was able to even tear pages out of it. Luckily, it looked like most were there minus the part that...Chrys had. Daeni stepped forward and reached down for the journal, fully intending to read it.

 

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Through some odd and questionable stroke of luck, the journal had ended up on the ground in front of Chrono. Finally he could get some answers as to what he was trying to do and why. The pain subsided further and he slowly reached out for it. Right as he had almost grabbed it, it was snatched up by Alder who both read and destroyed it before his eyes. Devastated, that was the simplest way to describe how he felt seeing the ashes of the journal, his journal land before him. Had it not been for Alder's promise of sharing the information with him he would've punched him right then. Still his fist was tightly clenched and slammed on the floor. Chrono was then silent as he rose to his feet. "Make sure you do that." With clear disdain he directed his words to Alder.

 

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Daeni watched as Alder destroyed the journal. She sighed, knowing that they were finally rid of the thing that was causing a rift to form between them. But for whatever reason, she couldn't say she felt it was the right thing to do. It felt wrong to destroy it. Especially since she saw Chrono try and reach for the journal before Alder grabbed it himself. She turned back to see Chrono had once again stood up. She approached him and dusted him off lightly, checking to see if he was still in any pain.

She opened her mouth a little to mutter out a few words. "Saw....you..." she said, choking on the last word. It felt like sand was in her throat. It pained her to talk right now. Although her mind was starting to come back to itself, it still felt weird trying to think about the memories that came to her. Shaking her head, she looked at Chrono in the eyes, searching for answers. The answers didn't come, but she knew that Chrono couldn't have been as bad as their memories had been trying to lead them to believe....could he?

 

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Well, thankfully Cerdic was no longer trying to murder Aevum. Things had certainly calmed down in that aspect, but Alder had gone and destroyed the journal. As the journal had gone up in flames, so had any hope of being able to quickly unravel the mysteries surrounding the past. Although with so many memories returned she had a pretty good idea of everything that had happened, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to remember. After all, she still couldn't remember how she'd left her homeworld, but she doubted the journal had contained that information. These people she was with, LIGHT, were her friends, but she was certain that she hadn't known them back at her home.

"If being naive means that I'm going to trust my friends when they deserve to be trusted, then i'll be naive for a while longer I think" Kara said, finally finding the ability to speak once more. She was grateful that Cerdic and Alder seemed to be the ones leading the way; she wasn't all too sure she'd be able to manage it right at that moment. She'd take some time to get her thoughts together and rebuild her mental fortitude before trying to take charge in any aspect.

 

Ria seemed to watch Chrys as he spoke, with a face devoid of most emotion. With the intent on processing every word he had to say. And when Chrys was finished speaking, Ria smirked and said, "You know, when LIGHT formed at first, I thought you and Kara ran a tight ship. Kara may have been more of the motivational speaker, but you always seemed to be very cautious about the actions the group took, I respected that... but there's just something I just don't understand about you." Ria felt his fist tighten before saying, "Your willingness to shut off, to look at a scenario like your a computer calculating for the optimal move... do you back off and hold back when it comes to personal stuff?" he placed his hand up to his chest and sounded angrier and angrier as he began to shout, "Do you tell yourself you're going to wait for the optimal scenario when you family is hurt? Your closest friends? The people or objects you care about?"

Ria stepped as close to the shield as he could get as he continued, "Can you stand back and do nothing while your world tumbles around you because you don't want to run into a fight blind? Do you take chances? Is that not time wasted? Time that you could spend to save what is most precious to you?" Ria took a deep breath and shook his head and chuckled, "Enjoy that deliberate wasted time then. I'm one to believe you shouldn't waste a second. And when something needs to be rushed into, you need to take that chance."

Ria raised his hand up and snapped his fingers and a Darkside began to rise up from the ground, looming over. It reached it's arms up and tried to hit the barrier, but was thrown back slightly in pain. Ria took another breath and said, "If you won't come out, then I'll make it difficult enough for you to get out, or our friends to get in. And maybe I can pick off a few more of you ants as I do so... but I don't have the time for this anymore. My ambitions are beyond this world, and your prolonged existence only makes those plans delayed. And remember what I just said about wasted time."

Ria backed away and darkness wrapped around him. There was a moment where Ria stopped, to cough heavily, before the darkness swallowed him in.

---

Mora had reapproached the group during all of this rather slowly. She was nervous about their reactions to her, and she hid behind the wall of one of the huts suddenly. She looked around at the people of the village who seemed to no longer seem in pain, just asleep. Mora supposed they were stuck this way until their darkness was free, which made her wonder why in this particular case that this group was not in a coma just like them.

Mora looked at the group after they seemed to settle down about the journal and she asked, "S-so what are you guys going to do? Are you going to go after Ria... or did you have other plans...?" she looked between each of them and said, "I mean... if you don't know how to deal with him... I... might have an idea in mind... I don't know if it'll work though."

 

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Chrono paid Daeni no mind as she attempted to speak with him, he wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. All traces of the memory had removed itself from his head, which did extremely little to help with his current mood. The whole cycle of getting memories and losing them before anything could be gained from them was getting old as far as Chrono was concerned. How was he supposed get any answers if the ones means of potentially give him clues was consistently being taken from him.

"What's this idea of yours?" He'd be up for anything that could potentially mean that they would finally be rid of Ria.

 

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As Mora mentioned she might have an idea, Kara felt a little nervous. Mora might be trying to help them, and hell maybe something had happened while she'd been asleep that had made Mora seem like the most trustworthy person in existence, but she still wasn't trusting the girl completely. She had before, and look where that had gotten her. Still, both Alder and Chrono seemed to be trusting of the girl, at least enough to hear out her idea, so she'd have to put her faith in them. They'd been put in the same trap she'd put them in accidentally, so something had to have happened to change their opinion, surely. "Alright Mora, what's your idea?"

 

With Ria gone, and the Darkside pounding against the shield outside, Chrystopher Light turned over the dark creature's speech in his mind again and again. The dim lighting of the shack perfectly reflected his mood, which was to say... silent. It was a strange word to use to describe one's mood, but Ria hadn't exactly been wrong about him "Shutting off." It had always been a tendency of his to think about things more logically, even when he was just a kid... now that he thought about it...

Spoiler: Built

MOM!
The little girl's voice rang out through the hall. Her desperate attempt to get her mother's attention ringing out through the entire section of the palace. A few servants gave a brief peek at the commotion as the young girl began to tug at her mothers dress, doing her best to tug her towards the room that she and a boy her age had been playing in.

"He took my toy Mom! You have to tell him to give it back!" A young Chrystopher Light peeked out the door as he continued to fiddle with the reason he had incurred the girls' wrath. It was just a simple toy: A rubicks cube that his sister had been dead set on solving. He hadn't intended to be rude, but he had been promised a turn, and her allotted time had been exceeded. So he figured he would take it, then either solve it or try until his own time was up. Then he would just put it back how it was and leave her to it. His sister had been less than cooperative with that idea.

"Now dear, we talked about this: You need to learn to share with your brother! Surely it's been half an hour by now?" The girl was visibly distraught with that answer. "..But you said he wasn't even really my brother!" The boy's hands froze, but he remained silent. "You said he was just some thing that Daddy had built by the-"

"Now Shush!" Her mother interrupted harshly as she glanced around to make sure no one had heard. Chrystopher had retreated back into the room unseen by both of his "family members." The cube was left on the floor half solved.

"He's living with us, and he's flesh and blood just like you."
He went to find a different toy to play with.

That hadn't been the first time he had heard such things from his "mother" and "father", but it had hurt that even the young girl had not thought of him as family, despite being raised together.

That was long ago though. He had come to terms with the fact that he was... something else. Though he still wasn't quite sure what. Still though, perhaps his behavior had nothing to do with his darkness: Maybe he really was some kind of computer.

Implications of his past aside, the memory made him angry at Ria.

Not because he been right though. No, like he said he had honestly accepted it to the point he had actually not even thought about it when he had woken up in that cave with the others.

It made him angry because it was proof of Ria's arrogance, ignorance, and hypocrisy. Though it was true that he still did not know much in the way of Ria's true goals, so perhaps it was hypocritical himself to be judging Ria's ignorance.

The fact was that Chrys quite simply didn't have a family, and any friends he may have did not remember and were unremembered in return.

So here was Ria, a part of Aevum, the man who actively betrayed his so called friends in return for dark power that surely no good could come of, lecturing a man with nothing to lose about not standing by to let friends and family get hurt.

It made him both angry... and amused.

The bit about not wasting a second brought the old saying to mind; haste makes waste.
Clearly he had been patient enough to meticulously plan out events so far... and yet was clearly in all too big of a hurry to toss them all aside... or perhaps he wanted them by his side forever, seeing as how he had been absorbing them all one by one.

He had grown tired of that though it seemed, so things really remained the same.

He gave a rare smile as he watched the Darkside reel back in pain once more.

"I suppose we're just walking to different paths to the same end, you and I: Paths of broken trust and wasted time. Maybe in the end..." His voice trailed off for just a moment as his smile grew into a smirk. "...We'll both perish."

The mass of heartless writhed outside the building, twisting like a lake of suspicious black fluid as he looked out in the direction of the hatch the others had used.

"But not before I play what few cards I have."

This detour couldn't be for nothing: The others needed to know what he had learned.​