revenance_comms | [Voice -> Action; Private to Wash]

[This is unexpected. After spending years with people who wear armor that includes helmets and visors, Wash has gotten very good at reading tone. He's also pretty damn certain he hasn't told Roxas anything about his memory, which narrows this down considerably. Either way, the kid's nervous - this probably does not bode well.]

Over the network, or do you want me to come find you?

[Wash, you can be a scary dude, okay? At least in how you react to things. Ven's never met anyone quite like him before and he doesn't really know how to handle him.]

In person - can you get up the clock tower on the Gizmo Shop?

[Ven's never met anyone like Wash because there aren't many people with Wash's particular set of circumstances. It's a good thing.]

Yes. I'll be there in a few minutes.

[And true to form, he is - after fighting his way through a ton of Nightmares first, of course. What was it with this place and heavy conversations on top of towers?]

[It's an easy place to go where you're sure no one can eavesdrop on you, that's why. Also the three Apprentices have a bad habit of sitting on really high things and not worrying about falling off.]

[Ven skipped all the fighting on the way up by using his Glider, but he's cleared off the Nightmares on the top of the tower by the time Wash arrives. The only Spirit with him is Wheeler (the one most likely to behave), and he's sitting on the edge with his legs dangling over, the Hebby Repp sprawled across his legs in a flop pile, one of his favorite places. He looks up and chitters an inquiry when Wash appears, catching Ven's attention and making him look at the man as well though he doesn't get up.] Thanks for coming... I didn't interrupt anything you were doing, did I?

[After a quick visual sweep and a glance at his motion tracker to make sure that the roof was indeed clear of Nightmares, Wash sits on the ledge next to Ven and, after a moment's consideration, removes his helmet and sets it down beside him. Eye contact helped some people - hopefully it would put Ven a bit more at ease, because this promised to be a rough conversation.]

It wasn't anything important.

[Melody meows indignantly, settling herself into Wash's lap. He'd been petting her, and that was important. He glances down at her, then begins petting her again. Cats. At least Fang is easy - he perches on top of Wash's helmet, watching the conversation and waiting for his turn to be petted.]

Now tell me what happened.

[Because something had to have prompted this.]

[Yeah... yeah, that helps a little. Not that he's not used to having armor and a helmet of his own - Wash has even seen that - but it's so much easier to deal with a person rather than a blank piece of glass, or whatever that visor is made out of. Not that Wash is easy to read, really, just... a face is so much better.]

[And cats indeed. Ven glances down at Melody, but it's obvious he's not a cat person, and Wheeler gives a little chirt of annoyance and goes back to dozing across Ven's legs. The teenager raises a hand to scratch him softly just behind the jaw as he starts to talk.]

It... it happened, again.

[Wash closes his eyes slowly. It's his only concession to his frustration, as the dammit kid you're an idiot bouncing around his head isn't actually going to come out. That's not what Ven needs to hear - not when he initiated this conversation. After a moment, he opens his eyes again.]

You went back there. Why?

[That quote would definitely not be appreciated, especially since Ven doesn't think he's being one. And that isn't just out of teenager stubbornness (though admittedly part of it was) - it was because he wasn't willing to just wait and let something come for him. That wasn't his nature. He had a problem; he needed to try and fix it. Only another problem is getting in the way...]

I've been back there a lot, actually. A new world, and... with this happening, I'm connected to it, somehow. I have to know why. And even if this wasn't happening, I'd still go, because Keyblade wielders, we're supposed to protect the worlds and the people in them, and we need to know the worlds in order to do that...

[He's rambling a little, and he knows that and can't stop - but it's all true, and he just wants Wash to see that there's a reason.]

It's happened three times, now. The first time with you, then after I fought in the Struggle tournament, then... I met my master, to train, under the clocktower over there, and it happened again. But it lasted longer this time; I took more time to wake up.

[He pauses, then speaks again before Wash can say anything.]

I'm not going back there again. Not until I know more about this and have some kind of help. [He doesn't know when that will be, though.]

[He just stays silent through Ven's rambling, because holy shit, how dumb can this kid be? Continually running right into a trigger that lays you out in areas where Nightmares can and will kill you is not a goddamn survival instinct. It's not like the kid doesn't have a laundry list of reasons, but none of them are really a good excuse for continually throwing himself in harm's way. Thank God Wash has a solid poker face.]

[He knew about the first one; he'd left the Struggle tournament after his falling out with Ziva, so he'd missed the second one; the third one must have been the reason Ven finally came around to asking for this talk. He pauses for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to tackle this. He wasn't the Counselor, thank God, but that didn't mean he couldn't figure something out.]

Good. The last thing you need to do is trigger yourself again.

We should probably start with what happened to your memory - how it got messed up, and what the damage is.

[Ven also knows that his Spirits won't let anything happen to him - he'd probably be more worried if he didn't have them around, but his lot might be the most attached to their person of any of them. Even now Wheeler hasn't shifted; in fact has relaxed more, dropping into a doze across Ven's legs and giving a tiny whistling snore.]

[But Wash's question, it makes him hesitate. His story... it's just so odd. He's heard some strange ones, and for sure the Agents seem to have more going on than they've spilled about, but his was just... really, really, really strange. He's quiet for a few seconds before he begins talking - not looking at Wash, rather down at the fountain across the plaza, but his voice is actually very steady.]

I'm not a whole person. In this universe, our worlds, your heart isn't just the thing that beats in your chest, your heart is you, your spirit, feelings, emotions. And Light and Darkness are real, too; everyone has some of each in them. [No, he's not going into the princesses right now; let's not make this more complicated than it needs to be.] My first Keyblade Master followed the Darkness, and wanted to do a lot of bad things - he took me in when I was young, and I guess at first I didn't realize what he wanted. But over time he showed himself more and more, and the first memory I have is him urging me to give in and use my Darkness, use it to fight and destroy things, and I didn't want to. It scared me too much. So he used his powers to rip the Darkness out of my heart and make another boy from it. I nearly died - I did go into a coma for months, and lost all my memory. When I woke up, I was in the Land of Departure, with Aqua and Terra and Master Eraqus, and they took me in and trained me. I just remembered the separation when Vanitas - my other half - more or less shoved it into my head again a couple months ago, when he was threatening to kill all the people I loved.

[...yep, Ven's world was completely fucking insane. There really wasn't a better explanation. He stays silent as Ven talks, absently stroking Melody's fur and pushing Epsilon's memories back. The AI knew a thing or two about being torn apart, and Wash didn't want to deal with it right now.]

Let me guess: your previous master was Xehanort. [He seemed to the keybearers' bogeyman - why wouldn't he be in the story too?]

[You know what, Ven's not at all surprised that he knows that name. The Keybearers haven't exactly been secretive about it, even if no one's gone over the network and given a laundry list of things he's done (maybe one of them should...). The more people that know how bad he is, the fewer people who will trust him.]

Yeah. I'm assuming he performed the inheritance ceremony on me - I don't remember getting it any other way. But I remember him doing all of that now...

[It's certainly the most physical pain he has in his memory. Emotional... something else tops it.]

[Wash has been doing his research, at least. He skips over the question about what the Inheritance Ceremony was - probably exactly what it sounded like, and not relevant to the current conversation - and instead goes for something else.]

So when this happens, has there been any specific thing that you can think of that set you off? [It would help if they could narrow it down further than "All of Twilight Town.]

[Yup, exactly what it sounded like. That part, at least, wasn't too complicated. Not like the rest of it is, anyway.]

[But he pauses before he answers that question, because...] ...Not at first, there isn't. The time when you were there... that was the quickest it's ever hit me. The second time it took half an hour or so after I got to one place to hit, and maybe five minutes on the third? Just... something hits, and then my head hurts, really bad, like lightning is shooting across it. [He wishes he could say that he didn't have experience with that, but such is his life.] And then everything around me blacks out and I get these... flashes of pictures, and emotions, and then I just... pass out.

And it's in a different place in Twilight Town every time.

[So he really is triggered by the whole damn town. Great. He's silent for a few moments, considering what Ven has told him.]

Do you still have your memories in there somewhere, or did Xehanort take them along with your darkness? [He almost can't believe he just said that.] Do you know?

[He gives a small shrug at this and scoots back a little from the edge of the tower; Wheeler sleepily protests at the shifting, then starts his little whistle-snore again.]

I guess I still have them, but since the separation was so traumatic it locked them all away. I'm pretty sure he didn't take them, just the darkness in my heart. [One hand raises to rest over his heart, thinking.] When I remembered it happening, it was because Vanitas - the boy made out of my darkness - talked about it specifically and reminded me about it. But that was all he did was talk.

But he told you specifically what happened, and that triggered the memory.

[That's something to consider, at least, and Wash falls silent for a few moments, trying to see the thought to its logical conclusion.]

It's possible that similar content - seeing or hearing something that's in your memories, even if you don't know it is - is what triggers you. If that's the case, you probably have memories of Twilight Town. It would explain why the whole place is a trigger.

Though the only person you know of who'd know for sure is someone you don't want to ask. [Everything really does come back to Xehanort.]

[And Ven shakes his head at that summation. He didn't really phrase that well.] Sorry - he didn't actually say that... he was what he was and part of me and all of that. He said... [There's a small pause as he tries to remember the exact words the masked boy had used.] He said, "You used to be too broken to talk back."

[Another pause, slightly more uncomfortable.] No one had ever called me "broken" before. The three fairies, they recognized that I was like Aurora, but no one had ever said there was anything wrong with me. I guess that word tripped it, because I remembered how he broke me. I guess... I guess that's what's happening with Twilight Town, too. Nothing that's come back to me is bad, but it's the only thing I can think of that fits. I think I lived there, before Master Xehanort and the Keyblade and everything.

I can't remember why I left, though.

[Voice -> Action; Private to Wash]

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