A friend and I have been doing a RP for a while now, and it has been scattered across several threads on two different sites. It started as a group story (about fast food of all things ) but then it transformed into something else entirely.

 

We request that nobody join in this RP or post anything on this thread; if you wanna say how awesome we are, message us some other way.

 

Um...You're free to read this for fun if you want to, but this thread has major Birth By Sleep spoilers. And since we've been doing this for a while, we will probably refer to things we've done in the past and you will have no idea what we're talking about. So if you want to save yourself from confusion, then you probably wanna stay away. If not, hey, whatever.

 

The plot was discussed and posted on another website, but here's a quick summary of the whole thing: It's the return of Xehanort.

 

Characters:

Peanut: Sora, Namine, Leon, Aerith, King Mickey, Terra, Ventus, Xehanort, etc.

Forever Love: Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Yuffie, Aqua, Vanitus, Tron, etc.

 

I believe I've said everything that needs to be said...Forever Love, let's get this show on the road, eh?

"I had to be stronger," Lightning said, her body tense with this discussion. She was close to snapping at Riku, and if her brand was active, it probably would have triggered pain right now. Her hands were in tight fists, the girl hating this discussion.

"For yourself?" Riku guessed, eyes serious as he looked at her. "Guess it worked. You're the most stubborn person I've met." She was definitely stronger than some people he knew, emotionally and physically, especially the former.

"Stubbornness has nothing to do with this," Lightning snapped, subconsciously lifting a fist to her chest. "You have to be strong out there, or you'll die. You have to be strong enough to grow up quickly so you can actually survive before you're killed off." She changed her name to help her grow up, after Ven was taken. She believed with a stronger, fiercer name, she would become a stronger, fiercer person. She became strong to save him and avoid one other thing: the death of her parents.

Riku looked away at that, not knowing how to respond. He stared down at the ground, silent now. Did Lightning have more to say than that? Or was she done?

Lightning ground her teeth, rising to her feet and glaring at Riku. "You have to be strong when you're eleven and witness a man murder both of your parents and steal your brother away from you." There, she finally said it. Xehanort didn't just set the fire hoping it would kill her parents; he came into the house and physically murdered them. And she saw it.

Riku's hands curled into fists at that, the boy closing his eyes. Eleven? That was how old she was? "...Claire," he said then, his voice soft. "That's your name."

"My name is Lightning," the young woman said, glaring down at the ground as her hands were curled into fists by her sides. "Claire may as well have died in the fire. She was too weak to protect her family when she needed to." She didn't care what age she was; she should have at least saved Ven. She failed.

"You were eleven!" Riku said then, opening his eyes to look at her. "What did you think you could do? You were just a kid!" She couldn't seriously blame herself for this, could she? That was stupid.

"Something!" Lightning hollered back. She didn't know what exactly, but she should have tried harder to save Ven before Master Xehanort got to him. She was too horrified about what happened to her parents to save Ven. She was too emotional.

"There was nothing you could have done, not against Xehanort," Riku said then, his eyes on Lightning. "You had no chance, and you know it." Master Xehanort was too cruel, too dark. Nobody stood a chance with him, not a normal person. Not without a miracle.

"Maybe not then," Lightning retorted, staying angry instead of getting sad. "I hunted him for years trying to find Ven but I still wasn't strong enough to save him. Sora saved worlds when he was fourteen, and yet I was incapable of saving my brother at that age." She failed him. She failed to protect what family she had left every time they were in danger. Serah was captured because she didn't protect her...She was at fault for so many things.

"You're not Sora," Riku replied then, facing Lightning completely. "And...you didn't have anyone beside you...did you? You were alone." That was his best guess. He didn't know her life story, not like she knew his.

"Not the point," Lightning said, dismissing that last comment. She was alone, yes, but she should have been stronger. What was the point of this whole thing again? "I wasn't strong enough and Ven paid the price for it. Serah too."

"Ven didn't pay any price," Riku disagreed, shaking his head. "If anything Xehanort made him stronger, which eventually led to his own demise. It was his mistake to take your brother." It at least made sense to him, but he wouldn't be surprised if Lightning disagreed. She always did.

"Ven didn't pay any price?!" Lightning repeated in disbelief. "He lost his family!" He lost his mom, dad, and until recently, his sister. But she wasn't the sister he remembered who actually smiled. That was Claire. Now she was Lightning.

"No he didn't!" Riku hollered back. "He still has you!" He took a step closer to her and motioned toward the area outside his house. "And Terra, and Aqua, and everybody else! He's got family all around him. You'd be nuts to think your parents wouldn't be happy about that."

"Fine, Ven finally has his happy ending!" Lightning said, eyes getting moist now. "So what about me?" She had no happiness in her life; her family had been her reason to live, and when she lost them, she didn't know what to do. She fought to avoid the issues, but at the end of the day, she realized she wasn't happy. Not even close.

Riku fell silent at that, tensing at the look on Lightning's face. I don't know, he thought sadly. He didn't know at all.

Light glared at Riku for a few moments before she started for the front door to go back inside. There was no answer to her questions. Didn't Riku see by now that while she had hope for the worlds and her friends, she had no hope for herself? Happiness and success were out of her reach.

Riku's hand came up instantly, grasping Lightning's upper arm before she could pass him completely. "Light," he said, his eyes finding her. She couldn't just...do this. It wasn't right.

Light was forced to stop when Riku grasped her, and she didn't bother wasting her energy. He wouldn't release her. She avoided his gaze and glared over and down at the ground, eyes moist because she was so upset.

Riku's eyes were no longer sharp with seriousness, but soft with concern. "...Don't walk away from this," he told Lightning softly. She'd done it long enough.

Light shook her head ever so slightly, still not looking over at Riku. Staying around the problem wasn't helping. She didn't see why Riku was telling her not to avoid it; it was too hard to face.

"Walking away isn't going to fix this," Riku said, still holding Lightning's arm. "Changing your name may have covered up the guilt, but it didn't reach you where it mattered. You're still hurt, and the only way to get rid of your problems is to face them." He kept his eyes on her, even if she wouldn't look at him. "Running away will only cause them to play chase, and you'll get pulled back in. Is that what you want?"

"I've run this long without facing the consequence," Lightning said without looking over. "I'm winning this chase." She avoided her problems for ten years, even with the problems snapping at her heels. She survived.