In any case, Xanth is walking the halls. He turns a corner and there someone is - someone tall, someone imposing. He does not recognize the cloak or the figure beneath it, but he recognizes the stride as purposeful.
(And perhaps slightly familiar.)
He steps aside to let the man pass, but Xanth doesn't take his eyes off him. He's just a little wary.]
It's... c...complic--cated. I-- I met y-you, a-- a younger you, on a ship called the-- the E-Elegante.
B-But you, the-- the you I-I'm talking to n--now, you've been... doing... I-I don't know. [Maybe whatever he would have, Xanth thinks, if Riku hadn't been snatched up my Redd.
This is so hard to explain when Xanth doesn't understand it himself. He goes at it with a different approach.]
[Riku isn't following at all. He'd met a younger him? Impossible. But he's not discounting anything, yet.
So when Xanth asks him if he knows about different worlds, he's back on familiar ground. Still, he can't keep one eyebrow from raising, though the movement is all but invisible behind the blindfold. If he's having to ask if Riku knows about other worlds, then he couldn't have known him -too- well.
But Riku's learned a lot about self-control, and when he speaks, his voice is even.]
[Xanth nods. He and Riku hadn't spoken of multiple worlds; they were too busy with rivalry and competition.]
O-Okay. Th-the Elegante was-- I-I don't know, s-sort of a-- a h-haven. Y-You and I, w-we were both picked up by-- by the c-captain. From our w--worlds.
[Or what was left of them. Xanth is leaving that part out.]
But... n-not... this you. I-I think, maybe, there a-are just-- c-copies of-- of everyone, like... r-reprinted books, or, something.
I-I was... here, i-in the-- the Keep, once before. I--I guess. I-I mean, I-- I don't remember that, b-but, p--people knew me.
[The idea of there being multiple copies of people is, oddly enough, much easier for Riku to accept. After all, his "haven" after leaving his world had been Hollow Bastion. And he's sure that he couldn't have known Xanth when he was younger--too much had happened over the past year for him to have known and forgotten an entire other world.
And besides, Naminé would have been able to tell if something had happened to his memories, wouldn't she...?
So it makes more sense that there was a copy of him there. A really odd, perverse sort of sense, but sense nonetheless.]
So you've met me before, but it was a different me. A younger me.
And you've been here before, but it was a different you.
[There's a pause, while Riku digests this.]
Why do they bring some of us from one timeline but not others? Why the you from the ship, but not the me?
[Xanth shrugs. Riku gets exactly what he expects: no answers.]
I-I have-- n-no idea. If th-this Deior i-is any-- anything l-like the man who r-ran the Eleg--gante, then he's... m-mad. Wh-who knows why he does a--anything?
[Xanth found himself in a state of disbelief. For once, he and Riku could agree on something besides Kairi's safety. A hint of a smile flashes onto his face, but it's gone just as quickly.]
B-But... do... do we r-really want those a--answers?
[Is knowing that your loved ones are truly gone better than a shred of hope that they might yet live? And if they did get answers, could they really be the correct ones? So many things Xanth learned on the Elegante had come unraveled here in the Keep.]
[Xanth's gaze falls and, for a moment, he is thoughtful. He remembers the months of uncertainty on the Elegante, then the terrible way they learned their families' fate. Oh, it hurt.
But Riku's right. It's better to know.
Xanth looks up to Riku again.]
W-We-- we'll-- have to b-be careful. Th-they... p-punish people r-really, really b-badly here.
Sounds like if we use common sense, we should be fine.
[Aside from that whole "going where we shouldn't" thing. Riku has to admit to himself that a lot of the time, his missions take him where he probably shouldn't be. However...]
We'll just have to make sure that if we do go anywhere suspicious, we don't let them find us there.
Or is it the either way around?
In any case, Xanth is walking the halls. He turns a corner and there someone is - someone tall, someone imposing. He does not recognize the cloak or the figure beneath it, but he recognizes the stride as purposeful.
(And perhaps slightly familiar.)
He steps aside to let the man pass, but Xanth doesn't take his eyes off him. He's just a little wary.]
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It's... c...complic--cated. I-- I met y-you, a-- a younger you, on a ship called the-- the E-Elegante.
B-But you, the-- the you I-I'm talking to n--now, you've been... doing... I-I don't know. [Maybe whatever he would have, Xanth thinks, if Riku hadn't been snatched up my Redd.
This is so hard to explain when Xanth doesn't understand it himself. He goes at it with a different approach.]
D-Do you... kn-know about different w--worlds?
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So when Xanth asks him if he knows about different worlds, he's back on familiar ground. Still, he can't keep one eyebrow from raising, though the movement is all but invisible behind the blindfold. If he's having to ask if Riku knows about other worlds, then he couldn't have known him -too- well.
But Riku's learned a lot about self-control, and when he speaks, his voice is even.]
Yeah. I've got some experience with them.
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O-Okay. Th-the Elegante was-- I-I don't know, s-sort of a-- a h-haven. Y-You and I, w-we were both picked up by-- by the c-captain. From our w--worlds.
[Or what was left of them. Xanth is leaving that part out.]
But... n-not... this you. I-I think, maybe, there a-are just-- c-copies of-- of everyone, like... r-reprinted books, or, something.
I-I was... here, i-in the-- the Keep, once before. I--I guess. I-I mean, I-- I don't remember that, b-but, p--people knew me.
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And besides, Naminé would have been able to tell if something had happened to his memories, wouldn't she...?
So it makes more sense that there was a copy of him there. A really odd, perverse sort of sense, but sense nonetheless.]
So you've met me before, but it was a different me. A younger me.
And you've been here before, but it was a different you.
[There's a pause, while Riku digests this.]
Why do they bring some of us from one timeline but not others? Why the you from the ship, but not the me?
[He doesn't expect Xanth to have the answers.]
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I-I have-- n-no idea. If th-this Deior i-is any-- anything l-like the man who r-ran the Eleg--gante, then he's... m-mad. Wh-who knows why he does a--anything?
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Most madmen have some reason behind their rhyme. It's just a matter of figuring out what his actual goals are.
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Wh-- whatever they is, they-- they're p-probably not just gi-giving us a p-place to... to wait. It-- it just c-can't be that s-s--simple.
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[He folds his arms.]
I say we figure out what's going on ourselves. There's no sense waiting for them to decide it's time they told us.
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B-But... do... do we r-really want those a--answers?
[Is knowing that your loved ones are truly gone better than a shred of hope that they might yet live? And if they did get answers, could they really be the correct ones? So many things Xanth learned on the Elegante had come unraveled here in the Keep.]
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Yeah.
At least, I do.
It's better to know, even if it hurts.
[Gee, it's like he's speaking from experience or something!]
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But Riku's right. It's better to know.
Xanth looks up to Riku again.]
W-We-- we'll-- have to b-be careful. Th-they... p-punish people r-really, really b-badly here.
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Then we'll be careful.
Do they punish people for anything in particular? Or is it arbitrary?
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[Xanth counts these out on his fingers, then curls his hand into a fist.]
I-I don't-- know a-any more, but that's pr--probably not all.
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[Aside from that whole "going where we shouldn't" thing. Riku has to admit to himself that a lot of the time, his missions take him where he probably shouldn't be. However...]
We'll just have to make sure that if we do go anywhere suspicious, we don't let them find us there.
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[It's not like Lord Deior has eyes besides the staff, after all, and Xanth knows which people to avoid.]
D-Do you know ab-bout the-- the j-journals?
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