The Meaninglessness of Words
He laid somewhere the light eluding him…. Where was he? Who was he? What had happened? He had urgency in the back of his existence… but why would he be urgent? Nothing made sense but nothing felt out of place… it felt somehow right… but why did it feel right when something was obviously wrong? Deciding he no longer cared he curled up upon himself and went back to sleep.
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Sephiroth was shocked, sure it wasn't the fist time he was told that someone was going to die but he had never heard it from a caring friend and he had always known who it was that was going to die. Death was a part of Sephiroth's life for a long time… being born in order to be the perfect military commander didn't leave room for much else. Deciding to remain calm and wait to figure out what Eikichi meant by his cryptic message he headed over to where the boy Riku went. He lightly knocked on the younger boy's door giving him a moment to prepare himself for the light of the hallway before deftly opening it. He had expected to see the boy maybe getting ready for bed or something but what he was met with reminded him of when he first met Eikichi. Riku was sitting on the bed hugging his knees with his head resting on his arms. Sephiroth's heart went out to the boy but he wasn't sure how to proceed, if it had been Eikichi he would have gone and hugged him, but something told him that Riku would not appreciate the gesture; at least not till they knew each other better.
"You'll get a cramp or two if you spend the whole night like that." Riku looked up at him, thankful that Sephiroth had closed the door.
"Yeah, well I don't plan on staying like this all night…" Riku replied almost testily still not moving from his position. Sephiroth walked further into the cramped room.
"Mind if I take a seat?" When Riku just shook his head Sephiroth easily strode over to the bed and sat down on the edge making sure that there was enough space between himself and Riku to not cause the boy too much discomfort. "So is there anything you want to ask about the town?" Sephiroth tried to start a conversation; he wasn't very good at this sort of thing. Riku looked up curiously at the older man before kind of shrugging slightly. "Well there isn't much to do around here as you might have seen earlier, there are a few abandoned stores that still have large stocks of food and I'm pretty sure there is an old arcade somewhere. It would probably be a better idea to get Eikichi to show you in the morning, he knows where all the fun stuff is…"
"How old is Eikichi? When I first saw him he seemed like he was my age or slightly older but then when he collapsed earlier he looked a lot younger. Why is that?"
"Uh, that's complicated; Eikichi is fifteen though he sometimes acts a lot older or younger depending on his mood."
"And what about you how old are you, Sephiroth?" Riku asked lifting his head more in curiosity.
"Ha, that's another complicated answer, lets just leave it with I'm a lot older than you probably think I am." Riku snorted at that reply.
"You can kind of say the same for me; you caught my slip up before didn't you?" Sephiroth simply nodded glad that the boy was opening up if only slightly. "Well I really should be twenty; my body is just seventeen years old."
"I see well my age and the age my body looks is a greater difference than that, and I can understand the want to tell people your true age and not the age you are physically, but in my case if I told people how old I really was they would probably look at me like I was crazy." Sephiroth explained, then looking tiredly out the window he continued, "It's late you should probably get some sleep. Oh and just to let you know it's only light out for a few hours early in the morning and even then it's fairly cloudy." With that Sephiroth got off the bed and headed to the door, he glanced back once more at Riku to find that the boy had uncurled and was now lying under the covers. Smiling fondly the older man left the room heading down the hall to own.
Before going to bed however Sephiroth stopped outside of Eikichi's room peaking in the slightly ajar door. The boy was sleeping somewhat peacefully; tossing every now and then mumbling a few incoherent words, but he didn't seem to be in the throws of a horrible nightmare so he quietly snuck away from the door feeling his old age catch up with him. He was exhausted actually, which was new for him, he was very used to feeling perfectly healthy all the time thanks to the mako flowing within him. Shrugging it off as the hectic evenings events he changed into a pair of sweats and lowered himself into his king sized bed loosing himself in the comfy cotton sheets and drifting off into slumber.
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He woke up with a start, from what he didn't really know but in the back of his mind he acknowledged that it must have been a dream. Looking at the neon green glow of his clock and seeing that it was four in the morning he vainly tried to fall back into the pits of darkness that would allow him rest. A nagging in his mind however wouldn't let him complete his task and he was forced to lay there with nothing to do or to get up and find something to do. Groaning he rolled out of bed, his bare feet squishing the fibers of the rug between his toes. He didn't want to get up yet! It felt like forever since the last time he had a good nights sleep. Sighing dejectedly he ran elegant fingers through his short multi-colored hair before going making his way into the kitchen to see if he could summon the energy to cook breakfast.
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Sora figuring Riku wouldn't dare stay on the island had gone to Traverse Town and he had met up with Leon and the gang to ask if they had seen his silver haired friend. Cid told him that Riku had bought a gummi ship but he hadn't mentioned where he was going. Sora grateful for the information had asked if there was any way to track down the gummi ship that Riku had purchased.
"Sorry kid but, there ain't any fucking way I'd allow someone to track down one of my gummis I made em specifically so such a thin wouldn't happen." The gruff man replied with his normal demeanor.
"Thanks Cid, I'll just get my own gummi ship then, see if I can figure out where he went." Sora sighed slightly disheartened but far from giving up. He would find Riku if only to try to explain what had happened that night. Sora wasn't completely sure himself but he knew for a fact that something or someone other then himself had some control over him that night. It wasn't that he had gotten drunk, but that night part of him just felt off like there had been some other presence in his head. It was so subtle the he had just dismissed it completely, but now he wished he hadn't.