(If we're classifying this as the 30 Day OTP challenge, I say it counts as 6 and 14, seeing as, in swapping bodies, they swap genders and end up wearing each others clothes. Ha.)
Don't miss the brainstorm for the Axel battle!
~
“Agh, what
did you do?” he groaned, and then frowned, realizing that there was something
wrong with his voice. He reached up and pressed his fingers against his throat.
“Namine?” Yes, that was him speaking… why did it sound so weird?
“Uh-oh…”
Namine whispered, sounding very, very
worried. “What did I do?”
Riku made a
face. Namine’s voice didn’t sound right, either. In fact, it sounded like…
He glanced
up, and his eyes widened. He was staring at himself. Except… wait. Something
wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right with how he was seeing things. He was
seeing things from a different angle… He felt shorter. Smaller. He felt—
He glanced
down at himself—
Oh gravy…
“We’ve switched bodies,” they said,
simultaneously, having both come to that conclusion. They stared at each other
for a few seconds before Riku rubbed his—Namine’s?—head.
“What did
you do?” he asked.
“I don’t
know!!”
It was
funny, the way Namine used his voice. It was his voice, yes, but it came out
much more timid when she used it. Riku sighed, and then took a good look at
Namine—well, Namine in his body—well, actually, he was really just looking at
his own body; he hadn’t actually seen himself in a mirror recently.
“Has my
hair always been that long?” he asked.
Namine gave
him a funny look—and it was even funnier to see that look on his own face.
“It’s been
this long for a while,” she replied. “You’ve been in Castle Oblivion for the
past five months, remember? Now, we have other problems here!”
“Yes, yes,
I know. Uhm…” Riku ran a hand through his hair—well, it was Namine’s hair—well…
“How’d we get like this?”
Namine
shrugged. “Not sure. I mean, I know we have this telepathic link and all, but I
didn’t think it was possible for our consciousnesses to—ugh, I don’t know!” She
threw her—his—agh—arms into the air in her frustration. Then she grimaced.
“Ahh… that hurt…” and she rubbed her shoulder—which was technically Riku’s
shoulder… “Goodness, Riku, is it supposed to hurt?”
He just
shrugged and then nodded. “That shoulder—that is the left one, right? Yeah.
That one’s giving me trouble ever since Cid stabbed me.”
She just
stared at him and continued to rub her—Riku’s—shoulder.
“Do you
think we can reverse it?” Riku asked.
Namine
smiled cheekily. “Why? Don’t like--”
“Namine,”
he interrupted. “We can’t stay like this and you know it. Imagine explaining it to people! And besides, I
would like my own body back. Yours isn’t entirely comfortable… You’re all…
small and frail and tiny and I feel vulnerable.”
“Trust me,
it’s not as bad as it seems,” Namine replied. “I hardly notice it; after all, I’ve
got you to protect me.”
“Which I
can’t do when I’m in your body!”
Namine
rolled her—his—he really needed to stop trying to classify things properly—eyes
and then reached over and smacked him. “Yes, Mr.
I-can’t-stand-being-vulnerable!”
“Oi,
careful,” Riku said, rubbing his—Namine’s—arm where Namine had smacked him.
“You’re stronger than you think you are. And you just smacked yourself!!”
“And?”
“This
better not bruise…”
Namine chuckled.
“And if it does?”
“I don’t
know. But don’t do it again.”
Namine
slowly sighed. “Alright… how do we reverse this?”
He smiled
cheekily up at her. “What? Don’t like--”
“Really,
Riku?” Namine interrupted. “We already established that we don’t want to
explain this to anyone, and there’s also the fact that I don’t like being in
your body as much as you don’t like being in mine. You’re all… rough, and
awkward and—in a lot of pain!! How do you put up with your shoulders hurting
like this?”
“Like
what?” Riku asked, a bit confused.
“Like—I
don’t know. They’re both sore. In fact, most
of your body is sore.” She stretched, slightly, like it would help any.
Riku just
shrugged. “I guess that’s from spending practically every minute fighting
something. I guess. I never noticed being sore…”
“You’re
also tired,” Namine said. “Your body’s complaining about needing sleep.”
Riku just
shrugged again.
Namine
yawned. “Seriously, why don’t I just go to sleep right now so your body gets
some rest?—you can’t have nightmares if you’re not in your own brain.”
“Eh, what
if this turns out to be permanent or something if we don’t undo it quickly?”
Riku argued. “Best not.”
“Fine.”
Namine shifted slightly. “Maybe if I do what I was doing before this happened,
we can undo it.”
“You think
it will work?”
“No clue.
But what harm is there in trying?” She slowly reached out and took Riku’s face
in her hands. There was a pause, and then she touched their foreheads together.
Riku let
out a sharp breath; his heart was suddenly racing. He didn’t remember being
this close to Namine ever making him feel like this before. He could feel her
breath on his face—regardless of where the pronouns should be in that
sentence—and it only made his heart beat faster.
It felt
really weird and—he wasn’t entirely sure, but he was almost positive that what
he was feeling had to do with the fact he was in Namine’s body. There was
something her senses were trying to tell his brain, and his brain didn’t
understand how it was supposed to process them.
Namine
suddenly pulled away.
“Uhm…”
They both
looked at each other for a second.
“Does it
always feel like that when--”
“Is that
what it feels like to you--”
They
paused, as they’d been trying to speak at the same time. But, understanding
that they’d been asking the same question, they continued:
“Well,
assuming that what you felt was--”
“Depending
on just what it was you felt--”
They paused
again, sighed simultaneously.
“Sometimes.”
“Yeah.”
They stared
at each other for a moment.
Namine made
a face. “Let me… let me try again.” She touched their foreheads together again.
There was a moment’s pause, and then she pulled away, not looking happy. “No,
I- I can’t. There’s something about doing it from your body that makes it
impossible to set up the link.”
“How does
that have anything to do with being in my body?” Riku asked, incredulous. “What
makes setting up the link from my body different than setting up the link from
yours?”
“I don’t
know! I just can’t get it to work!!”
Riku
groaned.
“This is ridiculous!”
“I’m not
any happier about it than you are!!”
They argued
for a bit more, but, because of course this interruption had to happen, a dark
corridor opened off to the side and they both glanced up. Out stepped—who do
you expect?—a Larxene Replica. Riku swore.
“Oi! Watch
what you say with my mouth!” Namine scolded.
“Not now,”
Riku hissed, getting up and glaring at the Larxene. “You best leave, if you
know what’s good for you.”
“Is that really what my hair looks like from the
back…?” Namine whispered, but Riku ignored her.
“Why is the
little miss threatening me?” the Larxene asked, confused. “I’d expect him to be
saying something.” She nodded over at where Namine sat in Riku’s body. “This is
weird…”
“It is,”
Riku agreed. “Why don’t you just head on out, and come back in an hour or so
after we’ve got it all sorted out, okay?”
The Larxene
shook her head. “Mmm… I don’t think so.”
“You’d
think they’d run out of Larxenes to send over here,” Namine mused. “Ri—uh—I’ve
killed so many of them that… that it feels like I’ve killed them all.”
Riku threw
her a look. “Please, don’t,” he said. “Please.”
“Okay, I
have no clue what you two are going on about, so let’s just direct this back to
what I’m used to,” the Larxene said. “I’m here to kidnap Namine. Plain and
simple. Let’s get this routine over with.”
“So you’re
looking forward to dying?” Riku asked (through Namine’s mouth, I might clarify,
in case those of you reading this have forgotten).
“Again, why
are you the one threatening me?” the
Larxene asked, giving a very confused look to who she assumed to be Namine.
“Long
story,” Riku replied. “Why don’t you just leave, like I suggested? Or we can--”
He paused. He’d tried to summon his blade, except it didn’t come to him.
Because Namine was currently the one with that ability. He turned to her.
“Summon my blade!” he hissed.
“Hmm?”
“I can’t
threaten a Larxene if I don’t have my blade.”
“But-”
“I need my
blade, darnit Namine!”
“How do
you--”
“Like you
don’t know!? You’ve seen me summon it like a million times!!”
“What… what
is going on here?” the Larxene asked slowly. Then she shook her head.
“Nevermind. Since you don’t seem intent on putting up a fight…” She grabbed
Riku by the arm, believing him to be Namine (which was completely understandable,
after all.)
“Shoot,”
Riku said, trying to struggle but finding he couldn’t break free. “Na-Riku!!” he shouted.
Thankfully,
Namine responded. She’d drawn Riku’s blade and now lunged at the Larxene.
Sadly, she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, and so she ended up being
knocked back very easily. Riku stifled the scream that tried to tear from his
throat; Namine’d dropped his blade, so if he could grab it—
“Uck, stay
out of the way, will you?” the Larxene asked, chucking a lightning bolt at
Namine. She had assumed that that was Riku, and was throwing a lightning bolt
to keep “him” out of the way.
Riku didn’t
even have to think twice.
He made
sure the lightning bolt hit him, instead.
He was
thrown back, and hit the ground roughly, before he clutched himself tightly and
curled up into a ball; lightning hurt no less when he was in Namine’s body. In
fact, it almost hurt worse.
“NO!” Namine screamed.
That scream
sounded so familiar. Of course, the scream came from his mouth and was his
voice, but he found it a bit funny that Namine could scream just like he could
when she was in danger. Oh, lord, speaking of…
Idiot! Riku thought. Yeah, let Namine’s body take all the damage…
that was a smart idea!
But at least she doesn’t feel the
pain…
“Aww, does Riku not like it when
Namine gets hurt?” the Larxene teased.
Riku found
it odd to hear those words through Namine’s ears. But, oh, was this scene
familiar. The Larxene was even charging up another lightning bolt, and was
preparing to throw it at Namine—at him.
“Don’t you
dare.”
His voice.
Namine.
Riku
glanced up. Namine was standing between him and the Larxene.
“Well, haven’t I seen this before?”
He could hear the question clearly
in his head, though the Larxene had yet to say it.
“Don’t--”
he croaked.
“Shh,”
Namine replied. “I’ll handle her.”
It only
took one lightning bolt to knock Namine down. Riku screamed, and his angered
scream didn’t sound quite right coming out of Namine’s mouth. He tried to
attack the Larxene—not that he’d do much good while in Namine’s body—but she
was too close to him now. Laughing. Standing above him. Looking down on him.
He couldn’t
help but recoil in fear.
“Get away
from him!!” Namine screamed, and a blast of darkness threw the Larxene back.
Riku slowly
pushed himself up, then looked at Namine. Her eyes were wide and she was
staring at the darkness that was no radiating from her—Riku’s body—in fear.
“What was--” she began.
“Can’t
things just be easy?” the Larxene lamented, as she pushed herself back to her
feet. For taking a blast of darkness—from Namine, who had no clue how to
control Riku’s darkness—she recovered very quickly.
“My blade!”
Riku gasped, turning to Namine. “Where is it?”
“I, uhm--”
“Never
mind,” Riku said, spotting it on the floor about five feet away. He grabbed it
and then attacked the Larxene. The blade went through her gut. She was gone
within seconds.
“There we
go,” Riku sighed in relief.
“Great, now
my body’s going to have memories of killing someone,” Namine said. Riku
couldn’t tell if she was teasing or not. He… thought that’s what his voice sounded like when he was teasing.
“It was
just Larxene,” he replied. “Now let’s figure out how to reverse this!! I want
my body back!!”
“Alright,
fine,” Namine sighed. She made her way over to Riku and touched their foreheads
together again. “Now, we already established that I can’t form the stupid
telepathic link through your body, so you’re going to have to form it.”
“How?”
‘I don’t
know! Just, reach out to me. Try and make contact with my mind. Maybe if you’re
already trying to make contact, I’ll be able to forge the link,”
“I don’t
see how being in separate bodies makes any difference on a telepathic link…
It’s all mental”
“Do you
want your body back?”
“Okay,
okay.”
There was a
moment, and after some telepathic stuff that I don’t really feel like
explaining, because I’m tired and utterly lazy and so done with writing this
sequence, Riku’s and Namine’s consciousnesses went back to their bodies and
they lived happily ever after, minus, you know, the Rebellion that was still
going on, and the four or so Larxene Replicas that were still around, and the
fact that Riku was now aware of the fact just how much pain his body actually
was in…
Maybe
happily ever after isn’t the best term right now.
But, hey, at least they got their bodies back.
2 comments:
That was great! I especially loved how confused the Larxene replica was by the whole thing.
Yeah, well, I'd be pretty confused, too!
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