The crystallization also removed any way for those like me to resist their other selves, too. We heard word of what it was like in the city where they were kept while their friends waited for them to wake up. None of it was good.
[As far as he knew, no one went back to check until months later, when it was all over.] That's why Sora turned, before being crystallized again like the others. [He frowns.] And not just Sora. There were others from home, too. Kairi and Aqua, if I remember correctly, were in the crystallized heroes wing of the hospital too. Used to visit every week. A few more joined them and countless others from different worlds, even Naminé. Never saw them awaken as what the locals wound up calling "Heroes of Darkness" though.
[Left unspoken is the fact that is more an elephant in the room beyond his own past beyond their worlds: he was the last of those from their worlds standing at the end. Takeshi's eyebrows furrow.]
I was there when she faced hers, and Crystallis still- [He shakes his head. He knows he didn't fail her, but it feels like it; and he still saw her as a friend.] That's just it: you're never free. Not really. Though considering we don't have crystals and can only have one active job at once? I'd say you won't have to worry about it like we did.
[He lets that sink in for a moment while he debates how much detail to go into his own Calamity Self. Screw it; it's likely obvious at this point.]
...Facing my own shadow, was something I wish I could have done on my own. It isn't just admitting to the things you're trying to hide. It's others seeing those aspects of you, too. [His eyes narrow as he stares at an empty space on the table, hands clasped in front of him as he rests his elbows on his knees. There was a lot he tried to hide.] Everything you denied, everything you hid, thrown into your face. For me,
Well, you likely heard of the theory of alternate realities by now, right? ...We're unwitting proof that's true in some cases.
I hid everything from my past from the point when I faded away to the point I woke up in that plaza. I tried to forget I wasn't the sole survivor of what that witch did to our worlds. My anger at being the one who lived while countless died.... and not wanting to fade away forgotten and failing to protect the ones I love.
no subject
[As far as he knew, no one went back to check until months later, when it was all over.] That's why Sora turned, before being crystallized again like the others. [He frowns.] And not just Sora. There were others from home, too. Kairi and Aqua, if I remember correctly, were in the crystallized heroes wing of the hospital too. Used to visit every week. A few more joined them and countless others from different worlds, even Naminé. Never saw them awaken as what the locals wound up calling "Heroes of Darkness" though.
[Left unspoken is the fact that is more an elephant in the room beyond his own past beyond their worlds: he was the last of those from their worlds standing at the end. Takeshi's eyebrows furrow.]
I was there when she faced hers, and Crystallis still- [He shakes his head. He knows he didn't fail her, but it feels like it; and he still saw her as a friend.] That's just it: you're never free. Not really. Though considering we don't have crystals and can only have one active job at once? I'd say you won't have to worry about it like we did.
[He lets that sink in for a moment while he debates how much detail to go into his own Calamity Self. Screw it; it's likely obvious at this point.]
...Facing my own shadow, was something I wish I could have done on my own. It isn't just admitting to the things you're trying to hide. It's others seeing those aspects of you, too. [His eyes narrow as he stares at an empty space on the table, hands clasped in front of him as he rests his elbows on his knees. There was a lot he tried to hide.] Everything you denied, everything you hid, thrown into your face. For me,
Well, you likely heard of the theory of alternate realities by now, right? ...We're unwitting proof that's true in some cases.
I hid everything from my past from the point when I faded away to the point I woke up in that plaza. I tried to forget I wasn't the sole survivor of what that witch did to our worlds. My anger at being the one who lived while countless died.... and not wanting to fade away forgotten and failing to protect the ones I love.