eighth trick

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

[Ikki carefully walks barefoot along the Astral Beach without the aid of his crutch, his A-Ts dangling from his fingers by the laces. Tucked under his arm is a pretty French tin that he salvaged from some kind of garage sale. He stops a few feet from where there used to be trees and wades into the water up to the thigh. As he does so, a strange breeze picks up and tugs at his crazy hair and the edges of his jacket.]

I knew you wanted to stay here forever.

[He pops the tin open and scatters the red, dusty contents into the wind and over the water.]

... Let's fly another time.

[ooc: Ikki just gave Diva a burial. D: I got mun permission, yeah.]

Comments

[contract_star]

[Watching curiously from a distance until he sees the red dust. He knows what that looks like.]

I'm sure she liked that.

[shinypaws.livejournal.com]

[Watching with a gentle smile.]

A very nice gesture, Ikki Minami.

[hexhax.livejournal.com]

[Willow doesn't even have to ask.]

Ikki...

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

[Ikki pauses, the tin still in his hands.]

Oh. Er. ... I'd like to think that, too.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

[Ikki makes his way out of the water and sets the tin down.]

I just wanted to do something for her. Since we couldn't... help.

[contract_star]

[Small smile.] She liked romantic gestures.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

[Of course she doesn't. He stays there for a bit, just letting the wind pull at him how it wants. Wind follows him around, anyway.]

... Hey.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

Yeah... she did.

[He turns to the shore, considering burying it.]

You think she'll come back?

[hexhax.livejournal.com]

[You may not like it, but you're getting a hug, dammit. She's been there.]

[contract_star]

[Watches him a moment in silent.]

Undoubtedly. The Twins don't let anyone stay dead.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

[Ikki goes wide-eyed for a moment, then smiles a little sadly and hugs back. Strange. He's never really been to a funeral, and he was too young to remember his parents' if they had one. This must be what goes on...]

[shinypaws.livejournal.com]

I understand the feeling all too well.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

Yeah? So she'll get a second chance and all, but... [He begins digging a hole in the sand with his better foot.] ... What if that Nathan guy...

I want to look out for her, I guess.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

Yeah? [He plops down on the sand.]

[contract_star]

Somehow I...doubt Nathan will still be alive when she comes back. [If someone in Diva's own reality doesn't kill him, Hei will hunt him down, lawl.]

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Touches his shoulder gently.] Ikki-kun.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

... Heh. That'd be convenient, wouldn't it?

[He sighs and sets the tin inside the hole.]

I don't know which is worse... having the guy who did it back in her reality, or having the guy who did it actually be a resident on the Plane.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

Kirihara-san... What drives people to take others' lives for the sake of their own happiness?

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Oh god, way to ask the tough questions. She rests her hand on his shoulder and gives it a little squeeze.]

I'd like to give you a simple answer. To say that it's just selfishness, that the people who kill have no better reason. [Amber, the EPR, the Gate--all of that is weighing pretty heavily on her mind at the moment, for the obvious reason.] But I can't.

Sometimes... the nature of two things is just so opposed that they can't exist in the same place without destroying each other. Sometimes a compromise can be reached. Sometimes... it can't. That doesn't make the killer evil. It just makes it that much harder for everyone who knew and cared about the slain to accept it.

[contract_star]

...I think...the latter would be worse. Because every time you come here, you'd be running the risk of seeing them. That they'd...come to torment you, or that you'd see them by accident or...that they'd be friends with someone you know.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

[Ikki is full of them. He gazes up at Misaki with big brown eyes. He's pretty young, for all his talk, and it's easy to overlook.]

... I don't know. I don't think that's the case here. I don't think that's the case back home, either. No one has the right to decide something that important for someone else.

Diva-san... She was trying to be a good person. She was. And this Nathan guy thought his opinion was worth killing over.

And... Spitfire... He was trying to protect Kazu. He was standing up for what was right, and Sora-san murdered him, just because he wouldn't give him what wasn't even his in the first place.

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

... Yeah... you're right.

[He clenches his fist and looks at it.]

But they can't run away forever. And neither will I.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Drags him into a hug. He reminds her a lot of some of Kanami's siblings, and that makes this even harder.]

I know. But... sometimes, like with Diva, even if they're trying to change, all the people around them can see is the person that they were.

I'm not saying he was right. I'm not saying that this is right, that it makes sense. It's... not fair. When someone you care about dies. It's never fair.

[Her hand on the back of his head, her arm around his shoulders.] You're a good person, Ikki-kun.

[contract_star]

[Very quietly,] ...Yeah...

[crowheaded.livejournal.com]

... That... makes sense... I guess...

[He's silent after that, looking decidedly downcast... and then he squeezes his eyes shut, trying not to cry. She'll come back. Won't she? But... she'll be different, just like Agito is a little different.

...

Everyone close to him is dying. Ope, that does it.]

... Fuck... I can't just accept that... I won't accept that. There's always a way. There's always...