[Terra's mouth thins into a taut line. For a second, it looks like he might just roll the memory ball back across the floor. Refuse to have anything to do with it, insist whatever memory it contains doesn't matter.
But it does matter, he knows. It matters a lot. Here is the reason the Keyblade left Riku and went to Sora. That's something he needs to see and understand... Even if it's difficult. Even if it changes things.
With considerable reluctance and another uneasy glance at Riku, he picks the ball up.
In the first few moments that follow, there's just... nothing. Terra studies the memory ball intently, turning it in his hands this way and that, waiting for some image to unfurl beneath or across its glassy surface. It occurs to him that he might be doing something wrong with it, but before he can voice that thought, there's a sudden, disconcerting prickling in the center of his chest. White light seers across his vision.
Then he's on his feet again. He's been transported from the stasis unit to... some empty white space? Terra looks around to find that Riku and the memory ball are gone, too.
... And this isn't his body.
Color begins to bleed into his surroundings, shaping a world around him. A bright blue sky, an ocean stretching to the horizon, a sandy shore and rocks and trees, a bridge under his... very large shoes. A bird sings somewhere behind him and a warm breeze brushes against his skin. The salty smell of the beach reaches his nose. This is that island, Terra recognizes with a twinge of dread. This is Riku's home and he's seeing all of this through his successor's eyes.
The memory plays out before and around him. It feels so real, he can almost lose himself in it. He-- Riku runs across the bridge only to stop and turn back and see a girl standing where he'd just been. Kairi, Riku's other friend. Riku calls out to her, but she doesn't answer. She doesn't even really react. Then light engulfs her and she fades away.
(Distantly, he feels his heart lurch under his ribs.)
Then there's another voice. He pivots back around to face... an Organization member? An Organization member with a lot to say. Dark memories, dark beings...
'Maybe it's your own actions that you've forgotten,' the cloaked man threatens, but nothing that's been said inside or outside this memory prepares Terra for the next cutting words out of the Nobody's mouth:
'You destroyed your home!'
Darkness swallows up everything in an instant.
(Outside the memory, sitting there on the floor of the stasis unit, Terra's breath hitches. Hints of what might be pain or what might be anger show in small lines around his eyes and brow and mouth.)
What a familiar sight, those shadows churning wildly around him, that dark orb looming overhead, the world tearing apart piece by piece...
There's a whisper just beneath the memory, too, 'You won't need a home anymore where you're going!', but then the Nobody is speaking again. Terra pays close attention as that man, whoever he is, details exactly what happened to the islands. Exactly what Riku did... so he could leave the world.
He opened the door. He let the darkness claim his world, steal away the hearts of the people living there... He was himself taken by the darkness and now... belongs to it? The darkness has changed him, too, made him into something else...? Something monstrous...
The memory can't end soon enough for Terra, but at the same time, it feels like it ends too soon, too. He parts ways with it with another sharp and shuddering breath, his eyes clearing and focusing back on the memory ball in his hands.
He finds the prickling in his chest has become more of an ache.
Slowly and stiffly, he sets the ball back down on the floor. He turns his head away after that, staring off at the row of pods while he absorbs everything. What he's just experienced, what he now knows, what it means. What Riku thinks it means.
He almost certainly shares some of the blame for what happened. He promised Riku a way off that small world and then never delivered it. Still, what Riku did...]
So, should I put an end to you?
[His voice is quiet when he finally finds the words he wants to (needs to) say. There's no venom or tension in either his tone or expression, though. It actually looks like he's starting to relax again, just a little.]
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But it does matter, he knows. It matters a lot. Here is the reason the Keyblade left Riku and went to Sora. That's something he needs to see and understand... Even if it's difficult. Even if it changes things.
With considerable reluctance and another uneasy glance at Riku, he picks the ball up.
In the first few moments that follow, there's just... nothing. Terra studies the memory ball intently, turning it in his hands this way and that, waiting for some image to unfurl beneath or across its glassy surface. It occurs to him that he might be doing something wrong with it, but before he can voice that thought, there's a sudden, disconcerting prickling in the center of his chest. White light seers across his vision.
Then he's on his feet again. He's been transported from the stasis unit to... some empty white space? Terra looks around to find that Riku and the memory ball are gone, too.
... And this isn't his body.
Color begins to bleed into his surroundings, shaping a world around him. A bright blue sky, an ocean stretching to the horizon, a sandy shore and rocks and trees, a bridge under his... very large shoes. A bird sings somewhere behind him and a warm breeze brushes against his skin. The salty smell of the beach reaches his nose. This is that island, Terra recognizes with a twinge of dread. This is Riku's home and he's seeing all of this through his successor's eyes.
The memory plays out before and around him. It feels so real, he can almost lose himself in it. He-- Riku runs across the bridge only to stop and turn back and see a girl standing where he'd just been. Kairi, Riku's other friend. Riku calls out to her, but she doesn't answer. She doesn't even really react. Then light engulfs her and she fades away.
(Distantly, he feels his heart lurch under his ribs.)
Then there's another voice. He pivots back around to face... an Organization member? An Organization member with a lot to say. Dark memories, dark beings...
'Maybe it's your own actions that you've forgotten,' the cloaked man threatens, but nothing that's been said inside or outside this memory prepares Terra for the next cutting words out of the Nobody's mouth:
'You destroyed your home!'
Darkness swallows up everything in an instant.
(Outside the memory, sitting there on the floor of the stasis unit, Terra's breath hitches. Hints of what might be pain or what might be anger show in small lines around his eyes and brow and mouth.)
What a familiar sight, those shadows churning wildly around him, that dark orb looming overhead, the world tearing apart piece by piece...
There's a whisper just beneath the memory, too, 'You won't need a home anymore where you're going!', but then the Nobody is speaking again. Terra pays close attention as that man, whoever he is, details exactly what happened to the islands. Exactly what Riku did... so he could leave the world.
He opened the door. He let the darkness claim his world, steal away the hearts of the people living there... He was himself taken by the darkness and now... belongs to it? The darkness has changed him, too, made him into something else...? Something monstrous...
The memory can't end soon enough for Terra, but at the same time, it feels like it ends too soon, too. He parts ways with it with another sharp and shuddering breath, his eyes clearing and focusing back on the memory ball in his hands.
He finds the prickling in his chest has become more of an ache.
Slowly and stiffly, he sets the ball back down on the floor. He turns his head away after that, staring off at the row of pods while he absorbs everything. What he's just experienced, what he now knows, what it means. What Riku thinks it means.
He almost certainly shares some of the blame for what happened. He promised Riku a way off that small world and then never delivered it. Still, what Riku did...]
So, should I put an end to you?
[His voice is quiet when he finally finds the words he wants to (needs to) say. There's no venom or tension in either his tone or expression, though. It actually looks like he's starting to relax again, just a little.]