Someone has a fight on his hands...

[thirteenth_brat]

[Sometime after Venus's attempt to smother everyone by screwing around with some important systems...

Cambot moves through the corridors rather quickly, zeroing in on the sounds of a vicious sword fight, and finds Roxas in the middle of a fight that rather heavily invokes fearful symmetry. They're near one of the air locks, the inner door to which is open. It's apparent the fight's been going on for a while as, while it doesn't appear that Roxas has done any damage to his double, the double has clearly done some damage to him. He isn't paying the wounds any mind, though. He's a little too busy for that.]

And that makes you a copy of a copy, you bastard. What's your point?

[Such a battle between two dual wielding swordsmen is quite a sigh. One watching closely might notice the tiniest glance Roxas casts at the air lock while his double is taunting him again. But getting the double in there will require a little finagling...

He glances briefly at Cambot, mutters something too low to catch and makes what clearly looks like a foolish move, throwing his off hand weapon and then taking a headlong long leap at his double. It dodges the thrown sword and recovers quickly enough to exploit the the perfect opening to slash at Roxas's already wounded side. It probably wasn't expecting Roxas to laugh at that and ends up pausing just the briefest moment after scoring the hit, probably thinking Roxas has lost it. He hasn't and takes advantage of the pause to punch the double in the face, following it up with another blow with the blunt side of his sword. He continues this assault, eventually kicking the double into the air lock. The double goes sprawling and scrambles to recover before Roxas can close the door on it.

It isn't quick enough, however, and can be heard banging on the door while Roxas is trying to figure out the controls to open the outer door.]

You're kidding, right? Everything you and all the other shades have done. You really think you deserve any kind of mercy?

[Cambot finds the nearest porthole in time to see the double being ejected into space, watching it flail until it succumbs to all the things about space that make a space suit mandatory before it finally poofs out of existence.

A 'whump' sort of sound causes Cambot to turn back to Roxas. He's sitting on the floor, leaning on the wall under the airlock controls. He's cut up and bloody and clearly exhausted, but he doesn't exactly look miserable. Cambot pans closer. Roxas has the kind of grin you'd expect to see on a hero when he's won a hard fought battle.]

Well, that's one more double gone.

Comments

[thirteenth_brat]

[Roxas isn't too worried at first, since Sora has dealt with an evil double of himself before, if his information is correct. So he should have been able to deal with it again.

Then the double goes and activates the launch sequence. Given what he'd just done to his own double, Roxas doesn't need to be told how this is not a good thing. And knowing Sora's track record with technology, this seems like a good reason for Roxas to try to drag his sorry ass up and try to help, although it turns out not to be necessary when Sora does get it. So Roxas just leans against the wall where he was, rather keenly aware that he probably should have stayed put...]

Damn.

[optimistickey]

[Sora breathes a sigh...at least neither of them ended out in space. Now if only that spectre hadn't gotten away.]

Shoot...

[Then he notices that Roxas got up and still looks like he's in pain.]

Hey, wait! Don't move too much!

[thirteenth_brat]

[Roxas briefly considers telling Sora why he's up, but bites his tongue on it. They can discuss Sora's ineptitude with computers another time.]

I'll be all right... but, maybe we should go somewhere that we're not at risk of being shot out into space...

[optimistickey]

Yeah, that's a good idea...come on.

[Sora offers an arm out to Roxas to help him up the stairs. They should hopefully at least be safe one level up.]

[thirteenth_brat]

[Roxas accepts the help. Now that any and all adrenaline is out of his system, he really hasn't got much strength left. He's exhausted and hurting and he really just wants to get some sleep.]

[optimistickey]

[Sora notices that Roxas is starting to nod off...maybe they should make it up to his room instead of just the weapons deck. At least they won't have to worry about Roxas's double.]

[He lets Roxas put his full weight on him.] We'll get back up to the top decks before you know it.

[thirteenth_brat]

[Roxas isn't going to pass out just yet, but he might not make it all the way to his room, either. He'll try though.]

All right... [He doesn't really want to lean too much on Sora, but his body has other ideas. At least Sora's not carrying him altogether, but it might only be a matter of time for that.]

[optimistickey]

[Sora hopes that he can get him up to his room...he's strong, but probably not strong enough to carry someone his own size up several flights of stairs. He does his best to move quickly, but not fast enough so that it'll tire out Roxas]

[thirteenth_brat]

[He's at least able to walk with help, though it's becoming more apparent that he's a bit more messed up than he thought. At least he's not alone. And they can call for help through Cambot if they really need it, so he's not too worried right now.

He's probably also not thinking clearly right now, but for some reason he feels he needs to mention something.]

Most of what my double had to say was about you.

[It could also be that he feels things are just too quiet at the moment and he hasn't got anything else to talk about.]

[optimistickey]

[Sora probably shouldn't ask, but he just can't help but be curious. Especially considering stuff his double has said...]

Like what? [Maybe it'll be a good thing to keep Roxas talking, too. He keeps on up the stairs.]

[thirteenth_brat]

Some rather unkind things.

[He give a sort of, kind of humorless chuckle, knowing damn well that leaving it at that would likely get an indignant response from Sora.]

About me being just a copy or shadow to you. Or just a missing piece.

[optimistickey]

[Sora doesn't respond immediately after that...mostly because he's just mulling it over, and partly because he's focusing on getting Roxas to his room. Of course it'd have to be really far up the ship...]

Well...you're here now, and you don't feel like you're missing something, and neither do I. So I don't think you're just a copy or anything!

The only shadows around here are those things.

[thirteenth_brat]

[Roxas doesn't expect an immediate answer. It is kind of a heavy subject. But when Sora does answer, he just smiles. The answer is so... Sora.]

I know that. But that was the angle my double took to try to get to me.

[The double had touched on a lot more than that, but the basic gist of it was that it had prodded at a very sore spot indeed. Roxas's existence was peppered with a lot of things that made him question his existence. Yet, it was hard to be depressed about stuff like that when the one you were sort of a copy or shadow of actually liked you and appreciated your company.

No, what had gotten to Roxas was the shade suggesting that he should get rid of Sora, so he wouldn't have to be the shadow anymore. That had been what had lead into the last fight with the double. But Roxas didn't feel that he needed to tell Sora about that. Not now at least. As a result of thinking over all this, he's quiet for a long time. His next question isn't exactly random, although he's not sure whether or not Sora will answer.]

What was you're double saying?

[skysmirror]

[Xion appears at the top of the stairs.]

Roxas? Sora? What happened? I heard the alarms...

[optimistickey]

Well... [His has been saying all manner of things, mostly on how his actions have done nothing but get his friends hurt or dragged them down. Some of the worse things, however, are that Roxas and Xion are just wastes trying to steal his own life, or that people like Lea, Isa and Ienzo should be 'dealt with' now before they turn into the Organization later.]

[So he's almost a bit thankful when Xion shows up, and he doesn't have to talk about all that.]

Xion! Roxas beat his double! But he got kinda injured, and then mine showed up and messed around with the launch deck, but it got away before I could get it.

[thirteenth_brat]

[Timing. But Roxas isn't going to complain about that. Yes, he's curious, but no he isn't going to be too persistent about. He halfway suspects he might be one of the things Sora's shade mentioned anyway.

However, this is about where Roxas drops out of the conversation as the last of his strength goes and he finally loses consciousness...]

[skysmirror]

[Xion's eyes widened as Sora explained what had happened. She'd known Roxas had beaten his shadow and gotten hurt, but she hadn't known the sort of trouble Sora's had been causing.

However, she's distracted from mentioning anything about that when Roxas passes out.]

Roxas!

[She hurries down the stairs, stopping when she reaches the boys and moves to Roxas's unsupported side. She gently gets his arm around her shoulders, taking some of his weight off of Sora.]

Let's get him to his room.

[optimistickey]

[Well, it's a good thing that Xion showed up, otherwise Sora would have quite a time moving him by himself. He nods back.]

Right. I think we're almost there...

[He carefully starts back up the stairs...at least it seems like there's just one more floor to go.]

[skysmirror]

[Everything's easier when you have help. Xion nods.]

Just another flight or so of stairs, then down the hall.

[She's not quiiiite sure where Roxas's room is, now that she thinks of it. She just knows they're getting closer to the residential decks.]

[optimistickey]

[Eventually, they make it up to deck two...by then, Sora's pretty tired himself, especially after trying to chase his spectre down. But he thinks he remembers where Roxas's room is, and steers them in that direction.]

Umm...I haven't met any doctors here...but I think we can just bandage him.

[skysmirror]

[Not as tired as Sora is, Xion subtly starts to take a little more of Roxas's weight, just to help a little. She follows his lead down the hall.]

I think so, though I'd feel better if I could use Cure, or we had a Potion.

[optimistickey]

[After what seems the longest stretch of all, they finally make it all the way down to Roxas's room. Sora shifts around a bit to get the door open, and then gets them inside so that they can lay him down on the bed.]

Yeah, no kidding! I wonder if that food synthesizer could even make a potion...

[skysmirror]

[Xion helps lift Roxas onto the bed, looking surprised at Sora's suggestion, then smiling.]

Would you want to try one if it could?

[optimistickey]

[As soon as Roxas is up onto the bed, Sora pauses to pull the bandages and tape out of his pockets, and starts to unwind them. May as well at least get to work getting him patched up now.]

Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt to!

[skysmirror]

[Xion expression says she clearly thinks Sora has never had to deal with one of the synthesizer's mistakes. She doesn't say anything though, just starts looking through bandages, then she looks up as if she just remembered something important.]

Aren't you supposed to clean cuts?