thebastion | Day 173 | The Beginning

Entry tags:

Day 173 | The Beginning

Who: Tobias and open.
Open: Open
When: Day 173
Where: Near the entrance to the Skyway.
What: A bird arrives after the end of the world.
Format: Whatever works.
Warnings: Bird with PTSD. ~~It's a children's series!~~

It was early morning when Tobias wakes up. He stretched his wings, and opens his eyes, looking out at the field.

… There was no field.

Tobias stared at the space around him in confusion. Floating… in space? Was this something the Ellimist did? It would be just like him to wake him up in a weird kind of situation like this. … But if it was, there wasn't anything he could do. So he pushed off the tree and flapped, looking down at the rough path of earth nearby. He could see something, far off - it looked like some kind of small town.

He followed the path towards it, traveling quickly. The air was warm enough to give him some nice thermals, and he coasted between them until he got to the - town? It was too small to be a town. He landed on the grass near the entrance to the place, staring.

<Where am I?>

This was pretty clearly some kind of dream, so he didn't really bother keeping his thought-speak private. Anyone in the general area could hear a confused young male voice echo in their head.

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Roxas wasn't entirely unused to the feeling of a voice in his head; that was more or less how the lesser Nobodies sounded when they spoke. But this was different, a distinct and unfamiliar voice when his Samurai was nowhere to be seen. Moreover, anyone who had already come to the Bastion wouldn't be wondering where they were. Was it someone new?

He glanced around in confusion, trying to figure out who exactly was talking. If he saw the hawk, he didn't register it. Talking birds talk out loud where he comes from.

"...hello?" He wasn't sure if this person would hear him, because maybe he wasn't even anywhere near him. Telepathy could work like that, right?

Someone calling out to him? Okay, sure. He'd bite. It sounded like someone his age, anyway. Who was it - that person. He looked over at Roxas, flapping his wings.

<Down here. Yes, the bird.>

He had to look around again before he spotted the bird.

"Oh! Hi. I didn't notice you there." He smiled sheepishly, as if it were his bad for not realizing he was talking to a bird, and stepped closer. "Did- you just get here?"

Tobias puffed his wings up a bit. The lack of the Ellimist popping up was a problem... because if he wasn't behind this, what was going on? Covering his tracks would be a problem too...

<Yeah. Wherever 'here' is.>

"It's called the Bastion. It's- the only real safe haven around here."

He faltered, because explaining exactly what that was all about meant delivering some serious bad news.

<From what?>

He'd seen a few creatures on his way here, but most didn't look so tough.

"Well, there're monsters, but it's more like- there aren't any other places."

He runs a hand through his hair. "There's no real easy way to say it, but... that includes where you came from."

Tobias stares at Roxas, full force of his hawk glare aimed directly at the other boy. <Explain that.>

No. That's not possible. This has to be a dream, a Sario Rip, the Ellimist, a hallucination, something.

"Something called the Calamity happened. It- tore apart a lot of worlds. You probably saw how this one looks when you came in."

He hesitates and then adds, "I'm sorry."

<That's... not possible.> All the work they did... all of his friends...

<We fought for two years and this happens?!> Tobias flaps his wings angrily, letting out a screech. No. That's not possible. They couldn't all be gone!

"I know it's hard to take in..." Maybe less so for Roxas, this not being his first experience with worlds being destroyed, but it still hit him harder than the knock to his head when he first arrived.

"A lot of us were fighting for things before we came here. But- there's things to fight for here, too."

<You don't understand. I have a war to get back to.> And Rachel. Rachel. He has to get back to her. She can't be dead. He can't accept that.

"That war's not there anymore either."

<... Great. Just great. I don't - it should have been her. Not me.>

He cares about the others, but... Rachel. He can't just leave her. She can't leave him. It doesn't make sense. Nothing makes sense right now.

"I'm... not gonna tell you it's a good chance, but you might still find your friends."

He has a few of his own friends here, after all, and one of them didn't even come with him from Vatheon.

<If anyone can survive a huge dose of weirdness, it's them.> That was what their lives were for the past two years, after all.

"I've been weirder places than this. You get used to it."

"...you mean that's not normal where you're from?"

<... No.> What kind of Disney universe was this guy from?

All of them. The answer is all of them.

"Oh." He scratches his head. "There's a lot of different worlds, so... I just figured yours was like that."

<Yeah, no. Animals communicate with each other, but they don't speak human languages. And they're definitely not telepathic.> Sorry, Roxas. Most places don't work that way.

"So, you're a special bird then?"

...was he fighting in a bird war or a human war? Do birds have wars?

<Yeah. I used to be human.> The answer is neither.

"Oh." Roxas stops himself from adding 'me, too,' because that's an explanation he doesn't think he wants to get into right now. It would probably be pretty confusing for.. the bird, too.

"I guess- you can explain that one later, if you feel like it." It might be personal and all. "Anyway I'm Roxas."

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