itsjustagamerp | Mission 15

Entry tags:

Mission 15

Characters: Xion and Sora
Content: Using the time machine to visit the Wild West...with unexpected consequences.
Location: Time machine room, the U.S. Southwest circa the mid-1800's
Time of Day: afternoon, a day or so after the dino is disposed of.
Warnings: Xion's connection to Sora has some worrisome side effects when away from the satellite.

Even though they’d taken care of the dinosaur, most everyone on the satellite was still upset about ‘90’s Kid’s...disappearance. Sora in particular seemed to be taking it hard. So Xion had decided to try to think of something to help cheer him up a little.

In the end, she’d decided to agree to something that had been brought up when they’d dressed up as “cowboys” and “Indians.” Sora had wanted to use the time machine then to go see real cowboys and Indians. At the time, Xion had been reluctant; the time machine gave them all their powers back, and she didn’t know how it would affect Sora to have her close by in a situation like that.

Still, if it would make him feel better she’d try it. Though he’d have to agree to let her know the moment he felt strange in any way, so they could come right back. She wasn’t quite sure how to get that across, but she’d made sure to bring lots of paper and few pencils when she went to find him to see if he wanted to go.

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They had done the best they could to get everything fixed...the dinosaur had been taken care of, and Gypsy had repaired the stairs between floors so that they could get to the bottom decks now. But still...some things couldn't be fixed. Yeah, 90s Kid was often kind of dumb, but he definitely didn't deserve to have something like that happen to him. Sora couldn't help feeling he could have done something about it.

He was currently sitting in the cafeteria, attempting to get himself to eat something but not having much success. He looked up when he saw Xion enter, and waved to her. It was good to see that she was okay, at least.

Simple repairs to the satellite were fairly easy--Gypsy handled any of them that the person who broke the thing in the first place couldn't. Fixing up people was a lot more difficult, and nobody knew how to bring a person back if they faded or died. Xion hadn't been particularly close to '90's Kid, but that didn't mean she couldn't be sad that he was gone, or, like Sora, wonder if she could have done more to help.

She found Sora in the cafeteria fairly quickly, and went to sit down across from him. Unable to say anything, she waved in greeting.

Sora felt he'd be glad when this whole week was over...even if it wasn't a form change or something happening to the Satellite itself, not being able to talk was really inconvenient. If it even was a result of the Satellite itself, and not Frank's invention.

He noticed that she had pencil and paper, and made a motion like he wanted one. He was really not used to having to carry that kinda stuff with him, so he kept forgetting to bring paper with him.

Being unable to talk was inconvenient. Xion would be glad when that particular effect ended, too. Not that she minded quiet, but enough was enough, and she wasn't the best at writing.

She wasn't used to carrying around pencils and paper herself, but she'd take that over having Cambot constantly following her around and providing subtitles. At Sora's request, she handed him one of each, and then wrote on her own paper.

'How are you holding up?'

Sora watched as she wrote down the question, even if he could guess the end of it before she finished writing. Well, he probably should have seen the question coming in the first place...this week hadn't been all that great to any of them so far.

Sora grabbed a piece of paper and pen for himself and wrote back, 'I'm okay.' The slight slump in his shoulders and the expression on his face seemed to say otherwise, though.

It was a fairly obvious question, and also possibly a silly one since the answer was clear. Still, it was one of those things it seemed right to ask.

Xion's expression probably showed just how little she believed what he wrote. That said, she knew enough to respect a person's right to insist they were okay even when they weren't, so she didn't comment on it but went right on with her idea.

'Want to try the time machine?'

Well, Sora had always been a terrible liar...it was probably even worse now since he couldn't actually say anything otherwise, and it was just all written on his face. He looked a little bit sheepish at her expression.

And then he saw the rest of what she wrote, and looked a bit intrigued. At least now they could actually get down there...what's more, maybe if they went back in time they could actually talk again. He grabbed up another piece of paper.

'Sure. Where should we go?'

Xion smiled a bit to try to reassure him that the polite fiction hadn't bothered her. Trying to reassure everyone that he was okay even when he wasn't was just one of those things that made him Sora.

If they had their powers when they went back in time, then it was probably reasonable to assume the other effects would go away, too. So they probably would be able to talk, as well as see something interesting and try to take their minds off a situation they had no control over anyway.

'You wanted to go see real cowboys, right? We could do that, but...' Then she went on to write some of her concerns and that he'd have to let her know if he felt strange.

Sora gave her a small smile back. He appreciated the reassurance, anyway. Roxas would probably have scolded him about trying to lie, even if it was just about how he felt.

He perked up a little at the suggestion. Seeing something like cowboys and Indians would be a lot of fun...he definitely didn't want to go to prehistoric times right now, in any case. And if it could help him take his mind off of what had happened, all the better. Maybe he could even actually help someone in the past, like he and Terra had when he'd been learning how to summon a glider.

Sora waited while Xion wrote out her concerns. Truth be told, he didn't quite get how any of that made sense...they both had a Keyblade, therefore they should be both be fine, right? But he figured he could say something if anything was off. He nodded back, and wrote down 'Let's do it!'

Roxas had some pretty strict standards that way. As long as she knew no harm was meant, Xion was willing to let it go, though she'd let Sora know she'd seen through the facade.

It did sound like a lot of fun. She would have agreed earlier if not for her worries over how being both at full strength and in reasonably close proximity would affect them. Things seemed to be stabilized here on the satellite, but she didn't know what would happen once away from it. At best, nothing would happen other than them having a good time and yes, maybe helping someone. At worst...

She'd start fading into him, or he'd start losing strength to her. Which was why normally she wouldn't suggest this, but if there was a chance something could go right and they could both cheer up a bit, she was willing to take the risk. They could always come back as soon as something went wrong.

Relieved that he agreed to the conditions even if he didn't seem to understand why she was so worried, her smile widened. 'Okay, let's go.'

Sora nodded, looking a little bit better already, and got up to head down to the Launch Deck. Things were still a little bit messy from the dino attack, but at least they could get between decks now. Before long, they were both down by the time machine.

He had to do a little looking up of times (someone had been kind enough to leave an Almanac down by the time machine...probably Twilight or Gypsy), but eventually figured out what time and place would work best for their little wild west tour. He punched in the dates for around the end of the 19th century, somewhere in what currently was called 'Utah.'

The machine began to warm up, and Sora gestured for Xion to step inside first.

Xion followed Sora, picking her way around the debris left from the attack. It was a good thing Gypsy was so quick with the repairs; she wasn't going to complain about a little mess.

The almanac was interesting to look at--so much seemed to have happened on the world below them! It was a good thing someone (her guess was Twilight) had left the almanac there so they could be sure of going to the right time and place.

When Sora gestured for her to get in the machine, she stepped in and waited for him.]

Sora followed her into the time machine, and it got to work making a whole bunch of noise and motion. A moment later, it opened up again to their destination...a broad flatland area, with some very colorful-looking mountains and what appeared to be a settlement in the distance.

Compared to the cool and sterile air of the Satellite, the hot desert air of the west was quite a welcome change. He held a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. It looked like the settlement was some kind of fort made out of wood, and there were people stationed around it. "Woooah..."

And then, he realized what he just said. "Hey! We can talk again!"

Xion braced herself against the walls while the time machine worked, wincing at the noise. When it finally stopped and the door opened, she took a moment to catch her breath before going to look out the door.

The heat surprised her--not as bad as Agrabah, but definitely enough to make her want to take her coat off. Mountains were a new thing to her, so she spent a moment taking them in, trying to remember enough to describe to Namine later. The presence of a settlement made her a little nervous--she hoped they could blend in.

When Sora spoke, though, she smiled back at him. "Great!"

"Yeah!" Wow, being able to talk again felt like he had stopped holding his breath after days. He looked out towards the settlement...ultimately, he wasn't that worried about blending in. "Let's go check out that fort over there!"

Just as he said that, however, a large group of Indians suddenly went riding up on horses on their left side...far enough away that they were not noticed, or maybe just not considered important enough to worry about right now. The group was riding towards the settlement, and it didn't look like it was for peaceful purposes. Maybe their timing was a bit off.

He turned to Xion. "Well...let's be careful." Sora didn't know that much about cowboys and Indians other than the fact that they fought each other over land; whether one side was 'good' or 'bad' he really didn't know.

Sora automatically summoned his Keyblade, just in case. It felt good to have it in hand again, especially after everything that had gone on on the Satellite. And he didn't feel strange, yet...

Xion nodded in response to his suggestion. "It looks like a good place to start."

She was shrugging her coat off to leave it at the machine and get ready to start walking when they saw the Indians. If definitely didn't look like they were going to the fort for a friendly meeting, so she followed Sora's lead and summoned her own Keyblade, briefly wishing that she had some of her old gears to attach to it.

"Of course." This was starting to feel like a mission. Objective: find out what was going on between the two groups. She knew less about them than even Sora did.

While she still felt fine, too, part of her mind was also keeping track of any subtle changes she might feel in her condition.

With the Indians being on horseback, they obviously had a head start on the both of them. He started off towards the fort as fast as he could go, hoping that they'd have some cover once they got there. A part of him wondered if he shouldn't get his glider, too...but on the other hand, he didn't think Xion knew how to use hers, and he wasn't sure how to teach someone how to use it yet. So, it was up to running that way.

As they began to get closer, Sora thought he heard the sounds of a fight. What's more, it felt like what was normally a brisk run across flat ground was becoming harder than it should have been. He shrugged it off, thinking it was probably just because he hadn't gotten any real good exercise in awhile.

Xion took off as fast as she could as well. Even if they couldn't get there faster than the Indians, they could at least try to help. Unlike Sora she couldn't use a glider (she was only marginally aware that such a thing was possible) though if they'd thought of it she could have tried to ride behind him on his. Not that she minded the run--it had been a while since she'd gotten that kind of exercise.

Aside from hearing the sounds of the fight, she could see smoke starting to curl up from the fort--not a lot, it was probably from the weapons the people in the fort were using. She also began to notice that this run was becoming more easy than it should have been, as out of practice that she was, and she was starting to pull ahead of Sora.

"You okay?"

As they approached, Sora also noticed the smoke, and the sound of gunfire. He didn't even know who they'd be helping out when they got there, but they had to go and see first what the fight was about. Maybe the Indians were trying to take over the fort and drive out the cowboys...or maybe they were trying to raid it to free some friends!

Sora noticed that Xion was pulling ahead, and looking worried. "Yeah, I'm fine!" Sora put a little extra power into his steps, moving to keep up with her more. It worked, mostly. He didn't want to slow either of them down just because he was a bit out of practice.

"Let's just get over there!"

They really wouldn't know the situation until they got there, so they'd have to be careful at first. It wouldn't do to end up helping the side that had started the trouble. Then again, that might not be easy to determine...

She frowned slightly at Sora's response; his assertions of being "fine" had already been established as not always reliable. Still, he was trying to keep up and did seem fine otherwise, so she let it rest for now.

"Right!" They'd almost made it; she could make out individuals much more clearly.

Luckily, it looked like there was an outcropping of rocks nearby that they could hide behind and observe from until they could figure out what was going on. He nodded for Xion to head that direction. Even Sora, who was used to rushing into things, at least wanted to know who the good and bad guys were in this situation.

The closer they got to the fort and the further away they got from the time machine, the harder it seemed to run. The Keyblade started to feel heavy in his hands...this sort of thing hadn't happened last time he'd gone back in time with Terra.

But still, Sora said nothing. He didn't want to just give up and go back to the Satellite now. They were really close there, and once they stopped, he'd probably catch is breath again...

Even the most impulsive, go-with-the-flow sort of perseon will learn some caution while trying to find their friends and saving the worlds along the way--or going on missions for an organization with questionable goals. When Sora indicated to move for the shelter of the rocks, she did so, crouching down and leaving room for him to join her.

She noticed he was struggling to keep up, though, and looked tired. Meanwhile, she felt in tip-top shape. This didn't bode well, so when he was close enough for her to speak without anyone else hearing, she said, "Maybe we should start back? You look pretty tired..."

"N-no, I'm fine," Sora insisted, even if it was becoming harder and harder for him to ignore that tiredness. He shook his head out, and focused on the fort ahead of them. The two groups were definitely fighting now. Just from what he could see, the Indians were losing. The cowboys had a fort to protect them, after all, and a couple of them also had guns. However, it seemed like the Indians were mostly focused on getting a couple of their men inside.

It was hard to focus on all of that now, however, when his head was starting to swim. How could anything affect him this suddenly?

Xion frowned slightly. At the moment, she was more focused on Sora's condition than what was going on at the fort. Letting polite fictions about his emotional state slide was one thing, but this was another. Maybe at one point in time she'd have let it go. Right now, though, she knew better.

It could have nothing to do with her. Knowing what they both did, and going by how suddenly the exhaustion had come one, that was unlikely. Whatever the case, Sora was in no shape to fight, or try to push things any further. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Sora, let's go."

Sora did try to focus on the fight at the fort, but his attention was quickly diverted away from that. Finally, he felt like something was wrong. This was more than just feeling tiredness or being out of practice. It felt like all his energy was slowly draining out of him, like his Keyblade was extremely difficult to even hold. He stood slowly, feeling dizzy. "Umm..."

He started to walk back in the direction they'd come in, barely even acknowledging Xion now. "I feel funny..."

And then all of a sudden, the Keyblade vanished from his hand, and he collapsed onto the dirt, unconscious.

[Sora will be out of it until they at least get back to the SOL, and most likely longer. Up to you how much further you want to go!]

Xion tried to reach out to keep him from standing, but didn't reach in time. By the time he collapsed, she'd barely stood, but she quickly dismissed her Keyblade and hurried over to him.

Using the time it took to check his pulse and breathing to calm herself, she took stock of the situation. It looked like he was just unconscious--or sleeping, but there wasn't a lot of difference between the two--which was better than one thing she'd feared might happen. She still had to get him back quickly, but hopefully once they were back on the satellite whatever kept them able to exist separately without any negative effects would kick in and he'd wake up again.

Putting one of his arms around her shoulder, and on of hers around his waist, she began to slowly half-carry, half-drag him back to the satellite. They hadn't been seen thus far, and if they were lucky that wouldn't change, but she cast Aeroga just in case in case someone saw them and tried to attack.

The return trip took longer than their earlier run--not unexpected, since she was walking and had to support Sora. At least their luck held, and they managed to get to the time machine without any trouble. Getting in--especially doing so without accidentally jostling him too much--took some effort, but she managed to do so and set the controls for them to return to the SoL.

Once back, she managed to get him to his room and into bed, silently thankful that Gypsy had repaired the elevators. Exhausted herself, she flopped into the desk chair to wait for him to wake.

[Gotcha.]

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Mission 15

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