[A. 2025 I] [Riku opens his eyes. It's pitch black, he's outside, and there's someone ahead of him, leading him somewhere. In the small of his back, he can feel something cold and hard against the fabric of his shirt. Somehow, he knows it's the barrel of a rifle. From below his eye level, something glows, and his eyes flick down to the tattoo on his wrist, glowing more violently than he's ever seen it. Dangling around his wrist is a strange bracelet.
He moves to lift his arm, but the gunman behind him presses the weapon harder against his back, and he drops it again -- instinctively, he knows that there will be consequences if he stops.
Ahead of them, there's a door set into a long, featureless wall, except for the other doors just like the one they're moving toward. He's led inside and sat down, in front of a pile of... parcels? A pile of parcels, and a blank, empty-screened television. Without a word, the two soldiers leave, and he hears the lock in the door clatter as they lock it behind him. Not the most secure, he figures, given that they must know he's able to open it.
Looking down at his wrist again, bracelet wobbling, he reads the inscription twice. No longer 'REGISTERED' -- simply 'IMPORT'. He's not certain he remembers when this change occurred. But it doesn't matter -- what matters now is leaving this room, finding Sora or Minato, getting out of here. He opens his hand to call the Keyblade and -- nothing. It doesn't come, and Riku feels a wave of panic that he's never felt before. It didn't come.
He returns to the table, eyes on the parcels there. There are instructions, printed on a piece of paper underneath the plexiglass tabletop. 1. SEND ALL ITEMS WHERE INDICATED. 2. IF PARCELS DO NOT ARRIVE, REPERCUSSIONS WILL BE ENACTED. Which is pretty straight-forward, he figures, but... how is he supposed to know where to send them? Without being to the place or seeing it, he can't get any locations correct.
With an odd noise, the TV next to him turns on. The image on the screen is fairly static, it's the front door of a government building. The nearest parcel has an address on it, and Riku reaches for it, opening a Dark Corridor and dropping it inside. On the screen, a matching portal opens, and the parcel arrives neatly on the doorstep inside it. Someone immediately comes outside to gather it.
This goes on for a few hours, until Riku becomes aware that there are actually others on the other sides of the walls. He can hear a printer on one side, and he crouches, peering through the vent built into the wall itself.]
... Hello?
[B. 2025 II] [It's a few days later. He keeps expecting to wake up and find himself back home in his bed in Heropa, but it never happens. Instead, he's sitting in the recreation area in the facility, eyes on a middle page of a book, but not really absorbing any of the text. He's simply tired -- magic-restoring items don't work the same as a good night's rest does for his energy, and the fact that he can keep using spells doesn't mean he's actually restored any stamina. Sending parcels all over the country for the silliest reasons for the last few days has been draining his energy in too big of a capacity. He figures it's just another way to keep him quiet.
It's Tuesday, and he can see the group of imPorts gathering, but he's simply too exhausted to go and join them. He's almost too tired to even pick himself up and go back to his room, if he could call it that. But he will, because he'll get a lovely black eye on top of the one he already has if he resists -- he found that out the hard way.]
[2015] [Riku's in the middle of the sidewalk when he's afflicted with the brain tampering, and he stops dead, eyes half-lidded. He's completely silent, and immobile, too. It's rather eerie, actually.]
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[Riku opens his eyes. It's pitch black, he's outside, and there's someone ahead of him, leading him somewhere. In the small of his back, he can feel something cold and hard against the fabric of his shirt. Somehow, he knows it's the barrel of a rifle. From below his eye level, something glows, and his eyes flick down to the tattoo on his wrist, glowing more violently than he's ever seen it. Dangling around his wrist is a strange bracelet.
He moves to lift his arm, but the gunman behind him presses the weapon harder against his back, and he drops it again -- instinctively, he knows that there will be consequences if he stops.
Ahead of them, there's a door set into a long, featureless wall, except for the other doors just like the one they're moving toward. He's led inside and sat down, in front of a pile of... parcels? A pile of parcels, and a blank, empty-screened television. Without a word, the two soldiers leave, and he hears the lock in the door clatter as they lock it behind him. Not the most secure, he figures, given that they must know he's able to open it.
Looking down at his wrist again, bracelet wobbling, he reads the inscription twice. No longer 'REGISTERED' -- simply 'IMPORT'. He's not certain he remembers when this change occurred. But it doesn't matter -- what matters now is leaving this room, finding Sora or Minato, getting out of here. He opens his hand to call the Keyblade and -- nothing. It doesn't come, and Riku feels a wave of panic that he's never felt before. It didn't come.
He returns to the table, eyes on the parcels there. There are instructions, printed on a piece of paper underneath the plexiglass tabletop.
1. SEND ALL ITEMS WHERE INDICATED.
2. IF PARCELS DO NOT ARRIVE, REPERCUSSIONS WILL BE ENACTED.
Which is pretty straight-forward, he figures, but... how is he supposed to know where to send them? Without being to the place or seeing it, he can't get any locations correct.
With an odd noise, the TV next to him turns on. The image on the screen is fairly static, it's the front door of a government building. The nearest parcel has an address on it, and Riku reaches for it, opening a Dark Corridor and dropping it inside. On the screen, a matching portal opens, and the parcel arrives neatly on the doorstep inside it. Someone immediately comes outside to gather it.
This goes on for a few hours, until Riku becomes aware that there are actually others on the other sides of the walls. He can hear a printer on one side, and he crouches, peering through the vent built into the wall itself.]
... Hello?
[B. 2025 II]
[It's a few days later. He keeps expecting to wake up and find himself back home in his bed in Heropa, but it never happens. Instead, he's sitting in the recreation area in the facility, eyes on a middle page of a book, but not really absorbing any of the text. He's simply tired -- magic-restoring items don't work the same as a good night's rest does for his energy, and the fact that he can keep using spells doesn't mean he's actually restored any stamina. Sending parcels all over the country for the silliest reasons for the last few days has been draining his energy in too big of a capacity. He figures it's just another way to keep him quiet.
It's Tuesday, and he can see the group of imPorts gathering, but he's simply too exhausted to go and join them. He's almost too tired to even pick himself up and go back to his room, if he could call it that. But he will, because he'll get a lovely black eye on top of the one he already has if he resists -- he found that out the hard way.]
[2015]
[Riku's in the middle of the sidewalk when he's afflicted with the brain tampering, and he stops dead, eyes half-lidded. He's completely silent, and immobile, too. It's rather eerie, actually.]