now she's here, suddenly I know / if she's here, it's crystal clear / I'm where I'm meant to go

[fourteen]

Who: cakeblocked and poppetry
What: The truth.
When: Starting just before sunset of the 21st.
Where: First at house 5, then That One Bridge.
Summary: This has been a long time in coming. Two shy, stupid, utterly oblivious Replicas finally get their shit together and talk. (Also Kukki and I write each other a series of small novels.)
Rating: PG. (This will probably be the most Disney thing to ever Disney in the history of Disney-fied things.)

Xion's first feeling after the experiment had been ... fear. Lingering, terrible fear that none of it was real, despite all the reasoning and arguments and gentle proddings to the contrary. Of course, she'd told Luke she didn't care, that none of it mattered, that she'd make it real...

And those words were true. But even so... even so... it would have been a blow to learn. All those memories... fake? Different? How could they be? It would have hurt so much...

But on waking early that morning, Xion had realized something, after the fear had faded and she'd had some time to sort through everything she remembered. All of it... was the same. Everything. The way she felt when Luke gave her her own little Christmas. The tightness in her chest when Sanji had asked her, very frankly, You really like him, don't you?

Her plan... to tell him her feelings on Valentine's Day. The letter she'd written... in case of the experiment!

She'd leaped out of bed like someone had electrified her, torn between elation and a driving sense of urgency. It was true! It was all true, all real!

And thus she'd come up with a plan. She had several people to speak with, after all -- Ven, poor Ven, Sokka and Fenimore... and Tsuzuki. Xion found herself endlessly, almost stupidly grateful he'd made that silly entry with the socks, giving her the idea to try and circumvent the experiment. Writing out her feelings for Luke in that letter... had made her blush like crazy, but it had felt so, so good to finally admit it, even if he wasn't going to see it just yet. And the idea had worked like a charm, too -- doing exactly what she hoped. Just sitting there in that box, waiting -- for the moment when the experiment would be over, and whatever had happened -- whatever had gone right or wrong -- she could tell Luke the truth, with proof that predated any Malnosso manipulation.

Honestly, she'd have to bake Tsuzuki cookies for this.

Thankfully he'd responded in a timely manner, too -- it'd still been morning when she'd been able to retrieve the letter and beat a hasty retreat back home, to think (and talk to her friends, too). But also ... to decide what to do. Though she knew the words by heart, she read and reread the letter she'd written, her blush slowly fading as the true significance of her words sank in. This was real... in her hands was tangible proof of her feelings. And that meant ... well. She had to talk to him, didn't she?

So it was that she ended up in front of house 5 a few hours later, fidgeting with nervousness, twisting and untwisting her fingers together. It was already well into the afternoon, almost evening, but it had taken all of those hours of reading and thinking and thinking some more to even work up the courage to leave the house again, much less actually walk over to his. After all... just like before, she didn't know for certain if Luke returned her feelings. Even if he'd said ... he'd said ...

Let's... Let's work together to make it real, okay?

B-But that could have been the experiment... right? Yet somehow... she couldn't get the feeling of hope out of her heart. Anxious hope, but hope nonetheless. This just had to be real... They'd practically sworn to each other. Promised, no matter what happened, to make what they had real, to make it work. She had to believe this would happen. After all... as it had turned out, she'd really meant it when she said she didn't want to just be his friend anymore. If he didn't want... if he didn't feel-- she'd take anything he'd give her, of course. Anything! But if he really didn't love her back, it'd ...

Well. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it, if she absolutely must, as much as it would hurt.

There was no turning back now. Moving up to the door, Xion took a deep, steadying breath and raised her hand to knock.

Comments

[fabrecation]

When Luke had woken up the day the experiment ended, he felt the same thing that Xion did: fear. Even when he slowly realized that all those memories of slowly growing closer to Xion were still in his head, he couldn't help but be afraid. What if those were just lingering effects of the experiment? What if they were still fake? It'd be just like them to make them doubt themselves even after everything was over, after all.

Without really thinking about it, Luke had reached over to write in his journal - not the one he used for communication, but the one in which he wrote his entire life. He'd already filled up one book of his first three months here, and now he would write down his insecurities on this next one.

Except... a thought occurred to him. He clearly remembered writing about Xion a few times, and if that memory was fake... the journal would have nothing except maybe a mention or two of her. With his pen hovering over the page, Luke hesitated and doubted, fearing what he might find. But with a deep breath, he flipped back a few pages; past the whole week of what Valentine's Day had unleashed (Luke would have to get rid of those pages, they were far too corny for his tastes) and to the day before Valentine's. Then, to the day he gave Xion his coat and set up a Christmas just for her. Then to the day he found out she was a replica.

It was real. It was real.

The first thing Luke did upon finding that out was slump back in his chair, run a hand through his hair and let out a long, deep sigh of relief as most of the fear rushed out with it. The second thing that he did was open his eyes to stare at the ceiling and smile to himself.

And the third thing that he did was let out a long groan. Sure, his feelings were real... But what about Xion's? She had said that she wanted to make it all real, but what about now, now that the experiment was over? Did she still feel that way? Luke wouldn't be surprised if she didn't - he was a very awkward person when it came to things like this, after all. The past week had told him that.

What should he do about that? Talk to her? Wait for her? Luke wasn't sure at all. He didn't know anything about this kind of thing, after all... He would ask Guy, but it'd be unfair to bog him down with his own problems while he was still recovering from his own. Luke was pretty sure Guy had fallen for someone, and Asch too, so that was just one more issue that the house had to deal with.

Luke had to do this himself.

He got up from his desk, and before he could resolve himself to go looking for Xion, he glanced at the swords in the corner of his room. Every time he looked at them, a ball of guilt welled up in his chest, and this time was no different, despite the revelation that rocked him. During his first draft, Luke was so injured and so scared that he didn't even notice until a couple of weeks later... But Guy had lost a sword that was very important to him, all to save him. The same sword that had hung in the foyer of the manor for as long as Luke could remember... The sword that belonged to the Gardios family. It was gone, and Luke was solely to blame.

Maybe he could find Xion while he checked the weapons store again. Maybe the sword was there, maybe he could give it back and apologize, maybe...

With that thought in mind, Luke got up, headed down the stairs and went to the door, preparing to head out with two goals in mind. Upon pulling open the door and taking a step outside and seeing who was waiting for him, though, Luke abruptly realized that one goal was already accomplished, and way faster than he was expecting.

He stared down at Xion, who looked as if she was about to knock on the door. What was she...?

"... Xion?"