After disappearing from the battlefield, the other replica defeated and his dying wish conveyed, he thought he was done existing. Last time he returned to Verens, it was like waking up from a drugged sleep, slow and sluggish, a realization as slow as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon.
Not this time. This time, he appeared with a boneless feeling in his body, and then immediately slipped and fell. His amulet had been perched on the ledge near the sink in the bathroom while Riku showered; Arden was so shocked he fell backwards into the sink itself, then twisted in surprise as the faucet hit his back, shouted as a result, grabbed air and found nothing, then landed his hands on the toilet, before eventually falling onto the floor... all while the shower was still going. ]
What... the...?
[ He was a little out of breath, plenty worn out emotionally from the conversation he'd just had and his Verens memories returning in a rush the moment he'd reappeared, but somewhere underneath of all of that... he was also chuckling a little at the ridiculousness of it all. His first few moments of feeling real again and it was like this? This was some kind of cruel joke, or something that would happen to Donald or Goofy, or a plot to make sure he didn't immediately hit the same depressive spiral he was in when he returned last time.
That was when he realized he wasn't alone in the bathroom. ]
When the sun goes down in the evening light; Closed to Riku
After disappearing from the battlefield, the other replica defeated and his dying wish conveyed, he thought he was done existing. Last time he returned to Verens, it was like waking up from a drugged sleep, slow and sluggish, a realization as slow as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon.
Not this time. This time, he appeared with a boneless feeling in his body, and then immediately slipped and fell. His amulet had been perched on the ledge near the sink in the bathroom while Riku showered; Arden was so shocked he fell backwards into the sink itself, then twisted in surprise as the faucet hit his back, shouted as a result, grabbed air and found nothing, then landed his hands on the toilet, before eventually falling onto the floor... all while the shower was still going. ]
What... the...?
[ He was a little out of breath, plenty worn out emotionally from the conversation he'd just had and his Verens memories returning in a rush the moment he'd reappeared, but somewhere underneath of all of that... he was also chuckling a little at the ridiculousness of it all. His first few moments of feeling real again and it was like this? This was some kind of cruel joke, or something that would happen to Donald or Goofy, or a plot to make sure he didn't immediately hit the same depressive spiral he was in when he returned last time.
That was when he realized he wasn't alone in the bathroom. ]