Don't fall to pieces

[apollo-chase.livejournal.com]

Who: Ren, Chase
What: Researching to save the world. Again.
Where: Ansem the Wise's private library
When: The morning.

Chase was glad Ansem had let her into his private library once she explained the urgency of the situation. Honestly, the man still intimidated her - she had been polite and forthcoming and damn well earnest in her pleadings to find some sort of answer in his private collection of books. From the scattered bits of paper and notebooks at one of the desks, Chase realized that the Refs hadn't been alone in their quest to find answers.

But if Ansem couldn't fine anything in his own library...Chase had squared her shoulders - well, a fresh perspective wouldn't hurt anything.

So there she sat about two hours later, her notebook open, scribbling with her odd mix of cursive and print. A mug of chai tea - specially created by the Moogles to actually keep said coffee hot (Chase had priorities, she really did) - sat just next to her left elbow, and she paused every so often to drink from it.

Ugh. She was going to need help with this. Thank god she had asked Ren to join her.

Comments

[apollo-chase.livejournal.com]

Chase picked up another notebook - this one with Ansem's leisurely scrawl in it - and began paging through it. "Wish I could actually track them down and get some answer, but they've been super busy too, what with putting Radiant Garden back to how it was. I'm glad the people here finally go over their..." here she made a face, "'rahr traitors must die.'"

[hyperpsyche.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, they know this world far better than any of us do, after all," Ren sighed as she closed Even's notebook and set it down. "But yeah, the citizens not being after their heads anymore is definitely a good thing. The last thing we need is a lynch mob on top of everything else..."

Ren reached over and picked up another book, frowning as she flipped through the pages. "Sheesh, this is worse than my handwriting," she muttered as she tried to decode the notes inside. "Scratch that, it's worse than my grandfather's handwriting, and believe me, that's saying something." She knew it wasn't fair, but her mind automatically jumped to the first likely author: Braig.

*punches browser in the face*

[apollo-chase.livejournal.com]

"It would definitely make things more interesting, I'll say that much," Chase said, going back to writing in her notebook. She jerked a thumb to the scores and scores of notebooks behind her, lining the shelves. "At least Ansem divided everything into specific sections - we've got science, history, philosophy - which I don't think is going to be much help, and personal research."

She held up one of Ansem's notebooks. "Most of it is divided into PHEOC, so I guess that's a start. Looks like high school chemistry knows no worldly bounds."

She sat back in her chair and glanced up at the ceiling suddenly, looking a bit frustrated. "Is it selfish to want a prophecy this time around?"

*hugs*

[hyperpsyche.livejournal.com]

"As if we needed any more interest right now," Ren commented as she looked at the packed bookshelves with a gradually rising level of distress at the thought of having to go through them all. Well, at least it was all organized.

She turned back toward Chase at her remark about a prophecy and smiled gently. "Nah, I'll bet most of us would appreciate a handy little guideline on what's going to come next right about now," she reassured her. "At least things followed the first game pretty nicely..." Ren trailed off after that, drawing her brows together in thought. Something about the first game was ringing a faint bell...

Re: *hugs*

[apollo-chase.livejournal.com]

"Life's never dull around here," Chase murmured before sipping her chai. She then gave a lopsided grin at mention of the first game. "Yeah, wouldn't know about that. I suspect epic happened quietly."

[hyperpsyche.livejournal.com]

Ren nodded a bit distractedly. "Yeah, at that point we were all 'shoot, can't let Sora find out about us, let's just hide and wait for him to beat Xehanort's Heartless so we can get Earth back and not screw things up." She shrugged, smiling with a little embarrassment. "And it worked, more or less... up until Xemnas crashed our victory party and started to call us all prophets." She could still remember that night, with "Anna" and Demyx managing to disguise himself pretty well, and it was almost funny aside from Xemnas...

"Speaking of destroyed worlds though, can I see that list of the worlds that have gone under again?" Ren asked quietly, as if she was afraid of what she was going to find there.

[apollo-chase.livejournal.com]

Chase grinned - she had heard about that infamous masquerade from other Refs. She had the feeling that there were pictures somewhere, but where was the question.

She turned her laptop to face Ren, pulling up the appropriate document. "Those are the five that have disappeared so far."

[hyperpsyche.livejournal.com]

Ren bit her lip as she looked over the list. Wonderland, Beast's Castle, Dwarf Woodlands, Castle of Dreams, Destiny Islands... "They're all worlds the Princesses of Light are from," she pointed out again. "Enchanted Dominion and Agrabah are okay for the moment, but I'm really not liking this pattern." And yet, it fit far too well. Aerith's vision of Radiant Garden's spirit in pain, the steadily rising numbers of Heartless and Nobodies...

"Chase?" Ren said in a very small, frightened voice. "I think Radiant Garden is going to be consumed by Darkness in the very near future."

[apollo-chase.livejournal.com]

"'At the moment' being the key phrase there," Chase said, lacing her fingers underneath her chin as she peered at the document. There was only so much they could really do - a mass evacuation of an entire world? Their best bet was to find the source of everything and as soon as pos-

Ren's next words stopped her cold.

She blinked and quickly mulled over the words. Of course. Even though Destiny Islands was Kairi's adopted home, she was originally from Radiant Garden. And everything that had happened so far...she knew in her heart that Ren's words were true.

Shit.

She jumped to her feet, nearly knocking papers and notebooks and pastries all over the place, a serious look crossing her face. "Alright, first things first. We need to get to Ansem, let him know what we've found out and see if he can round up the beginnings of an evacuation. I'll check with Cid to make sure Agrabah and the Enchanted Dominion are still safe for now."

Time. It was hardly on their side. Her mind was racing just to keep up. "Never thought I'd know what it felt like to be the captain of the Titanic - wanting to save people but not wanting to cause a panic."

[hyperpsyche.livejournal.com]

Ren nodded numbly and got up to follow Chase. Her mind was slowly shifting out of its steady stream of four-letter words and variations of "no, not again" and into a more coherent and useful line of thought. "After that, we have to tell the others... Ugh, this is not going to help Sora feel any better about the way things are going." Of course, that wasn't the most pressing of their problems at the moment, but still, poor kid.

For a moment, the idea that maybe she was wrong, that she had just read too much into things, that everything would be fine, crossed Ren's mind. She honestly wanted to believe it, but the way Chase had reacted, she knew her theory made too much sense to be wrong.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Ren replied, anxiously biting her lower lip. And just like with the Titanic, there was the problem of lifeboats--how could they possibly evacuate the citizens of this world with the few Gummi ships that they had on hand?