Eyes Wide Open [Asher]

[Ciela River]

Blurred shapes and loud noises, that was all that lingered in her mind.

There was light coming from somewhere, but Ciela was too exhausted to even bother to open her eyes and see where it came from. All she knew was that she lay limply on a solid surface, that she'd barely made it out of a fight, and that she was hurt...

Everything hurt. Everything. She could feel her ribs protesting as she drew in long, deep breaths. She knew she'd gained a cut on her forehead because she could feel it's sickening warmth trickling down onto her brow, and as she lifted a hand to wipe it, she felt a stab of pain bolting up onto her shoulder. But what happened? she thought, tiredly.

She remembered the Heartless. She remembered the small bout of chaos that they had caused on the Main Island. She remembered having seen the Keyblade bursting into her hand, enveloped in light. She remembered having fought for a while, and then... nothing. Just pitch black. Until the thud on her back awoke her to a pained consciousness. Ow. Too much pain.

Still gripping her Keyblade tightly, Ciela let out a sigh and forced her eyes to open. So, so painful... well, wherever she... was, it was night time. The light emerged subtly from a lamp, and all around her she saw nothing but the bricked walls of the alley where she'd fallen.

"W-where...? Wh--" was all she could manage, before her lungs failed her and her ribs started to scream in pain again.

Staying unconscious was better. She let her eyes close again.

[Asher]

For the few people that dared leave their homes, this world seemed to be quite chatty for the day. It seemed that the town had no reason to be strongly on guard in this district, as eyes were watching.

Occasionally, the nobody would glance about, and spot some sort of guard, as he assumed they were. But, their eyes had a tendency of focusing on the doors to any other district, rather than the people within the one that was protected. Though, there always held the chance that these were not guards. Asher had to consider, maybe they were hoping for the worst, or just trying to gather the courage to enter a different district.

Which, was proven as the nobody pushed open a large gate, to the shock of one of the strangers, shot a smile, and allowed it to close behind him.

In the next district, it was only quiet. Of course, he reminded himself, the heartless had no reason to attack him. He held nothing to attract the creatures, so they were probably uninterested. This was okay with him, though. It gave him some quiet time to walk, and think, without interruption. He had made absolutely no headway on figuring out anything about his old world, himself currently, or the item he had promised a girl on some island that he would return to tell her about in the case that he found it to be real. Then again, he wasn't so sure if he'd care to fulfill the promise anyway. It kept others safe to be left in the dark.

A sound forced Asher's body to stiffen. Thinking of the dark. A sigh escaped, looking down an alley that he had expected to hold something horrible. Instead, a light filtered down on a body that had been the source of the sound. A voice, perhaps?

"Hey," the nobody began, as he moved down the alley, peering through his bangs to try to get a better look at the person. "Are you alive?" he almost hummed to himself, only to stop as he was beside the figure, fully taking in the image. An almost irritated mumble fell from his lips with a, "you've got to be kidding me," as he knelt down, to touch a familiar girl's shoulder.

"Mousey?" he huffed, a knot forming in the back of his throat, only as eyes fell over the item in her hands. So, that was why her curiosity had been all over the magical weapon.

A cough escaped his throat, as his only real response to the item. Somehow, the thought of the weapon made him feel a little ill. Gingerly, the nobody reached around the girl, pulling her into a sitting position, while restraining her arms with one of his own. Just in case, he supposed. With a few unnecessary movements, simply out of caution of the keyblade-wielder, Asher finally managed to pick up the girl in a piggy-back style, but in a manner that pressed the weapon between the two of them. Just to be safe, he reminded himself. Not much could be more irritating than to get the crap beaten out of him with a giant, probably metal, key, while trying to help a person.

"I thought you lived on an island, Mousey," he murmured, mostly just to make noise. "This isn't an island. Why are you here?"

Then again, why was he asking an unconscious person questions?

[Ciela River]

It's okay, she thought. I'm alive. I could be so much worse than this...

It was hard to believe, but that was what she kept up telling herself... in her mind, at least. She was too wxhausted to actually talk to herself. Somehow, unconsciousness seemed to evade her entirely, now. Darn it, she thought. It sucked. Being unconscious was a good way to escape pain. A slight sigh escaped her, making her wince. She just hoped she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself. That'd be bad. The last thing she wanted was to end up being dragged into a hospital.

The thought made her sick.

After what felt like an eternity of just lying down wherever she was, she heard a voice. It sounded familiar, somehow, and she knew the person was addressing her - there was no one else around - but she couldn't find the strenght to reply. She pretty much zoned out after that. Unconsciousness evaded her, yet she wasn't entirely awake. She hovered somewhere between sleep and awareness, and she gladly sank into that state...

... until, suddenly, she was lifted off the floor. It was then that she managed to wake up, and that she recognized the voice.

"Asher?"she questioned. "Where... are we...?"she mumbled lightly. She half expected him not to hear, but it was highly improbable. She could hope, though...

... she had only just realized that she was still gripping her Keyblade. She didn't want to be questioned about it...

[Asher]

The nobody wasn't really sure what to do with the situation. There weren't really any actual doctors in this town, he didn't think. And, if they did, they did not seem to actively practice on the world. The best he could assume was to walk to the inn -- which was, luckily, not too far away. Not that the girl was heavy. In fact, he swore her weapon had to weigh at least half of the weight that he noticed.

He heard a tiny voice, that made him tilt his head. A small smile formed on his lips, but pretended not to hear the girl questioning him. That was more because he was busy focusing on now opening the door to the hotel. With a small ding on the bell at the desk, a man appeared, only to drop a key, mumble something about enjoying the stay, and disappear into one of the rooms. Perhaps, an act of caution in the case Heartless were to enter the area. It was probably much easier to defend oneself in a room, rather than an open hall and service desk. Asher eyed the key, to figure which room it was for, then made his way down the hall. Finally, locating it, he popped the door open, and peered in.

It seemed very... blue.

Shuffling, the nobody managed to free a hand from the girl that felt more like a backpack, to close and lock the door, before placing her onto the bed, and letting out a small puff sound, in her general direction. "I have to give you credit," he mumbled, placing a hand on her forehead, "only tough people tend to end up here without actual transportation," and, on top of that, survive being in a non-safe district alone for half of a second. Let alone, unconscious and holding a giant Heartless-magnet.

She was bleeding, he noted, but promptly ignored, feeling the warm liquid on his hand from one of her cuts. He could only hope that she wasn't bleeding internally. He couldn't see that, to know if he needed to find an expert on fixing people. Giving it a hopeful thought, his hand lightly glowed with a soft light, and the cut would surely fade out. Cure, the nobody concentrated, hoping that the light could heal the girl, at least to reduce anything outstanding. But, after that, all he could do was wait for her to fully come around, for a proper explanation of her being here.

[Ciela River]

Slowly, but surely, Ciela started to regain conscience of what surrounded her. She sighed, bt said nothing. She was still way too tired. For a moment, she thought she'd heard Asher saying something to her, but she figured it was most likely her imagination. She was pretty spaced out, anyway.

The keyblade vanished from her hands after a while, and shortly afterward she was capable of opening her eyes. She found herself lying down on a bed, in a room she'd never seen before. One thing she was positive about was, this was not Destiny Islands. She had already figured that out of course, but still... she had hoped the whole thing had been a dream, she had hoped that her home world was safe, that the Heartless had never reached it. Waking up in this strange area had broken her hopes.

How long have I been here...?" she asked, holding a hand to her forehead. The cut was gone, healed, perhaps. She found Asher nearby, but couldn't look at him. She knew that he'd ask about her keyblade, and that was a subject she didn't want to have to discuss. She had to, and she knew it. Only, it didn't feel like the right moment to do so.

"I'm exhausted,"she mumbled, as she tried to sit up straight. Ouch. Not a good idea. "The Heartless..."she said, and the images blurred through her mind again. She thought of the people she knew from shcool, her mother, her neighbors... what would become of them?

"I... need to go home..."