ridethathippo

[So... basically, what the Barians had tried to do to the Astral World, except with a slightly less gruesome result. It almost sounds like they're living in a dystopia now, if Academia is still occupying the city...

Rio doesn't know what to say for a while. It doesn't sound like their fault, not at all, but that their turn of fortune, the happy ending they finally won, would be so fragile... She sounds horrified when she speaks again.]

...Why? What reason could they possibly have for wanting to do that?!

I don't know. [He bristles now because he's thinking of Sora. How could his friend be from such a horrible group when they had so much fun together. Sora had always smiled so brightly, but he remembers seeing that same smile turn vicious as Sora had talked about hunting down the Resistance.]

Some of the Academia people did it for fun...Like it was a sport to them. Other than that, I don't know exactly what their true goal is.

Sport...

[So, even more than an invasion... it was a massacre? That's a level above what the Barians did -- they killed, and they assimilated, but it wasn't for the fun of it. It was all done with a purpose, and no small amount of wishing it could be done some other way in a surprising number of cases.

That her peace could be shattered so easily by people looking for blood for the sake of blood... Rio seethes behind the line for a moment. The tone she uses afterward is entirely too mechanical.]

I... well, I appreciate the information, at least. I'll do what I can with it. Thank you.

[He can sympathize with her. Not entirely because he hasn't had his home destroyed by Academia, but he's feeling their effects as well. With Sora betraying them and Yuzu likely being kidnapped or turned into a card...There's a lot of things he's been trying not to worry about.]

...Rio, I know this is hard to hear, but it's probably better not to focus on it right now. We can't change what's happening until the Nexus restores our worlds.

No, I--

[It doesn't matter, does it? If she can find out now, then she can stop it as soon as they get back. Those of them who are here now can take that information and change the future.

Can't they? There's a touch of panic in her voice.]

I can't not focus on it! We tried so hard to make things work out, and then...!

[She puts a lid on the rising meltdown as hard as she can. He's probably right. If she freaks out here, it'll be a weakness and a liability for everyone else. Forcing a calm she doesn't feel, she exhales.]

...I'm sorry. I will need to tell the others about this, but... for now, I'll leave it be otherwise.

[Yuya's quiet for a moment, letting her have it for calming down. He wonders what she's been through-- something before Academia, obviously. But maybe it had something to do with what Mizael was going through too.

He doesn't want to be the one to make her dwell on it though, so his tone becomes softer and more light-hearted for Rio's sake.]

You know, if we're not that far apart in time, we may be able to meet each other back home. Wouldn't that be cool?

...I suppose, yes...

[Something bitter enters her tone then, and it's obvious she's thinking "if I'm still alive by that point". Recalling the number of times fate has twisted cruelly around her and her brother, there's never any guarantee.]

Are you... far from Heartland? I don't want you to be in danger too.

[He takes a moment, debating before finally admitting:]

Academia will appear in Maiami three days after when I was pulled. My friend told me when he arrived.

[That just makes Rio's tone tighten even more.]

...Don't you feel the same way, then? Don't you want to find out if we can change it?

I do, but... I don't think we have the right to change the timeline. Everything is a mess as is.

[Although there's one piece of information he's holding back-- the different dimensions. Maybe there is going to be a Heartland in Standard in the future. Or the city could only belong to the XYZ dimension. It's all too complicated and he doesn't know enough. ]

What do you mean, we "don't have the right"?

[It's hard to tell if that's offense tinting her tone or not there. It probably does seem ridiculous when he doesn't know all the things they've gone through... how they've already rewritten the timeline to include people who should not have been there, by all rights.]

Is there... some particular reason you say that?

[Siiiigh.] Look, I'm not big on the whole 'fate' thing, but it's different when you actually have evidence in front of you of what the future is. And if you change one thing, how do you know what else will change as a result?

It's...too much. I've already experienced what messing with the Nexus' code is like, and that was probably small compared to a change in timeline.

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