[ It's almost like that first rush, when Maleficent gifted him with the Darkness. Closer to the euphoric invincibility he felt when, in fact, the power he took came at the cost of his own body.
The reminder doesn't disturb him and Riku now understands why - time puts distance between himself and the origins of his unseen scars, but he's also come to accept the choices, the mistakes he's made and the marks they've left on him. They're part of who he is, and he likes who he's become a lot better than he had a year prior to his death.
His gritted teeth loosen around the need to breathe through an open mouth, hanging on by bicep and by the back of a bare hand, locking it to his own throat. With this much darkness, a weak heart could have turned, it could have crumpled. Riku's been wielding it for years, tempered, not immune to all of it but only in the ways that make him unsuitable as a vessel for Vanitas's old master, he drinks it like a cup that can't be filled.
The light that burns in him isn't stronger for it, the depth of darkness only makes it seem to shine brighter, just as strong light casts dark shadows. His eyes are darker when they open for the way the windows of his pupils have opened, but his gaze is still sharp and alert. ]
Ah. Wait-
[ Riku hisses, his hand covering his side. There was an incident, soon after they parted ways at the feast, Riku and Rosalind needed to escape her lab and both of them came away with grave claw wounds. He had tended her wounds but his own he cauterized in the moment, a hurried Dark Firaga so he wouldn't bleed out in their escape. It hurts all the time, but with one injury healing that dark power has moved down the line, and the itching burn makes him gasp. ]
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The reminder doesn't disturb him and Riku now understands why - time puts distance between himself and the origins of his unseen scars, but he's also come to accept the choices, the mistakes he's made and the marks they've left on him. They're part of who he is, and he likes who he's become a lot better than he had a year prior to his death.
His gritted teeth loosen around the need to breathe through an open mouth, hanging on by bicep and by the back of a bare hand, locking it to his own throat. With this much darkness, a weak heart could have turned, it could have crumpled. Riku's been wielding it for years, tempered, not immune to all of it but only in the ways that make him unsuitable as a vessel for Vanitas's old master, he drinks it like a cup that can't be filled.
The light that burns in him isn't stronger for it, the depth of darkness only makes it seem to shine brighter, just as strong light casts dark shadows. His eyes are darker when they open for the way the windows of his pupils have opened, but his gaze is still sharp and alert. ]
Ah. Wait-
[ Riku hisses, his hand covering his side. There was an incident, soon after they parted ways at the feast, Riku and Rosalind needed to escape her lab and both of them came away with grave claw wounds. He had tended her wounds but his own he cauterized in the moment, a hurried Dark Firaga so he wouldn't bleed out in their escape. It hurts all the time, but with one injury healing that dark power has moved down the line, and the itching burn makes him gasp. ]