Twilight Town

[killitwithfire]

The sky is on fire. Of course, it's always on fire here, a world of perpetual sunset - or sunrise, depending on your perspective. There's pain for Axel in this world, but it's an easy one to get to, and easy is what matters in this particular case.

When he steps out of the dark, and into the twilight, he can't help grinning; pain or not, it's good to be somewhere familiar.

"Welcome to Twilight Town, Anton. Told you I'd show you this place, didn't I?"

Comments

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"Yes, you did," I answer, looking around. This place feels weird, as if the Gloom was around every corner waiting to pounce upon me like a bleeding, helpless fool.

[killitwithfire]

"This is the place Nobodies are born," Axel comments. He's rather hoping not to bump into any of the others. The Assassins are his, and even having distinctly left the Organization, they're still... His. But the others are another story.

"You should keep your eyes open, but there shouldn't be anything to worry about, in this part of town."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"I always keep my eyes open," I reply, tapping my brow to emphasize the point. "You remember I told you I was on the Nightwatch?"

A small joke.

[killitwithfire]

Axel laughs.

"I remember. No night here though. No day, either."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"Only Twilight," I say, not quite comfortable with that. There's no borders, which means there's no division. It's one thing to encounter such a circumstance in an individual, another to find a place without the light and dark.

[killitwithfire]

"Yeah," Axel agrees. A couple streets over, the sound of the trolley bell can be heard.

"YOu wanna take a look around?" he offers.

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"I should think so," I answer. "What did you bring me for? Just to prove that it existed?"

I turn to look at him.

"And are you all right? Adjusting with..."

With his heart.

[killitwithfire]

"I have some painful memories in this place," Axel admits. "The rest... It's still hard. I'm not used to it, you know. It's a level of... of perception, in a way. It's completely different."

He grins.

"But it's a good kind of different."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

A small laugh.

"I'm sure. You were smiling so much after you had some time to think. I'm glad for you."

Sometimes I wonder at my own heart. Sometimes it feels cold, having sat out as I allowed all manner of things to happen to maintain the Balance.

[killitwithfire]

And any Nobody could very easily tell him the difference between a cold heart and no heart.

"Come on," Axel says, pulling his hood up. "Most of the interesting stuff is this way."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

I pull up my own hood and follow him.

"It's strange, that we were able to leave."

[killitwithfire]

Axel shrugs. "I don't belong in that world any more than I do any others," he says. "It was only a matter of time. And you went with me. Or maybe," he continues. "Your theory about us being there for a reason was right. And we did whatever it was we were supposed to."

He shrugs again, and leads the way along the cobblestone paths of Twilight Town, heading towards Market Square.

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"I like to think I was right," I answer with a laugh. "Most men do."

[killitwithfire]

"That's true."

There are people around, but not many; a glance up at the prominent clock tower shows that it's either very early, or right around dinner. From the looks of things in the Square, it's probably the latter.

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"I try to be truthful," I answer. "When I can be anyway. Too many lies in the world not to, too many secrets."

[killitwithfire]

"Ah, but that's half the fun," Axel counters. "Secrets and lies make the worlds more interesting."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"They also make the world darker," I answer, "harder to see clearly, harder to navigate."

[killitwithfire]

"It's easy to know where you stand, when everything's a lie."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"In the shit," I say, serious but also, playful. When you're standing in the shit, you either laugh or cry or go mad. I don't think the last is really an option, not if I want to keep living. And the second is too wasteful. Better to laugh.

[killitwithfire]

"Better that, than nowhere at all," he replies in the same way.

A small group of kids - late elementary school, maybe ten or eleven years old - go running by, and Axel takes a reflexive, habitual step back towards the pale shadow by the wall.

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I suppose you have a point," I say.



"What do you think might happen if I slipped into the Gloom? Or tried to."

[killitwithfire]

"A little close to the surface here, isn't it?" Axel asks. "I'm not really certain - the dark paths function the same here as they do anywhere though. More easily than a lot of places, in fact."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"I feel as if I might stumble on the Gloom," I say, almost as if to myself. And that's what it feels like.

[killitwithfire]

"Really? It might have something to do with the nature of this world then," Axel speculates. "Is it something we should worry about?"

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

I don't answer him, choosing instead to enter the Gloom much as I had when I was first learning, moving into it with one step and moving out in the next. Where it had been an exercise before, now it's as if I'm merely stepping a bit to the left.

Easy.

"Remarkable."

[killitwithfire]

To Axel, it looks as if he flickers slightly between one step and the next.

"I take it that's not normal."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

I shake my head.

"IT's never this easy."

[killitwithfire]

"It must be the world. Unless it's you," Axel adds, as the thought occurs to him.

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

I snort.

"I'm a third level at best," I reply. "A second only if God himself decided to make a miracle."

[killitwithfire]

"Which still doesn't mean much to me," Axel points out. "So it's the world then." He shrugs.

"Twilight Town isn't a normal world to begin with."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"It's like someone made a world just so there was a place with the Gloom so close," I say, almost as if reading from a card. It was something I had been thinking for a time.

[killitwithfire]

Axel shrugs. "I wouldn't know," he says.

"It's an interesting idea though."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

I turn to look at Axel as it hits me between the eyes, like a lightning strike or a sledgehammer.

"This is the only place you could come. This is the place where those lost to the Gloom can come back out again. That's why you--"

I look at him, up and down, my friend and my companion, my partner really.

"That's why you are neither light nor dark. You're of the Gloom."

[killitwithfire]

Blink.

Blink.

"That which lies between dark and light. Or outside it."

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

I nod. There's nothing else I can do.

[killitwithfire]

"It's not really all that surprising, is it?" Axel asks with a small smile.

It's not surprising to him.

[cynical-light.livejournal.com]

"Not really," I admit. "Startling, more like. To have it confirmed."

[killitwithfire]

Axel gives another shrug.

"It's better to know," he says.