dywc og draft

[rarsneezes]

i had to adjust the ao3 version due to posting sorry, you're not a winner messing with the continuity of the dywc fic nova, so here's the og version of that fic

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Colette approaches the boy (?) with silver hair and then clears her throat so she has his (?) attention.

“Um, I’m sorry, what’s your name, again?” she asks, even though she definitely didn’t hear it earlier.

“Uh, Riku,” he answers, and, yeah, that’s right, Sora did mention that was the name of his friend. He looks at her, a little bewildered, still awkwardly only half-turned to her.

Colette nods. “Sorry! I had you mistaken for someone else,” she says, with her most apologetic smile. This on her, no reason to make things more difficult for him—but she thinks if Zelos or Lloyd were here, they’d understand. Riku shares Nova’s height and build, the same hair color. The only thing they don’t share is Riku’s obviously still in his teens, and his hair is way shorter than would fit into the complex updo she saw Nova in… the singular time she saw them. There’s a pang in her core, for how brief the time was that she got to know her sibling, but.

Anyway.

Riku laughs. “Oh that’s not even new for me,” he says, scratching at his neck. He’s finally turned all the way around to face her. “…New that you weren’t expecting the name Riku, though? Usually I get mistaken for—anyway. What name were you expecting?”

“Oh, uh, Nova.”

“Oh,” Riku says. Something works behind his eyes. “Oh, wow. Okay. Any reason I reminded you of him?”

“Them.”

“Oh, them.”

Colette chews on her words for a moment, but there’s no reason… not to tell him. Riku’s one of Sora’s friends, and he seems like a nice guy. She shrugs. “Same hair color, same build?” She blushes. “I know that’s not- not a lot, but…”

“You got a feeling?” Riku supplies.

Colette shrugs again. She takes it back, this was too embarrassing. “Maybe.”

“I mean, you are like magically adept to recognizing other people based on their magic signature, right? It’s not that surprising,” Riku says, which is really nice of him. Still.

“I think you’re giving this way more thought than it actually needs.”

Riku shrugs, open palmed, his smile a little wry. “It’s just not unusual, in my opinion, for more than one of me to exist in the multiverse.” He laughs. “In fact I have proof that’s a thing so like. Yanno. And I wouldn’t be surprised either if another me chose a different name… and so on, and so on.”

…now Colette’s intrigued. “Really?”

Riku shrugs again. “Yeah! I mean, I came from a different universe than the one I live in. Probably a hundred other mes that got picked from an origin universe and tossed elsewhere… not to mention all the variations of the origin universe…” His eyes get a little distant, and then he shakes his head.

“Wow,” Colette says, first. And then: “I don’t think Nova is you from another universe. Or…” Terminology gets confusing fast, huh? “Or I mean, they- they’re a blade like I am. So obviously they were born on my world.”

“Ohhhhhhhh.” Riku nods a few times in understand. “So even if they were a parallel me, they’re a parallel me native to your world. Which means it’s more of a stretch for them to be a parallel me, I guess.”

Colette shrugs. “Maybe your idea has some merit, though. Jade and Sophie… are on my world, but they’re here too, and they’re completely different people.”

“Well now I’m curious. Does Nova act at all like I do?”

“I…” That pang, again. Sorrow that hurts. “I didn’t get to know them very well. We only spoke the once, and…” No telling if they’ll speak to each other again. Not while the mother they share is alive, anyway, Colette thinks.

Riku laughs. It’s a little mean, but he follows it up with: “Sorry, sorry. I’m just surprised you’re comparing me to someone you only met the once. They must’ve really left an impression on you.”

“They’re my sibling.”

“Oh.”

“So I—”

“No, yeah, I get it, totally.” The way Riku looks at her now is… not pitying, but raw in the way pity would probably be. Understanding, maybe, if his feelings truly match his words? “Are… are they okay?”

Colette nods. “Yeah,” she thinks so, anyway. “We just… I was separated from our mother when I was young,” (she was young, even if not the way humans count it,) “so I didn’t exactly grow up with them, and by the time I finally met them… our mother… there…” How do you say that your mother kidnapped your boyfriend to get in touch with your boyfriend’s mom who was your mom’s ex in a past life? You don’t, actually. “Family drama.”

“Ahh…” Riku smiles at her, apologetic. “Yeah, I understand. That sucks.”

Colette nods, again, not having a voice for words, not on this. Every day she regrets that she didn’t get to know Nova or Aurora better. Maybe someday.

Riku looks like he’s kind of upset too—funny that he got invested so quickly. So Colette shares that thought with him.

“Blades live a long time, though,” she says. “So maybe someday.”

It makes him smile, so maybe that’s worth it.