Ven didn't respond right away. He only stood there, silent and still, staring at where his master's fallen Keyblade lay.
He felt... cold, but otherwise surprisingly numb. It was as though his head -- or maybe his heart -- couldn't process what he had witnessed. He'd seen Aqua come close to death before, and that had only incited a desperate rage; but this, the failure and the blame, did the opposite. Rather than prompting him to do something, it took all the fight and energy out of him. There was nothing and no one left to fight.
Even Xehanort, as he approached, was merely a shade, a ghost Ven couldn't touch. And yet, ghost or not, Ven found himself taking a step back out of reflex, unwilling to be so close to the old man.
The girl's words finally caught up with him and he shook his head, although it was just as much to clear both it and the tears in his eyes. "No... you -- don't have to apologize." If anyone owed an apology here, Ven thought, it was himself. To the present, as well as to the past he was looking at. To Eraqus, to Terra, to Aqua...
"I think... I knew what happened," he added more quietly, partially to himself. "But..." That didn't make it much easier, if at all. "I don't... get it. Why are we seeing all this?"
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He felt... cold, but otherwise surprisingly numb. It was as though his head -- or maybe his heart -- couldn't process what he had witnessed. He'd seen Aqua come close to death before, and that had only incited a desperate rage; but this, the failure and the blame, did the opposite. Rather than prompting him to do something, it took all the fight and energy out of him. There was nothing and no one left to fight.
Even Xehanort, as he approached, was merely a shade, a ghost Ven couldn't touch. And yet, ghost or not, Ven found himself taking a step back out of reflex, unwilling to be so close to the old man.
The girl's words finally caught up with him and he shook his head, although it was just as much to clear both it and the tears in his eyes. "No... you -- don't have to apologize." If anyone owed an apology here, Ven thought, it was himself. To the present, as well as to the past he was looking at. To Eraqus, to Terra, to Aqua...
"I think... I knew what happened," he added more quietly, partially to himself. "But..." That didn't make it much easier, if at all. "I don't... get it. Why are we seeing all this?"