Challenge [193]

[breathless-dawn.livejournal.com]

Challenge: [193] Destruction
Title: Picking the Pieces Up, Part I
Word Count: 427
Notes: Yes, because of my long winded-ness, this piece comes in two parts, so I will be competing against myself in the challenge... =/ Anyway, herein lies part I.

 

It took them by surprise, being swallowed by the darkness. And when they are tipped onto unfamiliar ground, they walk in circles, waiting for some sort of sign or saving grace that won’t come.

 

For a while, everything seems strange. The way the sun never shines, the way Squall never smiles anymore, the dark creatures that crawl out from blackened corners, that will make you think you can drown in the darkness.

 

Then, things change. Squall is Leon now. Leon is strong, the leader, and vows that he won’t let the darkness take them again.

 

He fights.

 

Yuffie begins to laugh again and Cid stops smoking. Cloud turns his back on them, turns a blind eye to the stars blinking out, but they never expected anything more of him.

 

Aerith smiles at them all.
 

 

 

Cloud is gone. Has simply disappeared, and Aerith worries. Leon tells her he’ll come back; Yuffie says she shouldn’t worry about a stupid, spiky-haired, huge-sword-carrying guy like Cloud; Cid says Cloud can take care of himself. Aerith smiles and says she knows.

 

She worries anyway.

 

But when the King visits, there is no more time for it. Leon rises to the challenge, says he’ll find the Keybearer, and no one doubts it. Yuffie tries to follow, but he says no.

 

His demeanour changes after that. He fights more, stays out for days at a time, returns with more injuries. Yuffie says she hates Leon and continues to call him Squall, damn the consequences.

 

And just when everyone has nearly reached their breaking point, the Keybearer appears.

 

They are relieved.

 

 

 

Leon worries that the fate of the worlds is in the hands of a fourteen-year-old boy, but Yuffie proclaims that Squall is still sore about being beaten by Sora, to which Cid bursts out laughing, and sends Leon stalking darkly out of the room.

 

Yuffie runs after him and they don’t come back until the next day. No one asks them anything, and they don’t offer any answers, but things seem to fall into place.

 

They live in a house that is much too small for all of them, but none of them complain, because they’ve become a collective them now, and don’t want things to fall apart after they’ve been put back together.

 

They fight Heartless and tell jokes and laugh over the dinner Aerith cooks for them every night. Things have become normal, and memories of what home used to be fade. Even the guilt in Leon’s eyes recedes, and they (especially Yuffie) wonder if he’ll ever go back to being Squall.

 

 

Comments

Re: [mod]

[crimsoncookie.livejournal.com]

i prefer not to have full stories divided into two -- this is kh drabble, after all ^-^; -- but i feel that your format in these makes it possible to read them as separate entries. :)

No kidding lol. I will try for that haha.

looking forward to it. ♥

Re: [mod]

[breathless-dawn.livejournal.com]

*salutes* Aye, boss. Never again. Thank you for allowing it, though :)) It makes me a happy camper.

two parts or no

[kmsaum.livejournal.com]

They work well alone. I read them backwards...on purpose...to see, and I think they're both quite good. I like one quite a lot better, idk why. In any case, hurrah and huzzah and keep up the good work! :D

Re: two parts or no

[breathless-dawn.livejournal.com]

The whole two parts thing was a bit of a nightmare haha. But I'm so happy they worked well alone (I think I probably angered everyone by bending the rules so much, so this is really good news lol).

Thanks for the read and the comment :)