[194] A Little Heart

[trilies.livejournal.com]

Challenge: [194] Gift
Title: A Little Heart
Word Count: 600 (HA HA, CUTTING IT SO CLOSE.)
(anything else): Ace of Spades is Xemnas, Four of Spades is Xion (but no spoilers, chill), and Queen of Hearts is Naminé. The credit for those little titles goes to Amber. Oh, and there's Lesser Nobody yuri. You heard me. 8D


The Samurai is.... displeased with her.

She'd say 'mad', but it's not true. Anger, joy, sadness- all lost. They have no hearts and cannot feel, the Ace of Spades says, so she believes it. Lessers are at a disadvantage, as they don't have the memories the Greaters do. They are servants, laboring for a goal that is close and shines above them, a polished die which will decide their fates, prove if this gamble was worth it.

...But she had remembered her name was Penny, and that she had worked at a bar, maybe, and the Samurai had remembered too, and they had bonded, despite it all. For a while, even if it was faked, Penny was a little happy with the Samurai who was slimmer, smoother than the rest, the one who quietly had whispered that her name was Maro.

Maro doesn't talk to her now.
She is displeased, and Penny does not know why.

At first, she tries to talk with her, and seeks Maro out among her Samurai kin, yet she is turned away harshly. Refusing to give up, she tries again, until two sharp metal teeth are bared at her at her throat. Penny stops after that.

"Poor Penny," the Four of Spades says with her dark hair and blue eyes and a soul full of mistakes. She does not find it odd to allow the Lessers names, and pets Penny's arm in sorrow, somehow true.

"It'll be better," the Queen of Hearts murmurs, running the back of one finger down her throat, but Penny does not believe. She only sits, quietly, in the white room in which the Queen lives, rolling crayons across the table with the tips of black fingers.

One day, the Queen gives her a gift.

It is small and metal, but best of all, shiny, and Penny wiggles in delight upon receiving it. For a while, it is enough to drive away the thoughts of silly Samurai as Penny twists the little metal thing into a variety of shapes. Hours upon hours are spent twisting it and turning it in the light. On pure whim, she bends it into a sharp corner, then rounds out the ends...

Silence. Rememberance. Penny has to find Maro again.

The chase is long, and soon leads out of the castle and onto the streets of the Dark City, where it pours, thunders and Heartless watch. Unsheathing her blades, Maro whirls around, almost threatening in the twisting light of Memory Skyscraper. Penny does not allow herself to be afraid or nervous, she just pushes those memories away. She gently steps forward, her sleeves slipping back as she offers her hands forward, black palms cupping one tiny little piece of metal...

It is a paperclip, molded into the shape of a heart.

The steel fangs are put away, and Maro steps forward carefully, looking up at Penny then down to the heart, before she repeats. At last, she reaches down and brushes her fingers along it. For me? she asks, and the other Nobody just nods.

Up high on the skyscraper, they sit next to each other, shoulders touching and their little metal heart in their hands. With her free hand, the Samurai points up at Kingdom Hearts. I shall work to finish it for you she tells her friend. On my honor.

Rather have you swear on your love for me, the Gambler thinks, but keeps it to herself. One day, she'll be able to feel, and that's when she'll be able to say such words to her fearless Samurai.

She will make it her next gift.

Comments

[misskass.livejournal.com]

I must say, the idea of lesser Nobody yuri drew me in, but I stayed for the absolute gorgeousness of the story and the fact that you called Namine the Queen of Hearts. ♥

"a polished die which will decide their fates, prove if this gamble was worth it."
Also that line. Kills me.

[trilies.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it! I had to cut off a little bit (read: a lot, I was over 700 |D ), so I was worried if it looked alright. My fears are now put to rest.

If you should love anyone for the Queen of Hearts bit, it's my friend Amber, who, coincidentally, is also a brilliant Naminé writer.

Me and Amber (at_splickenfic) both decided Kingdom Hearts needs more Yuri, so we paired up the entire cast of lesser Nobodies, even the ones we had to make up for the CoM crew. This is just the tip of the iceburg. Bwahahaha!

[kaos-sparrow.livejournal.com]

This is so very, very sad. I can't help thinking about how they'll never get to finish Kingdom Hearts. :(

[trilies.livejournal.com]

But sshhh! Don't tell them that!
Besides, I'm secretly somehow an optimist, so at least they didn't die, which means there's always a chance for them to get better.
And I'm not in denial. Really.

[hotasphyxiation.livejournal.com]

Man, stuff like this makes me jealous that my brain just doesn't really work this way. :P (How come I can never come up with these kinds of things?! Haha.) Really, though, this was just beautiful through and through, all the way from the language to the characterization down on to the bits of compassionate storytelling stuck in there throughout. I fell in love with Penny pretty much right from the beginning, and by the end I was smitten with Maro, too. So cute and so sad... wonderful job on this!

[trilies.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the compliments, although I'm not quite sure what you mean by compassonate story telling. (I'm tired. I blame that. Yes.) ^^ I was glad I was able to make Penny and Maro likeable. Again, thank you for reading.

[hotasphyxiation.livejournal.com]

Lol, I blame my own tiredness for my poor articulation. :D

All I meant was that it was a touching story--and you're very welcome!

[cygna-hime.livejournal.com]

Aww, lesser Nobodies not-quite-love! I kind of want to give them hugs now, which might not be good for my health.

They totally get better. Because there's so totally a way, possibly involving a sufficient quantity of True Love (because this! is! DISNEY!) and so they get better and are happy and yay.

[trilies.livejournal.com]

No, it probably wouldn't. |D; They're not as bad as Heartless, but still.

[greedchan.livejournal.com]

They are just frigging cute. :3
I like the idea that the Lessers weren't just showing up to kill you - they really just wanted to finish it as much as the Organization did. It's nice to think they would have made 'friends' like this. :3
Also, the idea that a shiny paperclip is something amazing and great to play with is weirdly cute. xD
:3 Anyway, great work!