[202] "Here"
Sep. 29th, 2009 08:51 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleChallenge: [202] Smile
Title: Here
Word Count: 599
Notes: Naminé’s life is a series of repetitive events. Maybe.
“What am I doing here?” Blinking, bewildered smile. High rooftops and rain-sleek sidewalks.
“Like I know. But you’d better leave – children don’t do… well, here.”
“Shut up,” affectionately. “Don’t mind him. He doesn’t know how to speak to a lady, hm? Do you know your name?”
Still bewildered, she glances at the man’s arms draped across her shoulders, touches his hand. And maybe memory is a strange thing, but skin to skin, and suddenly she knows of a laboratory deep and secret from their master. She knows six men strapped to tables, six hearts beating-dying, and six old names she shouldn’t.
They both stop smiling when she looks up and says his name.
“To the castle?”
“I think we’d better. Come on, kid.”
*
“What are you doing here?”
“I-” stopped, stuttering. She’s not allowed to leave that one room. Her footsteps were supposed to be silent, her breathing empty, but something has betrayed her. How does he find her?
Marluxia smells like garden, this early in the morning. He’s been outside with the whimpering dawn and thorny plants and choked birds.
“How-?”
He tugs the book from her fingers - the pretty words and pictures fall from her coldly.
“You need to stop smiling, precious. It lights up the room, you see. Shadows in the window.” He points to the glass that overlooks the garden. “Now. Let us see if your lips can’t learn some loyalty.”
They can’t.
*
“What are you doing here, you’re going to ask. It’s because he’s not.”
She swings her legs, kicking bare feet against the clock tower. When there’s no ground to press against her, no reminder of gravity, she prefers nakedness.
“Do you think he dreams? Roxas,” she amends. There are too many ‘he’s now, and the ‘he’ in Riku’s mind is always Sora, anyway. She knows Sora dreams, though. She’s seen them.
“I think you shouldn’t be here,” he finally says, aloud. She shrugs, which she only has the nerve for because she’s not facing him. She’s facing the landscape of a twisting town meeting a new sunrise. “Come back before DiZ notices.”
This brings the very beginnings of a smile to her face, quick and small, gone again before it’s even formed. He’s looking out for her, taking care of her, and maybe it’s not for her but for the girl that looks like her save for a sharper tongue and brighter hair, but… It’s still nice.
Enough to twitch a smile from her.
*
“What are you doing here?”
She breathes in his words, barbed wire.
I wanted to meet you, just once. They want me to be here. Soon neither one of us will be here or anywhere at all.
“I’m a witch,” she says instead.
Thoughts still on the sketches of him and Axel, Roxas smiles hopelessly. He’s stolen that smile from her, cut away the seams of her lips and re-stitched it against his own.
“What am I doing here?” he asks.
Laughing sadly, she steals the smile back, even if it feels filthy against her flesh.
*
“What are you doing here?” Sora asks, surprised, because one moment ago he was with Kairi. And she wants to smile (that smile, that haunting, breaking smile) and she wants to melt and she wants to disappear back into herself because time ticks on and on but it never changes no matter how many times the minute hand circles around the face.
But his hand is on hers, fingers tightening, and his smile isn’t false at all.
And, for the first time ever: “I’m glad you’re here.”
Title: Here
Word Count: 599
Notes: Naminé’s life is a series of repetitive events. Maybe.
“What am I doing here?” Blinking, bewildered smile. High rooftops and rain-sleek sidewalks.
“Like I know. But you’d better leave – children don’t do… well, here.”
“Shut up,” affectionately. “Don’t mind him. He doesn’t know how to speak to a lady, hm? Do you know your name?”
Still bewildered, she glances at the man’s arms draped across her shoulders, touches his hand. And maybe memory is a strange thing, but skin to skin, and suddenly she knows of a laboratory deep and secret from their master. She knows six men strapped to tables, six hearts beating-dying, and six old names she shouldn’t.
They both stop smiling when she looks up and says his name.
“To the castle?”
“I think we’d better. Come on, kid.”
*
“What are you doing here?”
“I-” stopped, stuttering. She’s not allowed to leave that one room. Her footsteps were supposed to be silent, her breathing empty, but something has betrayed her. How does he find her?
Marluxia smells like garden, this early in the morning. He’s been outside with the whimpering dawn and thorny plants and choked birds.
“How-?”
He tugs the book from her fingers - the pretty words and pictures fall from her coldly.
“You need to stop smiling, precious. It lights up the room, you see. Shadows in the window.” He points to the glass that overlooks the garden. “Now. Let us see if your lips can’t learn some loyalty.”
They can’t.
*
“What are you doing here, you’re going to ask. It’s because he’s not.”
She swings her legs, kicking bare feet against the clock tower. When there’s no ground to press against her, no reminder of gravity, she prefers nakedness.
“Do you think he dreams? Roxas,” she amends. There are too many ‘he’s now, and the ‘he’ in Riku’s mind is always Sora, anyway. She knows Sora dreams, though. She’s seen them.
“I think you shouldn’t be here,” he finally says, aloud. She shrugs, which she only has the nerve for because she’s not facing him. She’s facing the landscape of a twisting town meeting a new sunrise. “Come back before DiZ notices.”
This brings the very beginnings of a smile to her face, quick and small, gone again before it’s even formed. He’s looking out for her, taking care of her, and maybe it’s not for her but for the girl that looks like her save for a sharper tongue and brighter hair, but… It’s still nice.
Enough to twitch a smile from her.
*
“What are you doing here?”
She breathes in his words, barbed wire.
I wanted to meet you, just once. They want me to be here. Soon neither one of us will be here or anywhere at all.
“I’m a witch,” she says instead.
Thoughts still on the sketches of him and Axel, Roxas smiles hopelessly. He’s stolen that smile from her, cut away the seams of her lips and re-stitched it against his own.
“What am I doing here?” he asks.
Laughing sadly, she steals the smile back, even if it feels filthy against her flesh.
*
“What are you doing here?” Sora asks, surprised, because one moment ago he was with Kairi. And she wants to smile (that smile, that haunting, breaking smile) and she wants to melt and she wants to disappear back into herself because time ticks on and on but it never changes no matter how many times the minute hand circles around the face.
But his hand is on hers, fingers tightening, and his smile isn’t false at all.
And, for the first time ever: “I’m glad you’re here.”
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-30 01:33 am (UTC)♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
And I can't even begin to pick a favorite line ;.;
no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 02:05 pm (UTC)I do still love Namine. It's been a while for the KH canon, but I think she more than any of the other kids brings me back.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 03:56 pm (UTC)Eiee, thank you so much, hun! I'm glad you liked, and, seriously, your lovely comment had me smiling soppily, so... <3
no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 03:58 pm (UTC)subtext. :pno subject
Date: 2009-10-06 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 02:39 am (UTC)But his hand is on hers, fingers tightening, and his smile isn’t false at all.
I love Sora makes it all better. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 04:28 am (UTC)No problem, I should be thanking you for writing it and letting me read it. ;)