Broken Baby Bird- Challenge 237 Entry
Aug. 18th, 2010 12:59 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleTitle: Broken Baby Bird
Challenge: [237] Carpe Diem
word Count: 599 (down from 907)
Notes: watch your step, there are bits of my soul torn and left on the floor to rot. And because I am a kind overlord, please listen to This while reading ♥
The edge is, for once, not proverbial. It is a very real, very narrow, and very rocky affair that drops off into a chasm of unknown. There is nothing to see below it for miles, nothing to see beyond it forever.
It’s where Leon finally locates Yuffie. If he looks down and to the left he can see the Garden, too far away to hear the breath of every day life, just barely close enough to see people so far below toiling away.
He sorely wants to be among them. "Yuffie?"
She's standing too close to the inevitable drop off, has no room to turn around and it takes everything he has not to reach out and enclose her in his arms. "Hey Squall, was starting to wonder if you'd ever get around to finding me." He sees the curve of a smile, flashed over her shoulder and stretched Cheshire Cat wide.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I'm going to fly." Her voice is calm, rational and he realizes it's because she is being calm and rational.
"You can't fly." Leon closes a hand around her wrist, tries to tug her gently back, away from the fall.
"Why not?"
"Because Yuffie, people can't fly."
"Sora did."
"On Neverland, it's a world specific trait." He tightens his grip, pulls a little harder, and doesn't quite beg "let's go, please."
"Has anyone ever tried flying here?"
The Leon made shackle twitches, falters, and finally falls away completely. "I don't know."
"Then you don't know that I can't."
"It's just a fact, Yuffie. Like water is wet, and you need air to breath. People can't fly."
"Right, and people's hearts can't be unlocked. Just like a kid can't save the universe and people can't tamper with your memory from a distance. We've been wrong before."
"Why are you so set on this?"
"Why not? Radiant Garden is rebuilt; there are no more shadows to fend off, what do I have to lose?" He hears the truths layered under the words, that she's tired and afraid of what will become of a ninja when there is no more darknes and her heart is heavy and she's fears the feeling of sinking into the ground.
Leon feels the same chords being plucked within his heart.
"Fly with me."
"What?"
She finally twists towards him, back facing the void, comes to him with an outstretched hand. "Fly with me."
He casts one last fleeting glance behind him, hoping to see Aerith or Cid and then they'll talk sense into the two of them. He knows if this reality doesn't fully claim him now, his resolve will crumble. "We can't."
"Not with that attitude. You have to believe. Otherwise it's just sky diving without a parachute."
"Wasn't there more to it than just that? Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust or something?"
"World specific, Squally. Now take off your stupid boots and believe you're a sparrow."
He's halfway through unbuckling one boot and has to stop to send her an unappreciative glare. "A falcon then? An eagle? Hell, believe you're a butterfly, I don't care. Just believe."
"what do you believe you are?"
"A hummingbird." She punches him ineffectively when he laughs at her.
"Ready?" she twines their fingers together as they both face the edge of nothing.
He casts one last surreptitious glance at her from the corner of his eye. "What happens after we fly?"
That smile has yet to desert her and he realizes they can do this, if nothing else because she believes. "We learn to land."
And as one, they leap into the void.
Challenge: [237] Carpe Diem
word Count: 599 (down from 907)
Notes: watch your step, there are bits of my soul torn and left on the floor to rot. And because I am a kind overlord, please listen to This while reading ♥
The edge is, for once, not proverbial. It is a very real, very narrow, and very rocky affair that drops off into a chasm of unknown. There is nothing to see below it for miles, nothing to see beyond it forever.
It’s where Leon finally locates Yuffie. If he looks down and to the left he can see the Garden, too far away to hear the breath of every day life, just barely close enough to see people so far below toiling away.
He sorely wants to be among them. "Yuffie?"
She's standing too close to the inevitable drop off, has no room to turn around and it takes everything he has not to reach out and enclose her in his arms. "Hey Squall, was starting to wonder if you'd ever get around to finding me." He sees the curve of a smile, flashed over her shoulder and stretched Cheshire Cat wide.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I'm going to fly." Her voice is calm, rational and he realizes it's because she is being calm and rational.
"You can't fly." Leon closes a hand around her wrist, tries to tug her gently back, away from the fall.
"Why not?"
"Because Yuffie, people can't fly."
"Sora did."
"On Neverland, it's a world specific trait." He tightens his grip, pulls a little harder, and doesn't quite beg "let's go, please."
"Has anyone ever tried flying here?"
The Leon made shackle twitches, falters, and finally falls away completely. "I don't know."
"Then you don't know that I can't."
"It's just a fact, Yuffie. Like water is wet, and you need air to breath. People can't fly."
"Right, and people's hearts can't be unlocked. Just like a kid can't save the universe and people can't tamper with your memory from a distance. We've been wrong before."
"Why are you so set on this?"
"Why not? Radiant Garden is rebuilt; there are no more shadows to fend off, what do I have to lose?" He hears the truths layered under the words, that she's tired and afraid of what will become of a ninja when there is no more darknes and her heart is heavy and she's fears the feeling of sinking into the ground.
Leon feels the same chords being plucked within his heart.
"Fly with me."
"What?"
She finally twists towards him, back facing the void, comes to him with an outstretched hand. "Fly with me."
He casts one last fleeting glance behind him, hoping to see Aerith or Cid and then they'll talk sense into the two of them. He knows if this reality doesn't fully claim him now, his resolve will crumble. "We can't."
"Not with that attitude. You have to believe. Otherwise it's just sky diving without a parachute."
"Wasn't there more to it than just that? Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust or something?"
"World specific, Squally. Now take off your stupid boots and believe you're a sparrow."
He's halfway through unbuckling one boot and has to stop to send her an unappreciative glare. "A falcon then? An eagle? Hell, believe you're a butterfly, I don't care. Just believe."
"what do you believe you are?"
"A hummingbird." She punches him ineffectively when he laughs at her.
"Ready?" she twines their fingers together as they both face the edge of nothing.
He casts one last surreptitious glance at her from the corner of his eye. "What happens after we fly?"
That smile has yet to desert her and he realizes they can do this, if nothing else because she believes. "We learn to land."
And as one, they leap into the void.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 03:05 pm (UTC)Now I have to go read it un-chopped.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-19 05:14 am (UTC)I'm glad you like the pretty disturbing :D My brain is a frightening place to be sometimes.
:chases after you to go comment on the un-abridged version:
no subject
Date: 2010-08-20 05:30 am (UTC)And she called him 'Squally!'
no subject
Date: 2010-08-20 06:10 am (UTC)♥ Yuffie has absolutely no respect, and I imagine this is set a good few years after KH II in which Leon has gradually become less of an ass and calling him Squall doesn't get the evil-eye-of-doom so she's moved on to affectionate things like Squally.
Alsooooo, thank you for giving this a read and listen ♥
no subject
Date: 2010-08-20 08:14 am (UTC)Ah, I see. Of course she wouldn't be satisfied being allowed to call him Squall. If he gets comfotable with that, it's time to move on to something more embarrassing. XD
You're welcome! It's a great piece.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-24 08:41 pm (UTC)This was just...incredible. I love how you write the interactions between the two of them, because you really capture them so well, and it's all so sad. And the ending is just so abrupt and bittersweet that I might never forgive you.
...but I still love it. XD
no subject
Date: 2010-08-25 03:33 am (UTC)♥ these two make me give into my dramatic tendencies like woah. Glad you liked it darling ♥