(2010) Secret Santa Submissions Part II
Dec. 25th, 2010 12:41 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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punjab_banks, I'll be holding the gift you wrote until I receive the missing gift. So don't worry, I have it safe - I just don't want to spoil the surprise. ♥
To:euphonious_glow
From:lacunarity
Title: Program Shutdown
Rating: G
Word Count: 420
(anything else): Spoilers for KHII, perhaps. A knowledge of binary suggested
“One won, one lost!” Hayner announced to Pence, collapsing in a sweaty heap on the floor of the Secret Place.
“You should have been there,” Olette said, settling herself beside Hayner, legs neatly folded beneath her. “The second match was really close.”
“I’ve been having this weird feeling recently,” Pence said. He was curled up in the most comfortable spot on the couch and wasn’t inclined to move. “Like, shouldn’t we be in school already?”
“What are you talking about, man?” Hayner asked, then made a face and shook his head, dismissing Pence’s weird comment. “You seen Roxas around today? He’s the only guy other than me who could give Seifer a run for his money. He won once, oh, a few days ago?”
“I think it was more like eight,” Olette corrected.
“But vacation’s only a week long. How could he have beaten Seifer eight days ago if we were still in school then?” Pence asked, his frown increasing.
Hayner scoffed. “What is this, Math One Oh One? So she got the date wrong. Lighten up; it’s vacation.”
“When was the last time we saw Roxas, anyway?” Pence continued. “He wasn’t at the Struggle tournament today, and I don’t remember him helping our investigation yesterday.”
“Ohno, oh, you’re right!” Hayner said, a look of horror crossing his face. “That jerk! He’s just going to take all our work!”
“That’s not what I—“ Pence began.
“Maybe we can add it to our project? We can add two more mysteries of Twilight town! The Disappearing Friend for one, one is The Neverending Summer,” Olette giggled.
“I’m being serious, you guys. Something is really wrong here,” Pence said.
“Our project still beats the thing Snow and Maqui came up with,” Hayne said.
“What’d they do?” Olette asked.
Hayner snorted. “They took two of those robocats that you can teach to talk, and put them in a room so they’d talk to each other without ever hearing people. They said after a while, they made up their own language based on random sounds, and would just keep talking to each other. That was one oh-so-creepy project.”
Olette shivered. “Spooky.”
Pence had to clear his throat. “So, what happened to them in the end?”
Hayner shrugged. “They said they were so creeped out they just left them locked in the room until they ran out of juice. Can’t blame them, for one. Computerized things just shouldn’t do that.”
Pence stared at the floor and tried to stop his hands from shaking. “Oh.”
bzzzzzzzzzzt*
To:kaos_sparrow
From:euphonious_glow
Title: Fault Line
Pairing: Axel/Roxas
Word Count: 792
Rating: PG
Spoilers? None
Notes: This takes place in an AU scenario, because I don't trust my characterization of Roxas pre-KHII.
"Do you trust me?" Axel asked. He studied Roxas's face, his green eyes so intense that Roxas couldn't look at them for long. Axel's smile was as sharp as a knife blade, but his gaze was serious.
Roxas didn't know what to think anymore, or who to believe. This leather-coated man came to his life like an agent of chaos, talking of a past that Roxas couldn't remember.
"You're crazy," Roxas said. He looked back at the hideout that he shared with his friends, who had become just as strange and distant as the rest of this town. He looked back at Axel and shrugged. "But maybe I'm crazy, too."
Axel shifted from where he leaned against the side of a building. "You'll come with me?" Roxas was surprised to hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Looks like I don't really have a choice."
---
Roxas woke with cold stone beneath his head and a sky full of stars above him. He remembered darkness all around him, and then falling through emptiness.
"Sleeping Beauty finally woke up," Axel said from nearby.
"Don't call me that," Roxas muttered, as he got to his feet.
The night was cold, and Roxas shivered as he followed Axel out of the alley. He blinked against the strong glare of neon lights and the strong smell of smoked meat.
"Where are we?" he asked, as Axel walked confidently ahead.
"Just a place called Traverse Town." He glanced back at Roxas. "We can't stay long, but I know a place for tonight."
He led them to a cheap motel in the next district, but the room was clean and the bed looked soft. Roxas felt wide awake, restless energy making him move around the room.
Axel watched him silently, arms crossed. Roxas stopped abruptly and looked at him.
"Why are we here?" he asked.
The tall man sighed. "I told you already, we're just stopping--"
"Not that!" Roxas said, louder than he intended. "I mean--" He gestured away from them, at a loss for the right words. "Why did it have to be me?" Axel had told him about his virtual prison, explained that people meant to keep him trapped in that false reality.
"Everyone wants something to do with me. But how can this be happening? I don't understand. You say you know me, but--" He looked at Axel, who gazed at him with the same heavy, unreadable expression, almost as if he was trying to tell Roxas without words.
"You're tired," Axel said finally. "That trip probably messed with your head."
Roxas felt the beginning of a headache starting.
"I'm not tired! Don't change the subject!" He looked around the room again, anywhere but at Axel. "For all I know, I really have gone crazy. Maybe you're not even real."
"I'm as real as you are," Axel said quietly. He turned away and opened the door to the balcony, looking back to signal for Roxas to follow. The room had begun to feel stuffy and hot, so the chilly breeze was a relief. He wondered if Axel just wanted a moment to think.
"All you need to know is that people are chasing us," Axel said, "people who want to hurt you."
"But why--?" Roxas started, but Axel cut him off.
"Not now, all right? I'll tell you soon, if you still want to know, it's just a lot to explain." As he spoke, he removed his gloves, his fingers pale in the lantern light. As he looked at Axel standing partway in shadow and light, Roxas was aware of how thin he was, how tired his eyes looked. He had changed completely from the mocking man that Roxas first met during the tournament. Not for the first time, Roxas wondered how old Axel was.
Axel turned toward him again, and this time he walked closer, slowly, watching Roxas carefully as if expecting him to run. But Roxas couldn't move, couldn't call his muscles despite his mind protesting at Axel's proximity. But all he felt was the light touch of Axel's hands against both sides of his face, and the weight of his unwavering gaze.
"I want you to remember," Axel said, the softness in his voice too much, too strange. And Roxas somehow knew that he was used to Axel being this close. He heard, as if over a great distance, Axel's voice whispering, Please in the dark. Axel's touch was unbearably warm against his skin, and he knew he'd felt that heat before.
Axel moved away, suddenly, to go back inside, leaving Roxas shivering in the cold night air. But Roxas had seen enough in his eyes to know that Axel would do anything he wished. He would have his answers, one way or another.
To:lily_silver
From:kaos_sparrow
Title: Revolution
Word count: 550
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Spoilers: BBS speculation and character identities
Notes: I haven't actually played BBS--I ended up using My Friend Youtube, so I hope everything I meant got across. I didn't manage to work everything in that was requested, but I hope you like it!
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Once there was someone who was both, but for now he’ll take it to heart and hide the truth behind his obedient mask.
Xemnas pretends to know him; rattling on and on about Kingdom Hearts, it’s a bitter irony to know he’ll never see it. None of them will. That world was home, and its destruction cannot be forgiven.
They were the best of friends, then. Everyone knew them; to see one without the other was unthinkable. They spent their days wandering through town and avoiding homework, their carefree arguments causing smiles in everyone who saw them. Certainly they knew about the Apprentices working up in the castle. Everyone did, in a general sort of way. They were up there somewhere helping the people with Science. Beyond that they were largely unimportant, although the two were thrown out of the castle once for attempting to see their experiments.
When the Heartless broke out, the world fell quickly. Common citizens of a quiet world don’t exactly get much weapons training. The two of them were held back from the fighting, protests ignored, until there was no other choice.
Isa, newly awakened, believed himself in a dream. He remembered those claws tearing into him, digging and digging until his heart was released into the pleasant evening air. This strange place, with its depressing rain and empty streets, was utterly alien to anything he’d ever known. Filing his current state of being into the back of his mind, Isa stepped out of the dark overhang under which he’d found himself and set off to find explanations. He found Lea after perhaps half an hour and they continued wandering around the tall, deserted buildings.
Xemnas found them in the end. They were taking a brief rest below a neon tower, passing the time by examining the changes in each other. The Superior (as they were told to call him) administered their names, gave a confusing and brief explanation as to their present circumstances, and brought them back to the Organization’s Castle. They were shown to their rooms and left there to work things out as best they could.
With nothing—not even his heart—left to hold on to, Saïx retreated into himself and his dignity. He became the perfect minion for Xemnas, dealing with schedule and coordination of necessities while leaving the other time to think. It was while arranging a mission for a Nobody who had formerly been merely a name that he saw Lexaeus. A fleeting glimpse was enough; everything clicked. Xemnas had only barely gone over Kingdom Hearts in his initiation speech, as everyone was still trying to work themselves out, but what little Saïx knew was enough. These were the people responsible for the loss of his home, his family, his world. They deserved death, and Saïx knew just who to talk to for that. He and Axel planned and plotted, working for years on the perfect puppet system. They played the Organization through new members and rebellions, every time fitting in the new variables with barely a blip in the system. The rogue and the teacher’s pet were master manipulators. Nothing escaped their eyes, and in the end they almost made it.
Alone at last, Saïx turns in his sleep.
To:spoke
From:lily_silver
Title: A Lesson in Irony
Rating: G
Word count: 373
Spoilers: Minor BBS spoilers regarding Xigbar.
When they finally return to Radiant Garden, to see how far from its name they have dragged it, Xigbar actually sniggers.
Well, it is pretty ironic, he argues. It's about as radiant as the bowels of a beast, and is a garden and haven enough as a cesspool. Its life has been sucked from the inside out, leaving a rotting carcass that's a bit like looking in a foggy mirror and seeing a shadow of himself.
They follow Xemnas as their boot-clad feet rain down on the once elegant curl of steps to the castle, which are now blocks of distressed and jagged concrete. From a birds-eye view, they're a perfect arrowhead, with Xemnas at the tip, Xaldin and Vexen diagonally behind, and the remaining three bringing up the rear. He doesn't really know why they bother with a purposeful walk because they don't actually have much purpose or meaning at all.
Perhaps that's the irony seeping back home again, the same way Xemnas calls himself their Superior when he's anything but, the same way Lexaeus is Silent when he has the loudest, most logical voice in the echoing expanse of the six shells they call bodies.
Xigbar suggests – with irony that no one else picks up on – that they should christen Radiant Garden with a new name, in a similar fashion to the ceremony of naming Nobodies. They only need to look at the crumbling walls of the was-castle and the spindly vines that feed on the rubble, to know that this world too, has had something ripped from its core.
Xemnas names the world Hollow Bastion and that is action enough to – in Xigbar's eyes – seal the deal. How ironic that the man who preaches about nothingness and their nonexistence, would readily give identity to them. How ironic that their Superior is all about identity, and yet remains ignorant of who he truly is.
The biggest irony to them is that his name – Xigbar, the Freeshooter – has no irony at all. He is a free shooter, and when he falls back and idly lifts up his right hand, level with Xemnas' silvery head, imagining an arrowgun in his grasp, he knows he's free to shoot down whomever he likes.
To:synchroshatter
Fromspoke
Title: Taking A Chance
Wordcount: 588
Rating: G
Spoilers: BBS
Notes: Hopefully I handled Zack okay - I haven’t seen any of the extended canon for him. Thanks to afinch for the quick beta-ing. ♥
He’d been expecting a pretty ordinary day, to be honest. Waiting for the Games got pretty routine - eat train sleep repeat. Not a lot of excitement, but then he’d gotten plenty of that after he’d left Olympus the first time.
Monotony was a welcome change most of the time.
So he hears Hercules talking about out of towners dropping by and he’s honestly not too thrilled. He tries to tell the champ that, but Hercules just laughs. “No, no. These are friends of mine - and yours, for that matter.”
That’s enough to grab his interest big time. “What do you mean friends of mine? I didn’t have that many before,” he waves his hand around, not wanting to go into it, “before everything. And most of those haven’t come back.”
Hercules winces, but he pulls the smile back up pretty quick. “Zack, you’ll be happy to see them, trust me!”
And the thing is, he thinks as he watches Hercules rush across to talk to Megara, he kind of does. Because Hercules is a lot of good things, but a liar is not among them. He does take one more look, but Herc just waves at him like he’s pushing him into the vestibule, so...
He doesn’t see anyone until he reaches the arena, and honestly? He doesn’t know what to think at first. They look the same. Exactly the same as they did years ago, which makes no sense at all.
“Hey! Terra!” Ventus is waving him over, and Terra and Aqua are just smiling. He can’t say no, right?
It’s weird, though. Ventus only comes up to his shoulder, now. “Hey, squirt.”
Another thing that hasn’t changed - nothing kills that smile. At a guess it’s why he got along with Hercules so well back then. “Oh, nice. C’mon, man, I was asleep all this time.”
“Asleep? Seriously?”
“Completely.” Terra cuts in, and there’s something in those eyes that Zack isn’t going to ask about. Though he does kind of wonder if it was there, even back then.
They end up talking forever, until they’re all getting a little hoarse and Terra actually points out that it might be nice to eat. Which is a little odd, and stranger that he and Ventus should abruptly vanish, leaving him standing there with Aqua and wondering why she looks a little... annoyed? Betrayed?
He can’t tell what she’s thinking, and he doesn’t want to stick his foot in his mouth so it takes him a minute to start. “So... huh.”
Aqua jumps like she’d forgotten he was there, and turns to look at him with her face burning.
“Hey, are you alright? We’ve been out here in the sun awhile, you might get sick!”
She gapes for a minute and then blurts out, “So how about that date!” like the words jumped out of her mouth before she could stop them.
He winces a little bit. “You remembered. But I. I’m not a hero, Aqua. Not hardly.”
She’s still blushing, but it’s fading as fast as she smiles. “We’ve heard a lot, about you and Sephiroth. Everything that’s been happening. Also, we’ve been learning lately that having darkness inside isn’t entirely a bad thing.” She reaches out to lay her hand on his shoulder. “So come on. Let’s go eat, at least?”
He thinks of Hercules telling him about Sora, and Sora’s friend Riku. He thinks of Cloud, lost in his own shadows and looking for his light. It’d be kind of stupid not to, right? “Sure, let’s eat.”
To:obabscribbler
From:synchroshatter
Title: Theoretically Speaking
Word count: 447
Rating: G
Notes: No spoilers. Attempted angst, Yuffie-style. Merry Christmas,obabscribbler!
On paper, you see, it all worked out just fine. She was a princess and he was a knight, and after all the trials and tribulations they’d faced together, it was time for some Heartfelt Declarations, True Love’s First Kiss, and then the Obligatory Walking Into The Sunset, right?
Right?
Except...she wasn’t a princess. Not really. That had all been something she’d made up when they arrived in Traverse Town, just to keep herself amused until her dad arrived. Which, of course, he never did, meaning the joke ended up running way longer than intended. And he wasn’t really a knight, seeing as the world had, y’know, kind of ended before he could finish his training.
So yeah. Fate had obviously seen the works and decided to throw in the biggest damn spanner it could find.
Not to mention the height difference- really, carrying a stepladder around all the time just to make conversation would get so old so fast. Not that Leon ever said much anyways. Guy seemed to be working on some kind of word ration with absolutely no consideration for the health of Yuffie’s throat, because hello? Those silences weren’t exactly going to fill themselves, were they? So that’d be kind of a drag too. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to be playing an eternal game of poker, even though she always made sure he knew when their games were over- usually by making a very loud, angry exit because he’d won again and damnit, it took a lot of effort to pickpocket her money back off him!
But really, thank the gods for all those little, very important reasons. Because it kept her from getting on to worrying about the very real, very big reasons. Like the fact he’d already played a knight before- unsuccessfully- to a girl whose name she didn’t know and whose face she wouldn’t have been able to pick out of a photograph, if any had survived. Like the fact he’d acknowledged her as more than just a kid tagging along after him but never spared her that vital third glance to see that yes, maybe there could be a them after all. Like the fact that, despite everything, she still loved him more than she would ever love anyone else.
So, there she was. And there he was, both of them still stuck in the prologue at some point before ‘once upon a time’ despite everything that had ever happened and all the years that had passed. When really, the whole ‘happily ever after’ thing should’ve been well under way.
But unfortunately, Yuffie, being Yuffie, should’ve realised that logic was never her best friend anyway.
~
Title: Legally Binding
Word count: 788
Rating: Maybe PG for one tiny reference?
Notes: No spoilers. I’m really sorry at how long this one turned out! But I think we all know that Yuffie enjoys harrassing Leon way too much for it to fit within 100 words. Plus, it was fun to write, so it kind of...ran away with itself. =D
It was amazing how qualified Yuffie was in dramatic entrances, considering she was only nine. On this particular occasion, she burst in through the door with a loud crash, leapt up onto the chair opposite him and flung her arms and head onto the table with what she clearly thought was a tragic wail of “Oh, the inhumanity!”.
Of course, if Yuffie was the queen of dramatic entrances, then Leon was the lord of non-responsiveness. In fact, if the word ‘deadpan’ had a verb form, that was exactly how he’d pass through life. So he said nothing, did nothing except calmly continue to polish his gunblade and wonder which of Aerith’s epic romance novels she’d picked up that particular phrase from.
As expected, it didn’t take her long to look up and say, in a tone that would’ve been more menacing without the pout, “I said, ‘Oh, the inhumanity!’.”
Leon nodded, glancing up at her briefly without ever once stopping what he was doing and replied, “Yes. You did.”
Yuffie let out an indignant cry and slammed her palms on the table. “You clearly don’t understand the issue here, Squall-”
“Leon.”
“We,” she continued unphased, drawing in a deep breath, “Have to get married!”
And with another brave attempt at a wretched cry, Yuffie flung herself back down onto the table. Leon raised an eyebrow at her in the way that she always tried to emulate but that always made her look more like a constipated moogle and decided that, as always, logic was the best course of action.
“No we don’t.”
“Yes, we do!” Her head shot up again. “Aerith told me that when people get older they fall in love and get married!”
“So?”
“So,” Yuffie raised her voice, presenting her hands to begin ticking off options. “Cloud ran away, so I can’t marry him because I don’t know where he is, and Tifa went to find him, so I can’t marry her either. And Aerith’s too busy being worried about them for me to marry her. So that just leaves you or Cid, and I know you’re too old but he’s even too older, and at least we wouldn’t have to be married too long, seeing as you’re practically on your deathbed anyways-”
“Yuffie.” he cut in, raising a hand to his head, which was aching from the sudden onslaught of child-logic. That, and he wasn’t keen on being insulted more- he was only eighteen, damnit!
“That’s why I thought we needed to come to an agreement!” she chirped, suddenly all sunshine as she produced a sheet of paper from her pocket with a flourish.
Leon took the paper from her warily, asking, “What’s this?” And then, as he scanned it, “Did you write this in wax crayon?”
“It’s a contract! Duh!” As if he could make out more than about twenty percent of her scrawl. “It says that when we get married, you have to accept that I’m the Greatest Ninja Ever. And take me with you to fight at the Coliseum. And not complain when I follow you around. And buy me ice cream once a day at least. Oh! And that in return, I’ll only expect you to smile three times a week.” She nodded, looking satisfied. “And yes, I did. Six colours, too! Not that you’d understand how that’d cheer most people up.”
“And if I don’t sign it?”
“Then you’re a meanie forever and I’ll cry and scream until Aerith tells you off.” She put her fists on her hips. “Really, Squall, I’m nearly ten. I need to start thinking about the future, y’know?”
There was a pause as their eyes locked. Then, trying to ignore her triumphant grin, Leon began to search his pockets for a pen.
-
Years pass. Yuffie grows up and Leon grows older; friendship develops into mutual attraction into romance; the first few not-quite dates and awkward declarations pass along with first kisses and first other things too; and then all of a sudden he’s moving in with her because, hey, there’s totally room for him and moving all her pets would be a pain when someone clearly has to be Radiant Garden’s resident crazy cat lady.
It’s when she’s trying to clear some of the aforementioned promised room for him that she comes across the crumpled sheet of bright scribblings. It takes her approximately thirty seconds to remember what it was- more than enough time for a wicked smirk to have appeared on her face and for her to be halfway across the room.
Standing in the doorway, she brandished the paper in her left hand- the same as she wore the ring on- and called, as sweetly as she could manage, “Oh, Squall-”
To:punjab_banks
From:obabscribbler
Title: Waiting For God
Word Count: 576
Rating: T
Spoiler Warnings: Maybe for Chain of Memories?
Riku sometimes watched Naminé. Not for any particular reason, but he wasn’t merely staring into space, either. The blindfold made it seem like he really was sightless, but he could still perceive the world around him. He recognised her light step, her particular scent, and could turn his head in her direction like he was using his eyes instead of his other senses. Mostly she ignored or endured it – he was never sure which – but on occasion she would turn to him and he would feel compelled to explain himself. She didn’t even have to say anything. Excuses came tumbling from his lips like buckets of water into a sandcastle moat, and sank into the silence just as fast.
"You don’t have to justify yourself to me," she said once, quiet and diffident, as if not actually intending him to hear.
"I know I don't." His tone, by comparison, was defensive. How could she do that? How could she make him feel like he was doing wrong when he wasn’t? Not anymore. Everything about their partnership with DiZ was to bring Sora back, and Sora was the epitome of Good.
"I make you uncomfortable." She always seemed apologetic about something. Riku wondered if that was her personality or a by-product of living in Castle Oblivion with those Organisation XIII freaks. She had something of an abused spouse about her; nervousness and timidity layered over a core of steel. She had the resolve of a warrior and the manner of a sinner who wasn't sure the priest wouldn’t kick her out of the confessional.
"Don’t be stupid."
She gave a little chuckle. It died in her throat. "He was never so rude," she said, even softer.
Before his senses became so acute, Riku might have missed the whisper. He certainly wouldn’t have heard the longing in it.
Naminé both saw him and didn’t when she looked at him – just like he had looked at her blonde hair and seen auburn framing similar blue eyes before he hid his own eyes away. Neither he nor she was entirely comfortable around each other. Both secretly pined for someone they had lost. At least Riku could see Kairi again someday. Maybe. If things turned out right. And if he could face going home. Naminé, on the other hand, would never see his clone again. He used to think he was glad the creepy guy was gone. Listening to her whispers and the quality of her silence when she looked at him, however, he wondered whether that was still true.
"Do you think he’ll wake up soon?" he asked, hastily changing the subject.
"Sora?"
No, the other boy sleeping in the crystal pod. Riku restrained himself and gave a civil answer: "Uh-huh."
"I’m not sure." Her hand touched the side with a faint ringing, like dropping a wedding ring on a glass table. For some reason that comparison made something twist inside Riku. He shook it off.
"Things will be okay when he wakes up." He would get to leave this place. Finally, he could think about going home, where all the safe and familiar things were, if they would still have him back.
"Yes," Naminé agreed. "Things are always better with Sora around."
The twisting moved up to his chest. Riku gritted his teeth, face still impassive. They continued watching and not watching together, side by side and close as barley grains on the same stalk, but somehow forever apart.
punjab_banks, I'll be holding the gift you wrote until I receive the missing gift. So don't worry, I have it safe - I just don't want to spoil the surprise. ♥To:
euphonious_glowFrom:
lacunarityTitle: Program Shutdown
Rating: G
Word Count: 420
(anything else): Spoilers for KHII, perhaps. A knowledge of binary suggested
“One won, one lost!” Hayner announced to Pence, collapsing in a sweaty heap on the floor of the Secret Place.
“You should have been there,” Olette said, settling herself beside Hayner, legs neatly folded beneath her. “The second match was really close.”
“I’ve been having this weird feeling recently,” Pence said. He was curled up in the most comfortable spot on the couch and wasn’t inclined to move. “Like, shouldn’t we be in school already?”
“What are you talking about, man?” Hayner asked, then made a face and shook his head, dismissing Pence’s weird comment. “You seen Roxas around today? He’s the only guy other than me who could give Seifer a run for his money. He won once, oh, a few days ago?”
“I think it was more like eight,” Olette corrected.
“But vacation’s only a week long. How could he have beaten Seifer eight days ago if we were still in school then?” Pence asked, his frown increasing.
Hayner scoffed. “What is this, Math One Oh One? So she got the date wrong. Lighten up; it’s vacation.”
“When was the last time we saw Roxas, anyway?” Pence continued. “He wasn’t at the Struggle tournament today, and I don’t remember him helping our investigation yesterday.”
“Ohno, oh, you’re right!” Hayner said, a look of horror crossing his face. “That jerk! He’s just going to take all our work!”
“That’s not what I—“ Pence began.
“Maybe we can add it to our project? We can add two more mysteries of Twilight town! The Disappearing Friend for one, one is The Neverending Summer,” Olette giggled.
“I’m being serious, you guys. Something is really wrong here,” Pence said.
“Our project still beats the thing Snow and Maqui came up with,” Hayne said.
“What’d they do?” Olette asked.
Hayner snorted. “They took two of those robocats that you can teach to talk, and put them in a room so they’d talk to each other without ever hearing people. They said after a while, they made up their own language based on random sounds, and would just keep talking to each other. That was one oh-so-creepy project.”
Olette shivered. “Spooky.”
Pence had to clear his throat. “So, what happened to them in the end?”
Hayner shrugged. “They said they were so creeped out they just left them locked in the room until they ran out of juice. Can’t blame them, for one. Computerized things just shouldn’t do that.”
Pence stared at the floor and tried to stop his hands from shaking. “Oh.”
bzzzzzzzzzzt*
To:
kaos_sparrowFrom:
euphonious_glowTitle: Fault Line
Pairing: Axel/Roxas
Word Count: 792
Rating: PG
Spoilers? None
Notes: This takes place in an AU scenario, because I don't trust my characterization of Roxas pre-KHII.
"Do you trust me?" Axel asked. He studied Roxas's face, his green eyes so intense that Roxas couldn't look at them for long. Axel's smile was as sharp as a knife blade, but his gaze was serious.
Roxas didn't know what to think anymore, or who to believe. This leather-coated man came to his life like an agent of chaos, talking of a past that Roxas couldn't remember.
"You're crazy," Roxas said. He looked back at the hideout that he shared with his friends, who had become just as strange and distant as the rest of this town. He looked back at Axel and shrugged. "But maybe I'm crazy, too."
Axel shifted from where he leaned against the side of a building. "You'll come with me?" Roxas was surprised to hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Looks like I don't really have a choice."
---
Roxas woke with cold stone beneath his head and a sky full of stars above him. He remembered darkness all around him, and then falling through emptiness.
"Sleeping Beauty finally woke up," Axel said from nearby.
"Don't call me that," Roxas muttered, as he got to his feet.
The night was cold, and Roxas shivered as he followed Axel out of the alley. He blinked against the strong glare of neon lights and the strong smell of smoked meat.
"Where are we?" he asked, as Axel walked confidently ahead.
"Just a place called Traverse Town." He glanced back at Roxas. "We can't stay long, but I know a place for tonight."
He led them to a cheap motel in the next district, but the room was clean and the bed looked soft. Roxas felt wide awake, restless energy making him move around the room.
Axel watched him silently, arms crossed. Roxas stopped abruptly and looked at him.
"Why are we here?" he asked.
The tall man sighed. "I told you already, we're just stopping--"
"Not that!" Roxas said, louder than he intended. "I mean--" He gestured away from them, at a loss for the right words. "Why did it have to be me?" Axel had told him about his virtual prison, explained that people meant to keep him trapped in that false reality.
"Everyone wants something to do with me. But how can this be happening? I don't understand. You say you know me, but--" He looked at Axel, who gazed at him with the same heavy, unreadable expression, almost as if he was trying to tell Roxas without words.
"You're tired," Axel said finally. "That trip probably messed with your head."
Roxas felt the beginning of a headache starting.
"I'm not tired! Don't change the subject!" He looked around the room again, anywhere but at Axel. "For all I know, I really have gone crazy. Maybe you're not even real."
"I'm as real as you are," Axel said quietly. He turned away and opened the door to the balcony, looking back to signal for Roxas to follow. The room had begun to feel stuffy and hot, so the chilly breeze was a relief. He wondered if Axel just wanted a moment to think.
"All you need to know is that people are chasing us," Axel said, "people who want to hurt you."
"But why--?" Roxas started, but Axel cut him off.
"Not now, all right? I'll tell you soon, if you still want to know, it's just a lot to explain." As he spoke, he removed his gloves, his fingers pale in the lantern light. As he looked at Axel standing partway in shadow and light, Roxas was aware of how thin he was, how tired his eyes looked. He had changed completely from the mocking man that Roxas first met during the tournament. Not for the first time, Roxas wondered how old Axel was.
Axel turned toward him again, and this time he walked closer, slowly, watching Roxas carefully as if expecting him to run. But Roxas couldn't move, couldn't call his muscles despite his mind protesting at Axel's proximity. But all he felt was the light touch of Axel's hands against both sides of his face, and the weight of his unwavering gaze.
"I want you to remember," Axel said, the softness in his voice too much, too strange. And Roxas somehow knew that he was used to Axel being this close. He heard, as if over a great distance, Axel's voice whispering, Please in the dark. Axel's touch was unbearably warm against his skin, and he knew he'd felt that heat before.
Axel moved away, suddenly, to go back inside, leaving Roxas shivering in the cold night air. But Roxas had seen enough in his eyes to know that Axel would do anything he wished. He would have his answers, one way or another.
To:
lily_silverFrom:
kaos_sparrowTitle: Revolution
Word count: 550
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Spoilers: BBS speculation and character identities
Notes: I haven't actually played BBS--I ended up using My Friend Youtube, so I hope everything I meant got across. I didn't manage to work everything in that was requested, but I hope you like it!
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Once there was someone who was both, but for now he’ll take it to heart and hide the truth behind his obedient mask.
Xemnas pretends to know him; rattling on and on about Kingdom Hearts, it’s a bitter irony to know he’ll never see it. None of them will. That world was home, and its destruction cannot be forgiven.
They were the best of friends, then. Everyone knew them; to see one without the other was unthinkable. They spent their days wandering through town and avoiding homework, their carefree arguments causing smiles in everyone who saw them. Certainly they knew about the Apprentices working up in the castle. Everyone did, in a general sort of way. They were up there somewhere helping the people with Science. Beyond that they were largely unimportant, although the two were thrown out of the castle once for attempting to see their experiments.
When the Heartless broke out, the world fell quickly. Common citizens of a quiet world don’t exactly get much weapons training. The two of them were held back from the fighting, protests ignored, until there was no other choice.
Isa, newly awakened, believed himself in a dream. He remembered those claws tearing into him, digging and digging until his heart was released into the pleasant evening air. This strange place, with its depressing rain and empty streets, was utterly alien to anything he’d ever known. Filing his current state of being into the back of his mind, Isa stepped out of the dark overhang under which he’d found himself and set off to find explanations. He found Lea after perhaps half an hour and they continued wandering around the tall, deserted buildings.
Xemnas found them in the end. They were taking a brief rest below a neon tower, passing the time by examining the changes in each other. The Superior (as they were told to call him) administered their names, gave a confusing and brief explanation as to their present circumstances, and brought them back to the Organization’s Castle. They were shown to their rooms and left there to work things out as best they could.
With nothing—not even his heart—left to hold on to, Saïx retreated into himself and his dignity. He became the perfect minion for Xemnas, dealing with schedule and coordination of necessities while leaving the other time to think. It was while arranging a mission for a Nobody who had formerly been merely a name that he saw Lexaeus. A fleeting glimpse was enough; everything clicked. Xemnas had only barely gone over Kingdom Hearts in his initiation speech, as everyone was still trying to work themselves out, but what little Saïx knew was enough. These were the people responsible for the loss of his home, his family, his world. They deserved death, and Saïx knew just who to talk to for that. He and Axel planned and plotted, working for years on the perfect puppet system. They played the Organization through new members and rebellions, every time fitting in the new variables with barely a blip in the system. The rogue and the teacher’s pet were master manipulators. Nothing escaped their eyes, and in the end they almost made it.
Alone at last, Saïx turns in his sleep.
To:
spokeFrom:
lily_silverTitle: A Lesson in Irony
Rating: G
Word count: 373
Spoilers: Minor BBS spoilers regarding Xigbar.
When they finally return to Radiant Garden, to see how far from its name they have dragged it, Xigbar actually sniggers.
Well, it is pretty ironic, he argues. It's about as radiant as the bowels of a beast, and is a garden and haven enough as a cesspool. Its life has been sucked from the inside out, leaving a rotting carcass that's a bit like looking in a foggy mirror and seeing a shadow of himself.
They follow Xemnas as their boot-clad feet rain down on the once elegant curl of steps to the castle, which are now blocks of distressed and jagged concrete. From a birds-eye view, they're a perfect arrowhead, with Xemnas at the tip, Xaldin and Vexen diagonally behind, and the remaining three bringing up the rear. He doesn't really know why they bother with a purposeful walk because they don't actually have much purpose or meaning at all.
Perhaps that's the irony seeping back home again, the same way Xemnas calls himself their Superior when he's anything but, the same way Lexaeus is Silent when he has the loudest, most logical voice in the echoing expanse of the six shells they call bodies.
Xigbar suggests – with irony that no one else picks up on – that they should christen Radiant Garden with a new name, in a similar fashion to the ceremony of naming Nobodies. They only need to look at the crumbling walls of the was-castle and the spindly vines that feed on the rubble, to know that this world too, has had something ripped from its core.
Xemnas names the world Hollow Bastion and that is action enough to – in Xigbar's eyes – seal the deal. How ironic that the man who preaches about nothingness and their nonexistence, would readily give identity to them. How ironic that their Superior is all about identity, and yet remains ignorant of who he truly is.
The biggest irony to them is that his name – Xigbar, the Freeshooter – has no irony at all. He is a free shooter, and when he falls back and idly lifts up his right hand, level with Xemnas' silvery head, imagining an arrowgun in his grasp, he knows he's free to shoot down whomever he likes.
To:
synchroshatterFrom
spokeTitle: Taking A Chance
Wordcount: 588
Rating: G
Spoilers: BBS
Notes: Hopefully I handled Zack okay - I haven’t seen any of the extended canon for him. Thanks to afinch for the quick beta-ing. ♥
He’d been expecting a pretty ordinary day, to be honest. Waiting for the Games got pretty routine - eat train sleep repeat. Not a lot of excitement, but then he’d gotten plenty of that after he’d left Olympus the first time.
Monotony was a welcome change most of the time.
So he hears Hercules talking about out of towners dropping by and he’s honestly not too thrilled. He tries to tell the champ that, but Hercules just laughs. “No, no. These are friends of mine - and yours, for that matter.”
That’s enough to grab his interest big time. “What do you mean friends of mine? I didn’t have that many before,” he waves his hand around, not wanting to go into it, “before everything. And most of those haven’t come back.”
Hercules winces, but he pulls the smile back up pretty quick. “Zack, you’ll be happy to see them, trust me!”
And the thing is, he thinks as he watches Hercules rush across to talk to Megara, he kind of does. Because Hercules is a lot of good things, but a liar is not among them. He does take one more look, but Herc just waves at him like he’s pushing him into the vestibule, so...
He doesn’t see anyone until he reaches the arena, and honestly? He doesn’t know what to think at first. They look the same. Exactly the same as they did years ago, which makes no sense at all.
“Hey! Terra!” Ventus is waving him over, and Terra and Aqua are just smiling. He can’t say no, right?
It’s weird, though. Ventus only comes up to his shoulder, now. “Hey, squirt.”
Another thing that hasn’t changed - nothing kills that smile. At a guess it’s why he got along with Hercules so well back then. “Oh, nice. C’mon, man, I was asleep all this time.”
“Asleep? Seriously?”
“Completely.” Terra cuts in, and there’s something in those eyes that Zack isn’t going to ask about. Though he does kind of wonder if it was there, even back then.
They end up talking forever, until they’re all getting a little hoarse and Terra actually points out that it might be nice to eat. Which is a little odd, and stranger that he and Ventus should abruptly vanish, leaving him standing there with Aqua and wondering why she looks a little... annoyed? Betrayed?
He can’t tell what she’s thinking, and he doesn’t want to stick his foot in his mouth so it takes him a minute to start. “So... huh.”
Aqua jumps like she’d forgotten he was there, and turns to look at him with her face burning.
“Hey, are you alright? We’ve been out here in the sun awhile, you might get sick!”
She gapes for a minute and then blurts out, “So how about that date!” like the words jumped out of her mouth before she could stop them.
He winces a little bit. “You remembered. But I. I’m not a hero, Aqua. Not hardly.”
She’s still blushing, but it’s fading as fast as she smiles. “We’ve heard a lot, about you and Sephiroth. Everything that’s been happening. Also, we’ve been learning lately that having darkness inside isn’t entirely a bad thing.” She reaches out to lay her hand on his shoulder. “So come on. Let’s go eat, at least?”
He thinks of Hercules telling him about Sora, and Sora’s friend Riku. He thinks of Cloud, lost in his own shadows and looking for his light. It’d be kind of stupid not to, right? “Sure, let’s eat.”
To:
obabscribblerFrom:
synchroshatterTitle: Theoretically Speaking
Word count: 447
Rating: G
Notes: No spoilers. Attempted angst, Yuffie-style. Merry Christmas,
obabscribbler!On paper, you see, it all worked out just fine. She was a princess and he was a knight, and after all the trials and tribulations they’d faced together, it was time for some Heartfelt Declarations, True Love’s First Kiss, and then the Obligatory Walking Into The Sunset, right?
Right?
Except...she wasn’t a princess. Not really. That had all been something she’d made up when they arrived in Traverse Town, just to keep herself amused until her dad arrived. Which, of course, he never did, meaning the joke ended up running way longer than intended. And he wasn’t really a knight, seeing as the world had, y’know, kind of ended before he could finish his training.
So yeah. Fate had obviously seen the works and decided to throw in the biggest damn spanner it could find.
Not to mention the height difference- really, carrying a stepladder around all the time just to make conversation would get so old so fast. Not that Leon ever said much anyways. Guy seemed to be working on some kind of word ration with absolutely no consideration for the health of Yuffie’s throat, because hello? Those silences weren’t exactly going to fill themselves, were they? So that’d be kind of a drag too. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to be playing an eternal game of poker, even though she always made sure he knew when their games were over- usually by making a very loud, angry exit because he’d won again and damnit, it took a lot of effort to pickpocket her money back off him!
But really, thank the gods for all those little, very important reasons. Because it kept her from getting on to worrying about the very real, very big reasons. Like the fact he’d already played a knight before- unsuccessfully- to a girl whose name she didn’t know and whose face she wouldn’t have been able to pick out of a photograph, if any had survived. Like the fact he’d acknowledged her as more than just a kid tagging along after him but never spared her that vital third glance to see that yes, maybe there could be a them after all. Like the fact that, despite everything, she still loved him more than she would ever love anyone else.
So, there she was. And there he was, both of them still stuck in the prologue at some point before ‘once upon a time’ despite everything that had ever happened and all the years that had passed. When really, the whole ‘happily ever after’ thing should’ve been well under way.
But unfortunately, Yuffie, being Yuffie, should’ve realised that logic was never her best friend anyway.
~
Title: Legally Binding
Word count: 788
Rating: Maybe PG for one tiny reference?
Notes: No spoilers. I’m really sorry at how long this one turned out! But I think we all know that Yuffie enjoys harrassing Leon way too much for it to fit within 100 words. Plus, it was fun to write, so it kind of...ran away with itself. =D
It was amazing how qualified Yuffie was in dramatic entrances, considering she was only nine. On this particular occasion, she burst in through the door with a loud crash, leapt up onto the chair opposite him and flung her arms and head onto the table with what she clearly thought was a tragic wail of “Oh, the inhumanity!”.
Of course, if Yuffie was the queen of dramatic entrances, then Leon was the lord of non-responsiveness. In fact, if the word ‘deadpan’ had a verb form, that was exactly how he’d pass through life. So he said nothing, did nothing except calmly continue to polish his gunblade and wonder which of Aerith’s epic romance novels she’d picked up that particular phrase from.
As expected, it didn’t take her long to look up and say, in a tone that would’ve been more menacing without the pout, “I said, ‘Oh, the inhumanity!’.”
Leon nodded, glancing up at her briefly without ever once stopping what he was doing and replied, “Yes. You did.”
Yuffie let out an indignant cry and slammed her palms on the table. “You clearly don’t understand the issue here, Squall-”
“Leon.”
“We,” she continued unphased, drawing in a deep breath, “Have to get married!”
And with another brave attempt at a wretched cry, Yuffie flung herself back down onto the table. Leon raised an eyebrow at her in the way that she always tried to emulate but that always made her look more like a constipated moogle and decided that, as always, logic was the best course of action.
“No we don’t.”
“Yes, we do!” Her head shot up again. “Aerith told me that when people get older they fall in love and get married!”
“So?”
“So,” Yuffie raised her voice, presenting her hands to begin ticking off options. “Cloud ran away, so I can’t marry him because I don’t know where he is, and Tifa went to find him, so I can’t marry her either. And Aerith’s too busy being worried about them for me to marry her. So that just leaves you or Cid, and I know you’re too old but he’s even too older, and at least we wouldn’t have to be married too long, seeing as you’re practically on your deathbed anyways-”
“Yuffie.” he cut in, raising a hand to his head, which was aching from the sudden onslaught of child-logic. That, and he wasn’t keen on being insulted more- he was only eighteen, damnit!
“That’s why I thought we needed to come to an agreement!” she chirped, suddenly all sunshine as she produced a sheet of paper from her pocket with a flourish.
Leon took the paper from her warily, asking, “What’s this?” And then, as he scanned it, “Did you write this in wax crayon?”
“It’s a contract! Duh!” As if he could make out more than about twenty percent of her scrawl. “It says that when we get married, you have to accept that I’m the Greatest Ninja Ever. And take me with you to fight at the Coliseum. And not complain when I follow you around. And buy me ice cream once a day at least. Oh! And that in return, I’ll only expect you to smile three times a week.” She nodded, looking satisfied. “And yes, I did. Six colours, too! Not that you’d understand how that’d cheer most people up.”
“And if I don’t sign it?”
“Then you’re a meanie forever and I’ll cry and scream until Aerith tells you off.” She put her fists on her hips. “Really, Squall, I’m nearly ten. I need to start thinking about the future, y’know?”
There was a pause as their eyes locked. Then, trying to ignore her triumphant grin, Leon began to search his pockets for a pen.
-
Years pass. Yuffie grows up and Leon grows older; friendship develops into mutual attraction into romance; the first few not-quite dates and awkward declarations pass along with first kisses and first other things too; and then all of a sudden he’s moving in with her because, hey, there’s totally room for him and moving all her pets would be a pain when someone clearly has to be Radiant Garden’s resident crazy cat lady.
It’s when she’s trying to clear some of the aforementioned promised room for him that she comes across the crumpled sheet of bright scribblings. It takes her approximately thirty seconds to remember what it was- more than enough time for a wicked smirk to have appeared on her face and for her to be halfway across the room.
Standing in the doorway, she brandished the paper in her left hand- the same as she wore the ring on- and called, as sweetly as she could manage, “Oh, Squall-”
To:
punjab_banksFrom:
obabscribblerTitle: Waiting For God
Word Count: 576
Rating: T
Spoiler Warnings: Maybe for Chain of Memories?
Riku sometimes watched Naminé. Not for any particular reason, but he wasn’t merely staring into space, either. The blindfold made it seem like he really was sightless, but he could still perceive the world around him. He recognised her light step, her particular scent, and could turn his head in her direction like he was using his eyes instead of his other senses. Mostly she ignored or endured it – he was never sure which – but on occasion she would turn to him and he would feel compelled to explain himself. She didn’t even have to say anything. Excuses came tumbling from his lips like buckets of water into a sandcastle moat, and sank into the silence just as fast.
"You don’t have to justify yourself to me," she said once, quiet and diffident, as if not actually intending him to hear.
"I know I don't." His tone, by comparison, was defensive. How could she do that? How could she make him feel like he was doing wrong when he wasn’t? Not anymore. Everything about their partnership with DiZ was to bring Sora back, and Sora was the epitome of Good.
"I make you uncomfortable." She always seemed apologetic about something. Riku wondered if that was her personality or a by-product of living in Castle Oblivion with those Organisation XIII freaks. She had something of an abused spouse about her; nervousness and timidity layered over a core of steel. She had the resolve of a warrior and the manner of a sinner who wasn't sure the priest wouldn’t kick her out of the confessional.
"Don’t be stupid."
She gave a little chuckle. It died in her throat. "He was never so rude," she said, even softer.
Before his senses became so acute, Riku might have missed the whisper. He certainly wouldn’t have heard the longing in it.
Naminé both saw him and didn’t when she looked at him – just like he had looked at her blonde hair and seen auburn framing similar blue eyes before he hid his own eyes away. Neither he nor she was entirely comfortable around each other. Both secretly pined for someone they had lost. At least Riku could see Kairi again someday. Maybe. If things turned out right. And if he could face going home. Naminé, on the other hand, would never see his clone again. He used to think he was glad the creepy guy was gone. Listening to her whispers and the quality of her silence when she looked at him, however, he wondered whether that was still true.
"Do you think he’ll wake up soon?" he asked, hastily changing the subject.
"Sora?"
No, the other boy sleeping in the crystal pod. Riku restrained himself and gave a civil answer: "Uh-huh."
"I’m not sure." Her hand touched the side with a faint ringing, like dropping a wedding ring on a glass table. For some reason that comparison made something twist inside Riku. He shook it off.
"Things will be okay when he wakes up." He would get to leave this place. Finally, he could think about going home, where all the safe and familiar things were, if they would still have him back.
"Yes," Naminé agreed. "Things are always better with Sora around."
The twisting moved up to his chest. Riku gritted his teeth, face still impassive. They continued watching and not watching together, side by side and close as barley grains on the same stalk, but somehow forever apart.
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