kh_drabble | (no subject)

Challenge: [260] Music
Title: Harmony of the Spheres
Word Count: 598
Spoilers: Set pre-BBS, but none really, since most of it is personal canon.
Notes: As above. I almost gave up on this repeatedly, but somehow managed to finish it, despite many fits of "aaaugh I can't make it work" (why does dialogue make my drabbles so long). I actually have a longer version of this with additional scenes-- it ended up having to be cut down to fit drabble-size, but if anyone would like to see the original, I can send the full version. (Or post it in my journal, either way.)

Terra had seen the training field in daylight, but never at night before. And it seemed to him now that the sky was like the sea-- only greater and vaster and farther away, with more places to sail to, and more loneliness in between them.

The stars glittered. He took a step onto the grass, feeling the night wind catching his hair.

"It's so beautiful. I didn't know there were so many stars in... in the whole universe, Master Eraqus."

The Master was a grave man, not given to fits of sentimentality, but he smiled now. "Every star you see is a world, shining in the darkness-- far apart now, but remembering a time when they were one, and all the universe was bathed in light."

Terra studied him for a moment, feeling that he was expected to notice something else, but he did not know what. He shrugged, and headed further into the field. If the Master wanted him to go exploring, how could a curious boy do anything else? The world of night was a different country, one that adults had forbidden him from, until now-- to wander at night, they said, was dangerous. But this world, Eraqus told him, was unlike his own: he could roam about as he pleased, and no harm would befall him. Though, if he wished to be a good pupil, he would not spend his days wandering when he should be doing something else.

Dew-damp grass slipped beneath his feet, and he paused, becoming aware of a feeling like dozens of tiny strings being plucked inside of him. He half thought he had known this feeling once-- was born knowing it, perhaps, and forgot as he grew older. Was it a song? He found himself humming softly with its rhythm, and then the melody slipped away from him, as though carried on a breeze, to be replaced by another.

The whole world was suddenly trembling with music-- faint as a heartbeat, but solid as ground-- and Terra stumbled backwards, catching his breath as he stood up. Above him, the sky arched, vaster than a great cathedral, echoing with song from end to end, and gradually he realized that the stars themselves were singing. They sang with murmurs, with hums, with clear bright voices-- now to themselves, now to each other-- but their songs were endless.

"Oh..." Though he was a solemn child, he could not but be moved at the wonder of it. He stood facing to the sky, shivering at the passing strands of song that caught him up and whispered stories into his bones. "It's beautiful, Master Eraqus! Do the stars here always sing?"

"They sing everywhere, Terra." The Master was beside him now, that smile-- faint, sorrowed-- on his face. "They remember when the world was new, before they were rent apart. And so they call in the darkness to one another, telling of their stories."

"I never heard them sing before." He furrowed his brow, remembering. "Not in my world."

"Not all hearts can hear them. We who wield Keyblades can hear their songs-- but most cannot."

"But..." Terra regarded him mournfully. "It's sad, that other people can't hear something that beautiful!"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps... it is a sort of mercy. To know that they sing to remember, of the time when worlds were one..." Eraqus shook his head. "Your power is your sorrow also, Terra. Never forget that. One day, you will understand."

As the Master headed indoors, a bright shadow against gold light, Terra remained in the field, gaze lifted to the sky.