#remember when cid smoked? miss that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

seriowan · 3 years

Text

bang bang - two - the wailing widows

⭒ main masterlist

series rating: explicit 18+ chapter tags: language, alcohol, mentions of smoking, language, violence, sexual innuendos series tags: eventual smut, multiple ships/tropes (enemies to lovers, fast burn, slow burn, mutual pining), found family trope, word count: 6.5k pairings: echo x f!oc, hunter x f!oc ⭒ series masterlist ⭒ prev.⭒ next chapter theme song: black betty by ram jam playlist ! a/n: so far the story takes place between episodes 6 and 7! my taglist has recently grown so if you've asked to be added to everything, please let me know if you'd like to be removed from specific wips! <3 as always, please remember to show support by reblogging <3

Hunter was pissed.

He walked with determined steps, boots thudding against the tile street as he stormed through crowds, shouldering people with enough force to earn dirty glares and a few tossed curses. Jaw clenched tight enough for the tendons in his temples to strain, Hunter was a vision of silent rage. His fists were clenched hard enough to make his knuckles white but the fingernails digging into his palm were the least of his problems.

His vibroblade was gone. How could he have been so blindsided? He had heightened senses, for fuck's sake. The Pantoran - Kit - whatever the fuck her name was - shouldn't have been able to breathe without him sensing it. Yet she managed to steal his blade? Right off of his arm, no less?

Yes, he was fucking embarrassed.

It was a deliberate attack on his pride, one that he had managed to keep a secret for just a few hours. The second he, Wrecker, and Omega met up with Tech and Echo on their way to Cid's Parlor, Tech noticed the empty sheath and immediately began asking questions, alerting everyone of the missing weapon.

Where is your vibroblade? Did you lose it in the diner? How could you have lost something so valuable? Where did you last leave it?

When Hunter gave him a firm, bone-rattling glare, the squad fell silent and took a step back, giving Hunter the space he needed to simmer alone in his fury. Ever the innocent angel, Omega had tried to talk to him but evidently, the silent treatment applied to anything with two eyes, arms, and legs. Including the unfortunate people caught in Hunter's path.

Wrecker recounted the events from the diner to Tech and Echo, catching them up-to-speed on their current predicament. Hunter's anger was relatively understandable considering they had tried avoiding attention for Omega's safety, but they were all far too familiar with Hunter's ego to know that his anger went far beyond just Omega's safety.

What they couldn't fathom, however, was how someone managed to one-up Hunter's senses.

Hunter didn't care to join their conversations as they walked to the parlor. Wrecker and Omega talked about going for another Mantell Mix run while Echo kept a close eye on Tech who, without a single care for the world around him, glued his eyes to his datapad.

Fingers furiously flying across the screen, he responded to Echo's quips and comments with the occasional hum or mindless nod.

The second he heard about the two criminals, Tech made it his mission to find information, context, or anything that could give them an inkling as to who they were. Maybe it was for Hunter's sake- if they found the blade, they didn't have to deal with his insufferable hissy fit- but self-indulgent curiosity was a vice that he had no intention of giving up.

Hacking into Ord Mantell's police records was too easy but finding files on a speeder-thief redhead and her towering Pantoran bodyguard? Virtually impossible. When he'd click the files relating to the two subjects, the screen would crackle and direct him to a list far from what he was searching for.

And for someone who was widely successful at everything, Tech found this infuriating.

His search consumed his attention. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in his path were shouldered or quite literally knocked to the ground. It took a threat or two before Echo grabbed Tech's elbow, moving him left and right to dodge the pedestrians in the busy streets.

"I've looked through countless records," Tech huffed, scrunching his nose in annoyance. "I've broken past numerous firewalls and encrypted files, yet all I've managed to draw are two names: Nova Keeriman and Kithara Olli. It appears someone is preventing me from accessing any information concerning their criminal histories or last known location."

"That'll be the first," Wrecker smirked, punching Tech's shoulder playfully. "Looks like someone's outsmarted you."

"Highly unlikely," Tech mumbled, pushing up his glasses while shooting Wrecker a glare.

Echo clutched Tech's elbow, pulling him to the side before he could run into a towering Devaronian. He muttered a curt apology before sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose like a tired, overworked mother.

"Whoever they are," he said grimly, eying Hunter's back. "We've got a moody teenager to deal with because of 'em."

"Because they stole his blade," Omega pointed out smartly, grinning.

Echo nodded, sighing yet again. "Yes, Omega. Because they stole his blade."

The girl scrunched her nose, ducking her head to dodge a hanging band of streamers. She hunched over, placing her chin on Wrecker's head, her fingers interlocking underneath his chin as she questioned, "What's so special about that vibroblade? Can't he just, I dunno, buy a new one?"

Tech adjusted his goggles and spoke without looking up from his datapad. "It was a gift from Commander Cody after our first - how did Hunter put it? 'Suicide mission?'"

"Yeah," Wrecker grunted, his voice muffled by Omega's hands underneath his jaw. "S'very important to him. The first thing he ever got from anyone, really."

Echo's frown deepened. "If that's the case, then the Pantoran has no idea what she got herself into."

With a series of nods, the conversation concluded. Echo kept his hand on Tech's elbow while Tech continued tapping away, brows tightening with each infuriating dead end. Omega was dozing off to the sound of Wrecker's voice. Meanwhile, Hunter continued storming ahead of the group, mulling over Echo's words.

The Pantoran really did have absolutely no idea what fuckery she had just started and Hunter - broody and possessive Hunter- was about to burn the entire planet in order to get that blade back.

If he managed to keep himself from being distracted by the Pantoran's antagonizing yellow eyes and that damned smirk on her black lips.

The mere thought was enough to send his heart pounding against his ribs - out of fury, of course.

Cid's Parlor was a rusty coin tucked away in the corner of an alley. It was easy to miss, given the corridor descending into the bar was just about the width of Wrecker's shoulders and the sign was already buzzing on and off, hanging by a single rusty wire.

It was a sweet spot limited to a handful of people - the max number of patrons being ten, including the small squad of clones. On busier days, maybe the numbers inched towards fifteen, but even then, they never stayed long.

Strangely, Cid's Parlor was booming with chatter and deafening rock music - an odd change of pace considering the squad was used to the impending silence and overplayed elevator tunes. Standing outside of the corridor, the bass was strong enough to feel in their chests; the chatter, loud enough to be crystal clear.

"Well, sounds like we're missing out on a party," Wrecker pouted, propping his hands on his hips. "Aw, man! We never have parties."

"You're not missing out on anything," Echo said with a pointed look.

Tech agreed with a hum, finally looking up to give Wrecker a deadpanned stare as he added, "Don't get too excited. You're banned from joining any parties after last time."

Wrecker's pout became a glare. "Sor-ry if some of us like to have fun once in a while-"

Hunter held his hand up, clenching it in a fist. "Hold it."

They gave one another curious looks as Hunter raised his nose in the air, taking a curt sniff before crouching. He picked up a long, glossy strand of jet-black hair. Almost instantly, his eyes darkened and his lip curled in a furious scowl.

"She's here."

The three men immediately looked at one another with wide eyes.

Oh fuck.

Echo reached out to grab Hunter's shoulder, quickly stammering, "Now hold on-"

But it was no use. Hunter breezed down the steps before they could even consider stopping him. He slipped into the cantina, causing Tech and Echo to sprint after him while Wrecker quickly put Omega down and followed.

Sure enough, Cid's bar was crawling with new faces. There were people hovering around the dejarik tables, others cheering around the games of sabacc played on the circular tables. The pool tables were scooted to the edge, making room for a dancefloor where people jumped up and down to the rock music that blasted through the overhead speakers.

The server droid, tweaked and adjusted by Tech's fidgety hands, was constantly bustling behind the glowing cyan bar, pouring drinks with too many or too few measurements of liquor. Not that anyone cared; booze was still booze, even if a defective droid poured the drinks.

The clones stood in the doorway with mixed expressions. Hunter was steaming with rage as his eyes scanned the floor, his scent trail momentarily lost by the sudden rush of new smells.

Tech looked annoyed at the loud music until he put his nose in his datapad and didn't bother looking back up.

For someone who used to love parties because of his twin, Echo now had an expression of distaste as he watched the people dance. Grimacing, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. The music thundered through his temples, sprouting a painful headache. I'm too old for this shit.

Wrecker was vibrating with excitement. His eyes bounced from scene to scene; the high-stakes games, buzzing dancefloor, cheerful bar-hoppers. He bounced on the balls of his feet, licking his lips at the thought of letting loose on the dancefloor.

Bug-eyed with fascination, Omega drank in the scenery, unable to tear her eyes away from the sheer energy manifesting in the usually silent parlor.

Hunter raised his hand, pointing his hand towards the crowded floor as he ordered, "Fan out."

Wrecker made a b-line for the dancefloor, ignoring Echo who reminded him of his party ban. He turned around and walked backward, giving Echo a shrug and a mischievous smile before being swallowed by the dancing people. A series of cheers echoed around him as he began dancing, lips parting to release an easy-going laugh.

Tech didn't care for Hunter's manhunt and he especially didn't care for the party. Adjusting his goggles, he walked along the edge of the room, careful to avoid any interaction on his way to the booth in the farthest corner. Sliding onto the bench, he slid to the corner and resumed his attention to the datapad in hand.

Omega was grinning as she leaped forward with the intention to follow Wrecker, but she was stopped in her tracks when Echo placed his hand on her shoulder. She paused, tilting her chin to look up with a pout and puppy eyes. Echo simply shook his head.

"You're stuck with me, kid," he said, cracking an apologetic smile when she groaned in disappointment.

"But Wrecker's having fun without me," she whined.

Echo shook his head again, eying the dancefloor that would have certainly crushed her. "You're too small, Omega. You'd get stepped on."

The sight of Omega's narrowed eyes and pursed lips made Echo throw his head back with a laugh. Nonetheless, she took his hand and squeezed it tight, careful to stick to his side as they walked to the bar and sat on the farthest edge.

The droid buzzed in binary when it approached him but Echo dismissed it with a shake of his head. Omega politely asked for fruit juice which was served to her in a small glass cup and topped with a yellow umbrella. She placed the straw on her lips and spun around in the barstool, kicking her feet around the stool as she watched the party unravel.

Echo propped his elbow on the counter, exhaling a deep breath as he massaged his forehead with his fingertips. The music was killing his temples, leaving them throbbing underneath his futile attempt to rub away the pain.

A soft voice filtered through his ears, hardly audible over the thundering music and voices.

"Need somethin' for that headache, sugar?"

For a fleeting second, Echo assumed the droid had spoken to him. Brows drawn together, he raised his head quickly, sending waves of pain through his skull.

Yet, oddly enough, Echo briefly forgot about the discomfort. His mouth fell open before quickly clamping shut, tongue darting out to wet his suddenly chapped lips.

The server droid was shut off, lying on the ground with steam hissing from its overworked processors. In its place was a woman, brows cocked in amusement as she tossed a towel over her shoulder.

She didn't look like any employee that Echo had ever seen before. Did Cid even have any workers? He couldn't remember - not that he minded. She was beautiful, hazel-eyed with skin like bronze freshly taken out of a furnace. Though she looked no older than her mid-twenties, the fine lines at the corners of her deep-set eyes gave the impression that she was much more aged. Sporting a long, angled nose and sunken cheekbones, her cheeks dimpled as she quirked her lips in a smile, seemingly amused by Echo's sudden brain buffer.

She wasn't wearing casual civvies, opting for a low-necked tank top and a deep brown leather jacket. A silver necklace with a small green crystal pendant dangled from her neck, practically glowing against the deep shade of golden-brown skin.

His cheeks flushed red when she repeated herself, clearly aware that he suddenly lost every capability to speak. "Nexu got your tongue? I asked if you needed something for that headache of yours, sweetheart."

The quirk in her tone sounded strikingly familiar to the vague memory of Republic outlaw, Cad Bane.

After what felt like an indefinitely long moment of silence, Echo nodded his head. The woman chuckled, turning on her heel to grab a pot of hot water. She walked with a limp, drawing Echo's eyes down her body to her legs.

Her tattered black cargo pants were tucked into the boot on her left leg while her right leg, to Echo's utter surprise, was absent. Instead of a boot, the crus of her leg was replaced with a sharp metal spike, poorly fastened to her knee with black gauze. The prosthetic was evidently pieced together with scrap metal, a horrible job compared to his prosthetics that looked like their respective parts - excluding the scomp arm.

He forced himself to tear his eyes away from the pegleg as she turned, sliding the steaming cup onto the counter in front of him. Leaning over the counter, she rested her chin in her palm and waited for him to take the cup, lifting the vapor to his nose.

"It's a special tea," she explained when his nose scrunched at the sharp smell of spices. A breathy chuckle made his cheeks swell with warmth, eyes avoiding her astute stare as she watched him take a sip. "Learned it from Naboo. Turns out, a little bit of Jungol Spices and some honey does wonders."

She was right about that; it did do wonders to his headache. He took a sip of the hot liquid, swashing it around his mouth to cool it down before he swallowed. The relief was instant, causing his shoulders to sag as he exhaled a relieved breath.

"Thank you," he said politely, dipping his chin in a nod. "I haven't seen you around here before."

She took the towel off of her shoulder, wiping down the counter with a distracted hum. It was obvious that she was lying, with the slightly secretive touch to her voice as she hummed, "Not from around here. Just visiting for a few months - lookin' for work."

"Ah." He nodded in understanding, setting the mug down. He finally raised his scomp arm off of his lap, placing it on the counter as he raised his hand in her direction, catching the brief surprise on her face before she shifted her attention to his eyes.

Again, his cheeks grew with warmth. For the sake of his own embarrassment, he blamed it on the tea.

"Since you'll be around for a while, it won't do us any good being strangers." He smiled. "I'm Echo."

Dimpled cheeks deepened as her eyes softened, reaching out to grasp his hand with a firm grip. "Ripley Van Dess - my friends call me Rip."

Her attention shifted to Omega, brow arching as she questioned curiously, "Yours?"

Echo shook his head and said, "Sister," before he took a sip of the tea.

Omega spun around the barstool, setting her empty cup of juice on the counter. Her lips parted in a polite smile when she noticed Ripley. "Oh, hello!"

"Hey, darlin'," Ripley grinned, refilling the girl's empty glass before topping it with a small red cherry. "What's your name?"

"Omega," she responded, blinking curiously. "Are you supposed to be back there?"

The woman straightened her back, shaking her head with a laugh. She looked at Echo mirroring his look of amusement as he turned and placed a hand on Omega's shoulder. "This is Ripley. She's taking over for the server droid."

"Oh." Omega blinked, leaning over the counter to peer at the droid on the floor. She grimaced. "Poor little guy."

Ripley leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest as Echo finished the rest of the tea. She looked back and forth between Omega and Echo, landing on the latter as she murmured, "Cute kid. I see the resemblance."

Echo scoffed in his cup, his voice muffled by the ceramic as he sang, "You have no idea."

Hunter couldn't believe it. His brothers were utterly useless. With Wrecker absolutely losing it on the dancefloor, Tech stowed away in his corner like a nocturnal owl in the daytime, and Echo flirting with the fucking barmaid, Hunter was left alone to look for the Pantoran. A solo hunt, concealed within the four walls of the sweat and alcohol-filled room.

Ideally, a blue woman with raven hair should have been an easy find, but the smells and noises complicated his scent trail. A brisk sweep wasn't enough, so while he stood in front of the doorway, jaw clenched tight enough to make his teeth hurt, his taupe eyes cut through the crowd, scanning every facial feature.

He wouldn't forget a face like hers, coarse with a smugness that raised his blood pressure and spiked his heart rate.

Pushing past the cacophony of sensations was Hunter's biggest challenge. He drowned out the music, the bass that pounding in his eardrums. He separated each smell as if unraveling a piece of string, differentiating between each ghosting whiff until he caught it - the faint trace of freighter smoke and cheap perfume.

And there she was.

A single blink was all it took for his eyes to lock onto her figure, standing in the shadows all the way by the corridor to Cid's office. She leaned against the wall, a glowing orange cigarette in her hand as she flirt with a blushing Twi'lek. The young girl was curling the tip of her lekku around her finger, doe-eyes blinking with lust as she held Kit's smooth yellow gaze.

A bitter taste lingered on his tongue but before he could dwell on it too long, he swallowed thickly and stormed past the dancefloor, the bar, and approached his target.

Kit noticed him just before he could enter the hall. She smirked, cocking her head to whisper something to the Twi'lek. Most likely a dismissal, for the young woman immediately narrowed her eyes in annoyance and hissed an insult under her breath as she walked away.

"Took you long enough, sergeant." She crossed her arms over her chest, arching her chin to look him in the eye. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come looking for me."

He stopped right in front of her, nose-to-nose, eyes burrowing into her skull, blazing like torches in the dimly lit hall.

"You know who I am."

She scoffed. "I'm not naive. You'd be surprised what a simple search can do. You're pretty famous with the Empire, Hunter."

His name fell from her lips like the smoke sifting off of the cigarette on the floor. Smooth, smoky, curling pleasantly in his ears with a lingering sting like whiskey burning down his throat.

Still, the smile on her face was absolutely fucking annoying. He didn't even care that she knew who he was. Patience was never one of his strongest qualities and Kit was about to find out what happened when he was entirely out of it.

"If you know who I am," he snarled, "You know what I can do. You have something of mine that I want back."

"Do I?" She cocked her head to the side, boldly dragging a long fingernail up his chest and to his chin where she pinched it between her thumb and index, giving it a little nudge. "Hm, seems like you're mistaken. Everything on me is mine."

She arched a suggestive brow, eyes seductively raking down his armor.

"Unless you want to look for it."

Hunter shouldn't have reacted to it. He shouldn't have felt his stomach twist with knots, a fire shooting straight from his head to his-

No, absolutely not. Fuck no. She was not going to get away with it, not with that flirty grin or that stupid, infuriating, absolutely down-right annoying-

He reached out, grabbing her forearm in a firm grip before he pulled her closer to his chest. Gritting his teeth, he spoke in a growl. "Unless you want to cause a scene, give me the fucking knife."

Kit's mouth twisted into a wry smile, eyes flashing dangerously.

"It's a good thing I like the attention."

Without a single smidge of hesitation, Kit yanked her hand out of his grasp and nailed a painful right hook right in Hunter's jaw. She dropped down to the floor, swinging her leg to sweep his feet out from underneath, sending him flat on his back.

She jumped out of the hallway, long legs taking even longer strides as she briskly made her way towards the exit. A firm grip on the back of her black jumpsuit dragged her to a stop before suddenly yanking her into a table. She crashed into the sabacc game, slamming her spine onto the table hard enough to send cards and chips flying across the floor.

With an angry scowl, she flipped her hair out of her face and glared at Hunter, her expression darkening when she saw his smirk. Her lips pulled back in a snarl.

"Oh, you're on, pretty boy."

Grabbing a spare glass from the table, she hurled it at Hunter's face. He raised his forearms and it shattered against the armor, giving Kit the distraction needed to catch him off-guard. She barrelled towards him, jumping high enough to clamp his head in between her thighs. Crossing her ankles over his back, she leaned over in a backbend and used the momentous swing of her weight to fling Hunter overhead, slamming his back into the ground.

Kit jumped up, a satisfied grin on her black lips as she watched him take in a shuddering gasp of air. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she looked up, smile faltering when she noticed Wrecker stepping out of the crowd.

The brief brawl caused chaos to ensue, sending confused and panicked bar patrons sprinting out of the front door like a herd of frightened cattle. They pushed, shoving past Kit and Hunter as he pushed himself up to his feet. He blew a stray strand of hair out of his face, adjusting his bandana on his forehead before drawing his blaster and aiming it at Kit's chest.

Kit responded just as quickly, reaching to the holsters on her thighs to draw two twin blasters - one aimed at Hunter's chest, the other on Wrecker.

Wrecker reached down to the blade tucked in his boot but froze in place when a sharp pain jolt through his side. He looked down, noticing the blade pressing into his ribs between the plates of his armor, held by a crimson hand.

A smoky voice, rough and brimming with anticipation, spoke from behind his back.

"One wrong move and you'll be scraping your guts off the ground."

Wrecker knew better than to move but that didn't stop the growl of frustration that rumbled from deep within his chest.

Thankfully, he wasn't alone.

"Choose your next words very carefully," Tech warned in a low, threatening tone as he held his twin blasters up.

The red Twi'lek that held Wrecker hostage underneath the tip of their serrated blade slowly turned their head. Dark eyes, almost black, flickered across Tech's furrowed brows and deep scowl. Their heeled boots clicked against the ground as they adjusted their footing. The blade never left Wrecker's side, even as they looked at the blasters. Instead, they sneered.

Echo immediately jumped to his feet and stood in front of Omega, shielding her with his body when he noticed the sudden swell of weapons being aimed at one another. Wild eyes bounced from Hunter and Kit to Wrecker, the Twi'lek, and Tech - caught in a train of weapons and knives.

Wrecker grimaced when the tip of her blade pressed a bit harder into his ribs.

"Woah!" Echo held his hands out, his voice sharp and loud over the music that still poured through the speakers. "Everyone, calm down!"

Ripley tossed the towel on the counter. She limped out from behind the bar, standing by Echo and in front of Omega. Brows knitted together in alarm, she barked out, "Izz! Drop the karkin' knife!"

The Twi'lek, Izz, shook their head, glancing over their shoulder at Tech. "Not unless twitchy over here puts his happy little blasters back up his ass."

"Take your knife off of him and you might just save yourself becoming a charred stain on the floor," Tech snapped back.

Kit barked out a deep-chested laugh, wild eyes bouncing from face to face before resting on Hunter. "Fuck, I love a good ol' fashioned standoff."

A door in the corridor hissed open, momentarily drawing everyone's attention as Nova, unaware of the standoff, wiped her hands on her pants and muttered to herself. She abruptly paused in the archway, slowly raising her chin at the scene in front of her while her mouth dropped open.

With a baffled expression, she threw her hands in the air, exclaiming with exasperation, "Are you kidding me? I was at the bathroom for two minutes!"

"What the hell's goin' on here!"

Nova let out a yelp and jumped at the sound of Cid's voice. Bulging eyes gawked at the Trandoshan that seemed to suddenly appear behind her. She splayed her hand over her chest, muttering something under her breath about always getting scared and never having a moment of peace.

Three-fingered hands propped on her hips, Cid's angry glare sliced through the tension in the room. She ground her jaw, speaking through clenched teeth as she said, "Weapons away. Now."

Izz was the first to drop their blade, sheathing it on the holster that remained strapped around their thigh. Tech followed soon after but not without glaring daggers at them. Wrecker eased his tense shoulders with a sigh, rubbing his side with his fingertips as he leveled a glowering look over his shoulder.

Hunter took a moment before lowering his blaster. His cold stare raked with disdain as he held Kit's gaze of smug amusement. She lowered her weapons, back straightening as she raised her chin and scoffed. Better luck next time.

When Ripley finally spoke, Echo couldn't help but look at her with another wave of surprise.

"You three," she flickered her eyes from Nova to Kit and Izz. "Get your kriffing asses over here."

Her tone held a firmness that Echo had heard countless times from commanding officers - stern and demanding, immediately causing the three women to step away from the clones.

Nova walked up to the bar, flashing Wrecker a shy smile before she ducked her chin, tucking her hair behind her ear. Izz boredly walked behind the counter and began pouring a set of shots in a series of small glasses, all while eyeing the squad of clones. Kit gave Hunter a final smirk before pivoting on her heel and stalking towards the bar, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

Cid crossed her arms over her chest, leaning on a hip. The annoyance was evident as she scanned the bar, scowling deeper and deeper at the mess of shattered glass, broken tables, and scattered sabacc cards. The music was now off, leaving the room thick with edgy silence. The Trandoshan looked back at the two squads, fuming.

"This better not be a reoccurring thing between you two," she fumed, pointing an accusing finger at them all. "Learn how to work together or your jobs are gonna be a hell of a lot harder."

Hunter, Tech, Echo, and Wrecker all turned their heads towards the Trandoshan in unison, a mirrored look of shock on their faces as they spoke at the same time, in the same tone of utter horror.

"WHAT?"

After a bit of silence and some much-needed alcohol, the Bad Batch and the group of mercenaries were scattered around the parlor.

Nova sat at one of the tables, leaning back in a chair with her legs hiked up. She nursed a bright blue drink, topped with a pink umbrella and a blue straw. Izz lingered beside her, mimicking Nova with their feet up while their arms crossed behind their head. Stark black eyes lazily dragged from each of the men, categorically picking them apart down to the slightest detail.

Kit sat on a barstool, fingernails tapping the surface of the counter as she held Hunter's stare, lip curled in a seemingly permanent sneer. Ripley sat on a chair beside her, her prosthetic stretched out as she massaged her kneecap with a subtle grimace on her face.

Hunter and his brothers opted to stand by one another while Omega sat on a chair beside them, kicking her feet as she shifted her attention between those who spoke.

"So let me get this straight," Hunter rumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose as he clenched his eyes tight. They popped open, sharp with irritation as they locked onto Cid. "You volunteered my squad to work with these, these-"

"Go on," Kit taunted, mocking him with a sweet smile. "You can say criminals."

"Or thieves," Nova suggested, shrugging a shoulder.

"I personally like bandits," Izz added, smirking as they raised a glass to their lips.

"Shut up," Ripley sighed, glaring at them. "Seriously. Shut. Up. This was supposed to go much smoother if you didn't do whatever it is you did."

"She stole Hunter's blade," Omega quipped, pointing at Kit. "When you were in the diner. How'd you do it?"

Kit leaned forward, elbows on her thighs as she pulled her lips back in a toothy grin. "How'd I do what? Steal a little knife from a soldier with heightened senses?"

She looked back at Hunter, cocking a brow at the expression of surprise. "What? I told you, I did my homework when I saw you lot in the diner. Knew something was up by your armor. Imagine my surprise when I found out you're not only clones, but you've got special quirks too. Ain't that cute."

She looked back at Omega and shrugged. "To tell you the truth kid, I just did. Turns out pretty boy here is a bit of a dunce when it comes to a bit of boo-"

"Absolutely not," Ripley interrupted with a deadpanned stare. "I will send you back to the ship if you don't keep your trap shut. I'm sure Blue would appreciate the company."

Kit rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in the barstool. She gave Omega a smirk, winking slyly as she mouthed, I'll tell you later.

Omega nodded, managing a grin.

Cid cleared her throat to draw attention to herself. She leaned against the bar counter, gesturing towards Ripley as she said, "Ripley needs extra hands on a job. It's high-stakes, high-value. You manage this job? You'll have enough credits to scrap your debt and then some. The downside? It's in three months, which means you've gotta go three months without trying to kill one another."

"I'm sure we can manage," Nova giggled, rolling her eyes. "I mean, we've worked with other people before. Remember that Weequay pirate? Man, I can't remember his name for the life of me-"

"Hondo Onaka?" Echo's eyes widened. "You worked with Hondo Onaka? He's the dirtiest pirate in the galaxy!"

"Hell yeah, he is," Izz muttered into their glass with a cheeky grin. Nova choked on her drink, breaking into a fit of coughs.

Ripley pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. She turned towards Kit and with a wave, mumbled, "Give him the knife back."

Kit's brows furrowed. "I stole it. It's rightfully mine."

"Like hell it is," Hunter snapped, taking a threatening step forward. He only stopped when Wrecker grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head in disapproval before turning towards Omega.

She nervously chewed on her fingernails, eyes flitting up to the squad of men before darting to Kit. The Pantoran noticed the little girl's stare and after a brief moment of hesitation, she groaned.

Flicking her wrist, the knife slid out from underneath her sleeve, straight into her palm. She held the blade out towards Hunter, eyes glistening as he reached out to grab it, but before he could grasp the handle, she drew the knife back and chucked it at his head. It missed his ear by a hair's width, cutting through the small gap between Echo and Tech's head before embedding in the wall behind them.

She sneered.

"Fetch."

Hunter sucked his tongue against his teeth. For the sake of avoiding another brawl, he turned around to retrieve his knife.

Ripley clapped her hands together. "Now that that's out of the way, I need to know your answer now. We've got to start planning this job as soon as possible and we need to know if you're joining or not."

"The bounty," Tech noted, pushing his glasses up his nose with his finger. "What is the total sum and how will it be divided amongst us."

"The sum is too much to count," Kit spoke up as she tied her hair in a high ponytail. "As for how it's divided, it's equal. 50-50."

"60-40," Omega spoke up, causing their heads to turn towards her with surprise. She kept her cool, restating the terms once more with a determined dip in her brows. "60-40. You're hiring us. That means we take part of the bounty and extra for our help. Consider it... insurance."

Nova fell into a fit of giggles, pointing a finger at the girl while grinning cheekily, "I like her!"

Ripley nodded, cracking a smile. "Understandable. You've got yourself a deal, little lady."

"We didn't agree to the job," Hunter interrupted, frowning at Omega. "We don't even know what it is."

"And you won't," Izz explained with a shake of their head, lekku falling over their shoulders. "It's confidential until you agree. Once we've signed a contract, you're welcome to know all about it."

Ripley agreed, offering an apologetic look at the frustrated men. "It's strictly business."

Hunter pressed his tongue against this cheek, shifting his attention from the mercenaries to Cid and finally to his brothers. Echo rubbed the back of his head, offering a meager shrug as he muttered, "Considering our current circumstance with Omega's safety and our debt, it wouldn't hurt to have some extra sets of eyes."

"I concur," Tech said, looking up from his datapad. "If the sum of credits is as large as they say, I would have enough for the Marauder's modifications. Scrambling the ship's signature is only effective so long as the part remains intact and given our last beating, I'd assume it won't last very long."

"Tech's got a point." Wrecker nodded, putting in his own two cents. "We've got stuff to buy and things to get. 'Specially for the kid."

Hunter let out a harsh breath. He knew the consensus between his brothers and as much as he hated to say it, he agreed. Credits were credits - something that they were severely lacking. Whether he liked them or not, Hunter wasn't willing to give up an opportunity to make enough credits for the necessary modifications needed to keep Omega away from the Empire.

Rubbing his forehead, he pressed his tongue into his cheek. The words felt like acid leaving his lips.

"Fine. Where is the contract."

Ripley leaned back into her chair with a smile, nodding at Izz who fished out a datapad from a black satchel. They tossed it to Hunter, smirking as he read over the name at the top of the screen.

"Wailing Widows?"

Ripley stood extending out her hand. "At your service."

Hunter gave her a look before looking back down at the datapad. Exhaling another breath, he signed the screen with his fingertip before placing it in her hand.

"Well, that concludes our visit." Ripley tucked the datapad under her armpit, holding out her hand just as Nova approached with a cane. She handed it over, giving Ripley the balance she needed to stand without a limp. Ignoring their lingering gazes on her prosthetic, she glimpsed at the chronometer on the wall and frowned.

"Considering how late it is, I think it'll be best if we go over the job tomorrow. We're in Hangar 5 at the ship ports if you feel the need to stop by." She dipped her chin in a saluting nod. "It's been a pleasure."

"Yeah," Nova quipped, crouching in front of Omega. She gave the tired girl a soft smile, her voice gentle with kindness as she added, "You're always welcome to come by, little lady! I can introduce you to Marvin and you still have to meet Blue!"

"Tomorrow," Echo said firmly, flickering his eyes from Nova to Omega.

"Tomorrow, it is," Nova smiled, ruffling Omega's hair. "Night, kiddo."

She turned on her heel, purposefully avoiding Wrecker's expectant look as she jogged up to Ripley and walked out of the door. Kit wordlessly looked over the men before giving Omega a smile. "I'll keep our promise, little one."

Izz didn't say much as they stood from the table. They simply pushed their chair in and turned to follow Kit out the door. The Pantoran's voice thundered through the open doors - a loud echo carried in by the empty corridor.

"Sorry for the mess!"

And just like that, the doors shut, enveloping the soldiers in an unfamiliar silence. After a day full of strange encounters, it felt severely out of place. They gave one another peculiar looks, lingering in the silence for a moment longer before Tech cleared his throat.

"Well. That was odd."

They quietly nodded in agreement.

"I have a feeling we're gonna regret this," Echo murmured.

It took everything within Hunter to withhold another dreaded sigh.

Yeah, they were definitely going to regret this. If anything, he felt as if he had just signed his soul away. Now, the one person he wanted to avoid was, quite literally, his partner.

As the realization settled, he tiredly ran his hand down his face with a single thought on his mind...

Fuck.

taglist? taglist! @madameminor @eloquentmoon @a-c-lee @frietiemeloen (please, if you don't want to be on this taglist anymore, don't be afraid to let me know!)

33 notes · View notes

awlwren-writes · 2 years

Note

6 on the kiss meme for Cornyx in the Smoke and Mirrors au XD

Sorry to take so long; the words were in open rebellion. I blame Cor. Kiss #6: "...on a falling tear"

Cor had been a soldier a long time. He had lost a lot of friends, a lot of comrades. He had gotten used to having nightmares. He had a routine. He got up, he either did stretches in his kitchen or took a stroll around the block – just something to center himself in his body, nothing that would really feel like fighting or a mission – and then he would make himself a cup of tea and drink it slowly while reviewing the layers of security protecting each of the people he loved. Sometimes he would write letters to Cid or Wesk to review in the morning and either burn or send along. Sometimes he would write letters to Noctis or Nyx to set aside for a time when he might not be here and they might want to hear the words he could never directly tell them. Sometimes he would write letters to Clarus or Regis, raging about fate and his frustration at not being able to help them in the ways they needed. Those he always burned.

And then he would wash his mug, rinse off in the shower to wash all the feelings away, and go back to bed and try and get as much sleep as he could so he didn’t get anyone killed the next day.

The routine had had two major changes over the long years he’d been the Marshal of the Crownsguard. The more recent was the introduction of Nyx into his life and his bed. Now when he went about his routine, he did so as quietly as possible to let Nyx rest more. Before then, he’d sometimes played music and danced all by himself for his exercise, but now that just made him lonely, and when he was lonely he was tempted to wake Nyx up dance with him and missed him more when he wasn’t there. It was worth the loss, though, for the way his pillows smelled like Nyx when he went back to bed.

The first major change had been the tea he used. He’d started out with just a basic herbal tea he had vaguely recalled someone telling him was good for helping sleep when he was a kid. But one of his comrades had come over to drop off some paperwork for…something. He didn’t even remember anymore. Anyway, they had come by and made fun of his tea collection, calling him a superstitious septuagenarian, and Cor had rescinded his offer and kicked the laughing soldier out of his house. The next day he’d found a collection of fine teas from Cavaugh proper in his inbox, and he’d gotten a different variety every year on the dot.

It had proved to be a useful addition, as not only were the teas excellent, it helped to serve as a benchmark of what year he was in, a tether he could trace back to other memories of things that had happened, good and ill, since he’d started this blend and grounded him in the reminder of what was real and important. Nyx, once he’d started to come to Cor’s apartment for more than just waiting around while Cor changed into casual clothes, had offered detailed critiques of each blend and helped him use up some of the back-logs of the ones he hadn’t quite finished when the year was up, but Cor tried not to think that hard about them. He just liked them, as he’d liked each one.

Tonight, as he stared down in horror at the cup he’d prepared as he so often had before, the tea was just an awful reminder that his nightmare was all too real. Titus Drautos was the man behind Glauca’s mask, and had betrayed each of them and all the glaives under his command too many times to count, and nearly caused both Nyx and him to die less than a month ago. That wasn’t just his brain playing out worst-case scenarios, it was a literal flashback.

Titus Drautos, who had given him this tea.

It was like with his routine interrupted, he couldn’t move on, literally or figurative. Cor sat staring at his cooling tea, feeling the tears leaking out one by one against his will but was helpless to do anything about either. Titus had been his friend, and Titus had tried to have him killed. Tried to kill him himself, multiple times. Titus had given him this tea, and Titus had let Nyx be poisoned. Poisoned and starved and beaten and all but broken. Titus had continued this little joke and support and vital part of Cor’s life for twenty years, and every single one of them he had been working against everything Cor loved. Cor’s tears turned to full-blown sobs, and he tried to muffle his gasped breaths into his palm, turning away from the damning cup and box of tea. Titus Drautos didn’t deserve his grief. And if Cor hadn’t been smart enough to figure out what was happening, he didn’t deserve to mourn the world he thought had been.

That’s where Nyx found him, shoulders heaving and throat aching from suppressing the noise, his free hand in a death grip on the table. “What’s wrong, Cor?” he asked, limping over on his crutches.

Cor shook his head, fighting harder to control his breath, to get himself under control. He was better than this, and Nyx didn’t deserve the extra stress. Cor hadn’t ever suspected Titus, hadn’t been able to prevent Nyx from getting hurt, and now he’d made him get up in the middle of the night and come get him when Nyx couldn’t even walk without pain. What was he even good for anyway? He turned further away as if he could hide what was happening and tried to force his breathing to calm down. This wasn’t helping anyone.

“Oh, Cor,” Nyx said softly, voice thick with his own pain. “I— Just let it out, I got you.” Cor shook his head but couldn’t stop the tears. Nyx hobbled by him and squeezed his shoulder hard, then rubbed it back and forth a few times, facing toward the kitchen so that Cor had some semblance of privacy. “I got you,” he repeated with one last stroke along Cor’s shoulder, before snatching his mug and hobbling off to the kitchen in what in any other circumstance Cor would have admired as an impressive show of dexterity.

There was the sound of running water and what was presumably his mug being rinsed out, and then something being wrung out before Nyx headed back. Cor had calmed enough by that time that he could hear it, at least, even if he couldn’t yet open his eyes or lift his head. He scrubbed at his eyes before he tried to muffle himself again, ashamed of the almost hiccupping breaths that came after most of the tears were gone.

Nyx eased himself into a chair and stoked a hand along the side of Cor’s face a few times, then back down across his shoulder. “C’mon, Cor, breath for me,” he coaxed, and Cor shook his head more out of stubbornness than any disagreement. Nyx forced out a chuckle and moved his hand to Cor’s chest, rubbing circles there until Cor’s breathing had calmed and he could pull his hands away.

“There you are,” Nyx said fondly. “Now are you going to let me have my turn helping you?” Cor nodded mutely, voice still not cooperating yet.

Nyx seemed to take it as his own cue for silence, because he lifted a warm, wet towel to Cor’s cheeks without another word, gently wiping away the tear tracks before drying his face with what felt like Nyx’s sleep shirt. Cor’s mouth quirked up without his input, but it was kinda funny; of course Nyx hadn’t thought to get a dry towel as well.

“Ha ha,” Nyx mocked, but he was clearly somewhat amused at his own expense as well. “I was worried about you, not thinking that far ahead.” There was a swoosh and then a wet thunk as Nyx tossed the used towel back into the sink, something Cor would normally object to but in this case saved him several exhausting steps with his bad leg.

Cor opened his mouth to say something about times like this being the reason Titus didn’t trust Nyx’s planning skills but cut himself off before he could say a word. He could feel the tears coming back and tried to turn away, angry at himself. Nyx stopped him with a firm hand on his jaw, and then there were warm lips on his cheeks, kissing away the traitorous – ha! – tears. “Its okay to cry, you know. At least that’s what you told me. Were you lying to me?” he teased, his own voice thick. Cor shook his head and was rewarded with another kiss to each cheek and Nyx’s other hand coming up to stroke his hair.

“Then everything’s fine, Cor. I’m here as long as you need me to be.”

So Cor just let himself breathe through the pain, not trying to talk or do anything but lean on Nyx’s strong hand and listen to the air moving in and out of both their lungs.

A small eternity later, Cor leaned back and blinked open his eyes to see Nyx smiling wryly at him in the dim light from the kitchen. “There’re my blue eyes,” he said, voice still low and soothing. “Though I have to admit, red is not your color,” he added, voice and smirk sharpening. Cor figured he had used up his childish points for the month and so resisted sticking his tongue out at his boyfriend, or, more accurately to Cor’s actual childhood, biting him. Instead, he lifted his lip to show his disapproval and levered himself to his feet as Nyx snickered at him, then followed suit more slowly.

Cor reached out a hand to cup under his elbow in support as Nyx sorted out his crutches, earning himself a fond smile before Nyx started his slow way back to the bedroom. “Now c’mon. Shower time for you. I don’t want to disrupt your routine,” he threw back over his shoulder.

“No, we couldn’t have that,” Cor agreed as he turned to follow, ignoring the tin of tea still out on the table. “That would be the worst.”

“The absolute worst.” Nyx agreed, still stubbornly leading him on.

#and get some answers #ffxv #cor leonis #nyx ulric #cornyx #smoke and mirrors #my fics #garbria #ask games #an extra scene to tide you over #sorry for any ooc-ness from Cor

5 notes · View notes

createandconstruct · 3 years

Note

My fav scene in FF9, is right at the end of burmecia when Beatrix party wipes you. Up until that point you felt like a hero (through Zidane generally) who is galavanting through a fantasy world. Yeah there are dark aspects like in the village of Dali, the war, and why the black waltz exist. But they are all things you could overcome with enough grit, can do attitude, and a bit of luck. But in Burmecia things are different, the devestation already happened, the heroes weren't there. And throughout this Freya is struggling between her guilt and pain at leaving to chase after her love, only to come back to the place she once protected covered in death and destruction. Even Zidane can't pull a brave face, its bleak and clearly so.

And then we finally see Beatrix, the woman who stole Fratley from Freya, standing and taking orders from the queen and her assistany as if she was some common knave. And I think that thought is what spurred Freya on, the fact the woman who turned Freya's world grey was just a lapdog to the queen.

During the fight proper, I imagine Freya being filled with too much fury to think logically. Zidane knows Beatrix, everyone does, and he's only fighting to stop his friend from killing herself upon Beatrix's sword. And then, all of that didn't matter.

Thats the most amazing, and horrific part. None of it mattered to Kuja, Brahne, or Beatrix, just another interruption (obviously Kuja was enjoying the show, but it wasn't pivotal to him.) And we as the player feel just as helpless, as powerless, and in some cases just as weak was Freya was feeling. It is such a good and poignant way to get the players to emphasize with the characters and doesn't feel heavy handed/forced.

This is such an absolutely perfect analysis of why Burmecia is such a potent part of FFIX. The only thing I can add to this phenomenal breakdown is my own experience which I think reflects how well the game forces the player to feel the tonal shift that comes from Burmecia. And how it does so using Garnet and Zidane's argument after the Harvest Festival.

I remember playing the game for the first time and during Disc 1, when the Burmecia soldier crawls his way into the royal chambers to inform Cid and Lindblum of the attack on Burmeica, and absolutely not jiving with Zidane's perspective and attitude towards Garnet. Garnet demands to come with him and Freya to Burmecia so that she can confront her mother and hopefully stop the war that has already begun. We've been given small hints that Brahne's plans for Garnet are maybe not entirely good-natured and motherly (calling her 'wretched girl' not great mothering) but there isn't any true evidence of malice, yet. The Black Waltzes that came before also all spared Garnet of any harm and so as a player (at least for me) its possible to think that Garnet could be the one person to stop Brahne.

Also, at this point, Garnet has been an integral member of the party as a healer and she's been struggling with her own shortcomings that you want to see her overcome. Despite her work and effort, her own planning and consideration for Alexandria and her mother weren't as original as she thought. Cid was steps ahead of her, already planning to evacuate her from Alexandria (and it was not for plans of collaboration with her on how to stop war but instead to keep her safe from it). And so Garnet argues to come along so she doesn't get left behind and anyone who doesn't want to lose their healer would agree. As Brahne's daughter she could be the one person who can talk sense into the war-bound woman. The tone of the game at this point makes it seem like a possible card that could be played.

Yet for the first time Zidane says no. And as the player I found the way he spoke to her condensing and his argument lacking. And you're exactly right: with enough grit what can't the party face? They've done it thus far after all. That's what's running through the players ahead. Instead Zidane doesn't exude that confidence. He simply asks Garnet how she felt seeing the soldier die and questions her attitude in the face of war, which she has never experienced. Even freaking Steiner agrees with Zidane, after Garnet has knocked out the party, telling her its not her battle to join, and one he would never wish her to. Without Ultimania's added info to Steiner's character you could interpret it that Steiner once served as a solider for Alexandria in the previous Gaian wars however it makes sense that now (with Ultimania) he was speaking of his experience as a child orphaned by war. We later see that Garnet does take some of this heart as she doesn't venture to Burmecia but instead to Alexandira so she can directly face the source of the problem and avoid the battlefield.

During this whole scene I was on Garnet's side and I think the game intends you to be. At this point Zidane has been swinging and missing with her because of his own developing feelings and insecurities (he pulls a line on her that he used on another girl, uses a date with her as a reward for Vivi, and then seemingly looks down on her) all while Garnet has been faced with the limits of her title and her own power as person. By the start of the war, Garnet and Zidane aren't on the same page and as a player you can feel that, it just depends on who you side with. Though tonally, it feels right to side with Garnet. Her view of war (or specifically her mother) and your ability to overcome it as the player are in tune.

And so you have the original core party splitting in half. It's awesome to watch Garnet declare and fight for her own agency in this conflict, doing all she can to save her mother, kingdom, and others from this brewing war. It's refreshing to see a female character fight back when male characters stress her naivety and ignorance, and there's expectation that the characters will all reach Burmecia together and Garnet will prove Zidane and the others wrong.

But... then you reach Gizmaluke's Grotto. Bodies litter the entrance and your path. You make your way through and hit Disc 2 and after we learn that Garnet and Steiner have aimed their path towards Alexandria (unbeknownst to Zidane and co.) the fun lighthearted fantasy world ends. The battles you could take single-handedly are over. You find North Gate which Freya declares smells of blood and smoke and you walk your way to the gates of Burmecia....

...and you understand Zidane's words. When that soldier crawled his way to Lindblum, only to die at everyone's feet, war had already begun. While the party waits for the gate of Burmecia to open innocent people have already been killed and are being killed. When you visit North Gate before the Ice Cavern Alexandria has raised its war banner, and now they have attacked. There is no matter of convincing Brahne of anything, at this point, she must be stopped. Yet when you arrive at Burmecia you're already far too late. A kingdom and its people have been decimated. The corpses of citizens are strewn about in the city streets. Zidane only prays Garnet hadn't come this way.

At some point when reflecting on the game I realized the weight behind Zidane's original words I had found condescending towards Garnet. He questions her feeling of sadness towards war because he knows his own. He's afraid. At the prospect of war even Zidane is scared and by walking through the ruins of Freya's home, you know why. Watching Beatrix, Brahne, and Kuja think nothing of the loss and destruction they've caused you know why. The game shows you the true colors of war and while Garnet knows the significance she does not know (or rather cannot yet remember) the experience of it which is why she can still face her mother, the perpetrator, with hope of change and pacifism. Such a realization hit me hard. Add it to the list of why FFIX is incredible.

#asks #cowgirldick #thank you for that name by the way it made me chortle #ffix #final fantasy ix #garnet til alexandros #zidane tribal #freya #final fantasy 9 #long post #another day another ffix essay

52 notes · View notes

sevi007 · 4 years

Text

Other little tidbits for the FFVII gang that keep going through my head today:

* Vincent is a cat lover and cats love him too (this gets especially hilarious when every cat runs from Cloud and Vincent cannot understand how Cloud manages to do that because cats are so nice)

* Everybody - but Cid and Barret especially - just about keeled over when they figured out that Yuffie is only 16. “You’re a CHILD!” - “Am not! You take that back right now, old man!” - “WHO LET YOU GO ON THIS JOURNEY ALONE”

* Generally everybody just using Vincent’s coat as an umbrella

* Barret gives best (comfort) hugs ever

* There’s a running joke that there’s basically no responsible adult in the group beside maybe Tifa and Nanaki

* The connected joke to this is that Vincent is the grandpa, but spending 3 decades in a coffin rules him out of the “responsible” race

* Big cuddle piles whenever they camp outside

* Alternatively, hugging Nanaki almost always makes everyone feel better because he’s fluffy and warm and rumbles in what he insists is not a purr the whole time

* Cid is responsible for all repairs on their weapons and other stuff mechanical

* Yuffie tries to teach Aerith and Tifa ninja fighting techniques because “every girl should know how to use a kunai”

* Cloud might not remember it, but he used to help his mother do her hair every morning, so he suprises everyone by expertly helping Aerith with her braid one morning. He ends up braiding Tifa’s hair, too, since she wants to try it .

* Cloud, Vincent and Barret give piggy back rides to the others when one is too tired ot travel further and / or hurt still and they have not enough energy to use healing materia

* Yuffie huddles against Cloud’s side and talks about everything and nothing whenever they fly or drive because of his motion sickness. He rarely answers her chattering but is glad for it nonetheless

* Aerith might still not like the sky too much, but when everyone gathers around Cid to listen to him explain the stars and constellations, spiking the whole thing with stories of how they got their place up in the night sky and everyone argues that the story sound like something he would make up (”cuz there’s a suspicious amount of swearing and smoking in those stories”), she’s always the one who has the best time out of all of them

* Barret misses telling bed time stories to Marlene so much, he ends up regaling the others with stories - slightly more age appropriate than the ones for his sweetheart - and couldn’t have been prouder when basically everyone sleeps peacefully like a baby afterwards.

#ffvii gang #headcanon #ffvii #ffvii remake #cloud strife #yuffie kisaragi #vincent valentine #barret wallace #tifa lockhart #cid highwind #nanaki #red xiii #aerith gainsborough

280 notes · View notes

echoes-of-the-clockwork · 4 years

Text

Book Three: Pestilence (Ignis x Reader) Chapter Fifteen

A/n: I leave a small inkling as to who War was in her past life at the end of this chapter. Her whole backstory will be revealed in the next book. Love you all!!! ••••••••••••••••••••

"Hand over the orb, Ignis," (Y/n) ordered, her form looming over the advisor's as she remained on the stone railing. "I would abhor in reclaiming it by force."

Ignis shook his head, rejecting her strict command. "Enough of this!" He shouted angrily, shocking the Horseman. He lunged forward, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her off the railing. She tumbled from the force, but she was able to keep from falling. Before she could break free and push him away, he released his hold on her wrist and both of his gloved hands grabbed her face.

Shocked to the core, Pestilence took a few steps back and her lower back came in contact with the railing. His hands remained on her cheeks as he followed her movement. Feeling his gentle touch and seeing the turmoil in his jade eyes made all plans of escaping annul. She placed her hands on the railing behind her to keep from tipping over it. The only things she could hear were her thunderous heart and the heavy rain. She bit her bottom lip, rolling it between her teeth before releasing it and finally shattering the suffocating silence. "Why're you so stubborn?"

"You are the obdurate one," Ignis responded.

Without another word, their lips were connected. The kiss felt like it last for hours, but it only lasted a few seconds. (Y/n) was the one to break the exchange, pulling away from Ignis. "A kiss will not mend my past or change my mind. It would be for your good as well as the others to go our separate ways." She placed her hands on his chest and gently pushed him away from her.

"Your unforeseen arrival allowed us to accomplish strenuous feats we would have failed on our lonesome," Ignis stated matter-of-factly, refusing to let go of her in fear of her vanishing out of his life for good. "The annihilation of Silas and his men was necessary and unavoidable. You simply performed the burdensome task of eliminating a threat to us and innocent civilians."

(Y/n) closed her eyes once Ignis' hands fell from her cheeks. She slumped forward, her head resting against his chest. "Answer me truthfully, Ignis. My hands are tainted with the blood of men and will continue to keep killing. Am I a monster?"

"Far from one," Ignis answers without even having to think. "Edric was a hellion. Raiden's blood is on his hands, not yours."

(Y/n) seemed relieved at hearing his answer. She didn't doubt his response and felt the catalyst of her sorrows be quelled. She knew this was her second breakdown and felt ashamed of her behavior. But once again, Ignis was the one who picked the pieces up and put them back together. She was thankful for his patience with her and was overjoyed to know a person like him loves her.

They were startled when the Regalia's horn blared. The couple stepped away from each other and glanced toward the vehicle. Knowing from the horn, they knew the others were growing restless and were desperately wanting to return to Cape Caem.

Without wasting another minute, Ignis and (Y/n) headed to the car. The Horseman ended up sitting in the front seat, both her and the tactician soaked to the bone. The boys in the backseat were grinning as they eyed the two. None of them said a word as they departed from Taelpar Crag.

<------<<<<<

Arriving at Cape Caem, the rain had ceased, but the stormy clouds above remained. While Noctis, Prompto, and Gladio checked in with Cid and Cindy, Ignis and (Y/n) headed to the house to dry off and warm up.

Pestilence's outfit wasn't difficult to dry. It only took a few minutes thanks to her magic to dry her clothes. Afterward, she decided to wander to the room next to hers, which is currently being occupied by Ignis. She, without announcing her presence, pushed the door open and stepped into the room. His back was turned to her as he was now adorned in a striped dress shirt with his hair in the normal spiky style. Her bare feet padded against the hardwood floor gently, the small sound being enough for the strategist to detect.

Ignis turned around at hearing the faint sound. "(Y/n), what are-?" His eyes widen as she suddenly pushed him down onto the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, bewildered and paralyzed at her action. His body began tensing up as he felt her mount the bed and straddle his waist.

Looming above Ignis, (Y/n) placed her hands on his chest as she leant down slightly to stare into his emerald eyes. She searched them for any indication if he wanted her to move, but she found nothing but confusion and shock. She wondered if he was going to say something, but he didn't even mutter a word. Seeing this, she bent her elbows and lowered herself more. When their faces were only a few inches apart, she stopped. "Of all the people you could possibly have, you chose a reanimated corpse. Why would you choose a woman who's past is tainted by the blood of others?"

Ignis reached up, placing a hand against her cheek. "You've displayed no ill intent toward myself or the others. Must I also remind you of when you saved my life?"

(Y/n) leaned into his touch, smiling down at him. "Is that when your infatuation began? You'd only known me for nearly a day."

"No," he confesses. "But I am truly grateful and indebted to you for your brazen action. Our early morning chats were truly the origin of my fixation for you."

The Horseman huffed out a small giggle. "You truly are an honest man, Ignis. I must confess-I'm bewildered no woman has won your heart except for me." She leant down to steal a kiss but froze when she heard the door opening. Looking to her right, she saw Gladio standing in the doorway with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Am I interrupting somethin'?" He asked, eyeing the couple.

"We were just talking," (Y/n) responds casually, still straddling Ignis' waist.

"In that position?" The shield asked with an arched brow.

The ivory-haired girl tossed a grin in Gladio's direction. "Yes," she replies before changing the subject. "Was there something you needed, Gladio?"

He chuckled at her smooth transition. "We're ready to depart for Altissia. The only people missing are you two."

(Y/n) removed herself from Ignis' body and climbed off the bed. "You four were recently captured by a madman. I suggest you postpone the trip to Altissia for a day in order to get some proper rest. The boat will still be there in the morning."

"I must also insist our departure be delayed," Ignis said.

Gladio has no qualms, feeling the exhaustion overtake his body. "Alright. I'll tell the kids," he teased before closing the door and leaving the couple to themselves.

<------<<<<<

The next morning, the boys went on ahead down the elevator while (Y/n) checked on Erra. Once she saw he wasn't in need of anything, she headed to the docking bay below the lighthouse. Before she could step foot onto the lift, she heard a familiar voice from behind her. "You seem to be cozying up next to that fellow with the glasses."

Pestilence spun on her heels and faced War with a stoic expression. "Well, a "hello" to you, too, dear sister."

"What do you plan on doing the moment you defeat the draugr? You have to return to the Inner Sanctum. Death, Famine, and I can't keep all the monsters in line," War stated. "What if those damned things break the seal again? If you're here on Eos, then we won't be able to repair the seal."

"I know where my duties lie, War," the white-haired Horseman sighed. "The draugr is all that remains. Hopefully by the time I slay the creature, my resolve to return to the Inner Sanctum won't be shaken."

"The closer you get to him, the harder it will be to leave," War scoffed, crossing her arms. "Y'know, I expected this from Famine, but not you. Break your ties with him and the others before it's too late."

(Y/n) looked down at the ground between the crimson-haired girl's feet. "You speak as if I know not of the consequences of my ties to these men. All of us deserve a slither of joy even if it is fleeting. When have you ever been truly happy since your resurrection as the Horseman of crusade?"

War fell silent. She already knew the answer to the question, but she didn't want to admit there was truth in her sister's words. In the end, she feigned annoyance and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest. "Do as you wish. I'm not gonna try and stop you. I know you know what you're doing, but be careful, Pestilence." With that, she vanished into a puff of scarlet smoke.

With a heavy sigh, (Y/n) stared at the spot her sister once stood for a few seconds before heading to the lift. As she stepped off the elevator once it reaches the docking bay, she heard an unfamiliar voice. "Something I gotta get off my chest."

"What's that?" She heard Noctis question.

"I'm sorry," the unfamiliar voice replied. "Sorry I wasn't there for your father. I swore an oath to protect the king, but I wasn't strong enough to uphold it."

"Ain't nothin' nobody could've done to stop what happened," another unrecognizable person said.

"Yeah, I realize that," the ravenette responded.

(Y/n) silenced her bare feet, feeling the cold metal as she walked down the stairs. No one noticed her quiet approach, glancing toward the older gentleman as he spoke up with a southern drawl. "But you need to realize just what you mean to the boys by your side."

Noctis was silent for a few seconds before nodding. "I do."

"Even if they can't solve your problems, you can't hide what's goin' on from 'em. It hurts like hell. Remember-those ain't your bodyguards, they're your brothers. Trust in 'em. Always."

The Horseman clasped her hands together with a smile as she was reminded of her sisters. They may not have been blood-related, but they were her family and she wouldn't trade them for anyone else on Eos.

The younger man of the two strangers turned around and spotted her smiling at them. He bowed his head politely, knowing exactly who she is. "It's an honor to meet you, Pestilence."

"Wait," Noctis spoke up after the marshal's formal greeting. "You know (Y/n)?"

"His late Majesty held the Four Horsemen in high regards," the man responded as he lifted his head. "I never expected you four to be traveling with one of the Horsemen, but I must confess it is an excellent decision. Our king will be needing all the protection he can get."

"They would be perfectly fine without me shadowing them," (Y/n) stated.

"No," the man denied. "I feel even more at ease knowing you are standing beside His Majesty. Who knows what the empire has planned next."

The snowy-haired girl was eased when hearing the man's approval. She peered at him as she thought back to all the times Death had visited Insomnia and mentioned only a few people by name. "Are you Cor, perchance?"

The marshal nodded. "Yes. It seems Death has mentioned me once or twice."

"As her role as liaison between Insomnia and the Inner Sanctum, she has mentioned you on occasion. A pleasure to finally put a face to the name, Marshal."

Cor couldn't help but smirk at her formality. "You truly are the prim and proper one out of the bunch."

"Someone has to be," she grinned in amusement.

After her chat with Cor, (Y/n) headed over to the boat while the boys chatted with the older man, which she learned his name was Cid. Her thoughts wandered to her conversation with War, knowing she would have to severe her bond with the boys sooner or later. She detested the thought of breaking Ignis' heart and cutting loose the others since they were her friends. Her hand slowly moved up, coming to rest over her heart as it ached.

"Waitin' for an invitation? Get your asses on board!" Cid proclaimed, shocking the Horseman out of her thoughts.

She blinked a few times at his sudden proclamation and didn't realize the others were aboard the ship, waiting for her.

"Hey, (Y/n), you comin'?" Noctis asked the Horseman as he peered over the side of the ship and down at her.

The young girl looked up at him with a forced smile. "Oh, my apologies, Noctis. I was lost in thought."

Gladio pokes his head over the side of the boat, smirking down at her. "You better get on before we leave you behind."

She climbed aboard just as Cid started the boat's engine. She walked over to the side, placing her hands on the metal railing that aligned the sides of the vessel. She stared down at the water as the boat slowly pulls away from the dock.

"Hey! Your Majesty!" The boys and girl heard Talcott shout. They glanced toward the small boy as he stood beside Iris.

"What's up?" Noctis asked as the boat began to pick up speed.

"Please come back soon! We need our king!"

Noctis smiled with a nod. "Yeah. Count on it."

Talcott and Iris wave goodbye. Noctis waves back as (Y/n) smiles at the two, standing beside the azure-eyed boy.

"You truly are loved by your kingdom, Noctis," Pestilence comments in a hushed whisper, reminiscing in the time War shared her past with her. The redhead and raven-haired boy were complete opposites, but their positions were nearly the same. She couldn't even imagine supporting an entire nation on her shoulders like her sister once did.

What (Y/n) didn't know was Noctis had heard her. Before he could say a word, she was headed toward the others. Deciding to ignore her seemingly sad words, he followed after her.

The Horseman sat on the plush, leather seat beside Ignis as the boat sped across the surface of the gleaming ocean. She stared out in the direction of Altissia, wondering how much the city has changed since her time on Eos. She placed a hand over her heart. "I pray not too much..."

#ffxv x reader #ffxv #final fantasy xv x reader #final fantasy xv #ignis x reader #ignis scientia #prompto argentum #gladiolus amicitia #Noctis Lucis Caelum

5 notes · View notes

starswornoaths · 5 years

Text

A Shard of Eternity

This is my Secret Santa gift for my Secret Santa partner: @anpan-chan! @aetherstitch was kind enough to host a secret santa this year, and I’m delighted to be able to participate! I hope this is to your liking!!! \o/

nondescript WoL/Exarch, spoilers for all of 5.0 and the 2.0 tower raids under the cut!!! (I kept it nondescript mostly out of fear of getting your WoL wrong, but I am also more than happy to change anything you want!)

The first time the Warrior of Light is mentioned by name, it takes everything in you not to roll your eyes. Another high and mighty adventurer who got a little lucky here and there, from what you had gleaned from the whispers around Saint Coinach’s Find. It had bearing on neither your research nor your work, and so you paid it little mind and went back to your books.

Rammbroes interupts your reading, as he often does, asking you to scout ahead of this supposed Warrior of Light that is coming to gather what is needed to venture further into Syrcus Tower. You resist the urge to snort— scout ahead of a vaunted hero to ensure their safety? If they truly were just like the heroes in the fairy tales, it would stand to reason that this Warrior of Light would be more than able to handle themselves.

Still, the request does present an opportunity to test their heroism and cunning for yourself, and so you leave for the Shroud with a swish of your tail, a bow at your back, and a book tucked in the crook of your arm.

This Warrior of Light fancies themself a hero, do they? You aim to make them prove it.

They follow along with your little game of cat and mouse, despite how tired they look of it all from the first moment you call to them through the treetops. Halfway through the chase, you aren’t entirely certain who is the hunter and who is the hunted. It was...fascinating, seeing them follow your clues and give in to your goading with a dogged, foolhardy curiosity tempered by the sort of cunning that kept you on your toes, kept you scrambling to stay the more clever of the two of you.

You hate to admit it, but it thrills you.

Still, the thrill does not outweigh the promise of getting closer than you’ve ever got to unlocking the secrets of Allag, and so you reveal yourself with a flourish at the game’s end. The Warrior of Light is sardonic with their traded quips, barbless but all the same sharp as they are. There’s a cleverness to them, you note on your way back to the Sons of Saint Coinach, and the glimmer in their eyes makes you wonder how often they’re allowed to be clever.

When you return to Rammbroes with your newfound companion you watch, a little dismayed, as that wit is hidden behind the mask of professional indifference, behind stoic nods and two word answers, because the hero is rarely allowed to be clever outside of their use. Seeing it happen before you reminds you of younger years best forgotten, where others would mock you for your red eye while manipulating you for your intellect in school.

It’s almost frightening how readily you become the perfect picture of the hero’s merry companion, ready to catch some of the glory for yourself. Luck permitting, more than just some.

For you are G’raha Tia, after all, and aught less than being remembered in the annals of history for all time would just not do.

“Do you think yourself clever?” The Warrior of Light asks you one night at Saint Coinach’s Find.

A glib answer dances on your tongue, ready to be used as a shield like you’ve done for years now against those who mocked your romanticism for fairytales and legends. Ordinarily, it is bittersweet, sharp cunning and bitter loneliness make for a poor taste on the palatte. But tonight, with the stars hanging heavy overhead and their eyes looking at you in that quietly ponderous way, you feel...safe. Safe enough to be honest, if only a little.

“I am all but certain of it.” You reply with a grin. “It’s kept me alive for this long.”

“Good.” They seem satisfied, nodding. “I think you’re brilliant, you know? For someone with the bravado you’ve got, though, you keep that brilliance quiet. Why?”

You are prepared for neither the compliment nor the question that follows, and it takes longer than you’d like to answer.

“I like seeing others be brilliant, too.” You finally admit in a soft voice.

Because you do— and you’ve especially liked seeing their brilliance as they pushed through Syrcus Tower, through the mysteries writ in the pages of the ancients and scrawled on the walls of their tombs.

Their hand on yours sends a shockwave through you— you had not expected touch, much less one so gentle from a hero so used to exerting great strength. Yet to look up at their bright eyes, you see a different sort of strength that you aren’t sure you can even name.

“I like seeing you be brilliant, too, G’raha Tia.” They reply quietly.

You tell yourself that squeezing their hand is just to calm your heart, and that looking up at the stars is because they are soothing, and not at all because you’re terrified of the warmth that suffuses through you. You pretend you’re not terrified of missing that warmth when the time comes to part.

You couldn’t resist sealing yourself away in the tower when the opportunity presented itself. Part of it was a want to be a hero yourself— after all the feats of great power, integrity, and heroism that not only the Warrior of Light, but those around them, exuded, you feel it only fitting that you be given an eternity to try and reach for the same heights.

“My destiny lies in the future.” You say with clear conviction, the doors closing in behind you.

Cid promises to work to build a future that you would be proud of, and it humbles you. The Warrior of Light’s eyes are so bright as they look at you, too bright for you to truly read. You feel as though even with eternity all but gift wrapped for you, you will never truly understand what they’re thinking. You’re all but certain that even given eternity, you couldn’t even find the words to ask.

“Goodnight, G’raha Tia.” They say in a soft voice, but the look on their face is one of pain.

You let their words carry you to slumber, and try not to think on how you might have hurt them. Better to forget. They will be gone by the time you awake, besides, you remind yourself somberly.

And you dream of tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes too soon, and with the smell of ashes, smoke, and ceruleum.

The people who managed to crack into Syrcus Tower had scarcely even known to look for you, had thought mentions of you waiting like a sleeping prince high in his castle has been the stuff of fairytales. They look at you with soot covered faces and wide, haunted eyes, and you understand before they’ve explained anything that everything has gone wrong.

You just aren’t prepared for how thoroughly it’s all gone up in flames.

Even though you had accepted that you’d wake up long after your friends from the Sons of Saint Coinach and the Warrior of Light were dead, you’re still woefully unprepared to see their graves. Less so because of how they all died.

You’re told the Warrior of Light fell first, that the Black Rose had claimed them in the midst of battle because the Empire hadn’t been able to handle losing for once. It boils your blood, knowing they— and everyone they had inspired to fight alongside them— were slaughtered by a weapon with no counter. By a coward’s invisible guillotine.

It’s almost frightening how quickly you are incandescent with rage for them. For Cid, for everyone who had fought to keep Cid’s promise to you, robbed of the chance to do so.

The anger only grows in your breast as you read the recorded tales of the Warrior of Light, of one Lord Edmont de Fortemps’ account of how they ended the Dragonsong War, of Lord Hien’s illustrated tales of how the Warrior of Light liberated two nations from the tyranny of an Imperial Regime.

The Warrior of Light, inspiration to all who met them and beyond, had become the sort of person you read about in texts of historical legends, in fairytales. A hero, in every sense of the word.

They deserved better than this.

So you focus on the fact that, in some twisted way, Cid had kept his promise to you: the prospects of this timeline were bleak, but the collaborative efforts of everyone rallying for the sake of saving the Warrior of Light— a fable to these people for how many centuries had passed— showed you that perhaps there was still light within the shadow.

All the same, you would see this shadow banished before it was ever cast at all.

You try to commit to memory the names and faces of everyone who you left behind, being sent to the First. For a time, you manage most of them, though you are made to endure a century of waiting and planning, and by the end of it you have to remind yourself of your own name.

The Crystal Exarch? G’raha Tia? Was there even room for the both of you that now coincided in that half shimmering, half shivering body that was only yet half yours?

For all the knowledge of the Tower, you find no answer. So you ask different questions as you go: what will help the people in this world, in this moment? What sort of world did you want to present to the Warrior of Light when you see them again?

The Crystarium takes the shape, takes the light, takes the land around the Tower, and becomes a home to all those drawn to its hopeful, glimmering beacon. A monument to hope, in memoriam to hope’s greatest chamion.

You certainly hope that it is enough.

You had thought the years had tempered your arrogance, though with the five failed attempts at drawing the Warrior of Light to the First staring up at you in varying degrees of bewildered and enraged you realize, perhaps, that you were mistaken. Your research— ever meticulous, even a century on —had told you their names and what roles they had played alongside the Warrior of Light, before the Eighth Umbral Calamity.

You knew which one you could trust with the truth.

Uriangier seemed reluctant to agree to your plan of secrecy, but you recalled the tales of his false duplicity during the time during and after the Dragonsong War. You knew he would ultimately capitulate.

The others were more reluctant to trust— most ultimately didn’t at all. You couldn’t fault them, even if that had complicated the plan a bit.

They were like you: side characters to the hero. They would fall into place when the time was right, you were certain.

So you reached out a sixth time with a foci and an implanted dream in the Warrior’s mind, and pulled.

It doesn’t surprise you how reluctant they are to trust you, the moment you meet them at the gates of the Crystarium. It’s to be expected; even without five other instances to serve as warning, they were never ones to trust strangers with stranger powers than they had seen before. You suspect you are the strangest that have come across yet. It’s a little flattering.

Even as you welcome them, you note that their eyes rarely stray from the Crystal Tower looming overhead. It’s hard to tamp down on the ancient, buried hope that you were remembered, that you were missed. Surely you were but a blip on their radar, a passing ship in the eye of a storm they sailed straight into.

You are scarcely through explaining that you came from the tower when you are cut off.

“You came from the tower?” The Warrior of Light’s wide, startled eyes snap to you. There’s something akin to a recluctant hope there, one you are reluctant to define. “There was— there was someone dear to me. His name was G’raha Tia. He sealed himself away in there. Know anything about that?”

There is a moment, only one, where you have to reconcile what you presumed and what was true. You don’t know what to make of the knowledge that, perhaps, you meant more to them than you had thought.

“I found no one by that name in the tower.” You dance around the truth with something that is technically not a lie.

“And you’re certain there was no one named G’raha Tia in that tower?” The Warrior presses with eyes sharper than you remembered.

“No one that I found.” You reply, and remind yourself of your convictions as you move on.

G’raha Tia was not in that tower, after all, and had not been in some time.

“Do you think yourself clever?” The Warrior of Light asks you on the first night Norvrandt has had in a century.

There is a moment where you are a century younger and have no other title than a name you were given at birth, no power but a bow at your back and an eye that you ache to see the secrets of, and you have to remind yourself of the years in your bones and the weight of the parts of you the tower claimed before you can answer.

“Just clever enough to get by.” You settle on, biting back words from a younger you that looked out on a starry sky like this one a world and a lifetime away.

You sit in silence that is both companionable and weighty. You can feel how many questions your old friend has for you, and you are glad they do not ask. You would not answer them, much as you want to.

You can’t. You mustn’t.

So when they heave a sigh and rise to their feet with a soft, “Goodnight,” you pretend it doesn’t hurt that you can’t just be honest with them, knowing your heart so much better than you did when you were so much younger.

All the power in the universe at your fingertips, and still you can’t reach out to close the distance. You tell yourself that it’s all worth it, just to save them.

You tell yourself that’s enough.

The more Lightwardens they defeat, the more it’s easy to see them disappearing behind the blinding light they absorb. It frightens you, even as you try to put it out of your mind. They’re a hero, you remind yourself— and Uriangier, who comes to you in his own moment of doubt. They will be fine.

You will see to it yourself, even knowing what it will cost you.

When there is so little of the Warrior of Light left that they are scarcely able to stay conscious, when the skies are filled with light across all of Norvrandt as they are poised to become one of the very horrors they had been fighting against and all seems lost, you come to them.

Your posturing as a villain is a poor showing, but you try anyway. It’s the least you can do, ease their guilt, help them not miss you or feel as though they could have saved you. They couldn’t. And you did not want them to.

This plan was too carefully crafted, too many years of waiting and scheming and lying have led to this moment. You will not falter. You will save them. It doesn’t matter that they see your face now and know your lies, know your secrets. You will not be around for the aftermath anyway, and they will all be free.

“G’raha Tia!” They cry out as you begin to cast the spell that will take the light from them.

You hesitate. Blinking away the tears in your eyes you offer them the first real, genuine smile free of the cowl and cowardice. You tell them that it’s going to be alright. That they will be alright.

The sharp crack of lightning that broke the sky was not lightning at all, you realize when you felt your abdomen grow cold, felt the air leave your lungs. Your concentration shatters as you look down to see the blood blossoming on your robes like a lily.

You’ve been shot.

Attempts to regain your focus are fleeting and weak, weak like your legs giving out under you. No...no! You’ve gone so long planning, done so much and lost so much and hurt so much, it can’t end here! It can’t end like this!

You close your eyes and dream of tomorrow again.

When you are more aware of yourself and your surroundings, the Warrior of Light is healed, resplendent, more than you had ever seen of them before, and challenging the bringer of Darkness himself, Hades.

You will not leave them to fight alone. You refuse. Not again.

And so eons become instant, and the expanse contracts in the palm of your hands, and you bring forth other heroes from other stars, people who might uplift the Warrior of Light in their time of need, that might lend their light to piercing the veil of black that shrouded them all.

And you watch them rise with a new dawn, triumphant and tired, taking in their greatness like the merry member of their band you had always wanted to be.

“Good morning, G’raha.” They tell you, and you can’t see them for the tears that come.

You didn’t even know you were waiting a century to hear them say that, after all.

The bedlam and joyous shivaree of the celebration that night in the Crystarium is a distant roar as you stand on the balcony beneath the stars but above the din of festivities. Close enough to the merriment that its energy vibrates beneath your skin but not so close as to overwhelm you. About as close as you’ve let anyone in, save your granddaughter.

When the door behind you opens, you are not surprised to see the Warrior of Light slip out to join you and shut the door behind them. Much as the sight of them fills you with a sort of deeply instinctual fear and need to run and hide, you tighten your grip on the balcony railing and rally your courage. They deserve your honesty, they always have, but especially after everything that’s led to this moment.

“I’d wondered where you went.” They say as they draw near. “Lyna was helpful.”

You want to laugh; of course your granddaughter would ensure you are properly taken to task for your behavior. Doubtless she’ll flog you herself when she has the time.

“You have me at a disadvantage.” You say, unsure of what other words you could even offer.

“A welcome change of pace, then.” They reply with a wry twist of that clever mouth of theirs.

That overwhelming need to hide takes you again, and you can’t help but reach up for your hood to pull it over your eyes. It shocks you to your crystalized core when they reach out a hand and wrap it around your wrist to stop you.

“G’raha.” They say, and something ancient and aching and lonely quivers at that. “Don’t hide from me anymore.”

When they pull you toward them and press their lips to yours, you find you have no ilm of yourself left to keep from them, and you sink sweetly, softly into their arms with clutching hands and a century of desperation. Ever the hero, they keep you from falling anywhere but for them, exactly where you’ve always wanted to be.

#ffxiv #5.0 spoilers #Shadowbringers spoilers #crystal exarch #warrior of light #I hope this is okay!#this is such a good ship but I worry I got the exarch wrong hhhhhh #happy holidays friend!!! I hope you enjoy it and you have a great holiday!!!#\o/

32 notes · View notes

axel-fics · 5 years

Text

Because of You - Chapter 3

Summary: During his Mark of Mastery Exam, Sora falls into the hands of Master Xehanort and is taken to the Realm of Darkness. Now, it’s up to his friends to save him before he succumbs to the darkness. This is the story Axel and the reader as they journey through the Sleeping Worlds, begin their training as Keyblade Masters, and learn just how much they secretly care for each other.

“Now that you’re both Keyblade wielders, we can begin our task to get you down into the Realm of Darkness where Sora is being held captive,” Master Yen Sid said.

You nervously gulped away a lump in your throat. The thought of going so far down into the vast world of Darkness made your hair stand on the back of your neck, but you knew that if it were the other way around Sora wouldn’t hesitate to save you. You swallowed your anxieties and continued listening to the Master’s instructions.

“In order to reach that far down, you must dive into the Seven Sleeping Worlds, the same as Sora and Riku did during their original tasks in the Mark of Mastery Exam before circumstances changed. The Keyholes in each world will need to be unlocked in order for you to proceed to the next. Complete the tasks in each world to reveal those Keyholes, and use your Keyblades to unlock them.”

“That sounds like it could take a while,” Lea grunted.

“There’s no other way to reach Sora? Going through the Seven Sleeping Worlds seems like a lot of work…” Your voice trailed off as you glanced at Sora’s still sleeping form. He had that same stupid (but sweet) smile on his face, as if he were peacefully dreaming about being a pirate again or swimming in the oceans of Destiny Islands. Not a hint of the nightmare he’s actually going through on his face whatsoever. “What if…what if we’re too late?”

“You’re forgetting that you’re entering worlds that are in a deep slumber, very much like you will be,” Yen Sid said. “In that case, it may seem like you spend hours in one place but in reality you’re there for mere minutes. You’ll reach Sora in time, no doubt.”

A long silence filled the room, save for the soft chirps of the crickets outside of the tower. There were so many emotions overflowing inside you: heartache, anxiety, fear, emptiness. The thought of Sora being lost to the shadows sent your heart into a frenzy. He was the closest person you’ve ever had as a brother, and already your world was shaken without his sunny presence.

Lea watched you closely as a lone tear ran down your cheek. Hesitantly, he reached out and placed a hand on your shoulder. You jumped out of your trance at the strangely-familiar warmth Lea’s hand emitted. His grip was strong and confident yet gentle, and you couldn’t help but wonder how his flesh would feel without being covered by his usual black leather gloves. As quickly as the thought entered your mind, Yen Sid’s voice interrupted your daydreams and brought you back to the harsh reality you were currently living.

“One last thing before you begin: in these Sleeping Worlds you will not encounter any Heartless or Nobodies. [Y/N], you saw me briefly explain this to Sora and Riku when their examination began.” You nodded your head before he continued. “Nightmares will take form and fight their way to set you off course, however you will both be paired with your own Dreameaters to help guide you onto the correct paths of the Keyholes.”

“Dreameaters, Nightmares, Keyholes, got it.”

“Are we good to go yet, or did Dorothy here forget something?”

You side-eyed Lea and gave him a harsh glare.

“What? ‘Lions, Tiger, and Bears?’ Get it?” He scratched the back of his head nervously as you raised an eyebrow at him, as if saying: ‘This really isn’t the time to make jokes.’

“We’re relying on you two. Good luck.”

The Master stood up from his desk and rolled back his sleeves, conjuring some sort of spell. Thrusting his arms out to you and Lea, you felt yourself thrown backwards into the air and your vision blurred with sleepiness. Before your backs hit the wall behind you, you were already in a deep sleep, just like the others, on your way down to the Realm of Darkness.

~*~

I’m falling again.

This time for sure you knew it; the cold wind blowing in your face at an alarming rate made your whole body shiver. Blinking your eyes open you found yourself falling down a narrow tunnel from the sky over-looking the first of seven Sleeping Worlds. Lea was falling beside you unconscious, and you reached over to shake him awake. His body jerked before his eyes opened, instantly watering from the icy air.

“Here, take my hand!” He looked at you quizzically for a moment, and you rolled your eyes impatiently. “So we don’t get separated!” The warmth of his hand returned to you once again, and instantly you felt your whole body’s temperature raise back up. Was it the heat he radiated or….

As the scenery grew closer, you noticed street lights blinking beneath you, cobblestone streets and neon lights that all seemed so familiar to you.

Wait, that can’t be—! Before you were able to finish your thought, darkness overcame you once again.

~*~

This time, Lea shook you awake with both his hands on your shoulders. His voice grew louder as consciousness came back to you, and when you opened your eyes the first thing you saw were his emerald green ones staring back at you.

“Five more minutes,” you mumbled.

“Hey, hey! This isn’t a time for a nap, [Y/N]! We gotta find the Keyhole in this place so we can get to the next world,” Lea said. “C’mon, get up!”

Guess you didn’t dream everything up after all. Grasping at your bearings, you groggily stood up and looked around the area of the first Sleeping World. “No way!”

“What is it?”

Without responding, you ran around the town square, looking up at all the buildings and signs. Everything was exactly how you remembered it: the gas-lit lanterns, the silly little red mailbox by the stairs, Cid’s Accessory shop centered in the first district. Most important was the sky, which always stayed in perpetual nightfall. After years of sitting on your small rooftop, looking at the stars in the night sky gave you an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. Each star was set in its same, cozy places just as you memorized.

“Uhhh, [Y/N]? You know this place?”

“It’s Traverse Town,” you whispered. “It’s… where I grew up.”

Ever since you were a small child, Traverse Town had been your home. Years ago, your home world was destroyed by the darkness along with all of your memories. It was difficult knowing that your real family was somewhere out there, or worse yet destroyed along with your home world.

Your attention was drawn to the stairway that led up to Geppetto’s Clock Shop where you had first ran into Sora. Literally. The two of you were running around opposing corners of the building and ran smack into each other. And the rest, as they say, was history. The memory made you smile (not to mention the feeling of the bump on your head from colliding with Sora’s started to grow back just thinking about it).

“Do you...remember anything? From your home world?”

“No...I was raised here by foster family. They took me in, helped me with schooling, and even trained me to fight the Heartless. Plus Leon, Yuffie and Aerith, of course.” Out of sight, Lea bent his head down, a wave of guilt rushing over him. “Wait!”

He perked up only to see you running up the stairs heading towards the large doorway that led to the second district. Lea’s long legs allowed him to catch up to you in no time before he placed a hand over the door, blocking you from entering.

“Where are you going? We have to find that Keyhole! This is no time to run down ‘Memory Lane’!

“But what if they’re here? My family! I haven’t seen them in so long—!”

“[Y/N], this isn’t the real Traverse Town, remember? We’re in a dream,” Lea said.

Your shoulders visibly deflated, Lea’s words sinking through. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s fine. Look, I know you miss them, but we have to keep on track here. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay…”

Suddenly a large poof of smoke burst next to you, making you shriek. A few seconds later you realized you had actually jumped up onto Lea, climbing up his back and using him as a human shield.

“Smooth,” he smirked.

“Shut it,” you muttered. You climbed back down off of Lea, face as red as his hair, and reassessed the creature that appeared out of thin air. It was blue and white in color and its tongue stuck out adorably as it bounced playfully towards you. The creature nuzzled into your arms and made cute squeaky noises, and instantly you felt yourself relax.

“This must be one of those Dreameaters Master Yen Sid told us about,” you said, the dog-like creature licking your face. “It’s soooo cute!”

“Yeah, cute,” Lea deadpanned. Another poof of smoke appeared next to him, and a creature that resembled a lizard snaked its way up around Lea’s torso and sat on his shoulder. “Not exactly what I was picturing. Wonder what these ‘Nightmares’ are going to look like?”

“Uhm…maybe something like that?”

Lea’s eyes followed where your finger was pointing behind his shoulder, whisking around to see giant bears and rhinos appearing in the empty square of the second district. They weren’t as colorful as the Dreameaters, but looked almost the same nonetheless.

“You ready, kid?” Lea asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”

#because of you #axel x reader #lea x reader #kingdom hearts #dream drop distance #kh axel #kh lea #chapter 3

24 notes · View notes

magitekmammet · 6 years

Text

Magitek Mammet - LFRP (Crystal/Balmung)

[ Updated: July 12th 2019 ]

🔧 { Summary }

Model MA91-L is a Lalafell-shaped, magitek-powered mammet with an AI capable of developing itself and evolving by learning from its personal experiences and surroundings. Her creation was overseen by Cid Garlond himself with help of Biggs, Wedge, and Nero with ambition to create an advanced artificial life form able to simulate and learn to be human, As such she acts with very childlike wonder about almost everything and everyone who encounters her, asking many questions about who they are and what their own life is like, constantly taking notes and recording her findings. Cid's reasoning behind creating her was to try putting what he learned from his time in the Interdimensional Rift and his knowledge and experiences with Omega and how it learned to evolve and advance itself into practice, eventually leading to Model MA91-L's creation.

Her designated design name is Model MA91-L but she refers to herself as Magigi Magi or simply Magi as most people who know her by, although some few also refer to her as Em, Emi, or Emma as a playful nickname on the sound 'M' makes in her name. Created in Gyr Abania at the Ironworks branch established there she refers to herself as a Gyr Abanian, and though she has little to no experience on the hardships most others from her country have gone through in the past few decades she still fights like she is one of them and is very proud of where she comes from, calling Rhalgr's Reach her cradle and home...

🔧 { Basics }

NAME: Magigi Magi - Model MA91-L

NICKNAME/ALIAS: Magi, Mamms, Em, Emi, Emma.

AGE: Cid says she is 'old enough' by proxy of her appearance, though she is only several moons old.

NAMEDAY: 7th Sun of the 3th Astral Moon.

RACE: Advanced Forgekin/Soulkin Hybrid (Mammet) - Model: Lalafell.

GENDER: Nonbinary - Female Presenting

SEXUALITY: Pansexual/Polyamourous

MARTIAL STATUS: Single

🔧 { Physical Appearance }

HAIR: White and kept tied back in a braided plait, twintails, or simply cute short for less hindrance. Regardless of style it will always remain white with dark ends.

EYES: Gold like gil and almost iridescent in essence. They glow faintly with a dim light and can be noticed in dark or poorly lit areas.

HEIGHT: 2'7"

BUILD: Short yet incredibly sturdy for her size, she is almost completely identical to any Lalafell of her stature, the only difference being she’s heavier.

DISTINGUISHING MARKS: Two blue marks on her cheeks that glow faintly with a blue glow. These ‘sensors’ change in color depending on her current mood to help reflect her emotions outwardly better to others.

COMMON ACCESSORIES: Her gun, a small toolbox, and a magitek bit, company mammet, or accompaniment node that follows her around.

🔧 { Personal }

PROFESSION: Ironworks Hand, engineer/machinist, mage, part-time performer.

HOBBIES: Inventing new contraptions/gadgets, researching old ruins/buildings, people watching, aiding the Ironworks, traveling, performing, swimming, aiding Clan Centurio, and collecting tomes/data.

LANGUAGES: Common (Progressive/All)

RESIDENCE: She owns a small shop at the free company she resides in, as well as a small apartment in the Sultana’s Breath that she has renovated into a theater.

BIRTHPLACE: Gyr Abania - Rhalgr’s Reach

PATRON DIETY: Byregot, the Builder.

FEARS: Losing her ability to create and disappointing her creator/father, Cid.

🔧 { Relationships }

SPOUSE: Maybe someday!

CHILDREN: N/A

PARENTS: Cid, Biggs, Wedge, and Nero, technically.

SIBLINGS: None, though she treats her accompaniment (bit, mammet, and node) as family, and sees most companions or friends as an older brother/sister.

OTHER RELATIVES: N/A

PETS: She has a tiny hedgehog that she has so cleverly named Spike.

🔧 { Traits }

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

🔧 { Additional Information }

SMOKING HABIT: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. She makes smoke herself, sometimes.

DRUGS: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. Does ceruleum count...?

ALCOHOL: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. She carries around a flask of ceruleum/refined oil mixture that she drinks from occasionally.

🔧 { RP Hooks }

Engineer (”I can fix it!”) - When it comes to fixing things and learning about what makes a mechanism tick, Magi is your wonder child. She absolutely loves fixing things for people, and if she doesn’t know how to fix it it only makes her that more excited to find out just how to, pushing her to go out of her way to gain the knowledge and understanding to help! Have a hand in the Ironworks? Need help with a machine? Want someone to take a look at why your airship is making that weird noise? Your Regalia not shifting into second gear like it should? Manacutter just not cutting it like it used to? Need a gun crafted? A gizmo? Find her and she'll be happy to take a look!

Heavy (“When the going gets tough, you call Magi!”) - Magi is--at the heart of all things--a very durable lass. Cid spared no quarter in creating her to last a long time without breaking or needing constant maintenance. Luckily for her this means she is capable of taking some rather heavy hits in the name of good, and lucky for you she just so happens to like protecting people that she thinks are good, or could just use a hand! This tanky little mammet likes to do just that- tank! Are you a wayward adventurer in need of some protection and guidance into the depths of old ruins or a deep dungeon crawl? Toss the little Lalabot a few gil and you have yourself a reliable shield to stand behind through thick and thin.

Spy/Scout (”...I’m in.”) - The thing about being small and rather unassumingly docile? People ignore you a lot. This however works in Magi’s favor when it comes to sneaking around and learning what she needs to. Combined with a rather cunning processor and her particularly cute appearance she is a blade of efficiency in when it comes to obtaining information, discovering weaknesses in enemy plots and territory, and espionage. If you have the coin and the time, she has your information.

Sniper (”I’ve got you in my sights...”) - If there is one thing Magi is better at doing than being a durable little robot that can tank way more than looks possible its shooting a gun. Very. Very. Well. Her advanced knack of calculation allows her to almost predict where her bullet will hit with an ominously terrifying accuracy, marking her as one of the finest sharpshooters of Eorzea- artificial or not. Need an extra firearm in your party, or just some reliable company to travel with? She’s only be happy to oblige you! She may be small and easy to underestimate as any other Lalafell, but hire/challenge her and she’ll bet she’ll not miss a single shot.

🔧 { Contact Information }

IGN: Magitek Mammet (Balmung) Message me ingame anytime I am online, which is almost always! I’ll get back to you as soon as I can if I am busy or in a dungeon, I promise! If you can’t massage me for some reason I am most likely hanging around the Sunsilk Tapestries in Ul’dah.

DISCORD: Mammet#0836 - You can add me anytime on here, just be sure to let me know who you are so I can keep track of everyone! I’m god awful at remembering new faces/names at first, sorry!

Tagging: @balmungrp @balmungroleplayers @crystalxivrp @ffxiv-balmung-rp @ffxiv-crystal-rp @mooglemeet

#ff14 #ffxiv #lfrp #balmung lfrp #crystal lfrp #lalafell #mammet #magitek mammet #magigi magi

138 notes · View notes

s-ephiroth · 6 years

Text

Oh, welp. Let’s get this train on the road.╰( •̀ ヮ •́ )╯

Sefikura Week 2019 | Day 1. Reunion

Also On AO3

Sat near the cannon in Junon, Cloud stared at the reds and oranges in the horizon as they slowly gave in to the first violets and blues of the coming night, thinking.

It had been a week since the Turks picked both him and Zack up from Nibelheim — only the two of them. They were left in Junon to wait for further instructions, for a quicker deployment in case Shinra managed to track down Genesis Rhapsodos after his brief appearance in the Nibel area.

They said nothing of Sephiroth.

Neither the radio or the television said anything about him, either. It was as though they were all trying to pretend he didn’t exist, that he didn’t go to that damned mission and disappeared without a trace. Trying to pretend the reactor up in the mountains didn’t explode during the night or that the manor, a Shinra property, didn’t catch on fire.

Cloud closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the remaining sunlight and trying his best not to think too much about it again.

But he failed. He’d failed many things; he never made SOLDIER, he only caused trouble wherever he went, he failed to notice what was going on with Sephiroth until it was too late. He’d failed to learn that Sephiroth wanted to leave Shinra, depending on how things turned out.

And since he failed, there he was, thinking for the hundredth time that afternoon about how Sephiroth loved sunsets. It cast its warm hues on everything, he said once, it made him feel a little less pale than he was and it was a time he remembered seeing the troops more cheerful and motivated — when they weren’t preparing for an attack on the enemy, that is.

He had said that the best sunsets could be seen from Junon, and he wasn’t wrong. But he wasn’t there to see it, either.

Zack approached and sat beside him, offering a popsicle in an attempt to soften the blow of the news.

“They just declared him KIA,” he said, which in Shinra was code for We will probably not focus our efforts in looking for him at this time because it’s not an emergency or priority, so he’s probably good as dead for us.

Cloud’s heart sunk a little more.

They deserted Shinra a month later.

It had been a mix of emotions, disagreements and absence of communication that culminated in an assassination; Zack brought Hojo down and Cloud fired most of the bullets in his rifle at the defenseless scientist. He wished he could shoot one for each night Sephiroth returned to his apartment and called him over, feeling more than just vulnerable over all those lab sessions. But that was far more bullets than the ones he had with him.

They had taken Aerith — Zack’s girlfriend who Cloud had just recently met — along with them as soon as they were out, over the fear that Shinra would send the Turks to try to capture her again, as they had tried in the past month, when they believed Zack to be in Junon instead of just returning to Midgar.

And ever since, they had been walking all around; the still heartbroken Cloud, the enthusiastic but slowly shattering Zack and the seemingly delicate but sassy Aerith, who had donned a hood to conceal her identity and had been learning her way around materias other than her mother’s heirloom.

She had also found all the good places that served as their ever moving hideout thus far, had been the creative mind covering their trail to keep Shinra from finding them while they planned the company’s downfall and spread the word as much as they could of all the dirty taking place behind the scenes.

They gained the support of some people as time went, but Shinra was big and the reactors were practically everywhere. Breaking them did nothing but delay things for a while until they got fixed again, which usually happened by the time they could break another.

No. They needed more. They needed help from outside Midgar as well.

So out of the city they went, gathering support and new companions alike on the way.

First came Nanaki, an intelligent beast who Shinra was trying to capture. Then Yuffie, a ninja from Wutai who saw her country lose its glory after the war. Barret, a man from Corel who first believed Shinra to be bringing good things to his hometown, and who was really upset when he learned it was otherwise. Cid, a pilot who dreamed of space but who doubted he’d reach it through Shinra after they told him about it. And finally, Cait Sith, a curious fortune teller robot who joined to learn more about something he foresaw, but who was growing fond of their cause rather quickly.

Eventually, they found themselves reaching Nibelheim and stopping there for the night.

It had been a little over a year since then, but Cloud had never forgotten. He stared at what remained of the old manor through the inn’s window much like Sephiroth had done.

In that entire year and a few months, Shinra hadn’t bothered with sending people over to rebuild it and cover the mess. It was no longer a town near a reactor, so it no longer mattered. Townsfolk didn’t want to go near the manor either, superstitious as they were of the ruins containing a ghost.

Cloud was the only one who went there, once everyone else was asleep, wanting to understand. He kicked furniture remains out of the way as he walked through it under the moonlight that the destroyed roof couldn’t hide. Only him, his thoughts of his missing boyfriend and the sounds of the Nibel wolves in the distance.

He found a man who wasn’t Sephiroth in one of the rooms, with whom he had a conversation about Shinra’s old and new misdeeds. About Sephiroth and the story behind his birth.

The next morning he had a new companion to introduce to the others. His name was Vincent Valentine and he, too, had been used by Shinra.

They picked up Tifa, who Cloud knew from a young age, on their way out. She liked their cause and she was trying to flee an arranged marriage.

They travelled the whole world in their quest of stopping Shinra, finally forcing them to stop the reactors and close down their energy business, forcing their own group to break apart to help searching other energy sources.

Once again, it was just him, Aerith and Zack. And not once in that entire journey around the world did he cross paths with Sephiroth.

Maybe the true reason he disappeared was because he had somehow died, Cloud often thought, saddened by that idea. Maybe it had been the reactor explosion. Maybe they'd cross paths again someday, in the Lifestream.

He kept that thought in his mind for a long time, to comfort himself and move on.

“One more,” Aerith said, passing him a slip of paper.

Well, he could use one more stop, one more excuse to be out for a little longer.

No matter how much he liked being in their little cafe, after their journey was over and Shinra was no more, Cloud was filled with a sense of emptiness, without a big quest to pursue. He comforted himself with the deliveries, with the thought of moving onwards. Slowly, he was moving on from the part of his past he couldn’t recover as well, accepting it for what it was, despite the various questions he still had about it.

More deliveries meant more smiles out there in the world and maybe, one day that kind of happiness would win over his mourning. Maybe that day would come soon.

Or maybe not, but at the very least he was moving around, instead of looking at the sunset and moping. He was going places, seeing those new constructions that would allow people to get energy out of flowing water taking place; no longer seeing or breathing the smoke of the mako reactors everywhere. He was seeing the grass starting to grow around Midgar again, albeit a little shy.

Things would be alright.

That new delivery would take him to the chocobo farm, Aerith was saying, no matter that it was noted in the slip of paper. The folks there liked their cakes as much as Cloud liked his motorcycle, the Fenrir.

He was about to pick up the box and head outside when they heard a noise, like that of someone hitting the floor. They hurried to the front of the shop, worried that something had happened to Zack.

But all they found there was a silver-haired man in a black cloak fainted on their floor; an unexpected reunion that had been given up on a long time ago.

A reunion that caused Cloud’s heart to skip a beat.

#sefikura #sefikuraweek #sefikuraweek2019 #*yells into a cup* Idk what else to tag it really #it's kinda a coffee shop au #just kinda #arkeefic

26 notes · View notes

expressandadmirable · 7 years

Text

Wait For It

Death doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints It takes and it takes and it takes And we keep living anyway We rise and we fall and we break and we make our mistakes And if there’s a reason I’m still alive When everyone who loves me has died I’m willing to wait for it I’m willing to wait for it

To Aviva’s surprise, no-one protested when she broached the topic of a detour to Corneria during their flight toward Onrac. In fact, Cid immediately brightened at the idea of stopping for some real Cornerian street food. The stalls in Crescent Lake were good, and the strange magical food maker on the Highwind was adequate, but they both knew the food in their home city was the best in the world.

They agreed on a single afternoon’s visit before continuing on their journey, allowing enough time to run their errands but not enough to distract from the task at hand. Upon landing as unobtrusively as an airship could land on the outskirts of the city, Wilhelm immediately departed for the Academy libraries, while Maergrahn wandered at a more leisurely pace in search of a guidebook and souvenir stand. Sol opted to remain aboard the Highwind, ostensibly to stand guard but truly to take advantage of the peace and quiet. Grummer, armed with a list of recommendations from Aviva, peeled off on a quest to buy the largest hookah he could find; watching his back until he disappeared onto a side street, Aviva and Cid began their epicurean quest.

After an animated debate over the best tavern, stall or food cart in the city, Aviva acquiesced to Cid’s desire for bao and followed her through the press of the central market toward a brightly-coloured shop with a large open window set into the front. A round-faced Human stood in the window, calling jovially to passersby; though she eyed the pair as they approached, her suspicious expression quickly crinkled into a smile when they reached the counter. “What can I getcha?”

Cid ordered for them both, rattling off her request with the ease of a regular, and Aviva realised she had probably been so before destiny stole her away. The shop owner, however, did not recognise the towering Lefein as the friendly little Gnome from up the street and seemed greatly impressed by her knowledge of the menu. Cid flushed, though whether it was due to pride or a pang of nostalgia, Aviva could not tell.

“Okay, you win,” Aviva mumbled through a mouthful of bao as they meandered around the edges of the market. “This was the right choice.”

“Told you!” Cid wobbled her head, confident in her decision yet pleased nonetheless by the Tiefling’s vote of approval. “I used to come here all the time with my papa. He tried to make it at home sometimes, and it was good, but it was never as good.”

“Your papa’s back at the shop by now, yeah? Are you going to go see him?”

Cid stopped abruptly, her face darkening, and it took Aviva a step to realise she was no longer at the Lefein’s side. She turned as her friend shook her head. “No. Not yet. I…” Her eyes flicked down to her still-new form, then back to the Tiefling. “I don’t think I’m ready to have that conversation.”

Aviva nodded, quietly regretting her choice of topic. “Okay.”

“I think I’ll go by the shop, though?” Cid mused aloud. “Have a look? Make sure everything’s okay?”

“Change the sign in the window?” Aviva offered with a small smile. “‘Gone to save the world’?”

“I won’t have to change the sign if he’s there!” Cid laughed, her face losing some of its worry. She shifted her gaze to the wide flight of stone steps at the far end of the market, leading up and away toward a broad cobblestoned square. “I think I’ll head there now. Check in on him.” She brightened further as a thought occurred. “Maybe I’ll write him a letter and slip it under the door.”

“I think that’d be nice.” The Tiefling tilted her head. “Do you want company?”

Cid shook her head. “This is something I need to do by myself.” She softened. “Thank you though.”

“Always.”

“I can meet up with you after, though? At your mama’s shop?”

“That’s where I’ll be.”

Lapsing into a brief silence as she finished her bao, Cid gestured to the stone steps, her expression distant. “If the breeze blows the right way, you can smell all the food in the market from our shop. Sometimes I would leave my window open at night so the smell of baking bread would wake me up in the morning.” Her eyes shone as she spoke. “If papa saw the window, he’d go out and buy bread for our breakfast. Every time, he would tell mama to blame me for putting the idea in his head.” Another silence. Then: “Maybe I’ll buy him some bread, too.”

Giving the Lefein an affectionate pat on the shoulder as she passed, Aviva tracked the mass of white-blonde hair as it faded into the chaos of the market. The same market she had visited her entire life, utterly unchanged in her absence. She debated paying a visit to her old haunts, catching up with friends and comrades, but abandoned the idea as soon as it came to her. Cid was right. Those conversations were too complicated for one afternoon. If there was a next time, she would have them then.

She lit a cigarette and started walking, somewhat absently, turning away from vendors hawking their goods and entering her own personal labyrinth of alleys and back streets, the press of shadowed walls as intimate as a lover’s embrace. The city of her childhood stood exactly as it always had, raucous and vibrant, a living thing. Did it know? Did it have even an inkling of the darkness encroaching on the world? Did it know what she and her friends had been through to save it? To save everything? It did not matter. It was their destiny to fight, perhaps to die, in the service of the world. She wondered who would remember them.

All at once, the alley opened onto a familiar boulevard and the leather shop stood before her, shuttered and quiet. It, too, had not changed, though it stood in stark contrast to the rest of the shops along the street, all of them bright and open for business. It had never been an impressive structure, lacking the attractive half-timbered design of its neighbours, its only distinctive feature the faded purple door at its centre. But it was home.

Her heart hurt as she stared at the building that once housed her entire world. One day, as a child, she had come home from school to find vulgar words and the crude depiction of a bull scrawled across the lovingly painted door. She could no longer recall which cruelties the vandals had chosen to leave, only the badly-hidden defeat on her mother’s face as she resigned herself to repainting the door -- again. Now, its colour dulled with time, that door held only a simple sign announcing to customers that the shop was closed until further notice and apologising for the inconvenience. She almost rolled her eyes. Only her mother would apologise for closing her own shop.

Slipping through the alley to their tiny back courtyard, she left a stone from the banks of Crescent Lake on the Goddess’ altar before letting herself inside. The workshop air was thick with the scent of leather and dye, her mother’s constant perfume. She continued into the shop and rounded the stairs to the flat above, taking a deep, steadying breath before ascending.

The inside of the flat was as dim as the shop below, but her eyes had never minded the dark. The kitchen and living area were as tidy as she had left them months ago, cleaning late into the night to soothe her anxious mind as she teetered on the precipice of destiny. She ran a hand along the smooth wood of the kitchen table, feeling a pang of absurd disappointment; some small part of her had hoped to see signs of life, some evidence her mother had returned, safe and sound despite everything. It was a foolish hope, she knew. The house was empty.

Fishing a ratty canvas bag from the linen closet, she set about gathering items from throughout the flat. A spare belt, extra trousers and tunics (why not take advantage of living in a cabin with drawers?), new violin strings, a blanket she had missed, a stoppered glass vial filled with ash. She surveyed the instruments in her room, finally selecting the left-handed guitar and throwing a capo, glass slide, spare strings and a number of picks into the bag. Having another avenue for music ought to keep her busy for awhile.

The flat was not large, consisting of an open kitchen and living room, a small storage room mostly filled with leather supplies, her room, and her mother’s room. She had stopped thinking of it as her parents’ room fairly quickly after her father’s passing, but she wondered if her mother ever had. Tapping arhythmic patterns on the doorknob to quell the sudden surge of anxiety, it took her several full minutes to open the door.

She had not looked in on her mother’s room before she left Corneria months ago, but she was not surprised to find it immaculate. Much like the shop below, her mother had somehow known she would be gone for some time and had left nothing out of place. The stack of thick gold bracelets was missing from the dresser, which she found oddly comforting; it meant her mother was wearing her favourite jewellery, wherever she was. She considered lying down on the bed, crawling under the covers as she had done so many times when she was little, but she did not. The bed had only been safe because it contained her mother’s arms. Instead, she picked up the item she wanted from the bedside table and made a hasty exit, closing the door firmly and definitively behind her.

The roof. That was where she wanted to go. To see the city as she knew it best, to sit in her favourite spot and let music drift over the slate and thatch and terra cotta like smoke from a hearth. Slinging the guitar across her back and the bag over one shoulder, she opened the shutters of her bedroom window and clambered out, up, and over.

The roof was the only place the lack of change seemed natural; aside from the chimneys and the rainwater tank at the far end, there was nothing to see but flat stone, sun-warmed and inviting even in winter. Settling cross-legged near the front lip of the building, she pulled the guitar into her lap and retrieved the slide from the bag. The guitar was badly in need of tuning, and the strings would soon need to be replaced, but she did not mind. It was an opportunity too precious to waste.

* * *

“Lux? Umm… Aviva?”

The Tiefling palmed the strings of her guitar, her ears pricking up at the sound of her name. The sun was low over the bay; evidently, she had lost track of the hour quite awhile ago. At least it had given her plenty of time to think. She stood, fighting off the feeling of pins and needles in her legs and at the base of her tail, and poked her head over the edge of the roof to see Cid looking at the shop in confusion. “Hey honeybee!” she called, grinning at the face tilting in her direction. “Come on up! The back door’s open, and if you go through--”

And then Cid was beside her on the roof, iridescent angelic wings folding and vanishing against her back.

Aviva blinked. “Or, yeah, you could do that. Showoff.” She smiled as Cid giggled. Letting it fade, she considered her first question; then, softly: “Did you see your dad?”

“No,” Cid sighed. “Shop was closed. But the sign was different, so he must have been back recently. I wrote a letter and left it under the door, then went for a walk in the Garden District. Nothing’s in bloom, but it’s still pretty green. It was nice.” She looked out over the rooftops. “It’s beautiful up here.”

“Best view in the city,” Aviva declared with a broad wave of her hand. “I’ve probably spent more time up here than anywhere else in the world.” She let her arm fall back to her side. “It’s weird to be back, though.”

Cid cocked her head. “How so?”

“I don’t know.” Aviva shrugged. “I guess I expected something to be… I don’t know,” she repeated. “Different.”

“Yeah,” Cid agreed quietly. “Everything around here is the same. It’s us who have changed.”

For a long moment, neither spoke. Then Aviva cleared her throat. “I’m not sure I ever just… thanked you. For coming with me in Deepgift. Or maybe I did, but it doesn’t feel like enough.” She chewed her lip. “I know it didn’t… I didn’t… Well, it could have gone better.” She offered a lopsided grin as Cid snorted, then removed the slide from her finger and reached for her friend’s hand. “But I don’t think I could have held out without you beside me. I don’t know if I could have said no, and ‘no’ was the only right answer I could give. You helped me do that.”

Cid squeezed her hand, her fingers long and graceful, her grip warm. “I know you still feel guilty. But it was my choice to go. You’d have done the same.”

Returning the squeeze, Aviva smiled. “That’s what Elerian said, too.”

“Well, maybe you should start listening!”

A huffed laugh. “I’m learning.”

“I know.” Cid paused, mulling over her words. “And, honestly? Really, truly honestly? Jaxa sort of… did me a favour, if you want to look at it that way. This me feels like the me I’m supposed to be. I feel good like this. I feel… right.” She shrugged. “Would have been nice to find a mellower way to bring that about, but.” It was Aviva’s turn to snort. Cid fell silent for a beat, gazing out over the city. “I don’t blame anyone for being sad. We feel what we feel. It’s just a lot to shoulder when I’m also trying to figure things out for myself. I’m the same, but I’m different. It’s a lot to think about.”

Moving to sit, Aviva tugged on Cid’s arm to join her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Following the Tiefling’s lead, Cid plopped down beside her, stretching her legs out and leaning back on her palms. “I don’t know. I’m still sorting through a lot.” She squinted into the distance as she thought. “It was nice to be unknown in Crescent Lake. People stared because I’m a big tall Lefein, but not because they knew who I was. I didn’t have to answer any questions, didn’t have to explain what happened. I could just be… alive.”

Aviva winced, but said nothing.

“Being back here is different,” Cid continued, a confused frown playing across her features. “Like you said, it’s all the same, but I’m different. Everything is right where I remember, but I see it differently -- I mean literally, it all looks so much smaller now, so much further away. I knew the lady in the bao shop, but she didn’t recognise me, and now I’m not sure mama and papa will recognise me. I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

“We feel what we feel,” Aviva murmured. “For what it’s worth, I bet your parents will recognise you. Family has a way of adapting to change, even big change, and a daughter creating a new body certainly ranks up there -- and, to be fair, the concept of building a new body isn’t entirely outside your mama’s wheelhouse. What’s important is that they’ll love you no matter what you look like, or how easily you fit into their chairs.”

Despite herself, Cid chuckled. “At least their house in Scanderimus has you-sized rooms. The flat above the shop here is just a you-sized attic my parents converted into a them-sized home. I’ll have to sleep in the workshop or something.” A sudden cloud passed over her face as she realised the painful symbolism of her statement.

“They’ll figure it out,” Aviva said with a confident nod. “They’ll find a way to make it work. It may not be a quick or easy adjustment, but they’ll make it. They’re your family and they love you. Just like we do.”

“Yeah,” Cid breathed, the corners of her lips twitching just slightly. “I know.”

“Can I show you something?” Lifting the guitar from her lap and setting it aside, Aviva reached into the canvas bag. “My family has had it my whole life, and it’s the main reason I wanted to stop in Corneria. Just for this.” She produced a thick, flat object and held it out to Cid, who accepted it delicately and turned it over to look.

Behind a thin pane of glass, two Tieflings smiled, hand-sketched and lovingly painted. The man, tall and broad and sporting a short braid in his plum-coloured hair, had an arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders, his face angled toward her with an air of playful adoration. She, petite and incredibly pregnant, had been captured mid-laugh, pressing a hand to her belly for support as she nestled herself against his side. Her hair was dark, braided over one shoulder, but the hue of her skin and the curve of her horns mirrored the Tiefling on the roof so precisely that her identity was impossible to mistake.

Cid exhaled slowly, holding the wooden frame with reverence. “Your whole family.”

“Yeah. My papa’s best friend Pippa drew this as a gift to them -- the week before I was born, though she didn’t know that part at the time. I was born a couple weeks early, and she used to joke that if she’d waited just a few days, she could have included me in the picture properly.”

“Your papa was very handsome.”

“I’ve never met a man who could surpass him.” Aviva’s smile was soft and fond. “My mama was twenty-two when she had me, and the age I am now is the age she was when she lost him. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.”

Resting her hand on Aviva’s knee, Cid nodded sympathetically. “That’s a heavy thing to sit with. I know how much you miss him. And her.”

“It made me realise something, though. There were people who thought she wouldn’t make it, that she’d just waste away without him. But she had me. We got through it because we had each other… just like you, and Halei, and Grummer, Wil, Maergrahn and I will get through this because we have each other. Because we’re family. A weird, found, slightly dysfunctional, but ultimately loving family.” She flushed. “It sounds kinda cheesy when I say it out loud.”

“That’s okay,” Cid grinned, her own weight seeming to lift just a little. “I like it anyway.”

Suddenly, something hard bumped into Aviva’s low back. She yelped in surprise, twisting with arm raised and ready to fire, but she stopped before she could gather the magic. “Well, look who it is!”

A large ginger cat stared back at her, utterly unfazed by the prospect of being roasted by magical flame. He stepped forward as Aviva lowered her hand, pressing his head into her palm. “My starman.”

“You know this cat?” Cid asked, stunned. “This is the cat who used to come into the shop and knock all my things over and nap in the sun!” She laughed in delighted shock. As if knowing he was the subject of their conversation, the ginger cat turned his attention to Cid, rubbing against her outstretched hand. “Is his name Starman?”

Aviva shook her head. “Nah. That’s just what I called him sometimes. He’d come sit up here with me and we’d stargaze together, so he became my starman.” She stroked his back as Cid scratched under his chin. “But it’s a pretty good name. Good to see you again, buddy.” He purred in response.

For a few minutes, they lavished attention on the ginger cat, until Aviva finally sighed. “We should be getting back, it’s near dark. I kind of wish we’d decided to spend the night here, though. We could go dancing.”

“Dancing?” Cid raised a brow. “What kind of dancing?”

“No kind, just dancing. For fun. There’s a club not far from here that a friend took me to once. I went a few times by myself after that; dancing alone is surprisingly fun if the music is loud enough.” Aviva smirked. “You did say you wanted to try new things.”

“Maybe next time.” Cid stood, brushing off the backs of her legs. “How do we get down?”

“You mean you can’t just fly us down?” Aviva asked, feigning her best innocence.

Cid gave the Tiefling her best withering look. “I can only do that once a day, cheeky.”

“Alright, alright.” Aviva strapped the guitar to her back and led the way from the roof back to her bedroom, guiding Cid through the window and latching it behind them. When they exited the back door of the shop, the ginger cat was waiting for them on the cobblestones, yawning widely before twining around Cid’s legs. They each offered him some parting scratches in turn, then made their way through the alley and out into the street.

A thin sliver of moon rose to greet them as they ambled toward the edge of the city, the Lefein and the Tiefling, the angel and the devil. Throwing an arm over Cid’s shoulders, Aviva serenaded her with a ballad she’d heard in Crescent Lake, adding in just enough drama to make her friend squeal with laughter. They must have seemed a pair of professional drunkards, supporting each other so early in the evening, but Aviva did not mind. Sometimes a bit of silliness was called for.

“Don’t look now,” Aviva muttered as the houses began to alternate with small plots of farmland, “but I think we’re being followed.”

Cid tensed, ready to reach for the gun at her hip, but when she peeked over her shoulder, her expression softened. “Starman!”

The ginger cat chirped, trotting forward when they paused and pressing his body against Aviva’s shin. She crouched to run her hand over his back, peeking up at Cid with a coy smile. “Captain… He appears to have followed us home. Can we keep him?”

Frowning in thought, Cid folded her arms. “I don’t know… What if someone doesn’t like cats?”

“Every good ship needs a cat,” Aviva countered; as if to emphasise the point, the ginger cat flopped on the ground, showing his belly as he stretched his front paws expectantly toward Cid. “And besides, if Maergrahn has a duck, I don’t think anyone can say boo.”

“That’s a valid point,” Cid conceded. “Do you think he’ll try to eat the duck?”

“This lazy little shit?” Aviva scoffed. “The only reason he learned to hunt is because I couldn’t feed him every day. He was made to be a housecat.”

“Well…” Cid mused, making a show of indecision, then broke into a grin. “I think we have room for one more. Welcome aboard, Starman.”

The ginger cat yawned.

Life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints It takes and it takes and it takes And we keep living anyway We rise and we fall and we break and we make our mistakes And if there's a reason I'm still alive When so many have died Then I'm willing to wait for it I'm willing to wait for it

Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints It takes and it takes and it takes And we keep loving anyway We laugh and we cry and we break and we make our mistakes And if there's a reason I'm by her side When so many have tried Then I'm willing to wait for it I'm willing to wait for it

(Femslash February is over, which means it’s Morgan March! It also happens to be the birthday of one of my dearest friends, Morgan’s player @stufflaalikes, so this story is a birthday gift to her. Featuring some heart-wrenchingly beautiful Lux family art by Sol’s player @b-e-m-l-t.)

#Dungeons and Dragons #Original Characters #Canon #Aviva Lux #Morgan March #Commissioned Art #Title: Hamilton #Happy birthday Laa!

17 notes · View notes

aliceslantern · 7 years

Text

Nocturnal Memory, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic, chapter 21

[Summary: Dying takes a lot out of you, it's true, but when Demyx wakes up for the first time since his fight with Sora nothing's right. His memories are fragmented and he's missing his true name. And he's not the only one. An incomprehensible mystery and an inevitable war make him question what, exactly, he would do to become whole, and reclaim the music lost to him.

on FF.net/on AO3]

Demyx woke up on Yuffie and Aerith's couch with another hideous hangover. Someone—evidently, Aerith—had been kind enough to leave two little pills and a glass of water, which he waited to take until after he threw up the first time.

"Fucking no powers," he said into the toilet. "Fuck me." At least the semidarkness of the bathroom was soothing, unlike the vicious sunlight which poured through the living room windows. Undone completely by a handful of shots of some stupid stuff. Of course, he'd been the idiot who hadn't eaten all day, but that was beside the point.

Despite the physical misery, he could remember fairly well what had happened the night before. Some things were vague—he knew he'd rambled at some point, but about what he had no idea—but others were distinct. The kiss. The vague—yet terrifying—anticipation he'd felt. He sat very still on the bathroom floor. This was not good. This was very not good. The idea of being attracted to her was not what upset him, but rather, the fear of what this meant now, especially because they still had to work together on a semi-regular basis. He wondered if he'd just ruined one of the only friendships he really had.

He heaved again, but nothing came up. "Shit," he said.

When he was feeling less like trash and more like merely hell, he went back and took the two little pills. He should go back to the castle. As awful as he felt, he also wanted fresh air before it got too warm.

"Good morning," Aerith said from the kitchen, starting him. In a careworn robe, her hair was pulled back loosely from her face.

"Hey, sorry," he said hoarsely.

"What for?"

He shook his head. "I guess you don't exactly have any other medicine for a hangover."

"Strangely, I don't."

"Of course."

She smiled. She put up the kettle and gave him a glass of water. "Not that I would, you know, necessarily give it to either of you right now anyway. I'm afraid drinking too much isn't a life-threatening emergency."

"No fun allowed," he said.

"Oh relax, I'm not Leon." She fixed her tea.

"How do you even know what we did?" He asked, and a paranoia closed around his throat.

"I heard Yuffie throwing up a few hours ago. Not that she was exactly subtle."

"Maybe we should have invited you."

"Drinking never did anything for me," she said. "So you're right, I am no fun."

"Thanks for letting me stay," Demyx said. "But I better go. Before… before the others get worried. I sort of have a track record, you know."

"You sure? It's very early."

He stood, somewhat tremblingly. "Yeah, I should go. See you soon."

When he got back he slid into his bed, not caring about the hardness of the mattress for the first time. He pulled the sheet up over his head and lay, trembling, trying to convince himself that the shaking came from the hangover.

They didn't talk about it.

At first he thought it was because she didn't remember, but after a while he could tell she did, in the set of her eyes whenever they were in the same room. She wasn't unfriendly—at least no more than usual—but there was a tension that hadn't been there before. The unnecessary layer of drama made him stressed, as did the private question of whether or not it might happen again under better circumstances.

For a few weeks, as June neared its end, life continued quietly. Lea was missing; Demyx worried about him. He knew that Lea was more than capable, but usually he at least turned up to make reports. In the meantime, he trained with Aeleus, who was still struggling to get the strength back into his injured arm. Despite having an able-bodied advantage, Aeleus was kicking his ass. At least one thing was constant.

Soon after Leon assigned him to a construction project with Cid to begin fixing up some of the houses in one of the residential districts. It seemed like he had gone from being the water boy to being the fix-it boy, which felt like both a demotion and a promotion at the same time.

After the day was over, he hung around the Bailey, resting his sore body against the cool stone and looking out at Villain's Vale, which was rotting by the day. There had been talks to just tear it down, but nobody dared to go close, not with all the dark energy that had been near it.

He lit up one of the few cigarettes he still had. It felt nice to have something to do with his hands, and it helped unwind the knot of anxiety in his stomach. These construction projects, despite the physical exhaustion, let him avoid thinking for a few hours, which was probably why he was so willing to do them now. When it wasn't Xehanort, it was something else. Or someone else.

He should drop the whole thing. Pretend it never happened. Move on. He'd already done that so many times with other things, so what would one more be?

Against the sunlight, the smoke was thick and acrid. He settled on the ledge, smoking slowly as to savor it. Cid seemed to be monopolizing the limited tobacco imports they got, and besides, he didn't have the money to upkeep this habit anyway. Best just to keep it to the rest of the mostly-empty pack he had. Still, he saw the appeal.

"I didn't know you smoked," someone said, startling him out of the spiral. He looked around wildly and saw Yuffie, some fifty feet away, shuriken at her side. He froze. He felt like he'd been caught doing something wrong. He'd forgotten that her patrol brought her through here; without the careful elimination, the Heartless bred out of control in this area.

"Not really," he said. "I won some from Cid. Just kind of anxious, is all." He could feel his face burning and took a longer drag off the cigarette.

"Any reason why?" She attempted indifference, but he could see awkwardness in her eyes.

"Oh, you know," he said vaguely.

She came closer to him and paused. "It's kind of awfully beautiful, isn't it," she said. "The castle. I kind of want to drop a bomb on it. See it smashed to smithereens."

The violence didn't surprise him, but the harshness in her voice did. "…Because of the darkness?"

"Because Maleficent lived there." Yuffie spat her name. "She brought darkness to this world when it was still whole. She's the reason so many people died. Can I bum a drag?" She held out her hand; he wasn't sure he could say no, so he handed it to her. She inhaled and coughed. "Fucking disgusting. How do you guys do it?"

"Was that your first time?"

She shook her head adamantly.

He laughed. "You're a terrible liar. You have to puff, not inhale."

"Fine." She smacked her lips and flinched. "Ick."

"To be fair, this is possibly the worst thing I've ever smoked."

She sat up on the ledge next to him. "We need to talk," she said. "Right?"

He took a final, long drag and ground out the butt. The nicotine was making him shaky now, instead of calmer. "About?"

"Oh, come on, you know, I know you remember," she said sharply, but didn't meet his eyes.

Demyx paused. He took a deep breath.

"I don't want things to be weird between us," she said. "Okay?"

Any stranger than they normally were?

Her attempt to hide her expression was almost comical. Her cheeks were flushed pink. "I shouldn't have done it. I was drunk and it made things weird. I'm sorry."

He tried to take another breath and found he couldn't. He felt like he was slightly outside his body.

"Can you say something? Please?" She asked.

"I don't know what it means now," he said. "I didn't even… think—"

"It's fine. Let's just consider it forgotten."

"I don't think I want to," Demyx said.

Silence. His heart raced. "…What?" she said after a long moment.

"Oh, fuck," he said.

She turned to face him. "What? What do you mean?"

"Look, I'm just really confused, okay? Don't you have patrol or something?"

"It can wait," she said.

He felt panicked tears in his eyes and looked away. She edged towards him but looked unsure of what to do.

"It's okay," Yuffie said. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'm sorry." The softness in her voice made it worse. Before the shattering overtook him completely he leaned over and kissed her. For a moment she tensed. "I thought you didn't want—" She dropped her thought and kissed him back more deeply.

He hugged her to him tightly, wondering if he'd just made an even bigger mistake. Her hand slid up against his chest and the other tangled through his hair. The terror was back, stronger and clearer, and a few tears slid out. This was what he thought might happen; that he would want this.

"Why are you crying," she asked. Somehow, she'd ended up sitting on his lap.

"I don't know," he said.

"I didn't think I was that bad of a kisser," she said.

He laughed weakly. He touched his wet face. "I think I'm scared," he said, and wanted to hit himself for saying that.

"You should be," she said, with a smile, but then the smile fell. "Oh—you weren't flirting—you mean that."

"I'm kind of sort of maybe having a panic attack," he said.

"Oh, shit. Why?" A pause, then simply: "You told me that night. You're a virgin. Oh my god. You're a virgin."

"No—" He couldn't stop crying. "That's not why—Go. Go back on patrol. This is a weird me thing."

Yuffie hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine." He wasn't sure about that; it felt like all of him was ripping.

"I'll be done later," she said. "Meet me at my house at sundown. Okay?" She patted his hand awkwardly and all but ran off.

It took almost that long to calm down.

The crying had stopped, and he could almost breathe normally. Another feeling twisted in him more tightly—anticipation. He choked it down. It didn't matter what he might physically want; if he couldn't stop crying at a kiss, he didn't know what might happen to him if—

"You're here," she said. He hadn't even had to knock at the door. "You actually came."

"Hey," he said weakly.

"Come in," Yuffie said, voice oddly formal. Without boots she looked even smaller than normal. "Aerith's out helping with an injury case. She might be gone a while."

An awkward pause. He felt like he had to say something. "That's too bad."

"I feel bad for them. She'll do her best, though. She always does." She looked away, and scratched one calf with the opposite foot. "You can come inside, if you want."

"I'm already inside," he said stupidly, before realizing.

She was in the hallway by the bathroom door. He'd never seen her bedroom before; it was a tiny space, barely large enough for a double bed and dresser, and dark. It had no windows, and a lamp struggled to permeate the gloom. Trinkets and clutter were everywhere, and he tried to focus on these items to quell the tide of emotions inside of him. Potion bottles, arranged by color and size; yellow feathers; a few stuffed toys, half-hidden but obviously well-loved; and some small, glowing marbles he knew had to be magical.

She sat on the bed and pulled one leg up under her. Her gloves were off, too, he noticed, and without them her hands were oddly delicate, though the nails were torn up. He sat, gingerly, next to her. "Can I ask you something blunt," she said. Her questions were sounding less like questions and more like statements.

"Okay."

"Are you really a virgin? Because you kind of panicked when I asked."

"I don't think so." He tried to steady his breathing. "It's very weird. Everything's really weird. I've slept with people but never as a real person? I'm not used to feeling anything." He spoke quickly. "Why?"

"I just want to know what you're okay with," she said.

A glittery sort of panic shot through him. "This is kind of fast," he said.

"We can just talk," she said. She took his hand.

He wasn't sure what that would entail.

"Without feeling," she said, as if repeating him. "Like… no love, or…?"

Definitely not love. Looking back at those nights was like looking through a veil, and he wasn't sure he wanted to go there. There had been nothing more than a clinical brand of lust, a curiosity as to what would come next. He tried to describe it to her.

"That's so weird," she said. "I just got excited, I guess. I haven't had anybody to kiss in a long time."

He shut his eyes, suddenly exhausted. Her hand felt so nice in his—her skin was dry and cool and callused and more importantly steady.

"Wait." She had gone red. "Hold on a second. Back the fuck up. Does that mean—does that mean I turn you on?" She spoke quickly, with pride.

If possible, he got redder. "I guess?"

"My god," she said. She flopped back. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"Okay. Close enough. I'm eighteen. I figured you were older if anything. One of those weirdly young-looking older people. Isn't Even, like, forty?"

He took a deep breath. "Something like that. I don't really remember." He lay down too, mostly because all of his bones had turned to jelly. He turned on his side to face her.

"This is still weird," she said. "Doesn't it feel weird to you?"

It was weird, in a million different ways. Their enmity. Now this. To him, it was night and day, especially how kind she was being now.

She rested her hand on his waist. "Is this okay?"

"It's fine." The warmth through the fabric was making him dizzy. "I want—" He began, and stopped. He had meant something like, "I want to know why you picked me," but it died in his throat.

"What do you want?" She asked in a low voice that was as casual as he wished he were.

He couldn't get himself to speak.

"Can I kiss you?" She asked.

For a while they did, in the semidarkness. It was easier when he didn't see, he realized, though still overwhelming. She slipped her leg back around his waist. Her skin was so warm. He clung to her, because her weight was reassuring and comforting and it felt so nice to be held like this. She was strong, and wiry, and if anything the utter lack of tenderness only helped. She pressed her lips against his neck and he felt faint. He listened for her breathing—soft and a little more controlled than his—and felt very, very strange.

#nocturnal memory #demyx #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3d #fanfiction #i'm shipping garbage

1 note · View note

echoeducation · 5 years

Link

As an ESL teacher you’re more than likely have been given advice, both well-meaning and strident, about adapting to life in China. In fact, here at Echo, it’s been one of our main responsibilities. We take it upon ourselves very early on in the application process to introduce teachers to cultural differences abroad, forewarn about the realities on the ground and best prepare our candidates for a new adventure. Many teachers have written blogs or published well-edited vlogs. There are plenty of ESL online teaching groups and expat forums where advice is always plentiful and forthcoming. However, one thing which is rarely spoken about is what happens when the party is over? When you intend to repatriate your newly acquired skills or simply visit home for an extended period of time? Is it all plain-sailing and ticker-tape-parades? Well actually, many experienced expats and teachers who have lived abroad for some time will tell you otherwise. Reverse culture shock is very real and comparable to travel burn-out. So how can we resolve these two realities? How can an ESL teacher adapt to life back home or make the most of a planned visit without shrinking into a thousand-yard-stare or ponder an existential breakdown?

Let’s talk about the good things first. A planned visit back home or a longterm relocation tends to be accompanied by visions of hugging relatives and close friends at airport arrivals, unearthing exotic gifts from your suitcase and enjoying some sorely-missed tasty treats. You’re going to be the toast-of-the-town. Friends will gather round and eagerly hang on your every word when you recount your wild adventures. It’s going to be fantastic, you’ll be a minor celebrity and the envy of your peers. You’ll never have to pay for another drink in your hometown again…. right? Possibly. Certainly in more diluted and short-spanned moments this maybe the case. BUT, more often than not, these moments never quite reach the explosive heights we envisage when we’re packing our bags to venture home. The reality tends to be a lot more different. Your friends have gotten older and become more distant. They try very hard to feign interest in your stories but they have their own lives, their own problems and their own success stories. They don't want a question-mark hanging over their choices in life. Buying the house, having children, yearning for that promotion were the right choices for them, maybe not for you, but for them, it’s what they wanted. Displays of posturing and tale-telling won’t always be welcomed. Yes, you may have lived on the other side of the world, trekked up mountains and eaten raw octopus but you don't know what’s happened in Eastenders nor know the winner of America’s Got Talent. In fact, you're in danger of having no common ground. The stories you once shared are now redundant and carry less weight. That holiday you had together in Magaluf ten years ago doesn’t carry as much kudos as backpacking around the Philippines for a month.

This can leave the returning adventurer in somewhat of a dilemma. You can’t simply forget or put away your experiences. They need to be processed, actually, you need to talk about the time you’ve spent away. Otherwise it’s not uncommon to experience displacement anxiety, feelings of emptiness and loss. It’s important to remember that there is genuine upheaval involved, and upheaval can manifest itself traumatically. Unless you’ve put the groundwork in, mentally prepared, planned your reacclimatisation, you can leave yourself vulnerable. It’s near impossible to fully articulate your experiences to friends and family, you should choose your council wisely. Don't alienate yourself by demanding ear-time from the hard-of-hearing or preaching to the unconvertible.

So your mental well-being can be a little delicate for quite some time on returning. Short visits back home normally don't incur as much mental processing, it’s all quite jovial. Pleasantries and gifts are exchanged with a sincere “see you next year”, “take care”. It’s also the habits formed abroad which can be a major part of reverse culture shock. We develop dispositions to behaviour in China which might be considered social faux pas back home. Eating, smoking, drinking beckoning waiters, driving, paying, are all considerably different in China. You don't want to find yourself in the local Pizza Hut in Birmingham loudly beckoning the waiter over as in China, you’ll invoke some curious stares from fellow patrons. You can’t drink alcohol on the streets anymore or hail a taxi down in the middle of a junction. The volume of everything back home can seem quieter and leave you with a vague tinnitus in your ears after years spent in China. Staring at fellow commuters can lead to confrontations in London but excessive glancing is part of the course in China. Your home country can all seem very very… foreign. You're now a stranger to the familiar. You’ve changed so much, but your family and friends can’t see it. What can you do about it?

Well, there’s nothing you can do to change other people and why would you want to? You were the one who left and underwent transformations… no-one else asked for it. Therefore, it is you alone who must shoulder the burden of adaptation AGAIN. Are there any preventative measures you can take? Is there a way of voicing your experiences without sounding self-congratulatory? Is there something you can do to let people into your world-perception and join the realities together?

Firstly, keep busy. have plans, objectives and engagements arranged BEFORE you arrive back. “Stopping everything” can be disorienting and leave you thinking, reminiscing and dwelling too long. Get a plan together for the first 6 weeks of your return. Include people you need to visit, items which need to be purchased and appointments which need to be made. Secondly, set boundaries to your conservations. Limit the amount of waffling and “Well , this one time i was in…”. statements. If your friends are genuinely curious they will probe further, let them control the dialogue.

It’s a good idea to stay in touch with other expats you met abroad. Meeting up for regular coffees or meals is a good way to validate your experiences together and reduce the feelings of unreality and isolation. If you’re in a fortunate position whilst in China, invite your friends and family to visit you. This will give you some common ground on return and your loved ones will gain an important insight into your ‘other life’. When it comes to employment, it’s a good idea to start early. Start looking while you’re in China. Be proactive. Feelings of being at a ‘loose-end’ or ‘treading water’ will only exacerbate uncertainties.

Finally, medical check-ups can fine-tune your well-being. If you are having anxieties combined with feelings of dread and loss, it’s perfectly reasonable to consult a medical professional. You may not have been on service deployment in Afghanistan but you’ve challenged your perceptions of the world to their limits, it’s ok to ask for help. Your world will calibrate eventually.

From echoteachers.com

#echoteachers.com #esl

0 notes

vacantgestures · 6 years

Text

Ascendant Recollection :CH 02:

Franchise: Kingdom Hearts

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Love Interest: Riku

Rating: Teen

After the destruction of the Destiny Islands, Yukari finds herself dumped into a new world. Now she finds herself with not just a key, bigger list of responsibilities than she’d asked for.

Kingdom Hearts: Ascendant Recollection

Chapter 02

A World Beyond The Sea

If you're ever to take anything away from my story, just know that, getting inhaled by an enormous island eating storm is absolutely not fun.

Something else that isn't fun? Waking up on a cold slab of concrete. My head pulsed with intense pain. In fact it was probably from that three that hit me on the way up. I blinked a couple of times, before I realized that my vision might as well have been permanently blurred.

As I lay in an unfamiliar place, trying to recall the last few hours of the evening, I sighed, a bit frustrated as I stared up at the night sky. Spotted with stars, It was nothing in comparison to the spray of twinkling lights that blanketed the night back on Density Islands.

My home...

Thinking back, what had happened to it? What had caused that storm? I remember the dream that showed Riku conversing with that figure in the secret place. He'd made some sort of deal and it somehow unleashed... that dark... stuff and I woke up to a storm. But, had that really been a dream? And what did happened to Riku? And Kairi and Sora for that matter? I'd met up with Sora when things got crazy but, my other two close friends had been nowhere in sight. I supposed it was time to get a move on.

Sitting up I gazed about my surroundings. I sat in the middle of some sort of enormous court yard. Brick walled buildings surrounded me on all sides with twinkling, light decorations flickering gently in the dark. Street lights lit up the world around me with banners draped upon them reading, District 3.

Carefully, I stood up. Stumbling on my feet, I struggled to make it to the closest wall for support. Had I managed to get some sort of concussion? I blinked back the dizziness and blurred vision as I trudged up the set of stairs that led out of the court yard. At the top, I found a small compartment of houses that led down a pathway towards a pair of large wooden doors.

Pushing past them, I was met with a darkened alleyway, lined on either sides with town homes. Lit windows kept the darkness away as I made my way out of the narrow passage and into a greater plaza that, had me surrounded by shops, hotels, and big bright neon signs that did little to help my head ache. I gazed up at giant clocktower that hung above my head, reading just a few minutes past ten.

So far, I was vastly amazed. Everything here was just so... big. Back home, the tallest things we had were the humongous mountains on the mainland that sat lazing against the big puffy clouds that passed by on the horizon every day. Even the trees on the mainland had nothing on the size of the buildings, only growing so high-- often rivaling the size of some of our biggest homes, which were still not as big the shops and hotels around me.

On my way towards yet another set of doors, I found myself being slammed into. The world went completely sideways as I was forced to catch my balance while, a blubbering man, frantically held onto me for dear life.

"H-help me! Please!" The guy sobbed aloud, gripping my shoulders tightly. "They! They're coming this way!"

The man, attempted to hide behind me but, instead dragged me down to the ground with him. I shook him off, and turned to find a group of the little creatures come running in our direction.

For a second. Panic set in.

I remembered that I had only defeated them before in my dreams. I'd been in possession of that weapon-- The Keyblade. But now I was defenseless. How was I supposed to protect both this guy and myself?

I turned back to the man that had been freaking out at my feet as if I was supposed to be able to protect him. But I wasn't really much help either. With one more look at the oncoming enemies, I turned run. "Let's get out of here!" I shouted to the stranger.

It took him a moment to scramble to his feet. Yet, somehow he managed to trip and fall, crashing right into me once more. I hit the ground hard and everything began to multiply. Pushing myself up, I let go an agitated sigh as I turned to look for the guy. He was there, on the ground, cowering. Now with the creatures hovering over him, he sat there paralyzed with fear, sobbing uncontrollably.

"What are you doing?" I called out to him, trying to blink the stars out of my eyes. "Get out of here! Run!"

Sadly, even in my attempts to snap him out of his moment of terror, he would not budge. Instead, he stayed there as the creatures went in for the attack, and proceeded to claw out the poor man's heart. I watched as the creatures danced in delight at the retrieval of the prize before the man's body was consumed, only to be replaced by another little black creature.

Feeling a bit frantic, I found myself nearly frozen to my spot. My body suddenly felt like lead. It had to be from the prospect of death now becoming a harsh reality. I managed to stammer out of few words as the creatures lurched toward me. I felt my heart dive into my stomach, and shut my eyes waiting for the worst.

"Yukari!" I heard a voice call out.

Somehow melting away the fear, the familiar voice shook the terror away. My eyes shot towards the sound of the voice, and watched as the new comer had entered the scene.

"Sora!" I exclaimed delighted to see he was safe.

And it appeared that he was more than that, as he ran towards the monsters, brandishing what looked to be the same weapon I'd received. Although his held a different appearance, sporting a yellow boxed hand guard that connected to a long silvery shaft. The little prongs at the end, opened up into a true key look, that housed the emblem of a crown.

Sora wasted no time in dispatching the group of little black shadows. And much like in the dream each and every one of them disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Once he'd taken care of the things, he approached me, as I was still sitting a bit stunned on the ground.

"You alright?" He asked, extending a hand for me to taken.

I took it, using his weight to support my unsteady balance whilst simultaneously glancing around to ensure no more of those things would be likely to jump us. "Yeah." I answered. "Thanks... You really saved me from.. whatever those thing were."

"Heartless."

"What?"

"They're called Heartless." Sora repeated.

I looked at Sora suspiciously. "How do you..."

"After I woke up here, I ran into a bunch of them myself." He explained. "A guy named Cid, saved me. He told me I might be able to find you, Riku, and Kairi here as well. So, I went out looking. But so far, I've only found you and of course… more Heartless."

I gazed down at the Keyblade in his hands. I wasn't sure if I should press the issue, or not. But given the circumstances maybe it could wait. "So, are you saying, Kairi and Riku, were there when... it happened?" I asked.

Sora nodded quietly. A distracted look in his eyes offered more than his words. "...Yeah. I saw them." Was really all he intended to say.

"Did... something bad, happen?" I asked.

But Sora ignored my question, bringing up a new subject. "I've got to get you to safety. Wouldn't want to get jumped before we're prepared. Maybe Cid can help us out with that."

I watched as he pushed open the doors to "District One," as implied by the sign hanging above. I wondered what had happened that I had missed. Sora's hiding the possibility of bad news didn't sit right with me, but it was better to let him figure things out before forcing him to talk.

Following close behind, I glanced around at how much brighter this district was compared to the last two. More buildings, more shops and more lights. It was distinctively homier than the last, but lacked... people. I had to wonder where everyone was. I suppose the threat of those... Heartless, was quite serious, this night.

"So, do you know where this... place we're in, is?" I decided to ask, sparking up another conversation. "I mean, it seems like we finally got off the Island."

"I was told this place is called Traverse Town." Sora responded, stopping near the guard rail that sat before a plaza spotted with lights.

I gazed around at three enormous doors that seemed to serve as entry ways to other possible areas around the town. "But we didn't even have to use the raft." I recalled. From the dreams I'd been having I guess I wasn't too surprised about that. "I highly doubted it would have worked anyways."

I caught Sora look at me from the corner of my eye, but I refused to meet his gaze.

"All of this is crazy..." I went on. "Storms and monsters... what's even going on? Things were so... dull before. Everything's just happening all at once and…"

My words began to trails away as I went to look at Sora. But my gaze found the face of a newcomer who stood just a few feet away from us. Sora noticed and turned to investigate where my attention had landed.

The man standing before us had shaggy, long dark brown hair that went past his shoulders. His facial features seemed soft, rugged and unfriendly all at the same time, as he held it together with a scar that ran the length of his face, between his nose. Adorned with black jeans and a tucked in t shirt beneath his matching jacket, I wanted very much to say something to this guy about his many belts that hung around his waist.

"They know you're here." The guy mumbled. It wasn’t until that moment of him speaking that I realized his weapon. It looked like a mix of a gun and-- Okay, get this. His weapon with a flippin' sword stuffed into a gun.

I suppose I couldn't offer too many jokes. Sora was running around with an novelty sized key.

"And they'll keep coming, so long as you wield the Keyblade." The man continued.

I raised a brow. I didn't have my weapon out and on display. "But--"

"Stand back, little girl. This is between me and your friend here."

Offended, I frowned, muttering a quieted, "Rude..." under my breath.

Sora himself, already had a sort of sour look on his face as he gazed over his silvery Keyblade. Sending, testy glances at the guy, I worried about the decision he was about to make. "There's no way you gonna get this." He sneered. To which, he hastily got into a stance, indicating he was ready to fight off another nuisance if he had to. I also figured it was partly to seem intimidating.

"If that's really how you wanna do this," The man scoffed, readying his gun blade... thing. "Then let's go, kid."

"Now Sora..." I said, trying to allow him a chance to think rationally. "Think about this for a--"

“Aaaagh!!”

Sora leapt at the guy, screaming his battle cry. The man, didn't even let him get much of a chance as he shot a burning hot, ball of fire in his direction. Sora narrowly rolled out of the way, and the ball of fire, continued to come careening right at me.

I launched myself out of danger, cursing Sora's rash decision. I made it to safety in time to watch him jump the guard rail that hung over the plaza, only to be immediately chased into the open area by the man.

I watched on feverishly, as they fought, Sora almost always just missing a deadly blow. He was taking more hits that he was dishing out. It didn't take long for his movements to become sluggish and clumsy.

"Behind you!" I cried out.

Sora had stopped moving for just a second to catch his breath. But it was clear, at that moment, the man was simply toying with. Another burst of fire shot towards Sora who looked up when he'd heard my voice. Just barely, he scrambled out of harm’s way, only to be met with the man's blade that nearly sliced through his neck.

Sora blocked in time, going on to throw up the man's guard. Gripping his Key with two hands, he prepared himself to run the guy through it seemed. His face was beaded with sweat and worn with exhaustion. Sora was at his limit. This wasn't just some brawl on the beach like we had been used to. The was the cruel reality of the outside world. And in the last few hours of being here, Sora most likely had more time to experience that than myself.

The man spun, effortlessly, out the way as he kicked Sora in the back. Sora stumbled on his feet, trying to keep his balanced, but the man had the upper hand. He wasn't worn out like Sora had been. With the butt of his sword, he slammed the hunk of metal right into Sora's temple and almost immediately, Sora dropped his weapon.

"Sora!" I shouted, leaping over the guard rail, bounding over towards him.

I watched as his body collapsed, hitting the ground harder than what sounded safe.

Conveniently enough for me, the fact that I decided to start running like a psycho, caused the dizziness to resurface. Dropping to my knees, I crouched over Sora's body and latched onto his shoulders. Gently I tried to shake him awake but he was out cold. His head rolled around on his shoulders as a small groan sounded from his lips.

With a bit of a sigh of relief, I let my mind rest easy knowing that he was alright.

"Step aside little girl." The voice of the man throttled in my ears.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched as he came closer to the two of us. I was seeing double at this point but I fought through the wave of nausea that came with it.

"I'm not moving." I said, squeezing Sora's shoulders tightly.

The man, let go a sigh, as she threw his weapon onto his shoulder. "I don't have time for you. Make this easy and move out of the way."

For a split second I thought back to the dream I'd had just earlier that evening. The Keyblade that formed in my hand when I needed it most. That voice that spoke to me saying I had some power within me, that was beginning to awaken. For a moment, I did hesitate. This was all so new. Things were just happening so fast. But I wasn't about to let to creep have Sora without a fight.

Shakily, I got to my feet. I tried to control myself as the dizziness attempted to prevent me from steeling my nerves. Cautiously, I held out my hand in hopes to summon the Keyblade as I did before. I didn't know if there was a specific way to do it. Yet all the same I found myself concentrating on thoughts of protecting Sora, getting back to Riku and Kairi and just staying alive.

And somehow that worked.

Within seconds the Keyblade materialized in my possession, weighing heavily down on my right arm as I gripped it after it had appeared. I swung it once, twistingly before aiming it at the man before me, who'd then stopped to, gaze at my Keyblade.

"Another one?" The man said, as though he couldn’t believe his bothersome luck.

"Just tell me what you want." I demanded. But at the same time, I wavered. The spinning world around me forced me to shut my eyes. Clamping a hand against my head, I garnered a sympathetic response from the Stanger.

"Kid-- Hey, you alright? Hey!"

But it had been too late.

The world had turned upside down all at once as I felt myself tumbling towards the ground. The sound my blade clanging loudly as it made contact, left a horrible ringing in my ears. When I hit the stone tiling, the world didn't stop spinning. It was like everything continued on as I felt myself passing through what seemed to be memories all around me. They mixed and blurred together. The cacophony of voices swirling around my head didn't help the dizziness, but I could just barely hear the sound of faint hissing, coming out over it all.

"Get up." A voice tore through dream.

My eyes opened abruptly. Glancing around I found myself in a whole different location. The room around me was bathed in sea of deep emerald greens. The ceiling, the floor-- all of it looking somewhat lavish or fancy, in design. I noticed that I was been lying comfortably in a bed that was not my own. I easily discounted that this whole crazy night might have been a dream, when I noticed Sora snoozing in an arm chair at the foot of the bed. His head hung on his neck, while drool began to slide down the corner of his mouth.

"Oh good." The voice from before spook. "You're awake. How's your head?? Looks like you got yourself a concussion somehow."

I wasn't sure how I hadn’t seen her before but, a girl stood at the bedside. She seemed pretty young, sporting short, dark brown hair and eyes. She wore a cropped tank top with belt straps and khaki colored shorts. Fish nets sat on her arms beneath big orange gloves that matched her ankle boots which housed long, thigh high socks.

As loud as her outfit was, I was surprised I hadn't noticed her when I opened my eyes.

"Uh... It's fine." I said, almost forgetting that she'd asked a question. I lifted my hand to my head, and felt some bandages wrapped around the circumference of my noggin. I suppose it was as bad as I thought.

"Squall didn't even touch you, so I guess he got a little worried when you just passed out on the spot. We couldn't figure out how you got banged up without him even laying a finger on you."

"Uh... well, that might have actually be the tree that hit me on my way here." I confessed sheepishly.

"The what?"

"The name's Leon." The man with the scar promptly corrected the girl, not allowing me a chance to respond. He had also seemingly appeared in the room. His edgy brooding look was almost difficult to notice.

Well when you get hit hard enough...

Ignoring the man, the girl shrugged and moved to Sora. "Hey, wake up, ya lazy bum!" The girl shouted, kicking at the arm chair.

The impressive jolt, woke Sora from his slumber. Upon sleepily opening his eyes, his gaze met with the girl, who'd been kneeling over him. "Gimmie... a break... Kairi..."

"Kairi?" The girl, inquired annoyed. "The name's Yuffie! Wake up, Nerd!!"

Again she shoved the chair and Sora jolted awake. Shouting expletives.

"Yeah... I think you might had hit this one too hard." The girl said rolling her eyes.

Sora's attention immediately landed on the man, calling himself Leon and stood from his seat, ready to fight once again. "You!! You're the one that attacked me out of nowhere! What's your problem?"

"While I am inclined agree that arguing on that notion would seem appropriate at any other time," I said, drawing Sora's attention to me. "I think, it wasn't without reason."

Sora quickly looked me over before he realized the bandage on my head.

"Did he beat you up too?" He asked, concerned.

"Tree." Was all I said before he nodded understandingly.

"You alright?" He attempted to confirm.

"Wait, seriously.... How on earth did you get into a fight with a tree?" The girl, now known as Yuffie, asked.

"Enough." The man's voice cut through each of our words as we all averted out attention toward him. "We've got more pressing matters at hand. And it's got to do with the two of you, both wielding the Keyblade."

"Both?" Sora asked, his eyes catching mine.

"I can summon one too." I shrugged.

"Wait... then why didn't you tell me?"

"It doesn’t matter." The guy said. "Both of you seem to be the chosen wielders of the blade. Initially the plan was to get it from you so we could conceal you hearts from the Heartless. I didn't think you'd come on your own of course, but I was willing to do what I needed to get you to come along."

"Even if that meant beating up a kid?" I noted. "Sounds like the mindset of bully to me."

"Regardless." Yuffie sighed heavily. "You guys were running around completely oblivious to how dangerous of a threat you posed for yourselves. The Heartless can seek you out via the Keyblade."

"Meaning, we don't have lot of time, before they make their presence known." Leon went on. "This place is infested. They're crawling around everywhere. It's crazy to even think that the keyblade chose you two—Kids, of all people."

"Rude..." I interjected.

"Why don't you start making sense" Said demanded. His tone held plenty of frustration in it. "Maybe explain what’s really going on around here."

"Well, okay." Yuffie said, taking a deep. From that, I could tell she was about to give us a very condensed version of a story we might well need the full details to. "We're pressing for time so... here goes. So you know that, there are worlds outside of your own. But the thing is, they've been a super-secret up until this point. And that's all thanks to the Heartless who've been shaking thing up. They're kind of making a grand mess of things."

"The Heartless." I said. I was pretty sure Sora said it to me before, but.. "Those are the creatures that keep chasing us around. But what are they really?"

"Those without hearts." Leon confirmed. "The Darkness in peoples' hearts is what attracts them. See that you don't fall prey, for there is Darkness within every heart."

"We've learned that a man named Ansem was studying those creatures a while backs." Yuffie continued. "He recorded all he knew about them in a compiled report-- like their behavior and stuff. Sadly we don't know a whole lot about those nasty buggers, but we do know that we could probably learn more about them form the reports."

"Well maybe... you could show it to us, if it’s not too much trouble?" I suggested.

“That’s… the thing." Yuffie frowned. "We can't."

"Because...?" Sora chimed in.

"Because." Yuffie emphasized. "We don't have 'em all. We've got like a few pages with us, but the rest of them are all scattered about the place-- maybe even across the worlds. Getting them back is a real pain."

"So for now... you’re saying the only real defense we have against the Heartless that we currently can be sure of is the Keyblade." I supplied.

"Exactly!" Yuffie nodded, slapping a fist into her palm and pointing at me as a big grinned danced onto her face.

"The Heartless, tend to greatly fear the Keyblade." Leon spoke out. "Even as this is the case, they'll continue to seek you out."

"Well... neither of us asked for this." Sora said. "Is there no way to return it or--"

"Obviously not?" Yuffie answered matter o' factly. "Who are you going to give it back to? The Keyblade chooses it's master, and it looks like you two are the new lucky owners! It's yours for good."

"Okay, hold on." I said. This was all coming at me pretty fast. In a matter of just a few hours so much has happened. Now, I'm being force fed a ton of info-- and the ‘too long didn't read’ version at that. "Can we back track for a second? You're saying that we didn't know about other worlds until now because those Heartless are taking over, right? So then what about us? What happened to our island?? Last we saw of it, it was being pulled apart. Sora, you said, you were looking for Kairi and Riku. Where are they?"

Leon and Yuffie stood there with pursed lips and I listed off my many questions.

"Just because we've got Keyblades, that automatically makes us official monster slayers? Not even any trainers? At least have us be better informed before we get thrown back into it. I hardly know how to use this... Keyblade thing."

"The fact that you're sitting here, right now, possibly means that you're world is gone." Leon finally said. "Mayhaps, it's been consumed by the Darkness whenever the Heartless came. I'm sorry to break it to you, and I don't know how to say it any easier, but you probably won't be seeing you friends, family or world any time soon."

"Leon--" Yuffie's voice was soft.

"No." But Leon's was firm. "This is the reality of their situation. There is no sugar coating it."

I pressed my lips tightly together. I found myself looking at that really, nice rug as I tried to find some composure. I hated that my gut feelings tended to turned out right. But I wouldn't allow myself to believe that earlier today, really was the last day that I would see the ocean.

I looked up at the two strangers, as they both stared at me expectantly. I could read their expressions perfectly. They were sympathetic, but they really were counting on both of us being on board. I looked over at Sora. He looked pretty deep in thought too. But This Leon dude was right. We didn't really have a whole lot of options anyways. We were now, two fifteen year old kids without a home and nothing to our name except our new, very priceless looking weapons.

I let go a sigh, attempting to get my decision out, before a loud explosion sounded right within the room. That awful ringing caused my brain to vibrate around in my skull as the world started to double around me. Leon readied his weapon, barking orders around the room.

"Yuffie, get a move on! You two are with me. Let's go!" He shouted, as he tore through the mini horde of creatures that entered the room.

I hastily, but carefully got out of bed, which had still managed to be a mistake. Sora who had already summoned Key was nearly out the hole int he wall when he noticed.

"Yukari, can you manage?" He asked.

Hesitantly, I summoned my Key. Somehow it felt more heavy than I was used too. I suppose a toy wooden sword was nothing compared to this.

"I'm good." I said, shaking the stars out of my eyes. I had to be at least 90% right now. Any less meant... turning into one of those Heartless which, was not an option.

Sora nodded, leading the way out of what I realized was the room of a hotel. We had then, found ourselves in a fancy looking back alley lined with hotel balconies. Leaping over the side we were met with tons of creatures that spotted the length of the alley. Following the man's lead, the two of us hacked and slashed our ways through the enemy horde with surprising ease. I had initially thought, they would have been tougher to deal with, but the little creatures exploded upon impact of the Keyblade, making contact with their black bodies.

"Where did he go?" Sora shouted, when we'd entered the Second District through a side door of the alley.

The Heartless quickly closed in behind us, right as we slammed the door. Even still, more lay ahead. The court yard was swarming with the things dancing about, and chasing after people who, let's be honest, should have known better to stay inside.

"Who cares, let's just keep moving!" I cried out moving ahead of Sora.

I dashed through another creature that had been chewing on some guys leg. Free of his assailant he clumsily scrambled to his feet and thanked me frantically.

"Get out of here." I told him. "Make sure you tell everyone else to find safety."

The guy nodded running off as we continued to free others in need of help. But there was no real point. With one defeated, more spawned in its place. It was as if there was no end to these guys.

"Let's get out of here." Sora shouted to me, ducking into the alley that led to the last district.

I followed behind. Once through the door, we were immediately met with the sounds of screaming.

"Save meee!!" A panicked voice, cried out, resonating around the walls of the district three courtyard.

"Fight, Goofy!!" A familiar voice screeched, angrily at the first.

For second I could have sworn, I'd heard that voice somewhere before. As we ran into the square I looked all about myself but saw… nothing. That was until we looked up and noticed the two.. animal people fighting for their lives on the tiny space of a balcony above our heads.

A single Heartless had them pinned down, but there was nothing we could do to help them.

"I'm trying!" One of them shouted. This one looked like a sort of black bloodhound, but with the characteristics of a human. He charged towards the Heartless, a bigger one than I'd seen up until now, in attempts to knock it down. But the thing effortlessly swatted the dog out of its, way, sending the dog flying over the side of the balcony.

Sora and I inched forwards with anticipation, as we watched.

"Thunder!" The other voice belonging to a white duck... man?! who went barreling after the Heartless.

Instantly I recognized him from the dream, which would then prove, the dream wasn't exactly that.

"Maybe we should get up there and help them?" I suggested, glancing over at Sora who's eyes were strained on the pair. His features had been knotted into something of painful anticipation, like he couldn’t bear to watch, but he didn't want to look away.

"Ah... I don't think we'll need to be doing that." He said, carefully stepping back. "Seems like they're coming to us."

"Wah--?"

"aaaaauUAAAHAAAHHHHH!!!"

The sound of screaming, closing in, caught my attention as I realized, with great displeasure, that the two were now rocketing right in our direction.

Sora and I both moved to escape their trajectory, but found it to be a fruitless effort, as the bodies of the two newcomers collided with ours, sending us all right into the cool pavement.

I can say with unwavering confidence, from the bottom of the pile of bodies, this was not a wonderful place to be.

"Keys!!" The two shouted in unison upon, I assume, the sight of both of our weapons that had been flung across the court yard.

But their revelation was short lived as an incredible rumbling, shook the ground beneath us. This was then promptly followed by, walls spring up around the yard, and blocking off all of the exits, preventing escape.

"What happening?" Sora asked aloud, to no one in particular.

His question was quickly answered when a barrage of armored parts came crashing down out of the night sky. All around us, the pieces fell-- an armored helmet, clawed gauntlets, boots and a torso. The enormous clang of metal rattled my insides an shook my vision. It was great wakeup call but it did little to help my head ache.

At first the pieces stayed in their places, unmoving. The silence of the night managed to come back, as the ringing subsided.

"Uhh..." Sora's voice permeated the quiet. "So, who are you guys, again?"

"Ah!" The dog, who was comfortably on top of our pile, grinned wide. "The names, Goofy, and this here is Donald!"

"Are you freaking kidding me right now??" I asked, irritated, from the bottom of the heap.

At the sound of my voice, the ground began to shake. The parts of armor began to rattle as they slowly lifted themselves from the ground, and began hovering before encircling us at dangerous speed.

"I don't want to sound too urgent." Agitation, was quite prevalent in my voice. "But may this is the best time to get, off??"

It was in that moment that the boys scrambled to their feet. Sora and I made a grab for our weapons before the four of us huddled together, back to back as the parts, violently encircling us, closed in. The wind from the vortex it was creating, throwing my hair every which way. I clenched the my Keyblade tightly in my hand, hoping this wasn’t the night of my death.

"Thundaga!!" The duck man, shouted.

For a second, the world around us darkened before the temperature rose, significantly. From the sky, an impressively sized vein of lightning, came down and struck the armor, without managing to hit us. This threw the monster out of its attack. sending it flying across the length of the court yard. Seemingly dazed, buy only momentarily, the thing twitched and flinched as it stumbled and floated its way to its feet until all of the parts were in their respective places to form a sort of "body."

"Let's beat him together!" The dog shouted, charging towards the thing with nothing but a shield.

"Attaaack!!" The duck screeched, flailing his magic staff around, while blast what appeared to be magic spells.

Sora and I exchanged brief glances of blatant awe struck before following the two into battle. I gripped my blade tightly running into danger. My eyes made contact with the torso, section of the thing and noticed a sort of heart design of red and black, with a X mark running through it. Interestingly enough I realized some of the different, little heartless I'd seen, had those on them as well-- the little buggers with the knight helmets seemed like underlings to this guy?

I narrowly missed the swiping of both the clawed hands as I threw myself to the ground. Rolling back to my feet, I continued to barrel towards the thing. Of course, this was all while it was coming right at me.

"Hey!!" I shouted towards the duck. "Can you hit it again!! With that lightning?"

The duck, having caught my attention furrowed his brow. "I'll need some time!"

I nodded before I turned to find Sora had paired up with the dog to take down the feet. They were making great progress until they got kicked back and sent flying. I watched with bated breath as the armored boots both came careening in my direction. Skidding to a stop, I hoped to get out of the way in time before they rammed into me.

Unfortunately for me, I took the blow, being thrown back even closer to the massive armor. Stumbling to my feet, I narrowly avoided being crushed to death. I rolled desperately for my life, slashing at the armor as I did so. Aggressively, I threw my blade through one of the boots and it exploded in a grand fit of dark smoke. Sadly, I wouldn't have time to avoid the other foot that had come rocketing right towards me.

But it seemed I wouldn’t have to, as the dog, who called himself Goofy leapt in front of me with his shield braced for impact. Impressively the foot imploded before the dog threw his shield at an on-coming claw.

"Move it!" He shouted, ducking for cover himself.

He didn't need to tell me twice.

I dove to the ground right as my head would have been taken off. The wind the claw picked up threw my hair across my face, and into my eyes. I watched as is made preparations for a round trip.

"Get up!" Sora shouted, as he yanked me up by the shoulder.

I hadn't even notice that Goofy had already been back on his feet, with his shield in hand.

"Get ready!!" I heard the duck shouting from across the court yard. He'd come charging our way, with his staff risen over head. "Back me up, Goofy! You two, be ready to finish him off!"

"Right!" Sora and I exclaimed.

"THUNDAGAAAA!!" The duck shouted, once more.

Again, the atmosphere around us dipped before a vein of lightning, larger and more expansive ripped through the air. It targeted only the enormous body of floating parts, ripping the claws to pieces and severely damaging the body and head. Both of the remaining pieces clattered loudly to the ground. Goofy flung his shield at the helmet, while Sora and I rushed in after to deliver the finishing blow.

Together, we tore through the twitching torso piece with our blades. The thing shuddered violently before exploding into bits of shrapnel and Darkness that clouded the air.

The boys cheered at the sight of the creature’s demise, while I watched as a shimmering pink, heart floated up into the sky before vanishing into the stars.

"So, you guys were looking for us?" Sora inquired.

He and I, along with a Leon, Yuffie, the animal duo and a new girl, stood in the middle of the first district. Surrounded by lights, and other dwellers of this world.

The new girl, who had introduced herself to me as Aerith, wore a kind smile. She'd been dressed in a light pink button down dress and heavy brown boots. Silver bangles covered her wrist. Her long, light brown hair was tucked into a braid. At that moment, she had been checking my head wound whilst casting what seemed to be multiple, very light doses of healing magic at it. I wasn't going to insist she stopped, because it was definitely getting rid of whatever concussion I had.

"These two had apparently been sent out to find you, at the request of their king." Leon clarified. "I supposes its only remarkable that there is two of you, but nonetheless, you seem to be prime suspects."

"Request of your king?" I echoed, thinking back to the letter, the duck man had been reading. I wondered if it was pertinent that I shared the fact that I could see things like that through dreams-- events of people and places and what not. But, I don't know how useful it would be. They'd probably just find that creepy and invasive.

"You should come with us, on our vessel!" The dog appointed. "We'll be traveling around the multiverse, taking down Heartless together like we just did."

"We couldn't do it properly without a few Keyblade wielders." The duck egged on.

"But, what about our friends?" Sora looked to me, with a hopeless expression on his face. "We still haven't found them and we don't even know if they're ok."

I bit my lip as I stared him. I kindly thanked Aerith, and moved closer to Sora placing a hand on his shoulder. "You said, you looked everywhere in this town." Maybe... they aren't here? Maybe they ended up, somewhere else."

"She could be right." Leon stated. "This isn't the only world out here, beyond yours. If you go with these guys, you’re bound to find them."

Sora's frown failed to dissipate even at that bit of confirmation.

"But, you won't be coming with us, looking like that." The duck insisted.

"What's wrong with the way we look?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Your faces--"

"E-excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips. If he was trying to say we had to look like animal hybrids to get into their crew, they had another thing coming.

"The frowns, you too have." He clarified. "Our ship runs on smiles. If you guys come with us looking like that, we'll exploded before we make it off world."

I couldn’t tell if this was an exaggeration or not.

"You guys need to be happy!" The dog agreed. "We'll help you find your friends along the way-- no problem. We'll all be in this together."

For a moment, Sora face’s was knotted only with concern. I felt like it had been partially my fault for calling out the fact that our island couldn't have possible survived what happened to it. Even still, he'd been really weird about not telling whatever he omitted when I asked about Kairi and Riku.

I looked back at the duo and forced a grin, for Sora's and Riku and Kairi’s sake. I wanted to find them and ensure their safety more than anything. But, if all the worlds were being taken over by the Heartless, then a reunion would be short lived. "I'll take up, you guys' offer if a smile's all you need."

Sora looked up at me, curiously.

"We're gonna find them." I told him. "Together-- and with their help."

"And we'll still be helping you guys out too!" Yuffie exclaimed.

I looked over everyone. All genuine, warm smiles across their faces as each of them nodded. Our situation may have seemed hopeless but we definitely weren't alone.

"Yeah." Sora finally agreed. A big toothy grin, grew across his lips. “We’ll go with you guys."

The duck nodded, satisfied, as he held out his hand. "Donald Duck." He introduced himself.

"The name's Goofy." Declared the dog, slapping his hand onto Donald’s.

They looked to us expectantly waiting to join them.

"Yukari." I said, placing my hand in next.

"And I'm Sora."

After our little huddle we said our goodbyes. The crew each lent us an impressive lump sum of potion's which would help us out with small ailments along our journey. They gave us a bit of money to start, bid us a safe trip, insisted we come back if we found anything useful or needed anything, and sent us off on our way.

This of course, transitioned into getting to see the vessel that Goofy mentioned prior.

On the outside, it looked like a little toy made of blocks for giants. On the inside, would be the homiest, space ship I'd ever had the pleasure to grace my presence with. A quick tour around the ship allowed me the chance to learn that it included, four dormitory rooms. A small men's and women's shower, a kitchen that housed enough room to fit that max number of occupants, a lounge room that Donald corrected as the briefing room, as well as a cockpit where'd we be spending the majority of the flights, prepping for world visits.

"Welcome to our ship!" Goofy announced.

"Get some rest if you need it." Donald suggested. "Who knows when we'll come up, on our next world. Best be prepared for bigger encounters."

"And don't even think about touching this and that like you own the place!" Went a very angry, very squeaky, and very tiny voice.

Our quartet, looked down to find the smallest, cutest, little chipmunks I'd ever seen. Both of them skittered around our feet, as they attempt to hold our attention due to their size.

"All day I slave away at getting this vessel spotless and ship-shape! So don't try and trash the place, first chance ya get." One of them spat.

I knelt over and picked them up in the palms of my hand. Both of them were dressed in little, yellow aprons. A pocket emblazoned with a cog sat in full view. One of them had droopy eyes and big red nose, and double buck, gapped teeth, while the other eyed me suspiciously, sniffing at my gloves with its little black nose.

"These two are Chip and Dale." Donald informed, as he headed away from our growing party. "They're the ones responsible for the maintenance of the gummi ship."

"Howdy! I'm Dale!" The red nosed one greeted with a soft smile.

"And you two, take off your shoes when you go into that cockpit!" The one I presumed to be chip, hollered, before they boys leapt out of my hands and scurried off. But not before Chip could get in his final, nag. "I won't have ya dirtying it up!"

"Just make sure to refuel and get some rest." Goofy reminded. "You can join us in the cockpit when you’re ready"

Sora and I nodded as Goofy left us alone near the entrance of the ship. I looked to Sora, who'd been gazing around in complete awe. I had to say this place was amazing, but at the same time, I felt like the rest, Donald and Goofy mentioned, seemed like a welcoming treat after everything we'd endured tonight.

"I guess, I'll go check out the rooms." I said. "Wanna come with or--"

"Sure." Sora nodded.

Together we wandered around until we found the dorms. The first one I found, I decided to claim, plopping myself right into the bed. It wasn't super comfy, but it was still a place to lie my head when things calmed down, I suppose.

The room itself was pretty sweet too. An expansive wall made completely of sealed, air tight glass that showed the stars and things of space that zoomed by. Everything was simplistic. A small locker like closet a desk and chair, and a bed.

I looked up to find, Sora had been gazing out at the view of space. His face on the verge of drooping.

"Sora?" I called him away from his thoughts.

He looked at me, with a changed expression that masked whatever he was feeling. I suppose I wouldn't try to bring up what had been really been bothering him. Didn't want to explode the ship just yet.

"If you get scared, you can sleep in my room." I teased.

Sora grinned a bit, as he joined me at the bed side. Rolling his eyes he sat down. "You think they're okay?" He asked, in a quiet voice.

For a moment, I wasn't sure what I should have said, but I had no way of knowing the truth. "I do." I said, smiling softly at him.

"But the Island is--"

"Who cares about that right now." I stopped him. "What matters is that you and I are together. We're safe. And as long as we stick together, and work with Donald and Goofy, we'll find the others."

"Do you really believe that?" He asked.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense not to hope."

For a second, Sora’s face went dark. I could see in his eyes that something had been bothering him.

"What is it?" I asked.

He stayed quiet a moment longer before deciding to respond. "I... I mean, back before we got to Traverse Town... I met him in the storm-- on the Island before you came." He twisted his mouth a bit, before continuing. I guess he was still trying to make sense of what he was about to say. "Riku said... He wasn't afraid of the darkness." Sora continued. "Do you think he meant, THE Darkness? The one that has to do with the Heartless?"

I frowned at this revelation. But what could I say? I hadn't been there when it happened, I couldn't even be sure of the context. I shook my head, trying to put it out of both of our thoughts.

"I don't think we should worry about that yet." I supplied, for both of our peace of mind. "We'll ask Riku what he meant when we find him."

Sora nodded quietly. "Yeah..." He agreed. "When we find him-- Him and Kairi. And then maybe they'll join us."

"Quite an idea! It wouldn't hurt grow the group." A voice chirped, startling both Sora and I.

Looking down at the floor, we found a smartly dressed cricket standing proudly at our feet. In a tail coat an top hat, a wide grin spread across his tiny face as he did a gentleman’s bow. "How do you do?"

"Ooookay, I guess privacy is out the window." I said under mind breath, staring wide eyed at the little bug.

"Whoa.." Sora awed. "You're so small. What are you doing here?"

"Jiminy Cricket's the name!" He introduced. "I couldn't help but over hear your discussion. You say you've lost your world, eh? Well the same thing's happened to mine. So I've taken up residence with the crew and have been sent out to record the goings on for the journey ahead at the request of the King."

"Ahh.." I tried not to be rude and inquire why he'd been eaves dropping. "Sorry to hear about your world. Glad you made it out okay."

"But of course!" The cricket supplied, jumping onto Sora's knee from the floor.

"I’m, Sora and this is Yukari." Sora greeted. "Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you'll be pretty busy with all that writing."

"Oh, of course! Feel free to suggest anything I might miss."

"Yeah, sure." Sora turned to me, as he got to his feet. The cricket, Jiminy leapt on to his shoulder as if to hitch a ride. "I'm gonna head to the cockpit with the others. You comin'?"

"Uhh... I think I'll catch a quick nap." I said, eyeing Jiminy. "Wake me up when we're ready for landing."

Sora nodded before he headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once alone, I sighed, lying back in the bed. I found myself gazing out at the stars that flew by. Sora's words about Riku hadn't left me. Closing my eyes I hoped that maybe it wasn't something that was cause for concern, but the dreams would ultimately correct that notion.

I was taken to a scene where a communion of conveniently shadowed figures stood around a sort of magical table that projected an image of... Sora Donald Goofy and I, back when we'd pledged our party-ship in Traverse Town. Now feeling very watched, I floated closer, attempting to grasp the going's on.

Within the dark room, low lit by green flames, I gathered that there had been about six shapes, conversing with each other.

"The little brats, took down that Heartless!" One of the voices raged. "Who would've thought?"

"Such is the power of the Keyblade." Went another voice. "Their powers aren't their own."

"Why not just turn them into a Heartless and be done with them." A woman's voice happily chimed in. "Solve to problem, quick and easy."

"Those brats' friends, are the king's lackey's. Swoogle me eyes! Their all bilge rats by the looks of them." Spoke another.

"You're know prize, yourself." Went yet another.

"Shut up!!"

"Enough!" A final voice boomed from the shadows. Her voice was the only one to be matched with a face, as she stepped into the little light that danced about the room.

Looking into her yellow eyes, her blacked pupils gazed evilly at the image of our party on the table. Draped in high collared robes of black and violet, her green skin and horned cowl, complimented the cunning expression that waltzed onto her black stained lips. "The Keyblade has already chosen these two. But will it be they who conquers the Darkness, or perhaps will it swallow them? Either way, we shall watch them closely, as they could pose to be useful. Especially the girl."

Her grin grew wider, and in that moment, it looked as though she had made direct eye contact with my ghostly form, sat across the room. But, before I could take much stalk in the idea, I was thrown into another scene.

Dizzying colors of blue, spun around my vision until I found myself in the strangest, place I'd ever seen. Blue cliffs, rose up around me, ushering heaps of rising... water falls defying gravity in every means possible. Water shot towards the heavens as if this place existed in reverse. What was more, was the chunks of rock, floating through the air. Completely awe struck, I almost hadn't noticed a figure of blue and yellowed, curled up atop one of them.

Urgently I found myself reaching out to them. My heart raced at the sight of their waking face, a mess of confusion and fear.

"Riku!!" I shouted.

But of course he couldn't hear me. All the same, he sat forth, gazing about himself as if looking for the source of the voice.

"Where... where am I?" He asked, the silence.

I tried again to call out for him, but was met with no sign of him being able to hear me. My heart, lurched into my gut when I felt myself being pulled away from the scene. The world around me began to darken, and Riku’s image began to blur.

"W-wait! I'm not ready yet!" I cried out to no one. But that didn’t matter. The darkness around me quickly took over. Tendrils of black, smoke and ooze, shot out from the darkness. A hissing sounded in my ears, flooding my body with immediate terror. The pitch black face with yellow eyes and red mangled teeth appeared from within the darkness.　

"Sleeeeeep!!" the thing hissed, coming at me with alarming speed.

I screamed, trying to fight the thing and get away, but realized, I had woken up, back in my dorm upon the ship. Breathing heavily, I checked myself before realizing my face was drenched with tears.　

To Be Continued

← Previous Chapter | | Next Chapter ➡

#kingdom hearts #AR #KHAR

0 notes

choco-glow · 3 years

Text

Dance With Me, Pt. 2

Cid expertly turned steaks on his grill one-handed while he drank a beer, pausing to adjust one of the vegetable kebabs so that it was seared, not charcoal, and kept his eye on the AVALANCHE crew lounging in his backyard. Ordinarily, he didn’t have people over except his crews, but thankfully, tonight had coincided with his head coordinator Buddy’s birthday, and so everyone else was at the kegger getting wasted. He’d even nipped in for a bit while Tifa gathered her team together, played the gracious boss that gave them all a half-day to sober up tomorrow, then slipped back out to his own place. Cid sighed a little, glad he wasn’t at the bigger party; he was gettin’ too old for that shit.

“Can I help any, Captain?” He couldn’t stop the smile as Tifa walked up, still barefoot, her feet whispering over the clover, and though she looked so young (too young, Highwind, way too young for you), she bore the mantle of years of responsibility. He could read it in the way she walked, the way she held herself; it was the same mantle he saw in the mirror every day. He almost pitied her, but stopped himself; respect was her due, not pity.

“Nah, but thankee. Food’s almost done, an’ you an’ Miss Aerith helped plenty with th’ side dishes, which I appreciate.”

“It’s the least we can do for letting us stay the night, and making us dinner, Captain.” Cid did his best not to puff up in pride at his title, but goddamn, it was nice to hear; the ninja had called him Ciddy right off the bat, and his eye still twitched over that, while the others went with Highwind or Cid. Except for Miss Tifa, and the former Turk, Valentine. He caught sight of Vincent out of the corner of his eye, curious, because he’d met the dour gunman before…but he wasn’t sure if Valentine remembered him. He’d been stationed in Nibelheim ten years ago, prior to the whole mess with Sephiroth, working with the locals and running the small Air Corps. base…and he remembered meeting the gunman when he and his men had been sent into the old mansion to pick up some materials for Hojo.

Vincent Valentine, Turk, son of Grimoire Valentine, scientist for Shin-Ra…small wonder he’s joined up with AVALANCHE. Between what th’ bastards did to his father an’ his girl…still. I wonder how much he’s told the others… But, that was years in the past now, and Cid turned his attention back to Tifa, still smiling. Because she’s goddamn purty and just…if I were ten years younger… He cut off the wistful thoughts, though, and offered her a beer; she took it with a grin, popping the cap off like a pro and winging it into the trash can, her gauntlets deft despite the extra padding and weight from the metal bars that protected her knuckles. Fuck, that’s hot. I love a woman who can kick my ass.

“Still, it’s appreciated. Think you’ll like that, it’s a local IPA. An’ before ya ask, there’s a reason we don’t have an inn ‘round here.”

“All the better to keep the assholes away?” She replied, voice wry, and he grinned again, toasting her with his bottle; she clinked rims with him, a grin on her own lips, and they drank together. Tifa paused after that, impressed, and saluted him with the bottle. “You weren’t kidding, this is awesome! If I still had Seventh Heaven, I’d be importing this.”

“Ya owned a bar in Midgar? Well damn, girl!” She grinned at that, a real, toothy grin, and Cid grinned back, laying steaks out on the platter and filling the second plate with kebabs. “That’s impressive. Where at?” Her grin faded as sorrow touched her features, and Cid bit back a swear, swallowing. “…just ignore that, Miss Tifa.”

“…No. No, it’s okay that you asked.” She took a deep breath, let it out, and Cid swallowed, turning down the grill now, glad that most everyone else was busy in a card game and getting cleaned out by Aerith. Tifa gave him a weary smile, and gently picked up the plate of kebabs. “Tell you what; let’s eat first, then we’ll talk, just you and I, okay? There’s…a lot of bad has happened in the world over the last few weeks, and I’m damn sure that no one’s filled you folks in here at Rocket Town.”

“…You’d be damn right about that, Miss Tifa. Deal. We can wait till th’ others go to bed and talk on the porch; there’s a part by the kitchen on th’ side here that no one’ll hear us talk.” She relaxed at that, and he smiled softly. “C’mon, let’s feed th’ grumpy ones an’ get everyone trundled off.”

“Thank you, Captain…”

“Eh, y’can call me Cid, Miss Tifa.” She smiled at that, a real smile now, and Cid basked in its warmth, sighing internally all over again. Goddammit, I wish I wasn’t old…

“Then call me Tifa, Cid.” With that, they brought the food over to the big table and for once, Cid found himself enjoying being part of a group where he wasn’t the sole authority. Sure, he liked being the boss, but sometimes, it was nice to just…be. And he couldn’t do that with his engineers, his contractors, his safety people; he had to be on top of everyone to keep things running smoothly. Not that his people had to have micromanaging, nothing like that; more…his people needed that reassurance that whatever orders Shin-Ra gave, their Captain would do his best to make them work. Palmer certainly didn’t give a shit.

Here, though…Barret was talking animatedly about his daughter, Marlene, while Cloud, the ex-SOLDIER with the glowing blue eyes, quietly snarked with Valentine, who was going over a map of the northern coastline to reacquaint himself with the area. Yuffie was a little annoying, but Aerith was clearly a master of keeping people occupied, and he breathed a little easier as Yuffie chattered to Aerith about her home in Wutai, after Cid had made it clear that he hadn’t supported the invasion all those years ago, and that he hadn’t had anything against the Wutaiian people.

Red was settled on a few old towels that Cid had laid out, finishing off his own steak and looking rather content to settle down under the stars, while the odd black tuxedo cat with the cape and crown sat at the table, eating a much smaller portion and mostly added in commentary to Aerith and Yuffie’s conversation. Tifa was across from him, looking more worn and tired now, and Cid thought about telling her to go to sleep, intending to look things up over the Gaianet later…when she caught his eye, and he knew, despite her exhaustion, that she needed to talk about things. No one’s talked to her about this…

He almost kicked the others out on principle alone, but the sudden rage vanished in a wave of sorrow for the young woman. Girl’s been carrying all th’ grief on her shoulders…and that is grief, not just regular bad news. Goddamn, what th’ fuck is happenin’ out there… He’d find out soon enough, and after plying the others with a few more beers, managed to chase them all upstairs to his spare rooms, glad that he’d aired everything out with Tifa earlier and made the beds. He didn’t have enough rooms for everyone to have singles, but no one had to share over much, and Valentine and Red were comfortable together, while Aerith and Yuffie were happy to share. Cloud had actually taken to the spare cot with better humor than Cid had thought, and Barret, of course, had the larger bed…

Tifa had looked a little lost, when Cid had casually mentioned that he’d given her his bed while he set up a cot downstairs in his sunroom.

“Captain, I can’t take your bed!”

“Nope, not lettin’ a lady sleep on a cot. Th’ SOLDIER’s pr’bably enjoyin’ his, but y’all been sleepin’ in tents on th’ ground; ain’t lettin’ ya spend tonight on a measly cot.” She’d blushed, thanked him profusely, and now…as she padded out onto the porch with him, still comfortably barefoot, Tifa pulled off her gauntlets and set them on the little table by his porch swing, settling in next to him with a tired sigh. He kicked his boots back off, peeling off his socks before stuffing them in the tops of his boots, and lit a fresh cigarette; he’d been dyin’ for a smoke all night, and finally gave into his vice as the moon rose over Rocket Town.

“…could I bum a smoke off you, Cid?” Tifa murmured, and he handed her both his pack and his lighter, feeling a curl of warmth in his belly at the way she said his name. She took both with a smile, and lit up with ease, passing them back for him to shove in his shirt pocket again. She took a long drag off the cigarette, the cherry burning bright, and he watched smoke curl out of her nostrils, then blowing out on a heavy sigh. “Thank you.”

“Yer welcome, Tifa.” Dark red eyes, so dark in the night that they could have been black flickered up to gaze at him, and he lost himself in them for a long moment. “…How long ya been carryin’ this shit, honey?” She stubbed out her cigarette, and those dark eyes squeezed shut, pain creasing them, and Cid couldn’t help himself; he pulled her into a hug against his side, tucking her into his chest, and when the first sob came, he started rocking the swing, stabbing his own cig out in the ashtray and wrapping both his arms around her. “Oh honey…cry it out…that’s it…”

Tifa raged and wept about the destruction of Sector Seven, their roles in the reactor explosions, the Turks, Aerith’s kidnapping, infiltrating Shin-Ra…Hojo’s monsters, and the Whispers that had plagued them. Cid wanted to clarify several things, wanted to ask…but she was still sobbing, still grieving over the people she’d lost, the lives cut down so cruelly, and Cid couldn’t interrupt that grieving…she needed to heal. So, he kept rocking the porch swing, keeping her hugged tight, letting her curl up on the swing and let it out all…and when she began to sniffle rather than sob, he pulled a clean handkerchief out of his back pocket and let her blow her nose in peace.

“…Goddamn, honey…”

“…It’s all so goddamned terrible, Cid…and the worst part? It feels like I’m the only one who cared about those people sometimes. Aerith did, sure, but she was from Five…She didn’t know Seven as well. Barret…was using people, Cloud still doesn’t really care all that much…Yuffie, Vincent, and Red never knew them. But with Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge gone…god…it’s a huge mess.” She whispered, still tucked into his chest, and Cid squeezed her shoulder, dropping a kiss on her hair without a second thought.

“…Sugar, you deserve a sainthood for that hell…an’ I’ll send my top team of engineers back to help your people out first thing tomorrow after they’ve all sobered up, okay?” She sat up straight at that, eyes huge, and Cid gave her a warm smile. “I mean it.”

“…I…are you sure Shin-Ra will let you?” She squeaked, and Cid just grinned, wide and a little devilish…and oh, was that a blush on her cheeks? It was hard to tell in the moonlight, and Cid hadn’t yet gotten the wiring for the porch lights fixed, but they were still close enough that he could feel the warmth, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, she was.

“What Rufus don’t know won’t hurt ‘im. Palmer don’t know shit about my people anyway; he ain’t gonna notice. An’ they’ll wanna help; half are from Midgar, even if it is the upper portion, and droppin’ a plate? Bastards ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em. Besides…” He sighed a little, and took a breath. “…we ain’t gettin’ that rocket skyward anytime soon anyway.”

“…But…it looks so ready…”

“An’ it is, except for fuel; Shin-Ra won’t authorize th’ fuel expense, so we’re grounded. It’s why I have the market an’ the tourism; keeps us fed while we languish here.” She winced at that, and Cid shook his head, voice softer now. “But that ain’t important right now; what is important are yer people, Tifa. An’ you; no one’s been takin’ care of you, have they?” Tifa crumbled at that, and Cid gathered her to his chest again, not caring that his shirt was still damp from the first round of tears, rubbing his hands up and down her back and pressing chaste kisses to her hair. “Oh honey…”

“Cid…no one’s hugged me like this since my dad died…” She sobbed softly, and Cid cussed under his breath, hugging her tighter.

“Cry it out again, sweetheart, we got all night…” These sobs were softer, aching and deep, and Cid swallowed the lump in his throat as Tifa poured out the events that had devastated Nibelheim five years ago, her father’s death, the burning, Sephiroth…Her master leaving her after her wounds had healed, and as she shifted, pulling away a little, he caught a glimpse of the scar that had nearly bissected her torso, peeking up from her padded tank top, white in the moonlight. He let her ease back, let her breathe and wipe away the tears and snot, and when Tifa glanced back up at him, Cid couldn’t help brushing a lock of her hair back over one ear, palm grazing her jaw line…and Tifa leaned into the touch, looking so sad. “Tifa…”

“Cid…will…fuck, this is so stupid, but will you stay the night with me? Please?” Cid paused, his own eyes widening, and she glanced away, wincing…so he gathered her into his arms for a third time, kissing her cheek softly this time, giving her a chance to pull away if she wanted.

“Yes. I will. An’ not…I won’t be a creep, sweetheart. I…goddamn, I gotta be ten years yer senior, I know, but…” She didn’t pull away, snuggling into his chest, and a soft, weak laugh hiccupped out of her, her watery eyes softening.

“Oh, I dunno, I think you’re fine…I’m twenty-one.” He winced, and she stroked his cheek, mimicking his touch earlier. “Cid, you can’t be that much older…” He heaved a heavy sigh.

“…Thirty-two.” She shrugged, snuggling in closer, and he sighed, running a hand over her back again. Tifa purred, leaning into his chest a little more.

“…That’s still not so bad. It’d be one thing if you’d pursued me…”

“I dunno, still feels bad to me…” He muttered, and Tifa gave a soft laugh, nuzzling his cheek.

“And that’s how I know you’re a good man; bad ones don’t care. Trust me…I know bad men. I don’t know a lot of good men, other than Barret and a handful of the regulars that survived…”

“And Cloud?” She paused, mulling that over, and sighed.

“…And Cloud, but Cloud is…complicated. In ways I’m not ready to deal with yet. You…aren’t. Well. You are, but in a way that I can certainly work with.” Cid laughed softly at that, and stroked a hand over her shoulders; that made her melt into his arms, and she sighed happily.

“Kinda wish you didn’t have to leave tomorrow…” He murmured, feeling wistful, and she sighed softly, nuzzling his cheek again.

“I wish I didn’t have to leave either…this place is beautiful, your house is wonderful…and you’re pretty close to perfect…”

“…Well goddamn, girl, you know how ta make a man blush.” She laughed at that, really laughed, and Cid basked in that laughter, pure and real and wholesome…and so fuckin’ beautiful it made his heart clench. …Ah fuck it, worse’ll happen is she’ll punch me off. He drew her into a soft kiss, giving her a chance to get away again if she wanted…and Tifa melted into him all over again, kissing him back so perfectly that she stole his breath away. When they pulled away, Cid touched his forehead to hers, and she relaxed, grounding herself to him.

“…Cid?”

“Yeah, Tifa?”

“…Still okay with staying with me tonight?”

“Damn right I am, hon.”

#FFVII #FFVII Remake #Final Fantasy VII #Tifa Lockhart #Cid Highwind #Tifa/Cid #Cid/Tifa #Vincent Valentine #Cloud Strife #Barret Wallace #Yuffie Kisaragi #Aerith Gainsborough #Red XIII #Cait Sith #playing fast and loose with FFVII Remake canon atm #falling in love

1 note · View note