Warnings: May contain slight spoilers for Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance. Contains Personal Headcanons.
Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns the rights to Kingdom Hearts and that related to the franchise. No profit is being made by this written fan-work.
Radiant Garden. His previous home. It had been years since he had returned without a good reason.
Sure, he had come back every now and then, whether it was to taunt Sora or check out the Heartless population. But he had never come back just for the hell of it.
Now he had all the time he wanted.
He passed by the Marketplace, watching as a bubbly girl with short black hair and a black headband ordered ice-cream from Scrooge McDuck. If he remembered correctly, she was a member of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. Maybe he could sign up later? That would give him purpose for a while.
He had his hood up, trying his best to remain unidentified to the residents of the world. Nothing could be worse than being recognised for the wrong doings he had done in the past, and being punished for them.
He slipped by houses, taking in their aged appearances. Some had even crumbled, just big masses of bricks on abandoned lots. He remembered when some of these were being built, the months the hard workers spent working on them.
The area was deserted. He tossed down his hood, letting fiery red locks protrude, freeing them. His emerald gaze passed to the woods, far past the housing district. His eyes narrowed. That was whereithappened.
He silently trudged over, banishing the horrid memories that threatened to surface. He stopped as he reached a spot within the trees. They too had aged. Claw marks littered the trunks, telling a tale long forgotten.
Something caught his eye. An unnatural looking lump under the dirt. He kneeled and began digging, not bothering to remove his gloves.
Only a few seconds had passed when faded orange and red plastic entered his view. He dug faster, completely extracting the object.
He froze.
You still play with toy swords? That's cute.
He held in his hand a black frisbee, covered in dents. The orange and red face design had faded with age, leaving it looking like it was abandoned or forgotten long ago.
Tada! Whaddaya think?
The last time he had seen it was whenit happened. It was just before he was cornered within the castle. He had run a lot that day. He and his best friend.
Ya see what I gotta put up with? Sure hope you don't have friends like him.
Ex- best friend.
I want everybody I meet to remember me. Inside people's memories, I can live forever.
...
"How could you do this to me, Isa?"
[Over a decade earlier…]
"Lea! Wait up!"
A twelve year old fiery redhead weaved through the customers of the Marketplace. A blue haired boy around the same age tried to keep up, almost knocking into people as he ran.
The redhead, Lea, merely laughed, picking up speed. The boy behind him groaned.
He came to an abrupt stop, the boy behind, Isa, knocking into him.
"He-ow!" Lea cried, glaring at his friend. His friend looked sheepish and then glared back.
"You're the one that stopped!" His friend countered.
Lea turned away. "Yeah, well… whatever. But check this out, Isa!"
Isa's sea green eyes followed Lea's example. The two stood in front of a shop, looking in at a glass display. Sitting in the middle on metal stands were a pair of frisbees. The designs had a black base and red background, topped with a picture of an orange and yellow fire that looked like it had a face.
"They look weird." Isa stated.
"They look awesome!" grinned Lea. The red head tugged on his friends arm, pulling the blunette towards the shop door. "C'mon, Isa! I wanna check 'em out!"
Isa gave up his attempts at detaching his friend and allowed himself to be guided inside. Lea immediately approached the shop cashier.
"Excuse me, Mister," Lea put on a polite façade. "How much for the frisbees?"
The male cashier laughed. "The ones in the window?"
Lea nodded eagerly.
"They're six-hundred munny a set. Are you looking to purchase them?"
Lea's smiled faded. "Six-hundred munny! But I've only got three-hundred and forty!"
The cashier crossed his arms.
"Sorry, kid. Unless you have six-hundred munny, I can't sell them to you."
"Aw! This bites!" Lea turned away, crestfallen. "C'mon, Isa. Let's go."
Lea left the shop in a huff, leaving his blunette friend inside. He made his way to the Fountain Court and sat glumly on a ledge, his face in his hands and his feet swinging below.
He sat in silence until he heard footsteps. He turned to find Isa with a bag in his hand.
"Huh?" Lea gawked at the boy.
Isa pulled two objects out of the bag. Lea's green eyes lit up and he bolted from his spot.
"Isa! What- why?!" Lea fumbled for words.
"I was going to ask you to wait, so I could tell you I had enough, but you ran off," Isa explained with a smirk. Lea stared at his friend as he was handed the set of frisbees.
"Why?" he asked.
"You're my friend," said Isa. "And friends do things for each other."
"Oh," Lea grinned. "Then I guess I have to do this!"
Lea lunged at his friend, wrapping his arms around the boy, trying his best to avoid hitting him with the frisbees. Isa stood unmoving, only smiling faintly.
"Thank you so much, Isa!" Lea cried, tightening his embrace. "You're the coolest friend in the world!"
Isa laughed. "I know. Now can you let me go? I feel like I'm getting the life squashed out of me."
Lea burst out laughing and let go. "Sorry!"
"It's okay. Let's just get going; my parents want us back before lunch," Isa passed Lea the empty bag.
"Right," said Lea, grinning, and putting the frisbees in the bag.
The two hurried off towards the housing district, laughing and joking along the way.
[Present time…]
Adult Lea felt a tear fall down his cheek.
"So much for having the coolest friend in the world," he mumbled.
Lea let the dented frisbee fall to the ground as he stood, his face contorted with anger.
"Xehanort did something to you, Isa," he growled, emerald eyes burning holes into the empty sky.
Lea summoned his charkrams, Eternal Flames, and hurled them into the trees with great force. There were two small explosions as they collided and lodged themselves into the trunks, hissing loudly after the impact.
Lea grit his teeth, more tears threatening to fall. The charkrams vanished in wisps of blazing fire a moment later.
"I'm gonna save you, Isa," Lea clenched his hands. "Even if it's the last thing I do. I'm gonna make things right again!"
Fin
Author's Note:
This one-shot used to be a part of a series I planned on writing and publishing on , however, various irl problems popped up and I was unable to continue. So, rather than leave it waiting in the 'ongoing' section, I heavily edited it, and deleted the chapter that followed, which I disliked. If you were one of the reviewers or followers of the original published back under the name 'DemiXXI', you may notice some differences, or not even remember anything about it.
I thank anyone who reads this for their support. Even if you say nothing, and tend to be a lurker, like myself, it still helps my self-esteem and my motivation to continue doing what I love.
Thank you! ~ LDG