This was originally only a few short scenes, but I rewrote it as an experiment in the style of Ally Condie. WARNING: melodramatic. Actually, stupidly melodramatic. Oh well. Please review!

I do not own Matched by Ally Condie, I just enjoyed it. I do not own anything, except my fragmentary poetry in the chapter headings and my OCs, created just for this story: Talen, Arri, Elena, and their masters, Kylan and Vyna as well as Masters Ion, Terran, Lenea and Xander. Also Mitsuki, Koryn, Mara, Kyros, Mara, Halia, Galene and Iason.

Whew, that's a lot. The rest belong to Square Enix, etc.

1-Elena

I say to my heart

'We must all look our part'

As I watch survivors filter in, I wonder how long we can last. We are low on supplies and our men are deserting.

I do not blame them.

"Lady Elena!"

I turn and see a tall red headed young man running towards me. Arri.

"Please tell me you have good news."

He stops, panting, in front of me. "Shina and Xander want to negotiate. They sent over a messenger. His message says they are willing to return prisoners of war."

Talen, M.I.A. 190cm, silver hair, green eyes.

We are so very sorry to inform you that Talen Everheart was reported Missing In Action today...

Condolence letters sealed and put away.

He had no family.

None of us do.

2-Arri

A wish forgotten cannot be given

I can tell Elena is thinking about Talen from the way her face changes. The hard lines soften, fade and her violet eyes look sad.

Then her face hardens, and I know she is a leader again.

"What do they want in exchange?"

I shake my head. "I don't know. The message didn't say."

"Where is the messenger?"

"Quistis is watching him in the medical tent."

Elena stops and turns back to me, sun glinting off the gold trim on the snowy helmet under her arm. "What?"

"He was in pretty bad shape. Quistis thinks they don't have enough medical supplies for everyone."

She thinks for a moment. "Have a message dropped, asking for a meeting a week from now and offering medical assistance."

3-Talen

My eyes closed...

I cannot feel my hands. I have not been able to for a while now. They tell me this is common, that it will wear off.

I know what they really want. They want the new DNA to take and make me obedient. A perfect dog, bred for war.

But I'm too strong, I tell myself. They will never mold me into what they want. I'll die here in this tank before I let them change me.

At least, that's what I say to keep myself sane.

Over time, feeling returns to my hands. But the numbness moves up my arms to my shoulders. When it reaches my head, I know I will black out. I just hope that whatever they've done isn't permanent.

4-Elena

As the myst falls away

I wish we'd fought another day

I walk into the med tent and stop. I recognize the body lying so still on its cot.

His bronzed skin is now white and blotchy, as if it hasn't felt the sun's kiss in a long time. He is dressed as the enemy, but I know him.

"Talen?"

His eyes open, but they are no longer the vivid green I remember.

They are clear blue.

The blue of the poisoned.

I flee, knowing this is not how a leader acts, but my mind will not function and my feet move on their own.

Talen?

A SOLDIER?

How could they?

5-Arri

A life broken is not repaired.

I wish I had known... I wish I had noticed before I brought Elena here. He had been wearing a helmet, the message had been written, and his hair had been so dirty, the color was unsure at best.

He had stumbled into camp, waving a white scrap of fabric. Upon seeing me and Quistis, he gave me the message and collapsed.

Quistis took him away, while I went to find Elena.

I know now why he gave the message to us. Talen knew he could trust Quistis and me.

I remember him as strong, but helmet gone, now snowy white hair exposed, he looks painfully weak.

Does he know what he looks like?

Does he hear Elena's gasp of horror and the clatter of her helmet hitting the ground?

Does he recognize the sound of her running away, something I've never seen her do?

5-Talen

Dreams pass me by, call my name...

What is this?

I am out of the tank, but I can barely stand.

Time has taken its toll.

Whatever they've done must have affected me more than I'd like to admit, because I am listening to orders, repeating them without conscious effort.

They dress me in a uniform and give me a message to carry.

I grab a helmet from force of habit as we walk out, tucking it under my arm. They let me; perhaps they don't care.

Only one instruction makes its way through the haze in my mind.

Make sure this gets to your leader.

I wonder if they are only buying time, but it is time to start the walk back to my camp, and my feet go by themselves.

I am exhausted but those orders won't let me stop.

Finally, I can see Arri. He will know who to give this to.

I hand him the letter, and the world goes dark around me.

6-Elena

For this is my wish

Sealed with a gentle kiss

I have not gone near the cot since they brought him back. Even when I make my rounds to see those injured, I do not look over.

"Elena."

My head snaps around to see Lightning looking at me.

I know she doesn't trust me as the commander-in-chief of the army. I am probably the youngest person she's ever served under, and while she's not resentful, I know she thought she'd be promoted after we lost our leader. But experienced or not, the next in command is always a Keyblade wielder.

I think she would have done a better job than I have.

"We need to talk," she says, and I nod.

"All right."

Lightning nods towards the canyon below us. "Follow me. I want to speak to you privately."

We walk a good distance from the camp before I stop.

"Lightning, what is this about?"

She turns back. "I think you know."

"If this is about Zidane's cooking," I start, but she shakes her head.

"It's about Talen."

Talen.

The thoughts I've been repressing flood my mind and I collapse, falling to my knees and hiding my face in my hands.

To my surprise, Lightning sits down next to me and wraps her arms around my shoulders like a big sister. "You can cry, you know."

"I can't. What would everyone think?"

"That's why I brought you out here. You can cry all you want."

I wish I could cry, but I feel as dry and empty as the landscape that surrounds me.

I say this, or something to this effect, and Lighting squeezes my shoulder and sits back up, keeping a comforting arm around me.

"I know it's hard, but try not to keep it all inside." She pauses. "Did you know I had a sister?"

I shake my head.

"We were inseparable. Wherever I went, she had to follow, even to join me on the front line as a healer. But one day, she just vanished while out doing her rounds. I never found out what happened to her. I hope she's out there, waiting for me to find her, but every day that passes makes that seem even more unlikely. I still hope though. Hope is what keeps me going. Hope for my sister. Hope for my people. Hope for the world."

Lighting turns to me. "What do you fight for?"

I haven't thought about it much. What do I fight for?

I think about Talen, his scarred body lying in a tent, his broken mind far from me. I think about Arri, practicing because he fears that same will happen to him. I think about Lighting's sister, lost somewhere in this arid wasteland. I think about Ion, and Terran, and Lenea, and Kylan, and my master, Vyna, all gone far away.

I pick up a handful of fine gravel, letting it run through my fingers like the water that no longer runs through this plain.

"When we first started fighting, I fought because I fought with my master. I thought... Well, I thought we were doing some great thing. That was gone by the second week out here."

I look up, look up at the unfittingly clear sky. It isn't cold down here in the canyons, but I know the wind pries its icy fingers under everyone's skin up on the plateau.

With the war fought mostly between keyblade wielders, the fatalities far out number the casualties. I learned this quickly, as first Arri's, then Talen's, master fell.

"We were fighting... for control. I realize that now. But I can't let Xander and Shina take control. They would only use that power for selfish reasons."

"And you wouldn't?"

"I... "

"Elena! Come quickly!" I look up. It's Arri, not one of the usual message runners. His red hair is as disheveled as if a small creature had slept in it, and it falls into his soft blue eyes.

Lightning stands, her abruptness dusting me with sand. "What is it, Arri?"

He scrambles down the rock to meet us. "It's Talen. He's awake, and he wants to see you, Elena."

We rush to the tent where he is kept under guard, though the last I knew, he was still deep in a coma.

When I walk in, he is sitting on the edge of the cot, fixedly staring out the tent flap.

He sees me, and those blue eyes light up. In two long strides he is in front of me, and he embraces me, his strong arms around me. This is so unlike him, and yet so wished for on my part, that I turn my face to his and meet his gaze for the first time since he came back.

There is something in his eyes that is new, but I do not have time to wonder about it.

I feel something cold and hard slide into my back, just above my breastplate straps, and suddenly I cannot breathe and I am falling, falling, into a forbidding blue arctic sea.

As the dark closes in around me and my life drips down my back, I have an overwhelming urge to scream at the unfairness of the universe.

7-Arri

A heart given cannot be returned

As he embraces Elena, a glass dagger appears in my friend's hand, and I can only watch in horror as it bites deep into her back.

She sighs, a gentle sound that seems incongruent with the scene unfolding before me, and collapses onto the floor.

Suddenly unfrozen, I tackle him, knocking both of us over the cot.

I pin him to the floor and look at his face, looking for the reason for this cold-blooded act.

All I see in his eyes are icy oceans and empty skies.

8-Talen

Wake me from this sleep.

I awake lying on the ground, pinned in place by Arri, his keyblade held to my throat.

"Why would you do that?" he cries.

I blink slowly. It takes a minute for the words to return. "Do what?"

He gestures sharply behind him. "Don't act stupid. What you did- it will not go unpunished, do you hear me?"

I try to push him aside, try to stand. "I don't know what you're talking about, Arri."

"It wasn't his fault, Arri. Let him up." Lightning's calm voice cuts the air.

"You can't tell me what to do! With Elena... incapacitated," Arri stumbles on the word, "I am the highest ranking here!"

"And you are clearly in no fit state to lead. Now, let Talen up. The SOLDIERs can watch him."

Arri reluctantly stands, letting me sit up.

Talen- SOLDIER- Shina-

Pain shoots through my head as the suppressed memories return in a flood.

"Arri, I think... they did something to me while I was unconscious. I'm... I'm dangerous..."

"Talen." I look to Lightning. She shakes her head. "We know. You were brainwashed and programmed. But it's too late for that."

"Too late?" What does she mean?

"Elena's gone, Talen."

"What?"

Lightning gestures to a nearby cot.

On it lies Elena's still form, encased in a crystalline substance. Even now, she is beautiful, more peaceful than I ever saw her in life, a sleeping beauty made of glass.

I touch the face still almost imperceptibly warm. "I... did this." I turn to confront Lightning, wishing, that her answer will not be the one I fear. "Is she..."

Lightning doesn't meet my eyes. "She is dead. I tried to save her, but the knife... It was poisoned."

I stand. "This is too far."

"Talen..." Arri looks at me with fear in his eyes.

Does he think I'm mad? Is that why he fears me? Or is he afraid of what rash action I may take?

As I walk across the no-man's-land between the camps, I feel a gentle whisper through my hair and in my ear.

Talen, Elena's voice whispers, what are you doing?

"I challenge Xander to single combat!" I call to the sentries. They look shocked under their Shina-issue infantry helmets.

His ego will not let him refuse.

Talen, please don't do this in revenge for me.

I'm not. I'm just doing what someone should have done a long time ago.

They did try. Master Kylan tried when he left- Talen, are you even listening to me?

I ignore her voice. This way, if I win, I will stop this senseless war right now. I can't allow anyone else to get hurt.

Xander steps out onto the field. "What do you want, boy?" He is black haired, dark hair pulled back in a plait that reaches all the way down his back.

Behind him, the strawberry blond Rufus Shina looks startled. He turns to a grey haired man in a lab coat next to him, who shrugs and smiles. The man gestures, just enjoy the show.

Shinra turns back to the field, a troubled expression on his face.

"Single combat. If I win, I want you to return the prisoners of war and your army to surrender."

"And when I win?" Xander smiles, a cold, predatory grin.

"You may do as you wish. Continue fighting."

Xander pulls out his keyblade. "Oh, this should be fun. Very well, I agree to your terms."

I ready my keyblade.

"Talen!" Lightning and Arri have found me.

But it is too late.

Xander and I perform the ritual bow.

As soon as he stands, he comes at me, blade raised above his head.

I block it, the impact sending pain up my arm. He is much stronger than his lithe frame suggests.

But I am also more than I appear. The new DNA they've spliced into me makes me stronger, faster, quick to react. Their own weapon, turned against them.

I leap sideways, Xander's second wild slice missing me by centimeters.

I slide, my feet absorbing the momentum, and then rush him, bringing my blade up.

Xander blocks my swing with unnerving accuracy.

Our keyblades now locked, he uses his as a lever, forcing me down.

I gasp for air, forced almost to my knees, my own blade centimeters from my neck.

As I twist away to break his lock, his keyblade scrapes along the unprotected top of my hand and carves a curl around my arm to the elbow, leaving a silvery wound.

I try to attack again, but again, I am blocked with unforeseen speed.

Perhaps, in my overconfidence, I have misjudged him.

And this time, my misjudgment could prove fatal.

9-Arri

A gift loved is not forgotten.

I sigh as I survey the disaster zone that is my desk. Stupid paperwork.

There is a surprising amount of paperwork needed to run a school on these islands, and I am completely overwhelmed by it. Though to be honest, I throw myself into my work as a schoolteacher to forget the war we supposedly 'won', as well as the friends I lost.

Koryn tugs on my sock. "Play time?"

I pat his blond head. In time, it will most likely darken to brown like his mother's, but for now, the sun and wind have conspired to make his hair as yellow as the sandy beaches he loves so much.

"Not right now, Koryn. Daddy's busy."

"Arri, do you need me to take him?" His mother balances a laundry basket on one hip, her long brown hair escaping its braid, her blue eyes laughing.

I smile and, scooping Koryn up in one arm, I take the basket from her. "Mitsuki, I told you, I would take take of that. The doctor said-"

She laughs and plants a kiss on my cheek. "I know what he said, you silly goose! But if I left the laundry to my husband, it would never get done!"

I smile, realizing she's probably right. "All right, but let me carry this for you."

"Ooo, how polite," Mitsuki giggles.

Forgotten, Koryn squirms in my other arm. "Koryn wants down!"

"Okay, Koryn." I put him down, and he immediately runs to Mitsuki and wraps his arms around her legs.

"Pick me up!" he demands in the imperialistic tone of a three year old. She laughs, and with only a little difficultly, hoists him up onto her hip.

"Are you ready for a new little sister, Koryn?" Mitsuki asks him, and he stares up at her wonderingly.

I laugh and place the laundry basket where it belongs. I nod to my family. "I really need to finish this paperwork before school begins. See you later."

"'Bye, honey. I'm going to take Koryn down to the beach." Mitsuki tickles Koryn's nose. "Wanna go play at the beach? We can build sandcastles..."

10-Kyros

Let the wishes go

Hoping that they'll return

They fly where they will

He scrunches up another sheet of paper and throws it onto the growing pile of rejects.

"Master..."

He doesn't face me, but I can hear a roughness in his voice. "Just... go. I... You are dismissed, Kyros."

I bow, and, as I turn to leave, I hear my master start to sob softly. "I should have taken more time to be with them..."

This is unlike him. I catch sight of an official looking letter crumpled around a paperweight and thrown against the wall.

We are contacting you to report the death of Dr. Galene Everheart. She was killed during a research experiment, leaving a five year old girl, Halia. As Galene's husband and the child's only relation, you are responsible for your daughter's well being...

I can't read the rest of the letter.

I hadn't known he had a family. He never talks about his personal life or his past. I know he fought in the Keyblade War fifteen years ago, but I don't know what exactly he did.

He is young, in his early thirties, but due to war trauma he sustained, his hair is pure white and the irises of his eyes lack color, leaving them an almost blue. He has a white scar that covers the top of his right hand and spirals up his arm; I can see it when the sleeves of his robes slip in combat training.

I close the door behind me as quietly as possible.

Mara is waiting outside for me. "Kyros, is Master Talen all right? Iason and I were worried when he left training so suddenly after the messenger arrived."

"He... The letter says his wife died in some sort of an accident, and now he has to take care of a little girl."

"I didn't know he had a daughter," Mara says.

"I didn't either."

Master Talen opens the door. His clear eyes look haunted. "What are you still doing here? You are free to go. I have to leave."

He brushes past us, his robes swirling around him. In one hand, he holds his silver keyblade, knuckles white. In the other is a folded photograph, so worn and faded, it is impossible to tell what it once depicted.

11-Elena

That you would remember me

Not as your enemy

How long have I been asleep? It feels like an eternity.

I am floating in a aquamarine crystalline world. Over time, the pain from my shoulder deadens, then vanishes. The glowing purple tracery in my veins takes longer to evanesce, but does eventually.

The first thing that signals my approaching return to wakefulness is a shift in color in the crystal world around me. Slowly, the world takes shape around me. I am still paralyzed, but it doesn't take long for the crystal binding my limbs to melt away.

I am lying on a slab of stone in a white room. Sunlight gently lights the walls, making them a pleasing golden color.

A young man with aquamarine eyes and Talen's silver hair is looking down at me.

"Talen?" I whisper and reach up to touch his face.

My fingers are centimeters away from his cheek when he shakes his head and takes my hand in his.

"No, I'm Riku. Who might you be?"

"I am Lady Elena, commander-in-chief of the Army of the Worlds. We are encamped on the plain..."

I stop as Riku shakes his head. "Elena... there is no Army of the Worlds. There hasn't been a large scale war since the Keyblade War of legend, at least a hundred fifty years ago."

I turn my face away and tears start to make their way down the dirt on my face as the awful truth lodges in my chest. I have been asleep for much, much longer than I thought. My friends, my life... they're all gone.

Riku pulls on my hand. "Can you stand?" Without waiting for my answer, he lifts me up, carrying me in his arms like a small child who has skinned her knee.

My head rests against his shoulder. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could stand by myself.

Riku walks past two other young men deep in conversation. "Sora, we need to keep moving. Bring your friend."

The taller young man with chestnut hair gestures for the burnt sienna haired one to follow and he does, shading his eyes like he isn't used to the sunlight.