Motherf***ing son of a b****.
I'm so sorry I uploaded the WRONG file.
I FAIL. :(
All hail SakuraDrops93! This is a tribute to her beautiful tragedy Fate, which inspired this story.
However, I am NOT, repeat NOT, plagiarizing. Lost and Found will be uniquely Sovereign.
Expect plenty of deadpan snarking (although I will tone down the swearing).
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
Just this story. Enjoy!
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Roxas Leonhart stood up and stretched, yawning all the way. When was that stupid train coming?
He'd been here since six in the morning, waiting for the train that would take him to Twilight Town. Roxas was going to work in his brother's 3D art studio there.
He had his first introduction to computer-generated imagery and the power of the 3Ds Max program when he was ten; since then he'd been an avid artist.
Sora had been impressed enough with his baby brother's work to offer said brother a job at the studio.
Roxas, on the other hand, was not impressed by what he'd have to travel by. The subway was filthy, dimly lit, and smelly. Discarded rubbish littered the concrete waiting area.
Unfortunately, he was going to have to tolerate the place if he wanted to work at the studio.
The blond adjusted the straps of his bag a bit; his powerful laptop weighed nearly five pounds, and everything else in the bag totaled up to at least another five pounds.
Finally he heard the distinctive screeching noise that signaled the arrival of the subway.
"Where were you?" he jokingly demanded of the grey-white train.
Pale metal panels flashed by until the train slowed down with a hiss. The doors opened, but nobody came out. Figures; it was barely 6:45.
Roxas stepped on and selected a seat opposite the side that had the door. He plopped his bag down onto the seat next to him.
Not many people were on this particular car. A brunette girl quietly reading a book and a snoring old man were all.
As the subway went into motion again, Roxas wondered what he could do to keep him occupied. He wasn't as hyper now than as a kid, and he could bear the hours-long trip to Twilight Town, but he still wanted something to do.
Perhaps he could work a bit on his project? In his experience CGI projects could always use a little improvement, and his starship certainly needed a little work on the modeling.
Maybe he should have brought something to put his mouse on…
"Meh," he muttered. "Can't cry over spilt milk."
As the cursor flashed across the screen, mass selecting dozens of vertices and bending the gigantic sculpt of a gigantic vessel to Roxas's will, the train slowed down again.
The blond computer artist looked up from the laptop, wondering which stop the subway was at.
"Hollow Bastion…" he murmured. He shrugged. "Never heard of it."
Roxas promptly returned to his laptop.
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Namine grasped the small valise slung on her shoulder a little tighter as the subway came to a halt in front of her.
The whirlwind blew her long, blonde hair into her eyes. By reflex she flipped the offending lock behind an ear.
Why was she here again? If Father found out she had run away, again, she would not be let off as easily as last time.
But Namine had no choice; if she wanted her liberty, she had to earn it. Beyond that, the second she had snuck out between the gates she had sealed her fate.
There was no turning back.
The blonde exhaled and nervously entered the train car. She had no idea what it would be like inside. Would it be crowded and smelly? Would it be full of terrorists and predators?
Who knew?
Namine was surprised by the simple tranquility of the inside. Oh, there was an occasional squeal as the subway negotiated an uncooperative stretch of track, but other than that the train was so quiet.
A blond boy resting a laptop on his knees was sitting on a seat next to the door. She decided to sit next to him.
"Excuse me, but…" she hesitated.
He looked up. "Yes?" he said.
"C-could I sit here?" she asked.
The boy nodded. "Go ahead."
Namine sat in silence, toying a bit with the little curl on the end of her flaxen hair. She took her sketchbook out of her bag. Now…what to draw?
The brunette reading a novel might be a good subject.
Namine captured her general shape with a few ovals and rectangles before starting on the face. In the girl's opinion, the head was always the most difficult area to draw, and she wanted it over with as soon as possible.
Suddenly she noticed the boy was looking over her shoulder at the drawing. Namine immediately snapped the sketchbook against her chest—she hated it when people looked over her shoulder.
"Sorry," the blond boy said quickly. "I couldn't help myself; you're really good at drawing, you know?"
She was openmouthed. No one had ever complimented her sketches before; her father had called them frivolities, her mother had called them a useless (if relaxing) pastime, and her tutors had called them worthless.
The boy continued staring at her and Namine realized that her jaw was still hanging open. She closed it.
"Thank you," she automatically replied.
"No really, they are," he insisted. "By the way…my name is Roxas. What's yours?"
Namine momentarily debated on whether to tell the obvious commoner her name, but eventually decided to. It was simple courtesy.
"Namine," she answered, before turning back to her drawing. This time she took care to angle it so that only she could see it.
"That's a nice name," Roxas remarked. He waited for her to respond, but she didn't.
After a while Namine became curious as to what Roxas was doing. She discreetly peered over the top of her sketchbook at the screen of his laptop.
The screen held a spectacular view of a majestic ship. A massive oval formed what was presumably the main hull, and twin luminescent pylons were parallel to the hull. The cursor clicked on a yellow circle superimposed over the image of the vessel and dragged to the right, rotating the view so that she could see the long, curved lower hull connecting the two upper pieces. According to the title on the top bar of the page, the ship was named "Sovereign class".
She watched, mesmerized, as a network of blue dots suddenly appeared over the skin of the ship. The cursor danced around like a one-man construction crew, pushing and pulling the dots around. Before her eyes a work of art was being hewn from oblivion.
"Wow," she whispered.
"I know, huh?"
Namine's heart skipped a beat when she heard the boy's low, dry voice. She immediately buried her nose back into the sketchbook.
"It's okay, you can look," Roxas reassured her with a half-smile. "I don't mind when people look over my shoulder."
"It's not polite…" she halfheartedly protested, even as she lowered her sketchbook. The drawings in there might as well have been geometric figures compared to the exquisite detail of the ship on the screen.
Namine quietly observed Roxas sculpt the starship. Every so often he would give a huff of annoyance—so much like hers whenever she made a mistake—as a vertex went out of alignment.
Finally Roxas threw his hands up. He scowled in frustration. "I give up," he growled. He made to close his laptop, but Namine placed a hand on his.
"Don't," she said. "It looks fine to me."
"What?" Roxas responded. His eyebrows went sky-high. "It's—it's—it's—ugh, I mean look at this! This part of the nacelle is totally out of alignment with the reference image, the deflector dish isn't the right shape, and the neck just won't cooperate!"
Namine giggled at his rant. "I think it looks perfect," she commented. "I don't see these supposed errors you pointed out."
"B-b-but—argh, okay, if you say so," he sighed. Then he noticed that the petite blonde's hand was still on his. "And, uhhh…"
"What?"
"Your hand. It's—it's still on mine."
Namine turned pink and pulled her hand away. "S-sorry," she stammered. Now, how to continue this conversation? She had been trained how, but this was still her first unsupervised conversation.
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Roxas had that rare gift, so prized among boys, of being able to keep his cool around hot girls.
Unfortunately, the lovely girl sitting next to him, practically on his lap, was somehow managing to crack through his exterior armor.
Oh, he was still calm and collected on the outside. But on the inside…
Goddamn, she's hot. No, not hot, beautiful more like. I wonder what she's doing here in a place like this? I wonder if she has a boyfriend.
She doesn't look like it, but—WHY am I thinking stuff like this about total strangers?
Crap, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up…
"Roxas," Namine began. "It is Roxas, correct?" Her strawberry breath wafted into his nose.
"Y-yeah," the CGI artist replied nervously.
"What was that program you were using just now?" she asked.
Roxas was relieved at such a mundane question, and yet for some reason he also felt disappointed. "It's called 3Ds Max," he answered. "It's meant to design and manipulate three dimensional computer models—CGI, computer generated imagery."
How old is she? She looks my age—twenty, twenty-one?
"Oh," she said.
"As an example…have you watched any of the Pixar movies?" he asked. "WALL-E, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life…?"
"No," she replied sadly. "I've never watched fiction films before, only a few educational videos."
Roxas frowned. "Well…there might be some CGI in those videos," he said.
She laughed. It was a tinkling, melodic sound that wouldn't have been out of place among angels of heaven.
"I don't think there would be any of this CGI magic in a video talking about proper dinner etiquette," she smiled. Her smile was like a ray of sunshine striking Roxas full in the face after a rainstorm.
Swear to God that is the single most amazing smile I have ever seen in my entire freaking life. I really hope my mouth isn't hanging open right now.
He checked. Thankfully, it wasn't.
"So, ummm," Roxas hesitated, wondering if this question was too personal. "So, where are you headed?"
Namine thought about it. And thought. And thought. "Actually," she said, "I don't really know."
"Okay. So why are you on this train in the first place? I mean, shouldn't you be home?"
Roxas was shocked and horrified when the girl burst into tears.
"I-I r-ran away," she gulped. "M-my father w-wants m-me t-t-t-to—"
Namine didn't finish, her tears overwhelming her tongue. Roxas let her sob, awkwardly patting her shoulder. He couldn't help noticing how alluringly soft and silky the skin was.
"It's okay," he said soothingly. "Just let it out."
The blonde gradually calmed down. "I-I don't want to talk about it right now," she mumbled.
Roxas smiled. "That's okay," he remarked, settling back into his seat. "You don't have to tell me; your personal information is yours, plain and simple."
She looked at him with an expression of surprise. "You…you aren't going to force me to tell you?" she asked. No one had ever given her a choice like this before.
"What are you talking about?" he said, somewhat offended. "Of course not!"
She smiled that angelic smile of hers again. "Thank you," she whispered.
They sat, unspeaking, as the train drove on.
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I know the first chapter isn't a lot to look at, but I'm not a master of first chapters yet. I probably never will be either; my middles and endings are always better than the beginnings. I swear this will be the case with Lost and Found, and that I will practice with the beginnings.
On the other hand, beta readers are gladly welcomed. I need some pre-posting feedback.
So how'd you like Lost and Found? Hooked? Hate it?
Rave or flame using that lovely blue tool called "Review!"