Dedicated to all the people who have reviewed and favorited my Aku/Xion stories: Infinite Eyes, emmausgirl34, KHCrazy, TheBlankOblivion, Melodious Bandit, Radiant Silver Star, and sonicdisney. :D
Musique pour la Tristesse de Xion
Xion sat on the ledge silently, watching the soft light that washed over her exhausted features creep slowly up the side of the clock tower. She let out a small sigh as she leaned back on her hands, looking up briefly at the vast azure hovering above her head. Her blue eyes wandered to a passing crow that flew to the roof ledge above and perched next to its fellow friends. Staring at the crow, she twisted a finger in her black hair. The crow's feathers and her hair were the same shade, both glistening in the unwavering light. She idly wondered what it would be like to fly. Hadn't Roxas and Axel said something about flying once? Roxas's eyes had shone and a bright smile had lit up his face as he retold the experience. What would she do if she could fly? She watched three of the crows rustle their feathers and take off one at a time, heading the same direction.
If I could fly, I think I'd-
As usual, her thoughts were interrupted by another's approaching presence. She broke her gaze away from the slowly disappearing black dots that littered the sky.
"What're you thinking about, Xion?"
She turned to see the familiar redhead waltzing over to her. Her lips were slightly parted as if the thought rested on her lips. Then, looking up to meet his gaze, she disposed of the thought and smiled.
"Nothing, just waiting for you guys."
He grinned, and she could tell in his grin that he knew she was thinking of something else, but he dropped it.
"I guess you're right, you are technically thinking of 'nothing' if you were thinking about us." The grin turned into a slightly sad smile, but the moment passed quickly and it returned to normal.
"Unfortunately, Roxas isn't able to make it again. Buuut- since Roxas can't come, I think we should do something different today- Roxas seems to only like the normal schedule and not new things, you know how he is."
Xion stiffened. She quickly glanced to his hands, which were thankfully empty. No brown bags with cupcakes to be seen. Axel seemed to read her thoughts right off her face and just grinned wider, if it was possible. She felt heat rise in her cheeks so she turned away from him and out to the sunset, hoping the light would disguise it as a reflection or sunburn or something. Still facing away from him, she slowly rose from her spot.
"Ok, so what do you want to do?"
"Show you something." He tapped the side of his head with an index finger and continued to grin.
"C'mon, we don't have to go that far." He continued on walking to the other side of the clock tower and around the corner. A bit surprised, Xion followed behind him. She had never gone around to the other side of the tower and never had thought about it; she assumed it was the same all around.
"In here." She heard Axel's voice as she saw the last of his hair disappear into a small doorway in the side of the tower. Once she walked through the mysterious doorway, she stopped and looked around in awe.
The tall and thin windows filtered in soft light that settled on the floor and illuminated the disturbed dust. The light streaked room was still and completely empty, save for a large object in its center draped with a faded white sheet. It wasn't solid beneath the sheet; Xion could see ridges in the front and a raised smooth part in the back. Axel looked back at her and smirked at her awe of the simple, seemingly untouched room. He walked over to the covered object, slanting light brushing over his face when the room's darkness wasn't. He pulled on the sheet and it slid off easily, agitating the layer of dust that had covered it. Xion's eyes widened at the... uncovered object she had no name for. It was an oaken brown and supported on four thin legs. The ridges she had identified earlier were now ivory white and jet black rectangular prisms, albeit a bit oddly shaped. The raised back was a smooth, flat surface; its shape reminded Xion a bit of a stubby, fat hand pointing to nowhere in particular. Before the rectangles was a single cushioned bench with swirling ornate designs in the shape of flowers and seashells patterned on the velvet material. After taking in the sight, she managed to find her voice.
"What is it?" Her voice seemed to be the only sound in the world.
"It's a piano." Now two voices filled the room.
"It... it's beautiful." Xion didn't really know how else to describe it. "Does it do something?"
Axel's comforting laughter rang like the bells of the clock tower they stood in.
"Yeah, that's the whole point of the piano. It plays music." He sat down at the bench, which creaked slightly in protest. "Not by itself though."
His long fingers rested themselves on the ivory rectangles.
"You press these, the keys, and the sound comes out the back because of the vibrations they send through the strings they're attached to. Got it memorized?"
"I think so..." Xion said as he propped open the smooth back to reveal a system of countless strings and wooden mechanisms.
"Watch- Well, better yet, listen."
His fingers came back to the keys again and began a soft melody that swam through the room, now the third voice. They swept over the keys like curtains over soft carpet, a soothing sound... But Xion hadn't heard that sound before, had she? There was no carpet in The World That Never Was. She would have pondered the meaning of her mind's comparison, but the music caught her full attention. Once he stopped playing, she snapped out of the dreamy trance.
"Wow Axel, that was amazing!" She wanted to say more, but found that she didn't really know what else to say.
"You wanna try?" Axel raised an eyebrow as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He stood up and motioned to the now empty seat. "Go ahead."
She slowly sat down on the bench and looked over the countless keys.
"But… I don't know how to play." She held down a key to her right with a finger, and it let out a long note. "Where did you learn how to play?"
"I learned back… then, when I was a little kid. It's not too hard once you know which key is which and how to read music."
"…Can you teach me?"
Axel grinned at her. "Of course." He stood behind her and began explaining the basics.
"Now, you see, this one's called middle C because it's- well, in the middle. Obviously. And from there, it's C, D, E, F, G, A, and B." He reached around her right to perform a simple scale, his arm brushing against hers. Xion stiffened slightly, but he continued on. She paid so much attention to that slight contact that his voice was lost to her. Suddenly another arm was on her left, and she caught snippets of his lecture.
"…so the lower notes you play with your left hand… written in bass clef…"
She tried to focus on the simple tune he was using to explain piano fundamentals, but she couldn't with the warmth coming off him; it was calming and comfortable and… The arms retracted and she was cold once again.
"Sorry, guess I was rambling. Don't want to sound like Xigbar and bore you to death."
"No, it's fine, I want to learn." She forced a smile, trying to push down the heat coming to her cheeks. He looked at her curiously and then continued on the same as before. She didn't really listen to what he said; she was listening more to the sound of his voice. Again bits and pieces came to her.
"…like this… song I wrote, a while back…"
Eventually his voice trailed off and music remained in its stead. It started off soft and calming, and Xion swayed a bit with his moving arms. She listened peacefully until her breath caught in her throat as Axel sat behind her, legs and arms against hers. Axel didn't even seem to notice. The warmth from his body shrouded her, and Xion was lost in memories and music.
She watched memories replay of the first few times the three had sat on the clock tower. She saw the first time she ate sea salt ice cream, the first time she laughed with them, the first time of everything.
Then the music turned into a distressed tune. The sight of Riku standing over her and tossing the Keyblade over his shoulder like a piece of worthless trash flashed before her eyes. The scene abruptly turned into her sitting at the clock tower, alone.
The melody became quiet again, and she watched her two best friends come sit beside her in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but somewhat a contented one as they ate the slowly melting ice cream.
Gradually the tune built up in a crescendo that reverberated throughout the piano's insides. The notes became painful and harsh, but beautiful all the same. Xion came back from the memories and only saw what was right in front of her, yet she felt like the music was ripping out her nonexistent heart and soothing her at the same time. She wanted it to go on forever and stop right then, she wanted to be in Axel's warmth and to run away. The notes lowered into soft, heartrending sounds like slowing breaths. Finally, one last note ended it, three of Axel's fingers gently pressing the smooth keys down.
Xion just sat there and took in the song, breathing in quietly. Axel broke the near silence, startling Xion.
"So, do you like it?" His head appeared over her shoulder as he pressed closer to her.
"It… it was… beautiful. I don't even know how else to describe it, it just was." She pushed a reluctant bang behind her ear. "What is it called?"
"Well, I never gave it a name."
"Wait… you wrote that?" Xion was amazed.
"Yeah, I told you that already!" He smirked. Xion looked flustered and started to apologize, but he cut her off. "It's fine, I knew you weren't really listening anyways. I'll tell you now though, if you'll listen this time."
She flushed and nodded, looking down at the keys.
"I wrote it before you guys came, when I'd come up here by myself. I didn't have much else to do, so I wandered around and found this in here. I would come about every day after I ate ice cream, if I had time." She looked into his gaze, but he had the glazed look of someone thinking of past memories. "But… I dunno, it never was satisfying, no matter how many times I played it and perfected it. I guess I thought if I brought someone else in here to hear it, it would be satisfying." He came back from whatever memory he was in before and looked at Xion. "I think it worked." He grinned.
Xion blushed again. She realized that as he had spoken about writing the music, his arms had tightened around her waist. She looked down to hide her face.
"So, will you name it?" Her voice was a whisper, but in the hushed room it was loud.
"Xion."
"What?" She looked up, waiting for him to ask or tell her something.
"That's what I'm going to name it. Xion. Because now, you're the inspiration for it."
Well, I hope you enjoyed it ;U The song Axel played is the same as the title, Musique pour la Tristesse de Xion (Music for the Sadness of Xion). I highly suggest you go look it up; it's in the Battle and Field Piano Collection for Kingdom Hearts. It is also my absolute favorite to play on the piano. In fact, I was playing it earlier...
Also, I'm guessing whoever may be reading this now is probably a fan of Aku/Xion, and if you want, you can check out an Aku/Xion AMV I made. My username on Youtube is the same as this one, jcthegirl.
Oh yes, and the talk of cupcakes in the beginning is referencing to my story, Cupcakes. Anways, till next time~