Battle Bruised
It was midnight, but all you could think of was home.
As inky shadows, the peaceful forms of their Heartless manifestations, clung to the alleyways of Traverse Town, and the sky above the blurred, sienna-colored houses was salt-sprinkled and vast, you had your mind turned towards home.
Home, with cotton candy clouds and blue-dream skies, with swaying coconut palms and the infinite expanse of crystal ocean.
Home, where the girl with the wondering eyes and unbridled hope waited.
Did she still wait? Or had she forgotten about that boy, that boy with the odd-angled, brown spikes and cheerful excitement for life? Did her mind still linger on his vivid blue eyes, the old chatter about paopu fruits and rafts, and the memories she used to share with him? Or had he faded into nonexistence, never to flurry and swirl across her chain of thoughts again?
Had she forgotten about you?
Your heart suffered a severe crack whenever this notion tortured your mind, though, you never willed its painful agony to sneak upon your face…For a battle bruised hero who fights the darkness can't ever show his weaknesses…
And what about the Islands? Were they the same as they always had been? Golden sand, crystalline waves, gentle swirls of tropical wind – did that still even exist? The Secret Place – did the scribbled drawings and pictures remain in that dim, dank spot, not faded by the wearing of time?
You gripped the smooth, cold steel of the keyblade in your hands, feeling your heart suffer as you fight for her and Destiny Islands, fight for the golden glow of the future. All you wanted was her and home, but you knew that both of them still stretched far, far away.
You stared around at the town's analogous buildings and rows of winding, cobblestone streets, wishing to return to the place you called home, but knowing, in all sorrow and heartfelt truth, that you had to dive into a different destiny before that time came.
The days swirl and spire together as your journey goes on, and yet your mind keeps turning back to home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twilit Nostalgia
It was sunset, but all you could think of was him.
As the sun sank beneath the ocean-lined horizon, setting the clouds aflame to soft, dreamy hues of pink and red and gold, and the murmuring tides swept an eternity of sand particles just before your bare toes, your mind was locked directly upon him.
You're left dizzied and breathlessly pensive by his memory, but why?
It must be his eyes.
It must be his hair.
It must be his demeanor.
No, it's just him. All of him, every piece of him.
You try not to forget him, even though his picture grows more fuzzy and distorted day after day, as the afternoons grow long and lazy and he just barely dances on the tip of your tongue. He's sort of shattered in your mind, and yet he's still whole, with his brown hair and meaningful ultra-blue eyes that were always swimming with upbeat excitement, his sturdy sense of justice and eagerness to begin the days anew.
He's gone, but the memory still lingers.
And because of that, it's starting to seem as though he was never really there.