Hey there, everyone. It has been a long time since I written anything at all fanfic wise. However, I hope this story becomes a really good one. I would like to dedicate this story to the people that supported me with my KH fandom and such and also to the people that like strange couples. Enjoy!
This story is an AU. The main couples of this fanfic are Namine and Riku. There are some hints of Sora x Kairi, Roxas x Olette, Cloud x Aerith, and maybe...some Axel x ?
I don't own anything. Everything belongs to Square Enix.
If Only I Could
Chapter One: The Magic Pencils
The beautiful rays from the sun peeked through the open window of a tiny little house that stood on the corner of the tiny road. The rays lightly touched the pale walls of a white colored room. The walls were decorated with drawings of different people and places that only one could imagine. The ray slowly crept down from the walls and towards a sleeping figure. The sleeping figure was a young girl with medium length blond hair which played around her neck and face. Her pale complexion complemented her satin sheets.
The ray of light managed to stir the girl as it touched her eyelid. She slowly opened her eyes to reveal a pair of baby blues. The girl slowly sat up on her bed and yawned a bit. The girl looked down at her alarm clock and smiled a bit. She had woken up ten minutes before her alarm would set off. Taking this opportunity, the young girl got off from her bed and scurried out from her room and into the hallway. She quickly headed off to a certain room and entered it. The good thing about her waking up early was the fact that the bathroom was all hers before her sister woke up. She closed the door and locked it. It was a bad habit of her older sister to be taking up
Approximately five minutes after the young girl entered the shower, another figure walked down the hall. This one was another young girl who was around the same age as the blond, but she was a red head. Her ocean blue eyes sparkled as much as the blond girl's baby blue eyes. As the red head girl reached the door she placed her hand on the knob and tried to turn it. However, it would not budge at all. Frustrated at this, the red head girl knocked on the door.
"Namine, are you in there?" the red head girl asked.
"Yeah, I'm in here, Kairi," Namine answered. "It seems I beat you again to the bathroom."
"That's not fair, you cheater," Kairi joked, "you're waking up earlier and earlier. Pretty soon, I doubt you'll go to sleep since you want to beat me to the bathroom."
"Girls!" a voice from the kitchen called out. "Breakfast is almost ready. Hurry up if you want to have breakfast before you go to school!"
"You hear that, Namine?" Kairi asked. "You better hurry up so I can get ready or we'll be late for school."
"The only reason why we're late is because you take forever to gussy up so you can look good for your boyfriend, Sora," Namine giggled as she was finishing fixing her. She took off her pale pink nightgown and hung it on the hangar. She then took the white dress which she replaced the nightgown with and wore it. She found her sandals and wore them as well.
"That's not funny!" Kairi chided. "Don't use Sora as an excuse...besides...you think I look pretty enough for him?"
"I don't think he cares what you look like," Namine said as she opened the door, "as long as you're yourself."
"That's so sweet...but I still need to dress into something."
Kairi walked passed Namine and closed the bathroom door behind her. Namine just shook her head and headed down to the kitchen where she could smell pancakes. Namine smiled as she knew that her mother had been busy trying to make them a good breakfast. As Namine reached the dining table, she spotted her father behind the newspaper. She could tell it was him by the flock of red hair that was sticking out.
"Morning, Daddy," Namine said as she sat down next to her father.
"Morning, Namine," the red head man said as he lowered down the newspaper to smile at her daughter. "Where's your sister?"
"She's taking forever in the bathroom."
"I swear...you allow a girl her age to date a boy and then you see your little princess become some sort of drama queen."
"Oh, don't over exaggerate," Namine's mother said as she came from the kitchen. Her short blond hair covered a bit of her face, but it didn't get in the way of her vision. She placed the pancakes down on the table. "I swear Reno; you probably forgot how we were back when we were young."
"How could I forget that, Elena?" Reno replied. "I bet you missed the wild me."
"Not a single moment."
"Wha?!" Reno dropped his newspaper as he eyed his wife.
Elena turned around to stiffen the giggle that almost escaped her lips. She knew several ways to really ruffle Reno's feathers up, just as he knew ways to really infuriate her. Namine looked over at her parents as Reno got up from his seat and tried to talk to Elena about the whole thing. Namine couldn't help but smile at this. At least she was happy at home. Suddenly, Kairi walked over to the dining area. She had fixed herself up and looked very pretty. Her face had light pink eye shadow and lip gloss which complimented her pink dress.
"Mom...Dad...what on earth are you doing?" Kairi asked as she looked at her parents with a strange look on her face.
"Nothing at all," Reno replied as he was currently tickling Elena, "just eat your pancakes then off to school!"
"Heh heh, you guys are so weird," Kairi giggled as she sat down next to Namine and began to serve herself pancakes.
Once breakfast was over, Kairi and Namine walked towards their school. The roads were covered in sand since their town was close to the beach. The sweet breeze played around with the girls' locks as they tried to enjoy their morning walk.
"Oy! Kairi! Namine!" a voice shouted.
Kairi and Namine turned around to see who it was that was calling them. Running across the street was a young man with spiky chestnut colored locks which defied gravity. As he smiled, his sapphire colored eyes burn brightly with youth. His black shorts and shirt danced along with the wind as he finally reached the girls. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath.
"Hey, I finally caught up," he said through labored breaths.
"Sora, you're late!" Kairi playfully said. "You overslept again, didn't you?"
"Uh...maybe?" Sora giggled as he placed a bashful hand behind his head.
"Hi, Sora," Namine said softly.
Sora exclaimed in his cheery voice. It seemed like nothing could ever break his mood.
"We should hurry up to school," Kairi said, "If we don't, you know what Professor Highwind would do."
"Oh yeah..." Sora remembered the last time he arrived late to class. Professor Highwind wasn't too merciful.
Quickly, the trio headed off towards their school. Once they managed to run through the crowded hallways, they reached their classroom. Just as they entered, Namine was pushed aside from the figure that came inside the classroom.
"Get out of my way, loser," said a young man whose blond hair was covered by a black beanie. The short blue shirt he wore was covered by his long white trench coat that he wore. Standing next to him was a taller boy wearing a red shirt and dark color pants. His spiky black hair stood out in a strange direction. The other person was a smaller girl with silver hair which covered one of her ruby colored eyes. Her soft navy blue shirt and khaki pants didn't say much about her.
"Don't stand in the way of Seifer, ya know!" spoke the taller boy.
"Wallflower," replied the shorter girl.
"I...I'm sorry..." Namine replied.
"Hey!" Kairi growled. "Leave her alone, Seifer."
"It's not my fault that your sister is nothing more than an obstacle to get into class, right, Rai and Fuu?"
"You're always right, Seifer, ya know!" Rai replied.
"Always," Fuu added in.
"You jerks!" Kairi shouted.
"What's going on here?" a deep voice from behind the group spoke. The teenagers turned around to meet into the dark, icy stare of one of their other professors. This man's dark colored eyes were a bit emotionless and strict. His brown locks managed to cover parts of his face but not even to cover his strange scar that touched right above his nose. His black jacket and pants defined his body but it still gave him a professional look to him. "Take your seats, children," he said, "I have a bit of news for you."
"Yes, Professor Leonhart," the teens replied as they took their appropriate seats.
Professor Squall Leonhart, or Leon, as some of the students liked to call him leaned against the wall as he tried to think of a way to break it down to the children. "Listen up," he said, "I have some news concerning your English teacher, Cid Highwind. As of now, he has quitted his job in order for him to become, and I say in his words, an airline pilot. Don't ask me why. Either way, it was difficult for us to find another teacher in such a short amount of time but Headmaster Cid has found a temporarily replacement. Please greet your new teacher Professor Axel...um...I can't read his last name on this piece of paper."
"Professor Axel will do just fine," said a young man. Walking inside the classroom was a young man, perhaps a bit younger than Professors Leonhard, with fiery red hair. His green eyes shimmered with such radiant energy and playfulness. What was strange and rather unprofessional looking were the tattoos which were under his eyes. Not to mention the clothing he was wearing. Tight leather pants with black boots. He had a black leather jacket which he hung over his shoulder. Touching his jacket was a dark red shirt with a zipper. "I'll take over from here, Leon."
"Tch, whatever," Leon replied as he left the classroom.
"Alright kids," Axel said as he placed his black jacket on the chair. "I'm your new professor from now on. My name's Axel, A-X-E-L, got that memorized? You all can call me that from now on. I may have graduated from Balamb University not too long ago, but I've worked on quite an amount of internships with many students such as yourselves. Alright...can anyone tell me what the old fart was teaching you before I came?"
Axel's comment earned him a couple of giggles from the children in the class. One of the children raised their hand in the air. It was a young girl with long black hair and dark amber eyes. Her top was a light yellow shirt with a white blouse that held it together. Her yellow pants touched her frame softly.
"Yeah, you...um...Miss...?" Axel said.
"Garnet Til Alexandros, sir. Professor Highwind was lecturing us on old Midgardian literature," Garnet said. "We were on the story of the Great Meteor Strike."
Axel picked up a copy of the literature book and looked at it with a puzzled look. "This is a story about a soldier who defied an entire government. He fell in love with a flower girl who was killed by a crazed lunatic who summoned a meteor. With his small mercenary group, the soldier defeated the lunatic and saved the world. Bah! Overrated stuff. That story has been on everyone's agenda like Romeo and Juliette, so let's do something different. I hope you're all ready for some fun planned ahead of us."
After class had finished, Sora and Kairi had gotten their lunch and sat next to Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. All six were waiting for Namine to come out from the lunch line and to sit with them. Namine looked rather disgusted with the day's lunch. It appeared to be something that was considered food, but she wasn't too sure if it could be edible. Not being one to complain, Namine made her way towards her friends. Just as she was half way over to her friends, she had to pass Seifer's group. Seifer placed his foot down in front of Namine's path. Namine soon tripped and fell on the hard ground. The strange substance that was to be her lunch was now all over her hair. Her white dress was now stained horribly.
"Oops, better what where you're going, Namine," Seifer chuckled. "Oh wow...looks like those stains won't be coming off that dress."
Namine slowly got up and looked around her. Everyone apparently found that to be funny and began to laugh at her misfortune. Namine's eyes began to burn up a bit as she never felt so embarrassed in her life. Just then a soft hand landed on her shoulder. Namine looked over at the young man with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. His clothing consisted of a black shirt which was covered with a white jacket. His dark pants had white coverings on them.
"Leave her alone, you jerk," the blond boy said.
"What are you going to do about it, Roxas?" Seifer asked. "You gonna fight me for it?"
"I don't normally like to fight a pointless battle, but I'm not going to back off until you apologize to Namine."
"What if I don't?"
"You seriously don't want to know what happens if you don't."
"You can't talk to Seifer like that, ya know!" Rai shouted as he was ready to back up Seifer.
"Well, it looks like its two against one," Seifer chided.
"You're forgetting about me!" Sora said as he stepped in front of Namine.
"So what? You two brotherly dorks don't scare me."
"Hey! You're forgetting us too!" another blond boy with camouflage pants said. "Pence and I stand by our friends."
"Right, Hayner," a raven haired plump boy known as Pence replied.
"So what now, Seifer?" Sora asked.
"Please, don't fight!" Namine said as she tried to break up the group. "I don't want any trouble."
"Trouble is what you got," Seifer sneered.
"Okay, break it up, break it up!" another professor interrupted the fight. "We don't tolerate anything like that. Mr. Almasy, I saw you trip poor Namine not too long ago. Now I don't know about you, but that earns you a detention, young man."
"What? You gotta be kidding me, Professor Locke."
"Hey, Seifer can't get a detention, ya know." Rai replied.
"Oh, that earns you a detention too, Rai." Locke replied.
"Idiot..." Fuu replied as Professor Locke managed to drag off Seifer and Rai.
Namine let out a sigh of relief as there was not going to be a fight. She wasn't too sure about later on, but she needed to hope anyway. She was taken over to her friends' table and sat down next to a brunette girl with green eyes. Olette, the other girl of the group looked over at Namine.
"Namine, are you okay?" Olette asked.
"Yes...I'm fine," Namine replied.
"You didn't look so okay back there," Roxas said. "You know if you ever have any trouble that we'll be here for you, okay?"
"Yeah...I know...I just don't know why...they don't like me...or that everyone thinks that I'm a dork."
"Dork? You?" Sora said as he pointed at her. "Come on! The only one that's a dork is me."
"Yep, that's Sora's job," Roxas agreed. "You can't get much dorkier than that."
"Hey!"
"So then, Namine, want to go clean up?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah...that might be a good idea."
The rest of the day didn't go as bad as it did during lunch, but it wasn't that great either. Namine had a hard time avoiding getting glared at by Seifer, Rai, and Fuu and the jeers that were going behind her back. However, she didn't mind, she was busy drawing a picture. If there was something she loved to do it was to draw the things that go through her head. Namine had begun to draw a picture of a young man. She ended up drawing a boy that looked so much like Roxas. Namine let out a small blush on her face as she realized this.
I can't draw this, she thought as she began to erase part of the picture. As she managed to draw the young man again, she ended up drawing Sora this time. Oh...not another one, she thought. Namine let out a sigh as she looked at her picture. A frown began to play on her face. I don't know what's wrong with me...she thought, I can't seem to get over this. I've always had a crush on Sora and Roxas ever since I was little, but my sister, Kairi ended up going out with Sora and Roxas has Olette as a girlfriend. I am not jealous or anything of Kairi or Olette...it's just that...I wish I could have been bolder like they are. I guess that's the problem with me.
Namine erased the picture completely and began to draw a new figure on there. The figure she began to draw was taller than Roxas and Sora and a bit more built than they were. She gave the young man medium length hair which part of it covered his eyes. She gave him such unique clothing that no one has ever seen before. Once she was done drawing the young man she looked at him and smiled. Wow, she thought, I drew him even more handsome than I intended to. Now to give him a name. Hmm...I think I'll name this guy Riku, Prince Riku of...the Hallow Bastion Kingdom. I'll draw the background later.
Just then the bell rang which meant that school ended, however, not for Namine. She gathered her stuff and headed out towards the art room. She sat down in one of the chairs and waited for the art club meeting to beginning. Always the first one there, Namine felt nothing but the emptiness of the room. She didn't mind it at all, but she didn't like it. The emptiness reminded her too much of herself.
Eventually the other members as well as the sponsor came into the room to start the meeting. As the president was talking to the entire group, Namine sat in the back, still working on the picture of Prince Riku. She smiled a bit as she added in a nice moonlight background. She added in a couple of trees and hills. At the far end of the picture, Namine a castle on top of a hill.
Once the meeting was over, Namine walked out from the room and headed towards her home. She often walked alone when she had club meetings since pretty much all her friends left as soon as school was over on that day. Just as Namine was about to leave the school grounds, she felt a dark chilly feeling come over her. A dark shadow lingered over her.
Seifer barked as he caught up to Namine. "You really caused me a lot of trouble today."
"S-Seifer!" Namine said as she turned to see an unhappy Seifer. "I...I'm sorry."
"Sorry is not good enough! This is the fourth time you got me into detention."
"I...I didn't mean to..."
"Shut up! You really enjoy making me suffer, don't you?"
"No! I..."
"Silence! You're not supposed to talk when Seifer is talking, ya know!" Rai added in.
"However, I think I know how we can solve this problem," Seifer said as he eyed both Rai and Fuu. "Rai, hold her down while Fuu, you look for anything in her bag."
Rai took a hold of Namine in a firm grip. Namine tried to wriggle out of Rai's grasp, but he was just too strong. Fuu began to search Namine's bag. She searched and eventually found Namine's sketchbook. She showed it to Seifer as she opened up the book to reveal all of Namine's artwork.
"I see...so this is the dork's sketchbook," Seifer said as he flipped through the pages. "These pictures are all very well drawn; did you spend a lot of time drawing them?"
"Y-yes," Namine replied as she felt a shiver creep over her. "Please...leave my sketches alone. I worked so hard on them and they mean a lot to me."
"Aw...all I want to do is contribute to them." Seifer took out a black sharpie which he kept in his pockets for graffiti purposes. He then began to scribble with the sharpie over all of Namine's pictures. "Oh...I'm sorry...I'm so clumsy. I guess there goes Mr. Unicorn and dragon over there. And now your picture of the beach is gone."
"NO! Stop it!" Namine shouted as she tried to break free from Rai's grip. "Please...leave my drawings alone!"
"Oh...I guess you don't like my art..." Seifer said as he stopped right in front of the picture of Prince Riku. "Who's this guy suppose to be? Your imaginary boyfriend? Only a dork like you would draw her own boyfriend since you can't really get yourself a real one. I think it's time I teach you about the real world out there. Get your head out of the clouds and see what's it like to live...in this world. Starting by getting rid of your fake boyfriend."
Seifer tore the picture out from Namine's sketchbook and held it in front of Namine's face. Namine cried and shouted for Seifer to stop, but her cries ended up on deaf ears. Seifer took a hold of the paper and ripped it into two. Namine could feel her heart break as Seifer tore up the drawing into more tiny pieces. Once he was done, he tossed the papers into the air. He signaled Rai to release her in which he did. The trio then left Namine to wallow in her sorrow. Namine picked up the pieces of her drawing, but the wind managed to blow some of the pieces away.
She then grabbed her sketchbook and looked at it. All of her beautiful artwork was now ruined by the black sharpie. Tears welled up in her eyes as she closed the book and held it close to her body as though she was holding an infant and cradling it.
"Whoa, you okay?" Axel asked as he knelt down to Namine's eye level.
"I...no..." Namine said as she tried her best not to cry in front of her new teacher.
"What happened?"
Namine didn't reply. All she did was show Axel her sketchbook.
"I see...being picked on and such. Well...lucky for you...I think I might have something for your pretty pieces of art." Axel searched through his bag before he pulled out a wooden box. "You know what this is? This is a special box that holds magical pencils. It was given to a friend of mine by a dark witch. My friend passed away and gave me this box. Since I have no further used for it, you can have it. I wasn't much of an artist, but you...I think you'll make better use of it. After all, you're quite the artist yourself."
"T-thank you..." Namine replied as she slowly got up from the ground and headed off home. Axel eyed her fragile figure as she disappeared into the darkness. Perhaps...you might be able to do a lot more than I did...he thought.
Namine ran as fast as she could. As she ran, she felt drops fall on her. At first she thought it was her own tears that were falling from her eyes, but once she looked at the sky, she noticed that drops of rain began to fall from the sky. At first the rain came down slowly from the sky but soon it poured endlessly. Namine's clothing was soaked horribly that the stains from the food began to run down her white dress. Once she reached her home she opened the front door to the house slowly, as to not alarm anyone with her presences.
In the living room, Kairi was busy talking with Sora. Both teens were trying to do homework, well at least Kairi was. Sora was too busy playing around with his pencil. Namine slowly crept behind the couch they were sitting in. Once she was about to reach the stairs, she froze.
"Namine? Is that you?" Kairi asked. At that moment, Namine quickly ran up the stairs. She dropped her soaked sketchbook on the ground and tried to cover her faces as tears rolled down her face. Kairi quickly ran behind Namine, but was stopped as soon as Namine slammed the door to her room and locked it. Sora walked over to foot of the stairs and picked up Namine's ruined sketchbook. He looked at the pictures and noticed that they were ruined with a black sharpie and one of the pictures was signed in bold letters. Seifer, he thought as he shook his head.
"Namine, open the door," Kairi said as she knocked on the door softly. "Mom and Dad were worried about you."
"Just please...go away," Namine squealed as she tried to hold her crying.
Kairi frowned but obeyed her sister. She knew once Namine got into this mode, it will take her a while before she can be open again. Inside of her room, Namine cried in the corner. Soaking wet and cold, she slowly walked over to her closet and changed into another white dress she had. She then took up her blanket and wrapped it around her body. Underneath her bed, Namine kept a lot of art supplies. She took out a small sketchbook and opened it to the last two blank pages. Searching through her bag, Namine took out the box of colored pencils that Axel gave her and opened the box.
She looked at the pencils and smiled a bit. The pencils were in great conditions, even though a couple of them were smaller than others. She took out a flesh colored pencil and began to draw. It must have been three hours before Namine was finished drawing the picture. She ended up using the silver pencil a lot. What she ended up drawing was another picture of Riku and the castle.
There you go, Riku, Namine thought as she managed to redraw Riku once again. This time I'll make sure nothing happens to you again. Namine looked out the window to see the clear moon. It looked so beautiful to Namine that evening. She loved the moon and she guessed that's why she gave Riku silver hair. She thought he would be the "Prince of the Dark Side of the Moon" or something. Slowly, Namine brought herself down on the floor. She felt quite tired and slowly but surely, slept peacefully. Unbeknown to Namine, the rays of the moon shun down on the picture she drew. The lines of the picture turned from their original color to a silvery bright color. A strange light emitted from the color pencils and began to engulf her room.
Outside of Namine's room, Elena was walking up the stairs. She was holding a small tray of food in which she hoped her younger daughter would eat it. "Namine," Elena asked as she reached the child's room, "I brought you food." Elena knocked on the door softly. When no answer came she began to worry. Just then, Elena saw the strange light come out from Namine's room. She dropped the tray of food. "Namine? Namine!" Elena shouted as she tried to open the door. "Reno! Come quick!"
"What is it?" Reno asked as he ran up the stairs.
"Something weird is going on in Namine's room," Elena shouted as she tried to jiggle the doorknob.
"Move," Reno shouted as he took a hold of the knob. Once he knew that he couldn't open the door that way, he began to ram the door with his shoulder. With one last push, Reno managed to open the door. However, the light from the room disappeared...along with any traces of Namine.
Yay, first chapter is done! I hope this turns out okay for a first chapter. Enjoy!