Truly, I'm shit at remembering to post on this site. Sorry loves, here's the full story to make up for it.
Ventus.
A child sits upon the brick pavement in front of a shack of a house. A stick of white chalk at hand, she scribbles, immature doodles of space ships and stars in the sky. She licks her chapped upper lip, in concentration—for this is the most intricate moment her young life has seen.
She was barely two when her parents passed away. She has no memory of them, but dreams of the sky they were lost in.
The girl whips too short bangs that stick straight up, thanks to a particularly difficult cowlick, out of her sea green eyes. Left alone with scissors, she would certainly cut them off completely. But, for as ill equipped as Uncle Cid is, he at least has the paternal instinct to keep sharp objects away from this eight year old girl.
Two boys go rushing by, an excitement palpable in their footfalls. The girl looks up, lips fixing into a pout.
"Today's the day!" One of the boys, a redhead with a fire burning behind his emerald green eyes grins. The other boy, is slightly taller with pale blue hair and cyan eyes.
"Only if you move faster." The blue haired boys replies.
"Hey!" The redhead snorts, but they laugh and carry on, completely disregarding the girl.
"Hey!" She calls, but they take off at a speed that leaves no room for doubt—they have no intentions of waiting for her. They're older than her, uninterested in her, however, this does not quell her vexation. Her tiny fist clenches around the chalk. She sits up, eyes narrowed into slits as she throws the chalk to the ground. It hits the pavement with an uneventful 'clank'. "Jerks." She mutters. She looks back to the shack of the house. Yuffie is supposed to be coming over later to play dolls. And Yuffie's parents always bought her the best dolls…
Then again, Yuffie is six and those boys are thirteen and the girl knows exactly what they are up to.
And she wants in.
Without another second's hesitation, she takes off after them, running as fast as her short, chubby legs will take her.
She makes it as far as the town square and that is when she sees him sitting on the ground, shoulders slumped over.
Golden blonde hair. Eyes that are blue like the sky and shine twice as bright. This boy is the light upon her life, an oddity. He is not from here, she knows that without a doubt, because he holds himself like a hero. This boy is from a fairytale, like the books she sneaks into the school library to read. She's too young to read these stories, she won't understand. But she does, oh she does.
This boy could pierce through even the darkest of nights with his smile, and she knows exactly who he is, instantly.
Prince Charming.
"You still play with toy swords, that's cute?" She sees the red haired boy taunting him, the ever present, ever playful smile lighting his features. The boy spins a strange, key shaped sword around in his hand before offering it to Prince Charming, by the hilt. Prince Charming purses his lips. The redhead cocks his head to the side, the mischievous spark in his eyes softening. Prince Charming lets out a noncommittal grunt.
The redhead tosses the key shaped sword aside and, from his pockets, retrieves two Frisbees, with flame insignias on them. His grin could burn a hole in the sun. The little girl pokes her head out from behind the stairway, her eyes bright.
"Tada!" The redhead laughs. "Whaddaya think?"
"Not a whole lot." Is Prince Charming's lazy response. The little girl snorts loudly, and three sets of eyes find their way to her. She grins. "Really? Can't we ever get away from you?" The redhead rolls his eyes.
"Lea, at least pretend to have some manners." The blue haired boy sighs.
"Oh, come on, Isa!" Lea groans. "She's annoying."
"And you're an asshole." The girl crosses her arms to her chest, looking defiantly up at Lea.
"What the hell? You can't say stuff like that, you're seven, Rueki!" Lea snaps, but she just looks smugly up at him.
"Eight, actually. And that's what Uncle Cid calls you. A little asshole." She says, quite proud of herself to have thrown him off.
"He's not wrong." Isa mutters, trying to fight back a smirk. "And you're the one who wanted to stop in the first place."
"Eight, seven, makes no difference." Lea waves his hands and shakes his head.
"Sure, it does, eight's my favorite number." The little girl grins. "Anyhow, you look like an idiot." Lea looks around, to Isa, who just shrugs, to Rueki, who is smug, to the blond boy, who just looks overwhelmed.
"You're all just jealous." Lea rolls his eyes, huffing dramatically. "I'm Lea, got it memorized? What's your name?" He asks the boy. But before the boy can even answer, Rueki grins.
"I know exactly who you are." She shoves Lea aside, with great force for a small child. He blinks at her, eyes narrowed as he regards her. But she doesn't see him. She doesn't see anything outside of the very bright glow this boy casts. She bites her lip as she looks at him. "You're Prince Charming."
Suddenly, Lea howls out laughing, clutching his stomach, limbs trebling, eyes watering. Rueki whips around, nostrils flaring, hands clenched into fists. When Lea doesn't immediately cease his laughter in fear, she stomps forward, draws her leg back, and with all of her might, kicks him in the shin.
"Ouch! Hey!" Lea yelps, stumbling back, toward the fountain. "You are such a pain!"
"Go to hell!" She snaps.
"Stop cursing!" He counters.
"Bite me." She huffs, crossing her arms to her chest, lips fixed into a pout. Prince Charming regards them, his brows coming together. The boy with the frisbees, the quiet boy and the vulgar girl are perhaps the oddest combination of people he has met in all of his travels.
And oddness is a distraction. From Aqua. From Terra…
"Actually, I'm Ventus…" There's a tangible discomfort radiating from his presence as he looks at the unlikely trio. Lea shakes out his leg, rubbing his shin briefly before righting himself, a new determination in his eyes.
"Okay Ventus, let's fight!" Lea says.
"Fight, why would I want to do that?" Ventus raises an eyebrow, still seated.
"You scared of losing?" Lea grins, head tilted. "C'mon. Hope you're ready." He jumps back. Ventus looks up, around the group. Rueki cracks a grin and strides over to him, paying Lea absolutely zero mind. He narrows his eyes at her as she leans down, jolting a hand out to Ventus. The blond boy cracks a smile and takes her hand. She's small, but her grip is fierce, unrelenting. She pulls him to his feet and stage whispers to him.
"You're gonna beat him, no problem." She instigates, eyes flicking to Lea as she speaks. His eyes narrow, dangerously. The two are younger than him, and Ventus does not by any standard of the word, consider himself wise or worldly. But he looks at these two and he instantly sees a magnetic pull. Not romantic, for they are only children. But there is something desperately drawing the two of them together that neither can control.
He wonders how much of this entire conversation was for them to push and pull at one another.
Ventus releases Rueki's hand and picks up that key shaped sword.
"Yeah!" Lea grins as Rueki takes a step back, toward Isa, who offers her only a small smile. "Now we're talking."
"You're gonna be sorry." Ventus shrugs. Isa chuckles as Lea goes charging in.
And there is nothing aggressive in this brawl. It is childish, fun, lighthearted. Before he realizes it, Ventus is beaming, smiling from ear to ear as he trades blows with Lea. For a brief window in his young life, he is a child again. He's not a Keyblade Wielder, he's a boy, goofing around with another boy, while yet another boy and a young girl watch, giggling. For just a moment, there is no weight on his shoulders.
It doesn't take long until Lea hits the ground, throwing his head into the brick pavement, heaving a sigh.
"You had enough? Cuz I'm ready to call it a draw if you are." Lea pants, his chest heaving. Rueki giggles loudly.
"From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big 'L' on your forehead, for 'Loser', 'Lame', 'Laughable'." Isa shakes his head.
"What? Isn't this the part where you cheer me up or something?" Lea asks. "'You're just having a bad day' or 'that's what you get for pulling your punches'. Some friend."
"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie." Isa more says than asks, and this is enough to cause Rueki to toss her head back, little strands of bangs standing straight into the sky as she giggles.
"I told you, you were gonna lose. He's a hero, you're a zero." And she beams at him with the utter pride that only a child can, at crafting, what she believes, is the cleverest insult ever.
"I'm going to push you into the fountain." Lea glares at her. She sticks her tongue out at him. "Ya see what I have to put up with? Sure hope you don't have friends like him. And I sure hope you don't have to deal with anyone like her."
Rueki huffs and makes a move to kick him again, but at that exact moment, Lea sits up and scoots out of the way.
"You're such a brat." He tells her. She shrugs.
"Maybe stop being such a jerk." Is her very wise suggestion.
"Lea, we have to go." Isa finally sighs, as though he knows this is the only thing that will end the banter. The smile still hasn't left Ventus' face.
"'Kay." Lea nods, pushing himself up off the ground. Ventus brow knits together, and he realizes, for the first time since that night he, Aqua, and Terra watched the meteor shower, he doesn't want this moment to end. He is at peace, all is well.
"Already?" Ventus cocks his head to the side.
"I'll see ya when I see ya. After all, we're friends now. Got it memorized?" Lea's grin blazes.
"Okay, Lea." Ventus nods.
"Besides, we don't need them." Rueki grins up at the blond boy, boldly. "We can go on adventures without them."
"Why would anyone want to take you on an adventure?" Lea rolls his eyes.
"One could ask the same about you." Isa teases his friend, who 'humph's, indignantly. Ventus offers the girl a bashful smile, this would be infinitely more embarrassing were she older. As a child, who clearly has only heard of love from story books, her affections are only mildly mortifying.
"You said you have an uncle, right?" Ventus asks. She shrugs.
"Technically he's my godfather." She answers, pursing her lips.
"Well, you can't leave him behind. I think he'd miss you." Because Ventus knows he misses the two who have left him behind.
"You have to bring me with you though!" She insists, throwing her arms up.
"Why's that?"
"I already told you! You're my prince charming!" She huffs. "You're going to take me to other worlds, of course."
"And why would anyone want to be your prince charming?" Lea scoffs.
"Come on, Lea." Isa rolls his eyes, thoroughly exasperated at his friend. Rueki, however is content to defend herself, she flashes her middle finger at Lea and sticks out her tongue, causing Isa to snort on a laugh, while Ventus chuckles. The last thing this girl needs is someone to protect her, if she stays like this, she's going to grow up dangerous.
"I don't think you need a prince charming. I think you'll always find a way to save the day by yourself." Ventus smiles. The girl mulls his words over for a minute, pressing her finger to her chin, thoughtfully.
"You know, maybe you're right. Besides, I'm too young for us to get married right now. You'll just have to wait until I'm a grown up." Is her response. Ventus' eyes go wide, and he colors ever so slightly. Who the heck is this girl? Jeez, if Terra were here now, he'd never hear the end of this…
"Who'd wanna marry you?" Lea snorts. Rueki whips around, hair spinning with her as she glares at the boy.
"Can you stop instigating a child for fifteen minutes?" Isa rolls his eyes. "And what is it with you and picking up stray puppies?"
"I want everyone I meet to remember me. Inside people's memories, I can live forever." Lea explains.
"I know I won't forget you, believe me, I try all the time." Isa says.
"I think I'll forget you the second I fly away from this world. I won't miss you." Rueki tosses her hair, trying very hard to seem cool and grown up.
"Oh please, no one was asking you." Lea responds, and then, very proudly, grins at Isa. "See, I'm immortal."
"You're obnoxious." Isa counters. His eyes flick to the castle. Lea's follow suit.
"You ready?" Lea asks.
"Well, I can tell you are." Isa shrugs.
"Yeah." Lea nods, and with that the two boys go taking off. Rueki turns to Ventus, arms linking behind her back.
"What about you?" She asks him, tilting her head to the side.
"I've got someone I have to keep a promise to." He says. Rueki nods, incredibly understanding, eyes so piercing and so intense for someone so little. "And you've got someone you've got to play dolls with, right?" He asks.
"Yeah, I guess." She says, shoving her hands into her pockets, her eyes flicking away from Ventus, up to the sky. "You sure you won't take me with you?" She asks. Ventus fumbles.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You should have fun with your friends." He suggests. Rueki purses her lips.
"Lea and Isa aren't my friends. Isa's only nice to me cuz he's supposed to be, and Lea's just a jerk." She huffs, eyes flicking back to him.
"Well, girls mature faster than boys. Maybe one of these days they'll figure out you're smarter than them." Ventus suggests. A brilliant smile lights Rueki's entire face. She smooths her spiky bangs back. Somehow, this makes them stand up even worse.
"Yeah, maybe you're right."