Back to Kingdom Hearts for a bit! I got this random inspiration the previous night and I had to write it.
Characters: Xigbar and Demyx.
Warnings: A bit of language? Not much. Also- hints, hints.
Disclaimers: I own EVERY SINGLE BIT OF- nah, joking. I own nothing.
An ominous silence was filling the white room -and then again, when wasn't it?-, making the only sound heard be the meek hhhp noise that symbolized the turning of a page. Hhhp, another page. The pages had been turned all too quickly, signaling that this had to be a new chapter- those cover sheets for new chapters could be annoying to stumble across, the reader knew this well.
Yet, he kept reading. It was the only thing that he could do [other than play some sweet music] that did not bore him in the least.
Besides, these stories were fascinating to the younger Nobody. Stories of knights, dragons, castles and lands unknown to the world...
"Hey, squirt!"
At hearing the sudden voice, aquamarine eyes paused in their slow travel across the page and now flickered upwards. First instinct told him to always look up whenever he heard that unmistakeable voice. And sure enough, he saw another of the Nobodies grinning down at him from an interesting sitting position upon his ceiling.
"What is it, Xigbar?" the younger of the two characters in the room mused, his tone of voice calm- an unusual sight for the one above him.
"What in hell are ya readin' that's makin' ya so quiet?" huffed the Nobody, and before the reader had time to answer, the book had been snatched out of his hands and was now being flipped through recklessly by the elder.
"H-hey!" two arms shot upwards, trying to grab at the book that had once been so delicately in his hands, and was now no longer near his reaching vicinity. "I was reading that! Now you've lost my page!"
The boy soon heard a chuckle and he pouted in annoyance. "Fairy tales, Demyx? Really, now? Out of all the things you could be doin', you choose to read fairy ta-"
"They're interesting," the younger defended, continuing to reach up high above him, wanting his book back, please and thank you. "All these stories of princes and enchanted worlds, and happily ever afters-"
Xigbar held up a hand shortly after the neophyte spoke that last phrase, pausing him in his tracks. "Kid, only the heroes get those." And now, acting as if he was bored with holding the book, he casually dropped it in the boy's hands, watching as he scrambled to hold it close to his chest and looked up at him with wide eyes. "We ain't gettin' one of those happy endings. We just get shitty ones."
Demyx seemed frozen for a few seconds, and soon his head lowered as he set the book down in front of him, not daring to open it again for at least a while. "I wonder what it's like, to get a happy ending." he murmured, and glanced up as he felt a hand ruffle his hair almost affectionately.
I wonder too.
-----------------------
The next day, the Freeshooter decided to pop into the other's room to see if he was playing music this time, instead of reading such blasphemy. Fairy tales, he sneered, only raise hope for nothing. The last thing I want is for that kid to get ideas of fantasies that will never occur.
He was surprised to see that, hmm, the boy wasn't here. It was odd to him, really. The Nocturne didn't leave his room much, having found that he enjoyed being in his own 'personal bubble' [as he called it] so he could play his own music to his liking and do all that he wanted to do without anyone scolding him. So why wasn't he in here?
"Demyx?" he called out, but no reply. The Nocturne's room echoed throughout the abandoned room multiple times, increasing in volume each time instead of decreasing, for Xigbar just wouldn't stop calling out his name.
But still, no answer.
Frowning, the other walked out of the room, in time to walk into [quite literally] the one he'd been looking for. This collision snapped both of them back into the real world, and a few awkward chuckles escaped.
"Kid, where the hell were ya?" I was about to start worrying.
Another short laugh.
"I.. got a mission. Gotta head out to Hollow Bastion." Start worrying now. I'm frightened.
A sigh.
"Well, you gotta do what you gotta do." Even if it's completely dumb. Why do they send you to do these missions, kid?
Shrug.
"I guess. I'll head out now so I can get back earlier and continue reading!" I really want to know what happens to the antagonists in the story. Won't they get a happy ending too?
"All right. I'll see ya when you get back." They never get a happy ending, kid. We'll never get a happy ending.
The boy turned, and darted down the hall, waving as he called back.
"I'll see you soon, Xigbar!" I'm lying, aren't I? I won't come back. You said only heroes get the good endings.
I know.
So why aren't you stopping me?
I want to see you prove me wrong.
-----------------------
Standing now before the ninth marking, in one of the middle neatly-aligned rows of their Proofs of Existence, Xigbar sighed, a hand going over his face, holding back sensations that he knew shouldn't be there, couldn't be there, because it was said to be impossible in this state.
You didn't prove me wrong.
-I didn't?
You didn't come back. You fell, like the antagonist destiny created you to be. You didn't get a happy ending.
-I wouldn't be too sure of that!!
Slowly the broken man pulls his hand away from his face, and stares at the slab of marble before him. Taunting him, with the words 'The Melodious Nocturne' dancing in red.
"But you're gone." he now whispers aloud, and he can hear that voice in his head again.
-Nuh uh!
"But you're not here." the words are hard to say, they choke out, and he doesn't understand why it's so difficult to accept the fact that his best friend's never going to be beside him again, that he won't laugh with him, or run with him, or that he'll never look into those gorgeous sea eyes.
Well- okay, I'm not there. But I'm somewhere! And I'm waitin' for ya.
There is a pause, and Xigbar is almost hesitant to ask. "He got strong, didn't he?"
-Oh, you have NO idea! It's like a growth spurt, but in terms of strength! If you're gonna go after him, you gotta be careful. Roxas got pretty tough!
"Sora." he hisses, correcting the voice. There is a fleeting thought that maybe, he looks very idiotic, standing there and talking to air. But it doesn't matter. Because there is an unspoken bond between him and the one he lost, and he doesn't want to lose that just yet.
-Okay, okay, SORA. I can't believe you're so bitter about this.
"He fuckin' took you away!!" the shooter finally breaks, finally yells, and there's a gun in his hand, and he's aiming at nothing-
-Calm down! Hey, if it makes ya feel better, I'm fine!
But he can't hear him. He can't hear the voice that's consoling him. All that he is focused on is the desperate need to go and stick a bullet through the boy's forehead, and maybe every other part of his body, just to make sure he's really, truly dead.
And it seems the voice can tell what he's thinking about. And it cracks.
-I- I'm.. I'm fine. Don't be so... sour, Xigbar... I don't like it when you're.. mad like that.
A sigh, and the rifle drops to the ground, his hands now clutching in fists that refuse to open any more. Xigbar brings these fists close to his chest, pressing them tightly beneath his neck, feeling his breathing go erratic, fast-paced.
For the record, comes that happy voice, and Xigbar can't understand how it can switch moods so fast, because they're not supposed to even have moods now, why would they have any after death? I totally DID prove you wrong.
"What?"
He can't even believe what he's hearing himself, and his hands lower, and only now does he realize they're trembling.
-Well- you'll see! Hopefully not anytime soon, but... uh.. you'll see, okay? Trust me on this!
Xigbar decides, hell, he'll trust the kid. He always has.
So he turns around and leaves the site.
"You made it!!" comes an excited laugh, a laugh he hasn't heard in weeks, and Xigbar can't help but smile widely as he turns, slowly. Everything seems so much slower in this reality.
And across the hazy, beautifully-lit field, he sees a figure running towards him, laughing, eyes twinkling like the sea they once were a part of.
"Is this it?" the once-sharp shooter questions, and he opens his arms to catch the boy that leaps into them, clings to him, tightly, as if he never wants to let go again.
"This is it!" Demyx glances up, and if he thought that the twinkle in his eyes couldn't get any brighter, he was wrong. "I told you, I proved you wrong. This is it. Our happily ever after."
Slowly, Xigbar looks around. He sees no one else, but them. Shouldn't the others be here? The others they lost so long ago? Why aren't they here?
He finds himself wondering this aloud, and in his grasp, the Nocturne laughs. "Because they were the real antagonists," he coos. "They didn't deserve a happy ending."
"What makes us so special?" murmurs the elder, and he begins to fall back, slowly drifting to lie down in a lush field spattered with colors of indigo, maroon, gold and rose. The younger falls with him, upon him, curling up close and tapping his nose.
"I dunno. But I'm not questioning it!" there's a happy laugh, and it's so contagious, because soon Xigbar is laughing too, and he doesn't know why, but it feels so good.
"I'm thinkin' I'll like this 'happily ever after' thing, squirt."
-fail-
That was actually rather fun to write, dunno why. Bittersweet ending, hur hurr.
R&R? Reading your comments inspires me to keep writing~ :D