This is a four year old bit of writing that had been finished and forgotten. I figure if I'm still happy with it after all this time, it's good enough to post. Here's to the release of KH 3!
Name: Duet
Song: Doesn't have a name, but look up 'Deobrat Mishra and Daryl Verville ' on YT and the first vid is what I was hearing/imagining, especially the second half.
Most times the ninth member of Organization XIII was within the Castle That Never Was, everyone knew it.
The delicate twang of his weapon and instrument, Arpeggio, would echo throughout the long, white empty halls. Many times his fellow comrades would express their disdain for the shattering of the silence. Music - indeed art of any sort - was scowled upon and loathed. Without hearts to appreciate it, the Nobodies only grew to despise it; the reminder of their former capabilities.
The VIII would tell him off in a more polite manner.
"You think you can keep it down, Demyx?"
XII would bodily threaten him if he didn't stop playing.
"If you don't stop that racket you'll be taking a one-way trip to Atlantica! And you won't be there to enjoy the water!"
IV, VI and XI would take hits at his 'brilliant intellect and skill'.
"It's a shame the best you can do is pluck a few strings."
Mostly he was silenced by nary a scowl from the stronger members; III, V, VII.
X and XIII were the only two who didn't seem to mind the music, though their newest member didn't seem to mind anything.
The opinion of I, their leader and Superior, remained unsaid, and the Nocturne was grateful for such a small mercy.
Sometimes he would hum to the notes, but not loud enough so that it would bring the collective wrath of the other 12 down upon him.
Though The World That Never Was was steeped in perpetual night, he usually played during the hours designated for sleep. It was probably why the other Nobodies despised his music so much.
But it was also probably why they slept so soundly.
There were only a handful of members to hear his playing; the ones who prowled freely when the more boisterous members were resting: I, III, IV, VI and VII.
There was a change, one night.
Demyx's sitar did not play alone.
It was noticed almost immediately; the mournful weighty keys of a piano had joined Arpeggio's solo. Those who were awake paused in their steps. Who had been bitten by the music bug? Who had decided to join the IX's song?
The sitar stopped, strumming awkwardly. The note broke off sharply, unused to having a companion. The piano fell silent, waiting. Arpeggio's notes hesitantly flowed, and the mystery piano echoed back the sounds. They danced around one another, copying and enhancing the other's music, challenging the other artist to reach further, play louder, press the keys and strum the cords in a more complex pattern, slowly growing more and more used to one another.
'Can you keep up with me?' the piano teased.
'Give me a challenge!' Arpeggio seemed to reply, flawlessly matching the twirling string of notes brought forth from the mysterious pianist.
The piano replied, delicate tone slowly changed from twinkling to a powerful cacophony of dramatic emotion, or a very good imitation of them. The keys slammed down, producing a veritable bellow that rippled through the castle, up to Demyx, up to the Alter of Naught, up to Kingdom Hearts.
Sitar seemed to concede for the time, unable to follow up such a bold sound. Instead it responded with a build-up, and the piano joined.
Two pairs of hands flew across key and cord in a duet that sounded almost ominous, right until the final, fading, lilting notes.
The Superior faced the enormous glowing heart, hanging in the sky and casting its glow upon him. His arms were folded behind his back as he stood alone on the Altar of Naught. The strains of sitar and piano had reached him loud and clear, cutting through the heavy blanket of silence. It was an unusual sounding duet, most assuredly. But perhaps, Xemnas thought with a very faint smile, the strangest thing to come about was not the sound, but the duet itself.
After all, it was typically the water that played to the moon's tune, not the other way around.