Summary: jewelry boxes are such delightful things, the secrets they hold and the mysteries they share. What lies in such a box?
Warning: Slight AU (Alternate Universe) and spoilers for Birth By Sleep (sorta).
Disclaimer: I don't own.
A jewelry box is a mysterious thing when closed. One never knows what's inside. Are there beautiful jewels and gems that are worth a fortune? Or is it only cheap plastic braceletts a child received through out her life. Maybe it holds only a ring that a loved one gave you.
Whatever is inside the box, it is kept safe. Even from your own eyes.
Kairi often wondered what was inside this little box. It was a tiny thing, always sitting on the dresser of her room. It was one of the few things that originally belong to her when she came to Destiny Island, the one thing that she had from her real home.
Try as she might, she could not open the box. There was a tiny lock on it and she no longer had the key. She desperately wanted to unlock its secrets, to find out what it was gaurding.
Often times, at night, she would lay in bed and think about the box. It was small and made of a dark oak wood. Delicate flowers were carefully carved onto the top and side, the brass lock and handle keeping all others out. It was a mystery, her mystery. Others would offer her help to open it, but she wouldn't accept.
If she couldn't open it on her own than what was hidden inside would have no meaning. It was hers, and hers alone.
Many years passed and still she could not open the box. She had often thought about just breaking it open, but she didn't want to damage her precious treasure. Some day, she knew she would be able to open it.
She would just have to have patience.
Now she was an old woman, her years drawing to a close. Still the box remained locked.
She sat alone in her house, the little box in her old wrinkled hands. She stared and stared at it, as if willing for it to open on it's own. She blinked as her vision was suddenly obscured by a lock of grey hair, one of her hair pins had fallen out.
She picked up the little piece of metal and looked at it, then looked at the lock. She often heard the children of the island talk about picking locks with the little pins. She didn't see how it could work, but it was worth a try. She had nothing left to lose.
It wasn't as if she failed to learn the secret before.
She carefully put the box down on her kitchen table, taking the hair pin in her shaky hands. She bent the tip a little before gently lifting the lock and carefully inserting the tip into the key hole.
For what seemed like hours she moved the pin around, feeling for the grooves and the mechanics of the lock. Little by little, she felt something inside it move. Her blue eyes focused as hard as she could, concentrating.
Click!
At first she thought she imagined it. She couldn't believe that she heard that sound, the joyous sound of the lock finally giving in.
Kairi took a deep breath, shakily removing the lock before slowly opening the box.
A beautiful melody came from the box. It was slow, soft, like the wind through the reeds at night. It was a lullaby long forgotten. She looked inside the box, there were little scraps of paper and a small envelope.
She opened the envelope first, her breath catching in her throat as she pulled out a photograph that was bent in half. As she carefully unfolded it, she saw the faded picture;
Her as a young girl, maybe no older than five. There were two others with her. A boy in a lab coat that was too big for him, his eyes more expressive than they should be. The other was a rather muscular man, bending down so he could just be barely captured in the photo, his bright blue eyes could barely be seen in the fading colors.
She felt tears appear in her eyes. These two were obviously important to her, but she couldn't even remember their names. She put the picture down before picking up the pieces of paper, reading what was hastily scribbled onto them.
'Our Dearest Kairi,
We're sorry we could not protect you. We didn't see what sins were coming out of our research.
We wanted to let you know that we would never harm you. You were our light, our friend, our sister, even if it wasn't by blood.
We may never see you again, but we will always care for you, always remember your laughter and the kind smile that gave us a second chance... Even when no one else would.
Now you are leaving us. Master Ansem is sending you away. Away to a place where the light shines brighter than any star, a place where you can be safe from our foolish mistakes. We know that this is the best choice, but we do not wish to see you go. However, we do not want to see you hurt because of our ignorance and stupidity.
We are sending this music box with you. It is the last thing Ienzo had of his parents, and it's melody contain all our memories together. We will never forget how you loved to listen to this song, dancing and laughing as we tried to think of the words to it.
We love you Kairi, we hope you can some day forgive us. We are deeply sorry, and we will forever remember the suffering we have caused you.
Good bye, for now. May we meet again in the next life.
Ienzo and Aeleus.'
As Kairi read the letter over and over again, she found her vision blurred with tears. The tears dropped onto the page, smearing the ink and making it illegible.
Her mind could not remember, but her heart did. She did not have the memories of these two, but she felt like they had been there for her all this time.
She carefully put the photograph back in the envelope and folded the letter up and gently placed them back inside the box. Everything was as it was, except for one thing.
A tiny note, with the words 'I miss you' written neatly on the paper.
She closed the lid of the box, and locked it.
She had learned the secret.
It was still her secret, it had no meaning to anyone else.
She kept this secret until the end of her days.
Author's Notes: This was written for a contest on DeviantART for the Write-KingdomHearts group. I had to chose a prompt and three characters from a set of lists. My prompt was "secret" and my characters were Kairi, Zexion, and Lexaeus. In this contest, I could use the somebodies of the Organization members, and this popped into my head.
I hope you like it! Wish me luck and please review!