This is an AU DemyxAriel gift for Meowen, for being an awesome and active AkuFa member at the club. Renji Claus has granted your request! I hope it isn't too angsty.
This is based on real historical and legendary elements, such as the Minoan culture as well as the real story of the mermaid in which Disney derived "The Little Mermaid" from.
A World Apart
"And these grapes?"
"Why, I'm glad you asked! These grapes have been a specialty here for centuries - which is why our wine is also spectacular. Would you like to purchase some, my good man?"
Arching a brow, the hooded figure looked to the ports for a moment in deep thought. His golden gaze settled on someone particular, seated upon one of the decks as his feet kicked along the waters. The man made a decision.
"Hmm. A bottle of wine for myself. Grapes might be more fitting for my guest."
Xemnas attempted to look somewhat pleasant as he accepted the wares from the seller. The Nobody had to admit, he wasn't very good at it. The seller didn't seem disturbed by his artificial expression, but rather, more eager to make profit, and so, sold the items to the Organization leader without conflict. Gracious for the smooth transaction, he turned toward the ports with the intention of approaching the young man who'd been sitting in that very spot for days. Deplorable being, he was, younger than he most likely when he'd lost it, and was now deserted, wearing a blank expression and staring off into the distance.
Nothing was said when Xemnas stood beside him, but he surmised that his presence was detected- just not cared for. If he had retained a heart, the scientist presumed that he might have pitied the newly born existence. There was a time where, he too, had nothing but his body, and no memories to connect with. In this case though, the new being had his memories, but were yanked from them, and now doubted his own sanity. It must have been like landing in a dream that was not your own, where the things that were once familiar had turned foreign and frightening.
"Here."
Looking up, the flaxen haired boy appeared perplexed after being pulled from his thoughts. Xemnas knew that in his current state, thoughts were probably the only thing this man had at this point. It was the only thing most of them had at this point, not including the members who'd sacrificed themselves on their free will.
While momentarily confused, the sun burned blonde must have come to the conclusion that Xemnas was not dangerous, and willingly accepted the branches of fruit offered to him from the stranger.
"What is your name, solemn one?"
Picking at the purple grapes with his fingers, the dispirited musician answered, "I'm not so sure anymore."
"Ah. I see."
When the atmosphere was falling silent again, the scientist changed his method of approach. Noting an old, shattered instrument resting beside the man, Xemnas offered, "You know, musicians were highly valued centuries ago, before the Minoan Kingdom was destroyed. They were often said to have played for the Gods."
Xemnas must have struck a cord in the instrumentalist, for he snickered to himself, almost in a cynical way.
"Heh, destroyed…"
Sensing that he was getting the man to open up, Xemnas sat beside him, unscrewing a bottle of wine. Drawing back his leather hood, he leaned back to drink, wiping a knuckle over his lips as he watched the golden sun over the horizon burning against the clouds.
"A different atmosphere from back home, and the man was right. The wine is decent."
His companion did not answer. Xemnas was aware that after he'd accepted the grapes from him, the younger man didn't try to eat them.
"Would I be correct in saying that you are not hungry, and that you haven't been for some time now?"
This worked to perk his interest for he slowly turned to him, cerulean eyes almost as bright as the ocean laid out in front of them.
"How do you-"
"And would I be correct in saying that you'd like nothing more than to weep, but you can't, or rather, something will not allow you to?"
Suddenly taken back by Xemnas' words, the younger man clutched at his shirt, where his heart would have been.
"I want to- I mean, I should…"
Instead of forcing an explanation, the leader decided it was best to let the boy's mind take in those words for a moment. In the meantime, the Superior indulged in taking another swig from the bottle of wine. Eyeing the grapes still sitting idly against his companion's lap, he nodded.
"Just because your body does not hunger, does not mean you have to deny it indulgence."
And with that comment, he popped his first grape into his mouth.
1450 BCE on the Island of Crete…
"Leo! Leo, where are you?"
"Demy! Over here!"
Discarding his sandals as he quickened to a desperate run, the musician sped toward the only thing unmoved throughout the erupting incident. The mountain further up the island had finally ceased to bubble, spewing out its wrath all at once and bringing upon the people nothing but fire hailing from the sky and stones to burn at their soles.
No one had seen it coming, and while the instrumentalist was in the middle of rehearsal for the next event being held at the palace, the soil shook his knees as well as his heart. It was barely a few minutes before everyone was at a panic, reaching for their precious wares of wine, and olives, cupping their valuables and yanking their children by their hands, before the people gathered into a run like a mass of pack rats.
Frightened and confused, Demy sought the closest form of security. His childhood friend.
As Leo waved the crowds of refugees toward the ports, his beaded, dark dreads of hair emphasizing a hardness in his face that Demy hadn't noticed until now, the man felt a sudden sense of distance between them. While Demy had always understood that Leo was meant to be a warrior, fending off pirates and serving to entertain during the boxing matches in the palace before a sacrifice was made- he had never accepted the possibility that his friend's life was on the line. Perhaps, like everyone else, Demy had taken the prospering peace for granted, and now, they would all pay for the sin.
"Leo! We need to leave!"
"I'll meet you at the ports, Demy. Your mother is probably already on the boats!"
"Wh- Why aren't you coming?"
"I need to make sure everyone gets out first. Wait for me."
"B-But Leo-"
"Demy!"
The musician went mute, his instrument wobbling from his hands to his toes as he met the stone-faced gaze of his usually chipper friend.
"Look at the palace, Demy! Look!"
And he did. The crimson palace, once revered because of it's maze like structure, it's multiple stories where the sun spilled into its open ceilings and it's thick, round pillars- was now crumbling into ash, priestesses and commoners alike, scattering from it in fear for their lives.
Cradling his instrument back into his arms, Demy stubbornly gave one last attempt.
"I can't leave you behind, Leo. You have to come with me!"
Just then, the warrior took the time to lower the strong arms that were leading the citizens to safety. His toga was smothered with soot, a ready hand resting on the hilt of his weapon. The eyes that met his during that moment, was not that of his best friend, but someone who he had never met. They were cold, demanding, and if Demy wouldn't have known any better, he wondered if Leo would unsheathe his bronze sword to his neck should he distract him from his duty.
Still. It hurt. It was too hard to leave.
Taken back more by the expression his best friend was giving him over what was going on around them, Demy stumbled back, giving a whimper before he sped off in tears. The last words he heard before he fled, was most likely an accusation.
"The Gods have forsaken us, for one of us has stepped into the boundary of sin."
That was when Demy remembered his dusted fingers crawling past a mud brick home, the burden of guilt gnawing into him.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
The one who had sinned, was him.
Half of the grapes were gone before the abandoned man looked to Xemnas.
"Is there something wrong- I mean, am I dead-"
"No. We are not dead, but I understand. It seems very much like it, doesn't it?"
All the musician did was blink.
"We are remnants- remnants of our original selves that have been lost. We are nothing more than a memory, an existence born because of a will left unfulfilled, but we lack any organs or hearts."
"That sounds dead to me."
For the first time, Demy saw something in the older man that might have been labeled as a smirk.
"It is your choice. Do you want to consider yourself dead, or do you want to consider this a new life?"
"Ariel!"
He had to find her! If there would be no one else to help him, she would be there.
Biting back his remorse, Demy ran forward. If this was his fault, if this was his sin, he might as well be finished off sinning.
Ariel was a Goddess- a sea Goddess. A maiden rumored to belong to a handful of sisters who revealed themselves at night to hide from the eyes of the corrupt and from the cruelty of the sun. It was a tale at every child's bed, that their songs could be heard drifting over the waves, waiting to lure a single man or two that would be coaxed into his death.
That's what they were taught. Humans were forbidden to seek these creatures. They were not worthy of laying eyes on them. And as punishment for doing so, a maiden would readily lead a man with her beauty, into the ocean where he would drown, for he lacked fins and gills.
Nothing gave Demy more joy than to be assigned to these Sea Goddesses, offering them his tunes at the ceremonies during festivities. Unfortunately, the musician cursed himself as selfish, because the first moment he heard the beautiful voice calling him over the ports one night, the man gave into temptation.
"Oh- Hello!"
"Gah!"
The musician fell backwards, skinning his palms against the sharp rocks as the ocean almost slammed against his knees. He hadn't realized how far he'd gone following the mysterious song, before it was too late. When he opened his eyes, there in front of him, was the one he'd never thought he'd live to see – the sea goddess.
The young woman was lovely. The maiden's eyes matched the waters, large and curious as they observed him, like a child would an animal at a festival. Her hair was a fierce auburn, long waves of it setting fire across her damp, slender shoulders, cooled down by the hue of the night. Turning her head to the side, her bangs fell over her cheek as she grinned, her small nose, a button in the middle of a perfectly, unmarred and young face. If he hadn't known better, she looked as if she were his age, no more than seventeen. If it hadn't been for the very teachings that told him to steer clear of such beings, Demy would have considered chatting with her. Instead, he was eager to run away.
"No- wait!"
Demy struggled to get back on his feet, but fell again. The moss on the rocks prevented his feet from gaining any grip, and the musician did nothing but make a stumbling fool of himself.
It wasn't until the girl reached out for his wrists, that Demy has ceased all resistance.
"Oh, no. Let me see your hands."
The man froze, pondering all the possible ways she would try to scorn him. Hypnotism? Drowning? Some form of magic? Maybe he'd turn to dust?
The man stiffened at her touch. Her fingers on his felt frozen, and slightly wrinkled from the water. As she opened his palms so that she could see, the instrumentalist could feel the mildest sensation of what could only be described of scales along some parts of her arms.
"It's not so bad. See?" she giggled, her fingers cradling his hands while she waved a palm over them.
There was a warmth spreading over his scraped palms, the redhead's fragile and cold hands cupping his knuckles as she performed her witchery. Giving into the relief of his healed hands in hers, Demy did not flee when she was done. Instead, he examined his hands in awe.
Magic?
"Di-did you?"
"I fixed them. I'm sorry that it took a little long. I'm still not very good at it. My sisters are a lot better."
"Oh…"
He was still in shock and so, he didn't know what else to say.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," she laughed and spun herself in the water happily. "Hey, is that an instrument?"
Blinking and still numb from the awkward encounter, Demy looked down to his instrument and nodded mechanically.
"Can you play it? I mean, if you don't mind."
With the way the girl turned away from him in such an endearing manner, the musician was taken back by an odd feeling.
She was so…cute. How could she want to drown him? There was no way…
Glancing up at the sky, he noted that it wasn't too late, and so he agreed.
"Umm, yeah. Sure."
That was the first of many nights where Demy would have to return to the palace by sneaking in and out.
Nervous with the silence that had developed between him and this man, who called himself Xemnas, Demy strung his fingers along the broken wires lying on the ground beside him.
"I keep playing, but nothing happens."
Not comprehending the statement, the scientist asked, "Is something supposed to happen?"
"The water. It's supposed to dance…"
"Ariel, wha- what are you doing?"
Sitting beside him, her fins slapping against the rocks, the redhead lowered her head.
Demy's fingers- they were-
"Warm."
"Huh?"
"Your fingers. They're so much warmer than mine. Don't you ever feel uncomfortable or too hot?"
By coincidence, the only uncomfortable heat that the instrumentalist was facing was the one rising in his face. Clearing his throat, he answered, "No. Do you ever feel cold in the water?"
Ariel shook her head.
"No… But that's okay, isn't it? Me being cold and you being warm?"
"W-what do you mean?"
The Goddess replied with her head falling to his shoulder. Wanting to ease the uneasy situation brewing between them, Demy began to pluck his instrument into song. With a wave of Ariel's idle finger and a touch of her magic, it was the very first time that he witnessed the dance of the ocean.
It was hard to see, with all the ash raining down from the skies. The rocks were sharp at his bare soles. Eager to get to the sea, the man wanted to ensure two things: His mother's safety, and the presence of Ariel.
To him, the ocean was salvation, but upon seeing the brink of salvation, the edge of blue surfacing from the dark smog- all he found was chaos. The ports, that were once lively and filled with trading boats stocked with wares of olives and porcelain, were now blackened from the sky, the boats already sailing off with terrorized Minoans.
A mass of sea people, like Ariel, had risen from the waters. There were screams. Some were ushering willing people to their safety, especially those who couldn't swim. Some were at war, between those who still felt that they were trying to be killed by them.
They were yells of divine punishment, the Gods blocking their escape. This made Demy angry, since he knew better. Eager to find his goal, he squinted out to the waters.
"Mom! Where are you?"
There was a call of his name and Demy wouldn't have known that he'd reached the ocean if it weren't for the soggy sand between his toes.
"Ariel!"
Following her voice, he ran, welcomed by her cold arms as the water reached his waist.
"My friend! I have to go back for him! And my mother!"
"Your mother's all right. She's been taken on a boat far off."
"Then Leo, I gotta-"
"No! Demy, you can't! Look!"
And he did. The Minoan palace, once grand with it's height, clad in red and full of memories from the bull leapers to the boxers, was on fire as well as the mud brick buildings of the city he grew up in. The flames clawed upward, revealing only the molten mountain behind it.
Feeling tears build up again, he cried, "Leo!"
"Ah, yes. I've heard of it. The volcano erupted and an entire civilization was either wiped out or escaped across the ocean and the other side, to Greece and to Egypt. I'm curious. How did you manage to escape such a fate?"
There was a wry laugh, one that Xemnas knew that the newborn Nobody must have mimicked, before he replied.
"Magic…"
"Demy! Hold onto me!"
The man was being dragged into the sea, the frigid water weighing his movement as he tried to flee from her.
"Leo- I can't- I said I would-"
"Demy!"
It was the first time Ariel had ever looked so serious, and upon forcing his eyes to her with a hand to his chin, the man could do nothing but stare, tears bubbling upon his lids.
Everything was a blur from there. The ocean began to heat up, and the lava must have reached the edge of the land. The situation becoming dire, Ariel clutched Demy's shoulders.
"There's no more time left. I won't be able to swim you out of here fast enough."
Demy was silent, but the mermaid pursued.
"I'll have to do it."
Salty lips crashed into his, her fingers stringing through his hair before a light began to envelope the two. When the Goddess backed away, she smiled sorrowfully, for the first time, feeling the burn of tears in her eyes.
"I don't know if this will work right but-"
Before he knew it, the musician was being pulled downward. In fear of the ocean and being reminded of the rumor of the drowning lovers, Demy slapped around helplessly in an effort to stay afloat. Something surrounded him and before he could panic, his eyes met Ariel's one last time.
"It's all right, Demy. We'll meet again."
Memories of their secret meetings surfaced the moment his chin felt the water. When they first met. When he played songs for her, and she danced and sung. When they laid against the rocks, silent and calm, as he lent the woman his shoulder, and occasionally his hand.
Feeling his heart swell with emotion, the man reached out to her, eager to say one last thing, but it was too late.
"Ariel, I- I love-"
"Her magic was still rusty, I guess. I imagine I was supposed to stay in that barrier for a while, but I ended up in there for centuries. When I woke up, I was here, in an entirely different era and labeled insane by the people around me."
Xemnas was silent for a moment, digesting the man's story before he commented.
"That is- an unfortunate story. If what you say is true, then I surmise that is the reason behind only King Tritan being able to use magic and the mermen's fear of humans. Many of the mermen had passed away during that fateful night as well, in their futile attempts to rescue stubborn civilians who were too set on their religious beliefs."
"What? How did you know that?"
"You'd be surprised what I know."
"You know, I found her again. But she wasn't the same. She was- she was someone else."
Xemnas motioned that he continue, and so he did.
"I managed to get myself on a boat one night, hoping that if I ventured out deep enough, I'd run into her, or at least someone who knew about her. And when I was out deep enough, I happened upon a large ship. One with the insignia of the so-called royalty in this place."
The superior gave a mocking laugh. "I understand. The royalty here must appear negligible compared to that of the Minoan culture."
There was a pause as the blond harvested difficult words.
"She was- she was watching someone else on that boat…"
"I see. What did you do after that?"
"I'm not sure. I know I was angry. Heartbroken. I remember feeling my chest jump with happiness the moment I caught sight of her hair, but when I realized what was happening, I screamed. And as I screamed, it was as if the clouds darkened with my anger before the thunder clapped, and that's all I remember before I passed out. I woke up ashore again, the boat gone and only wooden pieces adrift the sand as if a storm had just passed."
"Interesting. That must have been when it happened."
Demy scoffed, "Well, if whatever you're saying it's true, I might as well consider myself dead."
"Do you not desire to see the water dance again?"
"You can't bring her back."
"I cannot. But I can show you a path."
"A path?"
Xemnas gestured toward the broken instrument.
"Come. We need to give you a new instrument."
A cry ran through the castle walls, bleeding through the eardrums of noble and servants alike. King Eric ran through large doors to catch the tired eyes of his wife alongside the doctor. Inside her arms, she cradled a small presence, wrapped into a carefully knitted blanket.
"Ariel! How do you feel?"
With an exhausted, but content grin, she reassured her husband, "I'm fine."
Comforting his wife with a kiss to her brow, he lowered his gaze to the miraculous presence nuzzled into Ariel's bosom.
"It's a girl, Ariel. Do you have a name yet?"
With a deep sigh, the redhead woman raised her head as if listening for something particular in the wind. With conviction, the former mermaid nodded.
"Her name is Melody…"
*To make something clear, the storm in "The Little Mermaid" where Eric falls into the Ocean and Ariel rescues him is caused by Demyx, who transitions from a somebody to a Nobody at the moment he realizes that the woman he's seeing isn't the same Ariel that he knew, and that she was looking at Eric on that ship. I kind of wanted to work that his element and his ability came somewhat naturally.
I've never written Xemnas much before, but I hope I pulled him off well enough. As for Demyx's not so jovial attitude compared to the way he was in the game, please keep in mind that this is set when he just lost his heart. I imagine he wasn't all smiles and fun afterwards.