Title: Alternatives
Era: Postgame
Rating: T?
Warnings: Spoilers for KH1, KH2, KH 358/2 Days, Chain Of Memories
Disclaimer: All characters created and owned by Square Enix.
Roxas sat twiddling his thumbs at the base of the plaza opposing the large Heartless symbol. It wasn't so much that he needed something to while away the time, rather a form of instinctive action inherited from his Other.
He sighed. The place he was currently occupying was modeled on the old Hollow Bastion. It was only natural: this place held the biggest attachment to his Other's girlfriend, and was the birthplace of . You'd think that after almost a year together, the natural male instincts would take over and Sora'd finally get in on with Kairi.
If nothing else, it would be a welcome change of pace. The way things were, Sora and Kairi'd just sit on that wharf for the next hour, making small talk and eventually drifting off back to the boats for the night.
Roxas fought down another wave of boredom. He'd already explored every last inch of the castle. Turns out, he could only access the parts that Sora remembered from... was it almost two years now?
He idly looked up at the massive Heartless symbol, rippling with alternating blue, red, green and black shapes. As soon as that red blob goes away, the blue one there - he mentally gestured at a shape that appeared no different to any of the others - flickers twice, then a black pulse, and-He stood and turned, facing the left stair set. At its base, the outline of a girl was just solidifying, and the colour was taking root, spreading across the thin silhouette.
"Namine." He nodded respectfully. Any other pair of Nobodies capable of emotion and continued existence within their owners' mindscapes would have been banging like rabbits by now, if only out of sheer boredom.
Instead, I get the one which plays for the same team. Just my luck. He thought bitterly.
"Roxas." The blonde girl - Namine - inclined her head in acknowledgement. Oh, he'd had a right little hissy fit when he found out that he was never going to score with her, but the pair had gotten over their differences and become close friends. Wasn't like there was anything else to do while Kairi and Sora sat on a pier and whispered Sweet Sweet Nothings into each other's ears.
"Got anything to show, then?" Roxas asked with a playful smile. He just knew that the little scrapbook that Namine had on her at all times and never seemed to run out of pages or crayons for was her outlet for all those dreams and fantasies that Namine kept locked up in that little head of hers. All he wanted was a few minutes alone with it...
"Not for you, you know that." She poked her tongue out at him. She cast her eyes around with the excitement visibly draining away. "He remember anything new?"
"D'you think I'd be here if he had?" He asked by way of reply.
"Well, you'd wait for me to come and then tell me where it is. Because that's the kind of person you are." A small smile graced her face.
"Tch. You know me too well." He turned back and began walking up the stairs to the plaza. And wasn't that the truth. But after six months of sharing deep-down secrets with each other, teasing was really all that was left.
Namine glanced around, satisfying herself that nothing had really changed. She and Roxas had played I Spy until they could name every last feature of this hall in reverse alphabetical order. She snorted. Two months well spent indeed.
She was just about to walk up the steps and join Roxas in awkward boredom, before a small abnormality in the far left corner caught her eye. She frowned. She'd sketched the hall from most of the accessible places, and the pages were now scattered throughout her scrapbook, interspersed with the more... interesting drawings that her mind had turned out.
That little arch wasn't in any of them.
"Roxas? What's that supposed to be?" She pointed to the corner, head turned towards the raised plaza.
Roxas' head popped up above the railing. "What are you asking for? You know what that is." The note of puzzlement was obvious in his voice.
"No. Why would I know? We've never been there." Suspicion crept up on her.
"You forgotten already?" He grumbled under his breath, "Mind like a sieve, yours is." He called back. "That's her room. I'm not allowed in there 'cause I bug her, I told you that last time you asked."
Namine tilted her head. She couldn't remember ever asking about anyone else's room, much less why it was off-limits. Unless... She felt a rush of excitement. Unless Sora did remember something and Roxas would just assume that whatever was new had been there forever, because he was part of Sora.
"Um, I'll just take a look around and see if I get inspired by anything." Of course, she was actually going to look through the new room. She owed it to Roxas, as his closest and only friend, to look through his mind and figure out what was going on.
-
She stood at the entrance to the arch. It was barely big enough to fit a full-grown adult, but still easily passable for her waiflike frame. The door was more practical than decorative, made of polished yet still rough-to-the-touch wood and sporting an unpolished metal doorknob, with a light coat of dust suggesting that it hadn't been used in a while.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but Namine sure as hell was tougher than your average housecat.
She reached for the doorknob, and turned the knob a quarter-turn anticlockwise, tossing the door open and striding in like she owned the place.
In reality, the doorknob opened clockwise, and she was forced to pull it in the opposite direction. Then she pulled at the door. Of course, nothing happened, because the door, like so many others, had to be pushed in order to open.
Slightly red in the face now, she pushed instead. A jolt, then the door jammed. Oh, come on, she thought. She leaned against the door and pushed as hard as she could. No way some damn stuck door would stop this intrepid explorer.
With the inevitable result that the door slipped and fell inwards, taking her with it.
Namine pulled herself upright and dusted off her white dress, coughing slightly at the dust that the door's opening had tossed up. So much for the daring adventurer...
It occured to her that the person - 'her' room, Roxas had said? - who lived here probably wasn't very happy with her for breaking and entering. She knew Roxas hated it when she startled him, and she imagined that the inhabitant was at least a little bit like him.
She looked around the room. The decor was uniformly grey, with shades going from almost blinding white to a dull, metallic dark grey. It had a small table with two chairs, a cupboard with almost an inch of dust coating it, and a large window through which light shone with an inset seat, as if someone had nothing better to do than sit and and look dramatically out of the window all day long. A small door, in a housely practical style, adorned the far wall.
Most striking, however, was the figure that opened the door moments later. It - She? - was about Namine's height, and wearing a cloak that marked her as a member of Organization XIII.
Namine froze for a moment. Her memories of Castle Oblivion came back in a rush, only to be banished when she remembered that the only Organization member who she'd met then that was her height had been Roxas. All the other ones, the ones who had made her...existence? such a misery had towered over her.
But then who was this? The figure wore its cloak with the hood obscuring the face, and the zipper down to the beginning of the ribcage, exposing the base of the neck.
Her eyes drifted naturally downwards from the zipper, and took in the gentle horizontal elevation of chest region that sloped back down and went flat towards the stomach. Now, she wasn't obsessive about these sorts of things, but the sudden presence of breasts that didn't belong to her still dropped her IQ by a few points, simply because she wasn't used to another girl being so close.
Even as her inner logic mistress reminded her that in order for that sentence to make social sense, the girl had to be a lot closer, the girl turned away from her - had she even been facing Namine? - and strode towards the window.
Namine was inwardly offended. She had just broken into this girl's room and all she could do was blank her out?
"Um, hey? H-hello. Um, my name is N-namine and..." She trailed off, cursing her nervousness. Where was all that bravado from a few minutes ago?
The girl simply ignored her and stood at the window, her hood facing the glass.
Namine tried again. "Hi, I'm Namine. I'm sorry about your door..." Again she let the sentence end without really ending it.
No reaction whatsoever.
Namine was getting angry. Yes, breaking in was impolite, but forcing a stuck door open would hardly count there. On the other hand, blatantly ignoring someone - the dust was still settling, for goodness' sake! - was about as bad as it got in terms of sheer insult value.
Without really thinking, she walked to the girl, put her right hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled her around.
"Listen, I already said sorry about the door. Can't you at least say something?" This was said in an almost pleading tone, a call for communication, for contact.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roxas idly twisted his hands into a complex knot, then looked at the symbol again. From the black-blue patterns and their interlock with the red, it had been only a quarter of an hour
I hope Namine doesn't annoy The Girl. She can get a bit... Roxas frowned. He knew that She got something when talking with someone, but why couldn't he remember what?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hood seemed to focus on Namine for a moment, before beginning to turn back to the window.
Namine had had just about enough by this point. She pulled the girl back to face her and, before the strange girl could react, placed her hands at the sides of the hood and pulled it back over the girl's head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roxas sighed in boredom. Maybe I should get Xion and try to hook her up with Namine. It'd probably work, if only because beggars can't be choosers.
Roxas got that distant look in his eyes that all people got when getting mugged on Memory Lane, as he recalled the other girl he'd thought he'd have a chance with, only to find out she was on the same team as well. What're the odds, eh?
The sad part was, he was almost willing to try it.
Namine couldn't help but gasp at what she saw.
The black hair that matched the cloak was arranged in a more-or-less neat, straightened style that separated above the girl's left eye. The eyes, as a matter of fact, were blue. Not any fanciful shade with a name like 'cerulean' or 'aquamarine', just ...blue.
Blue enough to drown in...
Whoa, Namine, you did not just think that about someone you just met.
The face began forming an expression.
"What-? How did I-?" The girl's voice was slightly raspy from underuse, but still understandable.
Namine jolted back and pulled her arms away from the embrace she had somehow gotten into.
The girl stepped back, still whipping her eyes across the room. She finally focused on Namine, who almost faded into the background with her white dress and fair hair. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Who-who are you?" was finally said.
"I'm, um, Namine." She bowed slightly. "Nice to, um meet you." She glanced away slightly. This next part was crucial, if getting reacquainted with Roxas had taught her anything. "Wh-what's your name?"
"Uh... Xion," said the girl, pronouncing it Shee-on. She was still looking distractedly around the room, as if not sure what was happening.
Namine's overactive mind cast around for a topic of conversation.
"Hey, um, we have matching names!" Namine winced internally at how ditzy she sounded. "Want to be friends?"
Something in Xion seemed to click at the word 'friends'.
"Wait. Why am I here? How did I-?" Xion whirled around and focused on Namine. "Where am I?"
Ah. This she knew, at least. "You are in Sora's mind. Uh... Why do you ask?"
"Because, one moment, I'm at this-" Xion seemed to pause, unsure of what to say about herself "- clock tower, next moment, I'm here. I was, dissolving, and-" A look of terror suffused Xion's eyes, and she seemed to collapse in on herself. Her arms wound themselves around her shoulders, looking like she was giving herself a hug. Her eyes went wide in panic and her breathing quickened to almost inhuman levels.
Namine saw this transformation take place within a matter of seconds. Why is she like this? Is it me? Oh jeez, I hate seeing anyone be this sad. But how can I help her? Uh. Um. ...Fine!
Namine plucked up the bit of courage that had led her here, gulped slightly, leaned forward, and...
...placed her arms awkwardly around Xion in what could, in a certain light, and when looked at in a very narrow-minded way, might just be vaguely seen as a kinda, sorta, maybe, hug.
Xion froze.
Namine mirrored the action - she could have sworn even her heart had stopped beating. This was it. The moment where what would happen in the next few months' worth of evenings hung in the balance.
She couldn't ever remember being this tense.
Xion leaned forward and let her arms drop down and drift forwards. Just a bit, and not enough to count as a actual hug, but the important thing was that Xion's head now nestled in the little nook where Namine's neck met her shoulder, and her arms were now clinging to Namine's back.
Namine was at a loss. Yes, now they were kinda, sorta, maybe hugging, but what next?
She felt Xion's shoulders twitch towards each other and felt little stains seep into her dress. Is she crying? That question was answered a moment later when she heard the faint gasps of tears come from Xion's head.
Oh man, what's wrong now?
She moved her left hand - the one not currently being weighed down by Xion - to the back of Xion's head, and brushed it gently down her neck, all the while making soothing noises. "Shhhh...It's all gonna be okay...shhhhh-sh-sh-sh..."
The sobbing noises gradually subsided, to be replaced with snuffling noises. It's an improvement, at any rate.
After what seemed like an eternity, Xion's hands went back around to Namine's front.
"Um... you can let go now," came her muffled voice.
"Oh! Sorry." Namine let her arms fall back to her sides, with only the slightest pang of regret. Wait, why regret?She would have given the subject more thought, but one simple fact interrupted her thought process: Xion had been leaning into her.
Which meant that she had to push off Namine to balance herself.
Which meant she had to spread her fingers.
Fingers that were, as per standardized human biology, attached to her hands.
Hands that had previously been set up so that they were on Namine's shoulderblades.
Three guesses as to where her hands were now, and the first two don't count.
Xion reacted one moment before Namine, and began stammering apologies, her face turning an interesting state of red. Namine, on the other hand, began stammering apologies for pulling Xion forwards.
"Oh-oh I'm sorr-"
"No-I shouldn't have-"
"But I could have-"
"No, it's my fault-"
"But it was me who-"
"NO." Namine ground out, slightly more strongly than was strictly necessary.
Xion opened her mouth one more time, before closing it.
"Um." Namine attempted a weak smile.
Then noticed that Xion hadn't removed her hands during that little debate. Her face flushed a deep, deep shade of red, and her eyes looked directly at the pair of black-gloved hands that were currently...um, let's call it "supporting themselves on her" and leave it at that.
Xion's mouth opened slightly in puzzlement, as her eyes followed Namine's gaze.
Then she lifted her hands off ...that part of Namine like she was a white-hot stone, blushing almost as deeply as Namine. Her hands, now well and truly away from the diminutive blonde, flew to cover her mouth and nose in the classic gesture of shock. "Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" Her apology sounded slightly muffled through her hands.
Namine, for her part, had already forgiven the cute black-haired girl already. Waitwaitwait, I didn't mean that, I just meant... Oh, never mind. In fact, she secretly liked the feel of Xion's hands... there, and that same part of her that gave her all the ideas for those pictures was already thinking about how those hands would feel on some other places of hers...
She gave herself a shake. Yeesh, one little touch and I'm practically doing her in my head already? Wait no, I didn't mean doing like... She sighed inwardly, and resolved to go through this little debacle with her subconscious at a later point in time. For now, however, she let it out one last time, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Oh, I didn't know they smelled that nice," said with a teasing smile on her face.
Xion looked puzzled for one moment, before she caught the meaning behind Namine's words and went red yet again, moving her hands to the sides of her coat and frantically brushed them off, flashing her eyes in a panicked manner between Namine's face and her hands.
The two girls looked at each other for a moment.
Then they both burst out laughing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Roxas was disturbed from his peaceful blank staring at the patterns by the outbreak of feminine laughter. Not just one person laughing cruelly, taking pleasure from the other's pain, but two voices, laughing over some shared joke.
It was good to hear that Xi-chan had finally found a friend. She'd been too quiet lately.
A small grey ripple ran through the pool of energy. Time already?
He sighed, then stood to go to Xion's room.
End Part One.