Dawn broke through the cover of night, reclaiming the sky with rays of soft, warm light, painting the clouds a faint pink and gold. The pale moon was still visible, high in the heavens, but slowly began fading away, out-shined by the daybreak. Birds chirped gaily to welcome the sunrise, and small, crystal drops of dew glittered in the grass, reflecting the morning glow. A gentle breeze danced through the air, winding through the branches of the tall, spring trees, brushing the young leaves and new branches in its path, and making its way towards a rather small house sitting a little ways from the town nearby, only connected to each other by a single cobblestone path that led straight from the outskirts of town to the front door of the humble abode. The playful wind began climbing higher into the sky, as though trying to compete with the sun.
The sun rose quickly, not noticing the stray breeze, eager to begin another day, when the warmth of morning suddenly surrendered to an abrupt, harsh, and cold gust of wind, immediately silencing the birds and leaves alike. A single spot on the ground, not too far from the well of the house, darkened to midnight black, and began frothing sluggishly, emitting obsidian tendrils of a smoke-like substance. Forms, some humanoid, most monstrous, writhed in the steadily speeding swirls of black fog, and, after a moment, three small children-shaped beings untangled themselves from the darkness, and emerged onto the dewy grass.
Their skin was as black as mold, and their eyes were an eerie citrine hue. Their blank faces were expressionless, and their limbs were horribly twisted, a grotesque, distorted copy of a child's body. They had no visible hair, only two strangely shaped strands protruding from their heads.
Linking fingerless hands silently, they began walking slowly, fluidly, onto the grass, with the first thing taking care not to walk on any flowers, and the other two only walking in the first one's footsteps. Each footfall instantly withered the grass beneath, sucking the life out of it until only a brown, crackly patch was left. They continued walking so, single file, until just before they reached the stone path, the youngest form, last in line, turned to look back at the single blemish on the otherwise beautiful and still landscape. The seething darkness had quieted to a murmur, with coils of black smoke still rising out, but the youngest black form continued to stare back. It was only after a remindful yank from the first and second beings did the youngest turn back around and continue walking.
Stepping onto the cobblestone path, they released hands, and fell into the ground, only becoming figureless shadows. Quickly, they moved, as fluidly as fish in water, and began making their way towards the town.
The outskirts of the town were only defined by a waist-high stone fence, for there was no fear of enemies or war in the kingdom, not for a hundred years. The three shadow-spots quickly passed over them, entering the town, and rose back out of the stone-paved street, reassuming the shape of malformed children. Silently giggling, they ran in opposite directions, peeping through keyholes and underneath doors of the still-sleeping town. They only searched the row of houses closest to the path to the house, and finished within ten minutes. The first returned with a necklace of jade beads and a basket of apples; the second held in their fist a glass slipper; and the third held in its arms a motionless, seemingly sleeping baby, swaddled in an old blanket. They looked at each other with their never-changing impassive faces once before walking in their odd way out of the open, doorless gate entrance in the wall.
However, instead of returning to the circular, frothing abyss as was the original plan, the tallest child-like creature motioned for the other two to follow it, as it made its way across the cobblestone path to the small house. The middle being let out a scratchy hiss, but followed the leader after no response came. They half-scurried, half-glided over to the simple dwelling, fast and fluid, and stopped at the front door. A doormat blocked the crack underneath the door, and there was no keyhole for the three to peek inside with.
Undaunted, they soundlessly piled their loot off to the side of the six weathered stairs leading to the entrance, and absorbed themselves into the ground, using their forms to climb the ivy-vines crawling up the side of the house, and enter the single open window on the second floor.
The white curtains fluttered with their entrance.
Reemerging as children once more, the three beings explored the simple room with unveiled curiosity; taking care not to touch anything, they examined with wide, amber eyes every drawing hung on the wall, every trinket on the pair of desks, every article of clothing in the large closet, and every other object that looked even remotely made by humans.
A soft, steady rhythm of human breathing caught their attention. In a white bed in the corner, one of the two in the room, lay the sleeping figure of a human girl, shivering slightly from the bitter chill, and silky golden hair shining in the cold light. Creeping closer, they reached out their black, fingerless hands hesitantly, almost touching the sleeping form, when-
"Naminé!"
-a sudden, gruff voice of a man startled them, causing them to whirl around in surprised fright.
"Naminé?" Footsteps ascending the wooden stairs could be heard through the door, rising slightly in volume as they neared. Immediately, the three scrambled out of the room and down the wall just as the door opened, narrowly avoiding the gaze of a tall, blond man, who strode into the room, a mixed expression on his face: a sort of exasperated frown, but with hints of a smile within.
"Naminé Clair de Lune Foudre, answer me when I call for you!" The youngest creature peeked its head just above the windowsill, its curiosity overriding its fear. It watched with sulfur-shaded eyes as the man walked over to the sleeping human he had addressed as "Naminé", leaning over and gently shaking the sleeper awake. The girl halfheartedly swatted the man's hand away, and hid her head underneath the downy feather pillow.
The man heaved an exaggerated sigh, and grinned mischievously, proceeding to tickle the fair-haired youth awake. Shrieking with laughter (causing the black creature to flinch), she tumbled out of bed, tangled in the sheets and giggling breathlessly. A girl with bright blue eyes looked up at the man, whose grin faltered into a grimace. Rubbing his temples, he shook his head exasperatedly, his sudden good mood all but gone.
"Alice, what are you doing in your sister's bed?" Alice ducked her head a little and grinned sheepishly.
"We switched sides for the month," she said sweetly. The man groaned into his hands, and sighed.
"Do you know where she is?" he asked wearily, as though he already knew the answer; one he did not like. Alice shook her head.
"No." Apologetically, she reached over and hugged the taller blond's legs, unable to stand as she was still tangled within the blankets. "I'm sorry, Cid." The blond rolled his eyes and ran a large hand through through his slightly spiked, fair hair.
"It's alright. Just... just get dressed and take care of Naminé's chores for her until I find her. And why is your room so cold?" he asked suddenly, and walked over to the window to close it. The black child-like creature immediately dropped to the ground, rejoining the two others (who had waited for it), and they hurriedly picked up their treasures and half-scurried, half-glided over to the writhing, shapeless darkness.
Quickly, they entered and melted inside, slowing the seething tendrils' escape, and quieting the froth; then, the earth swallowed up the portal, leaving no indication of it ever being there except for a slight scent of burnt flesh and apples lingering in the area it occupied, and a trail of brown footsteps in the dewy grass.
As Cid closed the window in the second story of the house, warmth returned to the atmosphere, and the sun resumed its climb into the sky, waking up the citizens of Twilight Town.
In an old, paint-splattered shed deep in the forests behind the house sat a tan duffel bag, belonging to none other than Naminé Clair de Lune Foudre, the very person Cid was calling for, and who was currently sitting cross-legged on top of the slightly slanted roof of the shed, drawing out the elegant shape of a Dragoon in her sketchbook. Its lithe, purple and silver body had curled itself up into a ball, and the Nobody was currently watching the girl with golden hair sketch it out with nearly eerie accuracy. Its silver wings, sharp and pointed, were lowered, as was its lance, leaving it in a very vulnerable state, showing its absolute trust in the artist.
"Almost... done..." she murmured soothingly, just sticking her tongue out of her mouth in concentration. Not ten seconds later, she grinned widely, and turned the book around to show the Dragoon her picture. "There! Finished! Do you like it?"
The Dragoon snapped its grey jaws at the paper playfully, and nuzzled the artist's outstretched hand. She giggled softly.
"I'm glad you do," she said, and closed the art book, sticking her pencil into the coiled spine. Scratching it behind its ears, she swung her legs over and out from underneath her, and slid down the roof to the damp, forest floor. The soil was soft and loose underneath her bare feet, and she could feel little spiders scuttling across her toes.
Taking care not to tread on the fragile arachnids, she entered the shed and dropped her sketchbook into her open duffel bag. Hooking her long, blonde hair behind her right ear, she glanced up at the large canvas stretched upon the handmade iron easel. It was a painting of the ocean sunset, with a single glass bottle, carrying a letter within, floating out to sea. She had been working on it for a week now, and deemed it ready to sell.
Crouching down to her bag, Naminé rummaged through the spare clothes, art supplies, sponges, candies, and paper bags of raw meat for a satchel of charcoal. Finding it, she opened the drawstrings and took out a particularly large lump of the burned wood, and turned to the easel. In the lower right-hand corner of the magnificent oil painting, she scrawled her full name onto the canvas.
Naminé Clair de Lune Foudre, Héritière des Manoir Oblivion
She smiled at her imaginary title. The Nobodies she regularly kept company with mentioned the name of Castle Oblivion to her sometimes in their odd speech, but she knew little of it and assumed that it was a legend to them. Though she supposed it was a little arrogant to take such a title for herself, the Nobodies had only chuckled and clicked when she first suggested signing her work with it, so she was alright with it.
A young Dragoon, not the one she had drawn, flew up behind her and rested its jaw on her shoulder, and made a khrraay-ing sound, one it would not make as an adult. Naminé smiled, and petted it on the head.
"I should get to town soon; Setzer should have opened shop by now..." A Knight Head, sitting on her bag, clicked seven times, then three times, and finally six times. Naminé whirled around, surprised.
"It's already 7:36? Oh my gosh, I need to leave! Thank you!" she said, and scooped up the Knight Head in her hands, kissing it lightly once, before setting it down on the ground and slinging her bag over her shoulder. Unhooking the large canvas from the easel, the blonde rolled up the painting delicately, tying it off with a pink ribbon found amid the junk and spare parts strewn about on the floor. "'Bye!"
With a final wave, Naminé jogged out of the shed and through the forest for a few minutes, until at last she was past the large field of grass in front of her house. On the cobblestone path now, she smiled nervously and ran her hand through her hair, before noticing how unkempt she looked, with grass- and dirt-stains on her white shirt and tan shorts.
Great, she thought, All I need now is for Seifer and his crew to see me. Thinking quickly, she snapped her fingers and smiled as she thought of a solution. Crawling stealthily behind the wall, she made her way to a house with star-shaped wind-chimes hanging from the back window, and climbed up, using the windowsills and balcony for support. Having done this trice before, she managed to hoist herself up onto the balcony nearly soundlessly. Knocking on the glass window, she whispered the occupant's name.
"Kairi!"
A girl inside, with dark reddish hair the same length as hers, jumped at the noise, and stared, wide-eyed, at Naminé. Rushing over, she opened the window and helped the blonde artist stumble in.
"What were you doing this early? Look at you! You're all dirty," said Kairi, half amused, half disgusted. Naminé grinned.
"Good morning to you, too. May I borrow your shower for about ten minutes?" Kairi smiled and crossed her arms.
"I'd give you an hour if I thought it'd help." Her friend pretended to scowl at her, but hugged her briefly in thanks.
"I've no doubt," she said with a smile, before taking her duffel bag with her into the adjacent bathroom and closing the door. Kairi sighed and sat back down onto her bed, reaching to pick up the book she had dropped in surprise, when Naminé's scrolled-up painting caught her eye. Untying the ribbon and opening it, she gasped as she saw her masterpiece. It looked very realistic; almost like a memory. The red-haired girl glanced at the signature in the corner and rolled her eyes.
Naminé Clair de Lune Foudre, Heiress of Castle Oblivion
"This is the one you're going to sell?" she asked over the sound of water. Naminé nodded, and, realizing Kairi couldn't see her, called back an affirmative. "It looks nice!"
A moment later, the artist walked out of the bathroom, accompanied by clouds of billowing steam, wearing an opaque, white dress with thin straps for her shoulders and lace underneath. Her cheeks were a rosy pink, and her hair was combed neatly, draping gracefully over her shoulders instead of merely hanging there. Her dirtied clothes could just be seen in the tan bag slung over her shoulder.
"Thanks!" she said with a shy smile. Kairi smiled back, but then shook her head.
"What's with 'Heiress of Castle Oblivion'? Why'd you sign it like that again?" Naminé shrugged, twirling around once.
"I like the sound of it," she said in her soft voice, her tone full of innocent mischief. Kairi merely sighed and plopped herself down onto her bed. It annoyed her to no end that her best friend was so eccentric and odd. While Naminé was a wonderful person, kind, sweet, and a brilliant artist, she had the blessing and curse of a wild imagination. She would pretend that Nobodies were real, and that she could and would actually talk to them, and that Castle Oblivion truly existed. It was only because of her personality and actions (as well as being the governor's daughter's best friend) that the town citizens would talk to her and respect her. Because, as everyone knew, Nobodies, Castle Oblivion, and magic were all ever only just another element of a faerie tale.
"Honestly, Naminé, you're so weird. If you'd just stop pretending Nobodies existed, and quit pretending you lived in a faerie tale, maybe you'd have a boyfriend." Naminé rolled her eyes and picked up the painting.
"Who needs a boyfriend? I don't." Kairi grinned, glancing at her perfectly shaped nails.
"Sora's got his eye on you, as well as Riku..." she commented off-handedly, watching the artist from out of the corner of her eye. Naminé shrugged.
"Well Sora's got to get through the Nobodies first to get me, and Riku'll have to climb to the highest room in the tallest tower of Castle Oblivion," she smiled. Kairi groaned.
"See? That's what I mean by weird. Nobodies. Faerie tales. Castle Oblivion. Why do you always make things up? You always do."
Naminé folded her hands and stood, ready to leave, and tilted her head to the side, sighing.
"I never said I didn't."
It was already past eight o'clock when Naminé left Kairi's house, painting in hand, to go to Setzer Gabbiani's collector's shop in the end of the Market Street of Twilight Town. Humming softly to herself an old tune the Dancers had taught her, she strode through the busy morning crowds, politely greeting those who greeted her, and ignoring the less polite citizens who whispered about her behind her back. They were merely simple, ignorant people; it didn't matter to her. She watched as the baker walked around, selling rolls of bread on a metal tray to people passing by; though they tasted good, they were the same breads every day, and she had soon grown tired of it.
"Look, there she goes..."
"That girl is strange, no question."
"Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?"
"It's a pity and a sin, she doesn't quite fit in, because she really is a funny, odd young girl."
Holding her head up high, Naminé tuned out the voices of the gossipy women, and continued weaving her way through the crowds.
"Now it's no wonder that boys call her 'Beauty'; her looks have got no parallel!"
"But she's never part of any crowd," whispered a woman.
"Her head's always up on some cloud," agreed her friend. "There's no denying she's a funny girl."
Finally, Naminé managed to reach the small store Setzer owned and opened the door; a tiny silver bell attached to the door rang sweetly as she entered. A tall man with silvery hair, though he was no older than thirty, turned around to face her, and smiled widely.
"Ah, Naminé! Good morning," he greeted with a flourish of his hand, the lilac silk of his shirt fluttering slightly from the movement. Naminé smiled, forgetting the gossip.
"Good morning, Setzer," she curtsied slightly. "I have the painting." She held it out to him. Taking it, he undid the pink ribbon and gasped upon viewing the painting.
"Oh, this is splendid! Wonderful, wonderful work once again, Naminé. I'll give you... 800 munny for it. It's only fair."
"2000," argued Naminé with laugh. She loved negotiating the prices of her works.
"1000."
"1800."
"1500, and that's my final offer."
"Done!" She accepted the gold diamonds and poured them into another satchel, stashing it in her bag. Setzer gave her an exaggerated sigh.
"I paid you much more than I should have, but I don't mind. After all, I'm such a nice person like that."
"You say that every time!"
"Only because it's so true." He smiled at her. "Now out. Don't waste a perfectly good day like this by staying inside," he advised with a wink. Naminé curtsied once more and left the shop, passing by the crowd of curious townspeople.
"Look, there she goes, that girl is so peculiar!"
"I wonder if she's feeling well..."
"With a dreamy, far off look, always drawing in some book-"
"What a puzzle to all of us is that odd girl."
She walked over to the city square's fountain, and sat down, trailing her fingers in the water. A tiny Screwdriver Heartless popped up by her finger, and she smiled at it, cupping it in her two hands and talking to it.
"Oh, isn't it amazing? I've almost got enough munny; then, I can run away to another world to find my destiny..." Sighing wistfully, Naminé replaced the Screwdriver into the water, and walked off into the crowd, perhaps to go buy ice cream as a snack. As soon as she was gone, however, a beam of light shot at the Screwdriver, evaporating it instantly. Two teenaged boys, each a year older than Naminé, high-fived each other for their perfect shot. The shorter one had aerodynamically spiked, chocolate locks, while the other had long, silver hair, which, paired with his startlingly aquamarine eyes, caught the glance of any who looked at him.
"Awesome shot, Riku!" the brunet said, grinning cheerfully. Riku shrugged and nodded.
"Thanks, Sora, but we've already had so much practice, it was easy, actually." They watched as Naminé disappeared into the crowd again, and sheathed their Keybades.
"Right from the moment that I met her, saw her, I said she's gorgeous and I fell..." remembered Sora.
"For here in town there's only she, who's as beautiful as me, so I'm making plans to ask out that strange girl." Unconsciously, Riku ran his hand through his hair, as though making sure it was still silky and beautiful, but while doing so, lost sight of Naminé, as did Sora.
Meanwhile, the blonde artist was wandering around town, looking for something new to draw, and sat down on a wooden bench near the doorless gate entrance in the wall, deciding to sketch out her Nobody friends from memory. Sitting cross-legged, she managed to finish outlining Dancers, Dragoons, Snipers, Spiders, and Knight Heads, when into her line of vision intruded four pairs of feet.
"Well, well, well," drawled a cold voice; immediately Naminé stiffened, and set down her pencil, slowly looking up. "What have we here?"
"Good morning, Seifer," Naminé greeted cautiously. The handsome teen's good looks hid the cruel personality beneath quite well. "Good morning, Fuu, Rai, Vivi," she said also to the others, each flanking the blond. Fuu, a girl with lilac-silver hair, glared at her silently, while Rai, a muscled boy, looked down at her, crossing his arms with a mean smile.
"Hey, look! It's the Nobody Girl, y'know?"
"Hey, Naminé, see any Nobodies today?" Vivi, a small, dark boy, chirped, grinning. Naminé rolled her eyes and went back to her drawing, when Seifer snatched her sketchpad from her hands.
"Hey-!" Attempting to grab it back, Naminé glared at the blond as he held it up over her head, just out of her reach.
"You read too many faerie tales, Naminé," he said softly, barely concealing a sneer. "Nobodies don't exist."
"Yes, they do!" She knew she was walking straight into his traps, but Naminé felt it only right that she defended what few friends she had. Seifer clucked his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. So rude, talking back to your superiors. Didn't your mother ever teach you better? Oh. Wait," he said, with a malicious grin. "Where is your mother, Naminé? Is she dead?" His face sympathetic, Seifer looked sincere in his inquiry, but Naminé knew better. She flushed red with anger and humiliation, but bit her tongue, hard, to keep from lashing out at him. She could taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Fuu giggled behind her hand sarcastically as Naminé ignored Seifer and continued reaching for her artpad, and Vivi and Rai snickered. "Is she dead?" Seifer asked again, his voice soft, but his smirk showed through, breaking Naminé's resolution.
"Shut up!" she shouted. "Just shut up! Stay out of it! Leave me alone!" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Please, just stop bothering me. Leave me alone."
Seifer held his hands up in a placating gesture, undermined by his smirk, and merely shrugged.
"All you had to do was ask, Clair." Bored with mocking her, he tossed her sketchpad back; it purposely fell onto the ground, and not into her hands. Naminé glared at him and picked it up, hugging it to her chest protectively, not caring that the dirt had gotten onto her clothes once more.
"It's Naminé," she said through gritted teeth. Attempting to take deep breaths silently, Naminé tried to calm herself down before she did something she'd regret.
"Hey. What's going on?" asked a familiar, friendly voice. Naminé looked up to see Kairi walk over to them, with a brunette girl and a raven-haired teen, two friends of hers, in tow. "Seifer, are you harassing her?" The blond grinned.
"Wouldn't dream of harassing the Nobody Girl. I'd be too scared that she'd set her Dragoons and Snipers onto me!" Fuu, Rai, and Vivi laughed at his teasing, prompting Kairi to cross her arms and step up.
"Back off, Seifer." Selphie, the brunette, and Yuffie, the girl with ebony hair, mimicked Kairi's actions in their own ways, and ordered the three followers to stop laughing.
"Or what?" he challenged. Kairi ignored him and turned to Naminé, who had regained her cool and was staring at the cover of her book silently, chewing on her bottom lip.
"We were going to go to Aerith's to listen to some music and buy flowers; d'you want to come?" Kairi smiled, reaching a hand out to Naminé. But when Kairi said "music", Naminé paled visibly, turning her a shade lighter than a ghost.
"Music?" Naminé groaned, hitting her forehead with her palm. "The recital! Oh my gosh, Cid's going to kill me! Sorry, Kairi, I'd love to go, but I need to leave!"
Grabbing her satchel and notebook, Naminé ran off, back to her house, followed by the cruel laughter of the teens chasing after her.
*This chapter has been rewritten and revised to fix the plot and errors.
A/N: Okay, just a brief explanation here:
- In this story, Nobodies are somewhat similar to faeries. They're a separate race of beings, just like the Heartless. (I did say this was Fantasy~) If you lose your heart, and you have a strong will, you can become a Nobody (same as how if you're bitten by a REAL vampire (I'm glaring at you, Sparkles), you transform into one if you survive).
- The town is called "Twilight Town," but really, it's a mix of the Little Town in Beauty and the Beast, Destiny Islands, and Twilight Town. Naminé's house is Belle's house, but I think the setting similarities end there ^^;
Alright. See that button down there? Titled "Review"? It's begging to be pushed! So if you liked or disliked something, please let me know!