Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, FF, or Axel/Lea, or anything else that would make me rich and happy. I also don't claim to own any references to real-world themes, persons, or works. So there.
A/N: CHAPTER THREE! WHERE THE SUMMARY APPLIES TO THE STORY! YAY! :D
Bon à lire!
-Slay
Happy Halloween: Rise of the One-Winged Angel
Chapter 3 – The One-Winged Angel
Veni, veni, venias,
Ne me mori facias
Veni, veni, venias,
Ne me mori facias
-o-o-o-
After ten minutes of frantic party-preparing, a knock at the door drew Demyx away from the spread of cookies, pop, candy—("You can never have enough candy on Halloween!") and other crunchy "party" foods. He hauled the door open exuberantly.
"Happy Halloween! …Zexy! Why didn't you dress up? It's a costume party!"
"Calm down, Demyx," Zexion assuaged flatly. "While I'm not partial to gaudy costumes, I did bring something for the occasion." Saying this, the slate-haired boy presented a way too lifelike human skull, causing Demyx to jump back in alarm. "S-S-S-SKULL! Human skull! You're holding a human skull!"
Zexion sighed, holding the skull complacently at chest height. "How not to love such words from someone so completely and so comically self-unaware?"
"What?"
Ignoring his friend's confusion, Zexion lifted the skull and bored emphatically into its gaunt, featureless face. "To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?—"
"You're…not gonna talk like that all night, are you?"
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
"…" Demyx slowly stepped aside and let the actor into his apartment, where he swiftly made himself comfortable on the couch, skull resting creepily in his lap.
Over the next half hour, more and more party guests came filtering through the door—Kairi, dressed elegantly as the Queen of Hearts—Naminé, a simple and pretty white witch—Hayner, Pence and Olette as a hotdog, hamburger, and fast-food employee, respectively—"I wanted to be a commando, but noooo!" "Have a sense of humor, Hayner."—Tidus and Wakka as "the best Blitzball players ever", and Riku-
"Hey!" Sora stood up in affront as the silverette walked over to their corner of the party. "I thought you said you were gonna dress up!"
"I ahm dreshed uhp."
"No you're not, you big fat liar. …and why do you have a lisp?"
Riku, who was otherwise dressed normally in a long-sleeve shirt and jeans, grinned squarely to reveal a set of gauche fake fangs. "I'm ah vahmpiyar."
Sora crossed his arms. "You can't just pop in a set of cheap fangs and call yourself a vampire, Riku."
"You cahn in Kayi's shtupid vahmpiyar boohksh."
"What?"
Riku pulled the fangs out and repeated, "You can in Kairi's stupid vampire books." This earned him a smack on the back of the head from the aforementioned girl. He threw her an indignant look and replaced the fangs, pretending to snarl at her turned back.
The party was in full swing with music and lively chatter when Zack, Cloud and Leon showed up, and frankly, it took every ounce of self-restraint the twins had not to explode with laughter at the sight.
"Pff—Hey, Cloud," Roxas snorted.
"Shut up."
"N-Nice costume," Sora managed, snickering into the back of his hand.
"I will end you."
Before Cloud could make good on that promise, Zack came galloping over, dragging Leon with him and striking a dramatic pose. "Have no fear, common-folk!" He thundered. "Your true heroes are here!" He gestured at his gladiator-esque self, and then to his similarly dressed—and notably less enthusiastic companions. "I am the Mighty Zackules! And these are my fellow warriors, Cloudysseus and Leoneas!"
The twins lost it at "Cloudysseus", rolling against each other in hysterical laughter, earning a lethal glare from their brother.
"Laugh not at our epic trio," Zackules demanded, holding aloft a plastic sword. "For we are among the bravest men in all of Twilight Town!"
"Oh yeah?" Tidus popped up, having heard Zack's heroic declarations across the room. "I betch're not brave enough to summon the One-Winged Angel."
The entire apartment fell deathly silent—music stopping cold, head whipping around in shock. Zack made a face, lowering his sword. "The…the what?"
With all eyes on him, Tidus sauntered around the room, soaking up the attention of the startled party-goers. "The One-Winged Angel," he repeated boldly. "…Sephiroth." A great wave of gasps swept the room, hands flying to mouths as though Tidus had just uttered something foul. Sora inched back in the seat he'd taken on the couch, tossing a nervous glance at Roxas, who held a more skeptical expression.
"What're you talking about, Tidus?"
Tidus smiled sardonically, moving past Zack as he switched targets, plopping himself down on the couch between the twins—a space which had been occupied by Riku before he wandered off in search of soda.
"Burning inside with violent anger," he hissed, voice low and ominous, glancing from twin to twin with a wicked smile. "Fate, monstrous and empty…"
Wakka conveniently lowered the lights, tugging a frightened gasp from their audience and effectively chilling the room.
"Come, com, o'come," Tidus chanted. "…do not let me die."
Roxas gave him an un-amused shove. "Knock it off. Who's this Sephiroth guy supposed to be anyway?"
"They say he was one of the seraphim," a small voice supplied. The boys looked up to see Naminé standing before them, her soft features chastely terrified. "—the angels closest to God."
Kairi came to stand beside her. "But one day, his heart froze over, and he was cast into the lowest rings of hell—"
"Just like Lucifer," Tidus interrupted, prodding Roxas pointedly in the forehead. "Only Sephiroth didn't stay in hell." He leapt up from the couch, now addressing the whole room with his hands motioning widely in time with the telling. "So great was his power that he rose from his fiery prison, and unleashed his fury upon the earth. The fallen angel's bloodlust was insatiable—his wrath unstoppable. Until a hero of light came and vanquished him on the very ground this town was built."
Tidus wheeled around and fixed his eyes directly on Roxas, who sat with a stubborn frown. "But they say that if you call his name three times into a mirror—once for his banishment from heaven, once for his rejection of hell, and once for his destruction on earth—that he'll rise from the ashes of memory to finish what he started!"
"Stop it, Tidus!"
"Yeah, you're freaking us out!"
"Oh, please." Everyone's attention turned to Roxas, who had his arms crossed mulishly. "I've never heard something so ridiculous in my life."
"Are you saying the One-Winged Angel isn't real?" Tidus challenged.
"No, I'm saying you're so full of shit your eyes should be brown," Roxas countered. "Like some murderous "fallen angel" is really gonna come climbing out of the bathroom mirror."
"Fine," Tidus huffed. "If you're so confident…Why don't you go in there and see for yourself?"
"Maybe I will!"
"Roxas!" Sora grabbed his brother's arm. "M-Maybe you shouldn't."
The blonde stared at his twin in awe. "You don't honestly believe this load of cra—"
"Sora's right." Now it was Cloud's turn to be the center of attention. He stood with his arms crossed, eyes focused intently on the floor. "Whether or not there really is a One-Winged Angel…you shouldn't joke about that sort of thing."
"Pfft-" Tidus waved dismissively at Cloud. "It's not like we're tap-dancing on a dead man's grave. I say we let Roxas have a go at it! See if he's got the guts!"
The crowd of party-goers turned from silently horrified to raucous and excited, and before he knew it, Roxas was being bustled into the bathroom of Demyx's apartment, Axel and Sora following close behind. All the lights were shut off as they went, save for a pair of candles that someone brought in and set on either side of the sink. Anticipation blanketed the throng crushing against the doorway of the small bathroom, and Roxas stared at his own flickering amber reflection in the mirror. He glanced at the faces of Sora and Axel behind him, almost completely shrouded in darkness, feeling a bit nervous from the sheer weight of the attention he was getting. He took a deep breath, leaned on the lip of the sink, and started.
"Sephiroth."
A solid pause.
"…Sephiroth."
Roxas cursed his chest for tightening at the approach of the final invocation. It's just a stupid myth, he told himself. Nothing's gonna happen.
One more steadying breath—his fingers latching nervously to the marble sink in spite of himself, his heart thumping just fast enough for him to notice. For a moment his lips were unwilling to form the name. They floundered tremulously, suddenly afraid of what they might summon with that one dangerous word. He licked them resolutely. Stop being stupid. He glared into his own reflection with steeled blue eyes.
"…Sephiroth."
The room shrank as a collective breath was held, tension suffocating the air in everyone's lungs as they hung in that single, uncertain second. And then…nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Roxas sighed, pleased and relieved, then laughed triumphantly and turned toward the other party-goers, hands on his hips and grinning haughtily. "See? I told you it was a load of crap! There is no Sephiroth. He's nothing but an urban legend!"
But his glory was short-lived. As he looked upon the faces of his peers, all he saw was horror. Raw, unchecked horror. Wide eyes, gaping mouths, clutching hands. He looked from Sora to Axel, confused, and saw the same expressions on their faces. Their eyes were all focused beyond Roxas, apparently disturbed by something…behind…him…
"An urban legend, am I?"
Roxas jumped when a low voice, lethal and drawling, spoke behind him. He slowly turned around, and what he saw calcified his blood and made his heart stutter so hard it hurt his chest.
"Sephiroth…"
There, watching him from inside the mirror, was not his reflection, but someone else entirely. Silver hair fell as venomous moonlight around a sharp and hardened face. Cruel and smiling eyes sparked like celestial hellfire, frigid yet blazing with a roaring hatred from deep within. Thin lips grinned wickedly. "I've waited a long time for this," that lethal voice dripped, silken and wretched.
Sephiroth began advancing in the mirror, pressing a gloved hand tenderly against the glass before passing through it like a specter, raising himself out of the confines of reflection and into the real world.
It was then that Roxas screamed.
It was then that everyone screamed, and scrambled away from the bathroom in a flailing fit of panic. Even Tidus and Wakka were running, not expecting their ghost story to actually manifest itself.
They all scattered like roaches as Sephiroth stepped coolly onto the surface of the counter, a fiery light rising behind him and spilling into the apartment as he dropped to the floor, calmly chasing after his prey.
People threw themselves at the door, only to find it locked from the outside. This only frenzied their panic further. Someone tried the window to the fire escape, to no avail—it wouldn't budge.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Roxas wailed, clamoring into the arms of an equally terrified Axel.
"R-Roxas…" Axel stammered, shrinking so far against the wall that he might leave an impression, holding fast to the shaking blonde. "If—If this is the end…I want you to know—"
"Wait a second…"
The two of them turned to Sora, who didn't seem the least bit frightened. In fact, he looked determined, his eyes trained curiously on the One-Winged Angel as he made his way across the apartment, brushing people aside with his mere presence. Then he did the unthinkable—he moved away from the others and started to approach Sephiroth.
"SORA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
As the brunette drew closer to him, Sephiroth's smile quirked sinisterly. He reached down and gripped the hilt of his sword, drawing it out with a malicious ringing of metal. "Foolish child," he jeered. "Are you so eager to die?"
Sora didn't falter—he kept walking until he could see straight up into Sephiroth's impish eyes, his throat dangerously close to the blade of the other angel's sword.
There they stayed, locked in a stare-down for the longest moment of silence, and just when Sephiroth seemed ready to slice Sora through his neck, the brunette broke into a huge smile, of all things.
"Great costume, Riku!"
The villainy in the eyes above him melted away, sharp edges softening along the face until it became warm and familiar. When he spoke, his voice had lost all of its blood-curdling malice. "Man, I just can't get away with anything, can I?"
"WHAT!?"
As everyone stared, dumbfounded, Riku pulled the long wig off his head, freeing his own silver tresses about his shoulders. He sheathed his sword—and just in time, because Sora picked that moment to jump him with an affectionate hug and might otherwise have gotten himself impaled. Riku laughed and squeezed him back, lifting the shorter boy a few inches off the ground.
"R-R-R…R-R-R-…" Roxas couldn't get the words out. All of that pandemonium…over Riku? "Wh-Wh-WHAT THE HELL, RIKU?!"
The silverette chuckled, Sora's weight swaying him from side to side. "I knew Tidus was gonna tell some corny ghost story to try and scare everyone, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to do some real scaring. And it was all going so well, too." He grinned down at Sora. "That is, until someone blew my cover."
The brunette giggled and tightened his grip.
From there the room relaxed back into a calm and friendly atmosphere, and soon enough the party was back in action, music and all. Sora and Riku sat on the couch, discussing the involved and complicated process of rigging Demyx's bathroom mirror as an illusionary portal, while Roxas was off in corner, pouting.
"Aw, c'mon, Roxy—you gotta admit that was pretty good."
"Hmph."
Axel started poking him. "Lighten up. It's Halloween and you got scared—no big deal. That's what you're supposed to do on Halloween. And while you may have screamed like a little girl, at least you didn't piss your pants like—"
"Hey, Axel?"
"Hm?"
"What were you gonna say?"
The redhead frowned, confused. "What was I gonna say when?"
"Back when everyone was freaking out. You said, 'if this is the end, I want you to know…'. What were you gonna say?"
"Oh." Axel turned his attention to the ceiling, trying to hide the heat rushing into his cheeks. "Ah…nothing you need to worry about. Probably just some cheesy, 'near death' kinda thing. Famous last words, y'know?"
"Axel."
"Roxas."
The blonde huffed. "Fine, then. Don't tell me."
Axel rubbed the back of his neck, then perked up when he got an idea. "Wait here." Roxas shrugged and Axel took his leave, returning with a bar of sea-salt ice cream pilfered from Demyx's freezer.
"You wanna know what I was gonna say?" He conceded, offering Roxas the ice cream.
Roxas took the ice cream and eyed him for a moment. "What?"
"Happy Halloween."
As a force of habit, the blonde rolled his eyes, but then set to placidly unwrapping the ice cream and popping it in his mouth, regarding Axel knowingly.
"Happy Halloween, Axel."
And so the party wound down into the late hours, all of its patrons blissfully unaware of a pair of cruel, smiling eyes watching them from the window—sparkling like celestial hellfire.
A/N: THERE. DONE. *passes out at keyboard* g;ij94tkalfj*#$9
I tried, guys. I tried my best to get this up on/before Halloween. I finished it at 12:46 AM. I DID MY BEST! D: If parts of this chapter seem half-assed or chalk-full of mistakes, it's because the final push to finish it damn near killed me. See what I do for you people?
I will say, I've found several different versions of the lyrics to 'One-Winged Angel', so don't rip on me if the ones I used here aren't the ones you're familiar with.
Happy FRIKKIN' Halloween!
Review for a Chakram cookie~
Flame for a Chakram to the face!
-Slay
UPDATE (11-1-12): Roxy lovingly pointed out that I had misspelled Tidus' name. See what I meant about the mistakes? .O I went through and fixed what I could find, but if there's still something glaringly wrong-in any of the chapters-please tell me, so I don't go through life (on the internet) looking like an idiot (a bit much to ask). kthnxbai :D
Oh, and is my nerd showing yet? Three Trojan War references AND a Shakespeare bomb in the same chapter. I suck. xD
Extra cookies to whoever can guess which Shakespearean play Zexion was quoting~
