a/n Heh heh...sorry it's been forever. My dad went on a business trip and took all the computers so my access to fanfiction was very limited. I've been listening to the Kubo of the Two Strings trailer over and over cause I can't get enough of their cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". It's so beautiful!


Running.

Running. Legs burning as though they were on fire.

Hadn't they been on fire once? A long time ago?

Vexen continued to run down the never-ending path before him. He muscles were on fire as he ran. He stopped for a moment to breath. What was he even running from? He couldn't remember. It was simply running for the sake of running. He looked down at his feet. Burns all the way up his legs but...why were they so small. He looked up to see himself, why was he there? He was ten years old again. He heard a rough laugh behind him and turned.

It Helletic Hojo. There was no real face through which to sense the being's emotions, but Vexen could somehow see its smirk through wide eyes. He continued running, ignoring the burning shooting up his leg. It seemed as though he was going nowhere. There was a roar as he was grabbed and roughly turned around.

But suddenly it wasn't helletic hojo. It was a tall man with blond hair in a white suit, and behind him Sephiroth. He tried to take a step back, but was stopped by the grip the other man had on him. He could see his reflection in a pair of blue eyes. He was an adult again, eyes wide with fear. He ripped himself out of the grip so hard that he had to stumble back, coming to...an edge? He caught himself before he fell and turned to look down into a pit of fire. He screamed and tried to step away, but suddenly his free will had been turned off. There was a harsh kick and he fell.

Vexen hadn't realized he had woken up screaming. Not until he was sitting in the living room in his pajamas with a blanket wrapped around him, Marluxia snapping his fingers in front of his eyes. He blinked and shook his head, moving away from the fingers.

"You're back?" Marluxia asked hesitantly. He smiled with relief when Vexen nodded his head. "Good. I was scared we had lost you there for a second? What happened? Why were you screaming?"

"I just had a nightmare." Vexen said. "It was nothing.

"It's not nothing. You've been in the midst of a panic attack for the past twenty things." Marluxia said sternly. He put a cup of water in the blond's hands and refused to take it back until had passed into his body. "There, better?"

"A litte bit." Vexen hesitantly admitted. "But really, it was just a nightmare."

"Like hell it was a nightmare." Marluxia snapped. "You woke up screaming! That was not just a nightmare! Do you remember what happened at all?"

"No." Vexen lied.

"You're a terrible liar Vexen." Marluxia gave him a stern look, and Vexen felt like he was standing in front of a parent instead of a partner. Flower petals began to swarm around the room, reflecting Marluxia's aggravation. "Tell me what was in the nightmare."

"I don't want to talk about it." Vexen snapped, standing. Marluxia opened his mouth again and began to speak but Vexen cut him off before a full word got out of his mouth. "I said I don't want to talk about it! For gods sake I'm not a child Marluxia! Hell I'm two years older than you! If anything you're the child because you won't leave me alone! You're so annoying right now! I need space!"

"Fine! Then go get space!" Marluxia yelled. "Maybe then I can get some sleep without you fucking everything up!" Every petal in the room was suddenly covered in ice, killed where the floated, all hitting the ground at the same time. "Really Vexen? That's just immature." He closed his mouth when he saw the mixture of fury and hurt in the other man's eyes, almost immediately regretting what he said.

"I'm going for a walk." Vexen said after a minute of silence between the two. He turned to grab his coat and put on his shoes as he heard small footsteps walk up to him. He turned to see Aerith. "What is it?"

"Can I come with you?" She asked. "I can't sleep."

"...Fine." Vexen said. "But you have to go to sleep right after." He helped her get her shoes on and then gave her her coat. They both walked outside, Marluxia watching them leave, debating whether or not it was worth it to apologize.


"Why are the stars so shiny?" Aerith asked from her place in Vexen's arms.

"The gravity keeping them together is very intense, and that friction causes the core to heat up." Vexen explained. "This allows nuclear fusion to take place, which is when atoms of hydrogen are converted into atoms of helium. This releases an enormous amount of energy to be released in the form of gamma rays. These are trapped inside the star, so they push out against the gravitational contraction of the star. That's why they're a certain size, and don't keep contracting. Gamma rays continue to jump around, trying to escape, and are absorbed by atoms and are emitted again as photons. When photons reach our eyes, that is what we call light."

"So...?" Aerith blinked at him in confusion and he said.

"Stars are so shiny cause there's lots of bouncy stuff inside them." Vexen finally said, coming up with an explanation the child might understand. Aerith beamed.

"Like butterflies when I get excited!" Aerith beamed, proud that she had "understood" the scientist. Vexen couldn't help but chuckle a little. "So why are the stars so excited then if they have so much bouncy butterflies?" Now that was an abstract question.

"They're free." Vexen finally responded, taking a moment to think. "They're free because they don't have anything to bound them to the earth. No bodies, no responsibilities, nothing."

"I want to be a star one day." Aerith mused.

"I think I would like for both of us." Vexen said. The next thing he heard was a shout as he felt extreme pain go up his back, and suddenly everything was black.


Okay hiatus done. I have succeeded in uploading a chapter.