Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Spoilers: KHII - Second visit to Port Royal
Warnings: Minor violence.
Prompt: 047 - Heart
Good Night and Good Luck
Lights burst painfully across his eyes as the punch cracked his rib cage, bouncing down and ricocheting off his insides like a pinball. He staggered and she shouted.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" There was a cry in her voice, somewhere deep down. He could hear her going in for another blow.
"Tifa, stop." He felt the clock wind down at his command, and caught her fist point-blank.
Her eyes widened as the whole night twisted to his power, rain frozen in shining curtains. She pushed away from the blue of his gaze and paced. Time started again. Her hands fisted in her hair, in frustration.
She turned back after a couple of deep breaths, but the anger wasn't gone. "I'm sorry. You're hurt."
Funny how she knew that. "It's...alright."
"Why did you lie?" she asked the wet pavement. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
"It wasn't supposed to go so far that I'd have to make the choice between truth and lies. It was supposed to be one chance meeting. But-"
"But what? You were curious about me, is that it?"
A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "I'm curious about a lot of women I meet, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't about you. I've made it easy to forget. The second meeting – that was fate."
She looked up at him then. "Fate. You really do believe in it?"
"Hnh," he grunted, clutching at his chest as pain started to radiate from his ribs outward. "The only thing I lied about was my name and the… condition of my co-workers and me."
He wondered if he accidentally made a time skip, because when he next opened his eyes he was standing in a sheltered alleyway. He felt his teeth rattle against glass as potion and something alcoholic slid down his throat.
"Luxord." She tried his name, his true name for the first time, and he wondered if it was the x of brotherhood or the sound of her voice softening that seared him. Her cool fingertips brushed through his hair hesitantly. "You really think I can find him, then?"
"Of course." He felt the bricks under his back as he straightened his knees. His bones demanded that he still lean on something.
"You think I can find him by myself?" she asked quietly, eyes drifting down down.
He could see the strategy she was using. He took her cheek in gloved fingers. "You'll have to. Good night," he kissed her eyelids, "good luck," he kissed her cheek. He let the darkness climb up the wall, was ready to lean back into the portal, let his soul crack later when he was far away. "And good-"
She kissed him hard, grabbed his jacket and pulled him away from the dark door. He immediately noticed how desperate it was, fought to free himself from it, but their foreheads were stuck together and he couldn't disappear back into time. She breathed against his lips, "Don't say goodbye. I'm sick of people saying goodbye."
"Tifa." He stumbled in a mental fog, clutching for the words he wielded so well (usually). "I can't go with you."
"Do you love me?"
"…I can't. You know I can't."
"Try."
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him again. This time he tasted possibility (probability?) on her lips and he shattered somewhere inside. He brought her closer, wrapped his arms around her, breathed against her
and kissed back.
