OST – Akira Senju (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Music Atonement: Ante Meridiem
Singular Point – Hollow Bastion 2: Killer
In that strange encounter of that moogle, Mog, a series of encounters continues to come in their way as the team moved forward. At first, it was the defense mechanism, followed by the gutsy ninja named Yuffie who just gave JC an afterthought gaze when she greeted the trio before she went ahead from them. Second, despite trying its best to do its own job, it quickly turned into their business to destroy the Heartless and Nobodies as it started to overwhelm the defense mechanism against the numbers of the creatures.
When they accomplished the mini-quest, they approached and arrived at a house (Merlin's house, JC recalled) as she was greeted with a sight of three people looking at the monitor with one of them furiously typing the keyboard.
"Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!"
The ninja cheerfully introduced as the three at the monitor heard her voice and turned their heads towards them. The pretty brunette with a braid beamed at them.
"We missed you!" She smiled.
"Well, if you ain't in top shape!" The blonde-haired man smirked.
"I knew it." The other man, who looked younger than the blonde one, stepped forward. "A while back, everyone suddenly remembered you guys, all at the same time." He quickly clarified, seeing the confused look of the trio.
JC could only looked at trio before she looked back at the adults. It seems like there is still a story that was not unwrap to her.
She just stood behind them, listening to their mini-argument to each other, watching them for their reactions and laughs as they joked with each other. With her passive nature, she was okay with this. As long as the talk wasn't all about her (negatively), she's fine with being the audience and the witness of this story.
The story…
The story…
Both her thoughts and the voice echoed in her head, along with the familiar nagging feeling. She groaned at this. What is it that she forgot this time?
"Oh! Speaking of lending a hand," JC felt her hand being tugged forward, finding herself in front of them. "Meet JC, or Joyous Cheetah. We've met her in the previous world. And due to some circumstances, she's traveling with us."
In that introduction, she just nervously glanced to them, not knowing what to do before she raised her hand for a wave. "Hello…?"
"Hello there!" The brunette greeted her, stepping forward to grasp her hands. "I'm Aerith, nice to meet you!"
"Likewise." She nodded.
"Hmm…" The blonde man hummed, moving forward after Aerith let her go as he looked at her straight in the eyes. "You… got guts, kid." That was the words he said before he introduced himself as Cid.
"Hello!" Yuffie in the side simply greeted her with a two-finger salute, which she returned with her own. But, even though she greeted her cheerfully, her smile seemed tense that she almost missed it.
"…Leon?" Aerith said, as all of them looked at the brunette man who had been not responsive to them. He seemed to snap out of his daze when he noticed them before he gave her a nod while muttering 'Leon'.
"That… was lukewarm than I thought." Sora crossed his arms in disappointment.
"Well, what were you expecting?" Aerith giggled.
"Hmm… I dunno. Something like, 'what?! Sora brought a friend?!' or something like that…"
They gave him a look. "Sora, I don't know but with you being you, it is no surprise that you'll eventually bring a friend in your journey." Yuffie said matter-of-factly.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Never change, Sora. Never change." The people in the room—except for her—shook their head at the naiveté of their friend with a sigh and a smile of their faces.
"Anyway, with Sora and our new friend's help," Leon started, walking around them and opened the door. "Follow me to the bailey, there's something you need to see."
Having no choice in her situation, she shrugged and followed him out the door. But not before—
"Sora, can we talk with you for a second?"
—she saw the trio being stopped by the adults in the room. She considered for a split second before she decided to walk ahead of them, knowing that their conversation was only reserved for the trio and walked to the bailey and followed Leon.
Their distance to each other was a few meters ahead from her, not attempting to close the distance between them as nothing but the sound of their footsteps echoed the silence. In her position, she took the opportunity to analyze the man from his back.
The posture he exudes is the embodiment of silent, subdued confidence. His back was firm, his arms had scars that implied his experiences in the battlefield and his footwork is careful and vigilant, compared to her mute and tactical steps. Perhaps this was the first time she saw a warrior so poised that it doesn't need words to say, a warrior this passive that it screamed through his form.
Compared to her clients when she was a 'killer'.
"Kira." The silent warrior started, killing the silence. "Joyous Cheetah was not a name that I remember you use to bear."
JC blinked, especially at the first word he uttered. "…Kira?"
"Your name. When you are a mercenary."
Their continued walked reached the stairs, descending to their destination, as she looked down in thought with frown. Kira? How awfully familiar name. Leon must be the telling the truth because of the familiarity. But how did he know her former name when she was a 'killer'—
Wait…
Kira… Killer…
She really want to physically slap her forehead, realizing the similarity of these words. She really had no creative department when it comes to names, isn't she?
Anyway, she forced herself back to the topic at hand. "How did you know that, Mr. Leon?"
He sighed exasperatedly. "Don't call me mister."
She tilted her head, noticing a strange thing from him—though it was probably just her—he seemed to shudder when she called him mister.
What was they were talking about again? Oh, right, her names.
She was about to open her mouth, repeating her question without 'mister' to it but he beat her to it. "Rumors from here and there, back in my world. A 'killer' who kills without weapon. A mercenary who didn't accept money but rather information. You were quite an enigma back then, until you disappeared two years ago."
She scoffed, knowing what happened in those two years. "How can you be so sure that I was that 'killer'?"
"Yuffie met the 'killer'." She stiffened. "You are the only person she feared the most."
…Huh. That explains the strained smile, forcing herself to greet her and the glance when they first met as if she doesn't want to meet her eye-to-eye.
"…My apologies. She must have been uncomfortable earlier."
"She tried to hide it and tricked most of us. But not me, because I know her story."
Not knowing what to respond, she just scratched her cheek. But… there is one thing she's confused…
"If you know her story and my identity, why haven't you attacked me yet?" She asked, a question that was at the top of her head just now.
"…Because Sora trusted you." He answered, almost hesitantly. "He called you a friend and Yuffie seem to accept it too."
"O…kay…" Her answer came out in a confused drawl unknowingly.
What is it with Sora that people trusted him this much? To the point of not questioning her stance? She can see why they did because of his personality but sometimes that goody-good-shoes character can be problem in certain circumstances, both to everyone and the one who bears it. What is it in Sora that everyone can see but she cannot? What is it?
Who is he?
"But what if," an idea came to her. "Sora wasn't here but I appeared, what would you do?"
Leon was silent. Both of them were silent. They continued their walk until they reached large window, both of them approached it and JC was greeted with a strange sight.
Is that a… town? She wasn't even sure if it was, it was like buildings huddled together, and there was a large pillars at the back (at least, in their perspective) with a crossed out heart emblem on one of it.
"It depends." Leon answered. "Right and wrong are not what separates us, but rather it's our different standpoints, our perspective that separates us."
"And how would you approach me?" She tested.
"Still no different." He firmly stated. "Sora may have trusted you, doesn't mean we're not wary of you. If there is a time that you'll betray his trust…"
She really want to laugh at him if she can, but knows it was not the right timing to do it. If only he knew that she did played around with Sora's trust earlier…
"Donald already assured me of that, you don't have to worry about it." With a Thundara, she silently added. "But you're right. Perspective separates us from each other and without that understanding, conflict is bound to happen. That's why, being honest with everything is what I do, because I don't want that conflict to happen."
"…Huh."
She didn't attempt to look at his face after she said that. He can look at her in disgust or whatever what he was feeling now, after all, all she wanted is to be understood, not to be liked by others. Opinions of others didn't matter to her, it doesn't describe her of any way of who she is/was. Even though, they were a bit accurate about it.
What matters is her intention and her actions. That was all she wanted, and yet they cover their ears and believed what they only see.
"Speaking of honesty…" She started, breaking the silence. "Did you know that Maleficent was my mother?"
She can only see his reaction in her peripheral vision before she heard three voices calling after them.
"Leon! JC!"
Both of them turned their heads to the trio as JC noticed a strange look in Sora's eyes, looking at her with hesitance.
And I thought that this is the triumph
That I needed to move on
I've blamed everything on you
It's easy to pretend
That it was you who did this to me.
– a fragmented passage of anthem for Joyous Cheetah –
A/N: i actually planned this chapter to be posted earlier, but I stalled for a while because I really want to sneak some reference(s) from final fantasy games especially the viii one. but. instead. i ended up watching the goddamn franchise starting from i to ix and now here i am.
but seriously, kudos to you who manage to recognize the (one) reference i put in here ;).
(EDITED: 6/19/19)