Welcome back everyone! This is chapter eleven of my first story! This is more of a filler if anything, but it dips into Mavis' and Anolani's past a bit, mainly centered around their mother, Mavis' pendant, and her thoughts on the journey ahead! I hope you enjoy. Though as I wrote this, I did managed to cry a bit. Too many memories concerning a loved one. That was just a warning just in case any of you are as emotional as I am.
Like before, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Just some manga I got for Christmas! X3
11. Starlight
It was a chilly night in Radiant Garden and as promised, we decided to stay the night before heading off to the next sector. The normal nightly sounds of crickets and ghostly breezes was obscured by the cacophony of my companions eating and enjoying each other's company with the occasional bursts of gleeful laughter. I was on the roof again, too wrapped up in my own thoughts to join them. Absent-mindedly twirling my star pendant in my left hand, I stared at my right arm wrapped tightly in a cast, cringing in disgust.
I can never generate lightning with my bare hands before. I've always needed my gauntlets as a buffer. And that lightning. A picture of jagged light shooting from my arm appeared. It was black. Pitch black, and the power from it isn't anything I felt before. It felt so cold... I hugged my arm to my chest to give it warmth, and sighed dejected into the night air.
So many things have happened so far during this journey, and we've only been to two worlds. I'm not sure for better or worse, but I can feel myself changing ever so slowly. While I normally like to isolate myself from society, I'm surrounded by so many different people, different hearts that are gingerly forming bonds with my own and creating feelings I never knew I even had. What was happening to me was, I admit, unsettling. I didn't know how these feelings would change me or how I act. Now that I think about it, I've done a lot of things in the last fourty-eight hours that I can't even comprehend.
Letting myself ally with Keybearers.
Risking my arm to save Sora and Kairi from the Heartless.
I can't even understand my relationship with Riku; one minute we're at each other's throats, the next we're like the best of friends.
And everyone in Radiant Garden has been so kind to me, welcoming me with open arms like they've known me their entire lives, while in reality it's been a few hours.
How can someone trust another so easily? It makes no logical sense.
"Hey, you didn't come down for dinner," Anolani spoke up and climbed onto the roof, "What's up, sis?"
"Nothing, just...," I started, then turned my eyes to the stars as she sat beside me, "doing a little star gazing."
"But we haven't done that since we were little! Are you feeling alright?" She asked suspiciously, holding a hand to my forehead, "you don't feel warm..."
I rolled my eyes and knocked her hand away, "Knock it off! Even I have my guilty pleasures."
"Well, sure, but I'm just wondering why? I mean, it's not like you can't or anything, it's just we haven't done this since..."
Her voice trailed off and her eyes lowered, pulling one leg up to her chest as melancholy permeated the air. It didn't take a genius to know what she was referring to.
Suddenly, there was a sharp shriek, then came the thundering of bodies hitting the ground. Curious, the two of us peeked over the edge, to find Kairi and Yuffie piled under a ladder with Aerith staring at them with amusement in her eyes.
I cocked a brow as Kairi shot her gaze towards us with an embarrassed look, and Anolani resisted the urge to giggle.
"U-uh...Hey guys?..."
My sister then let loose a flurry of giggles, holding her stomach uncontrollably. I sighed and waved an inviting hand. "Join the party, why don't you? Not like you can run now."
All three girls took the invitation gratefully, and soon enough we were sitting comfortably on the rooftop, looking at the stars in a peaceful silence. It was broken minutes later, when Kairi brought up an earlier subject.
"So, Anolani said you haven't star gazed in a long time."
"So? What of it?"
Kairi leaned forward passed Yuffie to look at me and asked, "Does that mean you used to do it a lot?"
"Yes, I guess," I replied, holding my pendant even tighter, "With all the excitement going on, I never had the chance to."
"We used to do this all the time when we were younger," Anolani said with a grin, "we'd set out a blanket on the beach and spend most of the night trying to count them all. It was really fun."
"Then what made you stop?" Aerith pondered softly.
My sister and I shared a look, then lowered our heads in respect. "Our mother died."
A pained quiet followed, the other girls suddenly silent and passing pitiful looks with one another.
"She used to go out with us every night and help Mavis count along," Anolani said, her voice quivering with nostalgia, "Then when we were tired, she'd sing us to sleep and carry us home. She was always so warm."
Carefully I removed the silver star pendant that hung around my neck and held it in the air, "She always believed the stars themselves were hearts long passed away, and said that no matter how alone you may feel, you'll always have the stars watching over you. Then you'll never be lonely. A bit ironic actually."
"Why's that?" Yuffie asked curiously.
I giggled a bit, "One night on what you mortals call the New Year, I saw my first shooting star. And on that star, I asked for a friend," I turned to Anolani with a smirk on my lips, "it was only a week later that we found Anolani in the palace."
"Really!? You wished for that?" Anolani was surprised by this news.
I nodded, "Yeah, though the stars must be toying with me, sending you of all people."
"Aww, you love me! I know you do!"
"So, what was your mom like?" Yuffie asked with a grin.
"She was...amazing. She was beautiful, highly respected, strong hearted...She was everything I ever wanted to be. And so kind too..., there wasn't a soul in Chronos Cay that didn't love her," I replied, a ghost of a smile on my lips, "so when she passed on, the entire island fell silent. It was a dark day, for all of us."
"No one knew she was so sick. She was always smiling," Anolani continued in a sad tone, "always happy. When we saw her lying there in her death bed, we thought 'Come on mommy! Let's go get ice cream! They have two new flavors out!' But she didn't move. She couldn't. She was dying and we didn't even know it..."
"Mommy! Ice cream! Ice cream!" A little Mavis, no older than three shouted impatiently, jumping up and down while a six year old Anolani pulled on the sheets with a childish beam. They ran into the room excitedly, dodging their frazzled father on the way and ignoring his shouts, wanting to pull their mother out of bed and run to the beach towards the ice cream shack down the road. It had just come out with two new tasty flavors, and they wanted to be the first to try it out.
Only after moments of tugging and jumping, they stopped and realized their mother wasn't getting up, and looking closer, they saw a difference in her once youthful green eyes. As they flickered to life, they saw a struggle within them. A painful, fruitless fight to stay awake for only a few sacred seconds, and look into her daughter's innocent ones with all the love she can show.
"Mommy?" Mavis asked, confused as to why her mother wouldn't budge, and climbed on top of the bed, shoving her shoulder to awaken her from her drowsy consciousness, "Ice cream, mommy! Ice cream!" She cheered with a grin.
"C'mon mama! You're gonna miss the two new flavors they got! I heard they're extra tasty!" Anolani said, sitting at her adoptive mother's side.
The queen of Chronos Cay could only smile, the power to speak gone from her, and shakily raised a hand to touch her daughter's pale baby cheek. The little girl's grin dropped as soon as she felt the touch, and said one word, "Cold..."
The red eyed girl twitched her tiny antenna, confused. Her mother always had warmth to spare. But when the woman touched her tiny hand, her eyes widened in shock.
"Cold mommy," Mavis said, then hugged the woman's hand to give it warmth. Perhaps that was what kept her in bed. "I can make you warm! I can make you warm!"
Though the woman shook her head slightly, releasing her hand and reaching around her neck to pull off her most prized possession. It was a gorgeous star pendant, a clear prism taking up the center and a silver rim and chain. Slowly, she put it in the three year old's hand, knowing it would be in a safe place.
Mavis became even more confused, "Neck-o-lass?"
"But that's your favorite necklace, mama," Anolani said, getting a worried feeling in her stomach, "You can wear it to the beach you know."
"Mommy?..."
Again, the woman shook her head, and gently smiled at her two beautiful children with tears dripping from her eyes one last time, praying that they understood the undying love she had for them, how much they meant to her, how strong a hold they had on her heart, before closing her eyes and welcoming the soft light that brightened in the distance.
Her hands fell limp, and Anolani suddenly knew what had happened to her loving caretaker. The concept of death was still foggy in her youthful mind, but it didn't take much to realize her mother wasn't going to wake up any time soon. Her heart dropped to her stomach as she watched her little sister make sad attempts at waking her up, too stricken with grief to tell the smaller child that her mother wasn't coming back.
"Mommy?" Mavis pondered, shaking her mother once, then twice more, "Mommy, wake! Wake up! Mommy!" She turned to her sister in fear, "Lani!"
"Mavis, I-I... I don't think she's gonna wake up...," She stuttered with unused tears.
Yet the little girl was persistent. She screamed and shook her parent with all her might, wanting to see her eyes again, to feel her hugs and laughter, wanting her to join them in their ice cream hunt. With every shake, came a wave a tears on both girl's cheeks, and after minutes of fighting, screaming and shoving, did Mavis finally stop and lay on her mother's stomach, wailing to the heavens as her sister stood next to her, fists clenched and tears falling in large droplets.
"Mommy! Mommy! Come back, mommy! Please! Please, come back! Mommy!"
She continued to scream, her cries echoing through the palace and into the towns and villages, breaking the silence that held them captive. It was a sound that broke all of their hearts. It was the day Chronos lost a ruler, and two young girls lost a beloved mother.
"Mavis...I-I'm so sor-"
"Say you're sorry, Kairi, and you'll wake up breathing through a tube on life support," I said, smirking so she'd know I was joking, "It's not like you had anything to do with it, and it's a little too late for a pity party."
"You must miss her, dearly," Aerith said her condolences, but I shook it off with a casual wave.
"Of course we miss her! But we know she's in a much better place, out of harm's way," Anolani replied with a grin, "plus we got to try the ice cream anyway, so I guess it's okay." Even though her words sounded true, there was the smallest hint of regret in her tone.
"She lives on in our memory," I said, then placed a hand to my heart, "many believe memories are held in the mind, but the true ones are stored in the very depths of our hearts."
Everyone smiled at that, placing their hands over their chests and looking to the stars as though remembering a loved one.
Now I know this journey is truly changing me. It's making me relive memories I've longed to forget and ease my pain. However, now that I've told someone, and let those feelings out into the open, I felt lighter. Better than I have in years. I want to keep this feeling.
"Hey, has anyone seen the girls?" Sora wondered, noticing the quiet drifting through the house and the males standing around the computer screen. Not a single female in sight...
"Last I checked, they followed Mavis onto the roof," Leon said boredly, watching Cid tap the keys, checking the town security system as requested.
Riku cocked a brow, "They've been up there for a while."
"Think we should check on them?" Sora asked.
Cid shook his head with a scoff, "The girl's are probably having a late night chat session or somethin'. Best leave 'em be!"
"Mavis? Actually acting like a girl?" The silver-haired teen smirk and turned towards the door, "This I gotta see."
"Maybe Cid's right. We should leave them alone," his best friend tried to convince. He was more worried about walking in on something he shouldn't hear.
"So none of you want to see Mavis, giggling like a school girl and gossiping about the latest trends?"
The group shared a long look, and before long, were edging their way outside, silently listening in on the unsuspecting girls.
"Red one!"
"Blue one!"
"Kairi, Yuffie already tagged that one."
"Shoot!"
"Purple one."
"Aw I almost had that!"
"That's totally a green one!"
"Yellow one!"
"Now Aerith's in the lead!"
"Blue one!"
"Hehe, Kairi, that's mine!"
"There's so many up there I can't keep track!"
"Purple one."
"Quit stealing from your sissy! It's not nice!"
They grew curious after a round of girlish laughter, and before they could ask, Anolani and Yuffie's head appeared overhead, their cheeks bearing similar beams.
"Hey look! The boys wanna join us!" Anolani cheered, red antenna perking up.
"Come on up! We're having a contest to see who can tag the most stars!" Yuffie explained, the others peering over with grins of acceptance. Even the usual quiet Mavis bore a small smile, happy to have more players. Seeing this, Riku grinned in return, a sudden warmth fluttering when touched by her smile.
Even if this journey is changing me ...
"Okay! Everyone call a color when you see a star you want! Purple, Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green have already been taken!" Anolani instructed after everyone took a seat.
Even if the future is hazy and filled with peril...
"Green!" Yuffie.
"Orange!" Sora.
"Blue!" Kairi.
"Silver!" Riku.
"White." Leon.
"Yellow!" Aerith.
"Pink!" Cid.
"Cid! That's Sora's!" Anolani.
"Ha! Cid's pink!"
"Shaddup!"
"Gold." And maybe even Cloud.
"Gah! Where'd you crawl from!?" Anolani screeched, suddenly backing into said black clad blond.
As long as I have these idiots to catch me when I'm down...
"Purple!"
I think I'll be alright...for now at least...Mother...
"Dang it, Mavis! Stop stealing stars from your beloved sissy!"