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 - Unknown Organization Members?
Warnings: None.
Prompt: 079 - Years
The Prisons We Choose
In the Castle White, there are twelve rooms, twelve chambers where the Major Arcana of twelve mighty cards reside. And all of them are connected via secret passageways that no one quite understands.
The first six of the cards have so many passageways that the walls between their chambers are hollow. The Moon follows a long straight corridor to the Emperor, no complications or swerves. The Sitarist's passageways curve around the Opposite's chambers, frustrating but ultimately close in a spiral staircase. The passageways of the Scythe, the High Priestess, and the Teardrops (the young Flush calls him Diamond-Eyes) weave through each other, traps and doors laid. Theirs is a lover's tango, doomed to collapse one day.
And the Master is left alone.
His chamber is filled with doors and opportunities, surrounding him like a clock face. How the Master loves his games. His fellow gamblers watch as he opens one door and leaves the rest closed. The single rectangle of light cuts the circle room in two. They watch from the corners. They wait.
The Opposite strides in on occasion, never using the front door. He speaks crassly, so unlike the tone of the Master. He isn't welcome, because he doesn't use the front door and that's not part of the rules. But all the same, he enters, and he understands some things about the Master. He knows about his strange dreams and his need for a sense of 'fun and games'. But he is gone soon after, to look for the others he is connected to.
Some of the other Lords (or the Lady) stray close to his Game, the mystery he sees in himself. They stand in the doorway, never wanting to learn the rules. They already have their own passageways – why bother complicating things and opening more doors?
And the Master does wonder. Why bother? He waits in the darkness, and they watch as his chamber becomes a dungeon around him. He could leave. Leave Master. Spark conversation. But he tells them that he is fine on his own, in the long words they understand too well.
But hark! One day, Royal and Full have news. New Greaters. Light and Memories. All of the Lessers are gossiping amongst themselves, speaking in the deeper language the Lords don't understand. Two new sets of siblings! Light. Memories! Together? Hope for us after all? Hope. Hope?
They are confused when they are only greeted with one new set of little brothers. The Samurai are quiet, but aggressive, like the Prince of Light in his black armour and twin Keyblades. Only the Creepers speak of his counterpart, saying the Princess is quiet and kind, and that the Greaters are meeting her one by one.
They watch the Master. He does not have hope.
On the day he meets with the Princess, the back door opens, and they watch. It had always been locked, and they see a passageway behind. The Master goes into it. When he returns, he has met the Princess, and invited her to play the game. But no true hope lies in his eyes.
At first, he treats her no different than the other players: sees her only a piece to play with, to manipulate for brief amusement and then let her pass by like grains of sand in a glass.
But it is Royal who speaks up. No, Master, he says, she is your Opponent. She is your Apprentice, the one who will play the Game. She is the Princess and she will listen to you.
We have been watching, Master. You have been waiting for a friend. We have been waiting. She is she.
The Master is silent for a long time, then orders them to leave him.
Alone in his castle study, the Master contemplates the door that had been locked for so long. Slowly, he climbs the secret staircase to the tower room, stained blue with moonlight. The Princess waits, sitting on her white dress folds. She wears no crown, but she smiles at him from across a battle map of fifty-two spread cards.
"Can you teach me?" she asks, a little shyly.
He smiles. "Indeed. I can."