Me: DAMN... ALMOST to 40 reviews...
Char: (sigh)
Me: And just what are you sighing at?!
Char: Oh, no particular reason... I just find it rather interesting that you're review-whoring without even realizing it.
Me: A... am not! D: Well, anyway, no, I am not dead, from what one reviewer apparently gathered from the gap between updates on the last chappies - my life is just... REALLY fuckin' hectic right now, for lack of better phrasing.
Char: Oh, also! Saf wants me to tell you readers, whether you are reviewing or not, that if you haven't figured out who Anxclof's Other is by the end of this chapter, you're officially a flipping oblivious moron who doesn't know how to read between the lines.
Me: I DID NOT SAY IT LIKE THAT!
Anxclof: (eyeroll) Roll the disclaimer!
Disclaimer- IDK, my BFF Sora?
Quick as lightning, without even glancing at each other, Char and Sora summoned their weapons and rushed into the room. The redhead's first instinct was to charge toward the center of the room, her blades out and intending to tear into the first bit of witchy flesh they touched. But Char had to slow to an ungraceful stop when she realized there was nothing there.
She narrowed her eyes at Donald. "This had better not be a trick."
Donald returned the glare in earnest. "Would we joke about something like this?"
Char's only response was to raise an eyebrow.
"But she was just here, honest!" Goofy protested.
"Well, I don't see…" Char trailed off as she got a better look at the room.
If Sora and Riku truly had fought in here, then the room failed to show any signs of combat. It appeared to be a distinguished room, back when the castle had played host to a number of nobles; Char could almost see the ruins unraveling, to be replaced by the chandeliers and light of the past.
What truly caught her eye was the machine in the center of the room. Patterns of light danced and tumbled about inside the heart-shaped portal, thin as lightning bolts and relatively the same shape.
Sora's eyes widened as he stepped closer. "I can't believe it's still here," he murmured, reaching out to touch it.
"Do you like it?" a sudden voice questioned. The group all jolted in shock and whirled around. There, with her dark staff held nonchalantly to one side, stood their very reason for coming here in the first place.
Maleficent.
"I told you she was here," Donald hissed in a show of anger. Char felt his feathery body trembling from where he stood close behind her.
"I've been doing a little refurnishing since I returned," the witch went on casually, sounding almost as though she were speaking to a realtor. "This room was so filthy." As she spoke, she ran a finger along the wall, coming closer to them all the time.
"Maleficent, you have to stop terrorizing the castle!" Sora blurted, and Char winced. It would have been better if he'd kept his mouth shut.
One slender eyebrow rose up over a dark eye. "And why should I do that?"
The brunette stared at her in disbelief. "Well… because… because…"
"Because lives hang in the balance?" A smirk crossed the thin face. "Because it was your fault in the first place?"
"What?" Sora cried, raising his Keyblade.
Char put a firm hand on his shoulder, holding him back. "Don't," she murmured.
Maleficent's grin widened, almost sharp-toothed in its amusement. "Your lady friend has the right idea, Keybearer. Besides, the sheer idea of redemption is so foolish. Why would you want to undo something you had wrought?"
"Maybe because it was an accident?" Char couldn't help but suggest. An edge of savage anger found its way into her voice and gave it a slight tremor. "Because it wasn't even your own fault!"
"I remember you, Char," the witch said. "You were always running around with your master and those friends of yours, gathering information to open the door. Did you have any idea whatsoever that you were actually helping me?"
Char's eyes widened. All at once, she realized what she was truly dealing with.
"Char, what's she talking about?" Goofy asked.
"Oh, you mean you three don't know?" Maleficent "tsk"ed. "What a bad companion she's been to you."
"I know she's been keeping a few secrets from us," Sora said slowly, raising his head and looking at Char. The redhead in question was so startled that she lifted her hand from his shoulder.
Please, she prayed fervently, please don't let him egg her on…
"But isn't that the way it should be sometimes?" he went on. Char could have cried with relief at his next words. "Shouldn't everyone have a few secrets? Stuff they don't want to tell anyone else?"
Maleficent gazed at Sora for a moment. Her expression was unreadable, though her fist tightened almost imperceptibly around her staff.
"Yes," she answered at last, but in a way that suggested that she didn't agree at all. "I suppose you're right."
"Okay," Char cut in, trying to keep the tremor of relief out of her voice. "So, philosophical discussion aside…" She put her hands out and summoned her swords, bringing them in front of her so that her arms criss-crossed and her blades were next to each other.
"I'm gonna get to the point right now. Either you take all those Heartless out of the castle, or we fight you – and beat your ass from here to the End of the World." Char's voice was a low hiss that at the same time sounded with as much force as a snarl.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy took up their battle stances and nodded in agreement, though in reality Sora's heart pounded a rut against the inside of his chest. I really hope she knows what she's doing…
"My, my, how frightening," Maleficent laughed, delicately bringing a hand to her mouth. "What makes you believe that, with your skills reduced as they are, defeating me now will have the same difficulty it did then?" She directed this question at Sora.
He felt the words hit him like a slap to the face or a punch to the gut. In his sinking heart, he knew she was right. Sure, they had Char on their side, who had more than enough strength of will; but even now, she was probably just putting up a brave front for Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Yet another way she was forcing herself nowadays.
"Maleficent!" The hoarse voice brought everyone's attention to the door.
"I put all the Heartless in Mickey's castle like you told me to," the voice went on nervously, getting closer all the time, "but are you really sure it's gonna work? That Cornerstone could destroy 'em all as soon as they get in, now that Sora –"
The owner of the voice cut himself off abruptly as he entered the room, merely gaping with shock at the sight of the group. It was none other than Pete, Maleficent's loyal minion.
"What're you guys doing here?" he spluttered, pointing at them.
"What does it look like we're doing?" Donald shot back belligerently. "We're stopping you guys from putting more Heartless in the castle!"
Pete swung his massive head from one person to another, and then his eyes finally came to settle on Maleficent. "What's the big idea, letting these guys in here?" he demanded.
Maleficent's eyebrows rose, as though asking why he would dare defy her. In response, his ears went back and he quickly stared at the ground.
The witch looked at Sora. "How about I offer you a proposal? In exchange for defeating my minion and his Heartless, I'll take all the Heartless out of the castle."
Pete's head jerked up at once and he opened his mouth to protest, but Sora beat him to it. "How do we know we can trust you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
She shrugged. "But dear Keybearer, that's the only problem. You don't."
Sora stared at her for a moment, his dark blue eyes widening in shock. Donald and Goofy watched their friend, wondering if he would actually agree to this.
But it was Char who spoke. "Well, it's the only chance we've got," she pointed out, shrugging and crossing her arms. "I say we take it, if it will mean saving the castle." She directed her glare to Maleficent. "If, that is, you'll actually go through with it, instead of picking us off while we're exhausted."
Maleficent bowed elegantly. "Do not worry; I'm a witch of my word."
Pete was still sputtering in shock and anger as his mistress vanished in a cloud of black and green smoke; probably to watch the battle from the parapets.
Sora moved first. He raised his Keyblade into his battle position. "Well, Pete, guess we have to fight you."
"B-but… it's four against one! That's hardly fair!"
"Neither is…" Donald pretended to count it off. "A whole lot of Heartless and you against four."
"She did say 'him and his Heartless'…" Char reminded him with a sigh.
Pete perked up at once. "Oh, yeah!" Without further ado, he snapped his fingers, and a group of bat Heartless materialized around him.
The opposing groups rushed forward to battle. Sora could hear his heart pounding in his ears as one of the bats moved to claw his arm, but Goofy hit it aside with his shield just in time. His grip tightened on his Keyblade. I won't let you get away with this, Maleficent… especially since it was my fault in the first place.
This thought lent him a surge of new energy and he leaped up to slash into the nearest Heartless. Damaged severely by the Keyblade, it fell back and disappeared.
"One down, about a bazillion to go…" he heard Char mutter.
In the meantime, Pete was not idle. Sora had half expected Maleficent's minion to just sit back and laugh and expect them to get torn apart by the Heartless; but to his surprise, Pete must've realized that they were a force to be reckoned with. He was, even now, throwing a circle of small bombs to detonate around Donald, which knocked the mage backward. However, he quickly got back to his feet and began casting furiously to make up for his damage.
At last, all the Heartless had been defeated, and all that was left was Pete himself. As Sora darted over to help out, Char was slashing at the large dog furiously, apparently wanting to get this over with. The brunette noticed a few open cuts on the redhead's arms and a small gash on her shoulder – nothing severe, but maybe he should have Donald look at it when they got out of this.
If they got out of this, he corrected himself. Knowing Maleficent, she probably had a trap set up for them somewhere…
He willed himself firmly not to think about that, and instead focused on the task at hand: trying to get Pete to stop running away. The dog raced about the room, clearly wanting to flee but unable to; the witch had placed a shield around the room. (1)
The relentless onslaught soon proved to be too much for Pete. He held up his hands from where Char's blades had pushed him back against the wall. "Gah, okay, okay! You guys win," he muttered almost grudgingly.
Char lowered her swords from his throat and raised an eyebrow. "And your mistress will really get all the Heartless out of there?"
"I hope so," Pete murmured. Clearly he didn't want to suffer another beating at the hands of Sora and his companions.
Char growled under her breath and looked away. Sora could understand her feelings; if Maleficent didn't keep her word, then they had suffered all this dread and anxiety for nothing.
"Don't worry," the witch's voice suddenly sounded. Even though this was the second time she'd startled them like this, everyone still jumped all the same. Char realized after a moment that, in her surprise, her hand had instantly jumped to the nearest object. Which just happened to be Sora's own half-gloved hand.
They stared at each other before Char abruptly came to her senses and jerked away. She glanced away, not wanting to see the inevitable hurt in Sora's expression, and felt her cheeks heat up. This was so stupid, she thought viciously.
Maleficent appeared in the same green-and-black smoke that had taken her away. She snapped her fingers. "There. The Heartless have disappeared from your castle, as promised."
"And how do we know we can trust ya?" asked Goofy, giving Maleficent a skeptical look.
Maleficent raised her eyebrow. "Do you have any choice?"
Pete stared open-mouthed at his mistress, while Donald sighed. "Grr… she's right."
"Yeah, let's get back to you guys' castle," Sora murmured.
They set out down the stairwell, but not before hearing Pete's voice sounding in vehement protest, which was muffled by the closed door.
"He must have no clue why Maleficent did that," Donald remarked.
"Come to think of it, neither do we," Goofy pointed out.
"Yeah, things just seemed a bit too easy," Sora mused.
Char shrugged, putting a hand to her wounded shoulder and wincing. "Probably just to mess with our heads. That just kinda seems like the sort of thing she would do."
When she took her hand away from her shoulder, Sora saw with a flash of alarm that a few lines of blood dotted the green fabric of her glove. "Char, shouldn't you fix up your shoulder?" he asked, not without a bit of hesitation.
Char blinked in confusion, which turned to realization in an instant. "Oh! Um…" She glanced down at the injury. "It's nothing, really. Just a scratch."
"A scratch wouldn't be bleeding that much," Donald said, craning his neck to get a better look.
Char rolled her eyes. "Whatever – the point is that it's not that bad."
"I guess it doesn't matter anyway," the duck grumbled. "I think my magic needs to recharge." He waved his staff for emphasis and a few pathetically small sparks shot out.
"Hm," Sora said, tilting his head to the side. "Actually, I have an idea." He summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at Char's wound.
The redhead narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Would you mind telling me what the hell exactly you're going to do?"
The brunette merely gave her a look of rebuke and then closed his eyes in concentration; the entire group had to stop on the bottom step to watch. A barely visible beam of light suddenly fired out and Char fought the urge to jolt back in her surprise; when the light cleared, however, the broken skin of the wound was whole again.
She put her hand to her shoulder again and squeezed it lightly, partly in shock and partly to make sure the Cura spell had worked. Not even the slightest stab of pain shot through her as she touched the once-injured area. "Wow, it works," she remarked, and gave the Keybearer a small grin. "Thanks."
Sora smiled back, and she swore she could see his muscles relax. "You're welcome!" He took his place back at the lead. "We should probably get back to the Gummi ship."
"Yeah, and see Minnie too," Goofy added.
The group left the dilapidated castle, and Char let out the breath she didn't know she was holding in relief. She hadn't realized how much nighttime added to the area's foreboding aura, but now that a black-and-white-speckled blanket coated the sky and chilled the air, she realized how frightening the entire ordeal had been.
She remembered that, in the past, DiZ had visited Maleficent's castle frequently to make arrangements to go through the building on data-collecting missions; missions that she had never been a part of, but that Braig and Even had talked about often enough. Did he think that just because I'm a girl, I would find it too scary? Char thought, feeling a small kernel of anger form at the memory.
She restrained a bitter chuckle. If only he could see me now… Fighting off Heartless, avenging children, saving castles…
It occurred to her now that Riku's request might be a double-edged sword for her: heralding more experience and knowledge, but at the same time heavy and laden with drama and worry.
But since it was so early on, Char shoved that thought to the back of her mind. Right now, all she could think of was getting to Disney Castle and then sleeping for about a week.
First the gang stopped by Merlin's house, and he congratulated them heartily, especially on Sora's acquiring the Cura spell. To their puzzlement, Leon and the others were nowhere to be found; but Sora saw no reason to worry.
"They're probably just beating up some Heartless in another part of Hollow Bastion," he pointed out. Donald and Goofy saw the logic in that and promptly forgot the whole thing, but Char couldn't help but feel a pang of unease. In the past, another part of Hollow Bastion meant anywhere near the area leading to and around where she had lived and worked. She just hoped that everything was all right and that her home was still intact.
After that, they headed back to the Gummi ship. Sora had to drive it back to the castle because Donald and Goofy, who normally took turns piloting, had fallen asleep in the back room, their exhaustion finally having caught up to them. Char decided to forsake the awkwardness of what she had done in Maleficent's castle and asked Sora to tell her more about his old home on Destiny Island. For some reason, the ten minutes that it took for them to reach Disney Castle seemed to pass faster when she was listening to the Keybearer reminisce.
She couldn't help but notice the way his eyes sparkled and the way he sat up straighter when he talked about Kairi and Riku. Riku had told Char that Sora had always had an obvious crush on Kairi, but until now, the redhead hadn't really realized the depth of Sora's feelings. The combined tone of pleasure and wistfulness in his voice revealed how much he missed his friends.
They touched down in the Gummi shed through an opening Chip and Dale had created for them. Almost as soon as the four of them stepped out, with Donald and Goofy rubbing their eyes sleepily, the chipmunks were on them, squeaking with happiness and gratefulness.
Char finally managed to push the eager pilots away and they made their way toward the throne room, which was much easier to reach now that the Heartless had gone. Maleficent had kept her word, much to Sora's surprise.
When they reached the throne room, Minnie was sitting on the elaborate chair, smiling at them. "The thorns are gone!" she informed them happily. "Because of your bravery, the castle is safe and protected again. Thank you so much for everything!"
Sora rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, while Goofy just shrugged. "Aw, shucks, Your Majesty. It was nothing."
Donald nodded in emphatic agreement.
Char copied Goofy's gesture, though she felt uncomfortable being the center of attention. "You're welcome, Your Majesty…"
She trailed off when she saw a certain female duck, clad in royal clothing, peering through the entrance, undoubtedly looking for a certain someone. Char smirked and nudged Donald. "Hey, don't look now, but I think your girlfriend's here."
Donald narrowed his eyes, but as he followed Char's gaze, they widened again and he rushed toward Daisy.
Goofy glanced at Char questioningly as the two ducks embraced. "How didja know about Donald and Daisy?"
Char shrugged. "It wasn't too hard to figure out. He says her name in his sleep almost every night, and she was looking around here so desperately that I figured she definitely wasn't looking for Sora."
The brunette in question giggled. "Yeah, that makes sense." He looked back at Donald, his amused expression turning to a teasing one. "Hm… so our buddy's got a very special sweetheart…"
"Donald, I can't believe you forgot our date again!" Daisy said, pulling away and holding Donald by the shoulders so she could glare at him properly.
Donald cringed. "But… I…"
"You'd better have a good excuse this time!"
He's so whipped, Char thought, and her smirk widened. (2)
The mage looked pleadingly at them, but Sora and Goofy just looked away, trying to hide their growing amusement. Char just gave him a look that said he was on his own.
"Guys!" Donald shouted plaintively.
The group laughed, all except for Donald himself, who was cowering away from Daisy's wrath. Sora's own chuckles petered off when he noticed that the Hidden Dragon – somehow having appeared in his hand throughout all this – was glowing, as was the Cornerstone of Light that was directly behind the throne. Everyone else stopped in their merriment as well as they, too, noticed what was happening.
Sora lifted the red Keyblade up to the ceiling, and like the other worlds, a beam of light shot out, creating a rift of dark clouds in the sky. He stared at the clouds for a moment before taking a deep breath and making his Keyblade disappear.
Char turned to the couple. "Eh… Daisy, was it?" At the female duck's nod, Char went on, "Sorry, but we're gonna need Donald for just a while longer."
"How much longer?" Daisy asked, looking pointedly at the mage.
Sora hesitated. "Er… well…"
"I'll be back soon, Daisy!" Donald interrupted.
"We should probably get goin'," Goofy said.
Minnie shook her head. "Oh, no! Aren't you all tired from today?"
All four of them instinctively flinched at remembering their long day, especially Sora. Not everyone had the privilege of annihilating Heartless and Nobodies; getting turned into a Heartless and brought back; and then bartering with a deadly witch all in one day.
"Well… maybe we do need to rest," he murmured.
"In that case," Minnie said, turning to Daisy, "have the servants prepare the dining room and bedrooms!"
Char started. "Oh, no, Your Majesty," she said, even though her aching muscles screamed for her to forego the whole hospitality bit and just collapse onto one of the castle's beds. "We can't impose on your hospitality."
"Oh, nonsense!" Daisy waved a dismissing hand, though her eyes were on Donald. "You all can afford to stay here for just one night, can't you?"
"Yeah, one night won't hurt," Sora said.
Char huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Tch. Excuse me for trying to be polite."
Minnie inclined her head. "I appreciate it, Char, but it's really not necessary. You all look like you could use a good rest."
The rest of the evening passed in the smooth, seamless way of a fun time. The dining room of Disney Castle was half again the width of the throne room, though it wasn't nearly as long. The servants – seemingly inanimate objects, like at Beast's castle – passed around delicious platters of turkey, cheese, rolls, peaches, and various other gourmet foods: no duck, of course, even though Donald with his mouth full couldn't exactly complain anyway. Everyone, including the queen and Daisy, ate together, with Minnie herself at the head of the table. Sora, Donald and Goofy chatted amiably to each other like this was nothing new, but Char herself was getting the best meal she could eat without looking like an ungrateful pig. DiZ had taught her better than that, after all. And besides, she knew that they might not get a meal this magnificent for a while.
Afterward, everyone was escorted to their bedrooms. A broom-like servant took Char to hers, and the redhead found herself shocked at discovering how elegant the room really was. For a guest room, the bed was of a large size and the finest fabric, fitting of a royal home such as this.
After going through the tiring business of cleaning up and turning off the lamp, Char fell – not onto the bed, but rather into it – and was asleep almost at once. (3)
"Hey, Char," the gray-haired boy says, giving the fourteen-year-old girl an expectant look. "I have a question."
She glances over at him, finally managing to surface from the heavy book that has currently taken up residence on her lap. "This had better be important, Ienzo. That assignment for Master Ansem is due tomorrow and I still haven't done it."
Ienzo shrugs, but he looks a little guilty. "Sorry Char. But I just have a really quick question."
Char raises one eyebrow, her topaz eyes gazing at him from behind her glasses.
"Do you know what Xehanort's been doing lately?"
"In reference to what?"
"I mean, like…" Ienzo fidgets, as though he is telling something he promised to keep a secret. "You've seen how he keeps running off without telling Master. He's obviously up to something."
"And I say you're paranoid," Char murmurs – but her voice is half-hearted, like she doesn't really believe it. Her eyes flick back down to the book page, skimming over the words like a water bug across the surface of a pool. "Xehanort's always done that, and it's just now bothering you?"
Ienzo blinks, and then a grin spreads across his face. "Yeah, you're right."
"I know what I saw, Master," Char gasps. Her eyes are wide and glazed with fear and the exhaustion of running all the way through the Postern from the bailey. "Xehanort was walking with Braig and the others, and then those Heartless came along, and then they –"
…and then they…
…they…
Her breaths come in fast, desperate little gulps: almost of someone who wants and needs to cry, knows the situation merits crying, and yet they cannot muster the energy for tears.
Her master's amber eyes survey her almost calculatingly, as though weighing his only female apprentice's trustworthiness against the other six. For him, it's clearly no contest. He looks away, his eyes downcast in shame.
"If that is the case, then we are already too late."
"So, who's this kid that your friend wants us to meet?" Char asks, pushing her hair out of her eyes with a glove-clad hand. The glasses are gone, revealing the true icy color of her eyes.
Her master merely gives her a reproving look, which somehow seems amplified through his single visible eye. "His name is Riku, and they will both be coming here soon enough."
"Tch," Char grumbles. "Sounds like a rip-off if you ask me."
"Tell me everything," Char demands, giving the silver-haired teen one of her illustrious glares. "How you got to Castle Oblivion, what you're fighting inside your heart… I'm so tired of secrets."
That night, as Anxclof slept, she too dreamed.
After Roxas had vanished, she had curled into a small, pathetic ball and cried in the no-restraint way of one who has just lost the only person that could ever comfort them. As night had gathered above her, so had the clouds, and so eventually her tears were hardly visible among the hammering raindrops that plastered her hair to her sides.
At last, as her tears ebbed, Anxclof had realized that if she didn't get to a shelter soon, she would probably catch a cold out in this rain, or worse. She found herself unable to summon the mental energy to conjure a portal, so in the end she had crawled under the awning of one of Sunset Terrace's shops and curled up in an attempt to keep warm. Somewhere in the back of her mind her core of steel was screaming about how pathetic and stupid this was and how she should get out of this pity party right now, but as of now, the pity party overwhelmed that voice.
Now, she had thought, she knew she had a heart, because it was breaking.
Somehow, even though every once in a while her shuddering breath was still interrupted by the hitch of a hiccup or sob, Anxclof had managed to close her eyes, lay her head on the wet ground, and go to sleep.
But, as Roxas had said, Nobodies didn't truly dream, as Anxclof discovered. Not really. These dreams were not of herself, but instead, of another life; a life that clearly was not her own.
The brunette stands in the middle of a circular, stained glass platform, emerald eyes wide with confusion and fear. "Where am I?" she murmurs, looking from side to side.
Almost in reply, a flash of light rends the darkness, and vanishes to reveal a slender, iridescent pale blue blade, with a square shaft at the end. The girl stares at it, mystified.
"Copperhead, for the last time, would you just leave me alone?" she snarls, glaring furiously at the long-haired blond boy. They stand alone in front of a deserted castle; despite the slits that her eyes have become in her anger, she looks no older than twelve. In sharp contrast to her enraged features, the boy's violet eyes give an impression of deceptive naïveté, although his strong jaw and broad shoulders makes him look about fifteen or sixteen at the most.
He simply grins in response, which only serves to infuriate her more. "It's not funny."
"Falcon, I beg to differ," Copperhead answered loftily. "It's quite funny how you insist on thinking that you don't like me –" here he leans forward, his honey-colored locks brushing against Falcon's shoulders; she attempts to meet his eyes with her glare, but fails miserably – "when I know you do."
For a moment the fury in her face dulls, to be replaced by shock. However, almost instantly, her composure is back. "Don't believe everything you hear, Nigel," Falcon snarls back, in a way that belies the redness tinting her cheeks.
Copperhead leans back, eyes widening. Before he can make a retort, Falcon has deliberately pushed past him and started back to town.
"Don't you think it's strange," Falcon remarks, tucking the violet scarf closer around her neck, "how our home's called the 'Shadowed Desert', and yet we can still get snow out here?"
They stand at the fence of a frozen ranch, watching the cattle move about inside. Falcon looks to be about fifteen now. Her head is tilted thoughtfully to the side so that her shoulder-length dark hair sways in the slight breeze.
Next to her, Copperhead, who looks almost the same as before, shrugs. He reaches out a black-gloved hand to catch one of the thickly falling snowflakes, which promptly tangles itself in the wool, and brings his hand back to gaze at it. "Well, you know what Jenkins said in bio – we tend to get some pretty extreme temperatures out here. Freezing in the winter, and hot enough to fry a polar bear in summer."
Falcon giggles, putting a hand over her mouth to half-muffle the sound. "Yeah. That's a pretty accurate comparison."
For a few minutes they stand in comfortable silence, arms braced to lean against the rail of the fence. Beyond them, the cattle stare longingly at the frost-clad grass.
Falcon finally speaks. "I feel so bad for them."
One dark blond eyebrow lifts over a violet eye – a violet that is the exact same shade of Falcon's scarf. "Who? The cows?"
"Well… yeah!" Falcon turns to give him a condescending look, a look that says this should be obvious. "They want to eat so badly, and yet they can't get anything until their master comes out to feed them."
Copperhead surveys Falcon oddly as she says this. By the time she's finished, a glitter has entered his gaze, a glitter that wasn't there before.
"Hn," he remarks. Falcon's face falls briefly, but then her eyes flick down at the brush of warmth against her mitten-clad hand. She watches almost anxiously as, with his thumb and forefinger, he takes hold of the cloth on the finger of her mitten. Carefully, in the way one would handle a broken-winged bird, he tugs the glove off; she feels the icy air hit her hand at once and nearly cries out at the cold.
"You feel a lot for a bunch of cows," he continues, not taking his hand from her now-bare one. Falcon doesn't have to look down to know that his thumb is now lightly stroking her hand.
She shrugs almost defensively, despite the fact that now her hand is tingling madly and turning warm despite the wintry air. Stop that, she orders mentally. "They're animals with wants and needs just like the rest of us."
"'Wants and needs'? Interesting choice of words."
Falcon opens her mouth to speak again, but is cut off by the feeling of something laying itself against her cheek. She hadn't noticed Copperhead moving to take one of his own gloves off as she had spoken. His hand is cold and trembles slightly against the side of her face, but she's absolutely certain that it's warming itself up through her blush.
"So," Copperhead whispers, reaching up to push her bangs back out of her eyes, "am I your cow?" (4)
Falcon can't hold back a laugh, a laugh that is muffled by his lips as he kisses her.
"Yes," she whispers against his chest, her arms tightly wrapped around his broad frame, his chin resting on the top of her head. "You are so absolutely my cow."
Around them, the snowflakes swirl and combine in the night wind.
"You're… you're kidding, right?" Falcon's voice nearly breaks. "Aren't you, Copperhead?"
In response, he only stares at the cold glass floor, and he sees the pathetic, sorrowful look in his eyes reflected back at him.
Falcon's voice turns harsh. "Answer me!"
"You don't just do that kind of thing and hope to stay with someone," the brunette snarls at the blond; but the intended effect is hampered slightly by the sound of her tears coming through her voice. "Things don't work that way, damn it, Copperhead! You're such a whore that you should know this by now!"
She turns on her heel and runs, back through the forest, back through the fields, back to town, while Copperhead stares after her with a look like a deer in the headlights and his long hair plastered to his cheeks by the driving rain.
A flash of lightning briefly illuminates his face, and he seems to finally realize that the moisture flowing down his face isn't the rain after all.
Anxclof awoke with a start. The sun was in the exact same spot it had been last night, being that this was Twilight Town, but from her internal clock, the Nobody managed to gather that the sun should just be peeking above the horizon.
She sat up, groaning at the stiffness of her limbs, and pushed the stringy hair out of her eyes. The dreams, unnaturally vivid for what Xemnas had described as "dreams", whirled through her mind like a camera playing on an endless loop.
In that moment, Anxclof knew what her true name was.
(1) This is an allusion to that ANNOYING fight you have with him in the cavern in the Underworld. Did anybody else think that he was a pain in the ass there?
Char: Isn't he a pain in the ass everywhere?
Me: YUP! ...but ESPECIALLY in the ass.
Char: --;
(2) Lol. That was actually the exact thought that I had the first time I saw that cutscene.
(3) Thus begins the shiny flashback sequence that, I think, fully redeems the crappier beginning and middle of this mostly-filler chapter!
(4) Gahaha. I really have no clue what I was thinking when I wrote that line. xD Seriously, try it, guys; it's a great pickup line.
Char: For suckers like Falcon, anyway...
Falcon: ...(twitch)
Me: I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY.
Char: Except that everyone should know who Anxclof's Other is by now... Seriously, could you have made it ANY more obvious in those flashbacks?
Me: Well, at least I didn't give away why Falcon was yelling at Copperhead at the end!
Char: ...
Me: I rest. My. Case. :P Also, is it bad to be infatuated with your own character? (shifty eyes)
Copperhead: Oh, Saf. You don't have to pretend for me. (wink)
Me: (swoon)