salebra -ae f. [jolting; a rough patch of road]; of style , [ruggedness].
Act III, Scene Two: Salebra: Old feelings and new.
note: switching to avarielle's point-of-view for this super-long chapter. behold my angsty goodness.
Avarielle thought she had managed to heal her companion's wounds, but she was worried about not cleaning them beforehand. His torn clothes she could do nothing to repair, and merely tied the ripped tendrils of cloth back around his legs.
She looked at Riku's face and gained nothing from it. His dark blindfold was now secure, and his hair hung so haphazardly across his features so that all she could see of his pale face was the straight line of his mouth.
He was more of a mystery than ever to her. Funny, she'd seen nothing new of his heart in the Portal of Thought this time. She had only being remembering her spat with Kairi—
No, no way. He hadn't seen that! No, she had been concentrating too hard the whole time for him to not to see it, not to do anything that might harm his friendship, his admiration for that girl…
Had he seen it…or hadn't he?
She couldn't tell.
"The castle is up there," the woman told him. She inspected a pedestal nearby. It had some sort of stone in it and was glowing faintly. She placed her hand cautiously over it, and before she knew it the stone was ten times as brilliant and some sort of platform had appeared.
Her eyes fell on his throat and the pronounced Adam's apple that hung there. He had swallowed, and now his tongue was running along dry lips. Did he recognize this place? Come to think about it, the setting seemed eerily familiar. It was like a setting from a dream, what with the drifting clouds beneath and the towering, cream-colored castle rising far above.
"Tell me…is something here to take us…up there?"
Ava turned from the pedestal, surprised at his words. "You know it?"
"I wish I didn't," he muttered. "Let's go."
They stepped onto the platform and soon they were rushing upward, almost as though they were flying instead. They were nearer to the great building now, perhaps on a walkway. Through a gate the two carefully stepped, up a few stairs. Before them, a little ways around, lay two ominous double-doors.
"Who lives here? I don't want to disturb anyone…"
It was so quiet. She let go of his hand momentarily and shivered.
"Do you hear that?" Riku's arms darted out and as he stepped forward.
"Hear—oh, yes, now I do!" Ava raised her head at the sound. "It sounds like someone's crying."
"It sounds like a baby," he said, shadows thickly layered over his words. "What in the world would a baby be doing here?"
"A baby?" Her heart began to race. She'd never seen a baby before! Oh, what a glorious thing to imagine!
"Ava?"
She looked back and realized she had started to run for the sound, practically forgetting Riku. Without a word, she took up his forearm again in light fingers and pressed forward.
"Shh! Honey, calm down, won't you?"
They were words, faint words, but they came from somewhere close. Ava jerked her head up and saw a flash of brown hair over the rail of a terrace. The baby was still crying, but that baby was in the arms of someone.
"Hello!" Avarielle called over the gap. She wondered if she was being heard, or why she had announced herself so plainly as to rule out any future covertness. But the dark-skinned woman was tilting upward, her neck straining to see something she had always longed to see…
Pure innocence.
"Is somebody down there?"
"Yes! We're here! Excuse us!" Ava was out of breath and her neck muscles were screaming as loud as her voice was. Someone was up there.
She saw a sparkle of pink.
"I'll be down in a minute—do wait there, if you could!" The sweet, floating voice drifted down to the two travelers.
"That woman…her voice sounds a little familiar to me."
"Yes?" Ava said, unclasping her hands from the rail and standing next to Riku.
"I think she might have been one of Sora's friends."
Avarielle sucked the cool, misty air into her lungs, trying to calm down. Sora? Friends? A baby?
One of the huge double doors swung open majestically, as a thing like it was apt to do. From inside spilled pools of warm yellow light onto the dull gray stone. There was a woman dressed in a pink dress with a long, light chocolate braid.
"Travelers?" she asked, her voice smooth and pleasant as she approached. She was very pretty indeed.
Riku's muscles tensed as his blindfolded eyes strained to see—something they would never do again.
"Welcome to Hollow Bastion," the stranger said a little mysteriously, her rose-colored lips curving into a slight half-moon. Emerald eyes fell on Riku's scarred and recently bare legs. "Please come inside. It's been a long time since we had any guests."
Riku shifted uncomfortably, but the honesty on the woman's face was unmistakable, and Avarielle felt a tug at her heartstrings.
"I think I trust her," Ava whispered to Riku from the corner of her mouth.
The muscles in his face were frozen.
Oh, what could be going on in that mind of his?
"Aerith, I can't do anything with him," complained a muted male voice from indoors.
"Honey, I'm sure you can—just rock him a little!" called back the woman over her shoulder. Her attention refocused on Riku, and she took her large, soft eyes up and down him, catching everything from the silver hair and the black blindfold under it to the slight swaying of his feet.
"Excuse us, Miss Aerith. My name is Avarielle, and this is Riku. He's my partner." This last part came out curiously, when the woman's voice actually broke from hesitation.
"Riku?" Recognition flashed across delicate features, but Aerith soon shook it off. "The night grows cold. Let's go inside."
Riku reluctantly held his arm back up and Ava took it. They followed Aerith into a large room, accented by two large stairways the curved down to the main floor. There were a few doors up above, and a walkway on the next story beneath the same ceiling. The place was modestly decorated, but enough pale carpet and paintings of the great outdoors were present in order to take away the musty, chilly feel of the castle.
The great door swung shut again. Ava and Riku both spun, but only Ava could see the blond man with spiky hair and glowing eyes who had closed it. There seemed to be something lurking deep within him, but, whatever it was, the precious bundle in his arms washed the surface of it away.
The baby, for that is what the man with the icy glare held, was still crying, but a little bit more quietly than before. The adult was gently heaving the baby up and down.
"My sweet," said Aerith, coming to the small child and pressing her lips against a yet unseen forehead.
"Oh, can I see?" the newcomer asked, and sprinted forth when her host nodded.
He was beautiful.
He was small and pink, with tiny fingers and tiny toes. The nose was small, the teeth just emerging, but the eyes were big and glowing. They were a light shade of green and stretched very wide at this point. His mouth was big too, but only because he wailed.
"He needs some quiet now," Aerith said to the man. "Go set him down." She looked at Ava's anxious face and promised, "I'll let you play with him tomorrow night. He's only just discovered the rattle."
With a nod and without a single word, the man nodded and left, the baby now cradled close to his chest. He headed up one of the staircases and disappeared into one of the doors.
Ava's mood soared for the skies. She had seen a baby! Her chest felt warm from the heart's renewed throbbing within.
"You'll have to excuse Cloud," Aerith began, leaving the draft from beneath the door. Her feet paced carefully. "He's nervous about this parenting thing. We were only married a year ago."
Ava had to grope her memories thoroughly for all bits and piecing relating to love and marriage and children and families. She had hardly known any of it, and that in her first few years of life.
"So you two got together?" Riku said from somewhere closer to the entrance. He was still among the shadows, although he couldn't have done that purposely…
"Yes. We were childhood sweethearts until…until it all happened."
Avarielle soon got the impression that Riku and Aerith knew exactly what each other was talking about and she was being left to struggle in a sea of ignorance.
"At that time, you were separated…"
"But the worlds were restored and we came back here to make our home… We came upon it once more."
"So the Heartless have left this world forever?"
"It's been sealed."
"And the room of the Keyhole?"
"Left to decay and gather dust. We don't touch many of…his rooms anymore…"
"How many people are left in this place?"
"A few dozen. They all—well, most—came back from the darkness."
"Because of him."
"Yes, his heart was strong."
"Despite—"
"Yes, despite it all. Let's go on now."
Ava remained quiet, guiding Riku up each stone step and into a large library filled with colorful tomes that looked as though they weren't left alone long enough to gather much dust. Her eyes scanned the titles, and she found herself wanting to inspect each one.
Who was he, and who was the other he?
Through her mind began to run images—experiences she felt neither she nor Riku could possible have had. It was strange, much like a waking dream. She saw the castle in its presumably former glory. She saw flashes of a much younger Aerith and Cloud, as well as several children she could not recognize. She felt her eyes pouring over notes in a stranger's handwriting, and she felt the weight of an unfamiliar object in her hand.
It was so strange to start to remember events that never happened to you. Why would these be coming to her now?
"This place…I remember it too well," Riku said, his steps slowed by heavy thoughts. He gulped again.
"Squall!"
Ava snapped her head up. A man with longish brown hair was racing toward him, a strange looking sword at the ready as he charged.
"I heard there were intruders," the newcomer explained, sheathing his weapon with the strange hilt.
"They're our guests," Aerith explained calmly. "This is Avarielle and this," she said before pausing for effect, "is Riku."
"Riku?"
"Yes…" Riku said, and Ava found herself shivering again instinctively. She wondered why he had to sound so cryptic all the time.
"Very well then. How did you get here?"
"Oh, Squall…!" came a sing-songy voice. Ava looked past Squall's shoulder and saw a shorter girl with a ninja outfit coming up, her bare legs racing easily across the tile floor. In her hands was a strange weapon—it looked almost like a metal star.
The girl stopped short a mere pace in front of Squall. She put one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead (somehow managing not to slice anything, but that was but a small mystery). "These are the intruders? What exactly you were making such a big deal about before?"
Squall shifted uncomfortably, and it was all too reminiscent of Riku. What was up with all these moody men?
"You can't always judge by appearances," Aerith tried to put in helpfully.
"But I can sense it as well as you two can," Squall said as way of admitting his own mistake. "They are not Heartless."
Riku snorted to himself, and it was only because Ava had been living with him in such close quarters that she even noticed. The bitterness that slowly crept into his manner saddened the woman.
"Well, look, me and Cid were in the middle of fixing up some of the old machines in the basement, so if I can get back to that…" The ninja walked up to Ava and then Riku, vigorously shaking each of their hands. Riku stepped back with tremendous surprise as soon as he was touched, but the shorthaired woman really couldn't care less.
"The name's Yuffie. Yuffie Kisaragi. Catch y'all later!" She waved and skipped out, still swinging around her metal star in the air.
"This is Squall Leonheart—or just Leon, if he feels like being picky," teased Aerith. She grinned at her companion, who seemed substantially less amused.
Avarielle nodded to him, and the man responded by meeting her eyes for a second.
Maybe this Hollow Bastion place had a habit of making people moody. But the women seemed cheerful enough, so…
"You didn't answer my question," Squall reminded them.
Ava was about to summarize their journey when she was interrupted.
"I don't feel like answering it now," Riku said coldly. "I'm tired."
Aerith nodded. "I'll take care of you two. We have a few guestrooms in the south wing. Let's go."
They went slowly along after Squall waved goodbye. It was dark and there were plenty of small steps here and there, so Ava had to be careful in her job of getting Riku around safely. She could tell from the way his arm tensed that he was becoming less and less patient with all the fuss.
A nap would do him some good.
"Let's see…" Aerith coughed. "This area hasn't been used for a long time, so the hallway's a little dusty. I think the rooms are all right, though." She pushed the first door open and it squeaked before swinging open into a dim room.
"I'll take it," Riku decided before he set foot inside.
Ava peeked her head in and looked around the wood-paneled, carpeted bedchamber. There was a four-poster bed, a dresser with a large mirror, and a bedside table. A small door led to a bathroom on the right side. She quickly explained this to Riku.
"I'm all right, then," Riku said, feeling his way along the wall.
"Going to rest?" Avarielle wondered.
"I said I was all right."
Ava backed off while Aerith closed the door.
"I'm sure you'd like a good bath," Aerith said, a large, friendly smile revealing her white teeth. She clasped her hands together across her chest. "All the way down this hall is such a nice room. It has an antique porcelain bathtub twice the size of the other ones."
Avarielle hadn't had a nice relaxing soak since the whole mess started. She nodded eagerly. "That sounds wonderful!"
"All right, it's the one around the corner and way at the end…"
She must have been laying in the steaming water for an hour and a half by the time the woman climbed out of the deep bathtub and went about drying herself with the large towel. Her skin, though looking a bit like prunes, felt clean and soft. Her hair clung to her naked body in little curls as water poured gently over her in little rivulets.
She went sorting through her satchel and found her nightgown, which she had tied up until a ball and stashed away not so long ago. Before Ava had even bathed, she had washed all her clothes in the washbasin and hung them to dry from lines on the ceiling, so the nightgown was the only thing left for her to wear.
The indulgence of the bath had been the first time she had taken the time to feel feminine for—well, she couldn't really remember. Ava pulled the nightgown over her head and resigned herself to sit on the edge of the bed and comb through her unruly hair.
As she tugged the instrument down each strand, as the knots chose to be good and unravel or, instead, go about things the hard way and be ripped out by the comb's teeth, she got to thinking about the scars on her body she had seen during the bath. The fading bruises on her arms and legs, the scratch that ran from her navel around to the small of her back…as well as the others she didn't want to think about.
She found herself pulling harder with the comb, and the knots had no time to fight or surrender. She tore through them, snatching some long strands from her scalp as well.
"Is it true?"
Rip.
"Him… He's your customer?"
Rip.
"You so easily put your arms around me—how hard is it to be affectionate with me when you do it any night for the highest bidder?"
Rip.
"Where did you go to have someone hit you?"Rip.
Ava threw down the comb. If she went on any longer, she'd probably end up bald. Besides, she needed her hands free to wipe the tears that refused to stay in her eyes.
Why was it that things had never seemed wrong until Riku found a problem with it?
She would take a customer, he would usually treat her badly, but she would get the money to eat and the wounds would eventually heal.
"Excuse me?"
It was Aerith, standing at a door that had gone ajar, her eyes filled with concern when she saw Ava sitting there hugging herself, her hair half frazzled and her eyes red.
Aerith slipped in and shut the door behind her. "It's not good to cry by yourself, you know."
"You heard me?"
Ava's heart raced. If Aerith had heard, than Riku surely would have—
"No. I just came to see if you wanted to come down for some hot chocolate. But I see you're going to crawl into bed?" Her voice was tender and sweet, like a ballad song. She walked over, bare feet sinking gently into plush carpet, before bending down to retrieve Ava's comb.
Avarielle sniffed. She was not used to crying in front of people. Especially strangers. It was so odd to encounter those whose hearts went untouched by darkness, people who had genuine concern, even for an 'intruder'.
"Here," the brunette said, sitting down on the bed so that she was kneeling behind Ava. "I'll finish your hair."
Ava nodded and she felt Aerith draw back a section and begin to very gently tug the comb through at the tips before working her way up.
Aerith giggled.
"Hmm?"
"No, I just feel like a teenage girl again. My friends and I used to do each other's hair." Aerith finished with one section and left it to lay in front of Avarielle's shoulder.
"Ah," replied the one with dark skin, touching the hair with some wistfulness. She had never had any friends. The only one who had ever brushed her hair for her had been Ava's mother.
"But I suppose it's all changed now…" Aerith seemed reflective, but not altogether sad. "I wonder if everyone is safe?"
"Your friends? You've lost them?"
"Through time, yes," she said. "But I'm sure they're all right."
There was silence, but it was neither awkward nor sad. That part came next.
"If I could ask…why were you crying?"
"I was just thinking about some things."
"Sad things? Or happy things that have gone by?"
"Sad…" Ava had her hands folded in her lap.
"Does it have to do with Riku?"
"How did you know?"
"Mmm." Aerith shrugged. "But you and Riku are still together."
"We're just partners."
"But you are together; you can still talk to each other. You can still patch things up between you two and be friends."
"It's not that…"
"You want something more?"
"No. I mean, I don't know." Avarielle sighed. Where to begin? How many things had happened so far—how many were yet to happen—that would prevent any true friendship between Riku and her?
"Riku he seems to me like he's a very passionate person. He's confused on the inside, so he forces himself to choose a goal and then runs, full speed, straight for it. He runs so fast he doesn't even consider changing course, and ignores all doubts that arise."
"You know him?" How well?
"Years ago, I did—somewhat. I was one of Sora's friends."
At the mention of Sora's name, Ava felt something get stirred up inside her chest. Sora… There was so much longing attached to a single word.
"You know Sora, too?"
"No…not really. I mean, I've never met him." She found it hard to believe the words she was speaking, even though she knew them to be the truth.
"Oh, all right," Aerith said, but she sounded doubtful. "Sora was incredible. I wonder what's become of him now."
"He's not home yet."
"What?"
"The last place we went was Destiny Islands, Riku and Sora's childhood home. Apparently, he hasn't come back. Everyone else was restored to their worlds when the Door at Kingdom Hearts was sealed, except for those two…"
She noticed that Aerith had stopped combing her hair. Ava turned around to face the kneeling woman, only to find her staring straight ahead, as if in shock. The comb was clenched in her hand.
"If-If Sora isn't back yet…it means that the threat isn't over."
Avarielle nodded slowly. She could see how it upset Aerith, but soon Caelestis and the journey after the Heartless was explained.
Aerith insisted that they go tell the others, and before Ava could do anything, she was racing along at the woman's side as they made for an emergency meeting with Cloud, Squall, Cid, and Yuffie.
When Ava had finally retold her story for the fourth and most frustrating time, she added, "I don't think this universe is in danger any longer. Didn't Sora seal all the worlds?"
"He did, but I'd hate for any world to fall to darkness." Aerith had her baby again, and was gripping the bundle with love and fear. Cloud sat next to her, arms crossed over his chest as his eyes watchfully scanned the library. He seemed disinterested, but Ava thought this could just be an act.
The man named Cid seemed much older than his companions, although he still had blond hair held back by a pair of goggles on his forehead. Currently, he was puffing away at a cigarette, muttering about the "damn Heartless."
"Caelestis," said Squall, and the ethereal tone of his voice didn't seem to be an accident.
"You know it?" Ava wondered, clutching her pendant right over her heart.
"The city of heaven," the man said, slowly walking forward. "Where everything was first created. Where life was born."
"Before the worlds were separated, there was one world of infinity…" quoted Avarielle, the words of the dusty old book coming back to her in a rush.
"You know that scripture?" Squall's face now showed emotion: curiosity with a hint of amusement.
Ava spun, turning away from the group of people whose eyes were so intently set on her. "It's all lies now. Caelestis is no longer anything but a city of sin."
"But you survived it."
"Survival. It is humanity's most primal instinct," Cloud interjected coolly.
Her words turned a little vicious and angry. Man, her own race, seemed an enemy sometimes. "I know all about primal instincts."
Yuffie whistled.
"Don't make light of her situation, Yuffie," Aerith said severely.
"I survived Caelestis—but what has it gotten me? The darkness there taints every heart." Ava was only wearing her nightgown, and her bare arms grew cold. The old castle was full of drafts.
"If you were in another universe entirely, how did you get to the Destiny Islands—and here?" Squall didn't seem to be asking anyone in particular. He simply pondered the question aloud.
"I don't really know. We've gone, well, wherever the Portal of Thought takes us."
"Your journey is decided by your memories." Cloud spoke for the second time, and his wife seemed intrigued by this rarity.
"The Portal of Thought is the space between the Doors to Light and Dark," Squall explained when Yuffie looked up at him cluelessly. "It stretches from the Door to the Darkness to the Door to the Light, and all worlds exist in between."
"I've never been to any 'Portal of Thought,'" the ninja muttered.
"It can only be taken by those who have passed through a Door. Normal people couldn't handle being separated from their bodies."
Yuffie looked over at Ava with a new sort of respect and interest.
"You also went to Compitum, correct?" Squall asked.
"Yes."
"That's the crossroads of the universes," he said to Yuffie, who glared up at him.
"I'm not a child," the girl complained. "You just—"
"Let's move on," Aerith broke in, wanting to prevent an argument.
"I also want to talk about the Keyblades," Squall announced.
"I really don't know much about them, except for what Vincent told us…"
"Vincent?"
Ava's eyes flew over to the shrieking Yuffie. "Yes…"
"Oh, it's nothing…" The girl licked her lips. "I just thought I remembered that name…"
"It does sound familiar," Aerith agreed. "But I can't tell. What were you saying, Miss Ava?"
"I was talking about what Vincent and Quistis told us about the Keys—"
"Damn!" Squall swore, letting his hand meet his forehead with a satisfying smack! "The worlds are more mixed up than I thought!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
that sure was a doozy (sp?), wasn't it? this chapter was about twice as long as most of mine (4,000 words compared to 2,000), but i couldn't find a good place to equally split it. i worked on it a little over the week (by the way, going back to school kinda sucks), but the bulk of it was done today (saturday).
actually, a lot of the stuff i wanted to do from ava's viewpoint didn't end up happening and i took it in another direction instead…so the next scene might be her as well (and wow! is it ever easier to write from someone's view if he isn't blind! good goodness!)
btw, i can't think of a good name for cloud and aeris/aerith's son. he'll probably go unnamed. speaking of that, i've been thinking about how fatalis will end… but it's rough going with all my new paranoia about "mary sues" and the like. (no, i have nothing against them, their followers, or even the people who hate them. i'm not getting involved in that mess).
well, tell me what you think! ^_^