Destroyed
Chapter Four: Of Cabbages and Kings
Yuffie looked up from straightening the bed linen, and smiled. The smiles came much easier for her now than they had a few months ago. It didn't feel to her now like a simple smile was somehow breaking a honoured memory of home, making their memory somehow less by enjoying her present situation.
Aeris smiled back hesitantly, and moved to the chair at Yuffie's table, drawing it out and then sitting down. Her small hands folded on the table top and soft brown hair covered her eyes in the manner she always had, when thinking to herself.
Frowning a little, the small worry crease appearing between her straight brows, the young ninja tucked in the corners of the sheet. It was one of her duties she had taken upon herself, the regular domestic chores. All but cooking, Aeris seemed happier when cooking and Yuffie wasn't as much of a whizz in the kitchen as she liked to think. Secretly the ninja pitied the man who would ever end up being her husband, forced to eat endless dinners of burnt, too much salt or undercooked.
~ I wonder how she feels about all this. She never speaks of it to either Leon or I.. but because she doesn't say anything, doesn't mean she's hurting too.~
The dark grey eyes of Yuffie watched the ancient as she looked up from studying her hands and at the small vase of white tulips Yuffie had bought from market, earlier that day. A small spot of brightness in a world where shadows were rapidly closing in.
"They're very pretty.." Aeris murmured, reaching out to stroke a velvety petal with a trembling fingertip.
"They don't often get tulips down at the market, and I always remember you telling me about how you grew a lot of tulips back in Midgar," she kept her tone light and conversation. If she wanted the Ancient to open and talk to her, then trying to intimidate the conversation out of her was not going to work.
Aeris jerked her hand away reflexively, and from that small motion she could tell that the ancient was deeply involved in thinking about home a lot, so much so that reminders of it made her guilty. Yuffie tucked in the last corner, and shoeless as was the custom to be in Wutai homes, she backed up to study her handiwork.
"I guess I'm not so bad at dealing with beds anymore. I'm still more used to sleeping on the floor," she smiled ruefully and looked over at Aeris, who was back to studying her hands. The smile crumbled a bit.
~ How will she ever learn to cope if she can't trust us with her feelings? ~
Letting her hands slide from her hips, the position she had adopted when studying the bed, Yuffie padded in her socks over to the table and drew up a chair across from Aeris. "You want a drink?" she asked.
"No, I'm not thirsty, but thank you for being so thoughtful."
"Hey, it's alright. I remember in Wutai, when I was little, my old man used to wake me up each morning with a glass of water, telling me 'drink it now, or I throw it over you to get you out of bed, sleepyhead'." she laughed softly at her own mimicking, and even Aeris cracked the smallest of smiles.
"That sounds rather harsh for a father."
"Nah," Yuffie leant back, feeling the smile at remembering him. "We might not have gotten along when I got older, but that's just that way it goes sometimes. When I was little, after mother had died in the attacks on Wutai by Shinra, he was all I had left in the world to cling to, and me him. It was special."
"I understand, I often felt that way about Elmyra."
"And the planet?"
The ancient lifted those startling green eyes to stare at her wordlessly, then she lowered her face and nodded, "yes, the planet too. The planet let me speak with my birth mother, let me feel the world so I didn't feel alone... or trapped."
"Do you feel trapped now?" the ninja girl asked softly, then watched as tears slid down the parts of Aeris' cheeks she could see. Silence hung there a moment, until Aeris murmured:
"I don't know how to cope."
"I.. well." Yuffie lifted a mailed hand and scrubbed it through her hair with a sigh, "well, maybe you should stop focusing on the past. You never used to, maybe you should rethink that outlook on life."
"Everyone's gone."
"No, they're not," At the vehement words, Aeris looked up and stared at her, and Yuffie forced herself to shut up.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because.. because no one is ever truly gone unless you hold them in your heart, right?" Exasperated the younger girl stood up and went back to the bed to sort out the top sheets and duvet.
There was a silence, punctuated only by the sound of the ninja working tirelessly at the daily chores.. then arms slid round her middle and Aeris cried on her shoulder softly. Stiffening, Yuffie didn't know what to do but let the fey woman cry.
"I'm sorry," choked the ancient. "I just miss them so much."
Yuffie sighed. Perhaps now everything would start moving along in a much easier fashion, perhaps Aeris would be able to live, instead of clinging to the past. "So do I," murmured Yuffie, thinking sadly of Wutai, the people she had left behind, betrothed, family, friends.. "So do I."
* * * * * * * * * *
The sensation of simply watching him was always far better than actually, bodily being there to torment the inner demons of the man, of the puppet.
He worked and toiled without complaint on his routines and exercises, at hand to the Overlord of death and decay, always offering ear and support, or guidance. He mused on these strange events, whilst eyeing the wing and claw, the shadows that pooled about the man who had once been a close enough friend and confidant for the General.
His hair was still blond and spiked in the ridiculous fashion that had long since ceased to be fashionable on their world, he carried himself with pride and arrogance, and the determined glint in his eyes spoke of the strength to go through with whatever needed to be done.
Oh yes, the shadows saw deeply into this one. They saw the madness he had suffered, the pain he enjoyed and stroked like someone would a lover. They carressed his ego and yet stayed firmly away form him, as if he too were outside their sphere of understanding. What drove him onwards and kept him alive made even the Heartless curdle and turn from.
He knew what the puppet stayed alive for.
A single wish to see perfect green eyes again, crinkled with humour at edges. To hear a sweet laugh and see forever in the flowers she grew. Pink clothed and full of sunshine, yes he needed her.
A link to his past.
A key to his future.
Perhaps soon he should take advantage of this situation. He had heard rumours of Ansem beyond the doors of darkness, seeking a pathway into the hearts of innocence. The plots of the fabled and feared as they drew to them the beginnings of the princesses of heart, and how soon they would begin to research the ways to unlock the door.
He would be there, waiting for them to do the hard work, only to snatch it from their hands at the last minute.
Gloating in the shadows, then green eyes glowed and sparked with hunger.. then slid down into darkness.. and out of sight.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The note had been encrypted.
He held it in his ermine gloved hands and studied it, his normally cheerful expression harrowed by doubt and dismay. It was early in the morning, and no doubt the Queen was abed for the night after such a long and tiring day in court, dealing with proclamations and rumours that had sparked fear amongst the populace.
It read:
"One who knows the Key wishes to further knowledge by sharing. Unlock your heart and come to the brink of all worlds, traverse carefully. The Ancient"
Heartless.
He had feared his day for a long time, and yet always knew it would come.
The king glanced back at the double doors, through which his wife slept soundlessly and deeply. "I'm sorry Minne," he whispered, voice a soft trail in the night.
He would depart as soon as possible. He knew the consequences, was aware of what was happening. Only now with a new rumour that yet another world had been swallowed by shadows, he dared not take any chances. The king would take only the smallest of bundles and of course..
He looked over at the glass case and the strange sword inside it, shaped like a key.
He would take the Keyblade that was rightfully his.
* * * * * * * * * *
Aeris worked hard the next few days.
Yuffie seemed happier for her finally opening up to her, and even started helping with cooking, learning what she could. A new wave of refugees came in from the world outside, some dogs to whome they found a generous house owner, willing to give them some place to stay. A beast like creature that simply drifted through, snarling about finding someone named Belle, and the usual stragglers with dead eyes and hope lost on their faces.
Aeris had been as kind and gentle as she could with these survivors, Yuffie seeming to cope better with the children than she could, finding games to play and distractions for them.
Leon had gone after the beast creature, and talked iwth it. The talk must have been short for he returned half an hour later, sword over his shoulder and a grim expression on his face.
The ancient had no time to question him, early that evening for with the breaking of another world and the seals to it, came also a visitor she had expected for some time, dressed in paltry rags and with his face covered. The figure was small and slight, carrying a strange leather scrip at it's side, as a hand gloved banged on the ringer at the front desk.
She had just put dinner on the table as it rang, and with a small sigh of annoyance, for she was hungry, Aeris went to the front desk.
Pushing aside the drapes, she emerged and said, "Can I.." then stopped and looked down, "help..you?"
"I am looking for the one who wrote this?"
The hooded figures voice was high pitched, but she took the note from the fingers that awkwardly offered it to her, and unfolded it.
Reading it, she then looked back down in disbelief at the strange figure who drew back it's hood to reveal a mouse like face, and ears, but the eyes glimmered with intelligence. Knowing better than to be shocked, after all, Red was one of her best friends, or had been, Aeris offered a smile.
"King Mickey, I presume?"
"Yes, you are the Ancient?"
"Call me Aeris," she offered, then glanced back at where Yuffie and Leon were arguing over who got the last bread roll. Perhaps offering to take him into the living room wasn't such a great idea, so she turned back and said, "We have a lot to discuss. Perhaps we should, er, go to my room."
"Why no-" a great sqwuak sounded, "Oh.." The king grinned as Aeris lifted part of the counter and then dropped it when she was on the other side.
"Follow me, your majesty," she said softly, then assuming he would follow, began walking down the corridor towards her red room. The king followed, the alternating clip clap of his shoes on the floor confirming it.
Courteously, for she had never been in the presence of royalty but manners had never deserted the Cetra child, she opened the door for him and let him slide in before she closed the door. The king took up a seat on the edge of the bed, and clasped his hands in front of him, the strange long leather scrip propped up beside him.
Aeris locked the door, and then turned to study the king a moment before asking finally, "You have seen stars going out?"
"Of course, and it has finally begun to worry me for whilst I know my castle is a home to those wanderers who can find it, I also know Traverse is doing what it can."
"The sad truth is, of course, that when the shadows find Traverse, if Leon, Yuffie and I cannot stand against them, then we surely will fail." Aeris looked away, trying to hide the bitterly sharp expression.
Another world.
Another...failure?
"Leon is here?"
"Yes."
The king nodded and then smiled, "He is a good man, Leon. He was the first to alert me to the shadows that began around the place named Hollow Bastion, and also the fate that befell your worlds." His eyes flickered down to her skirt and she too looked down. Her small hands were deadlocked in the material of her skirt, rumpling it in anxiety. Carefully, she made herself let go and smooth out the clothing. He removed his eyes back towards her face, and she endured that analysing gaze.
"I won't see this world fail," she whispered softly.
"Of course not. What did you call me here to tell me?"
The ancient finally let out a small sigh and moved to take a seat on the smaller futon she used for a comfortable couch. Her legs curled up to her chest automatically, a childhood defensive manouver learnt from living the streets and trying to avoid the avarice and anger of children. "More an exchange of knowledge. Can you tell me what you know about the worlds?"
He lifted an eyebrow sardonically.
"I mean," she hurried on, "why are people now moving between one and the other? The last time I experienced only such a breach was in death.." she trailed off, then said again, in a much softer voice if possible. "I don't understand why now people are able to move from one state to another."
"Alright," chirped the king, and set his hands apart to give her some kind of visual construct with which to work. Aeris watched him intently. "Imagine these hands are say, your world and Leon's. They have never met each other, never passed into each other, yet every single world is more than aware of the possibility of other worlds brushing theirs. Right?"
She nodded. Old texts and even the scholars of cosmo canyon had always spoken of the worlds being close to others, of the Promised Land somehow being an "unseen" world. She too had lived in a different world to that of Cloud and Tifa. They had existed for a world of effects. She had lived ultimately for the cause, and no matter the means she would see her end acheived.
"Well," he continued, "think of it like a chain or something. One end is looped about your world, and another about Leon's. That is called connecting the worlds, through the means of doors. Well, not doors in the strictest of sense but all kind of folklore centres about the myth that if you open a door you could very well find a world on the other side. In this happenstance though, the myths are true. Doors can be opened between worlds. Someone opened the door to yours and Leon's, and the shadows called Heartless came in."
Aeris tried not to pale. Perhaps Ansem had been the opener of the door to her world, but the evil of Sephiroth had still lingered, waiting for a chance to take form again, and vengeance. He had been waiting for the shadows and creatures as heartless as he was. Ansem may have though that by opening the door he was gaining power over new worlds, but he was also letting out an older, much more primal evil.
"So that is what he does," she murmured.
"Who?"
Aeris blinked, and looked up, her cinnamon hair following the movement. The king was studying her with a tilted head and without volition she blushed, for speaking her thoughts aloud again for the second time in as many days. It was really becoming a bad habit of hers.
"The Keymaster, the chosen one to wield the keyblade."
"I see, I wield the Key of light." his hand patted the scrip at his side, "But it can only fight shadows, not unlock doors or hearts.. or lock them."
"Then who has the Keyblade we need?"
"You'll find him, soon I think. The light will not go unchallenged for this amount of time." He smiled and for a moment, Aeris felt reassured.
"Your majesty, what do you know of a man named Ansem?"
"I had heard he was a great scholar of his time. A man to be admired." King Mickey frowned, "You know something?"
"I do. A while back, he moved out into the world and made a home at Hollow Bastion, the edge of reason and worlds, and in the shadows there he began well. Experimenting."
"Experimenting?"
"With Heartless, and shadows. In his research I have read, I saw hints of madness not unlike some I have witnessed before. It was dark and terrible. I think... he is meaning to unlock the final door to the darkness."
"...No."
"I know," she shook her head helplessly and curled her arms about her knees, feeling the skin prickle and her hairs try to stand up on end. Shivering against the terrible ideas of Ansem and her own imagination, she looked up with baleful green eyes. "But, he needs the princesses of heart to do such a thing, seven women, each with a grace and power that is the key to opening the last door. I have managed to get the locations of a few, but the rest are a mystery to me."
"Ancient, I'm sure whatever you do will be a sucess, but, I also ask... may I see these reports?"
She dug a hand into the pocket of her dress and unfolded the precious leaves of paper, handing them over. The king read them quickly, then frowned and looked up with a chirp of, "But there are only four?"
"These are all I could find. I think the pages may be scattered and lost over the worlds, incase Ansem ever thought someone would try and trace his movements, try to stop him."
"Then my path is clear."
She now frowned as he got up from the bed and made his way to the door, dragging the scrip behind him, "Your Majesty?"
"Don't worry about me, just keep the refugees safe and find a way for everyone, and for yourself." He grinned, hand on the door as it clicked and opened, without the key she had in her pocket.
Her eyebrows went up in surprise, then she lifted a hand, "Wait, one last thing, if you don't mind?"
"Of course...what is it?"
"I..well.." she swallowed, "when Ansem opened the door to my world, it was also a two way thing, right? Well.. there was a man who had lived on my world, a Jenova creature. He is powerful, please, if you see him then treat him like the source of all madness."
The king seemed to weigh her for a long moment with his polished black eyes, then he nodded and slid through the door. As it clanged shut, Aeris looked down at her trembling hands and sighed.
Sephiroth unleashed, and visits from the king. Madness and darkness, world and unseen worlds. Causes and effects. Where she stood, she didn't know. But what she did know, was that the delicately seasoned cabbage stew she'd made would likely be eaten by now, by two locusts, and with a slight smile she got to her feet and then trailed her way from the red room, and echoes of the past.
* * * * * * * * * * *
He liked standing here.
Something about the stars comforted him, and made this place seem more real, less of a dream he was afraid would vanish with a brush of his fingertips. His elbows were leant over the balustrade, and he smiled to himself.
Sometimes he could almost hear the shouts of Zell, yelling about hot dogs or rather the accurate lack of them. Quistis would come tapping by in her boots, expression grave and serious, with reports in her hands as she murmured to herself about class examinations and schedules. Even the joyful barking of Angelo as Rinoe played endlessly with him.
They were all locked inside him, memories of his world and loves and friends. Of a place he had finally come to love that had been ripped away from him.
Would she be ripped from him too?
"The stars are beautiful tonight."
He lifted a hand and brushed some of his carefully spiked hair from his eyes to look at the beautiful girl who had joined him in watching the night sky. She was small, willowy and with a forever hint of forgiveness about her smile. Hair the colour of burnt sugar spun down her back in a slack braid neatly finished off with her dark cerise ribbon. Then she moved and looked up at him, and smiled so the corners of those angelic eyes crinkled.
He smiled hesitantly back.
"I don't often look at the stars," she continued, resting her hands on the rail of the balcony, and tilted her head so she could see better. He was now fully riveted on watching her, etching her into his soul incase.. incase they took her too.
~ I'm so god damned insecure.. ~
"But, Tifa used to tell me stories about them. She spent a lot of her childhood watching the night sky for signs and omens. I think.. if you look up for too long, then you lose perspective." She smiled sadly, then laughed into a hand quickly brought up. How he adored her laugh and those tiny gestures she did.. "Red's grand-father actually used to say that, but I agree. Looking up for too long is bad and can ruin any ideas you have of the world about you."
"I like looking up, I can remember people when I do."
She blinked and looked at him, then lowered her face, bangs of golden brown covering a face only some kind of dream should wear. Beautiful. Achingly, he almost reached out.. then slid an arm tentively about her waist.
She stiffened briefly, then relaxed and smiled at him.
~ Friendly. Maybe that's all she's interpreting me as.. Aeris, I can't compete with a memory. ~
"People remain in our hearts, long..long after they are gone." Her eyes sparkled, sadly but also with acceptance. A lesson hard learned.
~ If I could heal your gentle heart.. but I'm as broken as you. ~
"I miss my world."
"So do I," he murmured, and tried to keep the trembling from his arm. How would Irvine do this? He'd.. make some quip up and then most likely flash her his most winning smile with offer of dancing and dinner..
That wouldn't work. Aeris wasn't your everyday kind of girl and neither was he an Irvine. More like a stone monolith for all the talent he had in chatting girls up. She leant against him and he shut his eyes.
"I wonder," she whispered.
"What?"
"I used to hear the Planet, it's song. My mother's voice, the chorus of the Cetra and hymns of days gone by. I lived in a dream, in a world apart from others." She looked up with shining eyes, "I gave my heart away once.. but it.."
"I understand."
Her eyes smiled when she did, and suddenly he felt like for once in his tongue tied life he'd managed to be as smooth, if not smoother than Kinneas. And he smiled fully in return.
To his surprise, her hand touched his cheek. "You have a beautiful smile, don't hide it."
Leon swallowed, and lifted his free hand to curl it over hers, "I won't, not from you."
"Good."
~ Do...it. ~
Slowly he bent his head, and kissed her on the lips. The skin felt soft and warm, tasting ever so slightly of honey. She smelled sweet, like her nature and for a moment his head span. Her hand tightened on his cheek, on his fingers, but she didn't pull away.
Moving back slightly, he touched the tip of his nose to hers, and studied her as Aeris opened her green eyes.. and smiled.
"Don't ever hide from me, Leon," she whispered warningly.
"Squall. Call me Squall."
She seemed to hesitate, then softly whispered, "Squall," as he leant down for another close cradled kiss under the stars..
Chapter Four: Of Cabbages and Kings
Yuffie looked up from straightening the bed linen, and smiled. The smiles came much easier for her now than they had a few months ago. It didn't feel to her now like a simple smile was somehow breaking a honoured memory of home, making their memory somehow less by enjoying her present situation.
Aeris smiled back hesitantly, and moved to the chair at Yuffie's table, drawing it out and then sitting down. Her small hands folded on the table top and soft brown hair covered her eyes in the manner she always had, when thinking to herself.
Frowning a little, the small worry crease appearing between her straight brows, the young ninja tucked in the corners of the sheet. It was one of her duties she had taken upon herself, the regular domestic chores. All but cooking, Aeris seemed happier when cooking and Yuffie wasn't as much of a whizz in the kitchen as she liked to think. Secretly the ninja pitied the man who would ever end up being her husband, forced to eat endless dinners of burnt, too much salt or undercooked.
~ I wonder how she feels about all this. She never speaks of it to either Leon or I.. but because she doesn't say anything, doesn't mean she's hurting too.~
The dark grey eyes of Yuffie watched the ancient as she looked up from studying her hands and at the small vase of white tulips Yuffie had bought from market, earlier that day. A small spot of brightness in a world where shadows were rapidly closing in.
"They're very pretty.." Aeris murmured, reaching out to stroke a velvety petal with a trembling fingertip.
"They don't often get tulips down at the market, and I always remember you telling me about how you grew a lot of tulips back in Midgar," she kept her tone light and conversation. If she wanted the Ancient to open and talk to her, then trying to intimidate the conversation out of her was not going to work.
Aeris jerked her hand away reflexively, and from that small motion she could tell that the ancient was deeply involved in thinking about home a lot, so much so that reminders of it made her guilty. Yuffie tucked in the last corner, and shoeless as was the custom to be in Wutai homes, she backed up to study her handiwork.
"I guess I'm not so bad at dealing with beds anymore. I'm still more used to sleeping on the floor," she smiled ruefully and looked over at Aeris, who was back to studying her hands. The smile crumbled a bit.
~ How will she ever learn to cope if she can't trust us with her feelings? ~
Letting her hands slide from her hips, the position she had adopted when studying the bed, Yuffie padded in her socks over to the table and drew up a chair across from Aeris. "You want a drink?" she asked.
"No, I'm not thirsty, but thank you for being so thoughtful."
"Hey, it's alright. I remember in Wutai, when I was little, my old man used to wake me up each morning with a glass of water, telling me 'drink it now, or I throw it over you to get you out of bed, sleepyhead'." she laughed softly at her own mimicking, and even Aeris cracked the smallest of smiles.
"That sounds rather harsh for a father."
"Nah," Yuffie leant back, feeling the smile at remembering him. "We might not have gotten along when I got older, but that's just that way it goes sometimes. When I was little, after mother had died in the attacks on Wutai by Shinra, he was all I had left in the world to cling to, and me him. It was special."
"I understand, I often felt that way about Elmyra."
"And the planet?"
The ancient lifted those startling green eyes to stare at her wordlessly, then she lowered her face and nodded, "yes, the planet too. The planet let me speak with my birth mother, let me feel the world so I didn't feel alone... or trapped."
"Do you feel trapped now?" the ninja girl asked softly, then watched as tears slid down the parts of Aeris' cheeks she could see. Silence hung there a moment, until Aeris murmured:
"I don't know how to cope."
"I.. well." Yuffie lifted a mailed hand and scrubbed it through her hair with a sigh, "well, maybe you should stop focusing on the past. You never used to, maybe you should rethink that outlook on life."
"Everyone's gone."
"No, they're not," At the vehement words, Aeris looked up and stared at her, and Yuffie forced herself to shut up.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because.. because no one is ever truly gone unless you hold them in your heart, right?" Exasperated the younger girl stood up and went back to the bed to sort out the top sheets and duvet.
There was a silence, punctuated only by the sound of the ninja working tirelessly at the daily chores.. then arms slid round her middle and Aeris cried on her shoulder softly. Stiffening, Yuffie didn't know what to do but let the fey woman cry.
"I'm sorry," choked the ancient. "I just miss them so much."
Yuffie sighed. Perhaps now everything would start moving along in a much easier fashion, perhaps Aeris would be able to live, instead of clinging to the past. "So do I," murmured Yuffie, thinking sadly of Wutai, the people she had left behind, betrothed, family, friends.. "So do I."
* * * * * * * * * *
The sensation of simply watching him was always far better than actually, bodily being there to torment the inner demons of the man, of the puppet.
He worked and toiled without complaint on his routines and exercises, at hand to the Overlord of death and decay, always offering ear and support, or guidance. He mused on these strange events, whilst eyeing the wing and claw, the shadows that pooled about the man who had once been a close enough friend and confidant for the General.
His hair was still blond and spiked in the ridiculous fashion that had long since ceased to be fashionable on their world, he carried himself with pride and arrogance, and the determined glint in his eyes spoke of the strength to go through with whatever needed to be done.
Oh yes, the shadows saw deeply into this one. They saw the madness he had suffered, the pain he enjoyed and stroked like someone would a lover. They carressed his ego and yet stayed firmly away form him, as if he too were outside their sphere of understanding. What drove him onwards and kept him alive made even the Heartless curdle and turn from.
He knew what the puppet stayed alive for.
A single wish to see perfect green eyes again, crinkled with humour at edges. To hear a sweet laugh and see forever in the flowers she grew. Pink clothed and full of sunshine, yes he needed her.
A link to his past.
A key to his future.
Perhaps soon he should take advantage of this situation. He had heard rumours of Ansem beyond the doors of darkness, seeking a pathway into the hearts of innocence. The plots of the fabled and feared as they drew to them the beginnings of the princesses of heart, and how soon they would begin to research the ways to unlock the door.
He would be there, waiting for them to do the hard work, only to snatch it from their hands at the last minute.
Gloating in the shadows, then green eyes glowed and sparked with hunger.. then slid down into darkness.. and out of sight.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The note had been encrypted.
He held it in his ermine gloved hands and studied it, his normally cheerful expression harrowed by doubt and dismay. It was early in the morning, and no doubt the Queen was abed for the night after such a long and tiring day in court, dealing with proclamations and rumours that had sparked fear amongst the populace.
It read:
"One who knows the Key wishes to further knowledge by sharing. Unlock your heart and come to the brink of all worlds, traverse carefully. The Ancient"
Heartless.
He had feared his day for a long time, and yet always knew it would come.
The king glanced back at the double doors, through which his wife slept soundlessly and deeply. "I'm sorry Minne," he whispered, voice a soft trail in the night.
He would depart as soon as possible. He knew the consequences, was aware of what was happening. Only now with a new rumour that yet another world had been swallowed by shadows, he dared not take any chances. The king would take only the smallest of bundles and of course..
He looked over at the glass case and the strange sword inside it, shaped like a key.
He would take the Keyblade that was rightfully his.
* * * * * * * * * *
Aeris worked hard the next few days.
Yuffie seemed happier for her finally opening up to her, and even started helping with cooking, learning what she could. A new wave of refugees came in from the world outside, some dogs to whome they found a generous house owner, willing to give them some place to stay. A beast like creature that simply drifted through, snarling about finding someone named Belle, and the usual stragglers with dead eyes and hope lost on their faces.
Aeris had been as kind and gentle as she could with these survivors, Yuffie seeming to cope better with the children than she could, finding games to play and distractions for them.
Leon had gone after the beast creature, and talked iwth it. The talk must have been short for he returned half an hour later, sword over his shoulder and a grim expression on his face.
The ancient had no time to question him, early that evening for with the breaking of another world and the seals to it, came also a visitor she had expected for some time, dressed in paltry rags and with his face covered. The figure was small and slight, carrying a strange leather scrip at it's side, as a hand gloved banged on the ringer at the front desk.
She had just put dinner on the table as it rang, and with a small sigh of annoyance, for she was hungry, Aeris went to the front desk.
Pushing aside the drapes, she emerged and said, "Can I.." then stopped and looked down, "help..you?"
"I am looking for the one who wrote this?"
The hooded figures voice was high pitched, but she took the note from the fingers that awkwardly offered it to her, and unfolded it.
Reading it, she then looked back down in disbelief at the strange figure who drew back it's hood to reveal a mouse like face, and ears, but the eyes glimmered with intelligence. Knowing better than to be shocked, after all, Red was one of her best friends, or had been, Aeris offered a smile.
"King Mickey, I presume?"
"Yes, you are the Ancient?"
"Call me Aeris," she offered, then glanced back at where Yuffie and Leon were arguing over who got the last bread roll. Perhaps offering to take him into the living room wasn't such a great idea, so she turned back and said, "We have a lot to discuss. Perhaps we should, er, go to my room."
"Why no-" a great sqwuak sounded, "Oh.." The king grinned as Aeris lifted part of the counter and then dropped it when she was on the other side.
"Follow me, your majesty," she said softly, then assuming he would follow, began walking down the corridor towards her red room. The king followed, the alternating clip clap of his shoes on the floor confirming it.
Courteously, for she had never been in the presence of royalty but manners had never deserted the Cetra child, she opened the door for him and let him slide in before she closed the door. The king took up a seat on the edge of the bed, and clasped his hands in front of him, the strange long leather scrip propped up beside him.
Aeris locked the door, and then turned to study the king a moment before asking finally, "You have seen stars going out?"
"Of course, and it has finally begun to worry me for whilst I know my castle is a home to those wanderers who can find it, I also know Traverse is doing what it can."
"The sad truth is, of course, that when the shadows find Traverse, if Leon, Yuffie and I cannot stand against them, then we surely will fail." Aeris looked away, trying to hide the bitterly sharp expression.
Another world.
Another...failure?
"Leon is here?"
"Yes."
The king nodded and then smiled, "He is a good man, Leon. He was the first to alert me to the shadows that began around the place named Hollow Bastion, and also the fate that befell your worlds." His eyes flickered down to her skirt and she too looked down. Her small hands were deadlocked in the material of her skirt, rumpling it in anxiety. Carefully, she made herself let go and smooth out the clothing. He removed his eyes back towards her face, and she endured that analysing gaze.
"I won't see this world fail," she whispered softly.
"Of course not. What did you call me here to tell me?"
The ancient finally let out a small sigh and moved to take a seat on the smaller futon she used for a comfortable couch. Her legs curled up to her chest automatically, a childhood defensive manouver learnt from living the streets and trying to avoid the avarice and anger of children. "More an exchange of knowledge. Can you tell me what you know about the worlds?"
He lifted an eyebrow sardonically.
"I mean," she hurried on, "why are people now moving between one and the other? The last time I experienced only such a breach was in death.." she trailed off, then said again, in a much softer voice if possible. "I don't understand why now people are able to move from one state to another."
"Alright," chirped the king, and set his hands apart to give her some kind of visual construct with which to work. Aeris watched him intently. "Imagine these hands are say, your world and Leon's. They have never met each other, never passed into each other, yet every single world is more than aware of the possibility of other worlds brushing theirs. Right?"
She nodded. Old texts and even the scholars of cosmo canyon had always spoken of the worlds being close to others, of the Promised Land somehow being an "unseen" world. She too had lived in a different world to that of Cloud and Tifa. They had existed for a world of effects. She had lived ultimately for the cause, and no matter the means she would see her end acheived.
"Well," he continued, "think of it like a chain or something. One end is looped about your world, and another about Leon's. That is called connecting the worlds, through the means of doors. Well, not doors in the strictest of sense but all kind of folklore centres about the myth that if you open a door you could very well find a world on the other side. In this happenstance though, the myths are true. Doors can be opened between worlds. Someone opened the door to yours and Leon's, and the shadows called Heartless came in."
Aeris tried not to pale. Perhaps Ansem had been the opener of the door to her world, but the evil of Sephiroth had still lingered, waiting for a chance to take form again, and vengeance. He had been waiting for the shadows and creatures as heartless as he was. Ansem may have though that by opening the door he was gaining power over new worlds, but he was also letting out an older, much more primal evil.
"So that is what he does," she murmured.
"Who?"
Aeris blinked, and looked up, her cinnamon hair following the movement. The king was studying her with a tilted head and without volition she blushed, for speaking her thoughts aloud again for the second time in as many days. It was really becoming a bad habit of hers.
"The Keymaster, the chosen one to wield the keyblade."
"I see, I wield the Key of light." his hand patted the scrip at his side, "But it can only fight shadows, not unlock doors or hearts.. or lock them."
"Then who has the Keyblade we need?"
"You'll find him, soon I think. The light will not go unchallenged for this amount of time." He smiled and for a moment, Aeris felt reassured.
"Your majesty, what do you know of a man named Ansem?"
"I had heard he was a great scholar of his time. A man to be admired." King Mickey frowned, "You know something?"
"I do. A while back, he moved out into the world and made a home at Hollow Bastion, the edge of reason and worlds, and in the shadows there he began well. Experimenting."
"Experimenting?"
"With Heartless, and shadows. In his research I have read, I saw hints of madness not unlike some I have witnessed before. It was dark and terrible. I think... he is meaning to unlock the final door to the darkness."
"...No."
"I know," she shook her head helplessly and curled her arms about her knees, feeling the skin prickle and her hairs try to stand up on end. Shivering against the terrible ideas of Ansem and her own imagination, she looked up with baleful green eyes. "But, he needs the princesses of heart to do such a thing, seven women, each with a grace and power that is the key to opening the last door. I have managed to get the locations of a few, but the rest are a mystery to me."
"Ancient, I'm sure whatever you do will be a sucess, but, I also ask... may I see these reports?"
She dug a hand into the pocket of her dress and unfolded the precious leaves of paper, handing them over. The king read them quickly, then frowned and looked up with a chirp of, "But there are only four?"
"These are all I could find. I think the pages may be scattered and lost over the worlds, incase Ansem ever thought someone would try and trace his movements, try to stop him."
"Then my path is clear."
She now frowned as he got up from the bed and made his way to the door, dragging the scrip behind him, "Your Majesty?"
"Don't worry about me, just keep the refugees safe and find a way for everyone, and for yourself." He grinned, hand on the door as it clicked and opened, without the key she had in her pocket.
Her eyebrows went up in surprise, then she lifted a hand, "Wait, one last thing, if you don't mind?"
"Of course...what is it?"
"I..well.." she swallowed, "when Ansem opened the door to my world, it was also a two way thing, right? Well.. there was a man who had lived on my world, a Jenova creature. He is powerful, please, if you see him then treat him like the source of all madness."
The king seemed to weigh her for a long moment with his polished black eyes, then he nodded and slid through the door. As it clanged shut, Aeris looked down at her trembling hands and sighed.
Sephiroth unleashed, and visits from the king. Madness and darkness, world and unseen worlds. Causes and effects. Where she stood, she didn't know. But what she did know, was that the delicately seasoned cabbage stew she'd made would likely be eaten by now, by two locusts, and with a slight smile she got to her feet and then trailed her way from the red room, and echoes of the past.
* * * * * * * * * * *
He liked standing here.
Something about the stars comforted him, and made this place seem more real, less of a dream he was afraid would vanish with a brush of his fingertips. His elbows were leant over the balustrade, and he smiled to himself.
Sometimes he could almost hear the shouts of Zell, yelling about hot dogs or rather the accurate lack of them. Quistis would come tapping by in her boots, expression grave and serious, with reports in her hands as she murmured to herself about class examinations and schedules. Even the joyful barking of Angelo as Rinoe played endlessly with him.
They were all locked inside him, memories of his world and loves and friends. Of a place he had finally come to love that had been ripped away from him.
Would she be ripped from him too?
"The stars are beautiful tonight."
He lifted a hand and brushed some of his carefully spiked hair from his eyes to look at the beautiful girl who had joined him in watching the night sky. She was small, willowy and with a forever hint of forgiveness about her smile. Hair the colour of burnt sugar spun down her back in a slack braid neatly finished off with her dark cerise ribbon. Then she moved and looked up at him, and smiled so the corners of those angelic eyes crinkled.
He smiled hesitantly back.
"I don't often look at the stars," she continued, resting her hands on the rail of the balcony, and tilted her head so she could see better. He was now fully riveted on watching her, etching her into his soul incase.. incase they took her too.
~ I'm so god damned insecure.. ~
"But, Tifa used to tell me stories about them. She spent a lot of her childhood watching the night sky for signs and omens. I think.. if you look up for too long, then you lose perspective." She smiled sadly, then laughed into a hand quickly brought up. How he adored her laugh and those tiny gestures she did.. "Red's grand-father actually used to say that, but I agree. Looking up for too long is bad and can ruin any ideas you have of the world about you."
"I like looking up, I can remember people when I do."
She blinked and looked at him, then lowered her face, bangs of golden brown covering a face only some kind of dream should wear. Beautiful. Achingly, he almost reached out.. then slid an arm tentively about her waist.
She stiffened briefly, then relaxed and smiled at him.
~ Friendly. Maybe that's all she's interpreting me as.. Aeris, I can't compete with a memory. ~
"People remain in our hearts, long..long after they are gone." Her eyes sparkled, sadly but also with acceptance. A lesson hard learned.
~ If I could heal your gentle heart.. but I'm as broken as you. ~
"I miss my world."
"So do I," he murmured, and tried to keep the trembling from his arm. How would Irvine do this? He'd.. make some quip up and then most likely flash her his most winning smile with offer of dancing and dinner..
That wouldn't work. Aeris wasn't your everyday kind of girl and neither was he an Irvine. More like a stone monolith for all the talent he had in chatting girls up. She leant against him and he shut his eyes.
"I wonder," she whispered.
"What?"
"I used to hear the Planet, it's song. My mother's voice, the chorus of the Cetra and hymns of days gone by. I lived in a dream, in a world apart from others." She looked up with shining eyes, "I gave my heart away once.. but it.."
"I understand."
Her eyes smiled when she did, and suddenly he felt like for once in his tongue tied life he'd managed to be as smooth, if not smoother than Kinneas. And he smiled fully in return.
To his surprise, her hand touched his cheek. "You have a beautiful smile, don't hide it."
Leon swallowed, and lifted his free hand to curl it over hers, "I won't, not from you."
"Good."
~ Do...it. ~
Slowly he bent his head, and kissed her on the lips. The skin felt soft and warm, tasting ever so slightly of honey. She smelled sweet, like her nature and for a moment his head span. Her hand tightened on his cheek, on his fingers, but she didn't pull away.
Moving back slightly, he touched the tip of his nose to hers, and studied her as Aeris opened her green eyes.. and smiled.
"Don't ever hide from me, Leon," she whispered warningly.
"Squall. Call me Squall."
She seemed to hesitate, then softly whispered, "Squall," as he leant down for another close cradled kiss under the stars..