Destroyed
Chapter Seven: The Key in Me
"I would just like to take this moment to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, I came back from watching Comic Relief to a very full inbox of review postings! so a quick dealing of this, to show my appreciation for you taking your time to be bolster my confidence:
Ryuki: sweetie, you are my consistent reviewer, and I love reading your opinions! Thank you very very much!
to "..........": Wow? Heehee, if I'm knocking you from your feet then I'm doing a good job!
Rookie: I'm glad you like what I'm doing, and of course, another chapter to keep you all busy and I finally start getting given end of degree essays!
///////: thanks sweetie ^_^
???: I'm not sure yet myself! I know I do like the Leon/Aerith pairing a lot, in my mind he's a lot more real to her, than what Cloud will ever be, but maybe a few twists are yet to come...
@_@ : I intend to... 'cause otherwise Ryuki might eat me alive!
Winged Angel: *blush* thankies! Also, please check out the fanfics of Ryukidata, they are masterpieces in their own right!
_ : it'll still be here whenever you need to get about to it hun, don't fret!
(O.O) : *just arches a brow*
Kupoooooo: heh, may the cheese reign long over us, I say...
and of course, to ---------- : update soon ... sure why not, here, have another chapter ^_~"
~
~
~I will take you as you are
Please accept me as I am
There'll be something in the wind
To show us the light and tell us we're wrong~
~ Above You, Below Me, Badly Drawn Boy~
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Her fingers deftly wove the strands of grass, much like he had done so long ago.
It was woven into a faintly star shaped design, then hung with love and extreme care above the small plot of earth she had claimed, or rather been given, as her own. In the fragrant soil she had carefully planted bulbs of hyacinth and tulips, both bought with a small splurge of the little munny they owned as a group, but in her mind it was worth it.
Smiling in satisfaction, she sniffed and then took time to rather carelessly wipe her soiled hands down her pink dress. They left long smears of brown down her slim sides, but she paid it no attention.
It was time to test her talents again.
Shutting her eyes as she lifted dirtied hands, and spread her fingers out. The wind ruffled past her, a whisper of her past power, of her dearest connections to the world, and possibly all worlds. It shifted, subtly to begin with. But she kept her eyes shut, kept them tight shut against the world and moved her lips in silent prayer.
It was softly struck at first.
The slow uncurling of warmth from inside her and inside the seed, it sprang into being and scuttled round the edges of her senses like an old friend or memory she was trying to remember but couldn't get a complete handle on.
Then came the gasp of life, the soft sigh of it winding down into the hollows of the soil.
About her shoulders the wind intensified, and she shivered in it's thrall. It bit her skin with cold teeth and blew on the back of her neck where her hairs strove to rise vainly. However, only elation filled her thoughts with deep penetrating need.
She was doing it.
She was actually tapping into the small reservoir of power inside herself, into the stream of power that flowed about her from every living creature to the next. The lifestream. Her lifestream. She was actually using a power long thought dead by herself, and suddenly she laughed.
Something velvety brushed the underside of her outspread hands, and blinking she moved her hands away to look down at the small box and the soil.
From the dirt a beautiful collection of tulips and hyacinths poked, of shades and colours she had forgotten about. How long had it been since her church and the flowers? Since the Promised Land and her death dream of a world filled with life?
"My flowers," she whispered in tones of contentment.
Her lips quirked, remembering the past as she kept stroking the petals of the flowers..
~*~
....his hand brushed the dust from a badly broken bench, his large frame finding a seat somehow as his daughter played and romped among the still springing signs of life in this ruin. She seemed so full of abandon, like a care could not touch her and stain her cheeks with tears as it had done him and many others through out life.
Beside him, the cat creature drew to a slow halt, settling down on haunches and lifting the red muzzle so he was staring up the at hole in the ceiling. It was broken and timbered, Barrett noted as he too looked up and saw hints of the blue sky beyond it. Sky seen from the slums in Midgar had seemed for the longest time an impossible and fond dream. But now the reality was here and stealing like soft hands over their own lives.
Marlene laughed, drawing down Barrett's attention from the skylight, to where his daughter was.
She deserved to see the world being given it's second chance.
"Fate. the will of the Planet, works in mysterious ways." Red said in his low purring voice.
Everything worked in strange ways. To not know if you would wake one day or not, to never know if dreams and hopes would be snatched irrevocably from your grasp and given to the sky.. to not see another flower unfurl. Cruel and strange.
"This place is sacred," Barrett rumbled slowly as Marlene tried tickling a snowdrop to make it open early.
"Aeris lingers yet," the cat agreed, tilting his head towards the shadowed doorway.
And she had smiled, to herself, watching them...
~*~
"It had been a good choice," she reminded herself, despite the old pain searing her bones at the thought of it, and looked down at the flowers.
Traverse Town was certainly where she had never imagined herself ending up, for it was such a diverse place of cultures and peoples, but she was here now and she had been given a new chance and a new task. What her chance was, she didn't have a clue at all. But her task was getting clearer with each remembered step.
She was on a journey.
Where it would lead her, she didn't know... where she had been is all she could see, through life and death and swords to get to this point in her life.
"Planet" she whispered, bowing her head, "I'll do all that I can."
~ I'm finally understanding...the key.. ~
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Riku!" he shouted helplessly as the ground under him shook. "Kairi?!"
His world had just...vanished. Now he was left on the pedestal of it, as darkness seethed under and over it, the presence of the creature known only as darkside trying to get his attention but he stayed by the edge, trying to see his friends and his home.
Where had they all gone?
What was this darkness?
What was with this strange weapon?
"Come," rumbled some thing behind him, and Sora tilted his head to look past his unruly brown hair, then yelled as the sight of the tentacled Heartless took precedence over everything else.
Darkness, slowly closed in.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The squeal of fury behind him made him jump, and moving aside he tried glancing back at the small, squat figure that continued to bang about in the cockpit, his high pitched voice trying to convey his emotions but failing as all it did was squeak and splutter words almost incoherently.
"Er, gee Donald," he drawled, pulling on the funny over jacket, more like a waistcoat which he left unbuttoned. It fit oddly over his frame but he didn't really mind, and then he turned to face the furious duck. "Doncha thing you should calm down a bit, uh-huh?"
"Calm DOWN!" the duck croaked, eyes black but flashing with fury. Short and dressed in a blue coat and shirt, the court mage of King Mickey's, his vizier.. was prone to the worst kind of temper. Hot, quick and full of snappish comments easily said in the heat of the fury, but forgotten later just as smoothly. "How can I calm down, Goofy? He just upped and left.. who is Leon?"
"Gee, well.." Goofy tilted his head and then picked up his shield. It felt light, the only weapon he had been able to find. Never one for swords, beating them unconcious with a shield was the measure of him, normally. "I don't know but he must be a great man for the king to put so much faith in him, yup."
"I can't believe you're blindly going along with it!"
"What else can we do," he replied to the scathing look, laid back as ever. Sometimes, he worried that Donald would one day have some sort of anuerism from all this worrying and stressing and shouting. One day.
But now appeared not to be one of those times as the Vizier stalked about like a mini thunderstorm, trying to get his own grip on the situation.
It did appear odd to Goofy, that such a thing would happen and the King would up and leave without telling any of them. However, it was also true about the worlds and for each night Goofy spent in the gardens outside the castle, he would count the stars above them.. and each night was dismayed a little more to be one down of the previous count.
Something terrible was happening.
"Maybe this Leon knows why the stars are going out," he remarked off hand, as soon as the thought popped into his head.
Donald sat down in a chair, not looking so happy. "I guess all we can do is ask. Thats if we can even find the man, Traverse town is said to be huge."
"And full of refugees."
"That too," he squawked, and folded his arms.
Goofy watched his companion a moment more, then turned and gazed out of the cockpit window. Sure enough, the world was looming there. No matter what Donald thought about world boundaries and not meddling, sometimes you had to meddle a bit to get the right results, and to get everything back to normal.
He chuckled to himself, and Donald threw him an exasperated look, but rather than explain it, he just chuckled more as outside another star began to fade..
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
~ I've been thinking lately.
Having these, wierd thoughts.
Like... is any of this real, or not?
I'm floating down, and flying up. The world above and sky below me.
Who is the real me, who owns the real thoughts?
Will I ever go home again or will the shadows try to swallow me too, and in them I shall be lost to darkness and despair, to depression and loneliness.
I fear being alone.
I fear losing friends.
I fear losing.. love.
Stars of green revolve sometimes about a face I have seen only in my dreams, as she smiles and waits patiently for me to arrive so I can unlock her secret. Her inner fears and demons, her angel wings and soft radiance. There is a key in you, like there is a key in me.
The only difference is, I can see mine and wield it.
You have locked yours away from the world in shame and worry.
Don't worry anymore. Look, the stars call your name and whisper to me of a power I had thought denied to me and you, a power that has long been cooped up inside us both, waiting to get out. Waiting to prowl around and show the world our radiance.
There is a key in you, and at your call, I come.
White Lady, I come..~
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
She blinked, roused from her strange daydream and thoughts to look at the kindly, weather beaten face of Cid as he held his hand of cards, the backs to her and hiding suits from view. Blinking owlishly, she turned so she could see Leon stood by the door, his eyes constantly on her with smoky cadence, eyes that made her blood warm inside her. Yuffie was drawing a card from the deck, almost in slow motion, and as she batted her eyelids again, everything resumed normal speed.
"Oh," she whispered under her breath, ignoring the raised eyebrow from Leon who was obviously the only one who had heard her muttering. Eyes falling down, she stared at the cards held in her hands and tilted them like a fan of paper.
Three kings, two queens.
She had a full house.
King of clubs, misfortune. King of Diamonds, dreams. King of Spades, power. Queen of Clubs... distress. Queen of hearts... Secrets and love. Strange arcane meanings flitting through her head, she put the cards down before her.
Cid cursed and threw in his hand, "Dammit!"
Yuffie giggled and put her hand down, showing a pair of aces but not much else. "I was hoping for an Ace flush, but had to settle for a pair, thank heavens I didn't put down anything bigger into the kitty."
"Mmm," she said, distracted and drew in the small munny pieces they played with, so different from Gil. She missed handling the myrthil half gil and the notes.
"What's wrong," asked Yuffie, tilting her head so black hair turned itself over her elfin features, those dark violet eyes suddenly lit with worry. Aeris stared right back at her, unable to find a voice with which to tell her the sudden feelings inside her.
~ What do I say? I've become so.. distant lately. I know there's been a lot to cope with, but that voice that just reached out to me. Was it the planet? Was it this planet helping me to hear someone else? ~
"I was just thinking," she said slowly. Cid butted in almost immediately;
"Try not to do that myself, gives me a headache."
As they laughed a little at his joke, though Cid tried wearing an expression that lent itself to seriousness, her attention was once again drawn down to the strange pyramid of munny, to the cards laid out so neatly. Then she lifted her vision and looked across the room.
Everything stood out in such clarity.
If she had concentrated, Aeris was convinced she could pick out the highlights of faint silver in Leon's hair, she could have traced every single knot and curve built into the wood grain of the furniture, she could have pointed to the imperfections in the cards from their manufacturing and laminating process. Her eyes slid from Leon to the door, then to the plants in the vase she had picked earlier from her small box.
Time was running slow, or was she running fast?
A breath of warm air hit the back of her neck and shivering even with the warmth of the touch, she lifted her hand and clapped it to the back of her neck. Jumping at herself, and drawing the attention of the others, she stood slowly, munny trickling from her lap in slow motion as it seemed to her. They clanged on the floor with a dull sound.
Aeris tried looking over her shoulder, cinnamon brown hair flowing slowly behind her, but there was no one there. Just the couch looking battered, and the slightly floral wall paper.. then she looked back at the flowers in the vase.
~ a key in me soon to be unleashed, a path soon to be walked. Cards and munny, who deals this deck to us as players, and if I am playing then what game have I been sat down to? ~
She slowly took steps away from the table, ignoring the others in the room.
Their looks behind her back were worried. Trance like, she moved across to the window and opened it firmly, pushing aside the curtains so they didn't blow in her face with the night breeze, and slowly she leant out, dangling herself over the rift. If she fell, she didn't mind.
It wasn't her time, not yet, and something would inevitably save her.
But like the mako bubbles she had once watched in a dark tank of liquid, her eyes were automatically pulled up to the night sky. There, in the pit of shadow, small points of light twinkled merrily and she lowered her brows for a moment, trying to concentrate.. then she saw what time had slowed for, saw what had suddenly tugged hard on her magic.
She knew Merlin too, would be watching the sky and seeing this omen.
"Aeris?" someone called through the fog of her mind, but her fingers stayed locked on the sill and her eyes watching the flickering fight of a single star as it strove against the darkness.
~ Fight! ~ she willed it.
But slowly, slowly it was overcome and then swallowed.. and she gasped.
"Aeris?!"
Strong hands pulled her away from the window, and she was vaguely aware of Leon holding her by the shoulders as Yuffie shut the window. Cid was cleaning up the overturned table, and shaking, the ancient lifted her eyes to meet Leon's.
"The Keyblade is moving."
"Moving? Where?" squeaked Yuffie, putting one gloved hand in her hair and ruffling it in some confusion.
"Here," she whispered, feeling faint. But Leon was there, holding her up.
~ Will you always be there, to lift me up even when shadows fall? ~
"When?" he asked, just as quietly and letting his eyes watch her, devour her with their endless smoky brightness. She loved feeling his hands on her shoulders, his strength all that was keeping her standing as she murmured back in low tones.
"Now, we must be ready."
Leon nodded, and slowly let his hands trail from her, leaving goosebumps on her bare flesh where he had touched. Shivering, as he gave out a few orders, her eyes were drawn back to the shadowy portal that was the closed window, and the voice that had echoed inside her. Promising.
~ Is this, who I am? Show me.. ~
Chapter Seven: The Key in Me
"I would just like to take this moment to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, I came back from watching Comic Relief to a very full inbox of review postings! so a quick dealing of this, to show my appreciation for you taking your time to be bolster my confidence:
Ryuki: sweetie, you are my consistent reviewer, and I love reading your opinions! Thank you very very much!
to "..........": Wow? Heehee, if I'm knocking you from your feet then I'm doing a good job!
Rookie: I'm glad you like what I'm doing, and of course, another chapter to keep you all busy and I finally start getting given end of degree essays!
///////: thanks sweetie ^_^
???: I'm not sure yet myself! I know I do like the Leon/Aerith pairing a lot, in my mind he's a lot more real to her, than what Cloud will ever be, but maybe a few twists are yet to come...
@_@ : I intend to... 'cause otherwise Ryuki might eat me alive!
Winged Angel: *blush* thankies! Also, please check out the fanfics of Ryukidata, they are masterpieces in their own right!
_ : it'll still be here whenever you need to get about to it hun, don't fret!
(O.O) : *just arches a brow*
Kupoooooo: heh, may the cheese reign long over us, I say...
and of course, to ---------- : update soon ... sure why not, here, have another chapter ^_~"
~
~
~I will take you as you are
Please accept me as I am
There'll be something in the wind
To show us the light and tell us we're wrong~
~ Above You, Below Me, Badly Drawn Boy~
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Her fingers deftly wove the strands of grass, much like he had done so long ago.
It was woven into a faintly star shaped design, then hung with love and extreme care above the small plot of earth she had claimed, or rather been given, as her own. In the fragrant soil she had carefully planted bulbs of hyacinth and tulips, both bought with a small splurge of the little munny they owned as a group, but in her mind it was worth it.
Smiling in satisfaction, she sniffed and then took time to rather carelessly wipe her soiled hands down her pink dress. They left long smears of brown down her slim sides, but she paid it no attention.
It was time to test her talents again.
Shutting her eyes as she lifted dirtied hands, and spread her fingers out. The wind ruffled past her, a whisper of her past power, of her dearest connections to the world, and possibly all worlds. It shifted, subtly to begin with. But she kept her eyes shut, kept them tight shut against the world and moved her lips in silent prayer.
It was softly struck at first.
The slow uncurling of warmth from inside her and inside the seed, it sprang into being and scuttled round the edges of her senses like an old friend or memory she was trying to remember but couldn't get a complete handle on.
Then came the gasp of life, the soft sigh of it winding down into the hollows of the soil.
About her shoulders the wind intensified, and she shivered in it's thrall. It bit her skin with cold teeth and blew on the back of her neck where her hairs strove to rise vainly. However, only elation filled her thoughts with deep penetrating need.
She was doing it.
She was actually tapping into the small reservoir of power inside herself, into the stream of power that flowed about her from every living creature to the next. The lifestream. Her lifestream. She was actually using a power long thought dead by herself, and suddenly she laughed.
Something velvety brushed the underside of her outspread hands, and blinking she moved her hands away to look down at the small box and the soil.
From the dirt a beautiful collection of tulips and hyacinths poked, of shades and colours she had forgotten about. How long had it been since her church and the flowers? Since the Promised Land and her death dream of a world filled with life?
"My flowers," she whispered in tones of contentment.
Her lips quirked, remembering the past as she kept stroking the petals of the flowers..
~*~
....his hand brushed the dust from a badly broken bench, his large frame finding a seat somehow as his daughter played and romped among the still springing signs of life in this ruin. She seemed so full of abandon, like a care could not touch her and stain her cheeks with tears as it had done him and many others through out life.
Beside him, the cat creature drew to a slow halt, settling down on haunches and lifting the red muzzle so he was staring up the at hole in the ceiling. It was broken and timbered, Barrett noted as he too looked up and saw hints of the blue sky beyond it. Sky seen from the slums in Midgar had seemed for the longest time an impossible and fond dream. But now the reality was here and stealing like soft hands over their own lives.
Marlene laughed, drawing down Barrett's attention from the skylight, to where his daughter was.
She deserved to see the world being given it's second chance.
"Fate. the will of the Planet, works in mysterious ways." Red said in his low purring voice.
Everything worked in strange ways. To not know if you would wake one day or not, to never know if dreams and hopes would be snatched irrevocably from your grasp and given to the sky.. to not see another flower unfurl. Cruel and strange.
"This place is sacred," Barrett rumbled slowly as Marlene tried tickling a snowdrop to make it open early.
"Aeris lingers yet," the cat agreed, tilting his head towards the shadowed doorway.
And she had smiled, to herself, watching them...
~*~
"It had been a good choice," she reminded herself, despite the old pain searing her bones at the thought of it, and looked down at the flowers.
Traverse Town was certainly where she had never imagined herself ending up, for it was such a diverse place of cultures and peoples, but she was here now and she had been given a new chance and a new task. What her chance was, she didn't have a clue at all. But her task was getting clearer with each remembered step.
She was on a journey.
Where it would lead her, she didn't know... where she had been is all she could see, through life and death and swords to get to this point in her life.
"Planet" she whispered, bowing her head, "I'll do all that I can."
~ I'm finally understanding...the key.. ~
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Riku!" he shouted helplessly as the ground under him shook. "Kairi?!"
His world had just...vanished. Now he was left on the pedestal of it, as darkness seethed under and over it, the presence of the creature known only as darkside trying to get his attention but he stayed by the edge, trying to see his friends and his home.
Where had they all gone?
What was this darkness?
What was with this strange weapon?
"Come," rumbled some thing behind him, and Sora tilted his head to look past his unruly brown hair, then yelled as the sight of the tentacled Heartless took precedence over everything else.
Darkness, slowly closed in.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The squeal of fury behind him made him jump, and moving aside he tried glancing back at the small, squat figure that continued to bang about in the cockpit, his high pitched voice trying to convey his emotions but failing as all it did was squeak and splutter words almost incoherently.
"Er, gee Donald," he drawled, pulling on the funny over jacket, more like a waistcoat which he left unbuttoned. It fit oddly over his frame but he didn't really mind, and then he turned to face the furious duck. "Doncha thing you should calm down a bit, uh-huh?"
"Calm DOWN!" the duck croaked, eyes black but flashing with fury. Short and dressed in a blue coat and shirt, the court mage of King Mickey's, his vizier.. was prone to the worst kind of temper. Hot, quick and full of snappish comments easily said in the heat of the fury, but forgotten later just as smoothly. "How can I calm down, Goofy? He just upped and left.. who is Leon?"
"Gee, well.." Goofy tilted his head and then picked up his shield. It felt light, the only weapon he had been able to find. Never one for swords, beating them unconcious with a shield was the measure of him, normally. "I don't know but he must be a great man for the king to put so much faith in him, yup."
"I can't believe you're blindly going along with it!"
"What else can we do," he replied to the scathing look, laid back as ever. Sometimes, he worried that Donald would one day have some sort of anuerism from all this worrying and stressing and shouting. One day.
But now appeared not to be one of those times as the Vizier stalked about like a mini thunderstorm, trying to get his own grip on the situation.
It did appear odd to Goofy, that such a thing would happen and the King would up and leave without telling any of them. However, it was also true about the worlds and for each night Goofy spent in the gardens outside the castle, he would count the stars above them.. and each night was dismayed a little more to be one down of the previous count.
Something terrible was happening.
"Maybe this Leon knows why the stars are going out," he remarked off hand, as soon as the thought popped into his head.
Donald sat down in a chair, not looking so happy. "I guess all we can do is ask. Thats if we can even find the man, Traverse town is said to be huge."
"And full of refugees."
"That too," he squawked, and folded his arms.
Goofy watched his companion a moment more, then turned and gazed out of the cockpit window. Sure enough, the world was looming there. No matter what Donald thought about world boundaries and not meddling, sometimes you had to meddle a bit to get the right results, and to get everything back to normal.
He chuckled to himself, and Donald threw him an exasperated look, but rather than explain it, he just chuckled more as outside another star began to fade..
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
~ I've been thinking lately.
Having these, wierd thoughts.
Like... is any of this real, or not?
I'm floating down, and flying up. The world above and sky below me.
Who is the real me, who owns the real thoughts?
Will I ever go home again or will the shadows try to swallow me too, and in them I shall be lost to darkness and despair, to depression and loneliness.
I fear being alone.
I fear losing friends.
I fear losing.. love.
Stars of green revolve sometimes about a face I have seen only in my dreams, as she smiles and waits patiently for me to arrive so I can unlock her secret. Her inner fears and demons, her angel wings and soft radiance. There is a key in you, like there is a key in me.
The only difference is, I can see mine and wield it.
You have locked yours away from the world in shame and worry.
Don't worry anymore. Look, the stars call your name and whisper to me of a power I had thought denied to me and you, a power that has long been cooped up inside us both, waiting to get out. Waiting to prowl around and show the world our radiance.
There is a key in you, and at your call, I come.
White Lady, I come..~
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
She blinked, roused from her strange daydream and thoughts to look at the kindly, weather beaten face of Cid as he held his hand of cards, the backs to her and hiding suits from view. Blinking owlishly, she turned so she could see Leon stood by the door, his eyes constantly on her with smoky cadence, eyes that made her blood warm inside her. Yuffie was drawing a card from the deck, almost in slow motion, and as she batted her eyelids again, everything resumed normal speed.
"Oh," she whispered under her breath, ignoring the raised eyebrow from Leon who was obviously the only one who had heard her muttering. Eyes falling down, she stared at the cards held in her hands and tilted them like a fan of paper.
Three kings, two queens.
She had a full house.
King of clubs, misfortune. King of Diamonds, dreams. King of Spades, power. Queen of Clubs... distress. Queen of hearts... Secrets and love. Strange arcane meanings flitting through her head, she put the cards down before her.
Cid cursed and threw in his hand, "Dammit!"
Yuffie giggled and put her hand down, showing a pair of aces but not much else. "I was hoping for an Ace flush, but had to settle for a pair, thank heavens I didn't put down anything bigger into the kitty."
"Mmm," she said, distracted and drew in the small munny pieces they played with, so different from Gil. She missed handling the myrthil half gil and the notes.
"What's wrong," asked Yuffie, tilting her head so black hair turned itself over her elfin features, those dark violet eyes suddenly lit with worry. Aeris stared right back at her, unable to find a voice with which to tell her the sudden feelings inside her.
~ What do I say? I've become so.. distant lately. I know there's been a lot to cope with, but that voice that just reached out to me. Was it the planet? Was it this planet helping me to hear someone else? ~
"I was just thinking," she said slowly. Cid butted in almost immediately;
"Try not to do that myself, gives me a headache."
As they laughed a little at his joke, though Cid tried wearing an expression that lent itself to seriousness, her attention was once again drawn down to the strange pyramid of munny, to the cards laid out so neatly. Then she lifted her vision and looked across the room.
Everything stood out in such clarity.
If she had concentrated, Aeris was convinced she could pick out the highlights of faint silver in Leon's hair, she could have traced every single knot and curve built into the wood grain of the furniture, she could have pointed to the imperfections in the cards from their manufacturing and laminating process. Her eyes slid from Leon to the door, then to the plants in the vase she had picked earlier from her small box.
Time was running slow, or was she running fast?
A breath of warm air hit the back of her neck and shivering even with the warmth of the touch, she lifted her hand and clapped it to the back of her neck. Jumping at herself, and drawing the attention of the others, she stood slowly, munny trickling from her lap in slow motion as it seemed to her. They clanged on the floor with a dull sound.
Aeris tried looking over her shoulder, cinnamon brown hair flowing slowly behind her, but there was no one there. Just the couch looking battered, and the slightly floral wall paper.. then she looked back at the flowers in the vase.
~ a key in me soon to be unleashed, a path soon to be walked. Cards and munny, who deals this deck to us as players, and if I am playing then what game have I been sat down to? ~
She slowly took steps away from the table, ignoring the others in the room.
Their looks behind her back were worried. Trance like, she moved across to the window and opened it firmly, pushing aside the curtains so they didn't blow in her face with the night breeze, and slowly she leant out, dangling herself over the rift. If she fell, she didn't mind.
It wasn't her time, not yet, and something would inevitably save her.
But like the mako bubbles she had once watched in a dark tank of liquid, her eyes were automatically pulled up to the night sky. There, in the pit of shadow, small points of light twinkled merrily and she lowered her brows for a moment, trying to concentrate.. then she saw what time had slowed for, saw what had suddenly tugged hard on her magic.
She knew Merlin too, would be watching the sky and seeing this omen.
"Aeris?" someone called through the fog of her mind, but her fingers stayed locked on the sill and her eyes watching the flickering fight of a single star as it strove against the darkness.
~ Fight! ~ she willed it.
But slowly, slowly it was overcome and then swallowed.. and she gasped.
"Aeris?!"
Strong hands pulled her away from the window, and she was vaguely aware of Leon holding her by the shoulders as Yuffie shut the window. Cid was cleaning up the overturned table, and shaking, the ancient lifted her eyes to meet Leon's.
"The Keyblade is moving."
"Moving? Where?" squeaked Yuffie, putting one gloved hand in her hair and ruffling it in some confusion.
"Here," she whispered, feeling faint. But Leon was there, holding her up.
~ Will you always be there, to lift me up even when shadows fall? ~
"When?" he asked, just as quietly and letting his eyes watch her, devour her with their endless smoky brightness. She loved feeling his hands on her shoulders, his strength all that was keeping her standing as she murmured back in low tones.
"Now, we must be ready."
Leon nodded, and slowly let his hands trail from her, leaving goosebumps on her bare flesh where he had touched. Shivering, as he gave out a few orders, her eyes were drawn back to the shadowy portal that was the closed window, and the voice that had echoed inside her. Promising.
~ Is this, who I am? Show me.. ~