A Dream's End
[a.n.] Er…I guess I forgot about the disclaimer in the prologue…Oh well! Everyone here knows that I couldn't possibly own Kingdom Hearts, so there's no reason to penalize me for not mentioning that I don't. Anyway…last chapter was short and without a real meaning, but I felt like writing it for some…reason. A huge heyla and thank-you are due to Lithe, Zanisha, XxNinja-SongstressxX, and pingpong867. - Enjoy! [araclyzm]
To Stain the Memory
p.o.v. Yuffie
Yawning, I, Yuffie Kisaragi, a ninja of nineteen years, leaned back in the stiff, straight-backed chair I'd been forced into and stared at the wall opposite me. It looked so plain and boring, standing there all alone, without anything to adorn it. Kinda like how I felt now. Sitting quite alone in the near-empty café, I drummed my fingers monotonously on the tabletop, resting my head in my other free hand, my elbow on the table. A brown mug with a bland design emblazoned on the handle steamed with fresh coffee – my third since I arrived. A half-eaten roll with butter lay on a napkin near the mug.
I continued to stare at the wall. How long had it been since I arrived? I had no idea.
"Yuffie dear," sighed a benevolent voice, its owner pulling up a seat to join me, "are you sure you were supposed to meet at this time?"
I turned reluctantly to look at her, sighing. "Yes, Cci," I said, shaking my head. "I'm absolutely positive. Aerith is never late, though, and I really have no idea what could possibly hold her up for an hour." I smiled. "I'm sorry, I really am."
The other woman laughed heartily. "What're you apologizin' for?" Cci smiled, the deed giving her face an even gentler look. "It's fine, dear. My first customer of the day is usually Aerith, that's why I was just wondering." She rose, brushing her forest green t-shirt with a wrinkled hand. "Just tell me if you need anythin' else, dear." She flashed another smile and walked back toward the counter, disappearing in a door behind it.
I chuckled to myself. Cci was the owner of the café, and much older than I – around fifty, perhaps, had I bothered to guess. Her hair was only slightly graying, brunette locks streaked almost naturally with white. The green t-shirt she'd been wearing accentuated her amazingly green eyes, and the denim jeans she always wore gave her appearance an air of kindness. Rather than trying to look young, Cci naturally looked it despite her age.
"Yuffie! Oh my dear lord, I'm so sorry!" someone yelled. Knowing who it was, I turned around in my seat and faced a baffled-looking Aerith.
"You're late," I responded immediately, exasperation seeping into my features and my voice. Running a hand through the black hair that fell unevenly to my neck, I sighed, shaking my head. "And I always thought I was the late one." I looked up, noticing the silence that answered; Aerith was still staring at me as though I'd taken on the form of someone else. "What!?"
"Yuffie, I asked you to meet me at ten o'clock," she said slowly. A look of sudden realization crossed my face. "How long have you been here?"
I groaned as if on cue, my stupidity becoming apparent. Of course! Last night, Aerith had left me a note scribbled hastily saying to meet her at ten. I woke up for some reason at eight and, figuring I was supposed to meet Aerith at nine, I'd gone and left, expecting my thoughts to be correct.
"Since nine," I answered, embarrassed, standing up and checking the clock on another wall. It was exactly ten. Cci reappeared at the counter at the other side of the open-air café, apparently mystified.
"Miss Aerith." She sounded mystified as well. "How are you?"
Aerith smiled, the action alighting her face and her eyes. "Perfect, Cci." She turned to me, and I glared at her. "Sorry, Yuf."
"Great," I grumbled. "This is just great. I actually come to a meeting before time, only to find that it's a whole hour before time." I growled. "Leave it to only me to either come too late or too early."
Aerith giggled. The twenty-three-year-old was actually quite pretty, considering the drab city in which she – and I – now lived. She was a good five feet, four inches in height, the same height as me, with long, light-auburn hair reaching halfway down her back, and, like Cci, she had green-green eyes that forever shone with kindness and understanding. But unlike most, there was a kind of hidden sadness buried deep beneath the compassion and radiance generally shown – and I, like a sister to Aerith, knew exactly why.
"Ah, Yuffie Kisaragi, let's forget it for now. I want you to come with me." She grabbed my hand and began to pull me out of the café; already, more patrons were walking in, looking drear and petulant of the new dawning day – a Saturday, of all days – but compliant all the same.
"Put it on my tab, Cci!" I called over my shoulder, unable to resist the firm hand clamped tightly and resolutely on my wrist.
"Will do, dear!" came the faint call back. I grinned, taking the second to gaze at my surroundings. Aerith was dragging me out of the first district and into the second, which was already bustling with morning shoppers. Then, past the second district and into the third, which, unlike the second, was much quieter, and towards a wooden door with a fading flame.
"Aerith, wanna squeeze a little tighter?" I asked with a cynical air, biting the inside of my cheek. "I can still feel my hand." Aerith didn't answer. Then I noticed where we were. "Where are you taking me?" I asked warily. "Merlin's?"
Aerith nodded, shooting a quick flame-spell at the door and then leading me in. "Yep. The Mystical House." She smiled. "I've got to meet Merlin and the Fairy Godmother for something."
"Something?" I asked, hopping across three of the floating, moving rocks.
"Yes, something." Aerith followed me. I glanced at her and noted that she wasn't wearing her trademark pink dress, and instead had opted for white shorts and sneakers and a tie-dye pink tee, her hair braided neatly down her back.
"Is this all you wanted to see me for?" I wondered, impatience again flooding my face. "Just to see Merlin?"
Aerith looked at me then, both of us having reached the tiny island. There were many times when Aerith gave me that same look, seconds before launching into a heated argument about how I made myself feel. According to her, I was way too hard on myself when I said I was nothing a sight to see. Despite my continuous protests, Aerith thought I was quite pretty. My dark hair reached just to my neck, the uneven bangs framing my face usually accompanied by a silver headband. Being a ninja, I was very petite and very light, attributes that usually made me seem much younger than I actually was. Can't blame the people who make the mistake, though, as my 'deep indigo eyes' were that of a child's, confirming my outward appearance.
But there is more to me than just how I look. Aerith said once that no matter how old I would become, I would always have the spirit of a child. Since the time that I was four – which is as long as I can remember – I had been buoyant, bouncy, and optimistic, traits that Aerith both admired and encouraged.
"Yes, just to see Merlin." Aerith raised a hand to the sheet that served as the door, only to have it pushed aside and opened as soon as her hand was lifted.
"Miss Aerith!" came the jovial greeting of the most famous magician, Merlin. "How wonderful of you to come!"
Adorned in his pointy sky blue hat and robe, the elderly wizard's long silver beard and mustache swished as he came out of the Mystical House to greet Aerith with a warm embrace. Aerith giggled.
"Merlin, how'd you know I was here?" she asked, accepting his invitation to come in.
"I'm a wizard, dear, a wizard!" he answered joyfully. He looked to me, as I had entered the tiny house after Aerith had, almost discreetly as was my way. "Ah, Miss Yuffie!" he welcomed, smiling. I couldn't help smiling in response. "Good to see you, dear girl, good to see you."
"And you too, Merlin!" I accepted another hug with pleasure and then stood back near the tiny chalkboard to see what it was that Aerith needed to discuss with the wise old sorcerer. Beside me on the desk were various odds and ends, of which I took to examine for the second. The drawers were askew as the rest of the Magician's Study was, but showed that the wizened wizard was too busy to be bothered with cleaning.
"Now, Merlin," Aerith began, walking toward some books heaped into a pile in a corner. She picked one up, checked the binding and leafed through it quickly before placing it back down on the untidy mound. "Er…where is the…book? The one that I asked you for?"
"Ah yes, the book, the book…" Merlin went over to the table in the middle of the room, muddled, as the floor was, with papers and books. "Hm…now where is my wand?" he wondered aloud, moving a heap of messy parchment aside to check for it.
Figuring I could help him search, I looked around my spot near the door and saw the Fairy Godmother's minuscule carriage. Smiling in remembrance of every other time I'd summoned the Fairy Godmother, I touched it.
A loud whoosh! made me yelp and jump back involuntarily as a flash followed the sound and the Fairy Godmother appeared before Merlin, Aerith, and I, smiling as usual and sparkling from head to toe with magic. In her left hand was a small, thin wand; her own wand. In her right was a long, thicker one; Merlin's.
"Ah, Merlin, you old fool," she murmured affectionately, waving her own wand about the cabin. The books in the corner rose as one and shuffled themselves into three neat piles lined against the wall. The papers littering the table arranged themselves and the books that had accompanied them flew to the piles in the corner. The multiple items on the desk flew to their prospective places and the drawers that had lain open or on their side flew back to their places.
Merlin, a lost expression on his face, suddenly jumped up and laughed. Delighted, Aerith, the Fairy Godmother, and I soon joined in.
"Good morning, Fairy Godmother," Aerith and I giggled in unison.
"Good morning, dearies," the Fairy Godmother spoke in return, gentleness etched into her eyes and face. "Merlin, my friend," she then said, turning to Merlin, "I believe this is yours." She handed him the longer of the two wands. "And you owe me for the cleaning."
Merlin chuckled warmly, taking the wand and pointing it toward his desk. "Yes, Fairy Godmother, I know." He flicked his wrist once, twice, and a drawer flew open. A mangled book floated out of it and toward Aerith. "There you are, Miss Aerith, just as you requested."
Aerith caught the book in midair, excitedly paging through it. "What's that?" I inquired, trying to catch a peek over my friend's shoulder. But Aerith shut it with a snap, grinned mysteriously at me (of course earning a look of bafflement and perhaps fear on my part), then looked back toward Merlin and rushed over to hug him.
"Thank you, Merlin! Ooh, you'll love it, truly you will!" She quickly thanked the Fairy Godmother as well, then clamped a hand painfully on my wrist – allowing me a very fast thank you and goodbye to both magicians – and began pulling me all the way back to the first district café.
"Oy! Aerith, please, please tell me what's going on?" I kept pleading. Aerith slid into an unoccupied seat and I took another, staring expectantly at her.
"No," Aerith said coolly, beaming secretively, "And you won't find out until tomorrow." A waitress dropped two menus in front of us, grinned fleetingly, and walked away. She went ignored, however, as I was insisting relentlessly that Aerith tell me what she was up to, but no one's feelings were hurt there.
I moaned, frustrated. "You force me to wake up at eight in the morning so I can be ready by nine in the morning to go pick up the oldest book known to humankind, and then you deny me the right to know why the heck you did so in the first place?"
"First of all," Aerith countered, her voice filled with suppressed amusement, "I did not 'force' you to wake up at nine in the morning-"
"Yes you did!" I cried indignantly, crossing my arms. She so did!
"I convinced you to meet me at ten in the morning so we could go get something at the Mystical House. I never gave you a set time to wake up, and I don't force people to do things." A hidden sparkle in her told me she thought this situation funnier than it should have been.
"Whatever!" I barked back, clearly annoyed. Leave it to Aerith to prove me wrong…as if I'd ever admit it! "But getting a dusty ol' book from the Magician's Study is not an emergency! And if memory serves you considered this morning's meeting an emergency!" The last part came out as a hiss, causing Aerith to giggle out loud.
A figure came up behind Aerith. "What's so funny?"
"Cloud!" my older friend hailed blushingly, rising from her seat to 'greet' her boyfriend with a hug and a series of kisses. I made a face behind their backs, gagging noiselessly. A few customers nearby giggled at my antics, and I smiled at the fact that I could entertain them.
A few minutes passed before I had to cave. I'm sure, had I not, Cci's floor would have been bathed in vomit. "Ew! Get a room you two," I squealed, looking at the floor for lack of anywhere else to look with a mock-disgusted look on my face.
Cloud Strife was twenty-seven years old, and one of Aerith's and my oldest friends. Aerith, however, was head-over-heels in love with Cloud, and the feeling was mutual. I, however, would always be the six-foot-tall "Blondie's" baby sister – not that I minded much. More often than not, I'd choose to bug the hell out of Cloud because he's so easy, but most of the time it was Cid, the gummi pilot, and the second-to-last person from my past, that was victim to my teasing.
It was some minutes before Aerith and Cloud pulled away from each other – at my aggravating insistence that I'm sure made them mad regardless of Aerith's gentle nature and Cloud's acquiescent one – and sat quite close to each other, still across from me, though I'm quite thankful for that.
"Yuck," I muttered, making another face that made Aerith chuckle quietly.
"So what are you two doing here?" Cloud asked, tearing his eyes away from Aerith to look at me. I stuck a tongue out childishly, but only because this was my 'big brother' here. Had it been anyone else, I would have tried to grow up – as a certain someone always chided me to – but not this time.
"We went to see Merlin, got a book, came back," I answered tediously, playing with a fork, "and since Aerith forced me to, she's paying for breakfast."
"You already ate," Aerith said, looking astonished.
"Well I'm still hungry, so get me waffles." I smiled gleefully, causing Aerith to shake her head. Waffles were my favorite – everyone who knew me knew that.
"Fine, fine." Aerith reached beneath her chair and pulled up the book, relinquishing it to me with an air of someone not surrendering, but tactically retreating. "It's a play."
"A play?" I raised an eyebrow, opening the broken book and turning to the first page. "What kind of play?"
"Shakespearean," Aerith said proudly. "One of the greatest ever written: Romeo and Juliet."
At that, my eyebrow rose a few more centimeters. "Who?"
Cloud stared at me. "You don't know who Shakespeare is?" No, actually, I said in my head.
"Er…am I supposed to?"
Cloud snorted and looked through a menu. "Hm…pancakes look good."
I flipped through page after page of the book Aerith had given me, and with each turn, I felt the look on my face grow increasingly confused.
"Aerith…" I said cautiously. "Does this come with subtitles or something? 'Cause it isn't in any language I know of…"
Aerith chuckled. "It's perfectly legible, Yuffie."
"No it's not. What the heck's a 'doth'?"
This time both Cloud and Aerith snorted, but all in good fun. I glowered with the indignity, but said nothing else, should I make even more of a fool of myself. So what if I didn't know who Shakespeare was? I bet that a third of the population in Traverse Town didn't know he existed.
"It's an old word, Yuffie." Aerith sighed, brushing a tress of hair out of her eyes so she could study the menu more. "Don't worry, you'll learn soon enough."
"I have to learn it?"
Aerith shook her head as a waitress walked over, prepared to take our orders. "You'll see, so stop complaining." I handed the book back over to her, a feeling tugging at the back of my mind that could have been regret that I had bothered to show up for Aerith's 'emergency'.
"One Pancake Deluxe," Cloud said.
"Make that two," Aerith put in.
"Three, actually." A smirk appeared on Cloud's face, and he was the only one of the three at the table who didn't turn around.
"Well speak of the devil," he murmured. "I see Squall Leonhart has finally come to grace our presence."
"Oh great," Aerith and I both pronounced at the same time, but in two different tones; Aerith's voice held glee that another friend had come to join us, and mine held a quality that, had anyone bothered to notice, proposed that I was anything but happy about the visitor's arrival.
"Just Leon will suffice, Blondie," Squall responded soon after.
"As will 'Cloud' if you don't mind," Cloud retorted, smirking. Squall gave him a blank look. It was no secret that he preferred above all else to be called 'Leon' rather than his true name, Squall. What was a secret was why, ever since before I could remember, he chose it.
Squall Leonhart was my partner-in-fighting – and the love of my life. But I'll get into more of my childish flights of fancy later, eh? Twenty-seven-year-old Squall Leonhart: how do I describe him? Someone should take on the challenge of writing a biography about him. I'd quote it every single day, should they accomplish the feat. But one word comes to mind whenever I think of his name: love – oh hey, wait, did I just think that? No, no, scratch that. Not love. Er…stone! Yes, that's it; the first that comes to mind is the word stone. It's absolutely true, too. Squall Leonhart has a heart of stone, a soul of stone, a visage of stone. His features are unwavering and handsome, as is his trained and disciplined mind.
The swordsman, first and foremost, is nothing at all like me or Aerith or even Cid – if you should dare to try and compare Squall to him. More so, he resembles Cloud except for the fact that no one had yet softened Squall's heart. His attributes are striking – dark russet hair reaching his shoulders and styled in spikes, and the bluest cerulean eyes I have ever seen. He is a former SeeD soldier of Balamb Garden – a world eaten away by the Heartless many years ago, before even my home of the Hollow Bastion.
Oh, and if you're wondering about that – I'll get to that later, too.
The man I'd been speaking of before sat in the only other vacant seat, which just so conveniently was beside me. I worked hard to maintain control over the blush now threateningly rising in my cheeks; I was prone to blush uncontrollably whenever the former SeeD in question happened to be near.
The waitress looked upon the four of us with renewed interest. I felt like glaring at her and saying, "Get your filthy eyes off of my Squallie!" but rather liking that I still had a head on my shoulders, I kept quiet, settling with a scathing glance in her general direction.
"So that'll be three of our Pancake Deluxe then?" the waitress said with a sparkling smile.
"No," I snarled, vexed by her suddenly spunky attitude, "I'll have a Waffle Breakfast." The waitress shot a fierce look back at me, but jotted my order down and nodded all the same.
"They'll be ready in ten minutes." The waitress turned away, but not without one final look at my Squall.
My Squall! My Squall? Shaking my head to remove any such thoughts out of it (for now), I looked down at my napkin, tracing the little patterns imprinted upon it with just my eyes, whereas my hands stayed inactive in my lap.
The Hollow Bastion is my home world – or it was, until the Heartless consumed it in darkness. Now, it is a world of emptiness and desolation, barren and destroyed. Heartless now run free there as they do in the rest of the worlds. The castle that I used to live in with Aerith, Cloud, Cid, and Squall is now ruined, the splendor and beauty of the lush gardens and sparkling waterfalls wasted and shattered.
I was nine when it happened.
"Aerith! Aerith, they're here, they're here!" a nine-year-old version of me cried, running down the long hall before the library before bursting into it. Ten pairs of eyes turned toward me, looking astonished. Panting, I slumped to my knees, my tiny body unaccustomed to running so fast for such a long distance – the waterfalls to the library – in such a short time.
"Yuffie?" answered the bearer of one of the pairs of eyes. She was thirteen at the time, and old enough to know the truth about our life and the world around her. Being four years my senior, she was my protector in many ways, and being older, she was my link to everything the adults discussed. But this time, however, there was something she neglected to mention, of which I later found was supposedly for my own good: a hostile force was invading the Hollow Bastion.
She rose from the crowd of people several yards away near the stairs and ran over to me, crouching beside me and holding me. She was my adopted big sister since I was four, I think, or maybe even before that, and she was the only one who I'd have agreed to anything for.
"Yuffie, what is it? Who's here?" she asked soothingly, hugging me close. Behind her at the table, the people who'd been conversing stared fiercely, some of them frightened. I remember seeing Cloud and Squall's seventeen-year-old expectant eyes staring at me as well.
"I don't know!" I had moaned, burying my wide, terrified eyes into my hands. "They…they're just coming! Aerith, what are they?"
"The Heartless," gasped someone. Everyone looked in that direction. It was a man I didn't remember the name of, but he was among those who looked just as terrified as I was. "They're here."
It was at that moment that all hell broke loose. As soon as the words left the mouth of the young man, a door opened somewhere and screams filled the library as black monsters flooded the large area. Cloud and Squall immediately ran over to Aerith and I, guarding us even though they could have run. But the Heartless were coming in through the second floor. The remaining seven people of the meeting scattered in a panic. Two didn't make it out of the library.
Cloud and Squall quickly took Aerith and I out of the library, forcing us to run as fast as we could to the gummi station on the ninth floor, only accessible by a secret lift established by a person whose name I have also forgotten. People were already there, scrambling to get into whatever ship they could. Whoever got stuck behind stayed behind.
Neither Cloud nor Squall were prepared to let Aerith or me be one of those.
"Aerith, take Yuffie and get on that gummi," Cloud directed, pointed to the nearest gummi, its door open with the pilot waiting anxiously for them to get on. I heard yelling and cries, roars of the monsters and shrieks of the people. A dark storm began with the noise like a candle lit with a flame. Rain came pouring down, obscuring my vision. I shivered despite or perhaps because of my dread and wonder.
"But, Cloud, no, what about you?" Aerith screamed above the tumultuous noise.
"THREE SEATS LEFT!" the pilot yelled. I remember myself feeling helpless and lost. I didn't like the feeling, but I yearned to get on the gummi and out of the Hollow Bastion forever.
"Aerith…" I tugged on the sleeve of her sweater, pointing toward the gummi. She ignored me, but out of despair.
"Squall, go with them and protect them," Cloud ordered, ignoring her as she did me. The Heartless were appearing; they had discovered the secret lift. Now, only those who had weapons and the guts were fighting them off and the only gummi left now was the one with the petrified pilot and three unoccupied seats.
Squall picked me up, placed me in Aerith's arms and shoved her onto the gummi. The pilot instantaneously hastened to seat us. Aerith was crying every second, her hand and face pressed against the window, pleading unheard pleas for Cloud to join her. I didn't know it then – I do know it now – but Aerith had been in love with him. She wasn't going to leave without him.
"Cloud, no!" Aerith yelled, as Cloud marched over to Squall.
Squall stood obdurately by the ramp. "I'm staying here. Get on the gummi!"
"No, Leon, you!" With that, Cloud shoved his friend onto the ramp and the pilot closed it without a second thought. Squall roared with rage, but the pilot ran to his seat, shouting orders at his co-pilot to take off. Within seconds, we had left the ground, Squall thunderous with anger, Aerith stricken with grief, me confused with fear and naïveté, and the entire ship shaken with the horror and shock of what had just happened.
To the others on the ship with me, I didn't seem know it then – I was too young to, apparently – but our home was gone. Little did they know that I was perfectly aware that something was wrong. My nine-year-old logic stated that the big black monsters had eaten everything I loved, and there was no way for me to get it back. Cloud, my big brother seemingly, was gone along with the Hollow Bastion. And my life would never be the same.
Three months after the Hollow Bastion was destroyed and we escaped so narrowly, we docked in Traverse Town. Some of the original survivors of the escape didn't make it off the Hollow Bastion, having been destroyed in mid-air or sucked through some black hole, lost in time and space forever. My parents were among those who died on the planet, rather than whilst they tried to flee. We didn't know what had happened to Cloud, then. No one really knew what happened to the Bastion until much later, when even more worlds had been overrun and devastated. Cid had been on another ship and shortly after meeting Aerith, Squall and I, he found a job as a gummi mechanic there, his life falling into order unlike many of the victims of the Heartless.
I became a ninja soon after that. Aerith, though her suffering was no secret, did her best to take care of me, and unfortunately, Squall helped her, too. His dislike of caring for a little brat like I was clear, but over time he seemed to accept the fact that I was his shadow and was going nowhere.
Slowly, I fell in love with the man known as silence. Of course, I never said anything. As it is, Squall still thinks of me as an insolent little child. He's eight years my senior – and nothing can change the fact that he hates me.
A year ago, Cloud returned. Though I'm sure he told Aerith his entire story, I remain in the dark, as does probably Squall. But as much as I love to get on his nerves, I would never press him for what happened. I'm not too sure that I want to know.
As for our Heartless problem…it still exists. Also a year ago, a fourteen-year-old child named Sora popped into our Traverse Town, bearing a mythical item that, according to Squall and Aerith, was known as the Keyblade, and would aid in ending the Heartless forever. He traveled around the Kingdom, occasionally dropping by us for advice and help, culminating in locking all the doors of every world, and ebbing the flow of monsters.
But it wasn't enough, it seems. From what I heard, he was forced to lock his best friend away in the world of Heartless, behind a closed door that could never be opened; he was parted from his other best friend, the young woman known as Kairi – a princess of Heart – and he was thrown into a world with a talking duck and an imbecile dog. There is more to be done, more to be finished, but apparently Sora didn't complete what was supposed to be completed. Something that was supposed to happen didn't, and the Heartless returned, though not as powerful as before.
As for us, we have waited here in Traverse Town, patiently. Before Sora closed the Door, we returned from the Hollow Bastion, unable to stay where painful memories stained.
{tbc}
[a.n.] Well, this concludes chapter I! Twelve pages, a good 4, 962 words, and some really serious writing done until 1:40 in the morning, and I have one pretty good chapter. Please, please review for me! I put my heart and soul into this; don't let me down, people. See you around. [araclyzm]