Background: Same Kyrie and same universe as, in order, deep breath The Sins of Two Fathers, Retribution Nor Redemption, Descendants of the Mundane, and Fool's Journey. I suppose this story specifically came from Fool's Journey (and Make 'em Smile, and This Mess... but nevermind), in one sense... but really, it was spawned by a theoretical conversation by a friend one late, late night. (And I still hate you. grin) It's set a few months after Fool's Journey, by the way.
Possible WARNINGS: You better believe this will likely contain a lot of foul language, "possible" weird sexual situations, relationships that are generally considered not part of the mainstream, plenty of violence, and a hell of a lot of screwing with the heads of readers and characters alike. If you've read anything of mine before, you probably know what to expect. It's gonna get dirty in here. Also keep in mind that this was thought up and written well before Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, so... yeah.
Also note, for this chapter: In my version of the video at the end of the game, let's just say that the camera doesn't cut out as quickly. In other words, a certain someone actually does appear. So there.
Ties that Bind and Tear Apart
Chapter 1
By Orin Drake
Day off, day off, day
off... played through her mind. Normally she wouldn't care quite
so much... but when it meant Vincent had to handle dignitaries alone, she
just got a damn kick out of it. It wasn't as if Laguna minded at
all--he was glad as long as she was happy. Great thing to have him
as a grandfather.
Besides, she'd put in a
hell of a lot of work just the week before. It had been time to clean
out all of the random bits of paper that had no business being used in
such a technologically advanced city to begin with, and she'd sorted.
For hours. Through piles of paper higher than the desk. Three
paper cuts, even. Three piles were constructed in every room: one
to keep, one to ask about, and one to shred. The shredding was her
favorite part.
Feet up on the arm of the
sofa, leaned lazily back with her cup of coffee, she was enjoying the stillness
of the early morning. A terribly weird thing to be up early on a
day off, but she'd gotten to appreciate how the sun looked as it came through
the window, the songs of the birds... never would have believed it.
As for Rodger, he was still
upstairs, face-down on the bed. He'd promised, twice, that he was
"just getting up". Never made it past the pillow, but his intentions
had been good.
John... had a job to do.
Every so often, he'd have to find the portal back to Hell for what he called
a "little look-see". Just to make sure that nothing terrible was
happening in his absence. And it was probably a bit of a fun vacation
from just following the other two around all day. Not that he minded
that, of course. It was a few days of excitement before a long
rest period full of inappropriate behavior and pizza.
Mmmm, pizza... Kyrie
pondered over another sip of coffee. Sure it was early, but cold
pizza for breakfast was a good thing. Not to mention, the only time
she got to enjoy that little delicacy was when John went away; for being
relatively skinny and quite tone in structure, the boy could pack food
away in miraculous ways. And not always politely.
Not that she should speak.
Sure she had the excuse of harboring mastered Materia to "feed", but...
well. She also had to make sure to do physical training at least
five times a week. That sucked, but the results were worthwhile;
a fact even better represented with her happening to be in only her underwear,
strewn over the couch. Hell, it was her day off.
Life had been without serious
incident for several months. Quistis was still dating Mr. Absent-Minded
Professor (great guy, but certainly in need of a... keeper). Ellone
had found someone she had interest in, even if Laguna was questioning him
at every turn (hey, a president can't be too careful... or too curious).
Cloud was still minding the shop... though his lunch hour had stretched
into two, just so he could get to the Presidential Palace to bullshit with
everyone. Hey, he could afford it. Vincent, meanwhile, was
pretty much exactly the same... with a few more lewd comments here and
there. While Irvine displayed no interest in slowing down, Selphie
had met a man (who truly turned out to be a nice guy, pleasantly enough)
by accident in a supermarket. Kyrie and Rodger had only met him once
in passing, but plans had been made to have dinner with them. At
least that would alert the poor guy to what he was getting into.
The sudden clumsy stumbling
down the stairs was certainly Rodger having discovered he was alone in
bed--a thing he was most certainly no longer used to. He smirked
at his wife's state of undress, rather enjoying it. "All to myself,
huh?"
"Ah, you're too tired."
She teased, making note of his more-unkemp-than-usual hair. "We had
all the time in the world last night, but noooo, someone had to
get all tired."
The smirk softened a little
as he leaned over the sofa, drawing closer. "That's because someone
was already made quite tired due to early morning 'activities'
before work."
"Excuses." She threw
back lazily. "You don't drink enough coffee, darlin'."
He grinned at her slip.
Every once in a while, he'd slide back into the speech he remembered his
father using ("classic cowboy", he'd called it). Apparently, it had
finally carried to her. It was just... amusing. She'd also
picked up John's thousand and one uses for the word "babe"... though that
was hardly an accident. Sometimes it knocked his cockiness down a
peg or two in extremely necessary areas. Her husband surprised her
by quickly leaping over the back of the couch and landing right next to
her.
She was just glad her coffee
cup was only half full. "Too late to make up for it now." She
joked, quietly.
"I'm not making up for anything.
I'm trying to steal your spot."
"Pft, fine." She somewhat
ungracefully slipped off the couch, turning her wrist with ease so not
a drop of her precious life essence was spilled. That done, she took
a drink of the still-hot beverage and sat on the floor for a moment.
Hey, no rush.
Rodger took his opportunity
to stretch out in her previous spot, reaching down to run his fingers through
her hair. "Hey, your birthday is in a few days, isn't it..."
Interesting question...
"I believe I've officially reached the point where I damn well don't care
to celebrate getting older."
He gave her a joking glare.
"Oh, yeah. I mean, twenty-four is older than dirt."
She pretended not to notice,
trying hard to keep a straight face. "Feels it."
While he understood...
"Enjoy it. Free cake, free presents. And who knows what gifts
you might be able to wrangle from certain individuals..."
"Dream come true."
She agreed half-heartedly. "So... what'd ya get me?"
"A vacuum cleaner."
He joked, dangerously.
"The same one they'll find
you beaten to death with, right?" she asked in her sweetest tone.
"That's the one!"
He shook his head, finally forcing himself into a sitting position.
"I suppose I should go take a shower."
Getting up sounded like
too much trouble... "Why? I haven't yet. It's our day
off."
"Well, some of us
like to be clean and sexy." He stuck his tongue out.
"Who?" she challenged.
"All I know are the dirty and sexy."
He placed his palms together,
closed his eyes and spoke in a very deep, slow voice. "We must embrace
both the clean and the dirty to become whole..."
"The dirty is so much easier
to embrace." She commented. "Oh, fine, shower. Then I'll
just have to shower, and the whole day will be ruined."
"Happy Early Birthday."
He grinned, patting her lightly on the head as he got up, then headed straight
up the stairs. "I'll expect you to look like that for the rest of
the day!" he called back.
"Since when has anything
you expected actually mattered, dear?" she called up just as sweetly.
Like she had plans to wear anything else, anyway.
Well, since she was up and
semi-aware, may as well turn on the TV and explore the world of insane
politics. Though, on second thought, maybe cartoons were in order.
At least they were generally amusing before the second cup of coffee...
and, admittedly, very often even beyond that.
She'd just settled in for
some ridiculously "educational" cartoon when, of all things, the doorbell
rang. She gave a glance to the window, annoyed that the curtains
obscured her looking out... but glad they also obscured anyone's view looking
in. She darted to the closet and pulled out a long coat, wrapping
it around herself quickly. Much as she'd have liked to have opened
the door in only a bra and panties... something told her that might be
frowned upon by... anyone that could have been at her doorstep. Lacking
in robes (there was no reason for them, really), the soft duster coat was
the next best thing. Confident that she could kick just about anyone's
ass in any state of undress, she looked through the peep hole... and found
herself stunned. Almost enough to have forgotten to open the door
at all, which would have been quite a rude thing in hindsight.
"Mr. Kinneas." Of
all the people in the world not to expect at her front door... "Rodger's
in the shower at the moment..."
The man shook his head,
indicating that there was no need to disturb the manner of things
He was clearly in work attire; suit and tie, hair back in only the most
perfect of ways... no hat. "Oh, no problem. I'll be in town
again next week, actually. This isn't really a... visit..." he trailed
off, other thoughts seeming to overcome him. "Here, I just... wanted
to drop this off."
Kyrie accepted a small box
handed to her... trying to hide her apprehension. It was all too...
weird. "S-... Sir?"
He waved the title off.
"Just Irvine, by now." He assured her, as he had on occasion.
"I... found this a few days ago, going through some old things. Not
sure how I wound up with it, it was really Selphie's... Point being,
I called her about it and we both felt that you ought to have it.
A keepsake."
She was suddenly less than
grateful--though she had no reason to appear rude. "Well... thanks
for the thought."
He smiled and nodded, that
old Kinneas charm gleaming through. "Tell Rodger hi for me.
And that I'll be back to see him in a week."
She nodded, intending to
say, "Yes, Sir"... until she noticed him looking her up and down,
ever so slightly. That earned him a smirk only barely covering her
interpretation of the Leonhart Glare. Hey, it was understood.
They nodded and parted ways, door closed and locked behind her.
Irvine had traveled all
the way to her house... just to drop off a video. Scary. She
stared at it for a while... then walked over to sit on the couch and wait.
No way she was going to watch it alone.
Rodger whistled down the
stairs, all ready for a full day of doing absolutely nothing of value at
all. He stopped short at the sight of Kyrie on the couch in a duster.
"Hey, what's with the clothing?"
"Your father was just here."
She leapt straight for the blunt explanation. Although, yes, he did
have a point; she dropped the duster.
Which part of that had made
him pause wasn't important. "...Oh..?"
"To drop this off.
A video. Marked, 'SeeD party'." She lifted the tape for him
to see, wondering... so many things. "He said to tell you hi, by
the way. He's planning to come back and visit next week."
Weirdness on top of weirdness...
and it clearly escaped neither of them. He shook his head, without
explanation. "Well... did you want to watch it?"
Funny thing was, she couldn't
come up with an accurate answer for that. She surrendered to absolute
silence, staring intently at the television. Tapes were old, outdated,
replaced by disks... but she happened to have kept her parents' VCR.
For no particular reason, really... it had just been one of those things
she hadn't felt much of an urge to get rid of.
Rodger watched the process
of her thoughts from what felt like a great deal of distance. Things
had been going so... smoothly, lately. Of course it was about time
for something stupid to come along and destroy it. Though... maybe
it wasn't really that bad. Maybe it was all just... a SeeD party.
Happy times. Drunken people.
The decision was swift and
quiet; she put the tape down on the coffee table, then went about retrieving
the VCR from "somewhere in the back of the closet". A remarkable
task on the best of days, it didn't really take that long to find and pull
out of the mess. She knew better than to think she could live with
herself if she didn't see that tape as soon as possible... even if it wasn't
quite as marked. Damn curiosity; a few minute reconnections to the
back of the television and they had the old device working.
Actually putting the tape
in the machine was a slow step. Second thoughts, disturbing possibilities...
but they meant nothing when Rodger dropped casually onto the couch, waiting.
It was a comfort to know he was there, certainly... she pressed the tape
in the slot and backed away to sit beside her husband.
After a short breadth of
darkness and snow, a familiar face. They both laughed at Selphie's
immediate enthusiasm of just being alive, let alone working a camera on
top of it. Next came Quistis, looking young and gorgeous, dainty
and polite--immediately out-hammed by an extremely hyper Irvine.
And then Cid, appearing grateful to be relaxing... and Edea, hardly looking
the evil Sorceress she was once believed to be. Zell was unceremoniously
stuffing his face, a none-too-graceful piece of bread flung at the camera
when he realized his eating habits were being committed to video.
It was all a party atmosphere, to be certain.
Then Selphie pointed...
and the camera panned...
Kyrie felt herself wince
a little, not expecting the next scene. So... that... was Rinoa.
Kind of... eerie. She was a pretty girl, no doubt about that... but
something deeply internal told her she had no business looking.
It was when the camera panned
again, however... Squall. In a bomber jacket and leather pants...
smiling, a little. Totally oblivious to the camera as he strode to
Rinoa and embraced her.
As the tape cut suddenly
to snow due to a low battery (according to the blinking signal in the corner),
the witnesses blinked. Repeatedly. In silence. It was
just... damn weird. Not bad, per se, but... so strange.
There had been plenty of pictures of them all from various time periods...
but never on video. Never moving... all alive, in the same
place... together. As comrades.
Seifer hadn't been on the
tape, obviously... but he was the biggest ham of all. He had a huge
collection of photographs of himself, interestingly enough. Never
a video... that they knew of. Or hoped to know of, more than likely.
Kyrie finally spoke up,
breathless. "That was fucking weird."
"I agree." Rodger
admitted. Seeing his parents so young was actually a little... creepy
in some strange way. "But Quistis was really hot."
"Glad you enjoyed yourself."
She grinned, getting up to rewind the tape... and probably put it with
the VCR right back in the dark depths of the closet. Speaking of,
though... "I kinda feel like going to visit Quisty, now."
He got the gist of the situation.
She wanted to ask Quistis if she wanted to see the tape... or perhaps simply
leave it with her, washing her hands of the whole thing. "Well, it
is
our day off. And now that I've seen that tape..."
"Behave." She joked,
knowing better. "I imagine she still carries a whip around sometimes."
His eyes rolled back slightly.
"Ooooooohhh."
Ejecting the video, she
walked over and mock-hit him in the chest. "Not to mention that's
her God Save the Queen on our wall."
"Ooooooohhhh, again."
He teased, grasping her wrist as she moved to hit him again, using mild
force to pull her down on his lap.
Not that she didn't appreciate
her surroundings, but... "If we want to get there before the rush,
we'll have to leave soon. Of course, this will mean that I'll have
to wear clothes."
"Damn. Didn't think
of that one." He ran his fingertips all too lightly across her exposed
back, the touch almost nonexistent. "Are you sure?"
What a horrible question
to have asked... "Yeah, afraid so." She sighed, not particularly
wanting
to remove herself from the touch. "Naked on the train didn't really
work out well. Too many windows. I only want certain people
sharing."
He grinned, seeing her point.
"Oh, fine. Let's go get ready, then."
A quick shower for
Kyrie was a rare thing. She was fully capable, as she'd just proven--she
just didn't particularly like them. There seemed hardly a point if
you weren't going to lounge around and use up all the hot water... forcing
anyone who had planned on showering after you to wait while half-naked
and... well. Good things usually happened there. They all had
good hygiene, it's not like "the unshowered" made "the showered" filthy
or anything. Well, not in that sense.
She was smiling with that
thought the whole time she got dressed. They did have to hurry
up to get to the station before the massive rush... but...
Her thoughts were interrupted
by a very obvious sound downstairs--the door. Not a knock, but the
use of a key. Only one person actually used a key before knocking.
"I found my way back!" a
familiar voice shouted up. "Even though you keep giving me the wrong
directions to get here!"
With no hesitation, Kyrie
bounded down the stairs (since the banister wasn't really suited for sliding),
directly into the waiting arms of a second-generation demon hunter.
"Hey you cocksucking demon spawn." She greeted warmly.
"I can feel the love."
He quipped, catching and squeezing her hard. It felt good to be back,
to put it lightly. He hadn't been gone for any more than two weeks...
but it sure as hell felt like longer in that damned place.
Rodger sauntered down the
stairs, seeing no rush... and still feeling a little tired. Or maybe
that was lazy. Well, either way. He let out a deep sigh of
relief at the bottom step. "Now she's got a baby-sitter."
She stuck her tongue out
at him. "Nu-uh!"
John grinned, rather "gently"
spilling her onto the floor in favor of a greeting "manly hug" for the
"man of the house". "I thought we agreed that we were going to hire
a baby-sitter for her."
"No one could afford that
kind of effort." Rodger returned.
Kyrie remained on the floor,
glaring at the two of them--until John decided he may as well scoop her
back up. She made a half-serious attempt to squirm away, but ultimately
knew better; he knew her pressure points.
"So." The silver-tressed
boy swung her over his shoulder to irritate her further. "What have
I missed?"
She wasn't entirely
appreciative of being in that position... but at least she could see his
ass. "We were actually on our way to see Quistis. Up to following?"
Like he had anything better
to do. "Definitely. As long as I get something to eat along
the way."
"Better not look in the
fridge." Rodger grinned at his wife's deadly glare over her shoulder.
John moved directly toward
the kitchen, Kyrie in tow. He ignored the kicking protests, opening
the Glorious Cold Food Box--and gasping. "How dare you let this pizza
get cold. Actually, how dare you put it in the refrigerator in the
first place."
"Some of us like
left-overs." She argued, gearing up for more before she found herself
somewhat flipped over his shoulder and stood upon the floor. Once
she gained her balance again, she continued. "Besides, we should
get to the station before it's packed."
It was too late, however.
John already had the pizza box in hand. "Okay. Let's go."
With a smirk, she followed.
Well, it was good to have him back, anyway.
On her way back to the living
room, though... well, it was... weird. Her inner ear told her that
she had tripped, or possibly fallen through something... obviously, it
was mistaken. Her eyes saw nothing of the sort... though they did
seem to see a dimming of daylight, lasting several seconds. She easily
could have ignored both of those senses, convincing herself that it was
just an ear infection or perhaps dehydration... but the Materia weren't
fooled; they'd stopped moving. It was only a second, if that... but
she couldn't ignore the feeling of absolute motionless inside of her.
Not when she'd felt them spinning every second of every day for years.
All things considered, it'd
only lasted for a slight fragment of time... but it was still concerning.
What was that... that feeling? That... not quite emotion,
really, but... movement. Motion of more than body. A shift.
Some not so delicate balance was... changed. Turned on its head.
She didn't want to ask.
She really, really didn't want to ask. "Did you feel that?"
Rodger didn't want to admit
that he had felt something--and he didn't need to. It only
took the slightest eye contact with her to confirm her suspicion that perhaps
she wasn't alone in what had happened.
It was an open question,
John realized. But he answered in the only way he knew how when he
was genuinely freaked out. "Were you grabbing my ass again?"
She was even more glad for
his return at that moment... not that she would have admitted it.
"Not this time."
"Shared hallucination?"
Rodger let himself ask.
"Wouldn't surprise me."
Kyrie commented.
"Just hungry." John
spoke up, naturally lapsing everyone right back into the easy rhythm they
had with one another.
"Well, of course that."
She agreed, grabbing the video then walking to the door to leave.
Here we go again. Check out the second chapter, as well. I decided to put two chapters up as an intro this time, because you'll understand the tone of the story more that way... or... something. Okay, maybe not.
If you'd like to be e-mailed when I update, drop me a line with whatever story/stories/website you'd like me to inform you of.