This is Marluxia's story. It's part of the Twelve Hours, Twelve Views. I know the title's kind of weird but… I don't own Kingdom Hearts. When I become the ruler of the world and all of you know and bow down to my name… perhaps… perhaps…

Second Hour-Gentle Justice

Marluxia stood in front of a cracked gravestone with twelve ebony roses gathered in his arms.

"In the end…"

XxXxX

A small sickly looking twelve year old with black-cropped hair ran out through the throng of people clutching to his chest a package as if it were his lifeline.

"GET HIM!" A very angry, very well fed shop owner ran after the boy with a growing temper. "COME BACK HERE YOU INSOLENT WHELP!" He waved around a thick cane ready to beat the boy if he caught him.

Snort. As if.

Panting the child ran into a nearby alley, crashing into the bags of trash, burying himself in it. This was the shadiest area of Hollow Bastion and times were much harder than usual. The king was passing stupid laws like 'beggars should beg' and such. No one obeyed to those laws. On the streets there was only one law.

Survive or die.

And everyone wanted to stay alive. But all the famine and poverty had attracted huge amounts of heartless and they were becoming slightly rabid. The boy shook his head in disgust. He was a thief and he would stay one. Those he had trusted had gone to extreme measures such as taking in assassin jobs. Heck, he even saw one eating what looked like a human limb a few days ago!

When people grew desperate they also grew crazy. But reverting to cannibalism? Disgusting. Simply disgusti—

"AHA! I've found you now brat!" The vender pulled him up by an ear. "Thought you could steal from me huh?" He smirked at the younger child. "Let me drive this through your head… No one steals from me. NO ONE!" He raised the cane above his head. He was about to beat the youth when suddenly—

"Stop. Why resort to the violence of animals when you could talk about it calmly and like civil humans?" A soft masculine voice rang through the alley. "Or are you just an animal?"

"He stole something from me!" The merchant protested as he dropped the youth from his grasp.

"I'm sure he stole it with good intentions. Times are hard with these foolhardy laws and all these heartless." A gentle hand brushed the child's. "Come now. Let us see what you've taken."

The child looked up to see who is savior was while opening his hands. It was an eighteen-year-old teenager with shoulder length pale red hair. His fine chiseled features were the features of a noble. The child shivered. What was a noble doing meddling around with the business of a beggar?

"It is merely a few grams of bread. I can think of many other things he could have stolen other than your breakfast my good sir. Allow me to pay for your losses." The teenager handed two gold pieces to the now gaping shopkeeper. "Now I suggest you go back to your business and you leave ours to us." He smiled calmly. As the merchant waddled away the noble turned back to the kid. "What's your name?" His brown eyes reflected kindness.

"Da- David…" He lowered his head. "I'm sorry for smudging your honor and am in forever in your debt. I give you my eternal thanks my—"

"Oh please just stop David. If you're not going to mean it than there's no point in letting those words come out your mouth. It's just lip service after all. And as for my honor… Pfft! Who really cares about needless things? The only reason my mother gave me a name as corny as Arlumia is so people could refer to me." He started to walk away. "Are you coming?"

"Wait! Why are you, a noble, helping me?"

"I don't know. Perhaps I thought that there was something different about you." He paused and looked back kindheartedly.

"That's all? You… freak, freak, FREAK!" David tensed up as he heard something from Arlumia. Was that… laughter? When he thought about it what he had just said was pretty ridiculous…

The laughter of two boys echoed through the alley.

XxXxX

"So this is where you live?" David looked around in awe of his surroundings. He had no idea that a place like this even existed in Hollow Bastion. The skies were clear of smoke and smog, the waters were clean and birds flitted in and out of the lush green trees.

Arlumia walked onward with a rather sad look on his face. "I'm not proud of it. While I live in this disgustingly beautiful paradise there are people out there who are sleeping outside eating people! While I live in absolute leisure there are poor innocent lives out there being terrorized by heartless!" He suddenly bent down to poke the ground. "Are you happy with your life David?"

"Me? I've lived my life as a thief for as long as I can remember. It's not that hard until you get caught of course… Sure there was sometimes when I found myself daydreaming about being a noble before I could snap back to reality."

Arlumia was still crouched down. "It's funny don't you think? How beggars want to become like us nobles when it is us nobles that sometimes dream to be reborn as a beggar." He smiled sadly. "The thing is David… Half the nobles you see and know were really beggars once who cheated and killed to get in their current positions."

XxXxX

"David?" The two friends were staring at the darkening sky. It had been three months since that fateful encounter.

"Hmm?" Arlumia was a noble with a kind heart that some thought perhaps weak. David knew better. Arlumia may have seemed gentle but he was quite vicious when it came to his beliefs. He had a strong sense of justice and he hated it when people resorted to violence because they thought they could overpower him. (They couldn't. David had watched in awe as Arlumia had made a thug go down on his knees after trying to mug him.)

"When I die I want you to take my place. As a noble."

"Oh. I'm sure I'll make a great noble one day." David laughed.

He didn't notice the somber look on Arlumia's face

XxXxX

"I don't think that you should throw him in prison for trying to survive!" Arlumia protested to the judge.

David cowered under the hard gaze of others. How was he to know that the person he had stolen from was the great Ansem's assistant Xeonhort?

"He stole. He is guilty." The judge looked tired at this.

"If he's guilty for stealing merely a wallet that barely had anything in it then we are all guilty!" Arlumia argued.

"Objection! Barely anything in it? I had at least fifty pieces of munny in there!" Xeonhort glared at the brown haired individual.

"I remind you that you are in court and you should not lie in it. For if you are caught lying you will be charged." Arlumia quietly reminded him.

"Are you accusing me of lying?" Xeonhort looked indignant.

"David claimed that there were fifteen pieces not fifty Xeonhort. I'd believe him rather than you." Arlumia calmly explained this to the now furious scholar. "Why? Well it's quite simple really." He turned to the rest of the court. "Who would you rather believe? A thief or a murderer?"

A murmur rippled through the jury. "Would you please explain to us what you mean by 'murderer'? The judge inquired.

"Seven years ago my mother was killed. She had gone into the care of Xeonhort who claimed he knew a cure for her medical condition. One week later he claimed that she had died because of her illness and they had burned the body so the sickness would not spread. Two weeks later I found her rotting body in a creek."

"Are you sure that was your mother?"

"Do you think I wouldn't recognize my own mother?" Arlumia raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think that you could have mistaken someone else as her? The body was rotting as you say."

"Xeonhort refused to give me her ashes and the body wasn't rotting that much. Perhaps a two day rot."

"Well since we are not talking about Xeonhort but of this young man's and all evidence points to him I pronounce him…" Xeonhort smiled. "…Innocent." The smile dropped off of his face.

Arlumia gestured for David to follow him out of the court.

XxXxX

"So what do you think of this?" Arlumia asked David. David was just blinking at him.

"Well…" David sounded quite reluctantly.

"C'mon. Tell me now. It was a stupid accident. Tell me with a straight face."

"Well let's just say it brings out your… feminine side…" David was trying to keep his laughter in. Arlumia's hair had turned a pale pink because some old woman poured a bucket of stuff onto his head.

"This is not good. Kill me. KILL ME NOW!" Arlumia jumped up and down while David rolled around on the ground laughing at him.

"Well… it could have been worse…"

"IT COULD HAVE BEEN WASHABLE!"

"It could have been urine…"

"BUT URINE'S WASHABLE! THIS STUFF ISN'T! IT MAKES ME LOOK LIKE A HIPPIE! I'M TELLING YOU—DAVID THIS IS NOT FUNNY!"

As you can probably see Arlumia is quite sensitive about his hair.

XxXxX

"I see… But as long as we can see each other again now and then I'm fine with it." David waved his hands earnestly. Arlumia had just received a letter requesting that he stay with uncle now that his mother was dead.

"Are you sure? I mean if you don't want me to leave I won't." Arlumia looked at him anxiously.

"No you go… After all it is your choice…" David started walking forward along the riverbank. "I mean you could live a better life and you'd be able to get away from, from…this!"

"Oh. Okay." They continued to follow the riverbank in silence. They paused at the bridge where they would part ways when…

"Holy mother of god. Do you see them?" Surrounding them in a very loose circle was a group of heartless waiting to attack. "We're dinner…"

Arlumia just looked at them. "We can't escape these numbers… Might as well sit down and face death quietly…"

David looked at him shocked. "What? You're just gonna give up?"

"David… Sit down. Let us talk. What do you think will happen if my uncle finds out I'm dead?"

"He'll probably come and start laughing at his good fortune." He reluctantly sat down. They continued to talk about random things until the stroke of midnight.

Then the heartless advanced. Slowly the came forward, inch by inch, little by little.

At least we'll die together…

And then his mind was blank.

XxXxX

Marluxia stood in front of the grave and put down the bouquet of black roses.

David Shigemi

1990-2002

A loyal friend but an even better thief

"In the end his heart was too weak…"

Isn't it sad? I personally think it's sorta weird… Especially the part where they just sit down and talk. BUT IT'S FUNNY! Next:

The bell rings three times, echoing through the perhaps not so empty clock tower…Third Hour- Hopeless Dreamer.