Lucky Coin
Heads
The seconds crawled over scattered minutes upon hours, growing and spreading like a virus that stretched into days which crumbled into weeks, eventually blooming into months.
'There's really no words to describe it… except, perhaps, 'sickeningly ironic'…'
"Ugh! This isn't food! It's child abuse!"
Aerith cast him a reproachful glance over her shoulder as her hands busied themselves with pouring multi-sized tablets into different bottles. "They're called vegetables, Sora, and you need to eat all of them. Heavens know you never had any on the streets."
Blue eyes narrowing and a quick huff later, the brunet shot back, "But Riku didn't eat his!"
A hiss. "Sora, shut up!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then what did he do with them?"
"Dumped them out the window while you were in the bathroom."
"RIKU!"
"DAMNIT, SORA!"
Time stitched over the wounds and left behind bright pink scars that still ache when the light was overcast by heavy clouds and uncontrollable rain washes over their faces, which still hold frozen smiles and illuminated eyes.
'Why does my hope finally find roots in here? In a place like this? I'm worried. What will happen when trouble barrels through, and I can't get out of the way in time? Or pull back what still matters?'
"Sora, why don't you go back to your room?"
The night was aglow with the moon's bright face, a light much more beautiful than any they could encounter during the day. The stars sang a steady chorus of cricket chirps and low whistles of the scattered winds, drumming on the curtains and forming a steady beat.
"I like it in here better."
"Hm. Do you?"
"Yeah. But I think you'll like our room much better then in here."
Riku laughed. "Let's see. Service in the castle versus staying in this bed. It's a tough decision."
"Well, a month's a long time to be stuck in hospital. Not going stir-crazy on me, are you?"
"Have I hit you yet?"
"No…"
"Then maybe I am crazy."
"Nah, you're no---HEY!"
"Ha ha…"
The pages flipped by ever more slowly, despite the howling wind, as fat droplets of rain stained the words and caused the ink to bleed onto the spine, into the cracking earth, ruining the ending of their story and leaving it open like a gaping wound.
'Maybe it's not so much the unfamiliar comfort that's scaring me, though. Maybe it's the rift. That deep, terrifying rift.'
"Well, what did Aerith say?"
Riku's back cracked and he grimaced pleasantly at the relief it brought to his stiff body. A large bundle of used and wrinkled, yet clean, bandages curled and spilled over the nightstand where they were thrown to reveal pale skin that was still stretched thinly over a stack of ribs. His gained weight wasn't enough in Aerith's opinion, and he had to agree. The 119 on the scale wasn't all too impressive. His hair, once flowing down his back, was clipped to his shoulders, as the ends were singed by the flames almost two months, several broken bones, burn marks, and many gashes ago. Square bandages still stuck at random spots, covering stitched up spots that had refused to heal in such a short time. His chest still hurt when he breathed to heavily, but he found that when his nerves weren't standing on end, it wasn't too bad.
Bearable.
"She'll let me go in a week or two." Riku snorted. "She's like a mother; fussy and whiny."
"Bah, she's nice and you know it." Sora was grinning, leaning back on his palms with his legs dangling off of Riku's bed, his toes skimming over the tiled floors as he watched Riku stretch for the first time in a long time. He could see Riku's winces when he twisted in the wrong was and stretched a sore spot. There were cut-off sweatpants hanging around his thin waist, but nothing else but a damp towel draped around his neck and over his shoulders.
And then he looked over his shoulders after a quick bend to touch fingers to toes, shooting Sora a curious look. "Sora… you like these people?"
"Well, yeah," he said, cocking his head to the side with a small frown. "Why? Don't you?"
"Nope." He turned back around and, after taking a quick swipe at his sweaty forehead with the damp cloth, twisted his waist and slung his arms around in a twist. But Sora, more than anyone else, knew of Riku's complete lack of skill in changing the subject.
Sora couldn't do it properly either, but he digressed.
"Why not?" he repeated firmly.
"Stubborn," Riku muttered.
Sora ignored the last comment. "Why?"
He sighed, contorting his torso to swing the other way. He hung there for a few minutes, staring hard at the bedside table. It was littered with empty paper cups and a copy of the town newspaper where, several weeks ago, the headline, "TOWN THIEVES CAUGHT AT LAST" had flashed black and bold with criticizing words concerning the boys spewed over the page and continuing onto the next with several choice words from the palace guards, thrown in more than anyone would have liked.
TOWN THIEVES CAUGHT AT LAST
It hung in his head and badgered him constantly like an itch he just couldn't scratch. His next few words tumbled out like poison he just couldn't wait to get rid of.
"Because we're the thieves, they're the prison guards, and they're keeping us in this place to finish our sentence. They won't show pity to us; don't show it to them."
But no one said that poisoned words couldn't leave a bad taste in one's mouth.
Flashing, flashing, like thunder, watching their luck flip back and forth in the winds of a hurricane.
'I can feel it cracking open a bit more every day. I need to jump over to his side before it's too late. But Hell, how can I with my roots still deep in the earth? With my hope the it'll be bridged over some day.'
"Are you ready?"
An unsure shrug. An uncommon frown on a plump face.
"C'mon, Sora. This isn't like you. I thought you're strong than this?"
The frown formed into a tiny glare which collided with the cool gaze of aqua-marine eyes. "What does strength have to do with this?"
A shrug of his own. "Pretty much everything. We can't afford to break down in the middle of this. In two more years, Sora, we'll be free from this place!" A mere flicker of his cocky grin spread over his face, a tiny upward tilt of his lips being all that he could manage until he turned around and threw his medicine bottles, all half way empty, into a small tote bag. It was already stuffed with sleepwear, a toothbrush, some socks and a few more simple clothing items. All had been provided for him during his two-month stay at the infirmary.
"It's going to be great," Riku was saying. "We'll get out of this town! Go somewhere we can start all-over again."
"Start over?" Sora echoed slowly, tasting the words on his lips and cringing at the bitter taste of false hope that ruined them completely. "Isn't starting over, ya know, kinda like cheating?"
"Cheating? Nah." Riku still wasn't facing him. He occupied himself with double-check for everything, and then fishing under the bedside table for his scandals. "We didn't really get a fair start on the first shot, so…" He let sentence dwindle off without a finish. He didn't know how to finish it.
Sora didn't know how to reply. Riku ignored his friend's platonic silence.
He slung his bag over his shoulder after giving the zipper a good tug, and then slipped his bare feet into his scandals.
"Well, then, let's go see this room they're locking us up in."
Sora smiled weakly. With more strength then he felt he had, he said "Yeah, sure!"
We don't need to start over…
Watching it flip in the air and begin towards the back of the book, two sides of a coin glimmering in the lightning with the ending tapering behind it.
'I'll just have to wait then, won't I? Starting over with a new life? Don't think we need to.
'We'll see which side our lucky coin lands on.'
Tails
"All right, now, what the HELL is this?"
Sora burst into such a loud uproar of laughter that Riku almost feel some concern for his friend.
Almost. Almost feel some concern.
"Go on, Riku!" Sora yelped out between giggles as he clutched at his sides, trying to regain his breath. "Try it on! I wanna see how it looks on you." Riku hesitantly held it up to himself, and that caused another round of laughter.
A silver eyebrow twitched ever-so-slightly. He shot a disdainful look at the offending object he had held up to his chest before scoffing and chucking it down with the rest on his neatly-made bed.
From a quick glance it was just a basic set of clothing lying so innocently on the rich red comforter. But upon closer inspection by the two, they found something much different.
The pants and shoes were fine. The shoes were a simple black with rounded laces, rubber soles, and made of a soft, leathery material. The pants were black suede with two pockets in the front, two in the back, and loopholes for the simple black belt.
It was the rest that got them. The white, button-down t-shirt with a crisp collar, matching cuff-linked sleeves, had a left breast pocket. On said pocket was a small black decal that could be mistaken as a dot from far away but was, in fact, three circles forming you-know-what.
A mouse head.
A fucking mouse!
And the tie, bright red, had a matching insignia printed on the tipped bottom.
And to top it all off, a red shoulder strap with a yellow trim and two metallic buttons to clip it together . It was a way of showing their status, they knew, as servants, compared to other palace staff such as guards (who had their own special set), chefs, advisors and the whole what-not.
That had an even bigger mouse head on it.
Well, Hell.
"Oh shut up!" Riku snapped, cheeks tinged with a pink glow. Sora's laughter, which had started to die down, now came back with a vengeance.
Riku smirked. "Let's see you try it on, Sora," he sneered.
That shut him up quite nicely.
Sighing with relief and a tinge of wariness, Riku sunk low on the bed. He fingered the tie, then picked it up to hold to the afternoon light which glowed through the four-paned window. "This material is… interesting."
"Interesting?" Sora, too, held his up and examined it closely with squinty eyes. "I don't see anything too special about it."
It worried the brunet slightly that Riku's smirk was back.
"This is silk."
"Erm… yay? Riku, are you sure you're feeling all right? I know you were in that infirmary for a while, but…"
Riku just shook his head. He straightened up and lay the tie across his lap, twisting his legs carefully onto the bed; his body still felt pretty stiff, and it made him wince when he moved too fast. He reached over and pulled the drawer of a lamp table open to reveal a couple odds and ends. A pair of dull-tipped scissors (Riku snorted; Sora looked more worried than ever), a roll of tape, a pencil or two, a tablet of paper, and…
Riku chuckled. He plucked up the desired object from beneath the a tangle of rubber bands and held his hand up, twirling it around for Sora to see.
Sora gulped. "Riku, we shouldn't…"
Riku grinned. "Your point?"
The brunet saw no way out of this one. And then, slowly, Sora found a smile of his own. "Fine. Just let me do my own."
Heads
A new day shown brightly. The sun was waking up slow today, slower then the town's residents who were up at the break of dawn and carting off barrels of fruit and hay admist the sweet smell of cider and freshly clipped straw. When the sun did rise, it was warm and the town bloomed into clouds of noise that hung everywhere you walked. Light glittered off flagstones that ran up a walkway to the castle, which shone like ice.
Inside, things moved more slowly but heated up quickly by the time the birds began to sing. You could practically taste the eggs and bacon, the freshly roasted coffee and cinnamon buns, from the scent wafting up from the cafeteria where row after row of table sat hundreds of the castle inhabitants. Some young and some old, none under the age of eighteen at the moment.
It makes one wonder where Riku and Sora were, doesn't it?
Why, they were strutting off in their new uniforms, of course.
They came strolling down the main hallway, grinning broadly at shocked faces and beaming when they got the occasional smile or chuckle. Their shiny shoes slip-clopped as they carried them to a destination even they didn't know of.
They just wanted to show off.
It was when they met a group of people (and animals) outside the large doorway to the entrance hall that they finally stopped.
The piece of toast Cloud had in his mouth fell right out.
Yuffie's glass of chocolate milk slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor.
Aerith's mouth fell slightly agape.
Leon stood there, back rested on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, lightly smirking. Were his eyes sparkling a bit with pride?
Goofy guffawed.
Donald was slowly listing off a number of obscenities that won't be listed here so as to protect the ears of small children.
Riku smirked. Sora beamed.
"Well, this is different," Cloud muttered.
Both had taken a black permanent marker to their uniforms. The mouse insignias were completely covered in ink. Riku had his in the shape of a messy skull on the armband, a simple scratchy scrawl over one, and the last one a frowning face. The one on Sora's tie he had made into a four-pointed star ("Sora, what is that?" "A start!" "Sora, stars have five points, you numbskull!" "Nuh-uh, this one's a special star!") the one on his shirt had been giving a clown hat and curls out of the head that were obviously meant to be a moustache, and his armband now sported a giant X.
That wasn't all that they'd done.
After the alterations to the mouse heads, Riku'd decided he wasn't quite through yet. He had slipped the end of his belt short and given it a new hole, so now it was fastened tightly around his neck. He'd used the armband to tie his hair back (skull hanging from the end and lying out for all to see), and the ends of his shirt were ripped off. His pants also now had rips in the knees.
Sora went along with it, chuckling as he made his own changes. The pants were cut back into billowy shorts that swished slightly around mid-thigh. The belt was still there, but it was on the last notch so it hung down to his thigh. The shirt was altered into a t-shirt, and he wore his armband wrapped about his neck. And, for some reason, he had no socks on.
After a long pause, the two giving everyone a moment to collect themselves, Aerith muttered a hoarse, "What did you do?"
"Well, we thought our uniforms could use some changes," Sora said cheerfully enough.
"Yeah. We wouldn't want to conform to society's expectations and wear what everyone else was wearing, now would we?"
Yuffie was gaping at them like a dying fish. Laughter was coming, they all knew it. Just give it a few more minutes.
"So, do you like it?"
That set Donald and Yuffie off at the same time.
"AH HA HA!"
"YOU TWO LOOK LIKE IDIOTS!"
"YOU GUYS ROCK!"
"YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THE ENTIRE CASTLE!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
"FIX IT RIGHT NOW!"
"YOU TWO LOOK AWESOME!"
"Would you both shut up? I'm getting a headache," Leon snapped coldly, his eyes still on the boys. And then, in an bland voice, he asked, "So, you two had some extra time last night or something?"
"Always time for this kind of stuff," Riku said in a tone that said nothing could have been more productive.
Yuffie's boisterous laughter finally subsided to a loud fit of giggles when Cloud lightly swatted her over the head.
"We need to get you new uniforms," Aerith murmured faintly. She was eyeing the uniforms like she expected them to change back to normal any moment now. "Right away. Before King Mickey sees."
"Aw, I'm sure he'd appreciate a good joke," Riku assured her. He rested one hand on his hip and slung the other over his partner-in-crime's shoulder. "Everyone could use a good ol' laugh, eh?"
Sora chuckled, grinning sheepishly at their small audience who stared with a mixture of awe and apprehensiveness, as if they thought that they'd both lost their marbles.
Not that they ever really had them altogether in the first place, but really, that's not the point.
"Now what?" Donald squawked. "His Majesty will be furious!"
"Aw, shucks, Donald!" Goofy said, clapping the duck on the back with a gloved paw. "It don't look all that bad!"
"Bad?" Cloud muttered. "They look like they fell out of a punk-rock band. A bad one."
"Are you all drunk or something?" Yuffie exclaimed. "They look awesome!" She shot the duo a double thumbs-up. "Nice job, guys! You shoulda called; The Great Ninja Yuffie would have been glad to give you a make-over!"
"Sorry, Yuffie," Sora grinned.
"Yeah, we'll get you next time," Riku chimed in. "We're planning on re-doing this entire place's uniforms!"
"WHOO!"
"Enough of this," Aerith said with a breathy sigh, eyeing the altered uniforms she herself has designed. "Let's just go down to the stock room and get some new uniforms before---"
"G'mornin', fellas! WHOA!"
"…ah, never mind."
King Mickey, a mug of steaming hot chocolate remaining surprisingly in his grasp as he leapt back slightly at the sight of his newest workers. His mouth and eyes had grown to around twice their size.
Riku let his arm fall away from his friends shoulder and, stepping away from each other, they both gave a great, comical bow with one leg swung behind them, an arm over their stomachs and the other sweeping into the air.
"Good morning, Your Majesty!"
Yuffie burst into more uncontrollable laughter. The act got a few giggle from Aerith and smirks from the two men, as well as Goofy's guffawing.
Donald hissed impatiently.
"Well, um, morning'?" Mickey blinked a bit, taking a moment to run his eyes up and down the New and Improved costumes as Riku and Sora straightened up, both shaking with barely-suppressed laughter. "Well, this is, uh, creative?"
"Just give me the order, Your Majesty," Donald muttered, rolling up his shoulders and feathered fingers clenching and unclenching around the pole of his staff. "The only thing that'll be left of those uniforms is---"
Then the King did something that was of no surprise to anyone but Riku and Sora, and to the great indignation of the Court's Magician. He started to laugh.
"Oh, Donald, quit it! I think their uniforms look fine!"
"But, Your Majesty!"
"They're teenagers. Did you really expect them to wear those things? Gawrsh, the alterations sure look swell!"
Riku and Sora exchanged glances.
They looked simultaneously at Aerith who, with a knowing smile on her lips, said, "Come on, let's let those fixed."
King Mickey just laughed before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, watching Riku and Sora quickly stride past him in Aerith's wake. "Works every time with kids!" And with a whistle, he departed, leaving behind Yuffie who was close to a heart attack, a very pissed duck who had Goofy there to calm him down, or attempt to do so, and two men who didn't really give a damn and went off to get some coffee now that the morning's excitement was finally starting to die down.
Tails
White jackets. Black vests with white jackets and brown-shoed feet scampering along a dark alley way under the heat of the sun and into am unnerving silence. Rats the size of small cats skittered here and there, beady eyes staring up as the men , merged into a giant crowd, slunk through the dark shadow of Disney Village. Deathly sharpened blades in ropy sheaths, slung to their belts, making whapping noises as they slapped against their legs.
Greedy eyes slinking back and forth.
The air had a sickening, old smell that tasted bitter on the tongue and stung your skin, making you squint. The smell of sweat and fear, anger, dripping and pooling along the floor to feed dark hearts.
It was the gathering.
The white guards were gathering.
Gathering, gathering.
That day, the city was pierced with the smell of something wicked that made the meat smell rancid, the fruit over-ripened, the hay waft mildew. Laughter sharpened into cackles and the shadows started to move, blackness following along the heels of the white jackets, black vests, and swords in ropy sheaths that made a whapping noises as they slapped against the moving legs of the white guards.
Gathering.
found it we've found it
found it found it
it's here
founditit'shere
keyblade
Heads
The room was dark now, lit only by the moon, it's light lapping at the shadows and forcing it into the farthest corners, away from two lumpy figures in their beds. Duel sets of soft breathing blending in as the crickets chattered away. Leaves swished and danced in the bight and their doppelgangers floated over the floor, a hymn of chanting rustles that filled the night.
The wickedness had dispersed from the air, leaving behind an ugly aftertaste that had caused the sunset to be dyed a dark blood red. The sun burned on it's way down and it made the air stiff and humid, uncomfortable for sleeping. The windows were thrown open and now the faintest traces of a breeze blew through, circulating the air and carrying soft snores outside to float among the grass.
New sets of uniforms lay over the two chairs that belonged to a long mahogany desk, pushed against the bed closest to Riku. Sora's bed was closest to the door, something Riku had insisted hion him taking. He said that he wanted to be closest to the window, which was closer to his bed by about a foot. Sora had been too tired to argue, anyway. The day was full of nothing but running around. They'd been given a full tour by the ever-patient Aerith after running to the stock room to be fitted for another set of uniforms. They'd get two more sets in a few days, Aerith said, so they could alternate while the others got washed.
The tour was interesting, to say the least. Riku knew the castle inside-out, but the only routes Sora had been able to recite by the end of the day was the way from their room to the kitchens.
Riku, quite honestly, expected nothing more than this.
The day was too long and neither stayed up for more then twenty minutes after their return. Brushing teeth and hair and throwing off their uniforms was pretty much all they did before they crashed into their respective beds. Talking ensued afterwards for another ten minutes. And Then Sora had yawned.
Which made Riku yawn. And then Sora yawned a big one and he didn't utter another sound.
After the brunet's first soft snore, Riku allowed himself one more yawn before shutting his eyes and relaxing himself onto the bed.
His eyes glued to the door.
The wickedness from the air was gone, but in his mind, he could see it floating in the air before him, ghosting through the air and wagging a sinister finger at him, beckoning him into a nightmarish dreamscape.
Chapter End
Sorry it's so short?
Thank you, Fire, for getting me to write again. It took you all of fifteen minutes to do what readers have been PMing me to do for the past several months.
I was also slightly annoyed that people aren't picking up on these clues I keep on dropping all over the place, so I dropped a big fat one in here. I feel slightly better.
And as for the first part of the story? The bold-italicized things were just foreshadowing's and symbolism. Metaphors and all that stuff. Italicized things were someone's thoughts; I won't tell you whose. I'll let you know at the end.
Here's hoping you guys remember me! Flickering Light is next!