The Things You Remember
~Sara POV~
"Wah!" I screamed as I fell face first into the concrete.
"Tripped over your feet again, perky?" Xanaya scoffed. I pushed myself up on hands and knees.
"I'm not a klutz…" I muttered. In fact I wasn't but this girl Xanaya she made me nervous like there was no way to please her. I glanced over to my left and noticed a sad sight; a little pink rose was partially crushed. I scoped it carefully into my hands. "Aw, how sad! It's so small!"
"Oh it had so much to live for!" Xanaya mocked. Thanos sighed and pulled me up.
"I wish I could help somehow." I continued ignoring Xanaya.
"Oh I can help." I looked up to see the blond girl Thanos had almost dismembered. I tilted my head to the side.
"How? It seems like it's already too late." I muttered.
"I'll show you." She said taking my hand and pulling me down. We crouched next to the flower and she grabbed its stem and slowly slid her fingers up until she held the head of the flower. She then smiled and let go revealing a perfect rose.
"Wow! I guess it just needs one thing now!" I dragged my fingers through the air and then made a sprinkling motion over the rose. Little water droplets rained down, I smiled.
"You use magic too?" asked the girl.
"Yeah! Oh and I'm Sara by the way." I introduced myself.
"I'm Christina but you can call me Chrissie." Chrissie told me.
"Well, do you want to go shopping?" I asked, not knowing what else to say.
"I'd love to! But, I'm a bit busy right now perhaps another time." She said apologetically. I smiled.
"I'd like that, well thanks!" I exclaimed.
"Bye." And then Chrissie walked away. I glanced in the store window next to me and saw a cute dress.
"Oh that's so cute!" I giggled, running into the store. I darted over to the first rack, my hand skillfully flipped through the dresses. I pulled out one in my size and held it up to me.
"Awwww it's so cute!" I repeated. "What do you think Scy?" I flipped around smiling sweetly to see- nothing. Scy one of my personal shoppers back before I left home… It was stupid of me to expect him to be here. I replaced the dress on the rack a pit of regret formed in my stomach crushing me with despair. I left the store quickly after that.
"Whatcha doing, freak geek?" Xanaya's voice floated over from across the street.
"Pft nerd." Thanos put in. I located them and looked at the victim. He was a short-ish skinny guy clad in green who looked like he wasn't very equipped at dealing with elementary level bullies let alone a Thanos and Xanaya tag team. I ran across the street and tried to come to a halt in front of Thanos but the ground was a little uneven. My shoe caught on a piece of sidewalk and I ended up slamming into the guy knocking him to the ground.
"Klutz." Thanos said. Xanaya sighed crossing her arms but I was a little distracted. I was looking straight into this boy's chestnut colored eyes. When I finally regained some of the ability to breath I realized I was lying on top of him. 'Oh geez this is awkward!' I thought blushing.
"I-I'm sooo sorry!" I exclaimed getting up quickly. I turned away for a second hiding my blush and then I turned my attention back to Thanos and Xanaya.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves bullying this poor boy!"
"Oh yeah I'm so sorry, Perky!" Xanaya said sarcastically mimicking my voice. I fumed.
"Kid was asking for it." Thanos explained.
"Why don't you go pick on someone your own size?!" I yelled at Thanos. Thanos shrugged,
"If you insist." Thanos pulled out a knife and went looking for more prey. Xanaya glared at me for a few minutes before saying,
"Way to ruin my fun." And she went stalking off in the opposite direction.
"Are you ok?" I turned to ask the boy but he was gone.
'Huh? Wonder where he went…' I thought, 'I should probably go look for him!' I decided quickly,
'But what if he didn't want to be found?' I shrugged the thought away and skipped happily down the street looking for the boy with the captivating brown eyes.
—
"It's been hours!" I complained. Shadow only sighed. He had been having a great day until I had called for him.
'Just leave it Sara! What's so special about this kid anyway?' Shadow asked tiredly.
"He's– I don't know, interesting! I want to know more about him. Does he like music, do you think? I wonder if he– no that's stupid." I trailed off, had I really been about to say 'I wonder if he'd like me?' I'm such an idiot, Thanos was right. There'd be no way a guy as cute as him would like me anyways, I was to… what's the word– oh weird that's it! Wait a second… did I just think he was cute?
My mind rambling was cut off as I ran face first into… Thanos?
"Wha–? I started but Thanos hushed me, he walked up to another man and stabbed his keyblade through him. And you'd think 'Oh a keyblade injury can't be that bad right?' Wrong Thanos' keyblade has spikes all facing different ways all along the edge of the blade, making for a painful and gruesome wound.
"Oops." said Thanos happily.
"Thanos?! Do you even know who this man is?!" I asked shocked into asking stupid questions. Thanos reached down and took the man's wallet from his hopefully just unconscious body.
"His ID says his name's Cid." Thanos said. He examined the ID carefully while pocketing the man– Cid's money. "Do I look like a Cid to you?"
"Thanos! You have at least 50 fake IDs you stole! Let this guy keep his!" I whined.
"Well then he better live to thank me." Thanos said throwing the ID at Cid. Thanos started to leave as I stood there like an idiot when suddenly the brown eyed stranger appeared.
"CID NO!" He yelled running to the side of Cid. He looked up at me with fearful eyes I looked back toward Thanos for help but he was gone.
"Thanos!" I started to yell, but was quieted by a clang of metal on the back of my head and a darkness that swept me into the black sea of unconsciousness.
~Hunter POV~
My leg finally stopped being sore after two days. Probably didn't help me and Xion had walked around all yesterday. She wanted to look around the town, she ended up talking to this girl named Aerith who was part of this Restoration Committee thing. I didn't get it but Xion seemed interested. We stayed in a small inn on the edge of town. Xion was in the bathroom getting ready. I could only afford one room without wasting all my munny (not that I didn't have a lot, dad stored quite a bit of munny on the ship), so one room two beds, and one bathroom.
I looked up when she stepped out, she had put her cloak in a bag I bought off a vender yesterday, now she was in a black t-shirt, black close fitting pants, and black boots, guess that's what was under the cloak. She gave me a smile and I returned it and stood up.
"Ready?" She asked me and I shrugged, she shook her head a bit and dragged me out onto the street.
"So what are you going to drag me through today?" I teased her, she rolled her eyes a little.
"Oh not much I just want to get some new clo….." She trailed off looking at something. I followed her gaze, she was looking at a young man, older than me. He was tall and skinny, with red spiky hair and green eyes. He seemed to be looking around for something, or someone.
"Xion, you okay?" I asked her, she didn't respond. She seemed distant in her eyes. Then a look of realization seemed to hit her.
"I know him…." She said slowly then a genuine smile appeared on her face. "Axel!" She cried then ran to the man giving him a hug. He seemed really shocked and pried her off him.
"Who are you? I'm Lea, got it memorized? How would you know me anyways?" The man, Lea, said. Xion's eyes grew wide and hurt.
"No…Axel. I know you, I know I do." She insisted, he looked at her for a minute.
"Prove it. Okay question. True or False, am I a pyro?" He asked looking down at her, Xion thought for a second.
"Yes…" She said hesitantly, he smiled a pointed a finger at her
"Is it the hair? It's the hair isn't it?" He said then put his hands on his sides "That doesn't count where do you know me from?"
"I'm part of Organization XIII, or I was…with you and…and Roxas." She said, I didn't have a clue what she was talking about and Axel or Lea didn't look like he did either.
"There was only one girl in the Organization." Lea said.
"Larxene." Xion said with a nod, this confused him even more. He looked at her for a while then sighed and shook his head.
"Sorry kid, I don't know you. Now I have to go." He said then walked off. Xion was left standing there, she looked at the ground her hands clasped together in front of her, and her eyes were closed. I slowly walked up to her.
"Hey Bambi." I said softly putting a hand on her shoulder, she looked up at me her eyes watered. "Why don't we go get those new clothes you wanted?" She nodded slowly, blinking a lot to fight back tears. I put my hand on her lower back comfortingly and lead her off. She leaned into my hand as we walked, appreciating the some sort of comfort.
I was confused and curious as to what that was about, but I didn't ask. Getting into problems was the fastest way to kill the casual thing I was going for.
We entered the small shop. For not being big it had a variety of things. It was two stories, the top could barely see over the balcony and looked like the much smaller guys section. The counter was just to the left, there was two girls there. One was older and behind the counter, and the other was our age and very pretty. She had dirty blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and amber eyes. She walked over to us.
"I'm Ashley. Can I help you?" She asked smiling, mostly looking at me. I gave her a charming smile.
"I'm looking for new clothes." Xion said politely.
"I think we can help you with that." Ashley said and singled us to follow her.
I sat in a chair against the wall while they looked for stuff. They found shoes, these black lace up boots with light blue laces and a white dress could've been a sundress. Ashley sent her off to change. Then she turned to me.
"She your girlfriend?" Ashley asked, I smiled and shook my head
"No." I told her sitting back in my chair my arms crossed.
"So what are you doing here with her? You related?" She asked with a small smile
"No, not at all. All she had was what she had on and some black cloak. She needed something different." I said casually with a shrug, getting across that there wasn't anything between me and Xion.
"Oh, well that's nice. So, you're not from around here are you?" She asked, looking at me curiously
"Nope." I said smiling, I could tell she wanted to know from where but I was keeping that to myself to keep it interesting.
"How long are in town for?" She asked with a smile, I stood up and shrugged
"Don't know. Another few nights I suppose, till I can find a ride off." I told her, not losing a smile or eye contact.
"So…are you busy while you're here?" She gave a small smile
"Don't think so." I said with a smile standing about a foot away from her. She smiled up at me, she got a tag that had fallen off something and a pen. She wrote her number on it, then she folded up the tag and slipped it into my pants pocket. I smiled at her.
"How do I look?" I heard Xion's voice. I turned to look at her, I smiled a bit. She had the black lace up boots on that came up to about her mid-calf, light blue socks peeked up just about them. The dress fit her nicely, ending just above the knees a few inches. I looked at her
"Good." I told her and she smiled at me. It was weird seeing her in white though not that it didn't look great, black just worked with her, maybe it was because of the hair, or the way it made her eyes stand out. "It's missing something."
"Oh is it?" Xion asked curiously, I thought for a second and shrugged
"I don't know. Something black." I told her and she looked at me confused.
"A jacket maybe?" Ashley offered. "I'll be right back." She said then walked away.
"Why something black?" Xion asked me curiously, I shrugged
"I don't know, just works with you." I told her
"Oh so you're a fashion expert?" She asked surprised, I laughed,
"No. I'm just used to seeing you in black." I told her with a smile. "And hey you have to know a little bit about clothes to get girls attention." I said and she rolled her eyes. "What?"
"It's always about getting ladies, getting the girls with you."
"It's just what I do." I said with a smile
"What do you mean?" She asked
"It's hard to explain." I said wanting to change the subject
"Okay I've got a few jackets here I think you'll like." Ashley said coming back with a stack
"Perfect." I smiled. Xion walked over to where Ashley put the jackets. There was a black hoodie, military like jackets, light black fabric ones, and others. She tried them all on, but I didn't really like anything.
"Hunter how did you not like any of these?" Xion asked me, sounding a little frustrated
"Just don't. None of them fit." I told her. She huffed a little. I looked around; I found a jacket rack nearby and looked through it myself. I found a plain black leather jacket, it was simple with a silver zipper, it had jacket pockets you could but your hands in them. It didn't have collar flaps or anything it was just a plain jacket. I took it off and held it up "This one."
"Of course you'd pick the leather." Xion said sighing
"Come on just try it on." I said smiling; she came over taking it and putting it on. I smiled at her it really fit.
"Oh wow, it looks great." Ashley said, Xion looked at it in the mirror. She smiled at it, she rolled up the sleeves once so they made little cuffs, then she looked at it again and zipped it up a little bit. Then she spun around.
"I love it." Xion said finally smiling, I smiled back at her
"Alright, I'll go write it up and you can wear it out." Ashley said walking to the cash register. I followed with Xion and I paid.
"See you around Hunter." Ashley said with a smile as I paid, Xion was looking at something else.
"That you will." I told her smiling, I caught a tiny blush. I turned around "Come on Xion." I said and she followed me out. Xion stopped me outside the shop and smiled at me
"Thank you Hunter. That was really nice of you." She told me. I smiled a little and nodded to her
"It was no big deal." I told her. Xion looked at me for a second and then grabbed my wrist
"Come on I saw an ice cream place. Let's go take a look." She said and started pulling me along again.
~Ria POV~
For all the years that I had lived in Radiant Garden, I had never actually gone inside the castle. Before the heartless attack occurred almost 10 years ago, it was the icon of the world, it stood tall, and gave meaning to the word 'radiant'. Now, it stands as a shell of its former glory. Much like me.
On our way to the castle, Lea had begun to explain what had happened to me. He said that 'when someone with true strength in their heart loses that heart, they become a heartless. Once in awhile, a second version of them will come into existence. These creatures are called nobodies'. I had heard of these 'nobodies' before. There was a group called Organization 13 who wreaked havoc on the worlds not too long ago. They wore cloaks just like the one Lea was wearing. Normally, this would have been a red flag to keep as far away from him as possible, but I didn't seem to care at the moment, and I had questions that only he could answer, or so it seemed.
"Nobodies don't have a heart, which means they can't feel any emotions. But, they can pretend like they do as long as they have the memories of their past life. Got it memorized?" he asked. His voice snapped me out of my wondering mind, and I nodded. How many times has he said that; got it memorized? Probably about four or five times in the whole 10 minutes we've been walking. . . We approached the castle doors, where a man was keeping guard. He had a scowl etched onto his face the moment he laid eyes on us.
"Hey Dilan." exclaimed Lea, giving him a small salute.
"I see you have found the girl Ienzo told me about." Dilan said, nodding towards me.
"Yeah, her name's Ria." he replied.
"Then I think it's best that you name her, since you found her." and with that Dilan walked off into the gardens.
"Name me? I already have a name. Why do I need another one?" I asked. My voice came out deadpan. I didn't mean for it to, it just happened that way. I realized that was the first time I had spoken since I woke up.
"Oh, so you can talk. I was afraid you'd be like a zombie or something. Heh, I had a friend like that once . . ." he continued to ramble on about some kid named Roxas he had met while still in the Organization. So I was right, but all the members of Organization 13 were supposedly destroyed. So how was he able to come back with a heart?
"Anyways, you need a new name because, well Xemnas added 'Xs' to our names, so it's kinda tradition now even though he doesn't run things. Plus, it's like a fresh start too." he explained.
I couldn't say I was excited but, I guess I was interested to see what my new name would be. I wanted to see how many names he could come up with for a three letter word. I followed him down the Postern, and into the maze that was the Corridors.
"Now, let's see here. . . Rixa, Airx, no . . . Arxi, no . . . " he mumbled. He had his hand on his chin as if he was in deep contemplation. He really was trying to find a suitable name for me.
That would have meant a lot to me, before all this happened. My eyes wandered to the broken pipes, and debris that had blocked several passages causing the walkways to be completely blocked off. Puddles were pooling on the floor, and pipes dripped from the ceiling. This place was a mess. . . .
"I've got it!" he exclaimed, snapping his fingers. He looked over at me, and smirked. "It's the perfect name." We entered a smaller hallway that led to a door. It was different from the rest, the walls were colored different, and it seemed well kept.
"Well . . . what is it?" I asked hesitantly. Lea laughed softly to himself, and walked towards the door, completely ignoring my question. "You'll see." he said, wiggling his eyebrows. I sighed, and followed him. He opened the door for me, and we both walked into a large room that looked like it was some kind of study. There was a man standing at a desk sorting through papers; he had long, blonde hair, and green eyes. I swear his eye twitched when he saw me. He looked up as we walked through the door.
"Welcome back. Is this . ." the man started, but was cut off.
"Yes, this is Xira." Lea exclaimed.
Xira? I think I liked that name. It had a nice ring to it, and it rolled off the tongue easily. The man with the twitchy eye looked me over, and nodded in approval.
"It seems to fit her nicely. Well done, Lea." he said. He made his way over to where Lea, and I were standing. "Welcome Xira. My name is Even. We are here to help you through your troubling time, and help ease the transgression from human to nobody." he said, shaking my hand. He's so . . . formal.
"I have a question." I murmured.
"You do? Strange . . . nobodies aren't supposed to question things, but as you wish." he sighed.
"What happened to all those people I was protecting?" I glanced over at Lea, and he quickly looked away. Even sighed, and gently placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Xira . . . as far as we know, none of them made it. Their bodies had faded before we got the chance to examine them. I'm sorry." he said.
His apology didn't mean anything to me. It was empty. 'Geez, I hope I don't sound as angsty as sound in my head.' I thought. But, I didn't know why I asked that question. It just. . . came out, I couldn't help myself. Even walked back behind the desk, and motioned us into the room. Lea leaned against a wall nonchalantly, and turned his attention to Twitchy. I mean Even! I stood there, feeling very out of place until Even pulled up a pile of books, and motioned me to sit there.
"I'm sorry Xira, but as you can see the castle is still in repairs. There wasn't too terribly much to salvage."
I took my seat on the stack of books, and looked around. This room was in the process of being repaired. Diagrams, and pictures hung sideways, books were overflowing from the shelves, and glass had been swept into a small pile in a corner of the room.
"Ah, yes! Xira, I have a question of my own. You were able to summon a keyblade the night you were attacked, correct?" he raised his eyebrows in question. I looked back over at Lea, he just nodded as if encouraging me to answer.
"Yes, I have a keyblade," I said summoning it, "It's called The Fallen Angel." It appeared there in my hand in a flash of light, and feathers just like it always did. I should be thankful that I still had the ability to use it, much less summon it.
Even examined it with this twitchy eye of his, which I think might mean he's fascinated or . . . . something. Lea was currently blowing a feather from his face, and flailing his arms around trying to get them to float someplace else.
"Pfft, I hope that doesn't happen every time you summon it. . . pfft! Stop floating near me, darn it!" Lea yelled. He kept making those 'pfft' noises trying to stop the feathers from tickling his nose. I couldn't tell if he was trying to make me feel better or not, but it's the thought that counts.
"I think it's a splendid keyblade." Even said while stifling his laughter. "In fact, it seems to suit her nicely. A tad ironic, given the girl's current situation. Now Lea, since you are in charge of training her, see to it that she can still function with her keyblade, and help her perfect her skills. I believe Ienzo, and Nellie are already training, you should go join them." he said, waving us off.
We walked through the doors, and re-entered the labyrinth. Lea led the way while I followed quietly behind. I left the door slightly ajar, so when I heard Even speaking, I stopped.
"Poor girl doesn't know what she's gotten herself into."
~Xanaya POV~
I left Sara angry at her. She had ruined my fun. I huffed and went to sit at in a dark alley near where I could see some people every now and then. I pulled out the shrapnel of the vase with the picture and stared at it.
I really felt as if I had some connection to it. I just couldn't seem to grasp it yet. I looked at it for hours then it finally hit me.
It was like I was a little girl again. I felt my long black hair blowing around my face; I had just undone the elaborate hairdo my mother had spent the morning forcing my hair into. I felt my bare feet on the cool grass, my white robe billowing around my body. I extended my arms and it felt like I could fly. Then I saw the man, his red hair standing in stark contrast to the dark haired and olive skinned people I was used to. I remember his long, slender fingers closing in my wrist. I let out a loud scream. Then my brother was running towards me, shouting a name I can no longer remember. I struggled against the man's grasp, but my fighting was useless. Then I was overcome by a swarm of darkness as I watched my brother let out a cry before falling to the ground. All I saw was his still form, and then I heard the cries from my parents nearby. And I knew what had happened. I knew that they had died.
I shook my head and snapped out of it and then curled up breathing slightly. I was shocked then angry and let out a mad scream and punched a wall. I would get my revenge one day I would and Desiderio would be sorry.
~Finis~
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