006: The Ready and Willing
Title: Secrets in the Clock
Prompt: Patience
Word Count: 748
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom hearts or any of the Final Fantasy/Disney characters/movies therein, though a girl can dream *sigh*
Chapter Summary: Roxas knows something strange is going on. Now, if only someone would tell him what that is...
Warnings this chapter: None.
Roxas was a patient person. No, really. He was known among the troupe as someone with the patience of a saint because, to be frank, who else could handle Axel's pyro-crazy, or Dem's sugar-hype?
Simply put, Roxas could out-wait a lion if there was ever a need- and in his profession, there certainly had been times when that quality came in handy. He had stared unflinchingly in the face of the damnedest odds as a high-flyer, waiting, searching for that sliver of a moment when action was key. His level of patience was probably rivaled only by that of Zexion, or even Lexaeus.
But man, was he tired of waiting...
Roxas would readily admit to being one of the youngest in the troupe- at sixteen, the only ones younger than him were Namine and Xion, and that wasn't by much. However, his age had absolutely nothing to do with what he could and couldn't see. He knew that something was going on, had been going on for years; he wasn't stupid, thank you very much. It hadn't been hard to notice the disappearing acts that some of the others underwent during showtime, and to be quite honest, he wanted to know the how's and why's.
Roxas was a curious person at heart. There was nothing he loved more than a good mystery- the stash of them hidden under his bunk in the tour bus could definitely attest to that.
The first time he noticed something like this had been when he was twelve. They'd been touring Radiant Garden then, his first tour with Circus Oblivion since Axel had caught him stealing from the troupe's food supply.
Xigbar was tall and broad and, to put it lightly, his eye-patch made Roxas shiver something fierce. But while Roxas hid behind one of the huge, overlapping curtains, peeking on the show where Xigbar was clearly the main event, he had to do a double-take, seeing a second Xigbar skulk away and wondering if he'd finally lost his mind. In a spontaneous fit of adrenaline, Roxas decided to follow the Xigbar look-alike, to see where it- he couldn't bring himself to call it a 'him,' since it might not even be human- was going. He'd gotten as far as to hide behind a large number of crates by a back-tent when the 'Xigbar' turned a corner. Roxas had hurried to follow it, but when he reached the bend, his mind was far more blown than before. What greeted Roxas was a sharp, dead end, yet the look-alike was nowhere to be found. In his befuddled state, he decided that waiting for it to reappear would be the smartest thing to do.
It had been a quarter to nine when 'Xigbar' had come back from beyond the bend, the exact moment the main event had finished. The cheering and clapping were thunderous, even from his place near the back-tents. Roxas had jerked up in surprise, though his motions quickly stilled upon spotting movement from a crack between the crates.
'Xigbar's heavy combat boots tromped past his hiding spot, and Roxas held his breath as the darkly clad figure stopped just a few feet away. Muttered curses in a language unfamiliar met his ears, and the boy took a moment to plea silently for his life. Was he spotted? Did the... thing see him? His heart beat rapidly, a mile a second as Roxas grew dizzy from near hyperventilation. The 'Xigbar' moved, and Roxas was ready to bolt, scream, do something to attract help- but the look-alike only righted his hold on a bundled box of sorts, smoothed his black cloak and then kept on moving. Roxas strained to see what it was that it was holding- but the bundle was wrapped way tight, and in the next seconds, the 'Xigbar' had gone.
He'd heard a woman once tell her kid that curiosity killed the cat, and that satisfaction brought the little sucker back (though not in those words, he'd have to admit). By the time he'd gone to bed that night, there had been more questions than answers swirling around his mind. Those questions stayed with him for four years, and Roxas was growing quite tired of not knowing the answers.
They'll tell me eventuallly, he'd always thought. They'll let me in soon. But as the second show of their tour began, and Roxas spotted a retreating 'Larxene' with a sharply trained eye, he wondered, not for the first time, if that day would ever come.
End Drabble
A/N: A little focus on someone other than the Destiny Islands kids, to widen the perspective a bit. Next prompt has mild mentions of gore, but nothing too horrible. Thanks again to AlwaysNinja for reviewing (two in a row, wow). For those who have been noticing a pattern in updates, that will most likely change, as finals are still upon me, and the worst of them are this week til next.. I might post pictures of them (painting final, diptych drawing final, 3-D design final) on my tumblr or dev account, and post a link here, as well as I may not. On a side note, some of the keys on my keyboard started sticking lately (though to be fair, my notebook is getting a little old), so I apologize for any typos.