Kingdom Hearts One Shots Series
04 – Moonlight
Pairing: Xemnas x Reader
I sighed in relief when I had finally done cleaning yet another spacious room. I was working as a maid in a mansion in Radiant Garden, and a very big one at that. The owner of the mansion, Master Ansem, took me in when I was thirteen. At first I was not quite used to working in an extravagant place, since I had been living in a worn-out small wooden hut somewhere in the streets, far away from there. After five years, I was getting used to the life as a maid.
Well, life was not easy, but I had nothing to complain about, since living in a mansion was way better than living in the streets. Besides, I could still cope with it; the master did not mistreat me, nor did his wife. And they had a son, though I did not know him very well. From what I had heard from my fellow co-workers, he was kind of hard to deal with. I was very devoted to my job, so they were quite impressed by my services. I thought things were going to be as smooth as the current situation convinced me, but one day…
I was now standing before a big door to Master Ansem's study, because I was wanted by him, and I did not have the slightest idea why. Though apprehensive, I was still confident of my work. "I had never messed up anything handed to me… So I'm just exaggerating, that's all, yeah…" I calmed my thoughts and tugged at my uniform a little. Then I knocked on the wooden door. "Come in." The master's voice came out muffled through the door. I pushed the door open to see him on his study table, full of letters, papers, books and whatnot. He glanced at me and said, "Ah, it's you, _." "Yes, I heard that you wanted to see me," I said.
"Indeed. Actually, I want to give you another job…" He was done arranging his papers, and now he adjusted himself to face me properly. His eyes scanned me, and that unnerved me, but I asked anyway, "Sure, what was it?" "I want you to serve Xemnas, my son."
… Come again?
"… Huh? Oh, yes… Sure…?" I tried to hide the question mark at the end of my sentence. "Are you sure? You sound hesitant…" He did not look convinced. I shook my head and replied, "No, what I meant was, I am glad to do this." "Good. I was beginning to think he needs someone to help him, and you are the only one I find suitable and capable." I tried to force out a smile, and replied, "Thank you, Master." "OK… You may go now." After I gave a bow, I left the large study.
"Curse you, pride…" I muttered under my breath while I headed to my destination: the infamous Xemnas' room. I was supposed to bring him his breakfast, even though the position of the sun told me it was nearly noon. "I could've just rejected it back then, _… What was I thinking…" Before I realised it, I was already standing before another wooden door. I let out a soft sigh and shrugged. "Well, since I had taken the job, might as well do my best. I mean, I only have to serve him, nothing more, nothing less, right? How hard could it be?" I slapped my cheeks softly with my hand, and then convinced myself in my mind, "Yes, you can do it, _. You are the best around here, according to Master…"
After I straightened myself, I felt some confidence flow back to me. And I proceeded to knock at the door. Knock, knock.
No response came at all.
I knocked harder this time, and immediately the door flew open to reveal a sleepy, and irritated silver-haired man. He was still in his night attire and he seemed to have just woken up. His golden orange eyes narrowed at me as he hissed in annoyance, "What?" I was startled by his sudden "grand" appearance, but I quickly composed myself and replied in my refined manners, "I have brought you your breakfast, Sir Xemnas."
He muttered, "Whatever, just leave it at the table over there. And don't touch anything." My brain interpreted that as a warning rather than an order, and I replied, "Yes, sir." I walked swiftly to the table indicated and placed the tray on it. My gaze wandered to his bed, and I had to stop myself from smacking a palm onto my face; it was a horrible mess. The blanket was kicked aside and the pillows were placed haphazardly on the bed. Being the perfectionist in cleanliness as I always was, I subconsciously took a step to his bed. But suddenly I stopped myself, and a message appeared in my mind: Do not touch anything.
I started to head out, but only to accidentally bump into the man before me. I staggered backwards a few steps and managed to balance myself, saving me from falling down ungracefully at the moment. He stared at me and asked, "Where do you think you're going?" I was surprised, but I answered anyway, "I am going to head out, since I have done my job here…" My voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. And now my palms were getting damp.
Xemnas scoffed and said, "Did you not see the bed unmade over there?" I looked up, and then followed his finger which indicated the direction. "I-" I did not even have time to finish my words when he interrupted, "Do you think you're done with your job?" I had to stave off a look of disbelief; I thought he warned me not to touch anything? I wanted to argue, but I was not in a position to do so, so instead I replied, "Yes, sir. I'm working on it."
As soon as I got to the bed, I flattened out the blanket and he added, "Don't fold it, mind you." "Yes, sir." After I made it through, I arranged the pillows, and he was giving me instructions to arrange them in some funny pattern that resembled a heart, but not exactly like it. And man, I had a hard time, because whenever I was about to put it in the right position, he would take his previous order back and gave another one.
And after I was finally done, I was "asked" to get lost, so I got out immediately before he changed his ridiculously weird mind for the umpteenth time again. Once I made it back to my room, I closed the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily from the running earlier. "What… what was he… thinking?!" After I recovered my breath, I sat down on my bed, thinking things through. "It's only the first day, and I seemed to be in deep trouble…" Seriously, I even wondered how I managed to keep my rising temper in place, even though I was not someone short-tempered. I sighed, "What was wrong with him…?"
For the next few days, I was totally exhausted for once in my life. Cleaning up the whole mansion would seem promising than serving that strange (or should I put, eccentric) man! Xemnas liked to order me around and watched in amusement while I was busy running around as if possessed, complying with his orders. I had lost count of the things (which I dubbed as "Mission Impossible") he wanted me to do; telling me to drown a goldfish, climbing trees in the garden just to retrieve his paper airplane (which was non-existent in the first place), replacing his soup thirteen times only because a small speck of pepper was in it (the soup tasted horrible without it, but after I came back with a new one, he asked me to put pepper in again), rearranging his belongings on his desk… numerous times with totally different arrangements etc. etc. etc. The list was too long. Without me realising, the flames of fury had risen proportionally to his "antics". Still I did not tell anyone about this, including Master Ansem. After all, it was my responsibility to serve him…
One day, I was bringing his clean and dry clothes from the laundry room to his room. I had already imagined the many scenarios that would happen later when I got there. Maybe he would just so happened to have lost his pen and wanted me to flip the whole room inside out, only to find the pen in his pocket all along. Or maybe he would want me to clean the spider webs in the corners, which, in fact, should not be any since I had already made damn sure not even a tiny layer of dust deposited anywhere possible in his room. Or maybe something even more ridiculous than what my imagination told me.
And now I was standing before the door I wished did not exist in the first place. "Here comes 'Mission Impossible Chapter 29'," I sighed internally. After I took a deep breath, I held the clothes in one arm, and knocked on the door with another. After I made sure he pronounced his permission to enter utterly clear, I opened the door and saw him sitting on a chair by his desk. He was writing something on a piece of paper, and I said, "I am here to bring you your clothes, Sir Xemnas. Where do you wish me to put them?" His delayed response came after some wait, "In the closet, of course." "Really? I thought you were going to ask me to hang them on the ceiling…" I thought sarcastically. And I proceeded to the large closet at the corner. I opened the closet door and I nearly jumped out of my skin; my friend, Kairi, was in the closet, her hands and legs tied up. She had a cloth in her mouth and she could not speak. When she saw me, a muffled whimper came out from her and she fell out onto the floor. I gasped loudly and the clothes dropped to the floor in a heap.
I helped her up and started to untie the ropes binding her, asking away, "No wonder I couldn't find you anywhere, you were in there this whole time?!" After I pulled the cloth out of her mouth, she nodded and a hoarse voice came out of her throat, which I find inaudible. "I thought you would be scared to death, it seems my predictions are not so accurate," a voice I wanted to erase from existence rang, and I spun around to glare at Xemnas, who had turned around to look at us both, with a slightly amused look on his face, which I wanted to punch so hard at the moment.
That was the last straw, I decided. And now my last line of barrier against the boiling anger had just snapped. I growled, "Do you think it is amusing to trap someone harmless like her in that suffocating closet?" I felt like exploding when I heard his response, "I merely wanted to see how much can you take." How could someone say that with an emotionless face? "How much can I take? What do you think I am, a lab rat?" Without realising, I had thrown my refined manners I manifested when dealing with this family out of the window. I continued, "Do you find it amusing at all? She could've died if I didn't come here! You had put me through so many unreasonable tests, and I still didn't complain at all. And now you endanger my friend for that?"
Xemnas was slightly taken aback by my anger, but he said, "It is boring to see all the maids in this mansion completing tasks in the same manner. I want to see how they could manage to cope with this. I had gotten sick of their cautious and overly submissive attitude when serving their masters." My eyes widened in bewilderment, and I was speechless. He continued, "You indeed are different, capable of surviving those tasks I gave. That piqued my curiosity to find out how much can you take-" I did not let him finish this time, because I slapped my burning hot palm right across his face. He flinched, and fell back onto his chair. I felt blood charging up into my head, and I did not even contemplate my actions. Talk about hot-headed with a capital "H". (Axel pun, I could not resist.)
Everything around me seemed to be frozen, and I straightened up, gritted my teeth and growled, "You got your answer now. I can only take this much!" And then, I took the clothes on the floor and grabbed Kairi's hand. The poor girl was too frightened by what she witnessed just now. I said, "I will wash the clothes again, so pardon me for leaving first." And then, I stormed out of the room with Kairi, leaving the startled man behind. He was speechless, even with the slight stinging pain in his right cheek. He could only stare at the still open door, trying not to let his jaw drop… What… who is that girl?
"_! What were you thinking?!" wailed Kairi, trembling in fright. I just sat there on my bed, slumped. Now what did I do? I just slapped the person I was supposed to serve, now I was finished, big time. I would be lucky if I got away safely. "I… I don't know, Kairi… I just… *sigh*" Kairi started to cry and she mumbled in between sobs, "I'm s-sorry, it's m-my f-fault…" I patted her shoulder gently and reassured, "It's OK, Kairi. You have nothing to do with this. I'll bear this responsibility myself. You'll be fine… OK?"
"_?" A voice came to me and I shook my head vigorously to snap out of my thoughts. I turned to my left and saw Kairi, she looked worried. She asked, "Are you alright? You don't look good there…" I tried to smile and replied, "I'm as good as I'll ever be. Relax…" "Liar," my thoughts retorted. To be honest, I was anxious about what would befall me for slapping Xemnas. Although I told myself the worst that could happen to me was getting fired, I was not convinced.
To make matters worse, I was asked to bring out the family's lunch to the dining hall. Oh joy… One apprehensive step after another, I pushed the trolley containing their lunch to the dining hall. After I was granted the permission to enter, I cautiously placed every plate and bowl onto the long dining table, while keeping my head lowered all the time, especially when I put his food before him.
Ansem seemed to notice that and he asked, "Is there anything wrong? You don't look well." "Huh?" I looked up abruptly, as if someone caught me in the middle of stealing something. I quickly made up a lie, "No, no, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, Master." "Is Xemmy giving you a hard time?" Ansem's wife asked, eyeing the silver-haired man over the other side. I fought to keep a straight face upon hearing his nickname. I saw him almost choking on his food out of the corner of my eye. This time, I thought keeping it a secret would be a better option, so I made up yet another lie, "No, not at all. He treats me quite well, and I'm happy to serve him." I cringed internally at "well" and "happy". Seriously, I hated lying.
"Is that so…" said the wife. Ansem nodded approvingly and said, "Very well. You are indeed a capable girl." Gosh, that was kind of embarrassing…
Other than the awkward moment when the owners of this mansion questioned me, things were pretty smooth. When I headed out to do other chores, I swore I saw Xemnas staring at me. Well, it seemed like the gods above still loved me, and I made it through in one piece. When I got back, Kairi looked as worried as ever, but after I told her what happened, she was relieved. After that, I took a broom and headed to the foyer to clean up…
It was midnight, everyone was in dreamland, but only I was awake. I always waited for the night eagerly and sneaked out to one place; the piano room. Every night I would come here to play the piano silently. Actually, my father was a pianist when he was alive. He was the one to teach me how to play the piano. Sadly, pianists could not earn some living in this place, and soon he died of a disease when I was really young. And since my mother died after giving birth to me, after his demise, I was all alone. But I would not stop thinking about them. Their faces were still vivid in my mind, and the only thing that kept me "connected" to them was the black and white keys before me. I sat down after opening the cover of the piano. I caressed the keys in a loving manner, and I started to play a tune.
This tune was taught to me when I was five, the first time I came across it was when I heard my father playing it at night. I was madly obsessed with it even though I had only heard it once, and I begged my father to teach me. I still remembered the nights when I sat beside my father, pressing the keys slowly one by one to learn, and I used up a lot of time to learn it, for I was not born with the talent. But even so, I did not know the name of this piece. Neither did my father, he claimed he traded the nameless music sheet from someone. He even said it was a pity not knowing the name of this wonderful piece, when he was alive, and just before he took his last breath.
I slipped my eyes closed, still playing the piano. My thoughts were a thousand miles away from me, and I felt myself at peace, as if safe in my parents' warm embrace. I considered this to be a good stress relief, even if I only knew how to play only this one melody. And I personally thought the tune went well with the moonlit night, and sometimes even matched my mood. I did not tell anyone about my secret visiting routine to the piano room to anyone, not even your best friend. This was the only one side I wished to keep to myself. I did not know what people would think or do if they caught wind of it.
I was totally mesmerised in the reverberating melody, my fingers danced smoothly and gracefully across the piano keys, yet not creating any noise that was too loud. I felt my soul combined with the piano and the notes reflected my inner thoughts: longing and quite sad at the same time. Still, tears never fell whenever I thought of them. I made a silent promise not to shed a tear, for I was sure my parents would be saddened to see me cry.
Little did I know, a person was watching in the dark, behind the door. The person was intrigued by the mysterious melody being played, but the person kept their presence a secret, never to be divulged…
Ever since that awkward lunch, Xemnas stopped being a jerk, as I self-dubbed. He did not demand me to complete unreasonable tasks anymore, and he stopped being so picky. I found my life relatively easier, and I was thankful of that. Nonetheless, I avoided interactions with him as much as possible; I was still worried of my outburst that day. And I was not great at putting my feelings in words. Besides, apologising would make it even weirder than it already was. There was only thing he was persistent of: I was not to enter his room without his permission, be it bringing food or clothes or whatever. Therefore, I had to pass him his things at the door, and man, I was so curious about what he was cooking up. Yet I could not ask. Who knows what he would do when I did so.
One day, when I was back from buying the ingredients for dinner, Kairi came up to me and said, "Hey _, Master Ansem wanted me to pass a message to you." "What is it?" I asked. "It's Sir Xemnas… he said he is sick at the moment, and he wanted you to bring him his medicine right away," replied Kairi. "Oh… OK, sure."
Now, I was once again before Xemnas's room, with his medication on a tray in my hands. As usual, I knocked and waited for him to open the door and take the things without letting me in. But, no response came after waiting. I thought he was too sick to even get up, so I decided to ignore the order for now, and carefully opened the door. I peeked around only to find no one in the room. I walked in, closing the door behind me. I saw many papers on his desk, and I put some aside to make a clearing for me to put the tray down. Suddenly a gust of wind blew through from the window and the papers flew around. I was about to put them back, when something on one of the papers caught my eye: the word "piano".
"Piano?" I wondered, and proceeded to read the papers, which was full of spidery handwriting. As I read on, I realised this was his diary, and what shocked me even more, he wrote this in one of the paragraphs:
I was at the piano room door again. That girl was playing the piano, the same tune as the nights before. Somehow the melody wasn't boring, but intriguing… I had never thought that girl had such talent. I wonder what the name of that piece was.
I could not read on anymore, the papers dropped from my cold hands. I had been discovered, and I would be banned from there forever if I was unlucky. That meant forever away from my only way to remember my parents… No way… I covered my mouth and stopped a gasp of shock. I decided to keep this discovery of mine a secret and get out of this room. NOW. I whipped around and dashed for the door, just then…
BAM! "OW!" "Ah!"
Too bad, I crashed into the last person I wanted to see right now: Xemnas.
"What are you doing here?" he stood up and asked. I stood up immediately and fumbled for words, "I-I was… I was bringing you your medicine. You are sick, and where have you been?" Come to think of it, when I crashed into him, his body temperature was lower than expected. He was about to say something, but his eyes widened a little when his gaze averted to the desk. The papers were a little too neat. "You…" said Xemnas, realising I may have read the papers. "I-" "Get out." I looked right into his eyes, and I saw two pools of irritation and… anxiety? But I did not need to be told twice, so I ran as fast as my legs could carry me out of the room. Xemnas stood there alone, staring at the papers. A quiet yet sad laugh escaped his mouth, he said, "She had found out…"
I was now at the piano room although it was nearly two in the morning. I was confused and frustrated at the same time; how could I not notice there was someone peeking on me all this long? Since my jumbled up emotions could not be expressed verbally, I released them onto the piano. It started out as a quiet melody and then the anxiety was getting more and more intense. Just when I was still playing, I heard some footsteps at the door. I stopped what I was doing altogether and whipped my head towards the door, even if I already had a vague idea who would be there.
Xemnas stood there, staring at me with the door already closed behind him. I then broke the eye contact with him and looked at the other side. Still, he walked over to me slowly and finally stopped a few steps away from me. An awkward silence reigned in the absence of the melody I played just now. After some time, he cleared his throat and took the initiative to break the ice, "About earlier… I… I'm truly sorry." I felt a slight shiver running down my spine when I heard his voice. And then I slowly shook my head, and replied while still looking down at the floor, "No. I should apologise too… I shouldn't have read those papers…"
This is it, he is going to ban me from here forever… "… Go on," said Xemnas suddenly. I was taken aback, and I mumbled, "What?" This time, I landed your gaze on him, and I saw him staring at me. He quickly looked somewhere else while saying, "I mean… continue to play that tune." Why were things happening in the way I least expected them to lately? Nevertheless, I slowly nodded awkwardly, and adjusted my posture. I sat facing the piano keys and I played the tune all over again. I tried not to let the trembling to affect my hands, and thankfully it did not. I had never played a piano in front of anyone else. He shifted near to the chair, watching I play silently. When I was in the middle of somewhere in the song, he asked out of the blue, "What's the name of this piece?" I never expected him to talk to me, but I still answered anyways, "I don't know… My father taught me this, but we never get to know its name." After a few seconds, he sighed quietly, "That's too bad, wish I knew the name of this beautiful piece."
Even though my hands were still moving like nothing happened, my thoughts froze. He had just said the exact same last sentence my father uttered when he was about to meet his demise after being plagued by a chronic disease for years. I forced myself to focus on the piano solely, but my thoughts just had to picture my father's figure. Slowly but surely, my fingers stopped dead on the black and white keys, and the welled-up tears finally flowed from my now red eyes. I started to sob, and it was getting out of control. And I leaned on top of the piano, burying my head in my arms, sobbing. He was surprised to see me in this state, but he just stood there, staring at me. "Father…" I let a strangled voice escaped my mouth.
Xemnas did not know what to do, but he slowly sat down beside me on the piano chair. He looked at me, and then he awkwardly patted my shoulder gently. I could not take anymore of the flooding sorrow memories, and I threw myself into his arms, hugging him like no tomorrow. I sobbed into his shirt, and I could not care that much at the moment. Xemnas was utterly shocked, and then he began to hug me back slightly in an awkward manner.
When I woke up in the next morning, my eyes were a little puffy from crying so much. All I remembered was I cried so much and eventually my eyelids began to get heavy. And I must have fallen asleep at some point. "Did he bring me to my room after that?" I thought. I thought what happened yesterday was just a silly dream, but when I saw Xemnas in the dining room eating his breakfast, he had some dark circles under his orange eyes, and he could not stop yawning. I thought to myself, "Maybe it wasn't after all…" And then, I shook my head slightly and braced myself; a new day had come, and I still had a life to live anyways. No point dwelling on that sorrowful past.
For the next few weeks, I had observed an astonishing change in Xemnas. Besides stopping being unreasonable, he seemed to drop his almighty stance around me. Although he did not show this in public, I could always catch some tiny details like arranging his things himself, putting his plates and cutlery neatly on the table, as if he was trying to reduce my workload. He also became less demanding to me. Overall, his behaviour was rather weird. And I was starting to get used to his old behaviour…
Furthermore, he would always make it to the piano room at exact one every night (or in this case, morning). Initially he would just stand there watching me play, but as soon as time flew, he would sit beside me and bug me to teach him how to play that nameless melody. But he was even worse than me when it came to playing it, so I ended up playing it myself, with him glaring at the keys. He would mutter that the keys looked all the same to him, and I just had to laugh softly at him. Who would have thought a man like him could act like a child sometimes?
One night, I was sitting before the piano as usual, but I was not playing. Or should I put, could not play. I accidentally cut my finger with a knife when I was in the kitchen in the afternoon, and now my finger was bandaged. Later, he arrived as well, and he sat down beside me again. He was silent, and he noticed my unusually "bulky" finger. "Sorry, I cut my finger earlier…" I said apologetically. He did not say anything, but merely picked up my hand with the injured finger and started to examine it carefully.
Both of us blushed, and he let go of my hand once he realised what he was doing. And to my worst luck, my hand fell and hit the side of the piano, and my finger flared in pain abruptly. I bit back a pained moan, and I bit so hard that my lower lip bled a little. Oops. He seemed to notice it and he raised a hand and put it on my left cheek, wiping the blood away softly with his thumb. What could be more surprising than this? Without knowing, we looked into each other's eyes. I was getting lost his two orange orbs…
But then we both broke away, blush prominent on the faces of the both of us. Xemnas quickly pulled out a small note and squeezed it into my palms. Before I could question him, he said, "We should head back, it's getting really late." I wanted to protest, but I nodded, and then he left. Soon, I got up and closed the cover of the piano neatly. When I was back in my room, I opened the slightly crumpled note and read it silently:
I saw your finger bandaged up this afternoon. I hope you are alright. Actually I wanted to tell you something… How should I put it? I always get this bizarre feeling when I am around you, and it confuses me. I know it's weird to see this coming out from me, but I want to tell you… I guess I like you…
I felt lightheaded all of a sudden. Xemnas, the used-to-be jerk, my master's only son, the person I served, liked me? Actually, I recalled all the encounters with him, and I would be lying if I claimed I did not enjoy his company. And then I realised that I felt the same way too. "So that's why I always feel my heart was going to burst out of my chest whenever he's near me…" I was about to run into his room to tell him, but it was almost three in the morning, and I still had to get up early. I then decided to tell him tomorrow in the piano room…
Morning came eventually and I was coming down from a large flight of stairs. I was somewhat in a good mood today. When I was taking a turn, I heard a voice which belonged to Xemnas. "What?" He sounded astonished, and my curiosity beckoned me to check it out. When I got closer, I could hear Master Ansem's voice. He sounded stern.
"Xemnas, you're already twenty-three years old, and I believe it's time for you to -"
"But-"
"You will marry Miss XXX from Town XX three days later, and that's final!"
I felt thunder hit me out of the blue upon hearing the conversation. He… what?! I felt my knees go weak and my body was wobbly like jelly. The last thing that flashed before my eyes was the staircase coming at me…
I felt very awful… Not to mention a throbbing headache was still torturing me. When I woke up, the family doctor, Zexion, was beside you. Kairi was there too, with worry written all over her face. He said I hurt my knees when I fainted and fell off the stairs, but thankfully I did not suffer a bone fracture or hit my head. Zexion also advised me not to walk without a few days' rest. I thanked him in a quiet voice, and then he left. After that, I did not say anything else. Kairi had to leave, for she still had work to do. She assured me she would take over my job for the next few days. Hours passed, and night befell this place. I ate nothing since breakfast, but I did not feel hungry at all. My tears streamed down all this while, and I fell asleep soon. "He… wasn't even… here…"
Meanwhile, Xemnas locked himself in his room. He was pacing back and forth, irritated and frustrated. Whenever he wanted to go out, there would be guards outside his room, prohibiting him from going out. "Shoot… They are spying on me…" he muttered under his breath, clenching his fists. "_... How is she doing now…?" He could not do a thing but sigh. "No… I will not… succumb…!"
When this night vanished, the three-day respite would shatter. I was sitting on my bed, my thoughts reaching out to Xemnas. During these three days, I was too weak to even walk, but I did not want to come out anyway, because if I did, I was bound to see him. And it would kill me internally. I sighed sadly, but no tears came out. I guessed I had dried them up completely. My mind was telling me to just let it go and forget about him. It was not like this relationship was going to be approved. We were talking about a love relationship between a lowly servant and her master here! I leaned my right temple against the wall next to my bed. I let out a hollow laugh and murmured, "Maybe I was wrong from the start…"
I looked up at the moon outside of the window. It was in its glory with its presence as the big bright full moon, while I was struggling in a deep abyss of sorrow. How ironic. I recalled the scenes where we sat by the piano with the moonlight pouring in through the window. The melody rang in my head, and I hummed it quietly. Those memories were supposed to be some of my happiest ones, but now they just seemed to stab me more than a thousand times at my tattered heart and soul. And then, I thought of my parents again, just the sheer thought of it would make me wince for the umpteenth time. "Xemnas…" I mumbled, casting my gaze at the bed again- "Poof."
Suddenly, a noise of a footstep stepping on the floor broke my trance. I tensed up and gasped. I was supposed to be alone in this room, so… who was it? I was about to spin around, but a blow hit my nape, I then passed out before I could even see the intruder. I fell off the bed, but the intruder caught me in his arms. They sighed in relief, "Phew! I remain undiscovered… Anyways, you are not staying here anymore, girl… I should report to the master…"
The sun shone brightly down at the mansion, signalling morning had arrived. The maids and butlers were putting everything necessary into the carriage idling before the gate of the mansion. Ansem and his wife were standing at the gate. Today, Xemnas was supposed to go to that town to bring his wife-to-be back to the mansion with him. Xemnas was already in the carriage, clearly not amused, no, correction: not happy at all. Even though he masked everything under an emotionless mask, he glared at his father, who forced him into this without asking him. It was as if he was a tool to combine his family with another millionaire in another town. "Am I even his son?" he thought, utterly disgusted. Whoever this girl was going to be, he was deadly sure she would not be the same as her, not her at all…
After the preparations were done, the carriage set off. The destination was several towns away from the mansion, so maybe it would take him three days. After three hours or so, the carriage entered a thick forest. The trees nearly blotted out the sunlight, making the atmosphere a bit eerie. The horses were getting restless at the eeriness, but the carriage was still moving forwards in the track. Xemnas was getting annoyed by the horses' neighs. Just then-
A group of men in black cloaks darted out from the bushes. They seemed to have been waiting for an ambush all along. "Bandits!" The chauffeur screamed, and the men threw some lit firewood at the carriage and attacked at the people around it. Everyone scattered and ran for their lives. Xemnas was surprised, he felt the horses went wild, and he knew he had to get off the carriage before anything went astray. He jumped off the carriage and rolled on the ground. He saw the bandits chasing after the carriage and he slipped away, deeper into the forest.
Before he knew it, night came and he was alone in the vast forest. He had been wandering aimlessly around here, so he decided to sit down under a tree he found to take a break. Suddenly, a man emerged from the shadows and called out at him, "Yo!" Xemnas looked up immediately and saw the man removing the hood of his cloak. The person had a distinctive red hair with upside-down triangular birthmarks under each of his eyes. He had a sack draped over his shoulder. "Axel," said Xemnas, addressing the redhead before him.
"Wow! You really got my name memorised, not bad…" Axel stopped when he saw the other man glaring at him, annoyed. He laughed and said, "Anyways, here's what you wanted. And I guess me and my troops will take the carriage as the price then, fine with you?" Xemnas took the sack carefully from Axel, and he said, "Fine. And thank you so much for using a sack…" "Hey now, don't look at me like that, you said you wanted this operation to be secretive, master," Axel put his hands up defensively. "Whatever…"
And then, Axel left. Xemnas carried the sack in his arms and walked deeper into the forest. Soon, a cottage came into sight, and he entered it. After he shut the door and locked it up, he set the sack down and removed the sack, revealing me, unconscious. He let me lie down on a table nearby and when I finally woke up, I saw him dozed off at the corner. I pushed myself up, but my legs still hurt, causing me to groan in pain. He woke up at my voice and he quickly came over to check up on me. "What happened?" I asked first, totally surprised at my surroundings and him standing before me. He told me the truth: he planned to let Axel kidnap me and escape that mansion secretly first. When his carriage reached the forest, his gang would attack them and he would slip away and find Axel to get you. That way people would believe Xemnas had disappeared in the forest before even reaching the destination, and the maid just ran away forever, simple as that.
I gave him a bone-crushing hug after the truth was revealed. I cried a little and wailed, "Don't ever do that again! You scared me…" He hugged me back protectively and reassured me, "Yes, I promise…"
After I broke away, I started to look around the cottage, and I spotted a small piano at the window, with moonlight shining in, illuminating it. I tried to stand up, but Xemnas helped me to the piano in the end. I limped and sat down on the chair to the piano and I opened its cover. "I intended to run away with you ever since I passed that note to you that night… So I bought a smaller one and hid it here, since no one was living here…" he explained, sitting down beside me.
I said nothing, but I started to play that tune again. The atmosphere went well with it and I was mesmerised again, melting in the notes bouncing off. When I reached the end of it, I leaned onto his shoulder and he slowly wrapped his arms around me. I sighed blissfully and felt relaxed. I heard him saying, "During these days, I had been researching about the name of this music… and you know what?" "What?" I asked, getting up to look at him. He smiled just a little bit and replied, "I found it, at last." My eyes were wide as saucers, this man before me never ceased to surprise me, huh? "T-then… what is it? What's the name?"
"It is…" he trailed off, looking at me straight in the eyes, and I felt myself unable to look away from those two pools of orange. I felt him closing in, and I could only blush, and then, his lips were on mine, surprisingly gentle and soft. I let my eyes flutter close and melted into it. He put his hands on my waist, and mine were on both sides of his shoulders, playing with his hair. As much as I wanted it to last, the desire for oxygen was getting out of hand, so we parted. We had our breaths slightly irregular. And I still could not tear away from his face. The moonlight did a marvellous job illuminating his face, making his features stand out gorgeously. I leaned in rested my head on his chest, feeling his heart beating against me softly yet firmly. I asked, "Can you answer me now?" He chuckled lightly and hugged me. He rested his chin on my head and said, "… Moonlight Sonata."
"Moonlight Sonata…" I let this new term roll off my tongue. And then I had the urge to ask another question, "But, why? Why… did you bother to find out?" "Now why would you ask that?" he whispered. I wrapped my hands tighter around him, and replied, "Well… um, I thought you… didn't really like me? Even with the note…" He returned the hug just as tightly, and he said, "Haven't I convinced you earlier? Because I love you, _…" I slipped my eyes closed and replied, "I love you too, Xemnas."
The End
I had to admit I suck at writing villains like Xemnas and Sephiroth... I make them all OOC, but hopefully the fluff was worth it!