4 months prior.
There was something about being in such a large city that made it seem like an illusion. How mankind could have built buildings so tall they're half in the clouds, the cars cluttering row after row in the makeshift city walls, horns blazing and reverberating around. After a while though you barely even notice the sound; fairly big safety hazard, she smirked at the thought. Hollow Bastion was the biggest city this side of the country, and also the most populated for many reasons. People always headed to Hollow Bastion if they wanted to make it big; all the nationwide businesses were centred here, celebrities flitted in and out as though it was their own house, talent scouts lurked around every corner looking to pick out the next gem from the masses. However, that was the problem. In such a crowded place it was easy for the most notable characters to slip through as though they were invisible, just another fish in the ever-flowing stream that carries on towards the shores never to be seen again. Yet she liked it that way, the anonymity gave her the chance to blend into her surroundings – the less noticeable she was the better. Even someone casually brushing past her on the pavement could make her blush and flinch; her natural shyness only seem to worsen while living in the city.
Sadly though that particular type on interaction was unavoidable, especially today as she strode across the road towards her workplace. Her large book bag swung heavily on her shoulder, colliding with her hip almost painfully as she wove her way around oncoming pedestrians which was unsurprisingly difficult when looking down at the concrete while walking. It was bad enough that she got out late from her excruciatingly difficult art exam and thus was going to be late for work but everyone seemed to be out on the streets today as well. Just my luck, bet there is some premiere going on in the centre of town and people want to get a look in, as per, her frown deepened when her Converse met a muddy puddle as she was pushed aside by a group of teenage boys on skateboards.
"Look where you're going, blondie!" One of the boys hollered in her direction. Resisting the urge to look over her shoulder and stick her tongue out at them she instead lowered her head further to allow her choppy layers to cover her now red cheeks.
2 more streets and I'll be at the entrance to the alleyway, 2 more streets, she picked up speed and finally turned down a narrow passageway that was thankfully clear of drunken hobos and feral dogs for once. She sighed with relief and ran her hands through her paint-stained hair, noticeably relaxing in the familiar surroundings. That is another thing about the big cities, small closed off areas might as well have never existed, particularly to the tourists. However as a citizen they are one of the best places to be. This alleyway in particular, the old and crumbling brickwork laced with ivy and the cobblestones polished from footsteps, lead towards a spacious courtyard closed in by converted houses. Some had become boutiques that sold handmade, tailored clothing; suits, dresses, costumes, you name it and they'll sew it. Some were specialised beauty stores, crafting soaps from scratch and created makeup products that rivalled even the biggest brands. One had become a jewellers, and was very popular with the rich and famous locals as the paparazzi could never locate the shop. The rest had become restaurants, ranging from Italian to Japanese; there was even one that served chicken and nothing but chicken. The smells just made the place even more enticing and the people happily strolling around, some chatting about their days under the awnings over their bowls of pasta, only added to the atmosphere. There wasn't even a name for the space, no street name, nothing.
The place she worked in was in the far end of the area, a coffee shop called Bliss. Supposedly it was named after the owner's dead cat, but she wasn't one to judge seeing as the name couldn't have been more fitting. The front of the two storey building was coated in the same green and white-laced ivy that adorned the alleyway walls; only the large windows and glass doors fronting the shop were visible. She pushed the doors open with her shoulder and swung herself into the coffee-scented warmth and filled her ears with the idle chatter of the customers and the light strumming of an acoustic guitar. The red brick was exposed and crumbling, and while it may have seemed a cause for concern it only seemed to add more character to the place. Sliding her puddle-drenched shoes across the hardwood floors, Naminé glanced around to find her colleagues. Her eyes instinctively looked to the upper platform first as someone was usually always cleaning tables on it; because the building was completely gutted out and they needed more tables to cope with demand her boss, Marluxia, had installed a glass platform with a spiral staircase leading up to it and yet more ivy adorning the metal barriers that held it together and stopped people falling. The glass itself was translucent and multicoloured, streaming beams of colour from the skylights in the roof to the floor below. Upon said platform she could see Yuffie whizzing around armed with cleaning supplies and the cream work apron they were forced to wear. Naminé noted that upstairs didn't look too full and relaxed a little at having less work to do.
Diverting her eyes back to the ground floor she walked towards the back of the store, weaving through the round tables until she neared the café's best feature. Running down the side and across to the ordering counter was a small stream, the small ripples in the water scattering the coloured light from above and making the place seem so much more magical than it actually was. She navigated the small arched bridge to cross it and found the source of the guitar; Demyx was perched on a barstool on a stage in front of the small trickling waterfall that splashed from the ceiling, cascading down the purpose built rock formation to the miniature stream below. His eyes were firmly pressed closed as he mouthed along the words to whatever song he was playing; after he played a song riddled with swear words as a young family were walking in Marluxia had banned him from singing before 7pm much to his dismay.
Demyx was one of her closest friends since beginning her job there. A ball of enthusiasm that was hard not to adore; this was the only way to describe him. Having graduated with a degree in psychology to please his parents he grabbed his instruments and hit the road, eventually getting the part time gig at Bliss to save up for a tour he was planning. Forever the optimist, he believed saving whatever tips he received was the best plan of action to achieving his ambitions. Though it would probably take him years to get enough cash Demyx never faltered. It was also his abundant positivity that gave Naminé the push of confidence she needed and so she could come out of her shell in the building with him.
Naminé waved a hand in front of his face to try and gain his attention then decided to jab him in the side instead. Knocked out of his trance so suddenly Demyx stumbled off his chair but caught himself, the guitar and the chair in a move that looked hard to pull off. Naminé giggled behind her hand at his reaction before giving him a big smile.
"Nam-Nam!" Demyx then gathered her into a hug with his guitar all mushed up in his arms.
"Dem-can't-breathe," She spluttered out her words as the side of the guitar jabbed into her ribs.
"Ooh, sorry," He set her back on her feet and crouched to be eye level with her. "I see you haven't grown since you left, shame." Winking, he ruffled up her hair then retracted when a splodge of paint stuck itself to his palm. Ha, karma.
"Dem, I was gone for 3 weeks while I was preparing for my exams, it's not like I took a six-month long backpacking trip to Timbuktu," She raised an eyebrow while she fixed her blonde hair as best she could, amused at how distraught Demyx looked to get a bit of paint on his skin as he feverishly wiped it off on his 'work' jeans.
"But still, it's so boring without you around," He pouted in his typical fashion. "Yuffie went all OCD and wouldn't stop yelling at me and Zex to do more around the place because she was rushed off her feet getting everything 'perfect'" Putting his hands on his hips he raised his voice a few pitches. "Oh my fucking god Zexion what is the point of you working here if all you do is pour coffee messily into mugs and read? And Demyx stop playing on your shitty guitar and help me mop or else I'll use it to put out the fire I'll make using Zexion's book collection."
Naminé laughed as she imagined the look of horror on their faces at that moment in time. "Damn, all the fun happens while I have exams," She fiddled with the strap of her bag, looking over her shoulder to check Marluxia still wasn't around.
"Don't worry, we'll make your boring slave job a little more interesting," Demyx perched himself back on his stool and started absent-mindedly strumming the same song from before. "I mean, you're done with your work for this year so just relax, enjoy your youth before you turn into a cripple and die." He sent her a crooked smile and continued humming along to the song that was so soft it made her want to sleep on the spot.
"I won't be dying anytime soon, unless I trip over air and into the path of an oncoming bus," she swayed side to side with the tune. "Is this a new song you're working on?"
Demyx nodded, testing out a few chords before continuing. "I had a fair bit of spare time recently and this tune wouldn't get out of my head so it's nice to hear it on the actual instrument," He glanced over at the staff room hidden behind the counter with sorrowful eyes. "I tried it out on my sitar but it just didn't sound right, and that's a first."
Naminé opened her mouth to comment but was interrupted by the sound of a hardback book slamming shut and someone coughing needlessly loudly. She whirled around at the sound and saw Zexion leaning in the corner of the counter, his glasses slipping down his nose as he gestured out of the window where a mane of pink hair was approaching.
A quick glance at her watch reminded Naminé that she was already late and was now even later for checking in since she stopped to catch up with Demyx. She quickly ran across the stage, over the bridge and behind the counter to grab her apron; Zexion watching with a faraway look on his face. Grabbing the ties and securing them around her waist, she yanked the mug that had just finished filling from the counter and thrust it towards the customer with a little too much enthusiasm.
"Thank you for your custom!" Naminé plastered an unusual wide smile on her face just as Marluxia glided through the door. His arms weighed down with various bags of coffee beans, all ranging in a variety of flavours that only he could seem to find.
He strode up to the counter and looked Naminé up and down, an eyebrow quirked upwards at her sloppy appearance and never-seen enthusiasm. "Come straight from class I see?"
"My exam ran slightly over so I didn't have time," Naminé smiled sheepishly, ducking her head and shuffling her shoes on the ground.
Marluxia sighed; it wasn't uncommon for her to turn up this way, but he supposed it was just part of her character. Her artistic talents and traits didn't go unnoticed; she in fact designed the very glass platform that disguised her colour-stained hair as being part of the rainbow lightshow that only added to the ambiance of the place. He had watched her develop over the last 2 years- from the moment she entered the café laden with sketchbooks and cv's and had silently passed one to Marluxia while blushing as though she was applying for a job at a stripper joint. It was almost endearing how vulnerable she looked and so he took her under his wing. Everyone knew he had a soft side due to the sheer amount of things he does to help others; he gave Demyx his first gig after graduating, he even let Yuffie sleep in the back room until she earned enough to find her own place.
However his hardened exterior prevented any unprofessional emotions surfacing and so he set his face into a scowl and trudged towards his office to deposit the stock and do whatever mysterious things he does in there. One slow day Naminé, Yuffie and Demyx had congregated behind the counter to come up with theories with what he does in that room.
"He's obviously vigorously masturbating to gay porn. Why else would he lock the door?" Demyx had shrugged and taken a bite out of his pain au chocolat.
Yuffie had snorted, adding "Maybe he keeps someone tied under his desk, y'know like an 'ass-istant'"
"Oh God my brain is melting," Naminé, who had been perched on the countertop, had stifled her laughter by hiding her face in her hands.
"Imagine if it was that creepy old man with the long blonde hair that comes in on Monday mornings," Demyx's horrified expression caused the laughter to raise an octave.
"I could totally see that happening," Demyx had shaken his head side to side as though trying to shake the thought out of his head. "Oh Marly, you naughty beast."
"You do realise that he has security cameras installed in here, don't you?" Zexion had glanced over the top of his glasses from the book he was reading. "He probably spends his time in there watching them back and laughing at you all, plus you saying all this just gives him fodder to fire you with." Zexion turned to the next page fairly aggressively while the rest of the group silenced their laughs and had rushed back to cleaning the surface closest to them.
In the present day however Marluxia left the door slightly ajar and the crew could see him absentmindedly flipping through various files that lay sprawled over his desk.
"Kills the mystery when he doesn't lock it," Yuffie called down from the staircase she was descending.
Zexion scoffed from behind his novel and went back to stirring his own coffee. Zexion always carried around an air of superiority, almost as though he really believed he was destined for better things; that everything in this world was beneath him. He never had time for 'petty' things; all of this thoughts and decisions were logic-based, no creativity came from him unless he was taking it in from the pages of whatever book he was lost in. Sure, he was far more advanced academically than his colleagues, but third-year med school drop-out didn't look good on some job applications and so he was trapped pushing mug after mug to the bleary-eyed public every weekday morning like clockwork. It has never been said or guessed why he did drop out of university; every query about it was met with a deathly glare and pursed lips that would make anyone's blood curdle. His antisocial tendencies also didn't help matters and weren't exactly a desired trait with his current occupation; the only reason he even got the job was because he knew Marluxia when the place opened.
Yuffie heard his noise and scowled in his direction before placing the cleaning materials on the counter facing Naminé.
"Lend a hand please? I don't think my arms will ever recover from cleaning the mess that was upstairs, I swear to God all kiddies should be forced to stay in school during lunch hours, none of this privilege business," she stretched them out then flopped herself on the counter. "Can you please take care of the rest, Nami?" Yuffie peered over her arms at Naminé with a pleading expression.
Smiling and nodding, Naminé picked up the cleaning materials and got to work.
The next few hours consisted much of the same; Demyx sat back on his stool and played for 2 hours straight before a hot chocolate was thrust in his direction (which he drank as though he was dying of thirst), Yuffie was front of house taking in the orders that Zexion was half-heartedly creating while Naminé swiped up spills and general debris the bustling public left in their wake.
When she got to leave at 5pm her arms were stinging from the effort, her hands clasped around a take-out cup filled with her altered version of Bliss's gingerbread latte. She had remembered at the last minute that her flatmate had asked for a couple of muffins and gotten the drink to make the cost cheaper; the usual student frame of mind – take any meal offer available.
The walk from her workplace to her apartment wasn't too far, though after particularly gruelling days the walk seemed never-ending. To get home she had to go through one of few parks in the city, and so she always took this route. Coming from a rural town, walking in even a small park area soothed her homesickness the smallest amount; not a lot but enough. Strolling through the iron gates surrounding the area she hummed in contentment as her view changed to one obscured by looming trees overhead, dispersing the setting sunlight across the gravel pathway her feet crunched against. It was only a few hundred square metres but it was enough to give her peace of mind, to calm her down on her most stressful days.
Naminé took one last deep breath of the semi-fresh air before the park spit her out on the main road opposite her apartment complex. Wanting to just dump her stuff in her room and sleep, she hurried towards the lift; some days she would brave the stairs but being tired and living on the 8th floor wasn't a good combination.
While she travelled up the floors and down the corridor she thought of only one thing; Please don't let Selphie be home, please don't let her be home, I'll do anything but let her have gone out already, please don't let her be-
"Heyyyyy~!" Their apartment door was ripped open and a pair of slender but strong arms attached themselves around Naminé's shoulders, perfectly curved hair poking her in the eye.
Selphie was the type of girl who would smile and the whole room would have no choice but to smile back. She was a ball of electricity that created a magnetic force that drew people in; it was impossible to hate her or even ignore her, Naminé had tried many times over the years but failed.
"Hi Selph, I thought you'd have gone out by now," Naminé returned the hug then shuffled away to get some of her personal space back.
Selphie pouted, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. "So eager for me to not be around, that's mean Mini!"
Selphie and Naminé had both grown up on the Destiny Islands, a collection of small rural islands about a 6 hour car drive from Hollow Bastion. The inhabitants of each island treated one another like blood relatives and so it wasn't surprising that when Selphie and Naminé were born around the same time, they would form a sisterly bond. They were best friends, their opposite personalities complementing each other and cementing their bond, Naminé felt closer to her than she did to her older brother Cloud. 'Mini' was a nickname from their time as toddlers when Selphie couldn't pronounce 'Naminé' and the name stuck.
Naminé sighed, tugging at Selphie's sleeve to keep her attention. "You know I didn't mean it like that, I'm just tired" Throwing her an apologetic smile, she watched Selphie's face melt from the pout into a mischievous grin that made goosebumps rise up on her arms.
"Well it's a good job I caught you then when you got back," she whirled into the small kitchen area and ripped open a packet of crisps while Naminé dumped her things by the doorway.
"It was your last exam today right?" Selphie's brow rose inquisitively.
Lie, just lie to her, you know what she's going to do if you don't-
"Yeah it was." Shit, word vomit. Naminé mentally face-palmed while Selphie's smile threatened to rip her face in two.
"No excuse then, now that we've both finished our first years we HAVE to go out and celebrate!" She threw more crisps into her mouth as she spoke; her limbs were visibly vibrating with excitement.
Naminé winced, there was no backing out now. "Will you force me out even if I bolted myself to the floor?"
Selphie stopped chewing and sent a full-force glare in Naminé's direction. "I would chop off your limbs and dress your torso up so fabulously no-one would notice the blood," she sighed and her expression softened. "But seriously, Mini, there's a whole world out there. All you've properly seen since we've been here is the uni's art department, this apartment and your workplace."
Naminé shuffled on the spot. She knew Selphie was making sense; one of the reasons they had both come here was to experience life in the 'real world'. Life on the islands was too sheltered, too protected; they needed this dose of reality to prepare them for the rest of their lives.
"Ugh, fine. Just... let me get all this paint off me," she turned into her bedroom before Selphie could reply and ran into her en suite bathroom. Sighing in resignation, she collected her shampoos and body washes in preparation for what she expected to be a horrible experience.
What she didn't expect was for that night to completely change her life as she knew it.
AN:/ And now we're in business. :) I apologise for the general messiness of this chapter, I was going to put it up next week but certain parts of my life have taken a turn for the worse. So I figured I'd post this earlier to make up for the longer wait time for the next chapter. Sorry in advance but it's just hard to deal with right now. I hope this chapter somewhat makes up for it. :)
-Beautiful Radiance