Lauriam woke up abruptly from his bed. He had dreamt of her again…
He naively looked to the other side of the bed to see if it was just a bad dream. Unfortunately, Elrena was gone for good. Six years had passed since her death. Lauriam had never recovered from that tragedy. The only thing keeping him alive were his two daughters. Camelia, now 14 years old, and Rose, 6 years old…
He glanced at the time on his alarm clock. It was 5 a.m. Since he had to leave for work in 3 hours, Lauriam decided to get up from bed. His insomnia prevented him from sleeping anyway…
Since Elrena's death, Lauriam had decided to permanently give up his life as a Keyblade Master. It was part of the promises he had made to her: to leave their world behind and raise their daughters in safety. The family lived together in a modest apartment. He worked as a gardener and florist in his spare time to meet his children's needs.
Lauriam walked into the kitchen to gather his thoughts, waiting for the minutes to pass. Suddenly, a light turned on in the next room. A woman with long, untied auburn hair appeared in the kitchen. She had three barrettes forming the sign XI on the corner of her bangs. She was wearing a long white dressing gown.
"Lauriam? Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Strelitzia? Are you awake?"
Strelitzia had come to live with her brother when she saw him sinking deeper and deeper into his depression. He had almost become incapable of properly raising his daughters, lacking the strength to fight. Lauriam, who had always taken care of his appearance until now, had let himself go. He had a slightly neglected three-day beard and dark circles under his blue eyes. His gaze was empty. Without her, he had lost a part of himself…
Strelitzia was an indispensable source of moral support. She helped him take care of his children, encouraged him to eat balanced meals, and, most importantly, prevented him from doing something irreversible. He had to stay strong for her, for his daughters, and for Elrena's last wishes.
"I came to get some milk from the refrigerator for my son..." She had recently had a child with a man she had met during her time as the Leader of the Unions. This man was a Keyblade-wielding soldier, alternating between visits to his family and battles on the front lines. This situation didn't sit well with her brother, and she knew it... He was torn between the joy of being an uncle and the fear that Strelitzia's heart would be broken if something happened to her lover. He didn't want another tragedy to befall a member of his family.
Since having her child, it had been difficult for Strelitzia to juggle everything. Nevertheless, she held on, never losing hope that her brother would eventually bounce back.
She grabbed a bottle of milk from the refrigerator and turned to her brother. He was sitting at the table, pouring a bottle of whiskey into a glass before drinking it all in one gulp.
"You shouldn't be drinking this early..." Strelitzia sighed. Her brother drowned his sorrow in alcohol ever since they moved here, becoming completely addicted. She was convinced that she had removed all the bottles from the apartment, but it seemed like one was missing... "...Actually, you shouldn't be drinking at all."
"I miss her..." he murmured, closing his eyes. A few seconds of silence passed. Strelitzia sat down and stroked her brother's back, unsure of what to do to console him. She looked at him with a sad expression; he didn't deserve what had happened to him. "I-I should have been in her place... I-I couldn't protect her..."
"Don't say that, it's not your fault... Elrena wouldn't have wanted you to sacrifice yourself for her."
"Then why did she do it for me?" he asked bitterly.
Strelitzia took a deep breath. "At the time, she confided in me how devastated she was to see you turned into a Heartless and die before her eyes... When you both became Nobodies, she saw it as a chance to make amends."
"Huh?" Lauriam didn't see where Strelitzia was going with this.
"Losing her heart was a way for her to bury her feelings for you even deeper, to be braver. She could be by your side without fear of rejection. She also sacrificed herself twice as Larxene, for Marluxia-"
"Marluxia was an idiot!" Lauriam exclaimed, pounding his fist on the table. "He was a cold-hearted man who only cared about power... It's a period of my life I wish I could erase."
"I'm sorry for bringing back bad memories," Strelitzia replied, lowering her gaze. "It's just that she confided in me that she couldn't bear to see you die before her eyes a second time." In a way, Strelitzia knew that Elrena believed he would recover from her death far more easily than she would from Lauriam's.
The pink-haired man chuckled slightly, shaking his head. If only she knew how sad he truly felt…
Suddenly, the cries of a baby echoed from the next room. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot to feed Lelian!" Strelitzia got up and grabbed the bottle of milk she had left on the table. "We'll talk later, okay?" She leaned over and kissed her brother's forehead. "Take care of yourself."
The night fell in Quadratum. It was where the family had decided to settle, where there was no talk of Light, Darkness, Heartless, or any other creatures of the like.
Lauriam returned exhausted from his day at work. For several months, he had to accumulate hours to repay the constantly increasing rent. Strelitzia used to help him in her free time. However, since she had her child, it had become increasingly difficult for her to come to work.
In the morning, Lauriam had found a letter from Camelia's school in the mailbox. It was an expulsion notice due to violent behavior. He was furious with her.
The front door opened, and a young girl entered. She had shoulder-length hair, with a pink-colored strand on the front left, while the rest of her hair was blond. Her turquoise eyes resembled those of her mother.
"Camelia! Come here..." Lauriam was waiting for her, sitting at the kitchen table directly facing the apartment entrance.
Camelia rolled her eyes and sighed. He knew... She had no desire to explain about it. However, she couldn't avoid him forever. The young girl approached her father to face him.
"Can you explain to me what happened?! I received this from your school this morning!" The man with pink hair raised and shook the letter with his right hand.
"What is it?" Camelia asked, shrugging her shoulders. Of course, she knew what had happened at school.
"Don't play innocent!" Lauriam was not fooled. He had distanced himself greatly from his eldest daughter since Elrena's death. However, he could still recognize when she was lying. "Did you get into another fight?! Why do you keep targeting that poor kid?! His parents came to see me to complain about your behavior last week!"
"He's just a big jerk! You can't judge without knowing the context!"
"Then what is the context?! I'm listening..." he asked firmly.
Camelia widened her eyes. She struggled to hold back the tears welling up beneath her eyelids. "H-He... he keeps saying horrible things about Mom..." She frowned and looked away from Lauriam.
In shock, he remained speechless for a few minutes. Then he took a breath and closed his eyes. "Camelia... that's not a reason to physically attack him. You should have told me, and I would have handled it with his parents."
"Oh, yeah? So that I could be seen as a little daddy's girl ? Tsk!... anyway, you wouldn't have done anything if I had told you. You would have stayed there drinking, as usual..." Camelia's words echoed like daggers in Lauriam's heart. But she was right... He had become unable to do anything else. Sometimes he even wondered if he was a good father to his children. Feeling ashamed, he relaxed his muscles and looked down.
Camelia felt that she had been too harsh with her words. She always hit where it hurt, sometimes unintentionally. It seems like a part of mother's personality when she was a Nobody, concealing her pain with insolence. She huffed and tried to change the subject. "Listen... don't worry about school. I have a plan B."
The young girl pulled out a folded brochure from her backpack. She unfolded it and showed it to her father. "I'm going to enroll in the Keyblade Academy."
"What?!" Surprised, Lauriam opened his eyes wide. "You must be joking, right?!" He didn't know how she had obtained that paper, but there was no way he would allow her to join such a school. Elrena died because of the Keyblade. He had definitively left behind his fighting past, for himself and for his family.
"It's in the Land of Departure. Aqua sent it to me because I'm the heir to the Keyblade's power. Cool, right?! I'll be able to reunite with my friends and-"
"You're not going." Lauriam immediately interrupted her.
"W-What? B-But..."
"I said no!"
A heavy silence hung in the air. Camelia seethed internally. She had never wanted to leave the Radiant Garden, where she had been raised for the first eight years of her life. She had all her friends there, all her familiar places, and above all... all her memories with her mother. She had always wanted to become a Keyblade Master to honor Elrena's memory. In any case, she didn't belong to this... ordinary world. She was an adventurer, a true fighter!
"I hate you!" Camelia yelled at her father. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and ran to her room. She slammed the door with all her strength, causing the walls to shake.
Lauriam sighed. He didn't want his daughter to hate him. He had done all of this for her well-being, for the well-being of the entire family. However, hearing such words tore his heart apart. "How can I be a better father to her?" This question haunted him.
Camelia lay on her stomach on her bed. She buried her head in her pillow and cried all the tears she had. She missed her mother terribly. Her father, on the other hand, couldn't even understand her.
Someone knocked on her bedroom door and gently opened it. "Can I come in?"
Camelia looked up at the feminine voice—it was Strelitzia. Faced with the young girl's silence, Strelitzia let out a long breath. She closed the door behind her and sat on the corner of the bed next to her niece. "I heard the door slam... I came to see if everything was okay."
"I-I'm not happy here..." Camelia replied, sobbing. She sat up and rested her head in the palms of her hands.
"I suppose he refused for the academy." Strelitzia was already aware of Camelia's intentions. She was the only remaining adult female figure in the family. Naturally, her niece found it easier to confide in her.
Camelia nodded and leaned against Strelitzia's shoulder. In return, the red-haired woman wrapped her arm around the young girl's shoulder.
"I just want to make mom proud... If she were still here, she would have supported me!" Camelia clutched the pendant of her necklace in the palm of her hand. It was one of the knives Elrena had kept as a memento of Larxene. Before her death, she had given it to her daughter for good luck and to remind her that she was always by her side.
"Well, listen... You need the consent of an adult to enroll in your school, right?" Strelitzia asked. Camelia turned to her aunt, eyes widening. There was a glimmer of hope in them. "In that case, I'll take care of signing it as your legal guardian."
"Ooooh!" The teenager's reaction transitioned abruptly from sadness to excitement. She smiled at Strelitzia and hugged her tightly. "Thank you! Thank you!"
"But I still need to inform your father..."
"Oh no! He'll never agree!" the young girl replied, worried.
Strelitzia sighed. "I'll try to talk to him, but I can't guarantee anything!" She picked up Camelia's stray strands of hair and tucked them behind her ear. "And you must promise me to behave, okay?"
Camelia nodded, displaying a radiant smile. Strelitzia got up from the corner of the bed and made her way to the door. "Goodnight, Camelia!"
"Goodnight!"
She lay on her back and placed both hands behind her head. Her future was now in the hands of her aunt. If she managed to convince Lauriam, her life might change for the better.