COPPER INK

Homecoming [02] (Final Fantasy X-2, Rikku/Tidus, PG-13)

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:53:30 GMT

title: Homecoming
summary: The way things ended just didn’t sit right with Rikku. When opportunity knocks in the form of a lost friend, Rikku makes it her mission to achieve a fairytale ending for Yuna. Tikku. Post FFX-2: Choosing the ending where Tidus does not come back.

[Two Years Later...]

Two years have past since the end of our journey and everyone just seemed too busy to go sphere hunting like we use to. I mean, it wasn’t like we stopped completely afterwards. We traveled for a bit and went on some adventures for a few months, if only to lift everyone’s spirits after the grueling battle. But now, everyone was just too busy to pick up on our old past time.

Paine decided to go on her own journey. I teased her about it, saying that she needed to find herself. In true Paine fashion she threatened to smother me in my sleep. In response I laughed and gave her a hug goodbye the day she departed. I couldn’t help but miss the warrior on some days, especially rainy ones since those were the days I tended to bicker with her the most.

Buddy and Brother fly around here and there. They’ve set up their own delivering agency and they’re currently racking in the gil. Shinra was still busy working with uncle Rin on a new energy source. He said it was going to change the way we use energy to power machina. I only half listened to his explanation about ‘Mako’ energy and how it was going to change the way we live life. I still didn’t know why we haven’t tied the child up and left him in a cave some where. The last time he tried to mess with a dark source of energy in the Farplane he got possessed by the Omega Weapon and became a fiend. Yuna, Paine, and I almost had our asses handed back to us by him. Good thing he was just a kid and not some egomaniacal hell bent ghost thirsting for revenge.

Yuna became a diplomat and works with Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj to maintain peace and order throughout Spira. It’s rare for her to have a day off, but she seems very happy. She loves traveling and meeting with other leaders to discuss politics. The people look up to her and her presence in the male dominated world of politics and policies give all women and young girls around a reassurance that they could do anything and achieve their dreams.

I wish I could be doing whatever I wanted like Yuna, but I was stuck re-building home instead. A lot of Al bhed left home and settled in other places. A few groups stayed behind, digging for parts and reconstruction home in the hopes that most of our people would return. I kind of like it like this though. Not that I want my people to come back, but it’s cool to see them spread out through Spira. It means people have begun to accept the Al Bhed.

Since Pops is the leader, he remains at Home rebuilding. I’m there of course, helping out whenever I can. I help with the digs and organize community events as to keep people’s spirits up. It feels great reconnecting with my people again, but there are days when I stare out in the endless sand horizon and dream of wanting more. I’m still young, and despite the defeat of Sin, Vegnagun, and the process of rebuilding Home, I still want more out of life.

“Rikku!”

I turned off the drill and looked over my shoulder at the sound of Pops’ voice. I turned around and saw him come to my work station. I lifted my goggles up and took off my work gloves.

“I need you to run an errand for me,” he said, offering the cylinder tube. My eyes lit up with curiosity and I couldn’t help but smirk as I reached for it.

“What’s in it? Can I open it?”

Pops pulled it back and gently bopped me on the head with it. “It ain’t any of your business.”

I pouted, rubbing my head but soon smiled at the prospect of taking a break from work.

“I need you to take that to Djose Temple. It’s for Gippal,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. “I want you to come straight back here when you’re done. No fooling around with Gippal.”

I rolled my eyes and placed a hand on my hip. “Pops, that was like a billion years ago, it’s over between us.”

He gave me a skeptical look, raising an eyebrow and frowning. After Vegnagun, Gippal and I entered a very ambiguous relationship that danced on the line between romance and friends with benefits. I should’ve known better really. Trying to make Gippal commit was like trying to make the ground rain. It was just not going to happen unless it was a miracle. Everyone thought we’d be married with kids by now but neither of us really wanted that. I just really liked him and wanted to be with him. Neither of us wanted it to get more complicated than that. But as a year went on by Gippal got bored and his eye started wandering. I knew he valued his freedom so couldn’t force him to be with me. So we broke up…sort of and our friendship hasn’t been the same since.

“Whatever you say,” the man grumbled. Pops wasn’t happy with this on and off again business I had with Gippal.

“Now go, I already told your brother and Buddy about the trip. They’re probably waiting for you.”

I nodded, making my way past him with tube in hand.

“Remember! You go to Djose and come straight back!” I heard him call over my shoulder. I rolled my eyes again as I walked across the sandy expense. I’ll make Brother stop at Luca for some of the fried chocobo Pops loves so much just to spite him.

I quickly showered and dressed into my old thief dressphere before getting dropped off at Djose. The place didn’t seem to change much. Everyone went about their ways, fixing machina and lining up for the desert expedition to hunt for parts.

I made it to the temple, waving hello to the guys working there. Gippal’s office was to the left and I noticed that the door was ajar. Usually it was either closed or all the way open. I looked around the place, hoping no one was paying attention to me as I slinked my way towards Gippal’s door. With one final look I peeked inside his office. I saw him pacing around as always, rubbing his chin and posing when he stopped. Dork.

“So how are things on your end?”

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if he was talking to himself.

“Everything is great so far,” A familiar female voice replied. I blinked, my brain recognizing the voice immediately. It was Yuna.

“I’m currently talking to Tromell about relocating the Guado back to Guadosalam.”

I didn’t expect Yuna, of all people to be in Gippal’s office. But I really shouldn’t be surprised since she was a diplomat and all.

“Really now? Do you think most of them will want to go?” Gippal asked.

“I think so. The woods are almost gone now, some Guado are relocating to other areas, but others still feel a connection to the Farplane.”

“Heh.” Gippal stopped his pacing and walked up to what I was assuming was Yuna since now he was out of my range of vision. I wanted to see more, but if I leaned in any closer I would give away my position.

“So…” There was the sound of feet shuffling closer. It was times like these where I wished I had x-ray vision. “I was wondering….”

“Yes?”

I pouted a bit, hearing a slight nervousness in Yuna’s voice. I could just picture Gippal leaning in a bit too close for comfort.

“If you’d like to do dinner sometime.”

“Oh! That sounds wonderful!”

My eyes widened. No, it did not sound wonderful. “We can further discuss those machine plans that—”

Gippal cut her off. “I was thinking along the lines of it being more casual,” he said. “No work talk involved.”

I heard a slight pause on Yuna’s end.

“Oh.”

I couldn’t even see her, but I could imagine just how uncomfortable Yuna might have been. Usually she avoided eye contact and played with her hands.

I decided at the moment to knock, if only to save her from answering. I think she would appreciate me saving her from having to reject Gippal at that moment in time. I decided that I could do the rejection for her instead.

I knocked and waited for Gippal to open the door. He looked surprised when he saw me and before he could open his mouth I made my way into his office. Yuna perked up at my presence immediately and I rushed to hug her.

“Yunie!” I chirped, excited.

“It’s good to see you Rikku,” she laughed.

I let Yuna go and turned to stand next to her.

“Oh, sorry was I interrupting something?” I said, feigning innocence as I looked at Gippal.

I think he knew because he immediately glared at me. I smirked.

“Nothing much,” Yuna replied smiling.

I could have sworn saw a hint of heart break on Gippal’s face. I almost laughed.

“So what brings you here?” Yuna asked.

Gippal leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah, what brings you here, Cid’s girl.” I ignored his mocking tone and walked up to him.

“I’m on an errand for pops.” I shoved the cylinder tube at him. “Here, this is for you.”

“Thanks Cid’s girl.” He gently bopped me on the head with it before going to his desk.

“Hey!” I protested, rubbing where he bopped me. Yuna giggled softly at my expense.

There was a sound of a jingle in the air and Yuna quickly reached for something in her pocket. It was her portable comphone, another one of Shinra’s inventions. They’re a huge it around Spira since they make communication easier between everyone. I had one, only I had no one to call to bother and Paine probably turned hers off so that I wouldn’t call her.

“Yes. Right.” Yuna nodded a look of determination on her features. When she was done she put her comphone away. “I have to be on my way.”

I pouted and went up to her to give her another hug.

“It was nice seeing you Rikku,” she said, hugging me tight.

“We have to get the gang together Yunie, I miss you so much.”

Yuna laughed. “We’ll see; we just have to find another adventure.”

“Definitely,’ I said smiling, letting her go.

“I want an answer about dinner Yuna,” Gippal spoke up, looking at her from his desk. He looked serious. Yuna nodded before turning around to leave.

I waited for Yuna to be well out of the way before walking over to Gippal. I mimicked his pose, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked at the plans with him.

“What was that all about?” I asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“A date,” he replied, spreading another sheet of plans out.

“A what?”

Gippal sighed. “Come on Rikku.”

He turned around to lean on the desk with his arms crossed. He smirked as he leaned over towards me to gently flick my nose.

“You know what a date is. It’s when a guy takes a girl out for dinner or a good time. In your case, I’d take you out to eat and you eat everything on the menu and lead me on all night without putting out.” He chuckled.

I put my hands on my hips and glared at him, frowning.

“I was joking Cid’s girl,” he said, rustling my hair. “You always put out!” I fought him off of me, trying to get a punch in as he laughed.

“Jerk!” I growled, punching his arm. He pretended to look hurt and rubbed his arm.

He went back to studying the plans again as if nothing happened. I was still a bit peeved about his stupid joke. If anyone put out it was always him, the jerk. I looked on with him, pretending to be interested in the plans. But in reality my mind went back to what he and Yuna were talking about earlier. I couldn’t believe he was making moves on Yuna. She was my cousin. She was the former high summoner who saved the world twice. She was completely out of his league.

“Why Yuna of all people?” I asked quietly.

Gippal turned his attention from his work onto me. I refused to look at him as I could feel my cheeks flare up. I didn’t know whether I was embarrassed or ashamed about asking.

“Listen, Yuna’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.”

“She doesn’t know you like I do,” I said, finally looking at him. “It’s not fair that you’re trying to date her.”

He chuckled, turning around to face me. He leaned in close, our faces inches apart. “If I didn’t know any better. I’d say you were jealous,” he whispered.

I quickly pulled back, my mouth agape as I struggled to both say something and increase the distance between us.

“Of course not!”

“You hesitated,” Gippal said, smirking.

“Because I was horrified that you would say that!” I could feel my ears flare up now and wondered if they were as red as my cheeks.

Gippal snorted.

“Whatever Cid’s girl.”

“Listen,” I began, trying to get serious. “I love Yuna with all my heart and I don’t want her to end up with a broken heart. She’s not like any other girl you’ve been with. She’s special Gippal. She’s someone who deserves the best.”

“Oh?” Gippal raised an eyebrow. “So I’m not the best?”

“No!” I stomped my foot like a child. “You’re not good enough for her. She saved the world twice now, she deserves the best, not some guy that’s going to use her up and throw her away.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“Given your track record Gippal, I doubt it. Yuna is looking for love, not a fling.”

He didn’t answer me. Instead he gave me this hard, serious look where his eye darkened with a mixture of pain and anger.

“Is that how you really think about me? That I’m some type of skeeze that’s only in it for sex?”

I swallowed thickly.

“Do you really want me to answer that considering what we had?”

He blinked at me, surprised at my question. He looked down at the floor, a sorrowful look on his features taking over as he turned around from me. I went too far. I played on his self-esteem hoping that I can knock him down a peg. He probably hates me for bringing up the past and his shortcomings. I opened my moth to apologize but was quickly silenced when he turned around to give me a sharp look.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving? I got what your father sent me. There’s no further use of you here.” He sounded serious and I didn’t want to make the situation worse. He went back to his work, but I knew he wasn’t really paying attention as his shoulders looked tense and his fingers dug into the surface of his desk.

I left without saying goodbye.

The last person I wanted to bump into after my falling-out with Gippal was Yuna at the exit of the bridge out the Temple. She was waiting patiently standing in her signature pose with her hands clasped behind her back, swaying softly.

“I thought you were leaving?” I asked standing next to her to look down at the water.

“Oh! I’m waiting for my ride; they should be here in a couple of minutes.”

“Hey! I can give you a ride! I’m sure Brother would foam at the mouth if you were on the ship again.”

Yuna laughed. “Thanks, but I’m fine.”

I smiled. “Then I’ll wait with you.”

There was a short silence afterwards where we were both lost in our thoughts. My mind went back to Gippal and how stupid I was back there.

“Are you thinking about going out with Gippal?” I asked, turning to look at her.

Yuna looked at bit surprised at my question, but then she downcast her gaze as if she were guilty of doing something wrong.

“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” she said.

How could I get angry at her when she looked like that? I sighed.

“I don’t want to make you sad,” Yuna piped up, sounding a bit nervous. “I know you two had something, Rikku.”

“Had something,” I clarified. “It’s dead now. He could date a Hypello for all I care.” I rested my elbows on the railing of the bridge and looked down at my reflection in the water. I saw Yuna’s reflection join mine but I didn’t look up to look at her.

“But you did care a lot about him.”

Indeed I did. But he didn’t care a lot about me or else we’d still be together.

“That was before,” I said, pushing myself off the railing to turn around.

“What about now?”

I shrugged, choosing not to answer. I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at Yuna, my head tilting slightly.

“Seriously? Gippal? You could go out with anyone! How about Baralai? Last I checked he was still hot.”

Yuna blushed a bit. “Yes but—”

“Hell, Clasko’s better!” I said, throwing my arms in the air. “If you ignore his weird obsession with chocobos.”

“Rikku—”

“Oh, and Buddy’s still single and ready to mingle. You can go out with Brother too, though that’s sort of weird being family and all.”

“Rikku!”

I stopped talking, seeing a flustered Yuna sigh.

“I understand you’re worried about me and you don’t want me to get hurt. But let me decide this on my own okay?”

I frowned. I don’t want her to get hurt. I don’t want her going out with Gippal. I don’t want them to be together. It all just sounded so off.

Before I could even voice my thoughts on how they weren’t compatible Yuna’s comphone went off.

“Yuna here,” she said, answering. I saw her nod and shut the comphone off.

“My ride’s here,” she said, looking at me. I nodded and went to give her a hug.

“Have a safe trip back,” I said.

“You too,” she replied. She let me go. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. Go for it.”

I then took on macho pose. “But if he gives you any trouble and I mean anything! Give me a call and I won’t hesitate to go oblivion on his butt.”

Yuna laughed and I smiled. Despite feeling a bit disheartened about the situation, I could honestly say that Yuna’s laugh made me feel better.

The optimism that I gained from Yuna was short lived as I got on the airship. I went straight to the cabin area, not bothering to report back to Brother or Buddy. I could feel my heart heavy with guilt and jealousy over Yuna and Gippal. If you would have told me two years ago that Yuna might be interested in him, I would have laughed. But it wasn’t a laughing matter now. Back then I was determined to find Yuna her happy ending and I still want that for her. But I don’t want her to have it with Gippal.

Because Gippal was supposed to be with me and only me.

I groaned and rolled over in bed with my front facing the wall. It wasn’t something I was ready for yet.

“Want to talk about it?” I heard Buddy’s voice ask. I rolled over surprised that I didn’t hear him come up and sit on the other bed.

“Can we go to the top of Mt. Gagazet?” I asked sitting up, throwing my messy hair back.

Buddy frowned and I could tell he was worried. He stood up and sighed.

“Is that really going to help?” he asked.

I inhaled sharply, stretching a bit before standing up.

“Let’s find out,” I said.

Two hours later, much to Brother’s protests, we landed at the top. It was where our adventure really took off. I inhaled the thin crisp air and let the wind blow my hair around. It brought back so many memories from my sphere hunter days. The laughter and the tears, the strife and the victories. Everything seemed to have started at this very place. Sometimes I wish Yuna did bring Tidus back. Maybe then things would have been differently. She’s have Tidus by her side and Gippal would eventually make his way back to me. Paine would find someone who didn’t mind being second to her sword and we all three would get married and have our kids be the best of friends and that be that. It was the happy ending I imagined for everyone. It was the ending that should have happened but didn’t and I blame myself for not trying to achieve it. It was supposed to be Yuna’s happy ending as well as my own.

“HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!?”

My question echoed back at me and I let out another scream before falling onto my knees. I felt defeated and lost. I was surprised I wasn’t crying at that point because everything hurt at the moment. Why couldn’t the mountain just swallow me up? At least that way I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.

I heard my radio go off and before I could turn it off Brother’s voice screeched it’s way in.

“Rikku!? What is going on?!”

I frowned. “Nothing! I’m fine! I just…” I looked around trying to think of something to explain my earlier outburst. “…stubbed my toe…on something.”

There was a pause.

“You have to be careful! Now get on the ship this instant!”

I rolled my eyes. He was taking this older brother thing a bit too seriously.

“But I’m not ready yet! Ten more minutes.”

“Would you come on if I told you there’s something worth investigating?” Buddy’s voice asked and I raised an eyebrow at that. I opened my mouth but then closed it shut when I couldn’t think of a witty retort. I was never really good at those anyway.

“Go on,” I said, interested.

“I’m detecting weak sphere waves coming from the Zanarkand ruins.”

I swore my heart skipped a beat at the mere mention of that place. Maybe this could be the something I need to get my mind off of Gippal and Yuna.

“It could be something important. Are you up to it?”

I couldn’t help but grin as my heart raced at the thought of adventure hunting.

“You don’t have to ask me twice! Let’s go!”

[Previous] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [Next]

Resident Kingdom (Kingdom Hearts/Resident Evil 4 Crossover, Sora, Leon, PG-13)

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:26:34 GMT

title: Resident Kingdom
summary: Sora, Donald, and Goofy find themselves in much uncharted territory.
note: Spanish is my first language, so some of the translations are intentional for the humor. I’m tempted to continue this…so tempted. But for the moment, it’ll remain where it is until otherwise.

Crash Landing

Oh boy.

They watched in awe as the gummy ship was consumed by orange flames. A collective sigh rose out of the trio. Forget the fact that Donald’s magic was strong enough to put the flames out with a blizzard spell or that they should’ve tried to save what ever supplies were left, the gummy ship was on fire, and fire was, well, hot.

Experience has taught Sora this, because hot things burn, and fire is an extreme form of something that is hot, therefore it was not something to be touched, fondled or fooled around with. Experience has taught Donald that his feathers double as combustible fuel and that he did not need to test Cid’s little hypothesis again. Experience hasn’t taught Goofy anything. He just thought the sight of electrical sparks and flames licking and melting the block like parts away was pretty.

“So, I guess we wait until the fire goes out?”

Donald and Goofy looked at Sora, who chuckled and scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Great, this is just FUCKING Great!” Donald exploded. The duck turned to his comrades, who just looked at him in shock.

He could feel his cookie cutter Disney rep slipping. “Er, what I meant to say was…” He looked around for something to distract his friends with. Seeing nothing shiny, Donald pointed to the burning ship again.

“Oh no! The ship is on fire!”

“What? Again?” Goofy whined, hands on his cheeks, head swaying in lament.

Donald looked at Sora, who resisted rolling his eyes at the duck’s lame cover up. The kid wasn’t as dumb as he led on to be. Damn.

“Looks like our search for King Mickey and Riku is put off until we can get a ship,” Donald said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure there’s someone on this world that’ll be able to help us, ahyuhk.”

Donald looked around the desolate area. There were a few gloomy looking trees here and there, their branches looking almost skeletal as they drooped under an invisible weight. There was an occasional muddy puddle that told Donald of the recent rain fall as well as a thin mist floating around, making the creepy forest more ghastly. Compared to this, Halloween town looked like the fruity colorful world of Wonderland. But what really bothered Donald was the silence. It was a forest, so where were the animals? He couldn’t detect not one sound of rustling in the trees nor the snap of a twig by a near by squirrel or animal.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The trio looked up at the somber sky and saw a flock of crows.

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Donald asked, watching the horde of birds disappear.

Sora frowned at his feathered companion. “Let’s be optimistic about it,” he said, placing his hands on his hips. “I’m sure we’ll find a town some where and get help. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

Goofy nodded.

“Yeah, Sora’s right. We’ll be alright.”

Despite their enthusiasm, Donald strongly believed they were going to die. This world was different from all the others they’ve visited. For one thing, it didn’t seem all that Disney friendly (the lack of talking animals and bright colors was evidence of that) and it wasn’t chartered on the map.

They ended up there by accident as their gummy ship suffered major damage from making a new route. In order to salvage what was left of the ship and avoid further alien attack, Sora was forced to take a detour into uncharted territory. Donald didn’t think that they would crash land into this godforsaken place, but they had. Now they were going to die and he wasn’t too happy about it because that meant he couldn’t watch the season premiere of the Office.

The trio decided to make their way north in search for help. They walked for about an hour before hitting the entrance of a shabby looking village.

WELCOME TO PONDEROSA
POPULATION: NONE

That should had been the first sign that things were not going to end pretty, but for the sake of this loosely developed plot, the trio made their way inside the small village.

The place resembled a ghost town with empty grungy looking huts, houses, and deserted dirt roads. When they made it to the heart of the village, they were greeted by a huge bonfire.

Donald stiffened at the sound of chickens and other farm animals near by. Sounds meant life, life meant people, and people meant help! So maybe they weren’t so screwed after all.

“I wonder where everyone is,” Sora voiced as he looked around.

Goofy shrugged. “Maybe they’re on vacation.”

Donald stopped in his tracks. “…or they’re all dead.”

“What gave you that idea?” Goofy asked, genuinely curious.

Donald rubbed the bridge of his nose and counted to ten. He knew it wouldn’t help if he exploded into another on of his tirades. Instead, he pointed to the bonfire.

His gaze narrowed on Goofy’s innocent face. “Those aren’t logs burning.”

The talking dog thingy looked at the bonfire, his forehead frowning as he concentrated hard.

“So those aren’t body shaped logs?”

Before Donald could angrily reply, Sora got their attention by summoning the keyblade.

“Guys, I don’t like where this situation is heading. Get ready in case something jumps out at us.”

His two companions nodded and summoned their own weapons. The trio slowly made their way down the dirt road, eyes darting in alert.

“Garsh, do you think any heartless are around?” Goofy asked.

Sora frowned at the question.

“Let’s hope not.”

Donald was ready to kick who’s ever ass they were going to need to be kicking in order to get out of there. Honestly the village was not sitting well with him, what with the neglected farm animals and the bonfire of corpses and all.

Sora stopped in his tracks and nearly tripped forward as Goofy and Donald knocked into him. Donald peered out and saw what the figure of a man approaching. The animal duo straightened up.

“Hey, it’s a civilian! Ahoy there!” Goofy waved. Donald would feel the feathers on his neck stiffen in anger.

“Goofy!” he squawked.

As the man drew near, Donald noticed that he was carrying a pitch fork. The man walked lazily, swaying back in forth like he was hypnotized. Donald gripped his staff and gulped.

“Um…excuse me, sir?” Sora began asking, but Donald pulled on his shirt and gestured to the boy to shut up.

“Don’t talk to strangers,” Donald hissed.

“Why not?” Goofy piped up. “He sure looks trustworthy.”

The man’s eyes were glazed over, their whites now yellow and pupils wide as saucers. His face looked old as it sagged with years and was covered in gray stubble. His worn clothes looked stiff from all the dirt it was covered in. He moaned in a zombie like manner as he walked and he didn’t seem to care that a fly just landed in his eye.

“Trustworthy…right…” Donald took a step back. “Goofy…you go talk to him.”

Sora gulped and nodded as if reaffirming himself in his head. Donald decided to watch from a safe distance, not that he was a coward or anything. Screw it, he was a coward, but was it cowardly to satisfy one’s own need to live?

“Ex-cuse me s-sir,” Sora’s voice squeaked. The man didn’t seem to hear him as he moped by.

“Sir, excuse us, sir,” Goofy managed to voice a bit too loudly. The man turned around sharply, an annoyed look on his face.

"Que carajo haces aquí, cabron?" (What the hell are you doing here, motherfucker?)

“We were wondering if you had a shop around here.”

The man eyed the talking dog suspiciously.

“Tu tienes nervio chulo!” (You got nerve playa!)

then he took a step closer towards Sora and smelled him.

“El diablo! Tu tienes carne fresca?!” (The hell?! You have fresh meat?!)

“His name is not Francesca, it’s Sora, and I’m Goof—”

The zombie pointed. “Carne fresca!” (Fresh meat!)

“Is he really saying Francesca?” Sora asked, leaning back so that the man didn’t poke his eye out.

“Yeah, he looks pretty upset!” Donald yelled from behind the barrel.

“Sure he is.” Goofy nodded. “I didn’t self teach myself German for nothing.”

Donald peered out from his barrel. “He’s speaking Puerto Rican you dolt!”

Sora pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “Guys, I think he’s speaking Spanish.

The man roared because he couldn’t think of anything zombie like to say and lashed out with his pitch fork. Sora brought his keyblade up in time to block the crazed man’s attack.

“Run!” Donald yelled, getting a head start, but his default Disney setting made his feet turn into the opposite direction and towards the zombie. Stupid party preference mode, was it his fault that Goofy didn’t heal Sora as much as he should?

The duck gave a battle cry (or sob) as he charged with his staff towards the man. Goofy did what he did best and rammed his shield into the man’s back.

The angry villager managed to throw the trio off with his super zombie strength. He pointed dramatically at Sora, finger shaking, mouth foaming as he formed his Puerto Rican-er Spanish words.

“Te voy a matar chulo!!!” (I’m gonna to kill you sucka!!!)

Sora got ready, back crouching a bit, feet planted firmly into the soft ground, his keyblade firmly grasped by his gloved hands. The man screamed something in Spanish and charged while Sora screamed something in English to counteract the Spanish and charged. Before his keyblade could meet with the man’s pitch fork, the man slumped forward after being riddled with shots.

At the sound of gun fire, Sora, like any person with a weapon to defend themselves, threw his keyblade down in surrender. Donald, like any self respecting coward, ducked. Goofy, like any clueless idiot, tried to decipher where the shots were coming from.

“Who are you kid?” A man with in a nice leather jacket aiming a pistol at Sora asked. He walked cautiously up to Sora, who raised his hands up to show that he had no weapons.

“Sora,” a very pale looking Sora replied.

The man, sensing no danger from the boy drew his weapon down.

“The name’s Leon S. Kennedy. I’m an agent sent from the United States. I’m here to rescue the president’s daughter,” Leon said, telling his life story to a complete stranger.

Sora looked a bit more relaxed and decided that the armed man could be trusted.

“Maybe we can help. We’re stranded here. I’m Sora and that’s Donald and Goofy,” he said pointing to his friends. “We’re on a trip saving the worlds from darkness and trying to find our friends, King Mickey and Riku.”

Leon raised an eyebrow.

“Kid, are you high?”

Sora shook his head. “Not today.”

The man looked at the duck and dog narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“And these are your friends, from Disney?”

“Yup,” Sora nodded, smiling.

The man sighed. “I need to be drunk for this,” he muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“I said, ‘you guys want in on this?’ ”

Sora and Goofy nodded while Donald shook his head no.

“Well then, come with me. If you last another minute longer here alone, I’ll doubt you’ll survive,” Leon said, walking ahead of the group.

“We’ll hide out in this here dangerous looking shack thing and think of what to do next.”

Sora and Goofy nodded vigorously, following the brown haired agent. Donald looked around, not sure whether or not he wanted to follow. When the dead zombie twitched, the duck squawked in fear and soon followed the others into the decrepit shack.

Homecoming [01] (Final Fantasy X-2, Rikku/Tidus, PG-13)

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:14:57 GMT

title: Homecoming
summary: The way things ended just didn’t sit right with Rikku. When opportunity knocks in the form of a lost friend, Rikku makes it her mission to achieve a fairytale ending for Yuna. Tikku. Post FFX-2: Choosing the ending where Tidus does not come back.
note: I'm actually proud of this. Not that I don't care about my other fics, but this really is a fic that I'm working hard on and love to bits.

Prologue

Yuna hadn’t said a word since coming back on the ship. We were all worried when she came on with this somber look on her face. It was like she was in mourning, with her eyes cast down and head bowed. The only other time I saw her like that was after Tidus decided to jump. It was a wonder back then that she didn’t break down hysterically crying. But Yuna was a strong woman and if anyone could withstand the pain of losing something very precious to them and still be able to smile for someone else who’s suffering their own grief, it’s Yuna.

Still, I wish she had her own happy ending. We went on this journey for the sole purpose of finding Tidus. After finding that sphere, our journey morphed from a search and rescue to preventing an embittered ghost from unleashing death and destruction. We were soldiers again and Yuna was called upon yet again to make another sacrifice. Tricking Shuyin into thinking she was Lenne, hoping that the ghost wouldn’t hurt her when he found out he was deceived, having those she loved and treasured become possessed, forcing herself to fight those possessed loved ones and hoping—praying to what ever deity that would listen that their souls were okay. Yuna had managed to endure all of that and more all for the survival of Spira. And what does she get in the end? She was rewarded the cruel reality of never bringing the love of her life back.

Everyone on the bridge was busy save for Paine and I. Shinra was actively typing away at his station while Buddy and Brother were at the controls, driving the ship. I looked towards Paine and saw her staring intently at the floor, deep in thought. I was still a bit jittery from the day’s events. After defeating Vegnagun I was still pumped and ready to kick more ass and take names as Paine would so eloquently put it. But of course, with our main foe down for the count we went and treated our wounded. Gippal was pretty bent out of shape, broken ribs, a few scrapes here and there. I did my best healing him; unfortunately white magic can’t heal broken bones. It looked like the leader of the machine faction was going to be out for a little while. Baralai, the poor cutie, was weak from being possessed, but still, he managed. Nooj was the least hurt, much to Paine’s relief. Not that I would ever voice that opinion since I value my life. I once caught her checking Nooj out and suffice to say she threatened to skin me alive.

After dropping Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai off to their respective locations, Buddy suggested that we go to our homes and rest.

“You guys saved the world,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t you think you deserve a break?”

I was all for it, if only to check up on Gippal and tease him about being his knight in shining armor, But Yuna insisted that we keep going.

No one objected.

No one dared.

We knew better than to question a woman mourning of a broken heart.

That was about three hours ago. Buddy said that he was picking up weak sphere waves from some place or other, but we needed to fly around a bit more in order for them to get stronger. I’d just taken a hi-potion and was still jittery from its effects. I softly bounced on the balls of feet, trying to contain my energy.

“Yunie’s been long,” I said to no one in particular.

After a short silence I got a reply from the stone wall herself.

“Let her cope,” Paine replied, breaking her gaze off the floor to look at me.

I stopped my bouncing and pouted. “I know, but shouldn’t one of us go and check on her?”

Paine crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged. “She just needs time alone with her thoughts Rikku. She doesn’t want anyone to pester her.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, walking up closer to Paine. I appeared before her, examining her as I tilted my head. “For all we know the poor girl would want a shoulder to cry on.”

The warrior sighed at my insistence.

“Rikku—”

“I’m going to check on her,” I said, cutting her off.

I ignored any further calls and made my way towards the cabin.

~~~

“Mish Rikku, what can I do for you?” Barkeep asked as soon as the door slid shut behind me.

“Nothing right now barkeep,” I replied with a smile. I looked up to where our sleeping quarters were. “Is Yunie up there?”

“Yesh, she is resting.”

I nodded, thanking the Hypello. I made my way up the spiral stairs towards our resting quarters. I expected to see Yuna in bed resting as the Hypello promised. Instead I saw the former summoner standing by her bed, staring out the clear blue sky. She stood in her trademark stance, with her arms behind her back, hands clasped. She gently swayed back and forth and I wondered what the gunner was thinking about.

I slowly made my way towards her.

“If you want, we can go up to the deck for some fresh air,” I said softly.

To my surprise Yuna turned around, a soft smile on her lips.

“Sure, I’d like that,” she said, nodding.

I blinked, not sure what to do next. I thought she would be in tears. I was prepared to comfort her. I was prepared to comb through her short dark strands as she cried in my lap. I didn’t expect her to look so…content.

It took her walking past me and asking me if I was still tagging along to jar me out of my thoughts.

We were immediately greeted with a gust of cool air as the doors to the deck slid open. I ventured out first, my arms opened wide as I gave a content sigh.

“I love it up here!” I yelled, closing my eyes.

I let the wind run through me, feeling it dance through my hair, feeling it puff up my sleeves and tangle my scarf. I loved coming to the deck for the sun, the wind, and the speed. It made me feel detached from the world, as if I was the one flying. It was the perfect place to think about problems since your mind is so caught up in the moment with the wind blowing through your hair and the sun kissing your skin, that all thoughts cluttering your judgment before are quickly blown away.

That was part of the reason why I thought Yuna should come up here. Maybe some fresh air and a bit of thinking would clear her mind of whatever was bothering her. But it seemed to have the opposite effect and I opened my eyes to see that Yuna was staring sadly ahead, a small frown on her lips.

“What happened to that smile that I saw before?”

Yuna forced herself to smile. I pouted, not buying it.

“Yunie, what’s wrong?”

Yuna shook her head, turning around to avoid looking at me.

“Nothing!” she said, putting her arms behind her back.

“Something is wrong,” I said, walking up to her to stand next to her. “You haven’t looked this sad since…”

I didn’t have to say his name to make her realize who I was talking about. But at the moment, when she looked at me with hurt bi-colored eyes I wanted to kick myself. Why bring up such a hurtful memory? We started this journey with him in mind only to come out empty handed. I felt horrible and wanted nothing more than to get on my knees and beg for Yuna’s forgiveness for being so insensitive.

“I spoke to the fayth,” Yuna said, breaking the silence.

I almost choked, surprised.

“Really? What happened?”

“He offered to bring him back,” she said, turning to face me. Her eyes looked pained, as though she were about to cry.

“And what did you say?” I asked, barely a whisper.

“I rejected his offer,” she whispered back.

“What?”

She nodded, looking down at deck floor. My mouth opened and closed, I felt like a fish out of water, gaping like an idiot. I couldn’t fathom why she would reject a once in a life time offer like that. Suddenly this pain and anger began to bubble inside of me. I could feel it surge up, climbing up to my throat leaving a sour taste in the back of it. My hands balled up into fists. They shock until the knuckles turned white.

I bit down on my bottom lip.

“Yunie, why?” I asked, trying to calm my racing heart beat. “Did our journey mean nothing to you?”

Yuna licked her lips. She looked nervous and afraid. “It was closure.” She said, picking at her fingers in an effort to avoid eye contact.

“Closure? Closure?!” I couldn’t control my emotions at this point, what with my heart racing, my nerves twitching and my eyes on the brink of tears.
“Yuna, this journey started because you saw someone who looked like him in a sphere!”

“I k-know. And when I think about it now, it was a completely selfish reason.” She sighed, turning around from me to walk around a bit.

“Rikku, I’ve been thinking about our journey,” she started, “It started off simple enough, to find him. Then it morphed from a personal journey to saving the world. I realized then that my problem was nothing compared to what we were dealing with.”

“But you always do this,” I reasoned. “You always put others before yourself. It’s not fair! Why can’t you have a little bit of happiness?”

“I already have it,” she said, turning round and walking up to me. “I realized during this trip that I didn’t need Tidus. Sphere hunting with you guys has been wonderful.” She smiled softly, letting out a small chuckle.

“Traveling with you, Paine, Brother, Buddy, and Shinra. It’s been a great experience. It was the first time I’ve been on a journey where there was excitement and happiness instead of a haunting sense of dread. I was able to finally break out of my shell and leave my summoner past behind.”

I watched her take my hand. She gave it a gently squeeze.

“Remember that one time we had a small concert up here. Even barkeep was there. The evening was so nice, the sky was so dark, but the stars were so bright. There was music, dancing, stories, and drinking. We were all in such high spirits,” she said laughing.

Her eyes were so bright and full of mirth. I nodded, remembering that night. Yuna gave a successful concert at the Thunder Plains to give the people of Spira hope through the horrible time with Vegnagun. I remember that the next day, after our little celebration, Shinra actually got sick. I was totally to blame since I was secretly giving him sips of my drinks.

“I found myself thinking a lot that night when everyone was dozing off,” she continued. She looked down towards my hand she was holding. She looked up again, her eyes heavy with worry. “I thought to my self, I’m so happy. I never want this to end. I hope I don’t find him.”

My eyes widened. I didn’t know what to say to that.

“I sound like such a horrible person,” she said softly. “But at that moment I realized that I didn’t need Tidus to be happy. I was finally able to let him go that night. And from there the trip changed from trying to find him to putting Shuyin at peace and saving the world,” she reasoned.

But what happened to love? I wanted to say. But my mouth was too tongue tied to form the words.

“Rikku?” I stared at her with a mixture of horror and disgust. I let go of her hand, taking a few steps back.

“But, he loved you,” I whispered. “He sacrificed his life for you and you have the audacity to leave him behind!” My voice got louder towards the end, but I couldn’t help but feel enraged by her betrayal.

Yuna bit her lip, looking ashamed.

“It’s not like that,” she said, shaking her head. “I did love him and I’ve made my peace with it. I can’t live in the past forever Rikku.”

“How can you say that?” I walked up to her, my face inches away from her. “Everything was about him,” I growled. “This journey, your clothes for yevon sakes, all him! I’m a part of the past too Yuna, are you going to forget me too?”

“Rikku, it’s not like that!”

“Then what? You’ve moved on! You’re willing to forget about the one person who ever loved you!” I shrilled.

“I will never forget what he did for me, but at the same time he sacrificed himself not only for me but for everyone,” Yuna said, more calmly.

“Oh, so he killed himself out of his own volition so that makes it okay to forget about him? You’re fine and dandy about putting him behind.”

“I want to move on, but I never forget.”

I couldn’t understand why I was so angry at her at the moment. I hoped that she would get with Tidus, get married, have some kids, and live happily ever after. That was their story and it wasn’t coming true. I was angry that she let the chance of ever being happy again slip through her fingers. If she didn’t end up with a happy ending, what did that say for me? Where did that leave a person like me, who couldn’t even hold a candle to Yuna?

I left the deck, not wanting to have a shouting match with Yuna of all people.

She didn’t call out my name or come after me.

~~~

Paine came to find me for dinner a while later. I was in the engine room, sitting by the stairs that lead to the cargo area. Like the deck, the engine room was another place I liked to go and think.

I didn’t look up when Paine came down the stairs to stand near me with her arms crossed over her chest.

“How did you know I was here?” I asked, looking up to see the warrior lean against the wall.

“You always come to the engine room to brood.”

I looked down at my feet, saying nothing.

“You were out of line back there. I told you not to go bother her,” she said, breaking the short silence.

“She didn’t ask for him back,” I blurted out.

Paine sat down next to me. “And? That’s her business.”

“Paine you don’t understand,” I said looking at her. “We started this journey to find him. She was in love him.”

“Why are you so sure?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. “Because I know. You weren’t there in the pilgrimage. They were inseparable. Of course they were in love. He died for her.”

“I realize that, but it was Yuna’s decision to not bring him back. So you have to respect her decision.”

“But Paine—”

“It’s been two years Rikku,” she said sternly, “We’ve all changed, including Yuna.”

I frowned, looking down at my boots like a child who’s been scolded.

“Yuna has become a stronger woman from this.” Paine stood up. “If you can’t see that then it’s time for you to grow up and let go of the past.”

I looked up to her, my pout still intact.

“But I wanted her to have a happy ending.”

“Life isn’t a fairy tale Rikku.”

I frowned again, hating the way Paine looked at me as if I were a child.

“Come on, Yuna’s worried about you.”

I nodded, getting up to follow her. Even though she might have been right, at that moment I wanted to prove her wrong. I decided that I was going to find Yuna’s happy fairy tale ending no matter what.

Next: Two Years Later...

First Date (Final Fantasy X-2, Paine/Floor, PG-13, CRACK)

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:44:05 GMT

More of this ridiculous pairing.

title: First Date
summary: Love apparently has no standards.
note: CRACK

First Date

Paine made sure to schedule the date when everyone was asleep. She didn’t want any interruptions and of course she wanted to avoid questions. How could she explain that she was going on a date with the floor and that present company–Shrina excluded because he could talk circles around her and he was like, what? Five?—didn’t meet the obviously strict (no, not really) requirements for intellectual conversation.

The door to the bridge slid open and Paine walked in, her heels clacking against the metal. She noticed a lit candle, a bottle of wine, and a glass sitting on the floor. She sat down making herself comfortable.

“So you come here often?” she said, trying her hand at flirty but ending up somewhere between slutty and sleazy.

“I’m the floor,” he replied.

There was a small pause.

“Well excuse me for trying to make conversation,” Paine said. She reached for the glass of wine. “Aren’t you going to have any?”

“I don’t fancy wine,” the floor said.

Paine raised an eyebrow as she filled up her glass. She didn’t question the mechanics of how a floor can absorb liquid. Maybe it got its kicks from being mopped to death with obnoxious cleaning liquids. Oh well, more for her.

“So you’re a warrior?” the floor asked, deciding to make more conversation.

“Amongst other things,” she replied after a sip of wine.

“Interesting, I dibble and dabble into my own hobbies as well.”

“Really like what?”

“Talking to Shinra about quadratic equations, tripping brother, looking up Rikku’s skirt, looking into diplomatic relations between Kilika and Besaid, collecting rare gil from different locations according to time period and caste system, you know, boring stuff like that.”

Paine smirked, impressed. “You sound so cultured.”

“I’ve traveled a bit.”

Paine downed the rest of her glass and served herself another.

“How’d you end up here?” she asked.

“I got bored being scrap metal and decided to travel a bit.”

She nodded, understanding how he felt.

“How about you?” he asked.

Paine shrugged. “I was bored.”

If the floor had any eyebrows, he would’ve definitely quirked one up at that moment.

“Really? You look like the type that was involved in some type of squad and had one of your friends betray you, therefore making you come on this journey to find out what actually happened.”

There was a short silence as Paine gulped glass number two.

“No…I was just bored.”

The rest of the night progressed smoothly. The conversation took an interesting turn when Paine opened up more. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the floor’s charm or the wine kicking in, but she felt like she could say anything. When the wine was gone and Paine’s cheeks reflected the color of Celsius, they both decided to call it a night.

“So…I was wondering if we could do this again sometime.”

Paine nodded drunkenly. “Sure, I had a great time.”

If the floor had lips, he’d ask Paine for a kiss. He wondered how that go about since she was drunk and he…had no lips.

So he decided that he needed to be smooth about it. Despite the fact that the warrior was drunk off her knocker, he still wanted to look cool. Maybe he should lower his voice, make it husky and ask then. That way she wouldn’t be able to resist him when—

Paine landed face forward into the floor.

Hm…that worked too.

LOL, THERE MIGHT BE MORE WITH PAINE'S SWORD.

Staring Contest ( Final Fantasy X-2, Paine/Floor, PG, CRACK)

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:34:20 GMT

Written for the lovely oneshadedarker after a ~~very serious~~ discussion of the untapped potential FFX-2 has in the fanfiction department and how no one takes advantage of it. Oh yeah~ this is the fruits of our labor baby.

title: Staring Contest
summary: Paine has met her match
note: CRACK! I'm very proud of this, more than any person should be.

Paine stared down at the floor frowning.

“I don’t think this will work out.”

“Why not?” the floor asked.

Paine opened her mouth and then closed it. She was dealing with a floor that was smarter than Brother. She thought for a second.

“You’re a floor,” she said, finally answering.

“Well, I didn’t think looks would matter to you Paine. I’m sort of hurt,” the floor replied

“People walk all over you.”

“I wouldn’t have a job if people didn’t,” the floor reasoned. “Plus I’m smarter than Brother.”

“What isn’t’?”

“True.” The floor paused. “How about we make this a contest? Whoever blinks first has to buy the other dinner.”

Paine paused before answering. She could hold a mean staring contest like no other. She thought that while it was sort of impossible to go out with a floor, she might as well beat the living shit out of it in a staring game and get free dinner. Paine loved food and the girl was cheap.

“You’re on.”

The contest only lasted five minutes before Paine blinked.

“Damn it!” she cursed. She then glared at the floor.

“You win this round,” she growled.

The warrior turned around and walked away with the floor smiling smugly behind her.

END. FOR NOW. I MIGHT WRITE A SEQUEL OF THE DATE. LOL.

No Child Left Behind Omake 3 (D.grayman, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:02:59 GMT

title: No Child Left Behind
summary: The small child turned his neck up towards his savior. "Are you God?" And the redhead man replied with a hearty laugh. "Of course! You may call me master!" And thus began the chronicles of a Master and his Idiot Disciple.
note: Here is kaydoodle’s request for bookman and mini-Lavi! I hope you like it! This is pretty late though.

Good Times Omake
summary: Cross gets his...sort of.

Cross shoved his idiot disciple into the bar after their recent dine and dash episode. The bar didn’t seem to have a problem with letting Allen in since it was also a restaurant. The redhead General sat on a stool while Allen struggled to get on his. The man ordered a drink and looked at Allen, wondering if he should even let the little garbage disposal order something.

“Excuse me,” Cross turned around and saw an old man with dark circles around his eyes, next to him stood a small redhead with an eye patch.

“I think yours is defected,” Cross said pointing at the small child. “It’s like, missing an eye and shit."

“I am well aware,” the man replied.

“Well, you should get a new one.”

Allen turned around in his stool to look at who managed to take his master’s attention away from his booze. He blushed when he saw the small boy. Now that make it two almost friends he’s made today.

“Would you like to join us for some drinks? I’ve reserved a private booth,” the old man said.

Cross evaluated him for a moment. He was old and if Cross had to guess his age, he would’ve guessed the man to be over 1000 years old give or take a decade if you count him being present at the birth of Christ.

The redhead debated whether or not he wanted to go since he just wanted to have a quiet evening drinking. But then he thought about the possibility of getting the old geezer to pay for drinks and nodded.

“Sure, why not?” he said, getting up and grabbing his drink. Allen fell on his way down from the stool, Cross completely ignored him.

The foursome went towards the private booth the old man promised and were seated. The old man ordered some drinks for himself and his charge.

“You may call me Bookman, and this is my apprentice Lavi,” the old man said, pointing to the small redhead.

Cross nodded, vaguely caring.

“You probably know who I am since you wanted to talk to me so bad.”

The old man nodded. “Yes, you are General Cross Marian of the Black Order.”

The bookman then looked at Allen. “And that’s Allen Walker.”

“Really?” Cross snorted amused. “To think the brat actually has a name. I just call him idiot and he responds.”

Bookman rolled his eyes. “I have something important to discuss with you regarding your apprentice.”

Cross looked at his charge and saw that the boy was staring at the redhead with a glazed look. Lavi was animately talking like a chatter box. He looked at Bookman, frowning.

“What about the little queer?”

Bookman cleared his throat.

“Well, there is a prophecy. Your boy is destined to be the destroyer of time. In other words, he is destined to defeat the Millennium Earl.”

Cross raised an eyebrow and looked towards Allen who was picking his nose. He looked back at Bookman. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” the old man said without hesitating.

Cross downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.

“We’re fucking doomed.”

Lavi's infinite chatter was beginning grate on Cross' nerves.

"Can I shoot his mouth off?" He asked, wanting the kid to shut the hell up. Seriously, the kid must've been like five. he hadn't lived long enough to be sprouting so much shit.

The old man sighed and watched as Cross ordered himself a bottle of rum to numb his senses (i.e. get so drunk he can block the little redhead out).

“It is your job now to train Allen," Bookman said, trying to get back on subject. "He must become an excellent exorcist under your tutelage.”

“Of course! What do you think you take me for? Some drunk narcissistic lazy bastard?” Cross asked, taking a swig of his rum.

Bookman chose not to say anything.

“So far the kid knows how to roll over and play dead. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s competent enough to wipe his own ass.”

The old man nodded.

“Very well.”

He grabbed onto Lavi’s hand. “Come on Lavi, it’s time for your eye drops,” he said getting up. “We’ll be back shortly,” he assured Cross.

The general shrugged and chugged more rum. When a couple of moments morphed itself into two hours, Cross was beginning to think something was wrong.

“You don’t think the old man finally lost it and stabbed the other good eye the fucking chatter box had?” he asked Allen.

The boy pondered for a bit, chewing his bottom lip.

“Master, I think he just dined and dashed us.”

Cross blinked drunkenly.

“God damn it!”

And then he proceeded to drink away his misery.

Sloppy Firsts (D.grayman, Allen, Link, R)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:55:41 GMT

title: Sloppy firsts
summary: Link disliked sweets.
prompt: June 10th: D.gray-man, Howard Link/Allen Walker: foodplay - That was inappropriate, but didn't taste bad

Link was surprised that he didn’t wake up once Allen managed to sneak out of the room they shared. The inspector yawned as he got up, wondering where the exorcist he was in charge of watching went wondering to.

He had an inkling to go to the cafeteria since he knew Walker had an unsustainable appetite. And lo and behold he was right.

As he made his way across the cafeteria he could only guess the mountain of ever growing dirty dishes belong to Allen Walker.

“It is quite late for you to be scavenging,” he said, taking a seat next to Allen.

The young man looked up, his cheeks full. Timcampy was at his side, gorging itself with food.

“I’m not scavenging. I’m just getting a small snack!”

Link raised a curious eyebrow at the three carts of food and wondered how Walker considered that to be small.

The man stared in awe as the boy managed to pack away various kinds of meats, vegetables, side dishes, fruit, and the occasion dessert.

“Did you get Jerry’s permission to have this?”

Allen nodded, reaching for a plate of éclairs. “He said I can eat all the left overs.”

Link slowly nodded, looking around the carts wondering if Jerry just wanted to get rid of the food before it got bad. Not that he could blame the man; after all, Walker was proving to be a pretty damn good garbage disposal.

“Eat.”

Link blinked at the confectionary treat that Allen was offering to him. It looked like a cupcake of some kind with a thick layer of white frosting on top. Link wrinkled his nose.

“I don’t like sweet things.”

Allen almost looked horrified.

“Are you serious?” He looked from Link, to the cake, then back to Link. “How can you not?”

The inspector shrugged. “I don’t care for them,” he said.

Allen smirked.

“What? Are you trying to watch your sexy figure?”

At that the man almost blushed. He tried his best to look else where as his cheeks slowly began to heat. He didn’t think himself sexy so it was a shock to his system to think that the boy that he was in charge of watching found him attractive in that way. He nervously cleared his throat, hoping that the next time Walker opened his mouth it wouldn’t have anything to do with how sexy Link’s body was.

He looked up and was surprised to see Allen offering a finger covered in a dollop of frosting.

“Here,” the boy said, leaning forward. “Try it.”

Link resisted, screwing his mouth shut. He’d rather pick up a cupcake himself and pretend he took a bite out of it to appease the boy than have frosting shoved in the general vicinity of his face.

“No, I’m okay. I’ll take one of these,” he tried to reason, his hand reaching for another cupcake.

“Say ahh!”

And before Link could protest, Allen shoved the offending frosting mixture into Link’s mouth. The sudden intrusion of his mouth with Allen’s rough handling made his eyes widen. That was grossly inappropriate!

The frosting quickly melted. It wasn’t sickly sweet and heavy tasting as Link expected it to be, but it was lightly sweetened and felt fluffy and light against his tongue. It didn’t taste all that bad.

“So how is it?” Allen asked with a smile.

“It’s alright,” Link admitted.

“Oh, you pretty much killed that cupcake,” Allen said, looking at Link’s hand. The blonde looked down and saw that while Allen assaulted him the frosting, he must’ve reached out towards the plate of treats, trying to retaliate. His hand was now covered in mashed cake and frosting.

“Here, let me get that for you,” Allen said, grabbing Link’s hand and guiding it towards his mouth.

Link sucked in a chopped breath as Allen’s mouth wrapped around a long digit. The man swallowed thickly as his ears and cheeks began to flush with heat. He watched the boy’s cheeks hollow as he sucked Link’s finger clean of frosting and cake before moving onto the next finger. The man tried hard not to moan at the wet, slick feeling of his fingers moving in and out of Allen’s hot mouth. Allen’s soft tongue twirled around the digit, making light circles as he pulled back. Allen looked so young with his cheeks flushed pink and pursed lips so focused on sucking. His eyes were closed but Link could make out the long eyelashes under the boy’s white bangs.

Link found it difficult to breathe and blink at the same time and felt that his pants were a little too tight for his likening.

Once done, Allen opened his eyes. Link noticed that they were glossy, almost drunk with the wine of lust.

“Oops, missed a spot,” Allen said softly, closing the distance between them. Link stiffened when the boy leaned forward to lick a bit of frosting off the corner of his mouth, the feel of his warm soft tongue against his lips. It was almost enough to melt Link into a puddle.

Link opened his mouth slightly, lips parting slowly to take in Allen’s adventurous tongue. He moaned into the kiss as he squeezed the boy closer to him, trying to devouring him whole through the deep kiss.

This was severely inappropriate.

Link mused that Allen tasted like not so sweet things and spice as he broke their kiss to proceed down his neck.

But it was incredibly delicious.

Watch Dog (D.Grayman, Allen, Link, PG-13)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:52:21 GMT

title: Watch Dog
summary: Howard Link was a man who took his job very seriously…maybe a bit too seriously.
prompt: June 6th: D.gray-man, Allen/Link: voyeurism - 'Is it really necessary to even watch me shower?'
***Now in Russian!*** jayazz did a lovely translation here: http://www.diary.ru/~nara6/p82539286.htm

Allen was still trying to get used to having Link following him around. The man reasoned that it was all for “Mr. Walker’s safety”, but Allen knew that he was being monitored in case he went batshit insane on everyone by turning into the fourteenth.

Everywhere he went Link followed and it was getting to the point that Link was following the boy even into his dreams. Allen had enough of course. Waking up in the mornings he saw Link. Going on missions, he was with Link. Hanging out with the other exorcists resulted in Link tagging along. Trying to use the bathroom was useless as Link stood outside the stall. He tried his best to lose the man in a city once, but the incident ended with Allen getting lost –for he had a horrible sense of direction–and being rescued by none other than the man he was trying to run away from, Link.

Link. Link. Link. Link.

He ate, drank, slept, breathed Link and it was driving him insane!

But nothing was as frustrating or as embarrassing as having Link with him right now.

Allen tried his best to ignore the man as he tried to shampoo his hair.

“Is it really necessary to even watch me shower?” the boy asked, through gritted teeth.

He could feel the man’s eyes study him up and down. Allen shivered at the thought of Link’s eyes piercing through him in his most vulnerable position.

“Yes,” Link replied.

Allen could feel his cheeks flush with heat.

“Would you mind turning around? I mean, I doubt I’m going to turn into the fourteenth while I’m naked like this.”

“Negative. You might turn into the fourteenth and in your rapid state of mad dog insanity turn around sharply, slip on the slick floor and fall, breaking your neck.”

Allen turned around, an angry scowl on his lips.

“Also, if you don’t mind me saying, I think it uncouth of you to turn around to speak to me in such an excited state.”

Allen looked down to where Link was staring and noticed that he was indeed very excited.

The exorcist saw red.

“Get out!” Allen yelled, throwing a soapy wash cloth in Link’s face.

Bully (Kingdom Hearts, Riku, YRP Fairies, PG-13)

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:49:22 GMT

title: Bully
summary: Riku gets picked on.
prompt: June 2nd: Kingdom Hearts, Riku/the Gullwings: teasing - "Too slow!"
note: I made it AU so I hope no one minds.

It’s been two weeks since his family moved to Destiny Islands. Though life should have been filled with lazy afternoons on a hammock sipping coconut juice, Riku’s was filled with excessive amounts of homework and yet-to-be-opened boxes.

He didn’t like the fact that he was surrounded by water, sand, and overly friendly neighbors that deemed it their duty to make him multi-flavored Jell-o molds with God-knows-what floating inside. He had nothing to save himself with except a small rickety boat that took him to a small island off the main shore.

It was peaceful there, with the sound of waves gently lapping at the shore, and the cool air whipping through crisp green leaves. He made himself at home and sat on the thickest branch of a tree that over looked the water. The small branches from above tipped forward and a single star fruit dangled nervously. He reached forward and grabbed it before it fell.

“How are ya?”

He straightened up and turned toward the voice. Nothing was there. His brow frowned as he wondered if he was going crazy.

“I’m over here!”

Riku lost his balance and the next thing he knew he was staring up at the clear blue sky flat on his back.

“Are you okay?”

He sat up, grunting at the sharp pain in his lower back. He looked up to see a tiny fairy.

“My name is Rikku! What’s yours?” She flew back a bit to get a better look at him. Riku couldn’t get his lips to form words as he tried thinking of a logical explanation to tiny blonde’s existence.

He stood up, with the star fruit in hand, and looked at the scarf clad fairy whose blond hair was put up in a mess of braids and beads.

“I’m Riku.”

“Cool! We have the same name!”

“What you got there?” she asked pointing at his hand. “Is that treasure? Can I have it?”

“Um…sure?” He opened his hand to reveal the star fruit.

“Oh my GAWD!!”

He looked at it suspiciously. Was the fruit magical? Was it evil? Or was it magical and evil?

“A paopu fruit is so romantic!” Rikku squealed. “It’s so sudden, but I don’t care. We’ll have enough time to get to know each other since our fates will be intertwined FOREVER!!”

Riku blanched at the word ‘forever’.

“No! I take it back, I can’t give you this,” he said quickly.

Rikku stopped dancing and singing about eternal love. “Huh? You can’t do that!”

“Well, you see,” he began, “I promised to give this to someone else.”

“Who’s this cheap hussy?” Her wings fluttered rapidly as her tiny hands became balled up fists.

“It’s complicated,” he tried to justify.

“Then dump her and be with me!”

“I can’t do that!”

“Why not?” she whined.

He had to think of something believable and logical, something that couldn’t be disputed. His mind began to race as concepts and formulas began to arise. What could he possibly say to a being that was breaking the laws of science by simply existing in front of him?

Then it dawned on him.

“Physics.”

“What?”

“It’s physically impossible for us to be together in any aspect. And if we tried, our forbidden union would not only trigger wars, but it may also cause the universe to collapse on itself.”

Rikku stared at him blankly. Then she grumpily crossed her arms over her chest.

“Stupid science,” she muttered.

Riku smiled.

“Look, I have to um…go,” he said, trying to slip past her. But she proved to be quicker as she appeared right in front of him, glittery wings, and a worried face.

“What do you mean go?”

“You know, go. As in, I’m taking my existence else where…for the universe’s sake, remember forbidden union.”

“But, I love you.” She whimpered.

“I know, but I already explained that—”

“I want to share the fruit with you! I want to be the character that overrides your future love interest whose plans involve leather, bondage, cross dressing, and the possibility of ending your sorry excuse of a life with marriage and children!”

He stared at her, not wanting to question the facts behind that one.

“I-I mean….I love you!”

“Listen, Rikku.”

Her eyes began to water.

“It’s Rikku with two Ks, you selfish bastard,” she choked.

“Fine, Rikku with two Ks. I’m sorry—”

And she began to cry.

Riku hated making girls cry.

“I hate you, you meanie!”

“Please, I’ll make it up to you some how, just let me—”

“Rikku, what’s going on?”

Riku looked behind Rikku and saw two more fairies. Rikku flew into the arms of one of the fairies, whose short hair had a long braid growing in the back.

“Oh Yunie, it was terrible.”

“What did you do to her!” the fairy in the leather punk gear growled at him.

“I didn’t do anything!”

The punk fairy flew up to his face.

“Then why is she sobbing and speaking incoherently!” she roared.

“Paine calm down. Remember your blood pressure,” the fairy dubbed Yunie said.

“Look, I didn’t do anything. She was the one that came up to me,” he justified.

“Liar! He lured me with a paopu fruit and tried to seduce me with his human lingo of physics and the like.”

“It’s okay Rikku. His physics lingo can’t get you, we're here,” Yunie said, soothing her hysterical fairy friend.

“And you believe her? Oh come on! Can’t we handle this like adults?” he asked.

Paine grabbed a hold of a silver strand and pulled him closer to her.

“You calling me short?”

“No, I—”

“You think I’m cute? You think my glittery wings are adorable? You think I like to flutter? I didn’t ask for this!” she roared, her eyes were a murderous crimson.

“If you guys just listen to my side of the story…”

Yunie flew up to them.

“I guess we should be fair, what do you think Paine?” she asked calmly.

Paine let go of Riku’s hair and thought for a bit.

“Time for some hurt.”

“Can we pretend this never happened?” Riku asked trying to buy some time.

Paine was silent.

“Die!”

“Gah!” Riku tried to swat her away.

“Too slow!”

Paine unleashed a handful of fairy dust into his eyes. Immediately, he felt a surge of pain as his eyes began to itch and burn. He growled in frustration as he tried to wipe the dust with his hands. Taking some steps back, Riku tried to feel his way around. Before he could reach for a branch from the paopu tree, his foot slipped on the edge. He fell backwards towards the water.

"Oh man! Why does this happen to me all the time?" Riku wailed.

"Maybe he wasn't the one," Yuna said, trying to calm her cousin down.

"Don't worry about it. He was a punk anyway," Paine said, crossing her arms over her chest.

No Child Left Behind 6/25 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:29:55 GMT

title: Good Times

summary: Cross bumps into an old friend.

The foursome made their way towards a restaurant where Cross deemed the food decent, the waitresses to be mega hot, and where got more booze for other people’s money. They were quickly seated at a booth and a busty waitress provided them with menus.

Tiedoll was giggling like a school girl when he was looking at his, blushing at some of the menu items in delight. Cross raised a brow when he looked at the he-she child next to him, looking all business as he read his menu. He looked over to his idiot disciple and was surprised to see the boy reading the menu upright.

Oh shit. The kid could read? He snorted a laugh. The kid was fucking talented.

As Cross flipped through the plastic laminated pages, he idly looked at his menu not really caring for food. What he really wanted at the moment was a stiff drink and considering that he had Tiedoll for company, he was going to need a lot of them.

Their waitress came back a moment later and Cross appreciated the fact that she was as busty as she was before. Tiedoll placed his and his brat’s orders, while Cross ordered a chicken salad (since he had to keep his manly figure in check for all the sexy ladies in the world) and a bottle of their best whiskey. Allen looked up at the redhead as waiting for some type of approval. The redhead looked at his disciple as he fished for his cigarette clip. He shrugged giving the boy the ‘I don’t give a fuck, I’m not paying for it today’ look and the boy let himself go, ordering two of everything on the appetizer menu and three of everything on the lunch section.

Tiedoll looked on in horror as the waitress tried her best to fit everything on her note pad. Cross finally found his clip and lit up, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

“Will he actually eat all that he ordered?” Tiedoll asked, laughing nervously.

Cross snorted. “You’d be surprised. The little youth sucker is eating me out of house and home and he hasn’t even hit puberty yet.”

Tiedoll nodded, swallowing thickly. “Well, I guess since he’s a growing boy.”

And from there Tiedoll began talking about the he-she thing named Yuu-chan and his mannerisms. And then he went into like the history of his other snot nosed brats and how adorable they were but none could compare to how adorable Yuu-chan despite the fact that the boy clearly wanted to murder the man as he babbled on.

Cross didn’t give a shit. He wanted his booze.

Thankfully the busty waitress arrived with their drinks. Now Cross could get hammered and not suffer through Tiedoll’s tirade of how he heroically found what’s his face from west bubble fuck and took him in as his son.

Allen was staring at Yuu-chan, looking like someone who was in love: uptight and blushing like an idiot. Cross rolled his eyes as he served himself to some of his whiskey.

He was not drunk enough for this yet.

“Oh, I think your Allen-chan is shy about talking to my Yuu-chan! Isn’t it adorable?” Tiedoll gushed.

Cross took another shot of whiskey.

“Yeah, adorably queer in you’re into faggity shit.”

Their food finally arrived and Cross barely picked at his salad, more interested in the bottle of whiskey in front of him. Tiedoll and his ked looked on in sheer horror as his disciple ate like a fucking pig.

“My, the boy really does have an appetite!” Tiedoll said, looking on in amazement.

“Yeah, I think he’s like parasitic or some shit,” Cross said, not too interested.

“Really!? That’s rare Cross! You know what this means?”

Cross shrugged.

“Well, it means great things are ahead for the boy…” then Tiedoll frowned. “…but the boy may face some hardships because of his condition.”

“Is he going to die?”

“Well no, but—”

“Then I don’t care,” Cross snorted, downing another glass.

Allen finished demolishing his food and wiped his mouth daintily on a napkin.

“The kid can pretty much eat anything. He’ll eat garbage if you give it to him, he’s none too picky,” Cross said, with a hint of recognition in his voice. Then he realized that he indirectly complimented his disciple, who beamed at him with a proud smile, happy that Cross liked him.

The redhead chugged the rest of the whiskey, wanting to banish what just occurred.

Tiedoll chuckled lightly. “Oh, I don’t doubt it.”

After Cross finished chugging his whiskey and before the waitress came back with a check and a question about ordering dessert, Cross excused himself and Allen, saying that Allen was mildly retarded and needed help in the bathroom.

The pair made it to the bathroom and Cross opened a window.

“Master, what are we doing?” Allen asked, curious to see his master shove Timcampy through the open window.

“It’s called dine and dash kid,” Cross replied, picking Allen up and pushing him through the window.

No Child Left Behind 5/25 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:28:19 GMT

title: Good Times

summary: Cross bumps into an old friend.

Cross walked along the cobble stone streets of London with his idiot disciple in toe. Timcampy rested at the top of his hat, fluttering his tail once in a wile for a pretty woman who walked by. For today, the redhead and the small boy were on the look out for a new hotel where they didn’t know Cross’ face.

The General took a sharp turn around a busy corner and felt someone knock into him.

“Watch it,” Cross snorted. Allen slightly bumped into his master.

“Cross?” the person who bumped into him asked.

The redhead looked up and immediately recognized his old friend.

“Tiedoll?”

The artist took Cross into a bone crushing hug, Cross prayed to any deity within a three block radius to strike him (or Tiedoll) dead.

“How are you!?” The man chimed. Cross rolled his eyes. When the artist let the redhead go, Cross noticed a small girl child scowling as she held onto Tiedoll’s pant leg.

“I see you got another one,” Cross said, pointing to the girl. “I got me one of those things too.” He grabbed Allen and pushed the boy forward. “Although, I think your little girl might have more balls than this little snot head.”

Tiedoll laughed.

“My little Yuu-chan is not a girl. He’s a boy!” Then the man paused to rub his chin in thought. “…the last time I checked.”

Cross raised an eyebrow as the ‘boy’ punched Tiedoll in the leg in a fit of rage. The artist didn’t seem bothered by it and gently patted the long haired boy’s head as he chuckled.

“Oi, introduce yourself idiot,” Cross said, kicking Allen forward.

“My name is Allen Walker, nice to meet you,” the boy said in a polite voice.

Tiedoll bent down to shake Allen’s hand.

“My, he’s adorable!” The older man exclaimed as he pinched Allen’s cheeks. Cross rolled his eyes and searched for his cigarette clip.

“Where’s the previous boy you had before?”

Cross shrugged as he lit up a cigarette. “Don’t know,” he said, taking a puff. “They never found the body.” He let out a lazy stream of smoke.

General Tiedoll gently patted Allen’s head, laughing uneasily.

“Allen-chan, you’re very lucky to have Cross as your guardian,” the man said, with a smile.

Damn straight, Cross agreed mentally. The brat better be grateful because Cross considered himself to be like a million levels of awesome and badassery rolled into one ridiculously good looking human being.

“I hear that you ran away from the order. What’s going on Cross?” Tiedoll asked, standing up to look at his friend.

The redhead took another puff from his cigarette.

“Well, as you can see.” He pointed to Allen. “I’m like a parent now, shit’s hard work,” he said, lazily.

Tiedoll nodded, understanding all too well.

“Yes, raising children can be difficult at times,” the older man said with a smile. He looked down to his scowling child and pinched his cheek. The boy quickly retaliated by slapping his hand away. “But in the end, it’s worth it,” he sighed, dreamily.

“It damn well better be,” Cross growled, glaring at Allen, who paled at the murderous aura coming from Cross.

“We must simply have lunch together now! My, we can catch up on good times!” the man said cheerfully. “Oh, I’m going to be naughty and break my diet just for today!” Tiedoll giggled afterwards.

Cross looked up at the cloudy London sky. “Strike me now lord,” the redhead begged.

“What was that?” Tiedoll asked.

“I said, lunch is on you,” Cross clarified, beginning to walk into the direction of a good restaurant he knew.

No Child Left Behind Omake 2 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:26:13 GMT

Note: Here is Jokerlove’s request! I’ve decided to go against random prompt requests and go all for the omake requests seeing as that’s more controlled. Also, chapters are allowed a maximum of three omake requests. Enjoy!

Omake of Toys 2

Allen walked along the streets with Timcampy on his shoulder. He left his precious Sally twig a.k.a Sergeant Twiggs in charge while his master recovered from his hangover. Currently, the boy was out running some errands before his master awoke demanding food.

As Allen walked, he past the toy store again. The small boy retracted some of his steps, wanting to stare at the display window again. His heart sank at the image of the pristine Sally doll he still wanted. Despite the fact that his master put forth effort into the Sally twig at home, it just wasn’t the same. He wondered how much the doll cost and thought about maybe saving up for it.

“Why hello there little girl,” a soft female voice said. Allen came down from his thoughts and looked up to see the most beautiful young woman he’d ever seen. She looked like a life size Sally doll with long golden curls and crystal blue eyes. But there was something off about her. Something he couldn’t well place.

“I’m not a girl, I’m a boy,” he clarified.

“I think I shall adopt you and call you Susie,” the woman then said, completely ignoring Allen.

Allen opened his mouth to protest but then closed it to think for a bit. Although his master taught him not to talk to strangers (especially the overly friendly kind that offered candy) the woman, although suspiciously creepy, wasn’t that strange at all. Sure, Allen’s cursed eye detected a weird shadowy figure chained to the woman from above, but the boy quickly discerned it to be a guardian angel.

Allen took the woman’s hand, seeing no wrong, while Timcampy stayed behind.

Cross woke up from his five hour long nap and looked around the room grumpily. His idiot apprentice wasn’t back yet and he was hungry. He waited a whole two hours before he decided to roll out of bed and smoke all of his smokes. Then after he did that, he decided that nicotine wasn’t a legit food source.

Where was the brat anyway? Did he finally smart up and escape? No, that couldn’t be. The kid was practically retarded. Maybe the idiot got kidnapped or lost.

Cross rolled his eyes.

Great.

Cross got up, taking his gun.

“Sergeant Twiggs, you’re in charge of the place,” he said, before leaving the room.

Allen was having the time of his life. The woman was exceptionally nice as she kept feeding him delicious treats the entire time. She also let him wear all the pretty dresses he wanted, although some of them smelled funny, like some powdery acid. It stung his nostrils and made his a bit dizzy, but he didn’t care. He looked pretty.

Another weird thing about the woman was that the shadowy figure chained to her was becoming more and more defined through his cursed eye. At one point his cursed arm twitched when she reached over and touched him, but thankfully it didn’t activate. He really liked this lady and he didn’t seem to care that he was being called Susie. If he still got to eat treats and wear frilly dresses, then he’d be Susie forever.

Cross was fed the hell up. He lit another smoke from his new pack of cigs as he though. Apparently people were both blind and stupid as they couldn’t help him track the boy down.

He looked at the crude stick figure drawing of Allen with a monstrous cursed arm attached. Under it, it read:

MISSING: IDIOT DISCIPLE

SHOOT ON SIGHT OR DELIVER ALIVE

He didn’t get it. The picture had artistic merit and kicked ass. So what was wrong?

He let out a lazy stream of smoke. Maybe he shouldn’t have pointed his gun at people when he threatened to rape their family and burn their homes if they didn’t find the boy in the picture. That could explain why some of them ran away screaming in horror.

The man snuffed his cigarette out.

Where could the brat be?

Timcampy chose at that moment to appear in front of Cross, the golem fluttering it’s wings rapidly.

“Oi, where’s the kid?”

Timcampy opened his mouth to play a hologram of how Allen was lured away. Cross snorted. How many times did he tell the kid that talking to strangers resulted in them touching you wrong and thousands of dollars lost in childhood therapy that were be better spent on booze and women?

“Show me where he is Tim,” Cross demanded.

And before the Golem could lead his master towards the location, a sonic blast erupted through the air. Cross next heard the familiar sound of akuma bullets. He withdrew his gun and ran towards the location of the commotion.

Allen didn’t get it. The woman quickly transformed into a giant monster blimp. His arm had transformed in order to protect him from the monster’s attacks.

“YOU IDIOT!”

Allen looked up to see his master climbing over the rubble with his gun out.

“How many times do I have to tell you that talking to strangers is wrong?” the man yelled.

The large blimp monster made its way towards Cross. Allen grew frantic. What was going to happen? Was his master going to get hurt and he didn’t want that. Plus, the nice lady was trapped inside the blimp monster; he didn’t want to lose her too.

As the monster approached Cross, Allen’s arm activated arm reached out towards the monster and with one sharp swipe, the monster was destroyed, blowing up into pieces. After the explosion, Allen looked up to see the glowing ghost chained to the blimp float away.

“No! Now that makes it two people that I loved that were destroyed by this cursed arm!” Allen sobbed.

Cross on the other hand, seeing as all the work was done for him by his idiot disciple’s badass arm, lit a cig.

He walked up to the sobbing boy and knelt down.

“Quit your bitching kid. You still got me,” Cross said with a smirk.

Allen looked at his master and realized then that the man was nothing more than a drunken abusive bastard.

Allen sobbed even harder.

Cross didn’t know if the kid sobbing like that was a good or bad thing.

He didn’t care.

He sat down next to the sobbing boy and enjoyed his smoke.

No Child Left Behind Omake 1 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:24:27 GMT

note: someone on my journal proposed an interesting idea for an omake, and I decided to write it out because it was amusing. Thanks to askani on LJ!

Omake of Toys

Cross grunted as he finished wrapping the twig with some ribbon he managed to slip of the barmaid. The kid wanted a toy and unfortunately, it just wasn’t in their budget. The Sally doll was too expensive and when Cross saw the price, it nearly drove him to drink.

The redhead took another shot of whiskey.

Not that there was any difference.

He frowned at the wrapped stick, wondering what was missing. He didn’t understand why he was doing this. Maybe he was just too drunk at the moment and bored out of his mind since the bar was empty tonight. Or maybe he felt sort of sorry for the kid since he didn’t have much to do but twiddle his fingers and wait for Cross to get home.

But then again, it wasn’t like the boy was alone since he had Timcampy.

Cross snorted a laugh as he remembered the one and only time Allen tried to play with the golden golem.

That shit was funny.

He took another shot of whiskey, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

It finally occurred to him that the twig needed a hat. He was a fucking genius! How else was the brat going to know that it was an action figure instead of an ordinary twig?

He drunkenly chuckled and made a hat out of the bar napkin. He placed it on top of the twig and rubbed his chin, admiring his work.

“There you go! Sergeant Twiggs, my second in command!” he declared in triumph.

It wasn’t a Sally doll per say but it was something Cross hand made therefore it was full of action and badassery. If the boy didn’t man up from this awesome action figure so help him God he’ll beat the straight into him. He wasn’t gonna have no queer disciple that was for goddamn sure.

note: I'm thinking of taking on omake requests of chapters that already exist. What do you guys think? Have something you want to see more of?

Poltergeist 2/8 (Kingdom Hearts, Axel, Roxas, PG-13)

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:44:31 GMT

title: Poltergeist
summary: Roxas gains an unwanted best friend. AU, barely there slash, and mild crack. Axel plus Roxas equals BFF.
note: found this floating around on my computer :)

2. Pest Control

Roxas tried to concentrate on Olette’s moving lips, but his mind kept reeling back towards the subject of his current predicament: Axel. He managed earlier to reach the computer lab and look up some information on how to get rid of poltergeist. He composed a list of supplies and techniques he hoped would get the job done, but the way Axel looked this morning—so arrogant with that stupid Cheshire cat smile—made Roxas not only want to bash his face in, but worry that maybe he made a mistake in challenging the ghost.

What if he couldn’t get the man out? What if for the rest of his life he had Axel watching over his shoulder, judging his every move? Would the ghost make his life unbearable to live? He couldn’t afford to have the redhead follow his every move. He didn’t want people to think he was crazy when he yelled at the ghost. He only had one life to live damn it, he didn’t have another one to spare. He needed this man out of his life now!

“Roxas, are you okay?”

Roxas blinked and looked at Hayner. He noticed his carrots were now a pool of mush and that the plastic container holding them was riddled with puncture marks from his fork.

“You know, I’ve been calling you for the past minute,” Hayner said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Roxas looked at Olette and then at Pence who both looked worried. He shrugged and continued to poke at his carrots.

“Sorry, I just spaced out a bit. You were saying?” the blonde said, looking towards Olette. The brunette took in a deep breath and gave Roxas the look. The look that said ‘I am going to go ABC Family on your ass and give you sugar coated advice until your ears bleed’. He hated when she used that look, it always made him feel guilty and dirty all at the same time. He looked down at his food in shame.

“I was saying how you’ve been acting weird lately.” She stopped his hand from stabbing his carrots any further. “You need to take a break.”

Roxas looked at her and sighed. Not this again.

“You look more tense than usual,” Pence added, helping Olette out.

“Yeah, what gives?” Hayner leaned his elbows on the table. “I didn’t expect you to flip out today during the history test after you heard a pen click.”

Roxas cheeks flushed with heat at the remark. He did not want to remember the speech the teacher gave him in front of the class. The teacher made it seem like he was making fun of people with Tourette's syndrome.

Olette glared at Hayner before looking at Roxas with a smile. “How about we go out this weekend? We can go to the beach.”

“We’ll get those pretzels you like and maybe hit Twilight Town after,” Pence suggested

“It’ll be fun Roxas. So what do you say?” Olette smiled, nudging Roxas’ shoulder.

He looked at his friends and felt the familiar pain in his chest when they did this to him. He knew they only wanted to help, but how could he tell them that the cause of his recent behavior was a ghost? Roxas thought long and hard before opening his mouth. Should he tell them about Axel? What if they didn’t believe him? What if they didn’t want to be friends with him anymore? But then they could believe him. Maybe they could help him out. They were his best friends, surely they would understand.

“Listen, something came up at home,” he said, pushing his tray aside.

“Is it serious?” Olette asked, leaning over.

“If you need someone to talk to, we’re here,” Hayner added.

Roxas looked at Pence who gestured for him to continue.

Roxas licked his lips and leaned in, making the other three to lean in as well.

You guys can’t tell anyone,” he whispered. They all nodded and he looked around to make sure no one would be coming over to their table.

“I’ve been haunted by a ghost.”

Each teen blankly stared at him as he waited for their response. They leaned back and Roxas saw that Pence was in the middle of confusion and worry, Hayner was skeptical with his eyebrow raised, and Olette looked disappointed.

“It’s true! He has red hair, dresses like a reject, and his name is Axel,” he said, making wild hand gestures to prove his point.

“Roxas, this is what I’m worried about. You need to stop pushing yourself so hard with school work. You’re hallucinating,” Olette said, placing the palm of her hand on his forehead.

“I’m not hallucinating!” he snapped. He quickly checked his temper when he saw her recoil. “I mean,” he began more calmly. “I thought I was, but I’m the only one who can hear and see him. He pulls pranks on me all the time too!”

“Look, it’s beyond being funny now, chill okay?” Hayner said.

“I’m not crazy!” he yelled slamming his fist on the table. “If none of you believe me then there’s no use asking for your help,” he said, getting his backpack and tray.

“Roxas, it’s not like that!” Olette stood up, trying to hold him back.

He shook her off. “I’m fine,” he growled annoyed.

“Hey, I’ve had enough of you being snippy with her,” Hayner snapped standing up and pounding his fist on the table. He glared at Roxas.

The blond snorted and rolled his eyes before leaving his friends.

Hayner opened his mouth to speak, but Olette stopped him.

“Hayner, leave him. He’s frustrated, let him cool down.”

“So you’re going to let him get away with that?”

“Maybe it’s something we can’t help him with,” she said, looking at the blonde’s form disappearing through the double doors. “Maybe it’s something he just needs to figure it out on his own.”

Roxas drummed his fingers on his desk as Axel chuckled in the background.

He looked down at his list and scowled at all the pen marks that crossed out or modified his failed techniques. Nothing worked. He placed holy water at his door way, hung a bundle of dried sage by his window, and read some excerpts of the bible while burning a red candle.

He even had Sora help by burning incense around the house. The result got them some burnt couch cushions which were flipped onto the other side to stall for time from their mother’s wrath if she ever found out. Now the house smelled like lavender with a hint of smoke in the background.

He tried to ignore the light snickering redhead behind him, but he couldn’t really block him out with the ghost snorting like an idiot. He took his pen and looked over his list again. Nothing worked, so now what? He tapped his pen lightly as he thought of yet another alternative when it hit him. He turned around and looked at Axel and smirked. The redhead raised a curious eyebrow when the blond got up and left the room.

Roxas came back some minutes later with a dusty looking box. Axel, now interested, joined the boy on the floor.

Roxas opened the box and took out a black rectangular board. He opened the board up and the redhead’s eyes widen in a mixture of surprise and horror. The teen noticed this and looked at the Ouija board. It didn’t look scary to him, just a piece of card board with the alphabet and numbers.

He smirked to see Axel trying to distance himself from it.

“Why are you so sacred of a board game?” he asked, trying hard not to laugh.

The man's face grew serious. "Put that away," he said, tersely.

"Oh, that's got you scared," Roxas said, taking a bit of pleasure out of this. "What's it going to do?"

"Open a portal to darkness." he said staring at the game board.

Roxas laughed.

"I'm serious kid." He licked his lips. "If I were you, I’d step away from that thing. You don't know what it's capable of."

Roxas stared at the ghost incredulously. "Door to Darkness? Yeah right, so if Ouija Boards open doors to darkness, how come Ouija boards aren't banned or something?"

"Well, most people who play the game don’t know how to use it properly. Some get scared at the slightest hint of spiritual activity and others move the cursor too quickly to pick up a proper spiritual signal and others just spook themselves.”ﾝ

"Most people are stupid," Roxas replied.

"Yeah. But you're not most people."

Roxas smiled triumphantly. "You're right. I'm not, and I’m going to get rid of you.”

"Go ahead and try. Don't come crying to me when heartless come out of there."

Roxas opened the box and started setting the board up. "What they hell are Heartless?"

“They’re dark small creatures that feed on people with very strong hearts.”

"Sucks to be you then."

Axel chuckled. "But see." Axel straightened up, quickly teleporting to be behind Roxas, before the boy could react. "I'm not the one with a strong heart here," he whispered in his ear.

Roxas flinched away from the ghost, snorting derisively. "I sincerely doubt my heart's that strong."

"Oh it is.” The ghost put an icy hand on the boy's pulse in his neck. "There it is, pumping strong. Healthy strong veins pulling rich iron blood--flowing four chambers in and four chambers out. The muscle beating with a strong will to survive." He drew near his ear. "What’s that? Heart rate increasing? Are you scared Roxas?" he whispered.

Roxas shivered, his breath hitching slightly from the icy touch on his neck. He tilted his chin up, glancing over at the ghost out of the corner of his eyes. "No," he whispered defiantly.

"You sure? Because it's the fear that excites them. It’s the fear that lets them know you're here," he whispered before teleporting to sit opposite of the boy.

Roxas shook his head, shaking the numbness off. He leveled a stare at the ghost, trying to decide whether Axel was bluffing.

The ghost stared back, a hard look on his face as he glared.

Roxas' eyes narrowed. He knew a challenge when he saw one. "I think you're just trying to freak me out."

"Go ahead. Try it. I'm not stopping you now."

Still watching him warily, Roxas finished setting the board up. "So. What'll happen if these Heartless things come out?" he asked, carelessly

“The portal opens, the heartless come, and the user is devoured.” Axel reclined on his elbows. "All what’s left behind is a husk."

"And you know this, how?"

"I thought you weren't interested," Axel grinned.

"I'm not."

"Then why ask?"

Roxas shrugged. "May as well let you talk as much as you want, seeing as you're going to be gone soon."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Fine. Might as well school you before you off yourself."

Axel stood up and began pacing around the room.

"Right after I died, this house was renovated a bought by a scientist named Xehanort. He knew about the heartless and wanted to prove their existence using that board."

He stopped by the window. "After many failed attempts, one of which almost set this house on fire-don't ask-he was finally successful." He turned to look at Roxas. "He managed to capture a heartless."

"Interesting."

"Interesting? Try fucking revolutionary!" The man crossed his arms. "But the small creature was not happy. It used to thrash in its cage all the time." He sat down on the window sill.

"When Xehanort would get too close it, it would stop hypnotized. Its yellow eyes would glow and its small body would sway slowly from side to side. My guess is that it could sense just how strong Xehanort’s heart was and wanted nothing more than to get it by tricking the man into a false sense of security.”ﾝ

The open window brought in a cool summer breeze as the curtains moved. Too bad the ghost couldn't feel it.

“But Xehanort wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what it was trying to do. It was trying to capture his attention, hypnotize him like a snake does its prey.”

Roxas glanced up for just a second before returning his gaze to the board.

“Everything started off fine,” Axel continued, “He called the kept heatless a ‘shadow heartless’ since it and I quote "resembled the embodiment of mist and darkness with large yellow eyes" he said, mimicking the man's voice as best he could.

“As time passed, however, something peculiar started to happen to the shadow heartless.”

"What?"

"It started evolving," Axel said looking out the window. "It got bigger, stronger, angrier, and hungrier. I was fascinated at how it thrashed and roared every time Xehanort got within a foot of it. Thinking back on it, I should have known the situation was not going to end well. But it was just too tempting to just watch.”

"So what happened?"

"Worst case scenario: it escaped." The redhead leaned back against the window frame. "One night, Xehanort was in his den reviewing all of his ‘Ansem Reports’ﾝ--don't ask. I, being the moral and just ghost that I am, was casually eavesdropping over his shoulder when suddenly there was a loud crash from the basement. I followed Xehanort quickly, and he discovered that his worst nightmare did indeed come true. The shadow heartless was missing and there was no clue as to where it went.”

“He looked around every dark nook and cranny frantically and I would have laughed if it wasn’t for the look of genuine fear on his face. The man was screwed. Royally." Axel looked at Roxas. "Then it happened. A colossal beast of mist and darkness, its hands reared sharp glossy claws and its yellow eyes smoldered with a flare of hate, reached out and got him. Xehanort was engulfed by the mass of dark mist before he even had the chance to scream.”

Roxas looked down at the board; his fingers were hovering over the plastic pointer.

“When morning came I knew he was gone. His body was frozen in a state of fear, his mouth shaped into a perfect circle. I didn’t know what to do at first. I tried to think of a way to get rid of the body to avoid any visitors, but I scrapped it as soon as the thought hit since Xehanort was known for not having many people coming over anyway. So I decided that the least I could so was move the body. And what better way to move a freshly dead body than to possess it.”

Roxas' lip curled, interested in that tidbit. "You can do that?"

Axel smirked at the amused looking boy. "Sure, I’ve been dead for a while kid, you’ll shit bricks at the tricks I can pull.”

Roxas' fingers twitched on the pointer.

"Are you honestly going to try using that after what I’ve been telling you?"

“I'm still not sure I believe you."

"What do I have to do to convince you then? Let you summon the heartless? Let them get you and your brother?"

"It's just an Ouija Board," Roxas reasoned.

The man appeared in front of Roxas, green eyes illuminating, their faces inches apart. "Is it?"

Roxas flinched back.

The ghost pulled back, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Whatever.” Roxas returned his attention to the board.

The man shook his head and sighed. "Some people have to learn the hard way," he muttered under his breath. He stood up and walked towards the window.

Roxas closed his eyes and shook his head, wavering. Finally he dropped his hands.

The ghost at the window head's turned slightly, watching Roxas give up from his peripheral vision.

"What's wrong? Aren't we big and bad now?" the ghost taunted with a sly smile.

Roxas' expression turned sour, and he returned his hands to the pointer and started to concentrate.

Axel chuckled and returned his gaze at the window. The kid was stubborn. Too bad though, he looked like he had a good life a head of him. The curiosity to watch Roxas was eating him up. But Axel knew better, let the kid learn, he thought to himself.

Even with renewed determination, Roxas found himself faltering. Axel had said Sora would be in danger too. Even if the whole thing was bogus, if Sora got hurt because of him Roxas would never forgive himself.

The pointer moved.

Roxas' eyes widened in surprise as the pointer moved from beneath his fingers. "What the…"

"Huh?" Axel turned around at the boy's bemused inquest. The pointer kept moving sporadically, from all corners.

There was no way the bastard was that innocent. "Cut it out!"

“Cut what out? I'm not doing anything," the ghost said as the pointer keep spinning out of control until it flew off the board. The board shook once.

"That's not good,” Axel said pointing at the board.

Roxas shuffled away from the board slightly, his gaze flickering between it and the ghost. "I'm sure you aren't doing anything," Roxas said, his tone declaring otherwise.

The ghost gave the boy a hard look. "Roxas get away from it now." The board continued to shake and rattle until it finally stopped. Then, in the center, a small black hole began taking shape. It started growing slowly, wisps of black smoke floating up in the air.

Roxas scuttled away and stood, tripping slightly as he watched the black smoke rise.

The black whole began to spread, almost consuming the board game in the process. The black wisps snaked their way out, searching, looking for something. They snaked their way towards Roxas and slithered up his leg.

Roxas shivered as the black wisps clung to his leg before kicking out to try and dislodge them. Was this what Axel was talking about? A door to darkness?

The dark wisps held on, climbing their way up the body, slithering up to his chest. Axel looked on, shaking his head sadly before turning to look out the window.

Roxas glared at the ghost. Of all the times to be serious! His mind grasped for something, anything to get the wisps, which felt more like tiny hands crawling over his skin, off. Finally remembering something, he froze, standing stock-still. Axel had said that the darkness was attracted to strong hearts and fear. Well, maybe he couldn't change his heart, but he did everything he could to calm down, stamping his fear out. He couldn't let these little things get the best of him, not with Sora right in the next room.

"You know. You were a good kid. Glad I knew you,” the man said, not turning to look at the spectacle behind him.

"Fuck you," Roxas spat, through gritted teeth.

"Such anger. Such hate. Are you sure you want to be radiating those strong emotions with those things?" Axel asked, turning around. The black wisps circled around the boy's neck. His entire bottom half was covered in darkness.

"Wish I could help. But seeing as I'm dead."

"Here's a question: how do I get rid of them?" Roxas ground out.

"They leave after they get what they want."

The black wisps slithered down Roxas' chest.

"And what they want...is you, Roxy.”

"Well that sucks," Roxas muttered. Then he started moving towards Axel, even as the hands crawled closer to his heart.

The man looked on, curious as to what the boy was going to do.

Upon seeing Axel's curious look, Roxas growled, "I would rather die falling from a window than let you be right about these damn things."

"Really now?" Axel looked over the window, his transparent head easily going through the wooden frame to see outside. "It's a ways down" he said, coming back.

"Good. Maybe I won't feel anything."

"Oh, you'll feel it alright. Every broken bone."

"With my luck I'll break my neck - problem solved. Unless you have a better idea."

Axel thought for a moment. "Nope."

"Then move your pale, transparent ass out of my way."

"Why are you so intent on killing yourself over this?"

"Because I don't intend to die like that. I like being in control of my own life, and I don't plan on ever letting someone else choose for me. Now move."

Kid had spunk. So he had underestimated him. He thought at first that he was going to piss his pants. But Roxas looked so determined, so in control. Suddenly, his jovial mood disappeared. What was the point of pushing him any further if he was going to push back twice as hard. Axel snapped his fingers, the darkness evaporating into a cloud of thin smoke before the air was clear again.

Roxas blinked as the little fingers and hands disappeared, looking around the room. The black hole where the board was had dissipated, leaving the board intact and the pointer back in its place. His hand rubbed his neck, his eyes filled with relief despite his earlier determination to die on his own terms.

The man didn't turn from looking out the window. Man this sucked. He was bored again.

“That was all you?!"

Axel looked casually over his shoulder. "And if it was?" the end of his lips curled up.

“Why you!” Roxas took a deep breath, and let it out. He wasn’t going to bust a blood vessel for this. “I guess this means you win,” the boy sighed, none to happy about the ghost staying with him.

Axel grinned.

“Damn straight it does. As my prize I request that you become my slave,” he said, with his nose turned up.

“The hell? You’re a ghost! You don’t have any needs to be catered too.” Roxas went to put the Ouija board away.

“Yeah I do,” Axel said, watching the boy close the box. “Come on Roxas, I want to get out of this house.”

Roxas stood up with box in hand.

“There’s still the sand box in the yard, knock yourself out,” he said sardonically.

“But I haven’t left the property in ten years,” Axel almost whined.

Roxas put the box on his desk and looked at the ghost.

“And what’s stopping you?”

“Well, I need your help.”

“After the shit you just pulled now you want me to help? No!” Roxas scowled.

“But you’re the only person who can hear and see me; therefore you are the only person that can carry any medium I possess.”

“So what do you propose then? Are you going to posses a stuff animal and have me take you around town?” Roxas asked, rolling his eyes.

Axel’s nearly jumped him at the rhetorical question. The ghost teleported to stand in front of Roxas.

“That’s a great idea! We can go for walk and talk to—”

“Down boy!”

The man’s hands rested on the boy’s shoulders, trying to shaking him.

“I promise I’ll be good…” Roxas raised an eye brow and they both were silent. Even Axel realized he had somehow pushed it a bit too far. “Wow, that sounds so desperate and out of character of me.”

“Get off,” Roxas said shaking his away. “I’m not taking you for a walk.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m worried.”

“Now Roxas, I’m a big boy.”

“Not you, you idiot. I’m worried about the general public and my reputation. What if you do something weird? My friends think I’m already crazy since I told them about you.” Roxas frowned, his mind blocked out what happened at lunch with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

“Wait, you have friends?”

“Yes—and if—”

“People actually like you?” Axel asked incredulously.

“Axel!”

The ghost chuckled.

“Just kidding. So when are we going out?” the man asked unfazed.

“When hell freezes over,” he spat grabbing the box from his box and leaving his room. Axel smirked and followed.

No Child Left Behind 4/25 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:55:12 GMT

Toys

Allen, like all children, liked toys. While living with Mana he didn’t have much. The toys he played with were usually the props used in the various acts on the traveling circus he was a part of. So when he stopped to gawk at the shiny new toys in the display window of the toy store, it was understandable, because Allen, like all children, liked toys.

And Allen, like all female children, liked and wanted the Sally doll.

She had long pretty blond hair, which Allen wanted desperately to comb and style. Her big blue eyes hypnotized him and her pink cheeks and cute smile made his own cheeks flush pink. He wanted the Sally doll. He wanted to play tea with her and wanted to dress her up in cute Victorian clothes. He decided that he would be her gentleman and she would be his lady. They would make a magnificent pair.

“Oi! Aaron!”

Allen blinked, coming out of his thoughts and looked up at the redhead who was standing behind him.

“It’s Allen, Master,” the boy corrected. Despite being with his master for over a month now, the man refused to learn his name.

“Whatever Alex, we’re going to be late, so stop staring at that ugly mug you call a face and let’s go,” Cross said, taking a puff of his cigarette.

Allen pouted, turning his head to take one final look at his beloved Sally doll.

“What you looking at? You really want a toy or something?”

Allen looked up to his master and nodded. The man scratched his chin a bit, cigarette in his mouth as he thought.

“Hm…I’ll consider it, if you behave. I don’t think you should keep playing with Timcampy anymore.”

Allen shuddered, remembering the first and last time he tried to play with the large golden golem. The incident involved Allen in tears as the Golem gnawed on his head after Allen tried to tickle it. Suffice to say, the end result of the experience was trauma and Cross laughing so hard he both peed and threw up a little.

“What toy you want brat? You want the truck or the toy gun?”

Allen didn’t hesitate when he pointed to the Sally doll and looked at his master with a huge grin.

The man frowned, his cigarette falling out of his mouth.

“I am not drunk and or high enough for this,” the man said, sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Allen pouted. What was so wrong with the Sally doll? She was small, cute, and frilly. Allen wanted her and nothing else. What was so wrong about that?

It surprised Allen when he was yanked away from the window by his master, who was muttering something about his luck having a queer for a disciple. Allen was confused about what that meant, and wondered if he was going to be punished later on. To his relief, Cross did no such thing. Instead, the man took him back to their current hotel room, stating something about going solo on this mission and for Allen to be a nice little house wife and keep his home. The boy nodded, sad that he wouldn’t be able to go to work with his master for the day. He wondered if it was because of the Sally doll.

“Master, will you be gone long?”

“I have some business to care of and afterwards, I’m going to church,” his master replied.

Allen frowned. He didn’t like church and a part of him was beginning to suspect that Cross didn’t really go to church at all. Worshiping the Lord his foot! Since when did worshiping the Lord allow one to come back home smashed into oblivion and back and smelling like a walking vat of formaldehyde?

The boy nodded, knowing better than to question is master. He bit his lip before opening his mouth and asking a question.

“Will I still get a new toy if I behave?”

He saw his master visibly cringe.

“Yeah…sure…”

Allen beamed. Alas, he and Sally were going to be together!

“Remember it’s the Sally doll!” Allen reminded. His master cringed again.

“Whatever, this room better be in one piece when I get back,” the man warned.

Allen nodded.

“Here, entertain yourself with this so that you’re not tempted to set shit on fire,” Cross said, tossing Allen a magazine.

Allen looked at the glossy book curiously and opened it to a random page. The heat on his cheeks almost burned his face off as he quickly closed the magazine.

“M-mater! It has naked women!” Allen shrieked.

Cross frowned. “Really?” He picked up the magazine and examined some of the pages.

The man shrugged after a moment.

“Gotta learn some time right?” he snorted, tossing the magazine back at the boy.

Allen avoided the magazine like the plague as it dropped to the floor.

“So yeah, behave yourself and read some porn,” Cross said before leaving and slamming the Door shut.

After his master left, Allen spent the time cleaning the room and making their beds. The day soon turned into night and Allen stayed up, his small legs dangling from the bed, waiting for his master to return. He really hoped that his master stopped by the toy store before going to church.

The door to their room violently swung open, and Cross stumbled inside, Timcampy fluttering behind him. Allen quickly hopped off his bed and was careful about approaching his master. In this state, his master was known to pass out on the spot, taking Allen down with him.

“Master?”

Cross blinked, looking down at the boy.

“Wah?”

“I behaved nicely and the room is clean. Did you get me something?” Allen asked hopeful.

He saw his master try to remember, the man scratching his chin as he stumbled past him.

“Herrree,” the drunken man swung around and presented with Allen with a large twig. It was wrapped in blue ribbon to make it look like it was dressed. It also had a small paper hat glued to the top.

“Sergeant Twiggs,” Cross slurred, giving the boy his new toy.

Allen took the offered toy and stared at it, confused. Cross managed to make it towards his bed without dragging the table with him. The man collapsed onto his bed and started snoring immediately.

Allen examined his new toy with a pout on his lips. It wasn’t the Sally doll he wanted, but it was something that his master made. He walked up to the drunken, slumbering man and petted his head.

“Thank you master,” the boy whispered, smiling.

The boy walked over to his bed and got ready, changing into his pajamas. He tucked himself and his new toy in.

“Good night, Sally,” he whispered to his new toy before falling asleep.

Previous Part Next: Cross: Good Times part 1

[omake] Toys

[omake] for Toys 2

Poltergeist 1/8 (Kingdom Hearts, Axel, Roxas, PG-13)

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:36:48 GMT

title: Poltergeist
summary: Roxas gains an unwanted best friend. AU, barely there slash, and mild crack. Axel plus Roxas equals BFF.
note: found this floating around on my computer :)

1. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!

Click.

Roxas ground his pencil against the surface of his paper. His math homework the victim of sharp lead cuts and eraser smeared blotches.

Click. Click. Click.

His forehead frowned at the irksome pen clicking in the background. He’d been trying hard to ignore it, but he found that every time the sound came, a sharp click cutting through the air, his right eyelid would twitch and dance with fury.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

Roxas dropped his pencil, an exasperated sigh escaping his lips as he rubbed his temples. If only he could be struck dead at the moment by a stray bolt of lightning, maybe then he’d be able to escape the migraine forming between the walls of his skull.

He turned his head slightly and looked over his shoulder. There, sitting on his perfectly made bed, sat a man with unruly red hair, idly clicking a plastic pen.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

The pencil fell from his hands, and his head dropped as he tried to control his anger. His hand curled into a fist. "Do you mind?"

The redhead frowned at the boy's request. Honestly, did he have to ask so rudely? Couldn’t Axel have a little bit of fun, now that he was bored? He agreed to let the boy have his study time, but that was over two hours ago and quite frankly, two hours was enough study time. Regardless of how he thought about the situation, Axel put down the pen.

"Thank you," Roxas sighed, turned back to his homework.

The man waited about a minute, already bored. Then his eyes landed on the pen again and he smirked.

..CLICK.

Roxas slammed his palm on the desk, rounding on the other occupant and glaring daggers at him. The figure was practically sprawled across the bed, leaning up on his elbows and clicking the pen at fault. The man, in his twenties and nearly transparent, was grinning like a child who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar - or a man who'd just discovered a pleasant surprise waiting for him. He was tall and lean, and his transparent nature did not disguise the evidence that he had long, blood-red spiky hair. His green eyes looked dull thanks to the transparency.

The man looked at him, innocently smiling at him as he stopped clicking the pen.

"Stop it. I can't concentrate."

"Alright." The man put the pen down. "I'll stop."

Roxas stared at him warily. That was too easy. The ghost had only been his 'room mate' for eight days, and he already predicted he'd be seeing his doctor for blood pressure medication relatively soon. He rarely, if ever, listened to Roxas when he asked him to stop doing whatever it was. He narrowed his eyes.

"What?" the ghost asked, going for a hurt look. "Look, I'll sit by the window."

He moved to sit on the window sill to show that he was serious about stopping.

"Better?"

Roxas turned around slowly, still glancing back shiftily. He rubbed his temples, trying to concentrate on his math homework. But he couldn't. He rubbed his temples as he remembered how the ghost had suddenly appeared in his room.

He burst into his room, throwing his backpack on the floor and quickly loosening the plaid blue tie of his uniform. He didn’t notice someone sitting on his bed as he walked past them towards his closet to get a set of comfortable clothing.

“Hey Roxas.”

“Hey,” the blond responded absent mindedly. He hung his tie on a hook.

Roxas began to unbutton his shirt, fingers working quickly to get the confining material off. By the time he reached the last button, his brain finally registered that no one else was supposed to be in his room. He leaned backwards slightly, peering over the dresser towards his bed. His eyes widened at the sight of what sat there.

There sat man in his early twenties, dressed in tight blue jeans and a tight black and white 80s band shirt. Around his neck he wore an exotic green scarf. His bright red hair was wild as locks of it stood out in odd angles.

“Who the hell are you?” Roxas finally asked, quickly buttoning up his shirt. He had to be careful. His brother warned him about perverts that loved the forms of young supple boys.

The redhead stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of his clothes, and took a step forward. Roxas was careful to note how many steps he had from the dresser to his door. It wasn’t far, but he needed to make sure he could bolt out of there in seconds if the guy turned out to be some maniac.

“The name’s Axel, I’m your friendly neighborhood ghost.” The crazed man pointed a finger to his head. “Got it memorized?”

“No, I don’t. Why the hell are you in my room?”

The redhead’s lips curved downward.

“Is that a way to treat an old friend?”

Roxas raised an eyebrow. An old friend? He never met the guy in his life.

"I think you're mistaking me for someone else," Roxas said, his voice a little high.

"No. I'm pretty sure I know who I'm talking to." he said nodding. "You're Roxas. And you have a twin brother named Sora."

"You need to leave, now! Get out. I don't know you, and I don't want to know how or why you know me and my brother."

"Roxas, hear me out."

Axel’s plea didn't stop Roxas from inching to the door to close it. "What?"

"Well, I’m a ghost," he scratched the back of his head. "Does that help now?"

He leaned forward towards the door, feet dragging slowly behind him. It was painfully obvious that he was trying to reach for the door without Axel noticing and the redhead responded by rolling his eyes. Roxas didn’t care what the man thought about him at the moment. He just wanted to be near the door in case something happened. He finally reached the handle and swung open the door.

“Sora!”

A door opened.

“Yeah?”

“Come get your freaky friend out of my room!” His gaze didn’t waver from his intruder who seemed to look a bit more translucent than before. He shook his head, blaming his mind for the unexpected trick and waited for Sora to arrive.

In an instant Sora was at his door, Roxas pointed at Axel when the brunet walked in.

“There’s no one here Roxas.”

Roxas’ face sank when he saw his brother’s eyebrows furrow with confusion. He threw his gaze towards the redhead who rocked on the balls of his feet, a smug smirk on his lips.

It took the blond every once of his nerve to not explode at the moment. Instead, he took a deep breath and through grit teeth and a forced smile said.

“What do you mean, he’s standing right there.”

Sora looked at the spot where his brother was pointing and then at his brother.

“I don’t see anyone there Roxas.” Sora looked around the room once more. “Are you okay?”

“Of course! Look, he has red wild hair and he said his name was Axel,” he said. He pointed at Axel’s clothes. “It’s a crime against all that is holy that he’s allowed to wear that atrocity in public and not get brutally beaten.”

It was now Axel’s turn to frown. He looked at his green scarf. He honestly saw nothing wrong with it. It was awesome.

Sora’s blue eyes darkened with worry. He walked up to Roxas, pressing his forehead against his.

“You don’t feel warm,” he said, touching his own forehead with the back of his palm. “Listen, maybe you should lay down for a bit.”

Sora took his wrist and pulled him towards the bed, but Roxas stopped mid-way and snatched his hand back. “But he’s right there!”

He knew his voice sounded desperate as it cracked, but how could it be that Sora couldn’t see what he could saw? Axel watched the scene unfold from his seat on the window sill. His chin rested on his knee as his eyes danced with amusement. Roxas wondered how the redhead moved so quickly because the last thing he remembered was the man was standing right in front of them.

He sighed giving in. Sora grabbed his wrist gave in when Sora looked at with that look, the look that said that he was going to get their parents involved.

“Lay down, I’ll go and get you a glass of water.” Sora said, pushing Roxas towards the bed. His hands gripped the blonde’s shoulders and forcefully pushed him down on the mattress.

Roxas laid down and soon the reality of the situation was beginning to sink into brain. He was the only one who could see Axel. He looked toward the man again, wondering if his mind was playing a cruel joke. It was a mystery to him. How could a figment of his imagination look and sound so real? He could hear the distant sound of his name being called as he stared.

“Roxas are you okay?”

“Yes,” he replied, bringing his eyes back towards his brother. “I’m fine. I’ll just take a nap or something.”

Axel nodded his way, lips stretched thin in a Cheshire smile.

“Are you sure you don’t want water?” He couldn’t help but want to look away from Sora’s concerned gaze. Roxas felt guilty for dragging his brother into this.

“Positive. Really, I’m fine now.”

Sora hesitated before finally standing up. He made his way towards the door and stopped when he reached for the door knob.

“If you need anything, just give a shout,” he said, before leaving the door ajar.

Roxas ran a hand through his disheveled blonde hair and sighed. What did he do in a past life that earned him this cruel punishment?

“Now do you believe me?” Axel asked stepping off the sill. He stood in front of the tired looking blonde. “I guess it’s obvious now that you’re the only person who can hear and see me.”

“Why are you haunting me?"

The ghost shrugged. “I'm just drawn to you."

Roxas narrowed his eyes again. "That doesn't make any sense. Why?"

"I don’t know." Axel crossed his arms over his chest. "One day I was haunting this house, minding my own business, and then boom. I get this signal from you."

"I'm not giving off any signals," Roxas shook his head.

"Well whatever it is, I'm reading it loud and clear." The redhead went to sit on the window sill. "So Roxas, what's going on?"

"I'm being haunted by a ghost, that's what's going on."

"You know, in some cultures, being haunted by a ghost is a blessing."

"Really," Roxas said, disbelievingly. "And in others it's a curse."

"Lucky for you, it's me." Axel hopped off his position at the window.

Roxas bit his lip before talking again. "So…you're . . . dead?"

"As dead as can be" He walked from the window and stood in front of Roxas to give the boy a chance to survey him properly. "I died more than 10 years ago, late 1980s."

"I see. Then why are you still hanging around?" Roxas sat up in bed to look at Axel. "Nothing better on the other side?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

The man chuckled. "More like I wasn't allowed to go." He went over to sit at Roxas' desk. "I died before my time, and my soul had so much more it wanted to do. That’s why I’m here. If you want to know why I'm in this house, specifically, then that's another story."

"I'm sure that happens to a lot of people. What made you so special?"

"I was murdered."

“M-murdered?” the boy stuttered.

"Yup. Murdered with a capital M,” Axel said, clicking his tongue. “But a lot of people get murdered right? So why am I here? Well, I had a very strong heart.”

"Good for you."

"But I can't leave until the other side thinks I'm ready to move on"

"Basically what you're saying is that I'm stuck with you until you're ready to move on."

The redhead nodded, grinning wolfishly.

Roxas laid back down. He couldn’t believe it. No. he wouldn’t believe. He screwed his eyes shut and swallowed thickly.

He decided that enough was enough.

His legs swung over the edge of the bed and he quickly shuffled towards his dresser and pulled out an old t-shirt and some shorts.

“Roooxaaaassss.”

He undressed quickly, trying his best to swap out the articles of his uniform and get dressed into his t-shit and shorts at the same time. He repressed an embarrassing blush as the thought of Axel watching him in various states of undress hit him. To his surprise, the redhead was not all that interested. Instead the man stood by his desk, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for Roxas to reply to his calls.

“So you’re just going to ignore me?”

Roxas stomped back towards his bed and slipped inside the covers. He turned his back against Axel.

“I’m not going to go away.”

The best solution at the moment was to ignore him. If Roxas didn’t acknowledge him, then Axel didn’t exist. In an hour, he’ll wake up and see his room like it was that morning before he left to school, completely free of a druggie redheaded hippy.

He heard Axel’s steps come towards his bed. No matter how much he wanted to simply turn over and glare at the redhead, Roxas forced himself to lay still and ignore him.

“Roxas quit being so emo! It’s emo, right? That’s what you kids are saying these days, right?”

Roxas shut his eyes. The man’s rustic voice really grated on his nerves. His mind began a soothing mantra as Axel began to have a one-sided conversation on the art of being ‘emo’

He doesn’t exist. He doesn’t exist. He doesn’t exist. He doesn’t exist.

Roxas tensed when he heard the sound of something crash.

“Oops.”

He doesn’t exist. He doesn’t exist. He doesn’t exist. He doesn’t exist.

“Hey, I think you need a new mug.”

Roxas eventually fell asleep.

That was eight days ago.

When Roxas woke up, he hoped that his encounter with Axel had been a nightmare. Instead, he saw the redhead smiling at him like an idiot at the foot of his bed. Since then, Roxas tried his best to ignore him. Axel, on the other hand, put all of his effort into forcing the boy to notice him. Roxas suffered through all his pranks, from his alarm clock going off in the middle of the night, to Axel getting unnoticeably close to his ear and shouting, making Roxas spew orange juice out his nose and all over his clean uniform.

At the moment, Axel was pulling the infamous pen clicking, reserved only for the time Roxas needed to get his homework done.

Click.

Roxas wanted to slam his forehead against the desk, repeatedly. His face dropped to the desk with a thud.

Axel sniggered. The kid needed to seriously lighten up and go outside and see the world for once. All he did was stay cooped up in his room and do homework instead of going outside and hanging out with his friends like normal kids his age would do.

He didn't think he would ever make contact with Roxas or anyone for that matter. He'd been haunting the residence long before Roxas' family moved in and when his parents made this house their home, he watched them grow into a family. He watched the twins grow up with faint interest; it was just another family living there. He was sure that like the many families that lived in the house before them, they would either have more children and move away, or just out grow the place altogether. But no other children came, and the family seemed content with the place.

So he watched them grow and develop. He watched Sora make friends, while Roxas stood awkwardly in the background. He saw Sora go out and have fun while Roxas stayed behind and did homework. He wondered why the boy looked so lonely all the time. Didn't the kid have anyone else besides his brother? Eventually, Roxas made some friends, but Axel saw that even they could sense the sense of detachment Roxas had.

There was something about Roxas that made Axel curious, and thinking about it now, he realized that ever since the twins were born, he was always watching over the blond. Whether it was to make sure the kid didn't off himself or his brother when they tried doing stupid things or keep him company while he stayed home on a Friday night. Axel was always there.

Roxas closed his eyes and tried to count to ten. When he mentally reached the number nine, the clicking sound was gone. His room rang with a dead silence. He didn’t bother looking over to the redhead, nor did he question the sudden peace.

Click.

“WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP THAT?” He found himself snapping. He whirled around in his chair, eyes a blaze, chest heaving heavily. Axel stared at him, a bewildered look on his face.

The man frowned. He looked between his pen and Roxas and then smiled.

clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick.

“ARGH!” Roxas couldn’t take it anymore. His blood boiled and he picked up the closest thing to him on his desk and threw it at Axel. The redhead didn’t bother ducking as the heavy math text book passed through is quasi-transparent head.

"What is your problem?!"

Axel calmly placed his weapon of torture down and stood up.

"You need to take a break. The silence is going to drive me up the wall."

"So why do I have to take a break?" Roxas sneered. "I have stuff I need to do. Go amuse yourself."

"You're like twelve. You can't act like an old man now! Plus, I am amusing myself, at your expense."

"I am Fifteen and eave me out of out of your need for constant entertainment!” the boy spat.

"Really? fifteen? I’m guessing puberty is still on holiday," the man said laughing. "And anyway, it's not like I can talk to anyone else. I can't talk to Sora since he can't see nor hear me."

Roxas dropped his head in his hands and ran his fingers through his hair. He was getting a head ache.

"Roooxxxxaaasssss"

"What?” the boy snapped.

The man stared.

"What?!" Roxas snarled.

CLICK.

There had to be a way out. He couldn't keep going on like this. Then it hit Roxas. He looked up at the ghost, a grin on his lips.

“You’re a poltergeist, right?” the blond asked.

“In a general sense, yes,” the redhead said, nodding.

“This means that there is a way to get rid of you,” Roxas said more to himself than Axel.

“Oh come on now, I thought we were buddies!”

Roxas stood up. “I’m not your friend,” he said, sternly. “And I will figure out a way to put you to rest.”

Axel’s grinned wolfishly.

“You almost sound confident Roxas. Are you sure you’re up to the challenge?”

Roxas smirked.

“I’m not going to lose.”

“You’re not the first one to try to get rid of me,” Axel said, his emerald eyes flickered brightly in amusement.

“But I’ll defiantly be the last.”

Axel raised an eyebrow and stood up from window sill.

“May the best man win,” he said offering his hand. Roxas looked at it and didn’t bother trying to shake it.

“It’ll be me, since you don’t live up to even being half of one.”

“Ouch, Burn!” And the redhead began to laugh at the retort.

Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes.

No Child Left Behind 3/25 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:17:58 GMT

Settling Down

When Cross woke up, he was expecting to be face down on a dirty floor, his face swimming in a pool of his own puke. What surprised him at the moment was that he was face down in a warm bed, shirtless. His eyes widened in alarm. His mind tried its best to remember the events of the previous night. He made a mental check list. He went to the pub. Check. He ordered a shit load of drinks. Check. And he got smashed to the point of blacking out. Check. And after that, though, his mind drew a blank. Thinking perhaps wasn’t the best idea at the moment as his brain began to pound within the walls of his skull. He hated having hangovers, hated the dizzying feeling of the world spinning, the noise of his pounding pulse and the inevitable feeling of his insides wanting to escape through every possible orifice of his body.

He rolled over carefully onto his back, screwing his eyes shut as a wave of vertigo hit him. It could have been worse, he thought. At least his ass wasn’t suspiciously sore like the last time he drank himself into oblivion.

Cross licked his cracked lips, wincing at the sour taste in his mouth. He opened his eyes and turned his head to see the time on the nightstand. His eyes widened when they landed on a small shirtless child with white hair, who was softly snoring beside him.

Cross looked at himself, then at the boy, then at himself.

He was shirtless with a small equally shirtless boy in bed.

Cross sat up and groaned.

He would have preferred to have a suspiciously sore ass than this!

The boy rustled a bit before opening his eyes. The thought of running out of bed and screaming in horror came across to Cross, but once the boy smiled shyly and sat up, the redhead knew he wouldn’t be able to escape.

“Are you feeling better master?”

Cross paled as his jaw slowly unhinged.

Master? What kind of freaky shit was he doing with this kid?

The boy tilted his head, looking at the man curiously.

Cross searched the night stand for his smokes, his vertigo and pounding headache now forgotten. He needed a stiff drink, but seeing as how drinking got him in his current situation, he thought that lighting up was a better source of comfort. He finally found his treasured cancer sticks and lit one up, turning back to the boy as he took a long drag.

“So…” he began, letting out a stream of smoke. “…was it good for you too?”

The small boy pouted, looking confused.

Cross would’ve laughed, but he knew he couldn’t make light of the situation. He may or may have not slept with the boy, which was daunting because he really liked his women.

“Who the hell are ya kid? And where the hell did you come from?”

The boy sat up and that’s when Cross noticed the unusual arm.

“Don’t you remember? My name is Allen Walker. You saved me the other day at the cemetery.” The boy replied in a British accent.

Cross raised an eyebrow, trying to remember, and then it hit him like a bottle of tequila. The boy was the kid with the badass arm that he found in the cemetery. He remembered the little monster totally owning that akuma. The redhead looked at the boy, who stared back, curiously.

Whatever, so he kind of sort of lost his memory about the ordeal.

He’ll blame the booze instead of his early bout of Alzheimer’s.

Cross got up and stretched a bit, scratching the back of his head as he smoked his cigarette. What the hell was he doing with a kid? He couldn’t settle down now, he was practically a teenager (being in his thirties and all). How could he cruise for women when he had that little cock-blocker tailing behind him?

The man turned around to look at the kid again, seeing the boy sit up, expectant. He noticed the boy’s dark red cursed arm and walked towards the bed. He picked the boy’s arm up, examining the black nails and the cross embedded into the back palm of his skin.

“I see potential in you,” he said after a brief silence. “How about I take you in as my disciple, hm?”

The white haired boy just blinked at him and Cross began to wonder if the kid was retarded, stupid or both.

“What are you, an idiot? I’m giving you a chance of a life time. You get to train with me to become the best exorcist since me. So, how about it shrimp?”

The boy nodded rigorously, a smile plastered on his face.

“Yes! I’ll do anything you’ll tell me!” the boy said excitedly.

Cross raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy suspiciously.

“Now for rules,” the man began, walking over to the table across the room and sitting down on an old chair.

“Rule number one: I am god, the king, and the messiah.”

Allen nodded determined.

“Rule number two: All your opinions are automatically rejected.”

The boy frowned, but Cross continued.

“Rule number three: Know your place.”

Cross finished his cigarette and snuffed the rest into the ceramic ash tray.

“Rule number four: If you misbehave, Timcampy will eat you.”

“Who’s Timcampy?” Allen asked. Cross pointed to the large yellow golem lying on the dirty floor.

“I think the shit's broken or something.” At that moment, Timcampy chose to cough up a dust ball. “It doesn’t clean the room any more.” The man lit up another cigarette. “Piece of crap,” Cross muttered afterwards, exhaling smoke.

“Rule number six: Do not question my authority. And finally, until I think of more rules that will hinder your child development, leaving you to become a broken and bitter man who has lost all hope of living, Rule number seven: Do not attract attention to yourself. You are not to be seen or heard until I say otherwise, comprendre?”

The boy nodded. He looked at bit pale.

Cross felt proud of himself. He wasn’t even a father for like a day and he already instilled fear in the child before noon. He should get, like the father of the year award or some shit.

“Now that the rules are in place, go get us some breakfast.”

Allen nodded, getting up to walk up to his Master to get the money for food.

Previous Part Next: 03 - Allen: Toys

The Melancholy of Selphie Tilmitt 5/12 (Kingdom Hearts, Selphie, Riku, PG13)

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:15:06 GMT

title: The Melancholy of Selphie Tilmitt
summary: “I am the center of the universe,” Selphie declared on the roof top of our school one afternoon. I didn’t know whether to laugh or be horrified. Post KHII. Crack.
note: this took forever, but here's more

Episode 5: Frienemies

It’s been a week since the spectacular extravaganza literally blew up in our faces. We were immediately suspended from school for three days while they got our paper work settled with the police. The art building was closed down for roof repairs for a couple of days after the incident, then it was reopened yesterday to allow classes to continue.

No one was more devastated by these events than our parents. Sora and Kairi’s parents were devastated because they were model students who now had serious blemishes on their squeaky clean records. Since Selphie’s parents are rich, her father just wrote a check (he didn’t seem to care as much as a normal parent should as he just shoved the check in the principal’s hands while he yelled at his headset about stocks) My parents were not too happy about posting my bail. I’m pretty sure I’m grounded until I turn twenty-one. Fran’s parents didn’t show up, but her older sister, Jote, came instead. She didn’t look too excited as she glared at Fran. Selphie was completely devastated, but for all the wrong reasons as the show most likely repelled rather than attracted new members. She said she would rather be thrown in prison than be striped of her creative rights to bring in members. I just raised a skeptical brow when she shouted this as her father dragged her hysterical behind away. I don’t know about her, but being grounded and enduring all the suspensions and detentions sure beats doing twenty-five to life for reckless endangerment in jail.

Today was our last day of detention and besides the fact that we weren’t allowed to talk to each other or leave the room unless it was to go to the bathroom (and even then we’re escorted since Selphie tried unsuccessfully to escape by getting stuck in the girls’ bathroom window), it seemed that everyone had mastered a routine to keep their sanity in check. Sora and Kairi did their work, Fran either read a book or knit, and Selphie usually sat in her seat with a look of such strong determination that sometimes it scared me. It made me wonder how fast that little hamster wheel was turning. As for me, I liked to stare out the window and watch the girls track team practice. What can I say? I like girls with short shorts.

I peeled my eyes away from the girls on the field stretching to look at the clock which read a quarter to four. This was the exact time our teacher and warden Mr. Kinney would leave to go on a ‘bathroom’ break which was code for ‘I’m going to visit that cute teacher that I like next door in the hopes of getting laid’. We usually get about ten minutes of talk time before he got shot down and came back. Poor guy didn't seem to learn.

Anyway, Selphie always took this chance to sneak out of the room only to come back three minutes later with a sour pout and the information that our mail box for requests was empty.

Like clockwork, Mr. Kinney stood up from his desk and left the classroom, leaving the door ajar in case he heard a commotion when he returned. Selphie waited about a minute after his departure before she stood up from her desk, slamming her hands onto its surface.

“Emergency club meeting!”

Everyone looked up from what they were doing. Sora stared dumbly at her while Kairi looked surprised at Selphie’s sudden outburst. Fran just stopped her knitting while my heated glare tried to melt Selphie’s face off.

When it was apparent that no one was going to make an effort to move, Selphie grit her teeth.

“Now!” she growled. Everyone except for me scrambled out of their chairs to go to Selphie. I walked over to glare at her with my arms crossed over my chest. Who did she think she was ordering everyone around like this?

“We have a crisis here,” she began, looking at our club members. “We haven’t had any requests since our spectacular show went down!”

I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, you mean the one where we almost set the school on fire? How dare they forget,” I drawled dryly.

My snark earned me a dirty look from Selphie, who chose not to retort. If I knew she wouldn’t tackle me like a rapid chimp and rip my face off, I would've smile and pat myself on the back.

“Maybe the show was better off with a jazz theme? The circus outfits were a bit over the top and might have turned off potential members away,” Sora said, trying to sound helpful.

So the fire crackers raining on the student body from the sky didn’t scare them off?

I snorted down a chuckle, trying desperately not to laugh at my own awesome joke and failed when I let a giggle out. That earned me another fierce glare from Selphie, who looked just about to go ape shit on me. I cleared my throat and forced myself to look at the girls running outside. I was flirting with danger, I needed to stop.

Selphie placed her hands on her hips after turning her attention back to our group members.

“We need to change tactics again. Since our spectacular show ended in disaster, we need to do something that’ll bring a positive light on the club.”

“We’re on probation Selphie,” I finally spoke up. I didn’t move my head to look at her, since I didn’t need to see the annoyed look on her face. “Our club needs to lay low for a while.”

“But how are we going to get our club moving if we don’t at least try to get something to do. We can’t just be here sitting idle,” Selphie replied.

“Maybe we should try the bake sale idea,” Kairi said, sensing the animosity in the air. Selphie surprisingly nodded, rubbing her chin as she considered the idea.

I saw Sora move away from the group from my peripheral vision. I turned my head from the window and caught a glimpse of the brunet sprint out of the classroom while the girls continued to discuss ideas. I was tempted to follow Sora out, curious as to what he was up too. But before I could take a step out of the classroom, the boy rushed in back into the classroom, holding our request box.

Everyone stopped their conversation as Sora placed the box on Selphie’s desk. The brunet was a little out of breath as he panted. I frowned and decided right then and there that we were going to spar this weekend to get him back into shape.

Sora opened the box, where a single slip of paper lay. He pulled it out and began to read it to the group.

“The Student Council Committee needs help with their bake sale.”

Everyone’s eyes widen, even I looked surprised. Did the requester not see the fire crackers of death raining on them from the sky? How could they trust us with a bake sale after we were almost incarcerated?

Selphie was the first to react as she tackled Sora to the floor. The perky girl straddled him, sitting on his stomach as she took the slip from his hands and read the request with relish.

“YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!” she practically screamed at the top of her lungs. Then she started to wiggle her hips and sing her version of the “Yes” song.

Sora looked like he was about to pass out from blood loss as Selphie didn’t bother to move from her straddling position on top of him. Kairi was blushing fiercely, trying to look everywhere else but at the couple on the floor and Fran just blinked a lot. I didn’t really have a reaction because I looked up in horror when the classroom door was violently pushed open. Suffice to say, we had a lot of explaining to do when Mr. Kinney walked in.

I didn’t think he was going to go for it, but Mr. Kinney promised us not to tell anyone if we promised not to tell anyone about him putting the moves on the teacher next door. Now I understand what Selphie meant about black mail. Black mail was a beauty thing.

I made sure that Selphie and the girls were really far ahead of us when we were let out of detention. I grabbed Sora’s wrist and pulled him aside. There was something about the request that irked me. After the whole extravaganza fiasco, would there really be someone insane enough to ask for our help?

“Sora,” I stopped the brunet in his tracks. “About the request…”

“I did it,” he replied without skipping a beat.

“What?”

He shrugged. “Well, they do need help.”

I let go of the boy’s wrist, freeing my hand to pinch the bridge of my nose in annoyance.

“Do they know that we’re the ones helping?” I asked, trying to ignore the migraine forming within the walls of my skull.

“Nope,” Sora chirped.

“You do know Maria and Selphie do not get along.”

“I am aware,” the brunet responded without a care in the world.

“Then why bring on the apocalypse?”

“This could be a chance for our club to redeem itself.” Sora turned around to start walking and I followed. “Look, I realize that Maria and Selphie don’t get along, but this is a chance for the girls to put away their differences and work together. Maybe at the end of this they’ll be friends.”

I gave him a skeptical look, raising an eyebrow while shaking my head.

“You’re too optimistic for your own good,” I said, snorting.

“And you’re too pessimistic, Mr. tall, dark, and broody.”

“No I’m not. I’m just realistic.” I sighed. Because bringing these two girls together is the equivalent of bring the annihilation on the world, and by world, I mean me. “Sora, I understand that you want Selphie and Maria to put away their childish feud for the sake of this bake sale. But let’s face it; putting these girls together in a room with confectionery treats just screams Armageddon.”

Sora chuckled but I was serious.

“Nothing bad is going to happen,” the brunet said with a click of his tongue and skip in his step. The boy was too happy for his own good.

“I thought you said nothing bad was going to happen!” I growled, scrubbing frosting off my neck. We immediately hit the showers since there was no salvaging our clothes. Sora laughed nervously as he shampooed his hair.

“Well, I didn’t think it was going to be this bad?” he said, scrubbing his hair.

Let’s back track here for a second here and let me explain why exactly we looked like walking pieces of Pillsbury dough boy.

It was Saturday after classes and the club was led to the home economics room where the student board of activities group was waiting for our help. Did I forget to mention that Sora completely forgot to inform the head, Maria that our club was going to help? Cue vicious cat fight between Selphie and Maria and Selphie’s bat shit insane logic as to why she should rule the world with an iron fist.

We were all paired up with a person and assigned a specific treat to make. Sora and Kairi were paired up and they were in charge of chewy bars. I was paired up with Fran (more like, I snatched Fran away from some guy from the student board of activities as to avoid being partnered up with Selphie) and we were in charge of making lemon squares. Everyone else, sensing the murderous rage radiating from Maria and Selphie, tried their best to avoid the girls and partnered up with someone, leaving the two heads of the clubs with each other. Somehow I was starting to regret partnering up with Fran once I learned Selphie and Maria would be forced to work together. The girls were stationed behind Fran and I and I could hear them bickering on and on like an old married couple.

“That’s too much salt!” I heard Selphie complain.

“What are you talking about? It says a teaspoon of salt!” Maria retorted.

I sighed and tried my best to concentrate on zesting the lemons while Fran measured the dry ingredients.

“Don’t put that much flour! We’re making cupcakes, not freaking bread!” Maria spat.

“We’re making a lot of them, therefore, we need a lot of flour,” Selphie replied through gritted teeth.

I turned around at this point, wanting to curb their quarreling.

“Can you guys stop arguing and do your work?” I asked, annoyed.

The pair glared at me, their lips formed into tight angry pouts. I sighed and turned around, hoping that they would work quietly. And for a moment, it seemed that way. The room was busy with animate chatter and giggles here and there. Everyone seemed to be doing what they were supposed to be doing and having a good time while doing it.

“You’re mixing it too hard! You’ll over mix it!” I heard Maria shrill.

“Get off me!” Selphie growled.

I stopped juicing the lemons, my jaw tensing in annoyance. I turned around to give the girls another good talking to when my face became assaulted by all the batter they were fighting over. I stood there and the thick batter traveled down my face and onto my uniform. Both girls halted their fighting to stare at me and by the heavy silence in the room; I immediately figured they weren’t the only ones staring at me in complete disbelief.

I calmly wiped the batter out of my eyes to see that both girls were blushing, only Selphie looked like she was tried so hard not to life. I glared at her. I turned my head to see if Fran got any of the batter and was surprised to see that the bunny girl was clean. Fran, the obvious Mary sue, brought a hand up and with a finger, swiped some of the batter mixture off my cheek. She brought it up to her mouth and tasted it (thus proving my theory that she indeed wanted me and that I was God’s gift to women over the entire globe).

“FOOD FIGHT!!!!”

I barely had time to duck when that war cry was roared across the room. Everyone broke out into a frenzy of throwing batter, frosting, and anything else they could get their hands on. I managed to get on all fours to crawl my way away from my station. I looked up in time to see Sora get a glob of frosting to the face. I winced. I went back to focus on my escape, crawling through the room, trying my best to not slip on the ingredient slippery floor. I felt a grip on my collar and my eyes widened in shock. Please don’t let it be Selphie, please don’t let it be Selphie!

“Where are you going pretty boy?”

I looked up to see a very cake battered Maria. She hauled me behind a random station, where we ducked for cover from the onslaught of ingredients being thrown about.

Maria peeked above from the counter. “Ha! I got your lover boy hostage! Give it up Selphie!”

“Never!” I heard Selphie war cry from across the room. “And he’s not my boyfriend! He’s my slave!”

“Same difference!”

I took this chance to crawl away, but was stopped all of a sudden by a hand on my ankle.

“Where are you going?” Maria growled. I tried to kick her away.

“Away from you!”

“But you’re my meat shield!” she whined.

“Get away from me!” I yelled back.

“WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?”

Time seemed to stop at the sound of Mr. Hijikada’s thunderous roar and I almost squeaked when the man looked down to me on the floor.

The room was dead silent as everyone looked at our Japanese history teacher in horror and awe.

“WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?” he bellowed. I looked back to see everyone pointing a finger at Selphie and Selphie of course was pointing a finger at me.

“What?!” I asked, indignant that Selphie would put the blame on me.

“Enough!” Mr. Hijikada roared.

I almost squeaked again. Well that shut me up.

“Everyone go get cleaned up!” Mr. Hijikada was turning red and I scrambled onto my feet to avoid his fear seeking gaze.

“You.” He pointed to Selphie. “And you.” He pointed to Maria. “Since you two are responsible for your groups you are going to cleaning everything up!”

Selphie and Maria groaned as the rest of the class filed up and left to get cleaned up.

After hitting the showers and getting dressed in our gym uniforms, I told Sora that he could go on ahead without me. I didn’t know why I was doing this. Maybe I did feel a little sorry for Selphie for having to clean up the entire home economics room with her arch nemesis. Or maybe I just had a gut instinct that she would find me and force me to clean everything up anyway. Regardless of the twisted feeling at the pit of my stomach, I went and got a damp towel and made my way back to the home economics room.

I stopped short at the door when I heard the girls talking while they were cleaning up. I used my stealthy ninja skills to slide past the door and lean against the wall outside to hear their conversation while peeking inside.

“So…how’s your boyfriend doing?” Selphie asked, starting conversation.

“He’s fine,” Maria replied, not making eye contact with the girl. “I broke up with him.”

There was a shout silence as the girls continued to wipe the floor. Selphie threw her rag down on the floor and sighed.

“Look, I’m sorry for kissing him. He’s not that bad of a guy since he resisted and all.”

Maria shrugged. “He was a loser anyway and I’m totally over him.”

Selphie nodded, picking up her rag and returning to her work.

“I’ve always wanted to ask you something,” Maria said, breaking another short silence.

“Go ahead,” Selphie said, not looking up from her work. “…Not like I can go anywhere.”

“Why this club?”

Selphie paused before putting the rag in the bucket.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Why did you make a club all about you?”

“It’s not all about me,” Selphie said, shaking her head.

“Like hell it isn’t it.”

“It’s not!” Selphie retorted, sounding defensive. She put the rag in the bucket and pulled it back out, wringing it until her knuckles turned white. I frowned as I saw the girl wiping the floor rigorously.

“I just want to feel needed,” Selphie whispered and she stopped wiping to look at Maria. “Like I want people to look up to me, you know?”

She resumed her cleaning, trying her best to stop her voice from cracking. “Everyone I know is cool in that way. Wakka is the captain of the blitz ball team, so his team mates already look up to him. Tidus’ little sister is crazy about him. Kairi is super smart and everyone goes to her when they’re having trouble with class work. And everyone loves Sora, the boy can kick puppies all day and everyone is behind him one hundred percent. When I look at them, I think, where does that leave me?”

Maria looked down at her rag, picking at it as she tried to think of something to say. I looked at Selphie, saw her vibrant green eyes take on a dark vulnerable look. It was a horrible look on her. Someone with her sunshine personality should never look that sad. Her lips were supposed to be stretched out into a beautiful smile; they weren’t supposed to be drawn down into a pout. Her eyes were supposed to glitter with her signature mischievousness; they weren’t supposed to dim with sadness and disappointment.

“I’m not super smart and I’m not popular,” Selphie dropped her rag. “So what do I have?” she asked, looking at Maria.

“Riku.”

“W-what?” Selphie stuttered, turning a bright shade of pink.

A raised a curious eyebrow as I saw Maria laugh.

“What I meant to say was,” Maria began as she touched Selphie’s hand. “You have your friends. I said Riku because well.” She thought for a bit, chewing on her bottom lip. “The two of you seem close. Riku has always been seen as the unapproachable type. Thanks to you forcing him out of his shell, the school can look at Riku and see a guy they may want to hang out with.” Maria straightened up a bit. “What I’m saying is that, you’re the glue that holds all your friends together. You’re the person that they go to for comfort, help, and support.”

I had to agree with Maria there. Selphie was the shoulder Kairi cried on when she experienced her memories of Sora flooding back. She was the one that kept a positive outlook when Tidus’ sister went missing. She always cheered on Wakka’s team through all their wins and losses. And she was the first one to greet Sora, Kairi, and I back after our journey.

“It seems like the other way around to me,” the brunet girl replied.

“Well, you’re there for them right? I’m assuming they’re going to be there for you too.”

Selphie nodded, agreeing with the raven haired girl.

“I’m sorry for being so mean to you,” Selphie said, grinning.

“Don’t sweat it,” Maria said, winking. “It takes two to tango right? I’m sorry too.”

The girls put their rags into the bucket and looked around the room.

“Well, seems like we’re done here. Let’s go get cleaned up,” Maria suggested.

I pulled back from peeking once I saw the girls standing up to leave the room. Maria left the room first and once Selphie was out I grabbed her wrist. She turned around, a smirk on her lips as she was surprised to see me. Maria looked at us and grinned.

“I’ll go on ahead,” she said, then winked at Selphie and walked down the hall.

I looked at Selphie, who was covered from head to toe in raw ingredients. I swallowed thickly as I stared into her big green eyes. There was something about her at the moment that was making my heart beat like crazy and making my throat swell, making it hard to talk. I opened my mouth and closed it several times, and berated myself in my head for looking like a fish gulping for water. Before the girl could open her mouth to ask what was wrong, I shoved the damp towel on her face, muffling any questions. I could feel my cheeks burn like coals as my mind tried quickly to think of a reason for me shoving a damp towel on her face.

“Get clean?” I heard my voice ask, and I seriously wanted the darkness to engulf me right then and there.

But Selphie didn’t seem to detect my awkward behavior and if she did, she chose to ignore it as she just laughed and took the offered towel.

“Hey, can you give me a ride on your new bike?” she asked, cleaning up what she could of her face.

“No.” I dead panned, gaining my cool persona back as I walked down the hall.

“Why not?” she whined, following.

“Because that requires for me to wait for you to shower and I want to go home already.”

She pouted. “Don’t be such a meanie! If you don’t I’ll flash you right now!”

I stopped dead in my tracks, a fierce blush burning on the surface of my cheeks. “W-what?!”

Selphie rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, like you’ve never seen boobs before,” she said, beginning to undo the buttons on her blouse. I immediately reached forward to stop her hands from going any further. My hands were shaking. There was a dark twisted part of me that resided in the deepest, coldest corner of the abysmal caverns in my mind that wanted to take her up on her offer, but I squashed that sick feeling.

“O-okay, I’ll wait!”

The girl smiled, knowing that she won this battle.

“Good boy!” she chirped and grabbed my by the neck of my shirt. I sighed as I was being dragged against my will.

Looks like I’m back to being her slave.

I looked up from being dragged to see a bright smile on Selphie’s face.

Yet, all seemed right and normal in the world.

Despite the moment of truce between Maria and Selphie, the girls were back to their old bickering ways once the bake sale started the next day.

It was funny to see both girls trying to out sell the other in pastries as they harassed boys into buying cupcakes. One guy couldn’t decide who to buy from and was stuck in the middle. Both girls threatened bodily harm (with Selphie threatening to rip off his manhood while Maria threatened to smash it off) if he chose the other girl. Suffice to say, the boy ran away screaming in horror. I bought a cupcake myself and shared it with Fran.

“What the hell is this?” Maria asked examining one of the napkins used to give to the customers.

“My commission for helping you bake the cupcakes!” Selphie beamed, proudly.

“I never agreed to advertise your club on the napkins!” Maria roared.

Selphie laughed. “Oh well! Too bad!”

I sighed, hearing them bicker again and gave my half of my cup cake to Fran, who didn’t seem to mind.

A Knight's Tale 2/25 (Final Fantasy XII, Reks, PG-13)

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:02:12 GMT

title: A Knight’s Tale
summary: Reks joins the army to meet his idol, Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg.
note: starting something new again, though I should try not to these days :)

The afternoon was cool despite the morning’s intensive heat wave that had the inhabitants of the city of Rabanastre taking cover in shaded areas. Reks hummed an old tune as he made his way home from a long day of helping Migelo out with some errands.

He thought about stopping by the bazaar to pick up some of that star fruit his little brother liked munching on, but stopped in his tracks at the sight of a large crowd near the tavern.

Curious as to what was going on, the young man gently tapped the arm of a fellow hume and asked what was going on.

“There’s a notice from the military on the wall,” the man said, moving up more to get through the crowd.

Something about the man seemed horribly familiar to Reks. The man’s voice, sounded very similar to a friend of his.

“Tomaj?”

The man with light brown hair stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Reks.

“Reks!”

Reks looked at his freckled friend curiously, wondering why he had on a hat and sunglasses.

“Why are you wearing those?”

“Not important,” Tomaj chuckled, easily avoiding the topic. “Hey, have you come here to sign up?”

“Seeing as I asked about what was going on earlier? No, but please, inform me of the details.”

Tomaj was known for harboring secret information. The young man had a weird way of obtaining classified information before said classified information even happened. This would have impressed Reks if only he could get by the simple fact that Tomaj probably got all of his information through illegal means.

“Well, it turns out that a war is brewing,” Tomaj started, grabbing Reks and making his way through the crowd to get on line. “Rumor has it that Arcadia, Dalmasca, and Nalbania are all waiting for the other to make a stupid move where even more innocent lives are lost for the other to declare war.”

Reks blinked, surprised. “Really? Why?”

“Apparently, there’s word that the crystal that blew up Nalbania is still there. It’s ridiculously powerful and whoever gets it can basically add world domination to their resume because that’s how badass the crystal is in the weaponry department.”

Reks whistled in awe.

“So now all three countries are now preparing to go get it.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow, giving his friend a skeptical look.

“Something tells me there’s more to than just simply getting it,” Reks said.

Tomaj nodded.

“Whoever makes the first move towards the crystal gets war declared since they’ll be accused of wanting to take over the world. So things are really tense right now.”

“You said that Nalbania blew up. Were there any survivors?”

Tomaj thought for a bit, pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. “I think so…” he said scratching his chin. “Though, I doubt they’re human anymore,” he snorted, shrugging.

Reks winced at his friend’s insensitivity.

“They say the fiends on the grounds are extremely dangerous and tough to beat due to the crystal’s energy. The only way to get to the crystal is to plan an invasion. But you’ll need the best of the best to get through a tough terrain of fiends like that.”

Basch, Reks thought.

Would joining the military give him the chance to go out and explore the world and meet his hero? He’d always dreamed about going on adventures since he was a kid. It was his father who instilled those colorful illusions by reading him stories of great heroes that slew mythical creatures and traveled to distant worlds. He remembered his father pretending to be a dragon and it was up to Reks to save his dumb baby brother, Vaan, who at the time could only crawl and drool. He was a hero in his father’s eyes and when the plague took him, Reks just stopped living in those fantasy worlds.

But then he heard about Basch fon Ronsenburg and was enthralled by the man’s story. Suddenly, he found himself hanging out at taverns to hear the latest tale of Basch’s heroics instead of running errands for Migelo. He’d tell these stories to Vaan who later began labeling his admiration a “man crush”, which Reks completely denied since he knew he wasn’t gay. He just really, really, admired Basch in a totally healthy heterosexual way. the teasing, Reks continued to visit the taverns to hear more about Basch and dreamed of someday meeting his hero.

Thinking back on all this, Reks realized as they made their way down the line that if he really wanted to achieve his dream that he would have to sign up in order to go on his own adventure that’ll lead him to Basch.

“Hey are you going to sign up?” Tomaj’s question jarred Reks out of his thoughts. The young blond nodded, swallowing thickly as he took the pen from his friend. He began to read the promotional poster on the wall.

ATTENTION

We call those that embody the true essence of Dalmascan pride to sign up to become a member of our elite Military.

Do you love Dalmasca?

Would you die for your family?

Want to show those Archadian bastards whose boss?

Do you want power, respect, or status?

Do you want people to like you?

Did your girlfriend leave you?

Do you like to fight?

Are you a disgrace to your own family?

Are you experienced with a gun you’re not supposed to have?

Have you ever killed a man and gotten away with it?

Do you like swords?

Do you think guns are cool?

Want a license to kill?

Do you want people to know that you’re one badass motherfucker?

Disclaimer: We’re not accountable for any injuries or maiming that may occur from training. Minors cannot apply.

Warning: War may cause injuries, scarring, loss of limbs, and in extreme cases: death.

Reks shrugged after reading the poster. It sounded reasonable. All Reks had to do was not die and how hard could that be? He signed his name under Tomaj’s and frowned once he noticed the eight WANTED posters with his friend’s face on them.

“Tomaj, is that you?” he asked, hoping that what he was reading about Tomaj being wanted for impersonating a gate guard and stealing imported goods was not true.

The freckled face young man leaned over, resting his chin on Reks’ shoulder. The man chuckled. “Not anymore it is!” he reached over and drew a mustache on one of the wanted posters.

“Come on!” Tomaj grabbed Reks before he could protest, “Now that we signed up, let’s go and celebrate at the Sandsea with a drink!”

Reks thought about opening his mouth to point out that despite the mustache Tomaj drew on his wanted poster, there were clearly seven other ones (and undoubtedly more through out the city) that did not have a mustache. But then he saw how happy his friend looked laughing and smiling as he spoke a mile a minute about their soon to be war experiences and shrugged. War seemed a more fitting punishment than doing twenty-five to life.

A Knight's Tale 1/25 (Final Fantasy XII, Reks, PG-13)

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:35:31 GMT

title: A Knight’s Tale
summary: Reks joins the army to meet his idol, Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg.
note: starting something new again, though I should try not to these days :)

Prologue: The Un-United Nations

Emperor Gramis scowled.

“It’s simply not fair,” he said, pouting to further prove his disappointment. King Raminas thought a man shouldn’t pout unless he could pull it off and at the moment, Gramis looked ridiculous with his lips pursed to the point of almost disappearing. The king sighed.

“Those are the terms we decided on, Gramis. It’s not our fault that you can’t be included in an alliance that’s against you in the first place. Alliances do not work like that,” the king said, gravely.

That did nothing but sour the Arcadian emperor’s mood even more as his pout worsened. “I still don’t understand why we can’t go back and discuss the terms to our previous—”

Lord Rasler slammed his fist on the table and stood up, pointing an accusing finger towards Lord Vayne. “I will not marry Lord Vayne!”

To which Vayne looked up from playing with his soft, incredibly well managed hair. “His loss,” he shrugged.

Raminas sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. The meeting between the regional powers of Ivalice was entering its third hour of negotiations and it looked to be taking its toll on everyone (mostly him as he tried his best to not run from the room screaming).

The king set a hard gaze on the Emperor. “Gramis, we only ask that you withdraw your troops from the capital. The people there are beginning to feel uncomfortable.”

Judge Zetch sat up in his seat, finally showing interest in the meeting. “And what is that supposed to mean?” he asked, crossing clunky metal arms over his chest.

Lord Rasler glared at the judge. “That you’re intentions there aren’t exactly noble,” he spat.

“Of course they are!” The armored man cried, sounding outraged and hurt. “We’re there to study the rich history this small city state has to offer.”

Rasler snorted. “And the fact that the Midlight shard is there is nothing more but a mere coincidence?”

Judge Zetch nodded. “Of course, why would we want the shard anyway?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” the prince began dryly, “It’s a very powerful shard that can obliterate an entire city!”

The judge examined the young man through his metal helmet. He shrugged. “I hardly see the point of your argument.”

Rasler growled in frustration, throwing his hands up in defeat. He sat back down with a scowl on his lips and a frown on his forehead.

Vayne looked up briefly to see the small commotion and went back to examining his perfectly clipped ends.

Lord Rasler’s father, the king of Nabradia, had no clue what was going on in the meeting as the man was softly snoring in his seat.

“Raminas, there is no harm in my troops being there. We’re only there to secure that the Midlight shard is properly protected,” Gramis smoothed talked as he smiled. “It’s only fair that you let them stay, since Rozarria has troops stationed there.”

Rasler frowned. “You’re the reason why we have Rozarria troops at our border. And it’s to keep you out!”

The judge rolled his eyes but it was lost on the group due to his being pre-packed in metal and all. “Like you can tell the difference,” he snorted. “Our troops, their troops, we’re all the same. We blend in perfectly.”

The prince chuckled bitterly. “You blend in alright.”

“What are you implying!?” the judge asked indignant.

Rasler rolled his eyes. “Oh come on! Everyone knows Arcadian troops are horrible when it comes to stealth and speed.” He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. “God knows we can hear you clunking about a mile away,” he muttered afterwards under his breath.

“Look here Mr. Chest Plate Gone Horribly Wrong,” the judge spat, pointing to the patch of exposed skin that Lord Rasler had below his neck. “At least I don’t have to worry about my troops getting an arrow to the chest just because they want to look pretty!”

“What?!”

“Enough!” King Raminas hollered before the argument escalated.

He was beginning to lose his patience with this meeting. He wanted to find some middle ground before Rasler skid across the table to peel off the metal armor off of Judge Zetch with his bare teeth.

“We’re here to discuss the situation as adults, not children,” he said, chiding them.

Rasler stuck out his tongue.

Judge Zetch gave him the finger.

King Raminas sighed for the umpteenth time in one hour.

“Raminas, I assure you, my troops mean no harm. Nothing devastating or near apocalyptic will happen,” Emperor Gramis spoke after the short silence.

“Listen Gramis, the alliances made between our countries will not be broken, nor will the marriage between my daughter and Lord Rasler. However, seeing as we’re all going against you, we won’t force your troops out. You have a time period to study and then leave.”

“Very well, we’ll leave once your daughter marries Rasler,” he said, bitter that his idea of Vayne marrying the lord had fallen through.

Three months later…

Arcadian soldier number one looked curiously at the dark purple crystal.

“Oi, what you think happens if I do this?” he asked, tapping the crystal with his finger.

“Eh! Careful, careful!” Arcadian soldier number two warned. “I hear that thing is bloody powerful. Can wipe out a city state in the blink of an eye is what they say.”

Number one snorted.

“They’re just a bunch of pussies,” he said, examining the shard. “I bet we can make a bundle if we chip off a piece.”

“Don’t you dare! We’re here on—”

“Hey, what are you idiots think you are doing!?” Judge Zetch demanded as he walked in on the two soldiers.

“Nothing sir!” the two men saluted their superior.

The judge eyed them suspiciously before speaking again.

“There’s a battle going on out there, go help.”

“And you sir?”

“I was given strict orders from the emperor to retreat with the shard. Go on now, I’ll take this back to the ship.”

The two troops nodded and nosily made their clunky way out, which made Judge Zetch frown. “We really are that loud and clumsy.”

The man grabbed the crystal and as he went to turn around and jog out of the vicinity, his foot got caught on something and he tripped forward, his arms releasing the crystal. The large shard shattered as it hit the ground.

The last thing Judge Zetch saw before he blacked out was a light coming out of the pieces of broken glass. When he awoke moments later, he could smell the sour scent of smoke and death in the air. He looked to his left, and then to his right, hoping that no witnesses were alive.

He began to whistle innocently and slowly backed away.

King Raminas looked up when he heard a sonic blast.

He looked outside and saw a large mushroom cloud in the direction where the Nabradian capital would be.

He looked at his counsel men, whose jaws dropped at the commotion miles away.

King Raminas sighed putting his pen down and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Prepare for war.”

No Child Left Behind 2/25 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:16:49 GMT

Church

Allen learned that the mysterious man was an Exorcist, someone who defeated and exorcised akuma. His master wasn’t just any exorcist either, but a general, the highest ranking—as he was told by his master—on the exorcist food chain. The man told him it was the highest rank possible to achieve and that it required a lot of skill, talent, persistence, and a thing called badassery. Allen didn’t know what the last one meant, but his master assured him that it was something good.

General Cross Marian, (Allen was only allowed to call him Master or God) strode languidly through the cobble stone streets with a tattered looking twelve year old tagging behind him. Allen tried to match his master in stride, but found his legs too short and instead resolved to a slight jog in order to keep up. He was grateful for his master had cleaned his eye wound and patched it up with a handkerchief he had in his pocket.

The pair finally made it to a tavern where a burly man with a sour look on his face stood guard. Master made a move to open the door and was immediately stopped by the large man.

“You can not enter,” the man said, his deep voice vibrating through Allen’s ears.

“And why not my good man?” Master replied.

“You have a child.”

The guard’s gaze fell on Allen, who immediately felt self conscience and hid behind his master. Cross snorted, yanking Allen out so that he could be studied.

“This is not a child! This is a very short and oddly young looking old man,” Cross reasoned.

The guard raised a skeptical brow and Allen looked confused. Cross cleared his throat and grinned. “Now if you don’t mind, my father and I would like to have a drink,” he said, grabbing onto Allen’s wrist and moving forward to pass the guard.

The large man stopped Cross in his tracks.

“I’m sorry, but unless the kid disappears, you can’t come in.”

Master Cross sucked his teeth annoyed and yanked Allen to the side.

“Master, what’s in there? Why can’t we go in?” Allen tried to ask as the man pulled him. They made it to a lamppost across the street.

“Listen, that’s…” Cross chewed his lip a bit, trying to make the tavern where he usually went to get drunk sound appealing. “…church. I have to go worship.”

Allen tilted his head, his brow furrowing with curiosity. “Worship?”

“Yes. I go in there to worship the Lord and such.”

“Is that where Exorcists go to get information and get strong? Are you going to help heal someone?”

Cross looked at the boy, and shrugged. “Yeah…we’ll go with that.” The redhead looked towards the tavern, Allen saw his master shiver and sigh pleasurably. The boy figured this worshiping business must be fun since his master looked at the place with a forlorn look lust and longing.

“Any who! As much as I love chatting about old times, I’m going to leave you here.”

Allen’s eyes widened in alarm. “Huh?”

“Don’t worry I’ll be back,” Cross smiled, rustling the boy’s white locks. “Eventually.”

Allen pouted, not liking the idea of being left behind. He wanted to be with his master. He wanted to see how his master trained in a place of worship.

“But what will I do?”

“I don’t know. You should think of something creative to do. You’re like five, right?”

“I’m twelve,” Allen corrected.

Cross rolled his eyes. “Five, twelve, seven. Point is, you’re a kid, therefore easily amused. Go play with dirt or something.”

Allen frowned. “But I’m too tired and hungry to play,” he whined.

He saw his master give an exasperated sigh. “Fine, here,” the man began, removing his belt. He tied one end of the belt to Allen’s wrist and the other end of the belt to the lamppost. “There, take a nap until I get out.”

Allen’s bottom lip quivered.

“I’m cold.”

“Jesus kid!” Cross scowled. Allen closed his eyes, waiting to feel the sting of a slap. Instead he felt himself being wrapped in something warm. He opened his eyes to see his master wrapping him in the long coat. The man muttered something about high maintenance and Allen blushed, not meaning to be such a burden to his master. Here he was complaining while his master had more important things to do, like worshiping. Allen felt like a fool and lowered his gaze, staring at the floor ashamed for his selfishness.

“Thank you, master,” he whispered.

The man blinked, surprised at the boy’s humble stance. He snorted, grinning and rustling the boy’s hair.

“No problem,” Allen heard him say. The boy looked up and smiled when he saw that his master wasn’t angry at him anymore.

“I’ll be back soon. If a stranger comes, just use your arm or something,” Cross said, taking his leave.

Allen nodded as he waved good-bye to his master.

Never mind the fact that the man he worshiped just donned him with an object that was considered target practice for akuma and that said man left him tied to a lamppost, so in case an akuma did attack, Allen would have no where to run. As long as he was making his master happy, Allen learned not to notice such trivial details.

One hour turned into two and two turned into three. Allen was sitting down on the curb of the street, buried into the long coat. He wondered what kind of worshiping went on in that place as people went in normal and came out speaking in tongues and walking funny. One man came out and puked on the streets. Allen wondered if the man was being possessed by some demon. About a half an hour later, his master came out, walking as funny as the other patrons that left the place of worship a little earlier. Allen stood up, pulling up on the long coat as to not trip on it. He walked towards his master and was immediately jerked back by the belt.

“Wat chuu lookin at? You a nidget or sumthing?” his master asked. Allen dodged to the right as his master went to throw a sloppy punch his way. The man ended up spinning and landing on the ground.

“Master?” Allen peered at the man, poking at him to see if he was alive. The boy managed to roll him onto his back and the putrid stench of alcohol quickly wafted up Allen’s nose, making his eyes water and throat itch.

“Master, you smell,” the boy said, pinching his nose.

“S’ll good,” the man laughed and continued to laugh until he belched and Allen felt like he himself was going to puke from the smell coming out of his Master’s mouth. Allen thought he was better off chewing through the belt and running away now while he had the chance. But then he though of how his master gave him his precious coat before he went in and how kind that was of his him. And then he thought of how better off he was now that he was a disciple of the great General Cross Marian. Those thoughts alone made the idea of dealing with a smelly drunk master a bit more tolerable.

Master Cross rolled over, grabbing onto Allen for leverage.

“I thunk ima be sick,” he slurred.

Allen blanched, shivering as his master began to empty out the bile on his clothes.

On the second thought, maybe he was just better off with letting the akuma kill him back there in the cemetery.

Previous Part Next: Cross: Settling Down

No Child Left Behind 1/25 (D.Gray Man, Allen, Cross, PG-13)

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:13:04 GMT

Prologue: Salvation

The tall man seemed to magically appear at the cemetery after the traumatizing encounter Allen experienced with the Earl and his father, Mana. The young boy was now cursed with an unusual arm and an equally cursed eye. So it surprised him that when he looked up towards the redhead, the man didn’t run away screaming at his appearance. Instead, the long haired man knelt down, placing a gloved hand on Allen’s now snow white head.

“You okay?” he asked with an amused smirk on his face.

Allen felt his heart hiccup and just as soon as his cursed arm appeared, it seemed to dissolve just as quickly, disappearing into a puff of white mist. His arm, now wrinkled and stripped bare down to a thick leathery, blood red skin like appearance, was quickly hidden behind his back.

“That arm of yours,” the man began. “…shows immense promise.”

Allen looked at the man with his good eye, studying his features. There was something about the man’s crimson eyes that told Allen that it was alright to trust him. Though half of his face was obscured by a mask, Allen could tell that the man was handsome. The small bit of red stubble on his chin and his small glasses seemed to add to his character.

he man straightened up, towering over Allen. The boy finally got a glimpse of the man’s apparel, which consisted of golden trimmings and fine embroidery. He looked like a man of the clergy and Allen’s mouth slightly opened in shock. He craned his neck up to look at his savior.

"Are you God?" the boy whispered in awe.

The man blinked, and then roared with laughter. He fetched a cigarette from a clip in his pocket and lit it. He took a puff of his cancer stick.

“Of course!” he laughed, blowing out smoke. “You may call me master!”

And thus began the chronicles of a boy and his master.

--

Next: Allen - Church

The Melancholy of Selphie Tilmitt 4/12 (Kingdom Hearts, Selphie, Riku, PG13)

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:33:25 GMT

Episode 4: The Spectacular Extravaganza

The door to the clubroom violently swung open, the sound of it making contact with the wall breaking my attention away from my homework as hurricane Selphie barreled inside. I frowned as I took off my reading glasses and Fran, the obvious Mary sue, who I swore was totally staring at me, only, not really, she was just quietly knitting, (we made eye contact a few times when I thought she was staring at me, but she was probably staring at the poster behind me) looked up from her knitting needles.

Selphie, being the endless ball of energy that she is, looked around the room like a crazy person, her eyes darting everywhere, making sure her team was intact. Her lips soon pulled into a pout as she realized that she was missing two important people.

“Where are Sora and Kairi?” she raised an accusing eyebrow at me of all people, as if I were hiding them. I rolled my eyes and put my books away, knowing that any peace and quite that I had before in order to concentrate on my work was now loss.

“They’re spending time with, you know, their clubs,” I replied, pushing my chair out to stand.

Selphie crossed her arms over her chest and gave me an incredulous look.

“What?” she asked, as if she didn’t understand my previous statement.

I felt my left eyebrow twitch as I tried to control my anger. I rubbed the bridge of my nose to try to calm myself down.

“Sora is at a student government meeting and Kairi is helping out in the honor club,” I said with an exhausted sigh.

Selphie didn’t not take the news lightly, her face quickly contorted with anger as her green eyes darkened and her lips formed a tight sour pout.

“What!?” she shrilled, indignant. “I mean, if they were skipping out on our club to make out or something, that’s a different story. I wouldn’t have a problem with it because I’ll never stand in the way of their love!” She dramatically posed, puffing her cheeks with her hands on her hips. “But to think that after selling their souls” I glared at her, my lips frowning, warning her to watch out of how she spoke about my best friends. “I mean,” she quickly corrected, “pledging their loyalty to me, they go out and betray me like this! It’s ridiculous!”

“Selphie,” I interrupted her melodramatic tirade. “They were in those clubs way before this cult you call a club was formed.”

She had the audacity to growl at me.

“Fine!” She stalked over to her chair at the head of the table and roughly pulled it out, plopping herself into it. She cradled her head with her hands, looking like a small child whose parents had just recently reprimanded her.

I looked on, more curious than worried. I’d never seen Selphie act like this before. Sure, she had her moments where her tantrums could trump those of a well experienced spoiled five year old, but this time, it was different. It felt different. And despite the distance between us, her, at the head of the table, and me, on the other end, I could feel something oozing out of her at the moment. It was a melancholy so rich that it threatened to smother even me and for a brief second it made me think of the thick darkness that threatened to overtake me once before. She looked up at me; her dark eyes making my heart skip a beat as if I were nervous. I stared back at her, determined to make my heart’s rhythm return back to normal.

“Promise me you won’t leave me like they did,” she said, her voice devoid of any previous anger. Instead it sounded soft, almost like a whisper.

My eyes widened, my mind reeling and my heart went from skipping like a record to pumping into sonic overdrive.

“W-what are y-you talking about—”

“Promise me!” she interrupted my nervous babble. Her voice sounded hurt, almost pleading.

And for the first time in the history of our quasi-friendship, I nodded, willingly agreeing to her request. It was then that I realized, that despite Selphie’s insane behavior, that she was human like everyone else (excluding Fran, but that’s because she’s a Marysue). I saw a hollowing sorrow lingering there, something that couldn’t be fulfilled despite all her desperate attempts at trying to find something to fill the void. I told myself then, that as her friend, I should try to be more sensitive when it comes to her feelings and be more considerate towards her wishes since it was obvious that Selphie’s biggest fear was also one that I could identify with: being left all alone.

I averted my eyes, looking at my feet since I couldn’t bear to keep looking into her forest green eyes since my cheeks seemed to think that flaring up at the sight of them was funny.

“I promise I won’t leave,” I said back, licking my lips. I suddenly found that if I didn’t steady my heart beat, it would eventually burst into flames in my chest.

“Promise?” I heard her ask, as if making sure. I looked up then, seeing her look at her most vulnerable. She looked like her existence relied on my answer and if I were to say no, the devastating news would kill her.

I simply nodded, not trusting my voice to deliver the answer since I feared it might crack due to this inexplicable nervousness I was feeling. Wait. Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? Could it be that I was afraid of hurting her? That I couldn’t live with myself if I made her cry? Or was it that I was slowly but surely starting to care and that this sudden nervousness was actually sympathy in disguise. Whatever the case may be, I knew that I did the right thing when Selphie’s melancholy look vanished and a sweet happy smile soon curved on her lips. The nervousness I was feeling was soon gone, replaced with a sense of relief.

The bubbly brunet stood up from her chair, hands now spread on the table.

“Now, to get to business since those slackers aren’t here.”

I pulled out my chair and took a seat, wondering what else the brunet had cooked up this time that may or may not shed some years of my youth do to the stress that it would bring.

“I figured out a way we can get our club to participate in the club fair.”

My brow rose curiously. “Did you steal another’s club’s booth?”

Selphie’s eyes widened in what appeared to be shock. “Riku, I’m surprised at you! Why would I deny another club their right to participate in the fair?!” she said, scandalized.

I couldn’t stop the edge of my lips from curling into a smirk as the thought of Selphie finally not being able to get what she wanted amused me.

“They didn’t give into your bribe?” I asked, trying hard not to laugh.

“Not a damn dime.” She said shaking her head. “And to think, I got a new lacy push up bra to tempt them further, wanna see?”

“No!” I quickly replied. My cheeks flushed immediately as my mind traveled back to the horrible incident with Kairi.

Selphie rolled her eyes, buttoning up her blouse. I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

“Anyway,” she started. “I figured that if can’t get a booth, why not still go and show off what our club is made of.”

The way her eyes just glisten with excitement just screams that I won’t like where this is going.

“We’re going to perform on the roof!” She chirped as if it were the best idea ever.

I cringed at the thought of us on the roof, making complete fools of ourselves while Selphie screamed and shouted from a megaphone for people to join our club.

“Isn’t that illegal?” I asked, raising my brow in suspicion.

Selphie just shook her head. “Of course not! I picked the lock the other day, it’s perfectly fine.”

I frowned. It was totally illegal.

Before I could start my lecture on the law and the consequences of breaking it, Sora and Kairi came into the club room. Kairi looked at bit more flushed than usual, her cheeks pink and her bangs sticking to her forehead. As if that weren’t enough, her uniform was a bit wrinkled too. The girl looked like she’d just run a marathon and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was actually doing besides attending her honor’s club meeting. Sora on the other hand, looked relatively composed, his hair was the mass mess of spikes as usual. Selphie walked up to the pair, her hands on her hips.

“It’s about time! Where were you guys? Riku was feeding me lies about you guys in other clubs. ”

Sora pouted. “But we were with other clubs,” he said, side stepping the brunette to come over to sit next to me.

“Oh, by the way, Sora, if you’re going to make out with Kairi, the decent thing you can do is pop a couple of buttons, hickeys are so fifteen minutes ago,” Selphie said, pointing at Kairi’s very obvious hickey. Kairi’s face quickly flared up in embarrassment and Sora just nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

I was skeptical, crossing my arms over my chest as I sat next to Sora. Sora wouldn’t be able to pop open Kairi’s blouse since he’ll probably just die of shock from just holding her hand.

Suspicion aside, Selphie got our attention by clearing her throat.

“Well, now that everyone is here, I can tell you guys my plans for the club festival. As you already know, we didn’t get a booth because certain people…” She turned around to glare at me for emphasis. “…aren’t team players—”

“You made out with her boyfriend!” I snapped.

“No! That’s called being a team player! I took one for the team!” she growled back.

“So where are we going to display our club?” Kairi asked, preventing us from fighting even further.

Selphie’s anger quickly melted away at the question. She turned to her best friend, smiling. “We’re going to perform on the roof of the school during the club fair!” Selphie cheered.

There was an awkward silence as Kairi looked at her, chewing her bottom lip. Sora looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or look mortified. Fran kept on knitting and I stared at the floor, willing it with my non-existent telepathic powers to swallow me whole.

“What’s wrong?” she asked looking around the room. “Are you guys not likening the idea? Are you guys afraid of heights?”

“Selphie it’s not that,” Kairi spoke up after a bit of silence.

“Then what?”

“Well, I lied. It is the fact that it’s on the roof. We can get into huge trouble if we try pulling off something like that.” The redhead looked to Sora and I for support.

“But think of all the attention our club will get. With this performance we’ll be on the club map. Everyone will know who we are and we’ll get requests!”

“Maybe more people will want to join the club if they see the performance,” Sora suggested, rubbing his chin in thought.

My eyes widened. I didn’t know whether I should kiss the boy for the brilliant idea that may lead to my freedom or punch him for the simple fact that he supported Selphie and saw nothing wrong with what she was suggesting.

“And if more people join, then you guys can only show up when you want to and go out to do whatever it is that you guys do,” Selphie added, nodding.

“Like their clubs?” I asked.

“Yeah, right their clubs,” Selphie said, rolling her eyes and doing the quotation mark stance with her fingers as if she wasn’t buying it.

Kairi walked towards the table, taking her seat opposite of Sora and I.

“So how are we going to get up there and what do we have planned?” the redhead asked, settling down a bit.

“Oh that’s easy,” Selphie replied, walking towards the head of the table, where she normally sat. “As I already told Riku, I’ve picked the lock to the roof door already. As for our performance…”

Selphie bent down, picking up a box from underneath the table. She set the brown box down, opening it and revealing some dark purple sequenced clothes.

“We’re going to have a jazz theme” she said, picking out a top hat and donning it on her head.

I cringed at the outfits as she passed them around. They consisted of a pair of sequenced black booty shorts, sequenced purple top with matching sequenced gloves, and some hats. I couldn’t imagine a worst death than shimmying and shaking my stuff as I fall seven stories to the ground. I looked towards Sora, hoping the boy would share my look of horror. I was surprised and slightly offended that the boy was looking at our apparel with a hint of interest and curiosity.

I looked around the table and noticed that Fran didn’t receive an outfit. This didn’t surprise me since the bunny girl has become almost a piece of necessary furniture for a club room instead of an actual club member. Despite that, I didn’t want her not flaunting her goods like the rest of us. If I’m going down, I'm bringing everyone with me.

“How come Fran doesn’t get one?” I asked, glaring at the obvious Mary sue who still refuses to admit how obviously attracted she is to me. Look at her, ignoring me as she knits. Deep down, her lust for me is driving her mad!

“Because she’s in charge of the music and pyrotechnics. No one will be able to see her!”

“Pyrotechnics!” I shouted, indignantly.

Selphie nodded, collecting our uniforms and putting them back into the box. “Yes, pyrotechnics. We have to jazz up our performance somehow.”

“Selphie that’s impossible!” I argued, standing up from my chair to plant both hands onto the table as if I meant business. “First of all, I’m sure that’s a hundred different kinds of illegal. Second, where are we going to get the money to get all the equipment, and finally, you’re insane and did I forget to mention how illegal all of this was!”

“Don’t worry about all of that. Tidus knows a guy who knows a guy that’s willing to lend up his DJ equipment if we promise to take care of it and pay him a reasonable price.” She then pointed to the box of uniforms. “As for the other stuff, we can all pool in our resources to make up for the additional costs.”

I gave her a skeptical look, my left eyebrow raising a little as I sat back down in my seat.

Selphie patted my head. “Riku, it’ll be fine!” she chirped, sensing my distrust. I rolled my eyes, watching her pull Kairi to the side as she asked about the hickey and practically almost smothered the redhead into her chest as she spoke animatedly about her little girl becoming a woman.

“She could be right you know.” My eyes shifted to the side, where Sora was looking at me.

“Just give it a chance, Riku. Maybe this is the something that you’re looking for to keep you happy,” he said, smiling. And I swear I could feel my shoulders with a bit of guilt because it’s not like I’m unhappy or depressed. Yes, I’m a little discontent with my life at the moment, but not so much so that I’m crying a river over it. I should’ve known better than to feel that way since I’m surrounded with great friends like Sora and Kairi. But for some reason, not even the thought of having my best friends with me sounded that comforting.

I should’ve known that when Selphie means pooling in our resources, it meant sucking me dry out of my hard earned summer money to buy illegal fire works. The days leading up towards the fair were exhausting to say the least. Selphie had it in her mind that we should incorporate choreography, but we pretty soon learned that Sora had two left feet, so that idea was stopped dead in its tracks. Instead, she just wanted Sora and I to pelvic thrust a lot while she and Kairi shimmied and shook. I, of course, refused to do anything she wanted me to do during all of our rehearsals, including donning that ridiculous excuse of a uniform. I don’t see how pelvic thrusting wearing sequenced black booty shorts isn’t traumatizing for me and everyone around me, but Selphie said it added a magical appeal to the club as females (and possibly some males) will be lured by my glorious virility. I reasoned that I didn’t want any more stalkers than I already got from the whole kingdom hearts fiasco since Square Enix thought it funny to finally come out with a Riku action figure. Selphie, as usual, ignored my reasons and feelings on the subject and almost shoved my goods in aforementioned shorts. I managed to dodge the attack, snatching the shorts from her, and stomping away from the group to put them on myself.

Finally, Judgment Day came. School is always a half a day on Saturdays, so most festivities and events took place on those days after classes. I’d just finish taking my mathematics course and met up with Sora. He was chatting next to me as we walked towards the club room. We stopped in our tracks when we heard a screeching moan of anger from the other side of the door. We paused, debating whether or not we should open the door to find out where the sound was coming from. As Sora reached for the knob, my hand quickly attacked itself to his wrist, stopping him.

“Wait!” I hissed, realizing that this could finally be our chance to run away screaming for our lives. “Let’s run away together!”

Sora’s eyes widened at my suggestion.

“Sora! Please, it’s our only chance!” To which Sora looked at me with a confused look, lips forming a pout.

“Riku, it can’t be all that bad,” he said, turning the knob and pushing the door open.

We were met with a disheveled looking club room, papers thrown about everywhere, the table and chairs skewed about. At the center of the chaos was Selphie, wailing into her hands as Kairi spoke in soft tones to comfort her. Fran stood by with a cup of water, kneeling down next to the sobbing brunette, wanting her to take a sip in the hopes of calming her down.

Sora and I walked in immediately, concern taking precedence on our faces. I’ve seen her throw tantrums before, but I’ve never seen her this upset before.

“What’s wrong?” Sora asked, pulling up a chair to talk to Selphie.

The depressed girl looked up, her eyes red, puffy, and full of tears as she sniffled. She just broke down crying again, taking comfort into Sora’s arms. The boy could only hug her and rub her back, telling her that it was okay.

I beckoned Kairi over to the side.

“What’s wrong?” I asked making sure my voice was low.

Kairi chewed her bottom lip as she delivered the news. “Someone stole the outfits,” she whispered back. “When I came in, I found her tearing the place up. She’s very upset Riku. We need to do something.”

I looked from Kairi’s pleading look to Selphie crying into Sora’s arms. I sighed, not out of annoyance, but of fatigue since I knew this was not going to end well. I walked up to Selphie, kneeling down to gently touch her knee. The girl looked up from her perch in the crook of Sora’s neck.

“Selphie, do you have any idea where you put the box?”

Selphie composed herself for a moment and then blew her nose on Sora’s tie.

“I left it in this room. There’s no way that it could be somewhere else—” She stopped herself from finishing her sentence as something in her mind clicked. I leaned back a bit, knowing that when the little hamster wheel in her head went into overdrive, I should run and duck for cover. But before I could flee with my pride intact, Selphie shot up from her chair, her face hard with anger, her jade eyes as dark as thick rain forest. She grabbed onto my tie and began dragging me out of the club room.

“H-hey! What’s the matter!?” I shouted as my body was dragged onto the hallway.

“I think I know who took the box!”

My eyes widened. “Who?!”

“Maria.”

“Maria?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Selphie let me go at this instance, stopping in her tracks. I got up to straighten my clothes and fix my tie, waiting for her explanation.

“Well,” she started, avoiding eye contact. This was never a good sigh since it meant that Selphie did something wrong and she practically knew it was wrong, but did it anyway.

“I kind of sort of showed off saying that we were going to blow the competition out of the water to put her in her place for not giving us a booth,” she said rapidly. She winced when she saw my disappointed frown.

“Selphie! I thought you said this was going to be a secret performance?” I hissed. “What if Maria alerted the teachers or something?” I turned around, knowing that the performance was over if Maria already told on us.

“She wouldn’t do that,” she said, grabbing my wrist so that I wouldn’t leave. “She wants nothing more than to see me crash and burn. So no, getting me in trouble with the teachers won’t do anything to satisfy her blood lust!”

“Then you’re over reacting,” I said, snatching my wrist back. “Maybe you did forget the box somewhere. We should all just split up and look for it.”

She shook her head. “No, I know she did it.”

I rolled my eyes at her stubbornness. She grabbed my wrist again and we made our way back outside towards the club fair. It was already busy with students mingling about different booths seeing what the school clubs had to offer. After much pushing and shoving done on Selphie’s part, we were able to make it to the student activities booth. Maria sat with her partner, handing out pamphlets and talking about the club in general. Selphie rushed up, pushing people out of her way to get to the front of the booth. I was the poor bastard trailing behind, apologizing for her rudeness while at the same time trying to communicate that I needed rescuing.

“Hand over the goods Maria!” Selphie wasted no time at getting to the heart of the issue.

The dark haired girl looked confused for a moment and stood up from her seat. She walked around the booth and pulled Selphie and I aside so that we didn’t get more attention than we already had.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“You know very well what I’m talking about,” Selphie hissed. “You stole my box of outfits!”

Maria looked mortified as her jaw dropped. “I did not! I could careless what your stupid little club does!”

“Yeah right, where are they Maria!? Are you still bitter about what happened?”

Maria’s face scrunched up with anger as she glared at Selphie. “You kissed my boyfriend!”

Selphie rolled her eyes. “That’s ancient history, get over it.”

“But he was my boyfriend!” Maria hissed.

“And you can do better!”

I just watched from the sidelines, seeing them go back and forth as I tried to loosen Selphie’s grip on my wrist. I was debating on falling back onto my survival instincts and maybe try to gnaw my hand off.

“Face it!” Selphie shouted, which got the attention of not only Maria, but other students as well. “You just want to sabotage me! You knew that the show we were going to put on the roof was going to put this fair to shame.”

My eyes widened as Maria looked at her and smirked.

“Oops,” Selphie added as an afterthought. I pinched the bridge of my nose, annoyed.

“So you were planning something! I knew you were up to something when you came around to gloat, but I didn’t expect you to plan something so stupid Selphie. I’m going to tell!”

Selphie’s mouth dropped in shock. “You wouldn’t!”

“Try and stop me!” Maria snapped back.

“Okay, okay, okay. What do you want?”

“Excuse me?”

“What do you want from me? I’ll give you anything you want of mine as long as you don’t tell.”

Maria thought for a bit, curling one of her braids around a pale finger.

“Anything you say?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well,” Selphie thought for a bit. “Not everything. But I’m willing to part with some things.”

Maria licked her lips and her eyes landed on me. I ceased my eternal struggle to pry Selphie’s iron grip off my wrist as I could feel her eyes on me. My eyes widened in what could’ve been fear, but I tried to be smooth about it and just cleared my throat as I stood up straight.

“I get to kiss your boyfriend in exchange for you kissing mine.”

“H-hey now--” I started, but Selphie wasted no time in pushing me into Maria’s direction.

“Deal. Go on and sample the delights of his flavor.”

“What?!” I snapped, outraged that she would sell me of all things. The only reply I got from Selphie was an eye roll.

“Oh, god, it’s just a peck. You’ll live.”

“Yeah, but—”

My reasoning got cut off as Maria’s lips landed on mine. I tried my best to keep the kiss chaste, but the girl had other plans in mind when I felt her tongue pry open my lips and plunge into my mouth. I felt my cheeks flair up as I tried to maneuver my way through this obvious rape of my mouth. Now, I’m no stranger to kissing, having stolen a few here and there. But making out with an audience there to gawk? I’m not accustomed to that and it only when Maria pulled away that I realized that I was holding my breath the entire time as my lungs burned for air.

I pulled back, feeling like a fish out of water, gulping for air. Maria didn’t seem to have any trouble breathing. In fact, the girl licked her lips, grinning at me mischievously. I shivered. I don’t ever want to do that again.

“How do you like that?” Maria spat, looking at Selphie to see if the brunette was hurt over her actions.

“Ha! Jokes on you!” Selphie pointed. “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s my minion!”

Maria shrugged, ignoring my horror stricken face. “I don’t care, I got what I wanted.”

The raven haired girl went back to her booth while Selphie rolled her eyes.

“Come on!” Selphie snapped, grabbing my wrist. “The show must go on!”

My mouth opened and closed, trying to find words. “What?” I finally conjured. “How?”

She turned to look at me, a smile on her lips.

“You’ll see!”

Why didn’t I just try to gnaw my hand off when I had the chance? If I’d done that, I know I would’ve bled to death fleeing my captor instead of being on the roof of a seven story building dressed as a lion.

There’s a reason why I’m dressed up as the wizard of Oz version of the cowardly lion. After Selphie and I, correction, after Selphie dragged my unwillingly form to follow her off the fair grounds, we went to the theatre department. She managed to black-mail the head of the department into giving us a box of costumes.

When we got back to the club room, she decided on her new theme, circus theme. After shoving a sputtering Sora, a blushing Kairi, and an angry me our new costumes, she dragged us up to the roof, which brings us up to now.

At the moment, Sora, in his clown costume, was helping Fran set up the DJ booth. Kairi, dressed as a magician’s assistant was helping Selphie, who was dressed as a ring leader, put on her makeup. I was off to the side, in my lion costume, scowling and brooding.

It wasn’t until later, when Selphie whipped me into consciousness that I knew we were starting the show. I scowled some more, annoyed that Selphie had a freaking whip.

“EVERYONE! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!?” Selphie shouted out of her megaphone.

The students on the ground all looked up.

Selphie smiled. “MY NAME IS SELPHIE TILMITT, AND I AM THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE! COME JOIN MY CLUB! WE’RE HERE TO NOT ONLY BRING SELPHIE AWARENESS TO THE WORLD, BUT ALSO MAKE PEOPLE’S WISHES COME TRUE!”

I looked over the edge a bit as more students crowded the ground.

“Selphie, do you still think this is a good idea?” I asked, worried that our performance wouldn’t last very long if the teachers got wind of it.

“Of course it is Riku! This way, everyone can see our glory!”

“It would be awesome Selphie, if we weren’t on the 7th floor,” I replied, making my way back from the edge.

I cringed when I heard the crowd chanting.

“Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!”

“Look they’re chanting. They want us!”

I looked at Selphie in horror. The students wanted us to provided entertainment alright, with our bodies slamming into the ground at the speed of sound.

“Let’s give them what they want!” Selphie cheered and gave Fran the signal to start the music. I tried pulling Selphie back as she walked over towards the edge, fearful that she might fall, but the brunette just brushed me off and started singing the lyrics to Britney Spears’ Circus.

“I'm like the ring leader, I call the shots! I'm like a firecracker, I make it hot! When I put on a show!”

Looked behind me to see if Sora or Kairi would help me in getting Selphie out of here, but the duo were too busy dancing with each other and laughing to notice anything. Even Fran looked like she was having a good time as she manned the tables. I frowned. We were going to get in some deep trouble if we didn’t clear this up. Already the student body is down them chanting us to jump. It won’t be long before school officials get wind of this. I walked up towards Selphie, grabbing her wrist firmly.

“Selphie, we’re going to get in trouble, let’s go.”

“There's only two types of guys out there,” she sang, “Ones that can hang with me, and ones that are scared.” She flicked the end of my nose and I scowled.

“So baby, I hope that you came prepared I run a tight ship!” Then she proceeded to whipped me. “So beware!”

“Stop whipping me!”

“I'm like the ring leader, I call the shots! I'm like a firecracker, I make it hot! When I put on a show!”

That must have been Fran’s cue to set off the fireworks that were, unbeknownst to me, placed along the edges of the building. They started flickering and sparking, exploding into bright colors. The students on the ground cheered as Selphie continued to perform. I couldn’t seem much due to the smoke of the fire works, but once I heard screaming and the smelled smoke, I knew something was wrong. The fireworks display was going haywire, some of them falling off and exploding along the way down. I looked around and gave Sora the signal to take Fran and Kairi to safety. I turned back around to see if I could see Selphie through the smoke. Sure enough the spunky brunette was still singing and dancing as if nothing wrong was happening at the moment.

“When I say Selphie! You say God! Selphie!”

“Selphie!” I snatched her from the edge and brought her towards the middle. “Everyone is running for their lives down there, I don’t think they’re into chanting right now.”

“But!”

“Let’s go!”

I quickly grabbed her, heading towards the exit. Little did I know that we had some company waiting for us in the form of police officers on the ground floor.

Episode 3 Episode 5

The Melancholy of Selphie Tilmitt 3/12 (Kingdom Hearts, Selphie, Riku, PG13)

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:30:06 GMT

Episode 3: Access Denied

It’s been a week since Selphie started her cult and I can think of ten better places to be at the moment then being in this stuffy club room. So far, Kairi has had to skip one of her own club meetings, but the redhead was very optimistic about Selphie’s club. Sora was another person who saw that the glass was half full and fully supported being here. I’m the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea and that the glass is empty and going to fall off the edge of the table and shatter because that’s how pessimistic I feel about the future of this club. I don’t know what Fran thinks since she just sits there and knits and doesn’t really say anything, which brings me to question if the bunny girl ever leaves the club room in the first place.

“Riku, pay attention!” Selphie snapped, slapping a ruler on the table to get my attention. I scowled at her like a child being chided by his mother.

“Anyway,” she started, ignoring my sour face. “I’d like to introduce our club’s newest equipment!” She went into her messenger bag and produced a laptop.

Everyone with the exception of Fran looked impressed and went to stand around her. I was the only one who looked at the computer with any ounce of suspicion as she set it up and turned it on.

“Selphie, why do we even need a laptop?” I asked, bringing my chair over to see.

“We obvious need this laptop to generate interest in our club Riku,” she said, rolling her eyes, as if that were the most obvious answer in the world. “We need to spread the word of Selphie-ism online! So it’s your job to make us a really cool website.”

“Wait? Why me?” At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised that I was giving the job of making our website since I’ve practically done everything necessary to get this club started.

“Because you’re the only one who knows how.” Okay, I can buy that. Sora and computers don’t really mix since he’ll just keyblade it to dust and as much of a nerd Kairi is, I doubt she has the patience to fool around with photoshop.

“So, where’d you get it?” Sora asked as I took control of the laptop. It seemed very advanced as it had the latest updates and programs. It must’ve cost a fortune.

“The computer club, obviously,” Selphie replied, snorting.

I stopped fiddling with the latest version of photoshop to look at her.

“How?” I asked, suspiciously.

The brunette merely shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. I got the laptop, that’s what matters.”

Which translates to ‘I stole it’ in Selphie’s mother tongue. There was no sense in arguing with her since it’ll result in another shouting match between us. It’s been a week since this club has started and I’m the only one willing to bump heads with her on anything. Kairi just smiles and nods and Sora is basically on board with everything she says, which makes me question if the boy is seriously crushing on her or something. Fran just sits there and knits so I can’t really call her an ally as she refuses to admit that she finds me attractive (She’s gonna be all over me one of these days, I swear.)

“Okay, with you working on our website, the rest of us can see if we have any requests.”

She snapped her fingers towards Sora who went and got the request box. What was he? Her puppy? I frowned and continued to explore what was on the laptop, completely uninterested in whatever else she had planned.

I heard the metal clank of the box’s top against the surface of the desk as Sora looked inside of it. “There’s nothing in it,” he said, pouting.

“What!?” Selphie stood up, snatching the box from Sora. “What do you mean there’s nothing there!” She turned the box upside down and shook it to make sure that its contents were spilled out. But her actions revealed what Sora only confirmed a few minutes ago, nothing.

“This is ridiculous!” She dropped the box and fell back into her seat. “And after Kairi and I worked so hard to advertise last week!”

I rolled my eyes.

“Um, I don’t think the principal appreciated the two of you skipping around handing out pamphlets in bikinis.”

Selphie glared at me. “Hey, it got us attention!”

I looked up from the computer to throw her a dirty look. “Of the wrong kind Selphie!”

Because having the principal himself run out of his office to chase down two bikini clad students is good attention. It didn’t help that by the time Sora and I showed up to help, Selphie was being carried away by said principal, screaming at the top of her lungs that he was not her friend and that no, she does not want to go inside his office, no matter how much candy he had, helped give a good impression. Suffice to say, the principal is being investigated by the police on child molestation.

“Maybe we should try a different approach, like having a bake sale that has the club’s logo on the cookies.” Kairi said, trying to stop us from yet another shouting match.

“We can’t do that! They’ll just eat and never come,” Selphie whined.

She stood up from her seat, her face dark. Now when Selphie gets that look on her face, the one where her eyes darken and her mouth twitches into something evil, something sinister is about to begin. I tensed in my seat since I’m usually the default victim for all of her abuse. “This is a state of emergency and I’m afraid we’re going to have to break out the big guns,” she said, placing her hands on her hips.

Sora looked at her with a confused pout on his face. “What guns?”

“Those guns,” she said, pointing towards Kairi’s chest.

My eyes widened when she tackled the redhead to the floor. I shot up from my seat to intervene. Selphie was trying to pry Kairi’s fingers off the redhead’s blouse.

“Selphie what do you think you’re doing!” I growled, grabbing her by the shoulders, trying to get her off of Kairi, whose eyes were screwed shut as she held onto her own shirt of dear life.

“Seeing the goods!” she reasoned, trying again to pop some buttons off of Kairi’s blouse. “We all know that Kairi has a bigger chest than me! Admit it, look at it!”

And as if seeing wasn’t believing she shoved my face into the unfortunate girl’s chest, which was finally exposed to reveal a lacy black bra with pink trimming. My face quickly heated up as it made contact with Kairi’s soft supple breasts and the girl squealed, trying to push my head away. I mentally grunted. Fine, they were bigger than Selphie’s, but that didn’t mean the maniac had to make me intimate with them on a face to breast basis! I gathered what ever strength I could (because really, Kairi smelled really nice and her breasts were really soft) and stood up, holding my nose in the hopes that it wasn’t bleeding.

“Why did you do that for?” I roared, my face flushed with heated embarrassment.

Selphie glared at me as she stood up to join me, abandoning a whimpering Kairi to cover herself.

“I was merely showing you how plentiful her bosoms were!” she shouted at me.

Sora stood up from his seat to meekly butt into our argument.

“Guys…”

“That was grossly inappropriate!” I yelled, ignoring Sora’s lame attempt at trying to calm us down.

“Hey, guys—”

“No it wasn’t!” Selphie roared, equally ignoring him. “We’re amongst friends! It’s not like we haven’t seen each other naked before.”

“That’s because we haven’t seen each other naked!”

Selphie stopped to think for a moment. “You know what, you’re right.” She giggled. “It’s only me who likes to peek into the boy’s locker-“ I looked at her with my eyes wide and she cleared her throat once she noticed she went off on a tangent. “ANYWAYS!” She continued, “We can sell sexy pictures of Kairi and get awareness!”

“Hey guys!”

“We are not prostituting Kairi!”

Fran had already gotten up from her seat to give the redhead her light sweater to cover herself up.

“It’s not prostitution!” Selphie shouted back trying to reason.

“Is too!” I yelled, stomping my foot to mean that I was pissed off and wasn’t going to let her get away with embarrassing one of my best friends.

“Is not!” she stomped back.

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

“YOU GUYS! SHUT THE HELL UP!” Sora roared over us. Everyone went silent, turning their heads to look at the red faced brunet who looked angry enough to keyblade us to death. Even Fran, who seemed to have the complete emotional characteristics of a tic-tac, looked up in amazement from her position next to Kairi.

Sora calmed down, clearing his throat as he straightened up his tie. “Thank you,” he said, more composed. “There’s another alternative to get more members and requests. There’s a club fair next week.”’

Selphie cheered up at the statement and quickly went to Sora’s side. “That’s it! We’ll get a booth at the club fair and get more people to join or request something!”

I snorted, going to help both Kairi and Fran up from the floor. Only my eyes seemed to wander straight towards Kairi’s chest when I went to help her up. I diverted my eyes to look somewhere else, despite the slight blush on my cheeks. I went and stood by Fran, the obvious Mary Sue, since I felt nervous around Kairi.

“Sora, I could kiss you!” Selphie smiled, pinching the boy’s cheek. “But I won’t since I don’t want to make you know who…” and she obviously pointed to me. “…feel left out,” she whispered, winking. I rolled my eyes, because even if she were giving out kisses, I wouldn’t want her poisonous lips on mine.

“We’ll blow the other clubs away! Our booth is gonna rock!”

She then took a bored looking Fran and a stunned Kairi and started talking a mile a minute about her ideas for our booth. I glared at Sora for giving her yet another idea and he just laughed uneasily, scratching the back of his head. I stood there with a brooding scowl because that’s what I do most of the time Selphie manages to get her way.

“Riku! I don’t see you working on that website!”

I sighed and went back to mess around with the computer. Why couldn’t a stray lighting bolt strike me dead?

“I am devastated! Simply and utterly devastated!” Selphie dramatically whined, posing on top of table where Sora and I were having our lunch. No one on the cafeteria grounds seemed to notice or care about her elaborate performance.

I swallowed the bit of sandwich that I’d been chewing and pondered for a bit.

“So, let me get this straight,” I started, putting my sandwich down. “You’re…devastated?”

That earned me a fierce glare from her, which amused me a little. Selphie did not like my cock-sure smirk and resorted to stealing my sandwich and taking a huge bite out of it in revenge for mocking her. I frowned as she chewed.

“What’s wrong?” Sora asked, touching her shoulder, looking genuinely concerned. I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest. Only Sora would be naïve enough to buy into Selphie’s dramatics. Selphie, seeing that Sora had taken the bait, shoved me over to sit next to him. I scowled, growing more and more annoyed by her.

“We can’t be in the club fair!” She cried, hysterically. Sora’s features went from a sympathetic pout to an over protective scowl.

“What? Why?”

“Because we’re not apparently an ‘official’ club yet. What does that mean?” She grabbed onto Sora, nuzzling into his neck as she continued to cry. “I thought club fairs were about getting people to join!” Sora patted the sobbing girls back affectionately.

“There, there, calm down,” he said, in a soothing voice. He looked up to me for help and I just rolled my eyes. He obviously needed a reality check if he thought I was going to help. Instead of offering my own comforting words, I sat there watching her elaborate performance with a bored expression on my face. Sora actually glared at me when I choked down a laugh when Selphie started hiccupping.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sora said, his voice sounding at bit more peeve because of my lack of sensitivity. “Maybe you should try again.”

Selphie pulled back, sniffling back snot. Gross.

“Can’t you do anything Sora since you’re on student government?” She asked, rubbing her eyes. Sora chewed on his lip, as he thought and looked at me for support. I, again, didn’t want to be involved and raised my hands up, absolving myself from the situation.

“I’m sorry, but I have no authority over whose club gets to be in the fair, that’s up to the director of the student board of activities,” he lamented.

Selphie frowned, sobering up and drying up her fake tears. “Then why the hell am I crying on you for!” She snorted, quickly standing up and walking away, angry that she probably wasted her time.

Sora blinked. Shocked by the complete one-eighty Selphie just pulled on him. I started chewing on the end of my straw, amused by his confusion.

“What just happened?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as if examining the situation.

“You just got used,” I said, nonchalantly.

Sora shrugged. “Hn. It wasn’t very exciting,” he said, taking a bite out of his lunch.

I leaned on my elbows, my hands cupping my head.

“Just be happy she didn’t use you and throw you out like some used Kleenex like she does me.”

Sora laughed and I smirked, shaking my head as I went back to chewing on my straw. It was then that I realized this moment became one of those rare occasions where I actually felt happy. Where putting a smile on Sora’s face was enough to make my day and the fact that he was the only person willing to try to understand me, made staying on this floating rock of an island more bearable. I felt at ease around him, which is not how I feel when I’m around Selphie. Little did I know that this sense of comfort and safety would soon morph into a foreboding sense of danger and fear later on in the day.

I was happily minding my own business, staring out the window watching the girls blitzball team practice when I sensed the air around me drop a couple of degrees. I saw the devil in carnet from my peripheral vision and decided that if I don’t give her the attention she would eventually rape from me later, there would be hell to pay. My chair fell forward from the lazy reclined position I had it in earlier as I turned my neck to face her.

She leaned forward on the back of her chair and smiled. “I found out how we can get in the club fair,” She said, without skipping a beat. I looked into her bright green eyes, and licked my lips gearing up to put my game face on. Only when I opened my mouth I didn’t expect for my brain to come out with a question rather than a snarky comment.

“How?”

“Well, there’s a girl, Maria, who is in charge of deciding which clubs get to go on. I figure that if I talk to her, then our application won’t get denied.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, raising an eyebrow.

“And how pray tell are we going to talk to her? Wouldn’t a person like that be busy since the fair is next week?”

“Well,” Selphie chewed her bottom lip, “I was kind of hoping that you would play a part in it, like in seducing her.”

My eyes widened. I’ll admit that girls find me attractive enough to want to go out with me, but me seducing a girl? I could barely flirt my way out of paper bag, let alone flirt with a girl! I know a guy my age should have a healthy libido when it comes to the ladies and should be able to get a date no problem, but I’ve been pretty busy these last few years fighting heartless and the war against the organization. I mean, how can a guy adequately pick up a girl when his entire being is consumed by the darkness?

My face hardened as I gave her my reply. “I am not going to seduce her.”

Selphie sighed rolling her eyes. “Fine then, how about strongly encouraging her with your lips?”

“Rephrasing it will not make it better!”

“Oh come on,” She said, leaning forward, smiling. “I’m sure girls find you…” She thought for a second, looking up, “Oh what’s the word,” she chewed on her lip in concentration. “Hot! Yeah, that’s it.” I rolled my eyes and sighed, wanting to be anywhere or anyone for that matter.

“Girls find your dead personality…hot.”

“I do not have a dead personality!”

“And that’s what he said,” Selphie said, giggling.

“That doesn’t even apply to that phrase!”

The perky girl laughed. “I know, I just wanted to say it since it makes anything you say dirty.”

I could feel a headache start to form inside the walls of my skull. “Selphie, is there a point to this conversation?” I asked, rubbing the bridge of my nose, wishing for a brain aneurism to render me deaf and blind.

“Oh yes.” And before I could react, she had me by the tie. “We’re going to meet Maria right now!” And like a true cave woman, she dragged me out of the classroom as if I were her mate.

By the time we got to the cafeteria ground, my face was a nice shade of purple. When she let me go, I managed to take off the offending choking device and put the tie in my pocket. Selphie then pulled me over to hide with her behind the wall parallel to the window.

“Okay, that’s her over there,” she whispered, as if the entire thing were a mission. I dusted myself off and peered outside the curve of the wall. At the farthest table in the back was a group of girls laughing and talking while eating their lunch. The girl all the others were surrounding, the one with the fair skin, the dark hair up in pigtails wearing red rim glasses was Maria.

Selphie pushed me forward from our hiding spot behind the wall.

“Now go over there and make me proud.”

I turned around quickly. “Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked, taking her wrist and pulling her forward.

She pulled her wrist back.

“Why?”

“Because it’s your club,” I seethed.

“It’s our club” she corrected, placing her hands on her hips. “It would be awkward with you flirting with her and me standing there. I’ll feel like your pimp or something.”

I rolled my eyes because it was probably true.

“Plus, I don’t want to give off the wrong impression that I'm making you do this.”

“But you are!”

“Stop complaining and go!” she yelled, pushing me. I scowled and stomped my way through the grounds. When I got up to the table, Maria and her friends quickly stopped talking. They all looked at me, their eyes studying their prey. I felt my body tingle with nerves as I started to panic. I swallowed thickly and cleared my throat.

Maria twirled her black braid around her finger, studying me with an amused smirk on her face. “Um. Can I help you?” she asked.

I looked over my shoulder to see Selphie in the distance. She mouthed to me to smile and I craned my neck back, teeth clenched in an awkward smile. Maria’s friends giggled.

“Well I was wondering…” The girls looked on, each sporting a mischievous grin as if hoping that I would ask their friend out. Maria only raised a curious eyebrow.

I sighed.

“Look, I’ll be frank,” I started, licking my lips. “My friend, Selphie, I’m sure you’ve heard of her since well…” I paused to think of something to say. I quickly looked to see if Selphie was still there and the brunette shot me a glare so heated it would’ve set my hair on fire. I looked at the group of girls, “… It’s common knowledge that she’s the devil in carnet. Anyway, we made this club and we’d really appreciate it if you’d give us the chance at participating in the club fair next week.”

Maria pondered for a bit, playing with her braid. I looked on, swallowing thickly, hoping that my ravishing good looks were enough to get the club on board. But when I heard her say, “Sorry, no can do,” as she shook her head, I could feel my left eye twitch with annoyance.

I frowned. “Why?”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over he chest as she leaned forward to rest her elbows on the lunch table. “Listen up pretty boy,” she said, snidely, “Her club doesn’t deserve to be placed on the school’s map. A Selphie awareness club?” The raven hair girl scowled. “Please, fifth graders can come up with better club themes.”

“But it’s not just about Selphie awareness. Our club is about helping people out and finding them happiness.”

I stopped myself before going any further. Why was I defending the club? Could be it be that deep down in the frozen depths of my heart I actually care about this obnoxious club? Or maybe it’s the fact that Selphie is clearly only five feet away and can still, in that short distance, be on me in a split second to rip the flesh off my bones if I were to disobey her.

Yeah. That’s it. I’ll go with the latter and call it fear.

But it seemed that Maria wasn’t buying into my good looks or my lame attempts at doing the club some sort of justice.

“That’s what the community service club is for,” she replied.

I nodded. Because it was a good point, a fine damn good point that I couldn’t argue.

“Listen,” I said, placing my hands in my pockets. “We just want a booth, is that too much to ask for?”

“Yes it is!” Maria untangled her arms to slam her hands onto the table to glare at me of all innocent victims. “Especially when that little tart…” she pointed over my shoulder in Selphie’s general direction. I looked over to see Selphie’s eyes widen, “…had the nerve to seduce my boyfriend to get his laptop!”

I raised an eyebrow. Well, it was good to know where the source of Maria’s white hot rage was coming from. I rolled my eyes when Selphie mouthed the words ‘she’s clearly lying, now kiss her so that I can flee to safety!’ and turned my attention back to a seething Maria.

“She kissed my boyfriend, the president of the computer club and managed to black mail him with that by making him give up their newest laptop!” she snapped in a shrill voice that made me wince.

I opened my mouth, but then closed it, trying to think of something comforting to say. But the throbbing vein on Maria’s forehead was telling me that I would get my tongue ripped out if I tried. Instead, I resorting to fleeing like a coward, telling the angry girl that I understood and that I would tell Selphie. The girl merely snorted at my meek reply and I walked away, a scowl on my lips as I walked towards Selphie’s hiding spot. I grabbed the perky brunette, snatching her out of her corner.

“Riku, I thought we discussed that you were going to play tonsil hockey with—”

“She doesn’t want to give us a booth!” I snapped, letting her go.

“What! Why?!” she asked, sickly innocent of what Maria just accused her of earlier. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“Selphie, you stuck your tongue down her boyfriend’s throat and stole his laptop!”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Oh please, he wasn’t even that good of a kisser,” she snorted. “That loser,” she muttered as an after thought.

“Selphie!”

“What!?”

“You can’t go around kissing people’s boyfriends, stealing, black mailing, and whatever else you do that's evil in order to get your way!” I chided.

Selphie sucked her teeth, annoyed that I was treating her like a child. In hindsight, she was acting like child, a very spoiled, obnoxious child that would throw a tantrum if she didn’t get her way. And she was oblivious to this because of her ridiculous notion of being the center of the universe (as if that’s not selfish and insane enough) but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself and the plot. The point was the girl was morphing into a monster and there was nothing I could do at the moment in time but to let her do what she wanted in the hopes that she would get bored and free me of her slavery.

“Whatever,” she muttered. “If she’s not going to let us in, then we’re going to have to let ourselves in.” she said, her eyes dark with determination.

I sighed and didn’t bother to fight her as she pulled me by my collar and started dragging me to some unknown location.

Episode 2 Episode 4

The Melancholy of Selphie Tilmitt 2/12 (Kingdom Hearts, Selphie, Riku, PG13)

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:24:45 GMT

Episode 2: Let's get started!

Now, when Selphie gets an idea, she usually makes it happen come hell or high water. So it didn’t surprise me when she didn’t wait for the lunch bell to ring to physically haul me out of math class by my tie.

“I need your help.”

And that was all it took for me to look at her at that moment before complaining about her almost choking me to death with my own tie. It was hard to believe that the little person in front of me was the center of the universe. I mean, Selphie Tilmitt couldn’t be that powerful. I should know, I’ve fought countless of heartless, monsters, and Xemnas in his oh so many fashionable forms. But when I really looked at her, when I really examined her beyond the flipped up hair, the mischievous smirk, and those fiery emerald eyes, I saw something.

I saw something hidden beneath the underneath, crying to be let out. It was difficult to tell if it was raw determination or pure loneliness, but it was there. It was bubbling inside of her, frothing at the edges and waiting to spill out.

I took a deep breath, exhaling through my nose as I felt my stubborn wall of emotion crumble with guilt.

“What do you need for the club?” I asked with sunken shoulders and frowning lips.

Selphie placed her hands on her hips and smiled.

“Well, I need you to take care of the technicalities, the paper work, who we have to bribe, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

My left eyebrow twitched. That’s basically all the work.

“And what does that leave you to do?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and gave her a heated glare. Not that she would spontaneously combust on the spot, giving me the chance of running for my life screaming in the opposite direction through the hallways.

“I’m going to find our club room of course! What’s a club without its room?”

Okay, question: How was she going to do that if we haven’t made the club yet?

“We’ll meet after school and see what we have, got it?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but had no choice to stop my words in their tracks as she zipped past me. I looked down the hallway and saw the trail of dust and papers mingling in the air as students picked themselves up from the floor in a daze and confused state.

“What the hell was that?!”

“I don’t know, it just looked like a blur to me,” a female student said, shrugging.

I rubbed my temples as further inquiry about the blur buzzed around the hallway.

Today was not a good day.

“So, what do you want to know?”

I decided that the best person to ask about making a club was Sora. He was a member of the student government which worked closely with the student board of activities from time to time.

“I need to know how to start a club.”

Sora chewed on his straw for a minute as he thought.

Ever since coming home from our epic journey, our dangerous and unpredictable lives have been swapped out for the mundane routine of everyday life. It took me a while to learn to adjust. Just the other day I found that not everyone is out to get me, so summoning my keyblade on that fragile old woman holding a bag of oranges in the supermarket was not exactly necessary.

I thought Sora would have a tougher time than me, since he was the keyblade wilder (only by default, I was perfectly willing and able to do the job. I was just side tracked by the darkness). I thought he’d be the type that would get detention for sleeping or drooling over his notes during class over daydreaming. But he proved me wrong. Sora jumped right into school life, all thanks to Kairi, who was equally if not more involved in school with her being on the honor roll. He became a member of the student government, worked hard to earn good grades, and was popular enough to have his own fan club of both girls and boys.

I wonder if Sora would drop it all at the mention of going on another adventure. I know I would. But he just seems so engrossed by the current world around him, am I the only one looking for a little change to my routine?

You must be thinking, ‘well there’s that club that Selphie is going to start’. You’re right. That is a step towards change. But it’s not the change that I’m looking for. I want something bigger than that, I want something epic, I want something out of this world, no, out of this universe that leaves my old journey in the dust in its greatness.

I didn’t realize how hard I was squeezing my own juice box when I was thinking of Riku’s Epic Journey part deux. But Sora was kind enough to point out the red juice stain on my shirt. I tried dabbing the stain with a napkin, but it was to no avail. Looks like I’m going to go around the rest of the day with a red juice hickey on my shirt.

“Well, if Selphie is serious about this club of hers,” Sora started, “She’s going to have to fill out the necessary paper work.”

“Which entails?”

“The name of the club, a teacher who’s willing to sign off on it as an adviser, and a room.”

Well that explains Selphie’s burning urge to get the club a home. But why didn’t she just do the rest herself? Getting a teacher would be easy; all she had to do was blackmail them into doing it.

“What else is involved?”

Sora took a bite out of his tuna sandwich, chewing a bit before answering my question.

“A club has to have a minimum of five members in order to be active,” he said, “Also; a new club is on probation for the first two weeks to see if membership declines.”

I snorted. That won’t be hard. Selphie will probably drag some poor soul out of the hallway to join her cult. If given the power, Selphie might even be able to raise an army.

Cue shudder and mental image of me being in therapy for the next year.

“But a club has to be more than just a place where people hang out,” Sora said, balling up the peeled off scraps of crust of his sandwich. “It has to have a purpose beyond bringing people with the same interests together. A club has to affect the lives of the students or the community as a whole in a positive manner.”

“So in other words, each club has to do community service?”

Sora nodded. “In a way, I guess.” He stood up and gathered all his garbage. I followed him towards the trash bin. “The student body and community do benefit from club activities. Look at the computer club, they help set up most of the computers in the school and offer free tech support on Fridays for anyone having issues with their laptops.”

I chewed on my bottom lip for a bit. What can a club purely centered on Selphie have to offer to the student body and community? The only actions that come to my mind were death and destruction, and that’s the optimistic side of me thinking. I would hate to go over to the dark-side.

Ha. Dark-side.

Anyway, before I was so distracted by the gifted power of irony, I turned to Sora.

“Thanks for telling what I needed to know.”

Sora shrugged.

“Sure. I mean, it’s all in your student manual if you bothered to look, but asking me is fine.”

“You memorized the entire book?”

I saw Sora’s lips immediately draw into a pout. “It helps me sleep at night,” he said, defensively. I didn’t know whether to wince or look horrified that my best friend had no life.

Note to self: kidnap Sora, plan another trip to visit the worlds (even if it kills me), and get Sora back to indiscriminately killing things that are dark that twitch.

“Listen, once I help Selphie get started and she pulls another poor soul to take over my henchmen duties, let’s go to the island to spar.”

“Can’t,” Sora gathered whatever folders he had before sitting to eat lunch with me and straightened up his tie. “The student government is planning a mock United Nations trial. You should come. I’m representing Russia and I’m going to try to invade Greenland.”

I felt my shoulders tense at the cringing idea of foreign leaders falling one by one to Sora’s incredibly innocent smile.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing.”

This is where I smile and nod because Sora is acting a bit too creepy for my tastes.

Note to self: scratch the first note, and just chloroform the boy and take him world hopping with me. I don’t think it’s healthy that Sora should sound so excited about forcibly taking over another country and depriving its people of their pride and land.

Getting a teacher to sign off as our advisor for the club was difficult. Apparently, Selphie had a reputation among the staff of our school. Every teacher I visited either screamed in horror and locked themselves in their office or bombarded me with questions pertaining to their personal lives. The only person who didn’t seem to fear Selphie was our Japanese history teacher, Mr. Hijikata. He simply signed the notice and slammed the door in my face.

The only thing left to fill out was the name of the club, its purpose, and the names of the people starting it.

By the end of the day, Selphie hauled me yet again to a disclosed area on campus. When I regained some type of bodily control of myself, I showed her what I had so far on the form.

“We’re short one club name, a purpose, and a member.”

Selphie grabbed onto my arm.

“Oh, that’s easy stuff! Come on, I have to show you our new club room!”

And I was yet again deprived of the use of my body when she pulled me by the collar. I swear anyone looking in on us might think Selphie was some wild cave woman from the way she was dragging me.

“Since the tech, science, and culinary clubs are in the science building, and the sports clubs and teams are held in the gym building, our club gets lumped in with the left over clubs in the old school building that’s also the art building.”

I frowned. Great, not only are we in the art building, which has its own share of crazies who probably sleep there trying to make art out of an egg carton and paint, it’s also the farthest building from the main building on campus. That means I’ll have to use the rear exit of campus when I go home, thus making the fifteen minute walk home twice as long. Looks like I’m going to invest some munny for a bike.

We arrived at a door decorated with signs and pictures of needle work and yarn.

“Isn’t this the knitting club’s room?” I asked, dusting myself off.

Selphie promptly ripped all the signs and pictures off the door.

“Not anymore!” She threw the ripped up paper to the side. “The seniors involved in the club graduated so there’s no one left to revive the club. Isn’t that wonderful?”

She slammed open the door, the loud bang making me wince. Inside looked like any other club room, with a window at the end of it, a coat rack, a locker on the side, and a small table and some chairs in the center. What I didn’t expect seeing already in there was a girl sitting by the window knitting. Wait? Are those bunny ears on her head?

“How exactly did you get this room?” I asked following Selphie in. “I haven’t even submitted the paper work in yet.”

She placed her school bag on the table.

“Well, Kairi pulled some strings to find out which clubs were on the list of being canceled. This was first on the list, so I found the room immediately.”

“Selphie this isn’t fair, you haven’t even submitted the paper work to say you even have a club.”

She walked past me to close the door.

“And you can’t possibly think it’s fair to take the knitting club’s room.”

“Why the hell not?” She swerved around and looked at me, eyes dark with annoyance.

Wait, was she blind? How can she not see the bunny girl knitting quietly at the corner near the window?

“She’s why,” I said pointing to the girl. I tried not to stare at the girl’s bunny ears perched at the top of her head, but it was hard not to. “She’s a member of the knitting club. What if she’s waiting for more members to join? Doesn’t her club have two weeks to get enough members before it’s canceled?”

Selphie rolled her eyes and walked past me towards the girl. She stood in front of her, snapping her fingers at her, but the girl didn’t respond. She just kept on knitting.

“I asked her if she minded,” Selphie said, placing a hand on her hip and studying the girl in front of her. “And as long as she has a place to keep knitting she’s fine. She didn’t really put up much of a fight for the room either.”

Great, now we have a pet along with a stolen club room.

“We still have a problem,” I said, reaching into my school bag and taking out the club form. “You need to name this club, make up its objective, and find the minimum amount of members in order to get started.”

I stopped myself from saying anything else. Why was I pressing this issue so much? Why did I care? I know Sora, Kairi, and I agreed to get her started, but beyond that Selphie was in control. She was in charge of replacing us with new members as soon as her club was official. So why was I so concerned with her anyway? Could it be that deep own in the frozen depths of this thing called a heart I actually wanted to be there? No. That isn’t possible. The reason why I’m pressing the issue is because I want Selphie out of my hair for once this week.
So why wasn’t I trying to escape now, leaving the bunny girl at the corner knitting to be Selphie’s next slave?

“Wait here. I’ll solve the member issue right now,” Selphie said, bolting to the door and leaving me alone with the quiet girl by the window.
Maybe she’ll find the people who’ll replace Sora, Kairi, and me.

I set my school bag down on the table and approached the unusual looking girl by the window slowly. From her distinct snow white hair, stiff white bunny ears, cinnamon red eyes and chocolate brown skin she looked to be…Oh god no.

A Mary Sue?

I stopped short from almost knocking into her and stepped back some paces until my butt touched the end of the long table.

“So, um…what’s your name?”

The girl stopped knitting and looked up at me, her blood red eyes looked dull of any life, and her small mouth seemed content with its non-smiling form.

“Fran.” She answered.

I sat on the edge of the table. Fran? And here I thought she was going to have some random elaborate name that ended with -chan.

I cleared my throat, uncomfortable with the intensity of her lifeless stare.

“I’m Riku, by the way.”

She nodded slowly, as if processing my name and its two syllables into the memory bank of her mind, and went back to knitting.

I swallowed. Her very non-Mary Sue behavior was beginning to worry me. Why wasn’t she sparkling me to death with magical glitter? Why wasn’t she talking a mile a minute about the tragic life she led and the treacherous people that ruled it?

She must have some type of magical powers or a secret that she’s not willing to tell unless a handsome hero (me) capable of saving her from herself questions her and falls deeply in love with her in the process. I swallowed thickly.

“Do you have magical powers?”

It was an absurd question to ask up front, but what Mary Sue could resist the opportunity to brag about her extraordinary powers?

She stopped knitting once again and looked at me as though I was bothering her. Her crimson eyes looked cold and hard, and her small mouth formed a frown. I admit I was taken a back by this.

She shook her head from side to side slowly and stared at me again.

“Do you know what a keyblade is?” I asked, hoping that this would trigger the ‘OMFG! OF COURSE! Mine’s called Morning-sunshine-moon- sparkle-revival-blade and it can turn heartless into unicorns!’

But her answer never came. In fact, I was a little offended that after I asked that question, she blinked and went back to knitting. Was she ignoring me?

I stood up and took a couple of steps forward. There had to be something wrong with her. I examined her closely while she knitted. Her hair was still the same color and her eye color hadn’t changed within the last five minutes. Her bunny ears appeared to be real, since they flickered every time I leaned in too close. I resisted the creepy urge to smell her, not because she could easily punch me in the groin if I did (I’ll be getting away easy if it was just a punch, imagine if she used her knitting needles?). I resisted because I didn’t want the risk of falling for her if she indeed was a Mary sue. She might intoxicate me with a scent of poisonous pheromones that might render me a lovesick fool.
I bent down on one knee, grabbed her shoulders, and forced her to look at me.

Her crimson eyes widened for a brief moment, surprised that I would be so direct with her. She dropped her knitting needles on her lap and looked at me with a blank stare.

“Who are you and why aren’t you attracted to me?” I asked, my voice sharp and demanding.

Her long ears flickered in what looked to be amusement since her facial features held no emotion.

“Not my type,” came her calm reply.

It was a reasonable answer. Maybe Sora would be the one to ignite the fire in her loins.

“Why are you here?”

“School.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you human?”

“Viera.”

My grip on her shoulders loosened. Viera? What the hell was a Viera? I stood up, looking at her warily as she stared at me with her vacant face. So she wasn’t human, doesn’t have magical powers, and isn’t attracted to me? Hm. This indeed was the rarest form of a Mary sue I’d ever seen.

Before I could further question the subject in front of me, the door swung open loudly once again. I turned quickly around, putting a good distance between Fran and me. I didn’t want anyone thinking that I was taking advantage of her.

Selphie rushed forth, dragging a confused looking Kairi and an amused looking Sora after her.

“Five members, right?” She asked, letting them go. Kairi studied the room around her as she clutched her school bag while Sora scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously.

“Don’t you mean four?” I asked, pointing at everyone who was standing to emphasize my point.

“Five,” Selphie said, pointing at Fran.

“Don’t be ridiculous, how can you possibly count her?”

Selphie walked up to the silent bunny girl and bent down to her face level.

“Fran, would you like to join my club? You still get to stay here and knit all you want.”

Fran stopped knitting to look at Selphie, who smiled. She blinked, nodded her head slowly, and went back to knitting. I could feel my jaw slowly unhinging as it was about to drop.

“Then it’s settled.” Selphie straightened up and placed her hands on her hips. “Let the first meeting of begin!”

I wanted to protest, but it was like a train wreck. I couldn’t take my eyes off this situation no matter how painful it looked.

“Now let’s start with introductions; I’m the ring leader and one true god, Miss Selphie Tilmitt!”

“Kairi.” Kairi looked more comfortable now, a small smile crossing her lips as she introduced herself.

“Sora.” Sora’s mood was harder to read with that smile on his face. It was hard to tell if he was faking it to be polite or if he really enjoyed being here. I’m praying for the former rather than the latter.

Everyone turned their gazes on me. They couldn’t seriously be thinking that I was going to introduce myself to people who already know me.
The impatient tapping of Selphie’s foot as she looked at me with an angry frown prompted me to speak.

I sighed.

“I’m Riku.”

No one seemed to notice (or care) that I didn’t sound one bit as enthusiastic as they did.

“And everyone now knows Fran,” Selphie said, pointing at the bunny girl, who stopped to look up at the rest of her club mates before resuming her task.

Hn. I thought she was going to sink her Mary Sue fangs into Sora, but it seems like he’s not her type. I frowned. I’ll prove she’s a Mary Sue even if it kills me.

“Wait a minute,” I spoke after thinking about the club requirements. “You still haven’t told us what this club is about Selphie.”

Selphie pouted. “I thought I already did,” she said, scratching her chin. “It’s a club that worships me and does everything I do on command.”

I glared at her. Of course she wouldn’t get any other objective that sounded logical. “No Selphie, it can’t be that way,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest in a disapproving manner.

“But I’ve decided I’m the center of the universe!” She spat glaring at me.

We both stood there, trying to melt each other with our heated glares, when Kairi cleared her throat and stood between us, raising her hands up in peace.

“He’s right. Your club won’t get recognized if it doesn’t have a legitimate reason for existing.” I nodded, smirking. Finally someone on my side! Selphie’s eyes widened at the sudden betrayal of her best friend. The brunette frowned and stuck her tongue out at me for having Kairi and logic on my side. I would’ve stuck out my tongue right back at her too, but I didn’t. Not because it was the more mature thing to do, but because she might rip it out. Instead, I resorted to glaring back at her, hoping to make her head explode.

“How about you work around the wording of your club’s theme?” Sora piped up, smiling, as if hoping to defuse the situation.

I shot Sora a dirty look that said: whose side are you on?!

The boy just shrugged and smiled at me. I frowned, so much for having people on my side.

Selphie sighed, placing her hands on her hips. “Fine.” She chewed her lip as she thought for a moment. Her eyes quickly widened after a few minutes and I held my breath, bracing myself for what was to come.

“We’ll spread Selphie awareness throughout the student body!” She shouted, a fist in the air. “We’ll call it the Spreading of Selphie cheer brigade, or the SOS brigade for short!”

I blinked, tilting my head to the side, forcing myself to come to terms with what she just announced.

“How is that even better?” I questioned, my eyes coming to half slits as I looked at her suspiciously.

“Think about it,” she started, placing her hands back onto her hips. “The world, no this universe, is a dreary miserable place and all because it doesn’t know the true happiness of worshiping me and bending toward my every demand!”

I glared at her. “Selphie!”

But she ignored me. “We’ll spread cheer and happiness to the students and the community by doing things that would put smiles on their faces!” She said, eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Don’t we already have a club for that?” I asked.

“It’s called the community service club,” Kairi replied, smiling, seeing nothing wrong with Selphie’s idea.

Sora nodded, rubbing his chin in deep thought. “I see what you’re getting at. We’re a jack of all trades council club,” he said, grinning. I shot him another dirty look because apparently, I’m the only sane one in the room, beside bunny girl over there, but she doesn’t count since she refuses to acknowledge that she’s attracted to me and therefore a Mary sue (I’m not bitter because I know I’m attractive and I’m sure she’s a Mary sue).

But Sora’s reasoning was just what Selphie was waiting for as she stood, posing like some DC Marvel superhero, pointing at him. “Exactly! We’ll make people’s wishes, desires, and needs come true. Then they’ll have to become my loyal followers because I’m the only cosmic driving force that can handle such a job of creating everyone’s happiness.”

Come to think about it. I think Selphie Tilmitt is becoming a Mary sue. All she needs to do is sparkle more and Sora seems pretty much on board with everything she says no matter how idiotic it sounds.

“Then the world will worship me,” she started, grinning madly. “Because the powers at be, which is me of course, said so and I’ll rule the universe!” She then laughed, a hearty villain laugh, while I looked at her in horror.

Scratch that. Selphie Tilmitt is becoming a monster.

After laughing like a complete lunatic, Selphie cleared her throat.

“Now to decide on roles!”

I quickly snapped back from thoughts to look at her.

“Wait a minute, you asked us to help you get this club started.”

Selphie studied me for a brief second. “Well yeah.”

“But we have, so get new people and let us go,” I said, frowning. As far as I knew, Selphie had everything she needed.

“I don’t mind staying.”

I looked at Sora with my mouth opened. I quickly snapped it shut and walked over to the brunet, pulling him off to the side. Selphie didn’t seem to care as she started to talk animatedly to Kairi about her club plans.

“Sora.”

“What? It can’t be that bad,” he said shrugging. I looked from him to Selphie, who seemed to be laughing at something only she found funny as she was laughing like an idiot while Kairi laughed awkwardly as she inched away from her best friend. I looked back to Sora and pointed to Selphie.

Sora winced. “It can’t get worse?”

I rolled my eyes. “Sora, we promised to help her get started. We did and she’s fine. Selphie is perfectly capable of getting people to replace us.”

“Riku,” he started. He looked from me to Selphie who was trying to convince a now giggling Kairi that she was serious about one issue or other. He looked back to me, his eyes dark with a deep ocean hue. They softened, his blue pools almost quivering. I’ll admit, that even I’m vulnerable to his puppy dog look from time to time, so it was hard looking into his eyes while trying to be annoyed with him.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what Selphie is really up to?”

“To be honest with you…no.” I deadpanned.

Sora sucked his teeth. “Oh come on! You’re telling me that ever since we’ve come back, there’s nothing inside of you that’s telling you to go forth and explore something new? Don’t you have something calling you to an adventure?” he asked, crossing his arms.

I rolled my eyes.

“Sora, this is not the call to adventure I’ve been waiting to hear.” I licked my lips as I thought about going for what I was thinking about earlier today at lunch. “What about us going on another adventure again? Don’t you want to visit all the friends you’ve made in different worlds?”
Sora looked down towards the floor as he mulled my questions over. I hoped my questions would’ve gotten a more enthusiastic reaction like a tackle or something, rather than him avoiding eye contact. But when Sora looked up with a smile on his lips, my heart jumped. Maybe there was some hope after all and I won’t have to chloroform him and hide him in my closet until our trip.

“That would be something fun to do for the summer,” he said. “But I like it here too. Riku, there’s a reason why we’re home. We have friends. We have family here. What’s so wrong with wanting to be home and acting normal for a change?”

“There’s everything wrong with it,” I growled.

“Why?”

“Because it’ll always be the same!”

Sora shrank back from my small outburst. Now it was my turn to look down at the floor as my cheeks heated up with embarrassment. I don’t know where that came from, but I was growing so angry with Sora. Why couldn’t he see that our life on the island is as miserable as it was before our adventure? We don’t do anything fun anymore. We don’t spar, we rarely take the gummi ship anywhere, and we barely see each other because of school work or Sora’s stupid student government. It wasn’t fair. Sora went up and changed on me while I was the only one keeping our dream of going out and living life to its fullest alive.

“Riku.” I looked up to see Sora’s worried look, which consisted of a frowning forehead, a pout, and deep navy blue eyes. I always feel like a tool when he gives me that look and I have to bite the inside of my cheeks before I break down and start hysterically begging for his forgiveness.

“Are you girls done gossiping?” Selphie piped up, “I still have to give everyone their roles.”

I turned from Sora and forced myself to smile.

“Yes, we’re done,” I said, through clenched teeth.

“Great!” The perky girl walked up to us. She pushed us out of the way to stand in the middle of the room.

“To reiterate, I am the leader, God, Buddha, and Jesus.” She then pointed to her best friend. “Kairi, you’re our mascot fashionista because every group needs to have eye candy to bring in more members.”

“But—”

“Sora,” She continued, ignoring Kairi’s protests. “You’re Vice President.”

My jaw dropped.

“How is that even fair?” I asked angrily. “I was the one who gave you the idea and did most of the work!”

“Silence minion number two!”

“What?!”

My eyebrow twitched. I’m not even minion number one!

“Today is the first unofficial meeting of the SOS brigade,” Selphie said, ignoring my obvious rage over being minion number two. “But I promise that our first official meeting will be better. Until we can properly announce our entrance into the club world, we meet three times a week. That’s today Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Got it?”

Kairi winced. “My Honors club meets on Wednesdays can we switch a day?” she asked.

Selphie shook her head. “Have them meet Tuesdays.”

I glared at her. “Hey, you can’t just—”

“Oh, would you mind finishing the form and bringing it to the office. Good boy number two” Selphie said, giving me the form and patting my head before I got another word in.

“Meeting adjourned!” And with that the lunatic skipped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

There was an eerie silence in the room as we all stared at the door. Fran didn’t seem phased by anything that has happened and continued to knit, the soft clicking sounds of her needles echoing in the room. I glared at Sora, my face heating up in rage.

“It can’t get worse?!” I roared.

The brunet only laughed nervously, raising his hands up, alleging innocence.

Episode 1 Episode 3