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KH AU: fanfic100 -- "Being Family," purple
Another Side, Another Story... Instead of Roxas getting pulled into Sora at the end of the Six Days, Sora was pulled into Roxas. Oddly, KH2 mostly continues as scheduled. But one noticeable difference is that Roxas, lacking a home, finds a place for himself (and Axel and Namine with him) in Hollow Bastion, along with a household full of assorted riffraff, a patchwork family quilt that could take a few more patches...
016: Purple
Being Family
Cloud and Yuffie
(no spoilers for AS)
He kept passing through Hollow Bastion, and he always got caught. Somehow he and Aerith had been attuned to one another, and she had a preternatural sense for understanding when he was there; and, somehow, the only person better than Aerith at catching him was Yuffie.
"Hey, Cloud!"
Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, fingers closing tightly over the vial in his hand, making the duckling behind the stand look a little uncomfortable. But he set it back down -- leave the shopping for later -- and turned around just in time to get Yuffie flung at him. She twined arms gleefully about his head until he winced. Battle reflexes, reflexes he'd spent agonizing years obsessively perfecting, just didn't seem to work when it was Yuffie.
"I knew it! You were trying to sneak out again. Brooding can wait a few hours, you know."
It would be easy to make that backhanded accusation turn into the real thing. He knew exactly what words to say -- and what not to say. To drive her away until he could escape. But instead he said, "Hello, Yuffie."
She slid off his back and stepped in front of him, beaming. "See, being social isn't so hard! What are you doing in town?"
"Shopping," he said. He didn't really know why he was here. He had no reason to come to this place: it was broken-down and next to abandoned, depressing, and the selection of weapons and armor was mediocre, really. Once upon a time, he'd been told, this place had been a prosperous metropolis, but these days the metropolis was in ruins and the prosperity was nothing more than a memory. There was no reason not to shop somewhere, anywhere else.
But he kept coming back here.
"You're just in time," Yuffie said, encouragingly, taking his hand and tugging him over to another stall. "Louie just got some new accessories in, you should take a look."
She's so happy. Is she really that happy to see me? But Yuffie was always like this.
He hovered over her shoulder and let her sift through the accessories, pointing out what did which thing and when it had been acquired and where it came from. He wasn't really paying attention, and his gaze drifted, and he found himself staring at a discreet metal brace on her ankle and frowning.
"That's when Aerith decided we really needed elemental--"
"Where did that come from?"
Yuffie looked up at him, startled, and then down at her leg self-consciously. "Oh, heh. Roxas and I were out on the terrace outside the castle, and a couple of Dancers showed up. One of them kind of tossed me into a wall. Pretty embarrassing! I showed her what was what, though."
The name made him scowl slightly. Cloud said, "I thought the keyblade master was supposed to protect the innocent, not involve them in his personal problems." All he knew was that one visit, there had been no Nobodies, and no Roxas; the next visit, there had been Roxas, up to his ears in Nobody business, and there had been Nobodies plotting the downfall of this world.
And it bothered him. Easy to explain, of course. He didn't endorse the destruction of worlds -- especially not after what had happened to Midgar.
"It's not Roxas's fault," she said, surprisingly angry.
"He's not any of your business," Cloud told her. "You shouldn't let Aerith take in strays all the time."
"You mean like she did with you?" Yuffie retorted, and then looked immediately penitent, glancing away.
He reined in his reaction to that, took a few moments to breathe. Then he said, "Yes. Like me. Strays can be trouble. Like I was."
She said to no one in particular, muted, "Why should I listen to you? You'll be gone soon anyway, and we'll have no proof you were ever here. We go to so much trouble to make you feel welcome and you just-- you just never seem to care." Her eyes were dark and unreadable, but dry at least, when she looked up at him. "You do care, don't you, Cloud?"
The time was definitely right, he thought; time to leave, before this got any worse, before it was too late. He reached into his mantle and felt around for the small sack that he'd picked out carefully, browsing through the marketplace in Sherwood Forest. He tossed it at her lightly and she caught it, reflexes as good as ever despite her distress.
"For you," he said, gruffly. "I picked it up this morning. Thought you might like it."
He had suddenly thought, I bet Yuffie hasn't had one of these in ages. And for some reason it had seemed like such a shame. Maybe, once, these trees had bloomed here, the way they had in Nibelheim...
After a moment in which he looked away from her, he heard her say, "--A plum?"
It felt stupid now, and so he tensed his shoulders and started to walk away. It was definitely time to leave.
He'd only made it a few steps when he heard her call out, "Hey! Cloud! ...Thanks."
His lips turned up into a smile, although he didn't turn around to look at her. He kept walking -- off, to anywhere, it didn't really matter. He had to get away from the people who looked at him and knew where he came from, what he'd been through, what he felt.
It didn't really matter. Eventually he'd be back here.
Didn't know why he kept coming back, though.
016: Purple
Being Family
Cloud and Yuffie
(no spoilers for AS)
He kept passing through Hollow Bastion, and he always got caught. Somehow he and Aerith had been attuned to one another, and she had a preternatural sense for understanding when he was there; and, somehow, the only person better than Aerith at catching him was Yuffie.
"Hey, Cloud!"
Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, fingers closing tightly over the vial in his hand, making the duckling behind the stand look a little uncomfortable. But he set it back down -- leave the shopping for later -- and turned around just in time to get Yuffie flung at him. She twined arms gleefully about his head until he winced. Battle reflexes, reflexes he'd spent agonizing years obsessively perfecting, just didn't seem to work when it was Yuffie.
"I knew it! You were trying to sneak out again. Brooding can wait a few hours, you know."
It would be easy to make that backhanded accusation turn into the real thing. He knew exactly what words to say -- and what not to say. To drive her away until he could escape. But instead he said, "Hello, Yuffie."
She slid off his back and stepped in front of him, beaming. "See, being social isn't so hard! What are you doing in town?"
"Shopping," he said. He didn't really know why he was here. He had no reason to come to this place: it was broken-down and next to abandoned, depressing, and the selection of weapons and armor was mediocre, really. Once upon a time, he'd been told, this place had been a prosperous metropolis, but these days the metropolis was in ruins and the prosperity was nothing more than a memory. There was no reason not to shop somewhere, anywhere else.
But he kept coming back here.
"You're just in time," Yuffie said, encouragingly, taking his hand and tugging him over to another stall. "Louie just got some new accessories in, you should take a look."
She's so happy. Is she really that happy to see me? But Yuffie was always like this.
He hovered over her shoulder and let her sift through the accessories, pointing out what did which thing and when it had been acquired and where it came from. He wasn't really paying attention, and his gaze drifted, and he found himself staring at a discreet metal brace on her ankle and frowning.
"That's when Aerith decided we really needed elemental--"
"Where did that come from?"
Yuffie looked up at him, startled, and then down at her leg self-consciously. "Oh, heh. Roxas and I were out on the terrace outside the castle, and a couple of Dancers showed up. One of them kind of tossed me into a wall. Pretty embarrassing! I showed her what was what, though."
The name made him scowl slightly. Cloud said, "I thought the keyblade master was supposed to protect the innocent, not involve them in his personal problems." All he knew was that one visit, there had been no Nobodies, and no Roxas; the next visit, there had been Roxas, up to his ears in Nobody business, and there had been Nobodies plotting the downfall of this world.
And it bothered him. Easy to explain, of course. He didn't endorse the destruction of worlds -- especially not after what had happened to Midgar.
"It's not Roxas's fault," she said, surprisingly angry.
"He's not any of your business," Cloud told her. "You shouldn't let Aerith take in strays all the time."
"You mean like she did with you?" Yuffie retorted, and then looked immediately penitent, glancing away.
He reined in his reaction to that, took a few moments to breathe. Then he said, "Yes. Like me. Strays can be trouble. Like I was."
She said to no one in particular, muted, "Why should I listen to you? You'll be gone soon anyway, and we'll have no proof you were ever here. We go to so much trouble to make you feel welcome and you just-- you just never seem to care." Her eyes were dark and unreadable, but dry at least, when she looked up at him. "You do care, don't you, Cloud?"
The time was definitely right, he thought; time to leave, before this got any worse, before it was too late. He reached into his mantle and felt around for the small sack that he'd picked out carefully, browsing through the marketplace in Sherwood Forest. He tossed it at her lightly and she caught it, reflexes as good as ever despite her distress.
"For you," he said, gruffly. "I picked it up this morning. Thought you might like it."
He had suddenly thought, I bet Yuffie hasn't had one of these in ages. And for some reason it had seemed like such a shame. Maybe, once, these trees had bloomed here, the way they had in Nibelheim...
After a moment in which he looked away from her, he heard her say, "--A plum?"
It felt stupid now, and so he tensed his shoulders and started to walk away. It was definitely time to leave.
He'd only made it a few steps when he heard her call out, "Hey! Cloud! ...Thanks."
His lips turned up into a smile, although he didn't turn around to look at her. He kept walking -- off, to anywhere, it didn't really matter. He had to get away from the people who looked at him and knew where he came from, what he'd been through, what he felt.
It didn't really matter. Eventually he'd be back here.
Didn't know why he kept coming back, though.