Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sometimes Player would be doing a mission out somewhere and have to count- 'How many missions did I do today? This month? Since the start of joining the union?'  They were disturbed that they couldn’t seem to nail down a specific number. Chirithy was frustratingly vague, but apologized for not keeping better track. 

Player rubbed their eyes. “Let’s… just go back to town….”

That was a weird thing too- As they stepped through the portal, the distinct impression that something was ‘off’ bubbled back up to the surface. Daybreak Town was just as it’d always been, but it felt as though something had been… shifted? Compressed, maybe? Player sniffed the air, on a whim, to which Chirithy murmured “uhhh” in a hushed worry. Player frowned, and looked around- Had it always seemed this, artificial?

They stuck their hand out. When was the last time there’d been a breeze in town? 

Chirithy looked up at them, growing concerned by the second, and eventually Player reached down and pulled them into an embrace while smiling. 

“Weird energy about, but I think I’m just tired,” they said to the plush creature. “Oh,” it replied. “Then we’d better get you home, huh?”

Player hummed, and kept walking. Never mind how eerily empty things felt every day. Never mind how empty THEY felt when they heard about Union Leaders Ephemer and Skuld creating new exciting missions on their own. Never mind that no one seemed brave enough to ask where the Foretellers had gone. Never mind, never mind, just go to sleep and tomorrow will be another day.

Chapter Text

Ephemer hadn’t thought an alternate universe would feel like this.

Of course, he’d never actually BEEN to one before. Or, he didn’t think so; did the Book of Prophesies’ projections count?

Either way, Master Ava’s trainings hadn’t prepared him for how… subtly, different it was going to be. He’d start walking north to get to the Moogle Shop and find himself nowhere near Mountain Square, but at the South Docks instead, and then realize that somehow the whole town was MIRRORED from the other one, and he’d try not to chuckle a little hysterically as he retraced his steps back.

He wasn’t prepared when he went to the Central Market and an older Keykid in a grey hoodie and sweatpants smiling behind the vegetable stand where his one his former party members, Jean, had worked for months. He’d frowned and walked up and tried to replant the smile asking, “Hello, do you know when Jean’s shift is?” And the boy had a faraway look in his eyes as he echoed- “Jean?…” faintly and his Chirithy appeared and gave a rather panicked look as Ephemer stuttered out- “O-oh! Sorry, different shop, I think! My bad!” And tried to wheel himself out of the square without hitting any vendors because

because Jean was just a smoldering key in a desert now, wasn’t he?

 . . .

On better days, Ephemer would just frown at how… red?… the town seemed. As if there was some kind of colored filter layered on top of everything, it all just seemed like the colors were a little stranger. Maybe it was the sun? Maybe it was his eyes?

He’d get used to it, his brain said. “It’s ok if you don’t get used to it,” his Chirithy said, at night as he lay against the window, because his bed up in the tower sometimes felt different and too scratchy, like sleeping at a hotel. He’d cried into his Chirithy and rocked himself to sleep curled up on the ledge. 

Chapter Text

Brain felt it before everyone else. They’d arrived from the projected battleground to this new version of home and it all felt off, immediately, cold, and he shivered.

The other Union Leaders blamed the fact that unconscious Dandelions were literally supine out in the streets, waiting to be reawakened now that they’d found their way to the new world. Brain couldn’t deny THAT was creepy. Still…

He read through every book he could snatch from the library, scrutinized the pages of the Book of Prophesies, and found nothing while still feeling… itchy? Worn down?

Something wasn’t right. Less right than the fact that Lauriam didn’t come back to the tower for whole days. Less right than hearing Ventus hallways away screaming through a nightmare. Less right than thinking he caught the figure of a black robe at the edges of his vision sometimes, in town.

He woke and he was muttering something, softly, to himself, but he couldn’t hear. It barely sounded like language. He tasked his Chirithy with monitoring vocalizations at night. 

The next morning, he rose, the breath of something closing up, and saw Chirithy gripping its hat nervously, the feather rising and falling.

“Um,” Chirithy said, “It was, just the words ‘one’ and ‘zero’ repeated over and over, a bunch. I think?” As much as it seemed to be able, the Chirithy gave a shrug. Brain thanked his partner, but it was muffled from his forehead being pressed hard into the pillow. Something wasn’t adding up- Brain just had to search harder to find out what that was.

For now, he pressed himself harder into his pillow, tried to force his mind into a dreamless slumber. If he wasn’t able to protect his mind, after all, what good was he to the other Union Leaders? To his union?

What good was he?

Chapter Text

Skuld dreams and in it Daybreak Town feels mostly the same, just compressed, pressurized, weirdly suffocating. It doesn’t help that there’s ripples and sunlight below her as if they’re underwater. And, as she’s come to realize, the sun seems to be coming from the wrong way, apparently upside down somehow. The dream melts in her mind like spring snow by the time she awakens. She starts sleeping less.

  . . .

Skuld likes things to be set in place. Likes to know where she’s at. That makes her feel comfortable and stable. She’s willing to admit this in quiet, contemplative moments between Union leader meetings and tasks. 

But she’s not thinking about that when she is running down the First District stairs, takes an extra step and tumbles over herself onto the ground. She groans as a dozen students rush over, shouting “Master Skuld!” And hovering about her, offering hands, one of which she takes mindlessly. She winces as she rises, summons Starlight, and casts cure before she can even assess her injuries, though the throb in her ankle and head suggests exactly what parts hit earth. Bones awash with calm, she turns to the group and thanks them, tells them she’s fine, asks how they’re doing and how Lux-collecting has been, which is their cue to rocket out of the district down into the main square. She watches them leave and turns back to the steps. Strange…

She frowns as she looks over them. She could just as well go back to the tower and forget it. She’d just miscalculated with her feet. Just because it’d never happened before didn’t mean it couldn’t. Instead, she walks over, sighs, and ascends the steps, counting: Thirty.  She goes back down, reaches twenty-nine and nearly trips AGAIN. Braces herself against the teal guardrail. Her frown deepens. She tries again, foot starting to burn from recent injury. Thirty up. Thirthy-…ONE, down?? This time she’s left on the bottom-most stair aghast. One more time, she heads up, punctuating her foot on every level, until she’s reached the twenty-seventh step and is back on level ground, facing out into District One. Her hand goes to her mouth, and she looks back down for several minutes. Nothing changes.

That is… that’s…

Skuld shakes her head, bangs slicing air, earrings lightly jingling.

No- Her brain cannot be down for the count. They already have Ventus, so young he needs the others to reach the higher shelves in the kitchen, waking up screeching at night. They have Lauriam out in search his sister, careening down streets calling her name sometimes. They have Brain who she sometimes sees just pounding his head against the computer monitor. One of her best friends, Ephemer, who sometimes has this far-away look, who sometimes stops and twitches like he’s about to go into a trance. She doesn’t want to think about Player, who Ephemer says is also having nightmares, sometimes seems to wonder around town looking lost, and whose Chirithy looks more exhausted everyday; she hasn’t approached them since they picked them out, body broken, on battlefield under the pale glow of Kingdom Hearts.

She summons Starlight back into her hands, so fast the energy pushes the tips of her hair up. She flips the blade around, and taps the end of it down on the second step, twice. An old trick her father taught her (‘How long has it been since she’s seen him, now?’, she thinks and pushes away. Stifles the next question- ‘How are you ever going to–?’)

There’s no magic here. At least, none she can sense. She chews at her arm brace, absently. When another child flashes by, yelling out, “Morning Master Skuld!”, she has to keep herself from grabbing at him. Instead, she calls out- “Excuse me! Is there any way you can help me out a second?” The boy, already halfway down, tramps back up, face caught between mystified (‘Helping?? A Union leader??) and nervous (‘Helping someone else's Union leader??’). Skuld smiles warmly, shoving her own panic down, and makes her voice as warm as she can. 

“I think something might be wrong with these stairs? Is there any way you can check how many of them there are?” The boy cocks his head and furrows his brows, clearly starting to think she’s having a lark with him; his beanie slides a little, exposing more green hair. In response, Skuld tries to give as honest a grin as she can. 

Eventually, the kid comes back up beside her, then carefully starts down, throwing his hands out to each side as if on a trapeze. Skuld stifles a giggle. At the bottom, the boy nods to himself. “Thirty!” Skuld nods back. “Great! Can you count the on the way up just to be sure?”

The kid climbs up, again meticulous. As he draws near, she can hear him muttering through twenties, until he falters on the last step. Skuld holds her breath, barely getting out- “And this time?” The boy pulls at his jumper. “Counted twenty-nine, but clearly that’s not right.” He looks up, and seems just a little afraid as he backs away to the other set of steps leading to District Two. “Um. That is weird… But I really promised my friends I’d go to Coliseum with them. Seeya, Master Skuld.”

Skuld clicks her tongue. She’s scared the kid off. But the relief is overwhelming. It ISN’T just her. Later, she tells herself, she’ll confide in Ephemer and they’ll figure this out together. 

Chapter Text

Lauriam isn’t sure quite what’s holding him back from going out there into the ocean beyond Daybreak Town to find his sister. His union seems fine enough operating without him, and the stakes are low enough now that they’d avoided the war, just missions to distract them. He tries not to think about the fact that he’s the oldest of them.

He’d checked every corner of the town so many times now it was starting to feel stifling. Stifling even in that enormous clocktower. Stifling even with so few Keyblade wielders left. It was stifling because he had a hole in him.

His union was searching the projected worlds. Elrena, who he’d met on the stairs the other day, was going to check around town again. Fresh eyes, after all. 

Something’s keeping him back, and it’s not just guilt; he knows that feeling in his gut. He knows there’s guilt in that if Stelitizia is around Daybreak, and he’s somehow missed her, she’ll worry about him. Same if she returns to the island from wherever she’s gone, because by now he suspects she’s left. Or, been taken.

Lauriam dispels that line of thinking back to the one he’s chewing on. In fact, it feels like getting too close to the rims of the island causes a high pitch whine in his ear. It’s odd, too, that upon getting too close to the water’s surface in some areas, he’ll suddenly shake his head awake in a totally different part of town. This has happened twice. Twice was enough to tell him something is wrong.

In the old world, they’d been told to keep away from traveling to other lands as they were “scarred and fragile by past wars," Master Gula had said. That’d barely made sense then, but it was the Foretellers. Now Lauriam had to find answers for himself. His sister depended on it.

He depended on her.

 . . .

When he was little, he’d let an old man in the market of his hometown teach him about lucid dreaming. It seemed like a fun way to mess with his own dreams. He’d see his sister in them and smile and even though he knew it was a dream, still wondered if she could feel him there.

Now, when night came and he saw Strelitzia, obscured under a white cloak perched on the edge of a flower-filled cliff, laughing and fleeing behind a house, Lauriam would hold the dream together as long as possible, memorize everything and especially what he saw of his sister. Anything. 

Chapter Text

Elrena knew exactly what compelled her to have lied to Lauriam that day. The same thing that motivated nearly everything else.

“Please,” Strelitzia had begged, “Don’t tell my brother about us yet if you see him. Big softie in a vest with pink hair.” One of Elrena’s eyebrows rose as she smirked. “He already thinks I’m infatuated with the one wielder I'm trying to recruit, Player.”

Elrena still couldn't believe the dude's name was 'player'; that had to be an alias. She swallowed a snort. “Aren’t you?” she teased. Strelitzia went red and stiff, huffed. “Not you too…” 

Elrena knew Strel was looking for other ‘good kids’ to join her special inter-union party. And Elrena, too, although she wouldn’t have put herself down as a ‘good kid’ by miles. She rubbed Strel’s hands in hers. “I jest. I know it’s not like that. I just–“ She sighed. “I thought we were good having people see us in public.” 

Strelitzia turned to face the other girl where they sat on the roof of a Third District house. She had that wide-eyed face that could burst into tears at any moment and made Elrena weak. “I do,” the girl croaked, twirling a ribbon into her other hand. “My brother’s different. He’s so protective, and… I haven’t even told him I like girls.” She took her hand back and pumped both as fists at her sides. “I promise I will, though! Before we…” Elena’s memories of the conversation ended there and started up elsewhere. Like a gaping hole. She could only make them out in flashes in dreams, and they were gone by morning. Gone.

. . .

… before we go.” Strel finished. She looked down all of a sudden. 

Elrena knew Strel had had a hard time joining the Dandelions in deciding to escape the war. It had set Strel on edge. Which is why she spent half of her days shirking missions to whisper to others about the ‘super secret cool union’ that had been created. Elrena wondered if that resistance to flee was what made it so hard for her to talk to that Player kid- Others had said they were the same way. 

As for Elrena- she grabbed Strel’s hand again as the other girl sat back down with a small ‘oof’, swung the hands between them. One evening, they'd been sitting looking at each other awkwardly for too long, and then blurted out at the same time about Ava, then broke out into laughter as realization flashed that they’d had the same confession. It was a no-brainer- Neither was letting the other go into battle. Neither was letting the other get hurt.  

. . .

And now… Elrena clicked her fingernails against each other. Now no one could FIND Strel, including her own brother. It should’ve been obvious they’d be upfront about things to track her down, but–– She grabbed a finger on one hand and brought it into the same on on the other hand. “Pinky promise you won’t tell him, El. At least not until I have the chance to…” It was one of the last thing she’d said that night- The last night. The last night before…?

Clearing her throat, Elrena could just about stave off tears. She needed to focus on strategy for the next day. Now that Lauriam confirmed his sister was missing, she’d look extra hard in every world. 

She chewed on her lip as she reached for her journal and a pen. There was another reason she hadn’t told Lauriam the truth. She could feel that the pain and desperation when he’d asked her about Strel earlier that day was real. But she still didn’t fully trust the Union leaders, not yet at least. The Foretellers were gone. She had a weird, curdling feeling that somehow, other Keyblade wielders from around town were gone. It even felt like parts of the world were gone, sometimes, even though she hadn’t the FOGGIEST what that meant.

Everyone was leaving, which Elrena found typical, really, but Strel wasn’t just anyone.

She was everything. 

Once Elrena had finished writing down her action plan for the next day’s search, she set her journal down on her desk side table and sighed, loudly. It seemed like every little thing took too much out of her, these days. Chalk it up to another of the oddities that popped up around Daybreak Town. Again, the Union leaders probably knew SOMETHING. She’d get it out of them. But she had priorities- She stared over at the picture on the nightstand she'd snapped of Strel and her shoulder to shoulder at the foot of the clocktower, from when they'd first met after choosing unions. Elrena breathed out long and slow. 

Her Chirithy, seemingly having heard her noises, spun out of the air at the foot of her bed. “Hey. Is there anything I can help with?” It pattered over to the other side of the bed as Elrena narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms. “YOU’VE done enough today as is, don’t you think?” It was spoken in artificial frustration that kept away a lot of her union members, but that her Chrithy was all too familiar with. Still-

“You don’t normally care much about other people, is all” indeed. Elrena pushed back onto of her hair curls in petty annoyance. But she was too tired to even keep that up. 

As Chirithy slid up next to her, her posture relaxed and she leaned over into the plush companion.

Her partner spoke more seriously this time- “Seriously. If there’s anything I can help with. Please let me know.”

Elrena licked her bottom lip and focused on the night sky. Tried not thinking about stargazing with the only other person she’d ever let catch her stargazing. Tried not to cry in front of Chirithy. What would crying do to help? What would–?

Chirithy leaned back into Elrena’s shoulder and cooed, “We’re going to find her. She’s going to be ok and we’re going to find her, El.”

Elrena sagged the rest of the way and pressed herself into Chirithy’s belly, muffling sobs. Curling herself around it and falling into restless dreams of soft giggles and ginger hair and hand on hand in the void they sat in.

Chapter Text

It was one of the last things Player always saw in that barren hollow desert in their nightmares. Before the glimmering heart-shaped light. Before Ephemer and Skuld pulled them from the ground. After the deluge of white hearts shimmering upwards as lips dragged out. “Don’t… go…”

There was also the zombie kid.

Player had seen him get sliced across the back by a Unicornis member, go down hard, before the attacker was drawn off yelling by a rain of fire. Whoever had tried to save him never arrived for a Curaga, and Player could hear more metal clanging somewhere far off. 

Player themselves tried to lift their hands, but they bend strangely and hurt way too much. They cried out and crash back to the mud. Their Keyblade was a foot out of reach and buried to the hilt. 

Meanwhile, the other kid screeched and bucked into the dirt, face down. Player could barely see him convulsing, themselves drifting in and out of consciousness for minutes until they could hear quieter groans and pleas. Once again, they tried to rise up, only for crushing pain to lurch them back down and nearly spiral them back into sleep. They breathed out. Attempted to speak. Their voice was hoarse from screaming at Foretellers.

“Hey. You over there? You ok?”

Silence met them. Then a mewl, small. Some rustling, faint. 

“What’s your name? If you can help me up, even just my arm, I might be able to cast Cure.”

It took thirty seconds, until finally the other boy panted out, “Hay-len.” Player looked over and Haylen was trying to look back at them, face scraped from chin to forehead, eye swollen, leaking red stripes of blood. He’d been shivering and his teeth were set and his eyes would go from wide to drooping. 

“Hey. Stay with me. It’s not over, Haylen. C’mon.”

The other boy nodded, but in the next moment collapsed back down, grunting, breathing haggard.

A panic set into Player. A last-ditch effort to stand again, but by that point they couldn't even feel their body. Everything was numb, and unresponsive, heavy as Gravity. “Help!” They called out, as loud as their ruined voice could get, not close to the volume they wanted. They shouldn't have wasted it on the people who’d started this whole thing, who'd never listen. “Please!” They again registered distant sounds of fighting and flashes. The battles seemed to have carried on elsewhere.

“Please,” they says, multiple times, voice getting softer, and looked over. 

Haylen was still, face rolled away. Already, he could see a circle of light blooming on the boy's back, under his shirt. Then, a splash of white emerged, his body arching backwards. His heart freed itself, glimmering, and lifting upwards, out of sight. Player was vibrating, making choking noises through their teeth, shutting their eyes fast. Too many. Too many of them. Too much. 

They'd lost consciousness again until something to the left of them made a noise and Player rolled their head over to look, heart hammering at the thought of scavengers. Instead, Haylen’s body pushed itself upright into sitting position. The scrapes on his face, bloodless. His hair seemed to have lost a shade of color. Haylen sniffed, and crinkled his nose, as if the action offended him. 

He looked over at Player, gone pale and mouth agape, staring from the ground. Then the other boy gazed out into the endless desert. 

“What if you were made for nothing.”

Then he rose up all the way and walked off, shirt still ripped in the back.

Chapter Text

May knows she’s a middle-of-the-road kind of wielder. Her party members tell her, laughingly, that she may not bee the fastest, or strongest, but she does get the job done. She thinks to herself, “Pretty average. At least compared to––“

Gula used to tell instruct her, very patiently when he’d catch her on missions around Daybreak Town, on how to improve her swing and some places to find new medals. That had helped. Gula had a smile that made things feel alright, even though she couldn’t see the rest of his face. His smile reminded her of

Ventus, her own Union leader, sometimes saw her when she was fighting Heartless around town. His guidance was mostly in the form of a grin and a thumbs-up, which wasn’t quite as helpful, but… whatever. For some reason, she’d been so anxious to improve weeks ago, but… It suddenly didn’t feel so urgent anymore. Nothing really felt so urgent anymore, except the fact that she couldn’t find

find

She slams the drawer to her room shut, having found the journal. She tears through it, and blinks. Empty. Empty? Had she… ever written in this thing? She’s not sure if that makes her angrier or not. She sits down heavily on the bed, and her Chirithy emerges, pink ribbon billowing as she falls into the girl’s lap. “You look distressed,” it coos. “Any help I can give?” May is staring out the window at the fading sun. “You ever forget a… word… Chirithy?” The plushie cat crooks its head and gives out a ‘hmmm’- “I mean, I guess I wouldn’t know if I’d forgotten it, right?” 

“Yeah,” May says, and the words taste dry.

After missions the next day, May walks aimlessly about the cobblestone trying to conjure anything to mind about…

It gets to the point that she’s writing down every POSSIBLE name she can think of. As she starts fumbling for new ones, she realizes she’s only taken up a page, and shivers. Did… she used to know more people, at some point?

She’s so busy staring at the pages that she runs right into someone’s back and nearly falls back, until an arm steadies her. She shakes curls out of her eyes. “Oh, sorry, uh  “

She looks up. It’s      . Lips open to speak, a hand grips her, and then she wheels back and there’s nothing, no one there, just a ringing in her ears. 

She’s still shaking when she gets home. She throws herself onto the bed and tries to get the picture back. Rosy lips… hand with sharp nails…

In a frenzy to keep anything in mind, she writes this down, only to notice there’s two words sandwiched between these and the list of names:

“It hurts.”

. . .

May is fighting through Wonderland when she feels a set of eyes on her. If it’s that dang Cheshire Cat again she’s going to up and lose her temper. No matter which way she turns, though, the cat’s not there.

She tightens the grip on her handle. Tries to remember the overhead technique Gula taught her. She counts her Munny as she heads towards the rose garden for the last wave, and decides she has enough to treat herself to a sea salt ice cream back in town. It’s been weeks since she’s had one, which is weird, because it’s not only HER favorite but –––’s

Her mind shorts out. There, at the edge of the woods, is a flash of a red jacket, dark blue bracelets. No name to go by, she just calls out “Wait!” and “Stop!” As she rushes into the forest. She’s weaving past logs and curling ferns and giant flowers, slashing weeds aside with her blade, and he’s still one step ahead, red just behind the far-off trunk, a catch of blue against the leaves. She spurs herself on, voice hoarse with commands, she’s resorted to flinging spells, for some reason, as if THAT’S going to make the person stop. She’s always been just a little too slow, a little too weak, a little too middle of the road, she knows. And now she’s been so awful that she’s FORGOTTEN someone that matters so much to her! 

One more gleam of red and blue, around a corner, and she bursts through a shaded meadow of giggling daisies, through the last of the trees.

She emerges into a clearing and there’s–– 

An empty field. Signs pointing in different directions sum it up– ‘Nobody.’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘Nowhere.’

As May tries to catch her breath, now does the Cheshire Cat appear, smiling wickedly from atop a white fence, tail flicking behind him. “I find that it is easier to play hide and seek when it is not with ghosts.”

Not even thinking, May throws her Keyblade out and the cat vanishes in an instant, metal slicing through and dissolving a crescent moon of teeth.

It takes her an hour to calm down enough to summon a Lane home. 

That night, she pretends to sleep and under the blankets fills pages with anything she can remember, except it’s only, “Rosy lips. Sharp nails. Red jacket. Blue bracelets.” Over and over. 

. . .

May walks down to the market drearily. She knows her lack of sleep is showing on her face and in her stats. She wants to feel the disappointment she knows must be latent on her union’s faces but she focuses instead on getting some sleep potion and getting back to missions in Agrabah. She catches sight of Ephemer walking over to the vegetable vendor, waves lazily, and is about to continue when she hears him say - 

It’s like a crack of lightning. There’s an instant of pounding recognition and then it’s over, and a few seconds later the thundering of longing and hope. She lunges over but Ephemer has already exited, may already be halfway to the tower at the rate he moves, and she’s pulling at her hair as she breathes hard and asks the vendor. “Wh- What did Union Leader Ephemer want?” The teen clerk catches the frantic edge of her voice and steps back, voice small. “Uh. They just wanted to know when someone’s shift started. That person isn’t here, though.” May grips the edge of the table to steady herself. “What was their name?” The vendor opens their mouth- and closes it. Furrows their brow. “I… I didn’t quite catch it. Sorry.” 

But May is already tearing out of the market, yelling for Ephemer, looking wildly for snatches of red or dark blue, running through streets that suddenly feel too big and too quiet and too foreign than what she remembers. Nobody, nothing, nowhere.

 . . .

The last bricks of Daybreak Town fall apart into green stretches of code that delete themselves and on the tile steps May slips and falls into oblivion and—

Smiles. Laughs, even. Sniffs as tears fall. As she falls. Chirithy apparates directly into her arms and the confetti flaps upwards as they dive into space, and the plushie buries itself into her chest and murmurs, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” and May squeezes them back but can’t stop smiling, even as her eyes blur and close. 

“Jean.”

Chapter Text

You and Skuld watched the worlds burn. Daybreak Town is filled with smoke, and tints of black and red, Darkness thick as fog. You grip the railings, eyes bulging, knuckles-white. This is not what Master Ava promised.

The fresh, shiny new world where they were meant to restore light to the world was just the pinpricks of light itself, code stored neatly away. There was no new world. There was a digital holding cell for them to stay in until after the world had cleared outside out of this. And now even that holding cell was coming apart too early.

You were supposed to be able to start over far from the war. Take the Dandelions and flee and use the lux to build something bright in a world laid out before you. Instead, you were coming back to try and shovel a new world over a dead one lying in ash. And now the Dandelions were going to be stuck asleep, at the mercy of fragile technology in a collapsing world. You hold your scarf to stop the tears. Smoke whips your grey hair. It wasn’t supposed to be like this… 

A warm presence on your hand. Skuld has taken it and is trying to lead you back inside. Right… maybe you can still sleep through some of the worst. Maybe the future is the new world promised.

“Eph, it’s not safe out here,” she says. “Let’s go.”

-- --

It’s a little cabin on a little island and you, Skuld, and your friend, Player, are chasing each other up the beach, Keyblades in hand but shiny and unblemished like old times. They collapse against a palm tree near the house and take deep breaths, staring at each other for several minutes.

Player wiggles their eyebrows mischievously- “Really had you going there, didn’t I?”

You laugh and cuff them lightly on the back of the head, their laugh twinkling. Skuld shakes her head but can’t look angry.

“I didn’t take you for the theatrical type! Maybe we can go to the mainland to see a film soon!”

You smile wide, and Player gapes.

“You’d… still like to hang out, even though I lied to you?”

Skuld looks thoughtful- “Of course. I was super mad when you did it, at first, even though it was clever.”

Her smile fades- “I don’t like you sacrificing yourself for us. We’re your friends. We care a lot about you.”

She drops her forehead to meet her friend’s as you nod several times.

“We Dandelions need to watch out for each other, right? Can’t go losing each other.”

And you dip low and grace a quiet kiss to Player’s cheek- something you've always wanted to do-, who sighs and pulls you in close. Then you turn and kiss Skuld too, for good measure, and smile at them both. Skuld plants her own kiss on Player's nose, and everyone is some shade of red. 

Player looks halfway between shocked and ecstatic and pulls you and Skuld in close, lips quivering.

“You two… I… I’m so happy… I promise     ”

And then the island melts away with all your hearts beating so close to each other and-

It’s just you in your bed, single heart racing and stuttering breaths coming out, the last of tears you’d apparently been shedding coming out.

Something poofs into existence above you and you instinctually grabs for the creature, snuggling it close and letting sobs resolve into whimpers. Chirithy nods down to you.

“Nightmares? Need me to take care of it?”

You stare at your companion with wide-eyed terror, yell “No”, and grab Chirithy close into a rocking embrace.

“Please. Please let this dream last. Please make it stay. Please don’t let me forget.” And you stay like that, buried into the plush fur, until the morning arrives.

-- --

When the sun glows peach above the ocean, you stand there for a while, looking out at the water. You've been bunking in a houseboat with another refuge from the cracked-apart world. Everyday, the seams between lands are growing wider, exposing void beneath. Darkness.

You look through porthole at the newly-formed island, 'Caelum', trying not to frown. You can barely make out the makeshift homes you've all built so far, leaning together- You try not to imagine what will happen when even a small storm washes through. Towards the far end of the landmass is 'City Hall', a small lean-to building made of scraps of housing salvaged from the water's surface. 

Nobody knows what happened to Daybreak Town, beyond the fact that it seems to have disappeared save for all the floating detritus and supplies. 

You'd all been as thankful to scrounge up the entirety of a Moogle shop's food from the wreckage; as thankful as when everyone had found you. The twenty or so other other Keyblade wielders had been there during the war in the Wastelands, had only survived by teaming up and hiding out among gaps and crags in the desert. They'd limped their way back to the shoreline and rowed back in the direction of Daybreak Town on a raft of discarded Keyblades. What they'd found was you, a day out from emerging from the escape pod, stumbling around a ruined stretch of stairs, crying, and pulling at your hair.

You try not to think about it. 

Things are a lot more stable now, comparatively. You'd ceded some of your authority as a former 'Union Leader' (a position that really no longer applied and that non-Dandelions hadn't ever had explained to them) to the head of the escaped Keyblade kids. Theo was a large, kindhearted boy with a crooked spine and a crooked Keyblade he'd gotten after being Blizzaga'd off the side of a plateau. When the other kids had asked you what union you belonged to, Theo had stepped forward, smile pulled taut, shaking his head- "Remember. We're not doing that anymore."

No more unions. It sounded nice. While Theo worked out the logistics of their survival, you tried to get everyone to chip in and start building something resembling society. Soon, a few refugee adults from neighboring lands found their way to Caelum, and work progressed much faster. They called the Keyblade wielders things like 'The Sacrifices' and 'that Union cult.'" It all made your mouth go dry, because at the end of the day, yeah, that's what it all was, wasn't it?

Sighing, you shift your gaze from the window back over to the dresser. It's getting close to the start of the workday. They were going to construct a more permanent cooking area than pits in the rubble. After that, more houses and amenities. And so on. 

This was it. This was 'saving the light.' This was 'starting the new world.'

It was backbreaking, exhausting, and, though your calm smile masked it-

Lonely.

You rub the sleep from his eyes and tries to will a smile back into place. Youre' was still a 'leader', even without a union to protect. A whole lot of people are depending on you to turn the apocalypse into a new chance, to scrape ruin into a city.

You can't let them down.

As has become the daily routine, before getting dressed, you bend over your cot and quietly whisper, "Skuld, Player, Brain, Laurium, Ventus- Be safe, let your heart be your guiding key."

You can't let them down. 

Chapter Text

You’re asleep, and in the milky white of the void you see shapes floating around you, flashes of color and animal sounds. You’re swimming and falling and flailing to get out because ‘there has to be some way back out to them, some way to make this right, and suddenly he’s there in a stranger’s hands which seem to be yours, and a stranger’s voice comes out of your mouth, 

“Eph! I… I’m so sorry! It was a trick to get you safe and out of the way! Please, please forgive me!” 

And even though he looks thin-lipped and ready to bolt or maybe cry and hit you now he pulls you into a sweeping hug. 

“I’m just… glad you’re ok.” 

And then Skuld is there too, smiling and doing a small whip of her hair like all those other times before, and your voice breaks up when you say, “Hi Skuld” because you’ve found the things in your life you’d lay down your life for. 

As she comes closer you study that they seem to have grown older? Have you; who even are you? But before you can respond Skuld pulls you into a hug so deep you shiver, and a steady kiss on your forehead that leaves you red. 

Ephemer laughs, and then bends down and kisses you right on your nose. The blush depends and you whimper, “I know when I’m being had…” 

But Skuld laughs and pulls your crossed arms apart and looks at you really deeply now, and frowns a bit, saying, “You know you’re my best friend, right? How painful it was to let you leave?” 

Something tightens in your chest; you nod, dumbly. She steps back, though, and Ephemer comes forward, grin wide but knowingly awkward. 

“I… uh, I don’t really know if I have anything additional except, May I kiss you?” 

And the thought shoots you like a revelation handed from the sky, and you croak out ‘yes’ before he’s on you, his lips on yours, smooth and tasty and the right amount of pressure that you groan, too out loud for your comfort afterwards, and you think you might be crying a little. 

Skuld then pushes in and looks intently at you again, and you realize something with a feather-beat of your heart and you stumble over syllables before she gets out, “I… I like the way we are, together” and now you are crying as you kiss Skuld, all soft curves and smoothness and cupping her face and sighing. 

She breaks away to kiss Ephemer, and you miss the contact but barely register any jealousy or lack, just the want of the pressure of these two against you for all time and forever after that.

Now the three of you are panting and resting your heads together as if connecting minds and you smile and reach your hand to them and start, “A–“ 

You wake up with a start, scattering chess pieces from the table onto the floor. You look around the room in a daze, a great pressure telling you something is missing although for the life of you you can’t seem to grasp what it is anymore; you’re breathing hard, hunched over. 

You say something miserable and scoop the entire chessboard away before stalking out of the room, feeling things slip away that you can’t tell you ever actually had.

Chapter Text

Ȩ̸̜̒̅̾̐̈́͛̕̚͘͝l̴̢̢̗̩͚͕͇̦͙͓͒̌ŗ̸̘̻̹͓̭̬͂͋̍̂͋͊̈́e̵̞̍̌̽̅̔̓̈́̿̏n̷̨̛̊͋͊̚͝a̵̛̱̠͉͐̈̈́̆̒̕͜͠

Could feel something at her side. She giggled. “Stop, I’m ticklish! Don’t you DARE.” Someone nearby gave a small laugh and Ȩ̸̜̒̅̾̐̈́͛̕̚͘͝l̴̢̢̗̩͚͕͇̦͙͓͒̌ŗ̸̘̻̹͓̭̬͂͋̍̂͋͊̈́e̵̞̍̌̽̅̔̓̈́̿̏n̷̨̛̊͋͊̚͝a̵̛̱̠͉͐̈̈́̆̒̕͜͠ felt warm and giddy. “Sorry. Sorry! I just like being close. It’s cold today and you’re very warm!”

Ȩ̸̜̒̅̾̐̈́͛̕̚͘͝l̴̢̢̗̩͚͕͇̦͙͓͒̌ŗ̸̘̻̹͓̭̬͂͋̍̂͋͊̈́e̵̞̍̌̽̅̔̓̈́̿̏n̷̨̛̊͋͊̚͝a̵̛̱̠͉͐̈̈́̆̒̕͜͠  rolled her eyes. “I’m NOT a heating device, S̶̢̧̩͍̟̯̩̪͉̤̲͇̃̾ͅṱ̶̤̀̿̌̿̈́͠ṟ̵̛̥̫̤̈́̒̒͊͊̌̉̃͘ẹ̶̜͕̱̈́͊̑l̸̛͍̙͔̥͈̠̙̭͑̐̉̌͐́̂̔͑͠͠ͅi̴̢̨̨̧̛̛̞̫̫̳̭̱̖͋͂̂͑̃̊̄͆͋̊̚͜͠͠t̷͕̠̞̠̱̹̂͂̐͗̾̃̓̎̕ͅͅz̷̤͎̩̻͙̞̖̬͍̯̓͛̏̒̉̅̔͘̚i̷̧̖͇̗̱̫͉̝̟͖̳̠͙͈̙̓͂̾̆̔̌͛̕͝a̶̡̡͙̱͓̤̼̺̥̽̔͑͗.  If you really wanna get warm,” she teased, we could always fight some Heartless in Agrabah.”

S̶̢̧̩͍̟̯̩̪͉̤̲͇̃̾ͅṱ̶̤̀̿̌̿̈́͠ṟ̵̛̥̫̤̈́̒̒͊͊̌̉̃͘ẹ̶̜͕̱̈́͊̑l̸̛͍̙͔̥͈̠̙̭͑̐̉̌͐́̂̔͑͠͠ͅi̴̢̨̨̧̛̛̞̫̫̳̭̱̖͋͂̂͑̃̊̄͆͋̊̚͜͠͠t̷͕̠̞̠̱̹̂͂̐͗̾̃̓̎̕ͅͅz̷̤͎̩̻͙̞̖̬͍̯̓͛̏̒̉̅̔͘̚i̷̧̖͇̗̱̫͉̝̟͖̳̠͙͈̙̓͂̾̆̔̌͛̕͝a̶̡̡͙̱͓̤̼̺̥̽̔͑͗ tutted, and took on her rare playful tone. “Nốt a heating device? Im nốt sure I believe it. Do you feel warm when I do this?”

And Ȩ̸̜̒̅̾̐̈́͛̕̚͘͝l̴̢̢̗̩͚͕͇̦͙͓͒̌ŗ̸̘̻̹͓̭̬͂͋̍̂͋͊̈́e̵̞̍̌̽̅̔̓̈́̿̏n̷̨̛̊͋͊̚͝a̵̛̱̠͉͐̈̈́̆̒̕͜͠. Could now feel the touch of lips ghosting on her shoulder, a voice giggling again like the sound of bells and kissing her cheek, softly, and she tried to lean into it “S̶̢̧̩͍̟̯̩̪͉̤̲͇̃̾ͅṱ̶̤̀̿̌̿̈́͠ṟ̵̛̥̫̤̈́̒̒͊͊̌̉̃͘e–“

And came to in a flurry, jumping out of the bed and breathing deep, yes scanning thee room. She paced the white stark room, face red. She touched her fingers, shaking, to her cheek, and felt stupid, so so stupid, where there was wetness in her eyes. “Damn it!” Larxene took a bookend on the shelf and whipped it at the wall, shattering it. She was too frazzled to summon her kunai. She grabbed handfuls of her hair and groaned. 

As she curled her lips together and beat a fist into the wall, Ienzo’s words- which she was increasingly believing were on-the-spot bullshit- came to her- “You might experience ‘phantom’ emotions from your time as a Somebody.” Nothing felt like a Spector of emotion about this— It felt raw and fresh and convulsing.

When she heard steps approaching, she very carefully cleared her throat, dabbed her sleeve quickly at her eyes (“tears?!” she thought, panicking), and tried to bring her expression to simply angry. Axel knocked at the door- “And what was that, dear Larxene? I thought I heard some commotion, and SOME of us are trying for beauty sleep. Feeling some disappointment after your last little defeat by the little Key boy” 

Larxene tried hard to keep herself loud and steady, voice full of poisonous sweetness, “As if. As I said, I was holding back. Now why don’t you screw off somewhere else, Axel.” She bent down to pick up the pieces of the broken marble, curling her hands into fist to stop the trembling. She heard a scoff, behind the door, and two steps, before the rustle of the cloak again. “Well, dear, if you DO have need of any late night advice on your form, know my door is open and waiting. Get it memorized. Ta-ta.” 

Larxene only stuttered a little when she said, “Loser”, too silent for anyone to hear.