Kingdom Hearts: "Curiosity"
Featuring: Namine, Axel, Larxene
Rating: PG-13, for horrible
Timeline: pre-CoM
Words: 674
Spoilers? Barely. Like Chain of Memories itself, this spoils only if you already know what everyone's talking about. Only I did you the courtesy of capitalizing "nobody".
Curiosity
At first, she thought the red-haired man would be like the other two who came to see her most often. Refined and terrifying, or sweetly cruel. Indifferent, if she was very lucky.
How could she expect anything else?
So she braced herself, shut her eyes tightly, held her breath, and waited. Waited for the words that would cut into her skin, waited for him to cross the room and slide cool gloved fingers through her hair until she felt sick. Waited, and listened to her heartbeat until it echoed like footsteps in the empty white hallways of the castle.
But the man only stared at her and said nothing.
Minutes passed in tense silence, until she could bring herself to move, to open her sketchbook and resume her drawing. She had been working on a careful illustration of a bird, slowly constructing one feather after another into brightly-colored wings. Not that she'd ever seen a bird before, or much of anything outside this room, but once in a picture book--
"Whose Nobody are you?"
When she looked up at him, she was careful to keep her eyes on his chin. Marluxia had made sure she knew better than to look any of them in the eye (good girls didn't do that sort of thing, and she was a good girl, wasn't she). It was hard to tell from only the curl of his upper lip, but she thought the red-haired man wanted a real answer. "I don't know," she admitted.
He crossed his arms to cover for the surge of tension, but she saw it anyway. She had nothing to do but watch the way people guarded secrets. "You don't remember."
"No." Why did it matter to him? None of the others had seemed so curious.
"Then you don't have a name."
She paused, but the set of his mouth now gave nothing away. Was he saying it to hurt her, as Larxene might have? Was he saying it to remind her oh-so-subtly that she was really nothing without them, like Marluxia did from time to time? She couldn't be sure. "No."
"And no one's bothered to give you one, right?"
Almost a statement. She thought he might have been amused, but he might also have been disgusted. Or maybe, she thought, he was both at once. "No," she repeated.
Silence fell between them, thick and heavy like old cloth. The man stood motionless, staring at her, for so long that she started to go back to her drawing. She had just pressed a yellow crayon to the paper when he spoke again.
"They're calling you Namine."
The yellow crayon snapped in her hand. She wet her lips but didn't dare look at him. "Namine?" she asked softly, testing the syllables for her weight.
He might have had more to say, but that was when the air shivered around them and Larxene entered the room, appearing on the long white table with her legs crossed beneath her cloak. "Marluxia's looking for you," she told the red-haired man, but all attention was fixed on her. "I'll watch over the little one for a while."
"Sure thing." His smile was audible, smooth and easy and nothing like the subtle toneless way he'd spoken to her. Instantly, she was twice as wary of him. The air shivered again, and he was gone.
Leaving her alone with Larxene.
The older woman leaned in close, deliberately intimate, deliberately invasive, trailing gloved fingers along her jaw. It was almost enough to make her recoil. "Did you and Axel have fun?"
Almost, but not quite. "Is that his name?"
And when Larxene's fingers dug into her skin, sudden and sharp and painful, it was almost enough to make her cry out. Instead, she stared at the smile, stared at the strain, and did not flinch when that smile cracked and laughter pealed out, pretty and cold and dangerous. "What do names matter to you, little one?"
Namine was still careful not to lift her eyes. "I was only curious," she lied.
Rating: PG-13, for horrible
Timeline: pre-CoM
Words: 674
Spoilers? Barely. Like Chain of Memories itself, this spoils only if you already know what everyone's talking about. Only I did you the courtesy of capitalizing "nobody".
Curiosity
At first, she thought the red-haired man would be like the other two who came to see her most often. Refined and terrifying, or sweetly cruel. Indifferent, if she was very lucky.
How could she expect anything else?
So she braced herself, shut her eyes tightly, held her breath, and waited. Waited for the words that would cut into her skin, waited for him to cross the room and slide cool gloved fingers through her hair until she felt sick. Waited, and listened to her heartbeat until it echoed like footsteps in the empty white hallways of the castle.
But the man only stared at her and said nothing.
Minutes passed in tense silence, until she could bring herself to move, to open her sketchbook and resume her drawing. She had been working on a careful illustration of a bird, slowly constructing one feather after another into brightly-colored wings. Not that she'd ever seen a bird before, or much of anything outside this room, but once in a picture book--
"Whose Nobody are you?"
When she looked up at him, she was careful to keep her eyes on his chin. Marluxia had made sure she knew better than to look any of them in the eye (good girls didn't do that sort of thing, and she was a good girl, wasn't she). It was hard to tell from only the curl of his upper lip, but she thought the red-haired man wanted a real answer. "I don't know," she admitted.
He crossed his arms to cover for the surge of tension, but she saw it anyway. She had nothing to do but watch the way people guarded secrets. "You don't remember."
"No." Why did it matter to him? None of the others had seemed so curious.
"Then you don't have a name."
She paused, but the set of his mouth now gave nothing away. Was he saying it to hurt her, as Larxene might have? Was he saying it to remind her oh-so-subtly that she was really nothing without them, like Marluxia did from time to time? She couldn't be sure. "No."
"And no one's bothered to give you one, right?"
Almost a statement. She thought he might have been amused, but he might also have been disgusted. Or maybe, she thought, he was both at once. "No," she repeated.
Silence fell between them, thick and heavy like old cloth. The man stood motionless, staring at her, for so long that she started to go back to her drawing. She had just pressed a yellow crayon to the paper when he spoke again.
"They're calling you Namine."
The yellow crayon snapped in her hand. She wet her lips but didn't dare look at him. "Namine?" she asked softly, testing the syllables for her weight.
He might have had more to say, but that was when the air shivered around them and Larxene entered the room, appearing on the long white table with her legs crossed beneath her cloak. "Marluxia's looking for you," she told the red-haired man, but all attention was fixed on her. "I'll watch over the little one for a while."
"Sure thing." His smile was audible, smooth and easy and nothing like the subtle toneless way he'd spoken to her. Instantly, she was twice as wary of him. The air shivered again, and he was gone.
Leaving her alone with Larxene.
The older woman leaned in close, deliberately intimate, deliberately invasive, trailing gloved fingers along her jaw. It was almost enough to make her recoil. "Did you and Axel have fun?"
Almost, but not quite. "Is that his name?"
And when Larxene's fingers dug into her skin, sudden and sharp and painful, it was almost enough to make her cry out. Instead, she stared at the smile, stared at the strain, and did not flinch when that smile cracked and laughter pealed out, pretty and cold and dangerous. "What do names matter to you, little one?"
Namine was still careful not to lift her eyes. "I was only curious," she lied.