[✐fanfic challenge] ygodrabble: life goes on
Challenge Name and Number: #035, Trap
Drabble Title: Life Goes On
Word Count: 597
Warnings (if applicable): Um. An OC?
Summary: In this life, we all have our roles to play. Best just to accept them, right?
"Need any help, little girl?"
She starts, unaware the vendor had been watching. "Just looking, sir," she replies; there's a foreigner one stall over, poring over statuettes, and he's making her nervous.
The vendor chuckles. "Well," he says, "I have something special reserved for polite guests like you. Wouldn't want just anyone walking away with such a precious treasure....”
"I'm a local, sir," she says proudly, immune to the tricks these men use; but one look at the pendant the man pulls out takes her breath away. Is that real gold? she thinks for a moment, before remembering it's probably a trick. Yet it gleams so convincingly, and the pendants chime true.
"Uprooted in the desert a few weeks ago, this was," the vendor whispers. "Out in the Valley of the Kings……strangest thing. It was just lying there, as if in wait….."
The girl stares, mesmerized. The pendant’s large - too bulky, not the sort of thing she could ever wear now. But when she's older? Perhaps, to impress people….or even to abet the same tricks this old man has perfected, to recreate a vision of the ancient world. The pendant before her does seem old, older than the buildings, the trees, the dust beneath her feet.
She'll never be able to afford it. But perhaps….just perhaps, she can make a deal…..
"Ah!"
A surprised gasp interrupts her reverie; she jumps, feeling her heart still hovering in her throat. The foreigner's standing behind her, staring at the pendant - her pendant - with an almost insane expression. Oh, for….. the girl thinks. It's not that incredible.
"How much?!" the foreigner demands, panicked. The vendor names a price - too high, the girl things smugly: but the foreigner's digging in his bag, pulling out bills at random, slamming down twice what the vendor's offered.
"Will this be enough?!" he cries, making a grab for the pendant; stunned at the sight of the money, the vendor lets it go, and the girl feels a stab first of panic, then of anger. How dare he!
"Sir," she objects, "I was looking at that first…."
The foreigner glances her over - pale blue eyes, she notices, beneath paler hair - and smiles a gentle smile. "I know," he admits, and there's a gravity to his voice, a reassurance, that leaves her every bit as confused as the price he's just paid. "But it's all right now."
And then he’s gone, ducking into the crowd. The girl stands, blinking, confused; but in a few more minutes the ire has faded. She shrugs and goes about her way, the vendor still captivated by his sale. It’s not the end of the world, the girl figures. Life goes on.
---
"Nice save," says the voice in Ryou's head; he shivers, flexes his hands. They respond, for now.
"I told you before, didn't I?" he replies simply. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."
The spirit chuckles, and Ryou bites back a grimace. "Ah, don't you trust me yet?" it asks. "The door to the underworld has closed forever. I'm a captive…..just like you."
Ryou nods, the weight familiar around his neck. "It was me you were after, anyway," he says sadly.
The spirit just cackles again, but Ryou keeps walking. It'd been a shock, he admits, to see it return. It'd hurt.
But even through the horror, he can't say he's surprised.
Drabble Title: Life Goes On
Word Count: 597
Warnings (if applicable): Um. An OC?
Summary: In this life, we all have our roles to play. Best just to accept them, right?
"Need any help, little girl?"
She starts, unaware the vendor had been watching. "Just looking, sir," she replies; there's a foreigner one stall over, poring over statuettes, and he's making her nervous.
The vendor chuckles. "Well," he says, "I have something special reserved for polite guests like you. Wouldn't want just anyone walking away with such a precious treasure....”
"I'm a local, sir," she says proudly, immune to the tricks these men use; but one look at the pendant the man pulls out takes her breath away. Is that real gold? she thinks for a moment, before remembering it's probably a trick. Yet it gleams so convincingly, and the pendants chime true.
"Uprooted in the desert a few weeks ago, this was," the vendor whispers. "Out in the Valley of the Kings……strangest thing. It was just lying there, as if in wait….."
The girl stares, mesmerized. The pendant’s large - too bulky, not the sort of thing she could ever wear now. But when she's older? Perhaps, to impress people….or even to abet the same tricks this old man has perfected, to recreate a vision of the ancient world. The pendant before her does seem old, older than the buildings, the trees, the dust beneath her feet.
She'll never be able to afford it. But perhaps….just perhaps, she can make a deal…..
"Ah!"
A surprised gasp interrupts her reverie; she jumps, feeling her heart still hovering in her throat. The foreigner's standing behind her, staring at the pendant - her pendant - with an almost insane expression. Oh, for….. the girl thinks. It's not that incredible.
"How much?!" the foreigner demands, panicked. The vendor names a price - too high, the girl things smugly: but the foreigner's digging in his bag, pulling out bills at random, slamming down twice what the vendor's offered.
"Will this be enough?!" he cries, making a grab for the pendant; stunned at the sight of the money, the vendor lets it go, and the girl feels a stab first of panic, then of anger. How dare he!
"Sir," she objects, "I was looking at that first…."
The foreigner glances her over - pale blue eyes, she notices, beneath paler hair - and smiles a gentle smile. "I know," he admits, and there's a gravity to his voice, a reassurance, that leaves her every bit as confused as the price he's just paid. "But it's all right now."
And then he’s gone, ducking into the crowd. The girl stands, blinking, confused; but in a few more minutes the ire has faded. She shrugs and goes about her way, the vendor still captivated by his sale. It’s not the end of the world, the girl figures. Life goes on.
---
"Nice save," says the voice in Ryou's head; he shivers, flexes his hands. They respond, for now.
"I told you before, didn't I?" he replies simply. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."
The spirit chuckles, and Ryou bites back a grimace. "Ah, don't you trust me yet?" it asks. "The door to the underworld has closed forever. I'm a captive…..just like you."
Ryou nods, the weight familiar around his neck. "It was me you were after, anyway," he says sadly.
The spirit just cackles again, but Ryou keeps walking. It'd been a shock, he admits, to see it return. It'd hurt.
But even through the horror, he can't say he's surprised.