Kingdom Hearts ~ Hearts and Happenstance - The Absence of You
Title: The Absence of You
Prompt: #6 - the space between dream and reality (for 30_kisses )
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts II
Characters/Pairings: Luxord/Tifa
Rating: G
Word Count: 962
Disclaimer: I don’t own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters therein. They belong to Square and Disney, to whom I am eternally grateful for letting me play in their sandbox.
Summary: As the residents of Hollow Bastion begin to find their lives again, an individual searches for closure.
Notes: I’ll admit I took a few liberties of game mechanics with this one. Hopefully it won’t bother anyone too much.
The sound of rushing water meets her ears as Tifa steps through the doorway. The room is sterile and white, surrounded by columns of water on all sides. A console is at the center of the room, its monitor already active and cycling through a list of commands.
Leon had found this cavern and the room it housed almost by accident, while patrolling Hollow Bastion-- Radiant Garden, Tifa reminds herself-- for any sign of a Heartless uprising.
Though Sora and his friends have succeeded in thwarting the Organization’s plans, the threat of Heartless still remains, perhaps as a testimony that there is still darkness lying dormant in people’s hearts.
The Heartless that lurked in the shadows of the cave had been tougher than the usual fare that always seems to be milling about in the streets-- the Nobodies even more so. It had been too dangerous for Leon to venture in alone-- he’d taken Yuffie and Cid along as backup to help him gather information. When they came back, bruised and weary with only one megapotion left between them, they had much to tell.
Tifa, to her credit, had remained silent as they each relayed what they had found, shoving her emotions deep under the surface. Nor had she reacted with anything other than interest when they revealed that they had found a shortcut to the very heart of the cavern, where a strange facility had apparently been constructed. Tifa used to wonder who was responsible for constructing such a place, but now she merely accepts it as yet another strange twist of fate.
There are many doors protruding from the walls of water, each adorned with distinctive symbols at their centers and leading to different chambers, but there is only one she is really interested in. She stands before it now, a nondescript door seemingly no different from the others except for a rectangular shape with a familiar emblem across its right side. Tifa briefly looks around for a hint that anyone has followed her, takes a deep breath, and walks through the door.
There is a moment of disorientation as her body is displaced, and Tifa finds herself in a expansive and yet somehow forbidding-looking balcony. She knows it well; knows it by the definitive symbol etched above the enormous slope on the far side of the room, the symbol of the now-defunct Organization. She knows what awaits her-- what will be arriving at any moment. She wonders if she’ll have the strength to withstand it this time.
He appears before her suddenly in a flash of light and sound. Her heart leaps as she sees him standing there, looking as he always did-- the ghost of a smile playing about his lips. She almost believes that at any minute he’ll speak her name in greeting in that charming way he has. It’s amazing how much effort it takes to restrain herself from rushing over to him. She has long since learned the futility of such an act, and the lesson had been excruciating-- physically as well as emotionally. Just the memory of it is enough to cause a wrenching pain in the center of her chest.
They stare into each other’s eyes for a few minutes in silence. Finally, Tifa takes one step forward, as close as she dares.
“I probably shouldn’t have come here again,” she says. “I’m sorry. I guess I just couldn’t help myself. I know you wanted me to let you go; not to chase after you like another Cloud, but...” She presses her lips together tightly. “But I can’t help it. It hurts. I miss you.”
Those last three words cause something to twist inside her and she falls silent, momentarily overcome with emotion. Luxord merely stands there, frozen; unmoved by her tears.
She wipes her eyes with a fist. “It’s funny, isn’t it? That I can cry over someone who didn’t even have a heart? There’s something ironic in that. You probably would’ve pointed it out. You were always good at picking up on life’s little paradoxes.”
She forces out a laugh-- it sounds ugly and false to her ears, but she’s afraid she’ll shatter if she doesn’t.
“Still, I guess it doesn’t really matter if you didn’t have a heart. You were still one of the most heartfelt people I’ve ever met, and I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize that.”
Her voice catches painfully in her throat again, and she has to swallow to loosen it.
Luxord still regards her quietly, that same blank expression on his face.
“I won’t say it,” she tells him. “You made me promise never to say it again. You thought it was meaningless. I intend to keep that promise, but... it wasn’t meaningless. Not to me. It never was. I just wanted to let you know that.”
Still he says nothing, and Tifa finds herself longing for him to speak again, for him to approach her; for the ability to kiss him one last time without hearing the warbling crackle of data disruption.
She nods at his stoic form, turning around to make her way out of the caverns once again.
She turns back only once. Luxord is still standing there, impassively watching her leave. The sight of him causes her eyes to fill again.
“Goodbye, Luxord,” she whispers, and her voice wavers over his name. “I hope you’ve found your peace, wherever you are.”
There is nothing more to say. Tifa turns on her heel and swiftly departs, hiding the onslaught of tears she tries to tell herself aren’t there.
Devoid of its company, the data replica of Luxord dutifully vanishes in a shower of zeroes and ones, to await the time when it would once again be needed.
Prompt: #6 - the space between dream and reality (for 30_kisses )
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts II
Characters/Pairings: Luxord/Tifa
Rating: G
Word Count: 962
Disclaimer: I don’t own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters therein. They belong to Square and Disney, to whom I am eternally grateful for letting me play in their sandbox.
Summary: As the residents of Hollow Bastion begin to find their lives again, an individual searches for closure.
Notes: I’ll admit I took a few liberties of game mechanics with this one. Hopefully it won’t bother anyone too much.
The sound of rushing water meets her ears as Tifa steps through the doorway. The room is sterile and white, surrounded by columns of water on all sides. A console is at the center of the room, its monitor already active and cycling through a list of commands.
Leon had found this cavern and the room it housed almost by accident, while patrolling Hollow Bastion-- Radiant Garden, Tifa reminds herself-- for any sign of a Heartless uprising.
Though Sora and his friends have succeeded in thwarting the Organization’s plans, the threat of Heartless still remains, perhaps as a testimony that there is still darkness lying dormant in people’s hearts.
The Heartless that lurked in the shadows of the cave had been tougher than the usual fare that always seems to be milling about in the streets-- the Nobodies even more so. It had been too dangerous for Leon to venture in alone-- he’d taken Yuffie and Cid along as backup to help him gather information. When they came back, bruised and weary with only one megapotion left between them, they had much to tell.
Tifa, to her credit, had remained silent as they each relayed what they had found, shoving her emotions deep under the surface. Nor had she reacted with anything other than interest when they revealed that they had found a shortcut to the very heart of the cavern, where a strange facility had apparently been constructed. Tifa used to wonder who was responsible for constructing such a place, but now she merely accepts it as yet another strange twist of fate.
There are many doors protruding from the walls of water, each adorned with distinctive symbols at their centers and leading to different chambers, but there is only one she is really interested in. She stands before it now, a nondescript door seemingly no different from the others except for a rectangular shape with a familiar emblem across its right side. Tifa briefly looks around for a hint that anyone has followed her, takes a deep breath, and walks through the door.
There is a moment of disorientation as her body is displaced, and Tifa finds herself in a expansive and yet somehow forbidding-looking balcony. She knows it well; knows it by the definitive symbol etched above the enormous slope on the far side of the room, the symbol of the now-defunct Organization. She knows what awaits her-- what will be arriving at any moment. She wonders if she’ll have the strength to withstand it this time.
He appears before her suddenly in a flash of light and sound. Her heart leaps as she sees him standing there, looking as he always did-- the ghost of a smile playing about his lips. She almost believes that at any minute he’ll speak her name in greeting in that charming way he has. It’s amazing how much effort it takes to restrain herself from rushing over to him. She has long since learned the futility of such an act, and the lesson had been excruciating-- physically as well as emotionally. Just the memory of it is enough to cause a wrenching pain in the center of her chest.
They stare into each other’s eyes for a few minutes in silence. Finally, Tifa takes one step forward, as close as she dares.
“I probably shouldn’t have come here again,” she says. “I’m sorry. I guess I just couldn’t help myself. I know you wanted me to let you go; not to chase after you like another Cloud, but...” She presses her lips together tightly. “But I can’t help it. It hurts. I miss you.”
Those last three words cause something to twist inside her and she falls silent, momentarily overcome with emotion. Luxord merely stands there, frozen; unmoved by her tears.
She wipes her eyes with a fist. “It’s funny, isn’t it? That I can cry over someone who didn’t even have a heart? There’s something ironic in that. You probably would’ve pointed it out. You were always good at picking up on life’s little paradoxes.”
She forces out a laugh-- it sounds ugly and false to her ears, but she’s afraid she’ll shatter if she doesn’t.
“Still, I guess it doesn’t really matter if you didn’t have a heart. You were still one of the most heartfelt people I’ve ever met, and I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize that.”
Her voice catches painfully in her throat again, and she has to swallow to loosen it.
Luxord still regards her quietly, that same blank expression on his face.
“I won’t say it,” she tells him. “You made me promise never to say it again. You thought it was meaningless. I intend to keep that promise, but... it wasn’t meaningless. Not to me. It never was. I just wanted to let you know that.”
Still he says nothing, and Tifa finds herself longing for him to speak again, for him to approach her; for the ability to kiss him one last time without hearing the warbling crackle of data disruption.
She nods at his stoic form, turning around to make her way out of the caverns once again.
She turns back only once. Luxord is still standing there, impassively watching her leave. The sight of him causes her eyes to fill again.
“Goodbye, Luxord,” she whispers, and her voice wavers over his name. “I hope you’ve found your peace, wherever you are.”
There is nothing more to say. Tifa turns on her heel and swiftly departs, hiding the onslaught of tears she tries to tell herself aren’t there.
Devoid of its company, the data replica of Luxord dutifully vanishes in a shower of zeroes and ones, to await the time when it would once again be needed.