Timeless [the apprentices]
Title: Timeless
Claim: Ansem's Apprentices
Written For: kingdom100 prompt- 023. Sunset
Rating: PG
It was a rare moment that they were all quiet together, getting along. Braig and Even, at least. Everyone else could at least be civil, usually.
But the setting sun over the ocean seemed to strike a melancholy chord in everyone, as they sat together in the fading light.
Xehanort was crouched on a protruding rock, orange eyes vivid in the matching brightness. His lab coat lay forgotten on a chair, somewhere, and his tie was flying free in the light breeze. He looked feral, almost... eternal.
Braig was curled in Dilan's arms. They'd given up pretending a long time ago, at least among the other apprentices. Thus, his head lay pillowed on Dilan's wide shoulder, and his eyes were closed. He was at peace here, warm, comforted. Home.
Dilan held Braig close and felt the quiet calm of the moment seep into him. Sunset... an ending, but the beginning of a darker time... a darker time that would eventually give way to light. His thick hair barely moved in the wind, but even that light breeze made him smile. Wind was so beautiful... ever changing, free, a force of nature that could never be contained. Like Braig, he thought with fondness, stroking his lover's hair. Wild and wonderful.
Even was next to them, his legs danging over the edge, sitting forward on his palms. He looked down at the waves... it was too hot, it always was, but he couldn't help that. The heat made him drowsy and lethargic... and it made him think too much, and not in the good way. About... things like love, and right and wrong, and silly stuff like that. Well, the truth was he envied them... no one would ever love him like Braig and Dilan loved each other. It was just a fact. He was too cold, too hard around the edges. He didn't like people getting close to him. And that was his downfall.
Aeleus sat behind them, quietly appreciative of the beauty of the sunset. He tried not to think about what he was doing to his future, to his family... and he felt a sudden welling of fellow-feeling for the people around him, people he could truly call his friends now. They were all together, all united in their curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. It was quite wonderful.
Ienzo sat a little off to the side, near Aeleus, thinking. He was always thinking, but now he kept on running into dead ends... and it frustrated him. Where were they going? What was going to happen next? Did it really matter? And that was where his brain would come up with the most frustrating dead end, one that he simply didn't have enough experience to answer. What did matter? His gray eyes roamed over the other five apprentices...
Aeleus, calm and steadfast as always.
Even, surprisingly melancholy in the warm light.
Dilan and Braig, simply happy.
Then he looked up at Xehanort, and what he saw, for once, didn't scare him. Because something in him knew that no matter where they were going... it was better than listening to a fool's words at home, and drifting through life without meaning.
Perhaps it was a wrong meaning...
But Xehanort saw the questions unasked, and reached for them, burning always to the horizon. He reached out and grasped hold of the meaning of life, and took it forcibly, commanding answers.
Perhaps they would go down in a blaze of glory and plunge into darkest night the sky had ever seen.
The light was fading from the sky, and still none of them moved, trapped in their thoughts.
Even then...
Ienzo smiled behind his curtain of soft, twilight-colored hair.
...they would rise again with the dawn, as all things do.
It was better than waiting. It was better than watching.
They would be timeless, but not unchanging.
They would die...
...and be reborn.
Claim: Ansem's Apprentices
Written For: kingdom100 prompt- 023. Sunset
Rating: PG
It was a rare moment that they were all quiet together, getting along. Braig and Even, at least. Everyone else could at least be civil, usually.
But the setting sun over the ocean seemed to strike a melancholy chord in everyone, as they sat together in the fading light.
Xehanort was crouched on a protruding rock, orange eyes vivid in the matching brightness. His lab coat lay forgotten on a chair, somewhere, and his tie was flying free in the light breeze. He looked feral, almost... eternal.
Braig was curled in Dilan's arms. They'd given up pretending a long time ago, at least among the other apprentices. Thus, his head lay pillowed on Dilan's wide shoulder, and his eyes were closed. He was at peace here, warm, comforted. Home.
Dilan held Braig close and felt the quiet calm of the moment seep into him. Sunset... an ending, but the beginning of a darker time... a darker time that would eventually give way to light. His thick hair barely moved in the wind, but even that light breeze made him smile. Wind was so beautiful... ever changing, free, a force of nature that could never be contained. Like Braig, he thought with fondness, stroking his lover's hair. Wild and wonderful.
Even was next to them, his legs danging over the edge, sitting forward on his palms. He looked down at the waves... it was too hot, it always was, but he couldn't help that. The heat made him drowsy and lethargic... and it made him think too much, and not in the good way. About... things like love, and right and wrong, and silly stuff like that. Well, the truth was he envied them... no one would ever love him like Braig and Dilan loved each other. It was just a fact. He was too cold, too hard around the edges. He didn't like people getting close to him. And that was his downfall.
Aeleus sat behind them, quietly appreciative of the beauty of the sunset. He tried not to think about what he was doing to his future, to his family... and he felt a sudden welling of fellow-feeling for the people around him, people he could truly call his friends now. They were all together, all united in their curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. It was quite wonderful.
Ienzo sat a little off to the side, near Aeleus, thinking. He was always thinking, but now he kept on running into dead ends... and it frustrated him. Where were they going? What was going to happen next? Did it really matter? And that was where his brain would come up with the most frustrating dead end, one that he simply didn't have enough experience to answer. What did matter? His gray eyes roamed over the other five apprentices...
Aeleus, calm and steadfast as always.
Even, surprisingly melancholy in the warm light.
Dilan and Braig, simply happy.
Then he looked up at Xehanort, and what he saw, for once, didn't scare him. Because something in him knew that no matter where they were going... it was better than listening to a fool's words at home, and drifting through life without meaning.
Perhaps it was a wrong meaning...
But Xehanort saw the questions unasked, and reached for them, burning always to the horizon. He reached out and grasped hold of the meaning of life, and took it forcibly, commanding answers.
Perhaps they would go down in a blaze of glory and plunge into darkest night the sky had ever seen.
The light was fading from the sky, and still none of them moved, trapped in their thoughts.
Even then...
Ienzo smiled behind his curtain of soft, twilight-colored hair.
...they would rise again with the dawn, as all things do.
It was better than waiting. It was better than watching.
They would be timeless, but not unchanging.
They would die...
...and be reborn.