Drink Up, Me Hearties } Chapter 1 - Two of Swords
Word Count: 3857
Ships?: Sorta there Cloud/Aeris.
→Friendships?: ROXAS&EVERYONE. :D
Characters: Roxas, Cloud, Aeris, Naminé
→Cameos: Sora, Kairi, Riku, Ansem, Olette, Hayner, Pence, Zack
→Mentions: Luxord
Rating: G!
Spoilers: KHII - The true identity of DiZ?
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Music: "Traverse Island" ♪ "Governor Ansem" ♫ "Guarding the Forge/Pirate's Daughter"
Intro: Alright. So. Not entirely sure how long this fic is going to be. But I will warn you that it is going to get very dark in later chapters. :c Due mostly to that guy. *points to icon* He's one badass villain. Luckily you won't hear of him for a good while, so.... yeah! And yes, all of the chapters are going to be named after tarot cards because I'm a suck for theme naming. xD (I might have to go back and change some things/remake the prologue, now that I actually know where this is going ahaha.)
And another thing! Although it might not seem it at first, this AU is actually going to have parallels to the KH games later on. So... it would actually help if you're familiar with the games? I don't even know. xD
Biggest thanks ever to kaiyabeck, who has helped me plan this so much to the point that she's pretty much co-written it. spots_of_inkspots_of_inkspots_of_ink
In which Roxas’s duelling skills are unexpectedly put to the test.
Drink Up, Me Hearties
Chapter 1: Two of Swords
Fifteen years later...
Roxas awoke to the sound of metal clanging on metal. He groaned into his crisp sheets, curling into himself, feeling his back stretch. He leaned back, raising his arms into the air above his bed as his muscles loosened from sleep.
He sat up in his bed, weak gold sunlight coming through the curtains. Casting a glance around the room, he saw that his brother had already dressed and gone downstairs. He was probably halfway to the Academy by now.
Roxas sat on his knees, pulled back the curtains and unlatched the window. The sun was rising behind the houses of Traverse Town, and down on the opposite side of Market Street, Pence hammered away at a horseshoe.
“Pence!” Roxas called down. He waved when his friend and neighbour looked up from his work, grinning that same old Pence grin. “You’re awake already?”
“Of course I am!” Pence replied. “Olette and Hayner are eating breakfast down here already. You have to pick up the pace, Roxas.”
Roxas frowned pointedly at the farrier, and swung his legs out of the bed. He dressed and half-stumbled down the stairs into the family room and kitchen at the back of the smithy, struggling with the buttons on his vest.
Immediately, his mother turned from the sink and folded her arms across her chest. Roxas flinched, but put on his best sheepish grin. “Pence got me up?” he tried.
She shook her head at him but smiled, her brown bangs falling into her green eyes. “You’re lucky you’re not working in today. Flash has been saddled up for fifteen minutes.” She reached behind her and picked up one of the small earthenware kitchen plates, a piece of buttered toast balanced on top. Before Roxas could reply, his mother had crossed the dirt floor of their kitchen and popped it into his mouth. “Now take this and go before your father-”
At that moment, said father arrived in the open doorway. “Aeris? Where is…” Cloud Strife sighed and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “How you manage to sleep longer than Sora I will never understand.”
“Go easy on him.” Roxas struggled to chew the bread in his mouth as his mother pushed him past his father out into the shop front. “He was up listening to Zack’s stories again last night.” With a final shove, he was out the front door.
Flash, their younger yellow chocobo, was hopping anxiously from claw to claw, chewing on the bit in her beak. Roxas swung up into the saddle.
“The pirate stories?” his father asked, his voice a mix of amusement and exasperation. It was a tone that always came up in conversations about the man the Market Street kids called ‘Uncle’ Zack.
His father handed Roxas a long thin box that he slung over his back with a leather strap. Roxas swallowed a bite of his scant breakfast and held it away from his mouth. “Not just pirates, dad. Radiant Isle, too. Y’know, where we were-”
“Born. Of course I remember where my own sons were born. Now get going. Governor Ansem is probably expecting you.”
Roxas sighed dramatically, stuck the toast back in between his teeth and knocked the stirrups lightly against Flash’s sides. The chocobo took off down Market Street towards higher ground and the governor’s mansion. Roxas waved morning greetings to his neighbours in the windows above the street, opening their wooden shudders and glass panes.
The sun had fully risen (and he had finished eating) as Flash left the buildings of the town behind and started up the cobblestone road at the bottom of the highest hill on the island. Roxas turned in the saddle as the chocobo worked her way up towards the mansion and the attached Naval Academy.
His home was laid out before his eyes. Far away from him, he could see the harbour with its black brick guard towers and clouds of white gulls. Despite the fact that he could’ve signed up for the Academy and sail all around the world, Roxas was definitely the homebody of the Strife boys. Sora was the complete opposite, but that was the kind of polarity you got with twins.
The town was a mixture of dark reds and browns from the brick and wood that made the buildings. Lush colour from the various trees and gardens built into the village stood out in the sunrise’s light. According to most of the adults, Governor Ansem had succeeded at rebuilding Radiant Isle on a new location on a level most thought impossible. Roxas didn’t remember anything of the original island, nor did anyone else his age. All the same, Governor Ansem was someone who Roxas respected.
Flash slowed to a stop outside the wrought-iron gates of the mansion. He could hear what sounded like a duel within the walls. They had started the sword fighting this early in the morning?
The light clanging of swords stopped, followed by a dull grassy-sounding thud. “Go easy on me, Kairi!” a voice rebuked. Flash warked in recognition. Then there were more familiar voices laughing and Roxas heard someone crossing the grass towards him.
The tall figure of Ensign Riku appeared at the gates. His long silver hair shone in the sunlight, and his teal eyes were crinkled with laughter under his long bangs. The gold in his blue Academy uniform sparkled as he unlatched the gate and swung it open for the chocobo and its rider. “Mr. Strife!” He announced in an unusually loud voice. “What a pleasure seeing you here!”
Flash trotted through the gate and over to a figure dressed in a white fencing suit flopped on the grass. The chocobo lowered her neck and sniffed at the mesh fencing mask and Roxas heard a laugh he’d know anywhere.
Sora, his older twin brother, slipped the helmet off his head. His brown spiky hair stuck out at odd angles on the grass. “Hey, girl,” he told the chocobo, scratching her under her beak.
His opponent, also in a white fencing suit crossed over to them and lifted a hand that Flash immediately fit her beak under. Sora rolled out of the way when Flash trotted closer. Kairi, the governor’s daughter, took off her helmet and shook her hair out. “Delivery for my father, Roxas?”
He nodded. “That’s right.” Then he smirked down at Sora. “So I guess you didn’t really have to get a jump start on an assignment, huh?”
“Actually,” a rich baritone carried over the lawn as though it was amplified, “it is an assignment.”
Governor Ansem descended a short flight of stairs beneath the main entrance doors of his mansion. He was wearing a red and gold variation of the Academy uniform and smiling widely. Riku helped Sora stand up from the grass and they saluted, their feet glued together.
Ansem raised a hand to acknowledge them, nodding deeply. The Academy students relaxed, and Governor Ansem ruffled the red hair of Kairi, who laughed and skipped away. “I asked your brother to teach my daughter in the art of fencing.”
Roxas unstrapped the long box from around his back. “And he’s losing to a girl.” He handed the box to the governor, who took a small pouch of coins out of his pocket and exchanged it.
Kairi stuck her tongue out at him. “You should try it some time. It’d probably be good for your attitude.”
Roxas opened him mouth but Sora interrupted. “C’mon you two, don’t fight. We were just having fun, Roxas.”
“Oh really? Looked to me like you were getting your butt kicked,” Riku said, nudging Sora in the ribs. Sora nudged back, which escalated to light punches. Roxas, Kairi, and Governor Ansem watched the fight until Sora and Riku fell to the grass punching one another and laughing.
“Well, that’s my cue to leave,” Roxas announced. He nudged Flash’s sides with his stirrups, startling her out of a good beak scratch courtesy of the governor. “I hope you enjoy your new sword, Governor Ansem.”
“I certainly shall, Mr. Strife. Give my thanks and praise to your mother and father,” he heard the governor say. Flash had already started trotting for the gate, set to return to the forge and the next delivery.
---
The sun was just barely above the horizon when the Strife family joined their neighbours for dinner. The dim evening light glanced off the metal and glass tools of the farrier’s shop. Hayner, who had the bad luck of sitting just in front of the open chocobo stalls, had to constantly move his food around to avoid having it stolen before he could eat it. The tailor’s son moved his glass plate of pork out of the way as Slash leaned his long neck out and attempted a bite. “Can we please close the stalls up? I’m going to starve if I have to keep moving around. Gah!” He jumped as Flash butted him in the shoulder.
“No way,” Olette replied. The glass blower traced her finger around the rim of the cup she had made a couple days earlier. “You guys put me there yesterday and I dealt with it.”
“Practice makes perfect,” Sora admonished.
“I hate you,” Hayner replied. His friends just chose to laugh at him. Farther down the table, Roxas and his parents were watching the well traveled Uncle Zack describe the legendary Dread Pirate Luxord.
“He has hair like pale doubloons and eyes like a blue storm,” Zack said between bites of the lemon tart Aeris was serving for dessert. “He’s as fast as lightning with a sword, but calmer than a tide pool.”
“I thought you said his eyes were as grey as hardened steel.” Cloud twirled his fork around his fingers absently.
“And here I thought you didn’t like the pirate stories, dad,” Roxas said with a coy grin. His mother giggled beside him.
Cloud stopped twirling the utensil in between his fingers and gave his son a dry look. “There’s a difference between liking pirate stories and pointing out the inconsistencies in them.”
“I don’t see any harm in it, Cloud. They’re just stories.” Aeris brushed her hand through her husband’s hair affectionately. He smiled in spite of himself.
Olette spoke up. “I don’t know, Mrs. Strife. Ms. Lulu told me that Seventh Heaven down by the docks has really… what did she say?”
“She said it ‘went to seed’,” Pence supplied. “She thought she saw pirates going in the other day.”
“Seventh Heaven?” Zack repeated. “Boy, that place must be going to seed if it’s been like that since-”
He bit back whatever he was about to say after a sharp glance from the Strife couple. Sora and Roxas exchanged confused glances.
“Well, anyway,” Hayner said, leaning in over the table, holding his bread bun protectively close. Flash and Slash were trying to bend their feathery heads around his shoulders. “Governor Ansem would make sure we’re protected from pirates.”
Just then, there was a distant sound in the night. It sounded a little like gun fire. The group of neighbours looked around at each other. “Did you hear th-” Zack’s question was cut off by a loud explosion. The chocobos screeched in their stalls.
Everyone sprinted out to the street and looked up Market Street, towards the harbour. From the crest of the hill where they stood, they could make out the shape of a huge ship out in the bay in front of the dying sun. A huge patch of buildings near the shore was gone, collapsed in on itself. To their horror, they watched as a blue light curved up into the sky from the water, then came crashing down on their island again. It hit closer this time, as the entire group wobbled on their feet.
“Sora, get your sword. We’re going to need to help out,” Zack said. Sora nodded and ran into the smithy. Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran back to grab what they could out of their workshops. Zack unsheathed the sword he kept on his back and Aeris ran inside after her son.
“Dad, I’ll look after the shops,” Roxas offered. Aeris returned, a long metal staff in her hands. She handed Cloud a long and heavy scabbard which he slipped over his head. Sora was right after her, his sword by his side and some of his armour hurriedly strapped on.
“Alright. Be careful, son. Stay hidden,” his father said, giving him a strong pat on the shoulder. Roxas ran back into the smithy as the air above the island screeched and hissed with heat. He braced himself against the doorway and looked over his shoulder to watch his friends and family run down the street towards the battle. He offered a silent prayer up to whoever would listen, and then slipped into the shadows of his home.
---
The island was still being hit by the blue magic cannons every so often and the screams of peril that sometimes met his ears weren’t helping. Roxas’s legs were starting to cramp from crouching down in the shadows near the walls and standing up and looking out the windows, but he couldn’t see anyone or smell any smoke. It had been about half an hour when a stranger entered from the front entrance slowly. He nearly missed it. He pressed as close as he could while remaining in the dark and watched closely.
The stranger was wearing a blue coat over his white long-sleeved shirt. The trousers were a dark colour, faded into the black of the shadows, but the boots were slightly lighter. There was pale blond hair sticking out from under a black tricorne. A long scabbard hung off the waist from a thick belt. Definitely a pirate, and from the general height of him, around Roxas’s age. His back was towards Roxas so he couldn’t see his face.
Yet… the kid wasn’t doing anything. He was just wandering around looking at the swords up on the walls. Either way, if Roxas got the jump on him…
He moved out of the shadows in two long silent strides; his sword went up, he brought it down-
Ting. The pirate had spun and unsheathed his sword, parrying Roxas’s with a simple nudge.
Looking into the face revealed by the weak moonlight, Roxas saw a distinctly… feminine smile, heard a voice say, “Oh, hello,” and watched as she sheathed her sword again.
Roxas felt his jaw drop. “You’re a girl?”
The girl frowned at him as though she’d witnessed him bumping his head. “You mean you didn’t notice?”
Roxas snapped his jaw shut, his sword held awkwardly at his side. She was very much a girl, he realized as his eyes adjusted to the moonlight and darkness. She had big blue eyes and a soft smile, and looking at the fingerless gloves under the cuffs of her dueler’s shirt, she had hands like Olette’s.
“Well,” her voice interrupted his observations, “we’ll play your game. I’m a girl, you’re a boy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Roxas straightened his back and raised his sword again. He wasn’t going to let himself get distracted by a pirate. “What are you doing here?”
She tilted her head a little to the side, taking on a pitying look. “I’ve never really had the opportunity to see a… proper land smithy, you know. I thought I’d drop in and have a look.” She crossed one leg over the other one and swivelled on the spot to look up at the walls around them. “Your wears are really quite good. Do you make all these?”
“S-Some,” Roxas replied. Why the hell was she being so polite? He had to get back to the business of detaining her. “You mean you’ve never seen a smithy without skulls and crossbones everywhere,” he accused.
She looked back at him out of the corner of her eye. “That’s right.” She turned to face him. “Of course, just because I’m a pirate doesn’t mean I’m going to kill you. And it doesn’t mean we can’t have a polite conversation.”
Roxas raised his sword and settled into the stance he used when sparring against Sora.
She sighed deeply. “You really want to fight, don’t you?” When Roxas made sure his face fell into neutrality, she frowned at him again, then went for her scabbard.
The rapier she withdrew was beautiful and unlike any other he had seen. There wasn’t a single knuckle bow protecting the front of her hand; the gold of the hilt spread up and around like the hilt of an épée. It protected her hand from all angles. “I don’t get to talk to a lot of people my own age, you know?” she said.
Roxas swung, but she moved faster than him. Ting ting ting. Her blade blocked every swing, and he hesitated at the look of nonchalance she gave him. He lunged forward again, using the point of his broadsword this time, but his blade met empty air as she simply swerved out of the way. Their blades met twice before he swung at empty air again and she stepped back, a hand on her hip.
“No, no!” she said under her breath, looking at the dirt floor. She looked up at him. “Your stance is all wrong!”
“My… what?” Roxas couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
“Bend your knees when you fight. It lowers your center of gravity.”
“My what?!”
“It-” She sighed, looking amused. “It makes you harder to knock over?”
Roxas narrowed his eyes and went back into the duel swinging. She blocked every hit with the forte of her blade, and started pressing in against his defence. Roxas realized he needed to back off too late, because then he saw her leg come up and kick him in the stomach.
All the wind went of his lungs and he stumbled backwards, falling. His head hit the wall and then he felt metal clang down on him, bouncing off his skull and landing heavily in his lap. Of course she had kicked him into the pile of metal tongs.
“Oh geeze!” Her voice came from across the room. She jogged over, her rapier held away from him. “Are you alright? Here.” She offered her free hand to presumably help him stand up.
“No, I’m not alright!” He pushed most of the tongs off of his lap and retrieved his broadsword. “I’m losing to a girl.”
The girl glared at him for the first time. “Well, in that case.” She turned heel and walked back to where she had kicked him and paced, waiting for him to return.
Roxas swallowed in an attempt to get moisture back in his dry mouth and used the wall as support as he stood, the metal tongs falling to the ground with a clatter. He walked back into the moonlight, and glaring at her, bent his knees exaggeratedly. She smiled immediately, as though he had done it for her.
This time, she attacked first. She swung hard and fast, striking him again and again. He realized she was trying to disarm him, and readjusted his grip on the hilt as she started making several hits with her point of percussion. After one particular ting he moved to her right, making sure to cross one leg over the other like Sora had showed him. He swung again, but she managed to block and turn to face him at the same time.
“Footwork now,” she noted, smiling. She was enjoying this. “Snap your wrist harder when you’re attacking.”
He exhaled in disbelief, and in frustration, obeyed. He snapped his wrist and his sword made the same singing metal sound hers had been making. She blocked but she laughed lightly. “There you go!”
The sound sent a jolt through him. It was different from any other girl’s laugh he’d heard. She was a pirate - he had mistaken her for a boy - but it was as soft as his mother’s and more mysterious than even the governor’s daughter.
He snapped again in an attempt to clear his head and actually succeeded in pushing her back. “You’re getting the hang of it!” she told him, grinning. She sounded perfectly delighted that he was starting to get the upper hand.
Soon, he was getting more hits on her sword than misses, but she blocked and retaliated quickly. She was obviously skilled, as she knew all the right angles her rapier needed to absorb the power from his heavier broadsword. He tried moving around her again, but she twirled too quickly, her blonde hair flying beneath her tricorne. The clashing melody of their swords was becoming engrained in his head when she started pushing his back towards the wall. He nearly tripped on an anvil, thought he saw her grab something and then just as he backed off and disengaged-
Thunk. There was a long sword in the wall, pinning the shoulder of his good white shirt to the wood. His mouth gaped at her in disbelief. “You-” He dropped his broadsword and tried in vain to reach for the hilt pointed away from him. His arms were too short. “You-!” He almost thought of trying to wrench it out by the blade, but realized that that wouldn’t have been good for his hands.
“You’re a fast learner, I’ll give you that,” she said. She sheathed her rapier in her scabbard and walked up to the wall beside him, where their most valuable swords were hung for sale. “I’m surprised you haven’t guessed what crew I’m a part of yet.”
Roxas struggled to break free, but before he could think of kneeling and letting the sword rip through his shirt, the girl took several short knives out of a pouch on her belt. She stuck them carefully in his pants, like pinning something to a corkboard. She dusted her hands and returned to the display board. She laid a finger to her chin and Roxas was disturbed by how much she looked like an ordinary customer standing like that.
“What’s the ridiculous one we heard recently? ‘Hair like pale doubloons’?” She took her tricorne off and scratched at the crown of her head. Her hair was very uneven in length, short on her left side, but long against her right shoulder.
Roxas’s intestines twisted. “The- the… Dread Pirate…?”
“Luxord? Yeah, that’s Papa.”
She stood on her toes and to Roxas’s complete horror, brought down the only sword on display that he had made with his own hands. Two Across was his masterpiece, and she was just taking it. She balanced it in her admittedly skilled hands, then turned and started walking out with it held by her side, placing her hat back on her pale gold hair.
“Hey!” Roxas shouted. He struggled even harder against the metal that had him pinned as she approached the doorway.
Her silhouette turned back to him, and he could see the faintest light on the curve of her smile. “Sorry -- pirate.”
And then she was gone from the doorway.
‘Papa’ she had said.
He had just fought the Dread Pirate Luxord’s daughter.
Foot Notes/Glossery
• Flash and Slash as the chocobo names are courtesy of my brother, who named all his chocobos in Final Fantasy VII with the 'ash' ending. Except Zero, the black chocobo. xD
• Farrier: a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horse's hoof and the placing of shoes to the horse's foot. A farrier couples a subset of the blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with a subset of veterinary medicine (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to address the care of the horse's feet.
• Épée: the modern derivative of the original duelling sword, the rapier, used in sport fencing. The weapon is similar to a foil (compared to a sabre), but has a stiffer blade that is V-shaped in cross-section, has a larger bell guard, and is heavier. The technique however, is somewhat different, as there are no rules regarding priority and right-of-way. In addition, the entire body area is a valid target area.
• Knuckle Bow: a single strap running from the quillon to the pommel. Guarding the front of the hand.
• Forte: the lower portion on a sword blade which has more control and strength and which does most of the parrying.
• Point of Percussion: merging points of the forté and foible - the best place to strike with the blade.
• Here's the reference I used for the rapier terms. To make things simpler. xD
• Two Across is a Keyblade obtained in the Final Mix of Kingdom Hearts II. You obtain it after defeating Roxas in battle.
Prologue ← Chapter 1 → Chapter 2
Chapter Listing
Ships?: Sorta there Cloud/Aeris.
→Friendships?: ROXAS&EVERYONE. :D
Characters: Roxas, Cloud, Aeris, Naminé
→Cameos: Sora, Kairi, Riku, Ansem, Olette, Hayner, Pence, Zack
→Mentions: Luxord
Rating: G!
Spoilers: KHII - The true identity of DiZ?
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Music: "Traverse Island" ♪ "Governor Ansem" ♫ "Guarding the Forge/Pirate's Daughter"
Intro: Alright. So. Not entirely sure how long this fic is going to be. But I will warn you that it is going to get very dark in later chapters. :c Due mostly to that guy. *points to icon* He's one badass villain. Luckily you won't hear of him for a good while, so.... yeah! And yes, all of the chapters are going to be named after tarot cards because I'm a suck for theme naming. xD (I might have to go back and change some things/remake the prologue, now that I actually know where this is going ahaha.)
And another thing! Although it might not seem it at first, this AU is actually going to have parallels to the KH games later on. So... it would actually help if you're familiar with the games? I don't even know. xD
Biggest thanks ever to kaiyabeck, who has helped me plan this so much to the point that she's pretty much co-written it. spots_of_inkspots_of_inkspots_of_ink
In which Roxas’s duelling skills are unexpectedly put to the test.
Drink Up, Me Hearties
Chapter 1: Two of Swords
Fifteen years later...
Roxas awoke to the sound of metal clanging on metal. He groaned into his crisp sheets, curling into himself, feeling his back stretch. He leaned back, raising his arms into the air above his bed as his muscles loosened from sleep.
He sat up in his bed, weak gold sunlight coming through the curtains. Casting a glance around the room, he saw that his brother had already dressed and gone downstairs. He was probably halfway to the Academy by now.
Roxas sat on his knees, pulled back the curtains and unlatched the window. The sun was rising behind the houses of Traverse Town, and down on the opposite side of Market Street, Pence hammered away at a horseshoe.
“Pence!” Roxas called down. He waved when his friend and neighbour looked up from his work, grinning that same old Pence grin. “You’re awake already?”
“Of course I am!” Pence replied. “Olette and Hayner are eating breakfast down here already. You have to pick up the pace, Roxas.”
Roxas frowned pointedly at the farrier, and swung his legs out of the bed. He dressed and half-stumbled down the stairs into the family room and kitchen at the back of the smithy, struggling with the buttons on his vest.
Immediately, his mother turned from the sink and folded her arms across her chest. Roxas flinched, but put on his best sheepish grin. “Pence got me up?” he tried.
She shook her head at him but smiled, her brown bangs falling into her green eyes. “You’re lucky you’re not working in today. Flash has been saddled up for fifteen minutes.” She reached behind her and picked up one of the small earthenware kitchen plates, a piece of buttered toast balanced on top. Before Roxas could reply, his mother had crossed the dirt floor of their kitchen and popped it into his mouth. “Now take this and go before your father-”
At that moment, said father arrived in the open doorway. “Aeris? Where is…” Cloud Strife sighed and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “How you manage to sleep longer than Sora I will never understand.”
“Go easy on him.” Roxas struggled to chew the bread in his mouth as his mother pushed him past his father out into the shop front. “He was up listening to Zack’s stories again last night.” With a final shove, he was out the front door.
Flash, their younger yellow chocobo, was hopping anxiously from claw to claw, chewing on the bit in her beak. Roxas swung up into the saddle.
“The pirate stories?” his father asked, his voice a mix of amusement and exasperation. It was a tone that always came up in conversations about the man the Market Street kids called ‘Uncle’ Zack.
His father handed Roxas a long thin box that he slung over his back with a leather strap. Roxas swallowed a bite of his scant breakfast and held it away from his mouth. “Not just pirates, dad. Radiant Isle, too. Y’know, where we were-”
“Born. Of course I remember where my own sons were born. Now get going. Governor Ansem is probably expecting you.”
Roxas sighed dramatically, stuck the toast back in between his teeth and knocked the stirrups lightly against Flash’s sides. The chocobo took off down Market Street towards higher ground and the governor’s mansion. Roxas waved morning greetings to his neighbours in the windows above the street, opening their wooden shudders and glass panes.
The sun had fully risen (and he had finished eating) as Flash left the buildings of the town behind and started up the cobblestone road at the bottom of the highest hill on the island. Roxas turned in the saddle as the chocobo worked her way up towards the mansion and the attached Naval Academy.
His home was laid out before his eyes. Far away from him, he could see the harbour with its black brick guard towers and clouds of white gulls. Despite the fact that he could’ve signed up for the Academy and sail all around the world, Roxas was definitely the homebody of the Strife boys. Sora was the complete opposite, but that was the kind of polarity you got with twins.
The town was a mixture of dark reds and browns from the brick and wood that made the buildings. Lush colour from the various trees and gardens built into the village stood out in the sunrise’s light. According to most of the adults, Governor Ansem had succeeded at rebuilding Radiant Isle on a new location on a level most thought impossible. Roxas didn’t remember anything of the original island, nor did anyone else his age. All the same, Governor Ansem was someone who Roxas respected.
Flash slowed to a stop outside the wrought-iron gates of the mansion. He could hear what sounded like a duel within the walls. They had started the sword fighting this early in the morning?
The light clanging of swords stopped, followed by a dull grassy-sounding thud. “Go easy on me, Kairi!” a voice rebuked. Flash warked in recognition. Then there were more familiar voices laughing and Roxas heard someone crossing the grass towards him.
The tall figure of Ensign Riku appeared at the gates. His long silver hair shone in the sunlight, and his teal eyes were crinkled with laughter under his long bangs. The gold in his blue Academy uniform sparkled as he unlatched the gate and swung it open for the chocobo and its rider. “Mr. Strife!” He announced in an unusually loud voice. “What a pleasure seeing you here!”
Flash trotted through the gate and over to a figure dressed in a white fencing suit flopped on the grass. The chocobo lowered her neck and sniffed at the mesh fencing mask and Roxas heard a laugh he’d know anywhere.
Sora, his older twin brother, slipped the helmet off his head. His brown spiky hair stuck out at odd angles on the grass. “Hey, girl,” he told the chocobo, scratching her under her beak.
His opponent, also in a white fencing suit crossed over to them and lifted a hand that Flash immediately fit her beak under. Sora rolled out of the way when Flash trotted closer. Kairi, the governor’s daughter, took off her helmet and shook her hair out. “Delivery for my father, Roxas?”
He nodded. “That’s right.” Then he smirked down at Sora. “So I guess you didn’t really have to get a jump start on an assignment, huh?”
“Actually,” a rich baritone carried over the lawn as though it was amplified, “it is an assignment.”
Governor Ansem descended a short flight of stairs beneath the main entrance doors of his mansion. He was wearing a red and gold variation of the Academy uniform and smiling widely. Riku helped Sora stand up from the grass and they saluted, their feet glued together.
Ansem raised a hand to acknowledge them, nodding deeply. The Academy students relaxed, and Governor Ansem ruffled the red hair of Kairi, who laughed and skipped away. “I asked your brother to teach my daughter in the art of fencing.”
Roxas unstrapped the long box from around his back. “And he’s losing to a girl.” He handed the box to the governor, who took a small pouch of coins out of his pocket and exchanged it.
Kairi stuck her tongue out at him. “You should try it some time. It’d probably be good for your attitude.”
Roxas opened him mouth but Sora interrupted. “C’mon you two, don’t fight. We were just having fun, Roxas.”
“Oh really? Looked to me like you were getting your butt kicked,” Riku said, nudging Sora in the ribs. Sora nudged back, which escalated to light punches. Roxas, Kairi, and Governor Ansem watched the fight until Sora and Riku fell to the grass punching one another and laughing.
“Well, that’s my cue to leave,” Roxas announced. He nudged Flash’s sides with his stirrups, startling her out of a good beak scratch courtesy of the governor. “I hope you enjoy your new sword, Governor Ansem.”
“I certainly shall, Mr. Strife. Give my thanks and praise to your mother and father,” he heard the governor say. Flash had already started trotting for the gate, set to return to the forge and the next delivery.
---
The sun was just barely above the horizon when the Strife family joined their neighbours for dinner. The dim evening light glanced off the metal and glass tools of the farrier’s shop. Hayner, who had the bad luck of sitting just in front of the open chocobo stalls, had to constantly move his food around to avoid having it stolen before he could eat it. The tailor’s son moved his glass plate of pork out of the way as Slash leaned his long neck out and attempted a bite. “Can we please close the stalls up? I’m going to starve if I have to keep moving around. Gah!” He jumped as Flash butted him in the shoulder.
“No way,” Olette replied. The glass blower traced her finger around the rim of the cup she had made a couple days earlier. “You guys put me there yesterday and I dealt with it.”
“Practice makes perfect,” Sora admonished.
“I hate you,” Hayner replied. His friends just chose to laugh at him. Farther down the table, Roxas and his parents were watching the well traveled Uncle Zack describe the legendary Dread Pirate Luxord.
“He has hair like pale doubloons and eyes like a blue storm,” Zack said between bites of the lemon tart Aeris was serving for dessert. “He’s as fast as lightning with a sword, but calmer than a tide pool.”
“I thought you said his eyes were as grey as hardened steel.” Cloud twirled his fork around his fingers absently.
“And here I thought you didn’t like the pirate stories, dad,” Roxas said with a coy grin. His mother giggled beside him.
Cloud stopped twirling the utensil in between his fingers and gave his son a dry look. “There’s a difference between liking pirate stories and pointing out the inconsistencies in them.”
“I don’t see any harm in it, Cloud. They’re just stories.” Aeris brushed her hand through her husband’s hair affectionately. He smiled in spite of himself.
Olette spoke up. “I don’t know, Mrs. Strife. Ms. Lulu told me that Seventh Heaven down by the docks has really… what did she say?”
“She said it ‘went to seed’,” Pence supplied. “She thought she saw pirates going in the other day.”
“Seventh Heaven?” Zack repeated. “Boy, that place must be going to seed if it’s been like that since-”
He bit back whatever he was about to say after a sharp glance from the Strife couple. Sora and Roxas exchanged confused glances.
“Well, anyway,” Hayner said, leaning in over the table, holding his bread bun protectively close. Flash and Slash were trying to bend their feathery heads around his shoulders. “Governor Ansem would make sure we’re protected from pirates.”
Just then, there was a distant sound in the night. It sounded a little like gun fire. The group of neighbours looked around at each other. “Did you hear th-” Zack’s question was cut off by a loud explosion. The chocobos screeched in their stalls.
Everyone sprinted out to the street and looked up Market Street, towards the harbour. From the crest of the hill where they stood, they could make out the shape of a huge ship out in the bay in front of the dying sun. A huge patch of buildings near the shore was gone, collapsed in on itself. To their horror, they watched as a blue light curved up into the sky from the water, then came crashing down on their island again. It hit closer this time, as the entire group wobbled on their feet.
“Sora, get your sword. We’re going to need to help out,” Zack said. Sora nodded and ran into the smithy. Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran back to grab what they could out of their workshops. Zack unsheathed the sword he kept on his back and Aeris ran inside after her son.
“Dad, I’ll look after the shops,” Roxas offered. Aeris returned, a long metal staff in her hands. She handed Cloud a long and heavy scabbard which he slipped over his head. Sora was right after her, his sword by his side and some of his armour hurriedly strapped on.
“Alright. Be careful, son. Stay hidden,” his father said, giving him a strong pat on the shoulder. Roxas ran back into the smithy as the air above the island screeched and hissed with heat. He braced himself against the doorway and looked over his shoulder to watch his friends and family run down the street towards the battle. He offered a silent prayer up to whoever would listen, and then slipped into the shadows of his home.
---
The island was still being hit by the blue magic cannons every so often and the screams of peril that sometimes met his ears weren’t helping. Roxas’s legs were starting to cramp from crouching down in the shadows near the walls and standing up and looking out the windows, but he couldn’t see anyone or smell any smoke. It had been about half an hour when a stranger entered from the front entrance slowly. He nearly missed it. He pressed as close as he could while remaining in the dark and watched closely.
The stranger was wearing a blue coat over his white long-sleeved shirt. The trousers were a dark colour, faded into the black of the shadows, but the boots were slightly lighter. There was pale blond hair sticking out from under a black tricorne. A long scabbard hung off the waist from a thick belt. Definitely a pirate, and from the general height of him, around Roxas’s age. His back was towards Roxas so he couldn’t see his face.
Yet… the kid wasn’t doing anything. He was just wandering around looking at the swords up on the walls. Either way, if Roxas got the jump on him…
He moved out of the shadows in two long silent strides; his sword went up, he brought it down-
Ting. The pirate had spun and unsheathed his sword, parrying Roxas’s with a simple nudge.
Looking into the face revealed by the weak moonlight, Roxas saw a distinctly… feminine smile, heard a voice say, “Oh, hello,” and watched as she sheathed her sword again.
Roxas felt his jaw drop. “You’re a girl?”
The girl frowned at him as though she’d witnessed him bumping his head. “You mean you didn’t notice?”
Roxas snapped his jaw shut, his sword held awkwardly at his side. She was very much a girl, he realized as his eyes adjusted to the moonlight and darkness. She had big blue eyes and a soft smile, and looking at the fingerless gloves under the cuffs of her dueler’s shirt, she had hands like Olette’s.
“Well,” her voice interrupted his observations, “we’ll play your game. I’m a girl, you’re a boy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Roxas straightened his back and raised his sword again. He wasn’t going to let himself get distracted by a pirate. “What are you doing here?”
She tilted her head a little to the side, taking on a pitying look. “I’ve never really had the opportunity to see a… proper land smithy, you know. I thought I’d drop in and have a look.” She crossed one leg over the other one and swivelled on the spot to look up at the walls around them. “Your wears are really quite good. Do you make all these?”
“S-Some,” Roxas replied. Why the hell was she being so polite? He had to get back to the business of detaining her. “You mean you’ve never seen a smithy without skulls and crossbones everywhere,” he accused.
She looked back at him out of the corner of her eye. “That’s right.” She turned to face him. “Of course, just because I’m a pirate doesn’t mean I’m going to kill you. And it doesn’t mean we can’t have a polite conversation.”
Roxas raised his sword and settled into the stance he used when sparring against Sora.
She sighed deeply. “You really want to fight, don’t you?” When Roxas made sure his face fell into neutrality, she frowned at him again, then went for her scabbard.
The rapier she withdrew was beautiful and unlike any other he had seen. There wasn’t a single knuckle bow protecting the front of her hand; the gold of the hilt spread up and around like the hilt of an épée. It protected her hand from all angles. “I don’t get to talk to a lot of people my own age, you know?” she said.
Roxas swung, but she moved faster than him. Ting ting ting. Her blade blocked every swing, and he hesitated at the look of nonchalance she gave him. He lunged forward again, using the point of his broadsword this time, but his blade met empty air as she simply swerved out of the way. Their blades met twice before he swung at empty air again and she stepped back, a hand on her hip.
“No, no!” she said under her breath, looking at the dirt floor. She looked up at him. “Your stance is all wrong!”
“My… what?” Roxas couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
“Bend your knees when you fight. It lowers your center of gravity.”
“My what?!”
“It-” She sighed, looking amused. “It makes you harder to knock over?”
Roxas narrowed his eyes and went back into the duel swinging. She blocked every hit with the forte of her blade, and started pressing in against his defence. Roxas realized he needed to back off too late, because then he saw her leg come up and kick him in the stomach.
All the wind went of his lungs and he stumbled backwards, falling. His head hit the wall and then he felt metal clang down on him, bouncing off his skull and landing heavily in his lap. Of course she had kicked him into the pile of metal tongs.
“Oh geeze!” Her voice came from across the room. She jogged over, her rapier held away from him. “Are you alright? Here.” She offered her free hand to presumably help him stand up.
“No, I’m not alright!” He pushed most of the tongs off of his lap and retrieved his broadsword. “I’m losing to a girl.”
The girl glared at him for the first time. “Well, in that case.” She turned heel and walked back to where she had kicked him and paced, waiting for him to return.
Roxas swallowed in an attempt to get moisture back in his dry mouth and used the wall as support as he stood, the metal tongs falling to the ground with a clatter. He walked back into the moonlight, and glaring at her, bent his knees exaggeratedly. She smiled immediately, as though he had done it for her.
This time, she attacked first. She swung hard and fast, striking him again and again. He realized she was trying to disarm him, and readjusted his grip on the hilt as she started making several hits with her point of percussion. After one particular ting he moved to her right, making sure to cross one leg over the other like Sora had showed him. He swung again, but she managed to block and turn to face him at the same time.
“Footwork now,” she noted, smiling. She was enjoying this. “Snap your wrist harder when you’re attacking.”
He exhaled in disbelief, and in frustration, obeyed. He snapped his wrist and his sword made the same singing metal sound hers had been making. She blocked but she laughed lightly. “There you go!”
The sound sent a jolt through him. It was different from any other girl’s laugh he’d heard. She was a pirate - he had mistaken her for a boy - but it was as soft as his mother’s and more mysterious than even the governor’s daughter.
He snapped again in an attempt to clear his head and actually succeeded in pushing her back. “You’re getting the hang of it!” she told him, grinning. She sounded perfectly delighted that he was starting to get the upper hand.
Soon, he was getting more hits on her sword than misses, but she blocked and retaliated quickly. She was obviously skilled, as she knew all the right angles her rapier needed to absorb the power from his heavier broadsword. He tried moving around her again, but she twirled too quickly, her blonde hair flying beneath her tricorne. The clashing melody of their swords was becoming engrained in his head when she started pushing his back towards the wall. He nearly tripped on an anvil, thought he saw her grab something and then just as he backed off and disengaged-
Thunk. There was a long sword in the wall, pinning the shoulder of his good white shirt to the wood. His mouth gaped at her in disbelief. “You-” He dropped his broadsword and tried in vain to reach for the hilt pointed away from him. His arms were too short. “You-!” He almost thought of trying to wrench it out by the blade, but realized that that wouldn’t have been good for his hands.
“You’re a fast learner, I’ll give you that,” she said. She sheathed her rapier in her scabbard and walked up to the wall beside him, where their most valuable swords were hung for sale. “I’m surprised you haven’t guessed what crew I’m a part of yet.”
Roxas struggled to break free, but before he could think of kneeling and letting the sword rip through his shirt, the girl took several short knives out of a pouch on her belt. She stuck them carefully in his pants, like pinning something to a corkboard. She dusted her hands and returned to the display board. She laid a finger to her chin and Roxas was disturbed by how much she looked like an ordinary customer standing like that.
“What’s the ridiculous one we heard recently? ‘Hair like pale doubloons’?” She took her tricorne off and scratched at the crown of her head. Her hair was very uneven in length, short on her left side, but long against her right shoulder.
Roxas’s intestines twisted. “The- the… Dread Pirate…?”
“Luxord? Yeah, that’s Papa.”
She stood on her toes and to Roxas’s complete horror, brought down the only sword on display that he had made with his own hands. Two Across was his masterpiece, and she was just taking it. She balanced it in her admittedly skilled hands, then turned and started walking out with it held by her side, placing her hat back on her pale gold hair.
“Hey!” Roxas shouted. He struggled even harder against the metal that had him pinned as she approached the doorway.
Her silhouette turned back to him, and he could see the faintest light on the curve of her smile. “Sorry -- pirate.”
And then she was gone from the doorway.
‘Papa’ she had said.
He had just fought the Dread Pirate Luxord’s daughter.
Foot Notes/Glossery
• Flash and Slash as the chocobo names are courtesy of my brother, who named all his chocobos in Final Fantasy VII with the 'ash' ending. Except Zero, the black chocobo. xD
• Farrier: a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horse's hoof and the placing of shoes to the horse's foot. A farrier couples a subset of the blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with a subset of veterinary medicine (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to address the care of the horse's feet.
• Épée: the modern derivative of the original duelling sword, the rapier, used in sport fencing. The weapon is similar to a foil (compared to a sabre), but has a stiffer blade that is V-shaped in cross-section, has a larger bell guard, and is heavier. The technique however, is somewhat different, as there are no rules regarding priority and right-of-way. In addition, the entire body area is a valid target area.
• Knuckle Bow: a single strap running from the quillon to the pommel. Guarding the front of the hand.
• Forte: the lower portion on a sword blade which has more control and strength and which does most of the parrying.
• Point of Percussion: merging points of the forté and foible - the best place to strike with the blade.
• Here's the reference I used for the rapier terms. To make things simpler. xD
• Two Across is a Keyblade obtained in the Final Mix of Kingdom Hearts II. You obtain it after defeating Roxas in battle.
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