Athena (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
everlastingsoul) wrote2007-10-10 03:45 am
everlastingsoul) wrote2007-10-10 03:45 am
Entry tags:
Kingdom Hearts AU
This is exactly what I shouldn't be doing at midnight. *shakes head* I can't write Axel for life of me. And Sora's dialogue is so much fun to write.
Title: Untitled; tentatively The Threat of Remembrance
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Characters: The main story revolves around Sora, Kairi, and the apprentices
[Prologue] Axel, Marluxia, Ansem
[Chapter 1] Sora, Kairi, Dilan, Braig, Even, Ienzo, Aeleus
Rated: K+; spoilers for the released KH games
Prologue:
Those That Vanish
I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately.
Like is this for real or not?
A scattered dream that’s like a far-off memory.
A far-off memory that’s like a scattered dream.
I want to line the pieces up—yours and mine.
It’s hard to tell what’s right or wrong.
Is everything I know a lie?
And if it is, do I want to know the truth?
All I know is—
- - - - -
The castle was eerily quiet. His steps echoed as he sprinted down the corridor, looking around wildly for any signs of life. Survivors had begun stumbling out of the building, screaming for help and completely belligerent when questioned. No one had seen the king leave. No one had seen the general, either.
How could this happen? They were supposed to be prepared for attacks, and yet the fortitude of the castle had been completely compromised. No one could understand it, or the flood of darkness that followed. He had ran past some of the others trying to calm down the citizenry, and they had shouted at him to help.
He had ignored them. His mind was elsewhere.
His feet led him to the throne room, where he knew only the most prominent members of the Order would be. A strategy meeting had been scheduled, and he had urged his best friend to introduce his fiancée to the king—the prospects of vacation and help with footing the wedding bill were pretty nice, he had told the younger man. He felt like kicking himself now, knowing he had placed those close to him in danger.
The double doors to the throne room were shut, and he threw all of his weight into breaking them open; they gave way easily, groaning ominously as the redhead ran in. Like the rest of the castle, the large room was unnerving in its silence, but he immediately noticed the other presence in the room. Willing his weapons away, he ran to the dais, looking upon his king with dread. The older man had his head cradled in his hands, not visibly acknowledging the new arrival.
“King Ansem—”
The older man shook his head slowly, cutting him off without saying a word.
“Where are they? Where are the others?!” He had never been one to completely respect the boundaries of rank, and it showed in the way he grabbed the monarch’s shoulders and began to shake him.
“Unhand His Majesty, Number VIII. Your duty is to protect him, not manhandle him.”
Number VIII released the king to turn on his heels, glaring down the dais at the man who was slowly climbing it. Aggravated by the other’s sudden appearance, he stormed down the steps, sidestepping the curve of the other man’s scythe. He could hear Number XI at the top of the stairs asking their king questions, but he was too frustrated to pay closer attention.
“I’m going to look for them,” he declared loudly, more for himself than for the other two. He gave the throne room one last look before heading back the way he had entered.
“You won’t find them.”
Silence reigned as he stopped walking, his hands curling into fists at either side. He slowly turned, frowning against the question on his lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Ansem stood at the top of the dais, his gaze steady as he met the younger man’s eyes. “They vanished—taken by that intense light. You won’t find them here, Axel.”
Axel swept an arm out in denial, shaking his head. “Don’t you dare say that. You can’t be so sure. You can’t.”
The redhead stormed out, leaving the two other men on top of the elevated platform. Tapping one gloved finger on the shaft of his scythe, Number XI of the Order, Marluxia, traded looks with the king. “He won’t give up.”
The king pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing raggedly. “It doesn’t make what I said any less true.”
- - - - -
—I don’t want to forget you.
Chapter 1:
Island Life
Sora opened his eyes to endless blue.
Stretching, the teenager briefly sat up on the sand before flopping onto his back again. He started when his view of the sky was blocked by a shadow, and he thrust himself back up into a sitting position before flipping onto his knees.
Kairi giggled at her friend’s reaction.
“Give me a break, Kairi.” Sora tried his best to fight off a grin; this was hardly the first time she had caught him napping on the job.
“Sora, you lazy bum.” Kairi reached a hand out to tousle the boy’s spiky brown hair. “I thought we were going to build that raft today?”
Making a face at the reminder, Sora climbed to his feet and brushed sand off of his shorts. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night; I had another weird dream.”
Kairi’s lips quirked into a grin. “That’s a terrible excuse.”
“It’s not an excuse!” protested the teenager, his shoulders sagging dramatically. “Dreams have something to do with memories, right? Wouldn’t it be great if my dreams helped me remember?”
The redhead sighed, tucking her hands behind her back as she turned heel to walk down the beach. Sora followed after her, knowing they would eventually end up over by the downed trees that had become their hanging out spot. “I don’t know, Sora. There’s already others doing research, and they’ve never mentioned anything about dreams. Besides, you’ve also had dreams of talking bananas and a clam that ate you alive. I don’t think you can say those had another to do with reality.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t like clams anymore,” Sora muttered as he recalled the dream. Kairi simply patted his shoulder as they continued walking, holding the door open for the boy into a hollowed passage lined with planks to make the spiral ascent easier. “Can you believe we’ve been here for months now? Without any idea what’s going on?”
Four months, to be specific. Kairi smiled wanly as they arrived at the end of the passage, pushing the door open to sunlight and sand again. They continued to their little rendezvous spot—a small island with a ring of trees, one of which had fallen over. “It is hard to believe, sometimes,” she murmured, glancing at her closest friend on the islands. “But it’s peaceful and beautiful here; I couldn’t think of a better place to be.”
“Because you don’t remember anything,” the spiky-haired brunet pointed out and he hopped up on the fallen tree. He turned around swiftly and reached his hand out to Kairi.
“Well, I have a feeling this is the best place to be.” Kairi took the proffered hand and climbed up to sit next to her friend. “So, do you even have time to be lazing around like this?” She grinned at the bewildered look Sora gave her. “If you’re not going to help me build that raft, shouldn’t you go practice with Dilan?”
Sora was silent for a few moments, swinging his feet thoughtfully. “Yeah, I should,” he sighed noncommittally. He had been slacking off lately, and he knew his master would have a few harsh words for him—especially if their eventual practice fights ended with him on the ground in less than a minute. “What are you going to do, then?”
“I think I’ll go find Ienzo and Aeleus and keep them company; they’ve been in the library far too long.”
“Aren’t they taking that job of theirs too seriously?” Sora wondered, wrinkling his nose at the mention of the library. “They’re just books.”
Kairi shook her head, standing up on the tree and balancing herself on it carefully. She walked over towards the fruits growing at the twisted top of the tree, talking over her shoulder. “Those ruined books are all the history we have. I guess, when you’re an adult, you decide you can’t live in the present as much.” One hand finding purchase, she pulled a fruit down and began to walk back to Sora’s side.
“Ienzo’s not that much older than us,” the other teen commented, watching her intently.
“He sure doesn’t act like it, though,” Kairi replied. She spent a minute wrestling with the fruit’s awkward shape before breaking it into two pieces. “Do you want some?”
“Sure; eating’ll delay the whomping I’m sure Dilan’s gonna give me.”
Kairi just laughed as they shared the star-shaped fruit.
* * * * *
A hop, skip, and a few well-placed jumps later, Sora found himself well on his way to where Dilan was practicing. Dilan was the closest to a fighter the islands had; he constantly trained himself while others worked on governing the small colony, earning him a rather bewildering reputation. The elder islanders could not understand the need for anyone to be dedicating themselves to training; the environment provided fruits, vegetables, and fish for everyone, so even training for hunting seemed useless.
Dilan was not easily deterred though, and he continued to hone his reflexes for lack of anything else to do. That lack of anything else to do was something he shared with Sora, and how their odd relationship of master and pupil began. Not that Dilan was a master of anything; his body simply remembered movements and stances that his mind did not, and that was enough to impress Sora.
When Dilan first began teaching Sora how to fight, Sora had complained about Dilan’s style of fighting with two sticks instead of one.
He stopped complaining about the weapons when Dilan managed to beat him without them.
While blindfolded.
“I do not see how you can avoid training for so long.” Dilan watched the boy even as he continued tying back his long, dark hair. Sora smiled sheepishly as he walked up, knowing he would be expected to spar now that he had shown up. “You were with Kairi?”
“We were gonna build a raft today, but I took a long nap instead.”
“Such sloth.” At Sora’s embarrassed grin, Dilan rolled his eyes and turned to pick up the wooden sword he had fashioned for Sora several weeks ago. “Shall I remind you what I do with lazy apprentices?” He tossed the weapon to Sora without looking at him.
“You only have one apprentice.” Laughter filled the air as Sora caught the sword in midair, hefting its familiar weight onto one shoulder. “And that threat was only good when I couldn’t swim.”
“A shame. It was terribly effective.” Dilan retrieved one of the poles that he regularly practiced with, giving it a test swing before nodding at Sora. “Are you going to warm up?”
“I ran the whole way here,” Sora exaggerated, crouching into a fighting stance with both hands grasping his weapon’s hilt. “I’m good.”
“Then we begin.”
Sora tensed and immediately brought his weapon up to parry the first blow, staggering back from the sheer force of the attack. He had to sidestep the next swing; Dilan had the height and weight advantage, so the teen had to rely on his speed.
But Dilan was also surprisingly fast for his size, so in most cases the point was moot.
And so Sora had to rely on the fact that he was so much shorter.
He had to dig his feet into the ground as he ran, sliding and using the momentum to spin behind Dilan. Dilan was able to parry without turning, deflecting the attack Sora had meant to aim at the tall man’s exposed back. “Too slow,” he intoned, spinning his pole and thrusting it back. Sora barely dodged the attack, grabbing hold of the weapon briefly and allowing himself to be pushed backwards. With space between the two combatants again, they were able to size each other up. “You’re getting sloppy.”
Sora answered with a determined look, twisting his gloved hands tighter around his sword as he charged at Dilan again. The taller man simply shook his head, easing out of his stance and sidestepping as Sora neared.
The next thing Sora knew, he was on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of sand after being neatly tripped by his opponent.
It was only then that Dilan began to laugh.
* * * * *
“Out! Out!”
“All right, all right-- yeesh, don’t blow a gasket, dude.”
Kairi blinked at the shouting coming from the library, unconsciously relaxing when she saw the professor irately pushing Braig out the door. She could see Aeleus peering out from beyond the professor, probably debating whether or not to stop him from forcing Braig out of the building.
“If you must grace us with your presence, Braig, have the sense of decency to dry off before entering.” Even’s green eyes twitched as he wiped his wet hands on his pants, an annoyed grunt escaping him. Kairi did a double-take at that, suppressing a giggle as she pieced together the scene—from the sopping wet swimming trunks Braig was wearing to the wet and sandy footprints leading into the usually neat library. “And find yourself a pair of shoes!”
Kairi smiled as Braig turned around, catching him roll his single eye at Even’s behavior. “You’re gonna be a bad influence to Kairi over there,” the drenched-but-quickly-drying Braig commented, spotting the redhead heading up the small walkway from the boardwalk. “What’s up, kid?”
“Sora went to train with Dilan, so I thought I’d see how the library work was going before going home.” She stopped next to the older man, taking in the scars on his exposed skin. It was a mystery to everyone how Braig had gotten so badly wounded (to the point where he had lost an eye), but he took the stares in stride. Dilan had once remarked that Braig could probably have been a soldier, only to have Braig dismiss his idea for the exciting tale of a surfer who had fought off a shark with nothing but his surfboard. Unbelievable as the story was, no one but Dilan had the heart to deny the man his fantasies.
“Well, you’ll probably be more welcome than me,” mused Braig, stretching his arms above his head for a moment. “Ah well, better get going and find some lunch. Don’t let the bookworms get under your skin.” Kairi laughed softly as Braig tousled her hair, watching him trot back out from under the shade and down the beach.
“That man needs a swift kick to the head.”
Kairi turned her attention back to Even, who had his arms crossed as he watched Braig walk off. “Now, now, Professor, your forehead veins are showing,” she joked, continuing on her way into the library. Ienzo was poring over a partly-restored manuscript next to Aeleus, his dark hair held back by several clips; his bangs were at that length where they were continuously falling into his line of sight, and no amount of pushing them back could keep them out of the way for long.
Always the practical one, Even had suggested the young man cut his hair. While Ienzo had not appeared to hear him at all, Aeleus had told everyone present that Ienzo liked his hair the way it was.
And that was that, really.
“When are they not around Braig?” Ienzo looked up from his readings, his dark eyes meeting Kairi’s. Aeleus smiled briefly beside his friend, turning a page from the newly-bound book he was leafing through.
“I have half a mind to throw you all out of here,” Even muttered, though not unkindly. He paused, reconsidering. “Aeleus may stay.”
Kairi rocked back on the balls of her feet. They all had an odd sort of friendship; she had been introduced to the older men by Ienzo, who acted as the go-between because of his age and decidedly-friendlier behavior. (There was nothing wrong with Aeleus, but he was more than little intimidating in stature; Even, while in no way bad, emanated what Braig called the “grumpy old man” aura.)
“How long have you three been in here?” She glanced at the clock sitting on one of the lower shelves, knowing their usual habits. “I hope you three haven’t been skipping meals again.”
There was silence, and in the distance Kairi could hear the waves rolling onto the shore. She sighed and marched over to Ienzo, sliding the stack of papers away from him before reaching over and plucking the book from Aeleus’ hands. “Boys. Men. You can’t do anything for yourselves. Come on, let’s go get some star fruit; maybe you can help me reach the higher ones.”
Ienzo smiled wryly, simply shrugging as he and the two older men were ushered out of the library.
Title: Untitled; tentatively The Threat of Remembrance
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Characters: The main story revolves around Sora, Kairi, and the apprentices
[Prologue] Axel, Marluxia, Ansem
[Chapter 1] Sora, Kairi, Dilan, Braig, Even, Ienzo, Aeleus
Rated: K+; spoilers for the released KH games
Those That Vanish
I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately.
Like is this for real or not?
A scattered dream that’s like a far-off memory.
A far-off memory that’s like a scattered dream.
I want to line the pieces up—yours and mine.
It’s hard to tell what’s right or wrong.
Is everything I know a lie?
And if it is, do I want to know the truth?
All I know is—
The castle was eerily quiet. His steps echoed as he sprinted down the corridor, looking around wildly for any signs of life. Survivors had begun stumbling out of the building, screaming for help and completely belligerent when questioned. No one had seen the king leave. No one had seen the general, either.
How could this happen? They were supposed to be prepared for attacks, and yet the fortitude of the castle had been completely compromised. No one could understand it, or the flood of darkness that followed. He had ran past some of the others trying to calm down the citizenry, and they had shouted at him to help.
He had ignored them. His mind was elsewhere.
His feet led him to the throne room, where he knew only the most prominent members of the Order would be. A strategy meeting had been scheduled, and he had urged his best friend to introduce his fiancée to the king—the prospects of vacation and help with footing the wedding bill were pretty nice, he had told the younger man. He felt like kicking himself now, knowing he had placed those close to him in danger.
The double doors to the throne room were shut, and he threw all of his weight into breaking them open; they gave way easily, groaning ominously as the redhead ran in. Like the rest of the castle, the large room was unnerving in its silence, but he immediately noticed the other presence in the room. Willing his weapons away, he ran to the dais, looking upon his king with dread. The older man had his head cradled in his hands, not visibly acknowledging the new arrival.
“King Ansem—”
The older man shook his head slowly, cutting him off without saying a word.
“Where are they? Where are the others?!” He had never been one to completely respect the boundaries of rank, and it showed in the way he grabbed the monarch’s shoulders and began to shake him.
“Unhand His Majesty, Number VIII. Your duty is to protect him, not manhandle him.”
Number VIII released the king to turn on his heels, glaring down the dais at the man who was slowly climbing it. Aggravated by the other’s sudden appearance, he stormed down the steps, sidestepping the curve of the other man’s scythe. He could hear Number XI at the top of the stairs asking their king questions, but he was too frustrated to pay closer attention.
“I’m going to look for them,” he declared loudly, more for himself than for the other two. He gave the throne room one last look before heading back the way he had entered.
“You won’t find them.”
Silence reigned as he stopped walking, his hands curling into fists at either side. He slowly turned, frowning against the question on his lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Ansem stood at the top of the dais, his gaze steady as he met the younger man’s eyes. “They vanished—taken by that intense light. You won’t find them here, Axel.”
Axel swept an arm out in denial, shaking his head. “Don’t you dare say that. You can’t be so sure. You can’t.”
The redhead stormed out, leaving the two other men on top of the elevated platform. Tapping one gloved finger on the shaft of his scythe, Number XI of the Order, Marluxia, traded looks with the king. “He won’t give up.”
The king pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing raggedly. “It doesn’t make what I said any less true.”
—I don’t want to forget you.
Island Life
Sora opened his eyes to endless blue.
Stretching, the teenager briefly sat up on the sand before flopping onto his back again. He started when his view of the sky was blocked by a shadow, and he thrust himself back up into a sitting position before flipping onto his knees.
Kairi giggled at her friend’s reaction.
“Give me a break, Kairi.” Sora tried his best to fight off a grin; this was hardly the first time she had caught him napping on the job.
“Sora, you lazy bum.” Kairi reached a hand out to tousle the boy’s spiky brown hair. “I thought we were going to build that raft today?”
Making a face at the reminder, Sora climbed to his feet and brushed sand off of his shorts. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night; I had another weird dream.”
Kairi’s lips quirked into a grin. “That’s a terrible excuse.”
“It’s not an excuse!” protested the teenager, his shoulders sagging dramatically. “Dreams have something to do with memories, right? Wouldn’t it be great if my dreams helped me remember?”
The redhead sighed, tucking her hands behind her back as she turned heel to walk down the beach. Sora followed after her, knowing they would eventually end up over by the downed trees that had become their hanging out spot. “I don’t know, Sora. There’s already others doing research, and they’ve never mentioned anything about dreams. Besides, you’ve also had dreams of talking bananas and a clam that ate you alive. I don’t think you can say those had another to do with reality.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t like clams anymore,” Sora muttered as he recalled the dream. Kairi simply patted his shoulder as they continued walking, holding the door open for the boy into a hollowed passage lined with planks to make the spiral ascent easier. “Can you believe we’ve been here for months now? Without any idea what’s going on?”
Four months, to be specific. Kairi smiled wanly as they arrived at the end of the passage, pushing the door open to sunlight and sand again. They continued to their little rendezvous spot—a small island with a ring of trees, one of which had fallen over. “It is hard to believe, sometimes,” she murmured, glancing at her closest friend on the islands. “But it’s peaceful and beautiful here; I couldn’t think of a better place to be.”
“Because you don’t remember anything,” the spiky-haired brunet pointed out and he hopped up on the fallen tree. He turned around swiftly and reached his hand out to Kairi.
“Well, I have a feeling this is the best place to be.” Kairi took the proffered hand and climbed up to sit next to her friend. “So, do you even have time to be lazing around like this?” She grinned at the bewildered look Sora gave her. “If you’re not going to help me build that raft, shouldn’t you go practice with Dilan?”
Sora was silent for a few moments, swinging his feet thoughtfully. “Yeah, I should,” he sighed noncommittally. He had been slacking off lately, and he knew his master would have a few harsh words for him—especially if their eventual practice fights ended with him on the ground in less than a minute. “What are you going to do, then?”
“I think I’ll go find Ienzo and Aeleus and keep them company; they’ve been in the library far too long.”
“Aren’t they taking that job of theirs too seriously?” Sora wondered, wrinkling his nose at the mention of the library. “They’re just books.”
Kairi shook her head, standing up on the tree and balancing herself on it carefully. She walked over towards the fruits growing at the twisted top of the tree, talking over her shoulder. “Those ruined books are all the history we have. I guess, when you’re an adult, you decide you can’t live in the present as much.” One hand finding purchase, she pulled a fruit down and began to walk back to Sora’s side.
“Ienzo’s not that much older than us,” the other teen commented, watching her intently.
“He sure doesn’t act like it, though,” Kairi replied. She spent a minute wrestling with the fruit’s awkward shape before breaking it into two pieces. “Do you want some?”
“Sure; eating’ll delay the whomping I’m sure Dilan’s gonna give me.”
Kairi just laughed as they shared the star-shaped fruit.
A hop, skip, and a few well-placed jumps later, Sora found himself well on his way to where Dilan was practicing. Dilan was the closest to a fighter the islands had; he constantly trained himself while others worked on governing the small colony, earning him a rather bewildering reputation. The elder islanders could not understand the need for anyone to be dedicating themselves to training; the environment provided fruits, vegetables, and fish for everyone, so even training for hunting seemed useless.
Dilan was not easily deterred though, and he continued to hone his reflexes for lack of anything else to do. That lack of anything else to do was something he shared with Sora, and how their odd relationship of master and pupil began. Not that Dilan was a master of anything; his body simply remembered movements and stances that his mind did not, and that was enough to impress Sora.
When Dilan first began teaching Sora how to fight, Sora had complained about Dilan’s style of fighting with two sticks instead of one.
He stopped complaining about the weapons when Dilan managed to beat him without them.
While blindfolded.
“I do not see how you can avoid training for so long.” Dilan watched the boy even as he continued tying back his long, dark hair. Sora smiled sheepishly as he walked up, knowing he would be expected to spar now that he had shown up. “You were with Kairi?”
“We were gonna build a raft today, but I took a long nap instead.”
“Such sloth.” At Sora’s embarrassed grin, Dilan rolled his eyes and turned to pick up the wooden sword he had fashioned for Sora several weeks ago. “Shall I remind you what I do with lazy apprentices?” He tossed the weapon to Sora without looking at him.
“You only have one apprentice.” Laughter filled the air as Sora caught the sword in midair, hefting its familiar weight onto one shoulder. “And that threat was only good when I couldn’t swim.”
“A shame. It was terribly effective.” Dilan retrieved one of the poles that he regularly practiced with, giving it a test swing before nodding at Sora. “Are you going to warm up?”
“I ran the whole way here,” Sora exaggerated, crouching into a fighting stance with both hands grasping his weapon’s hilt. “I’m good.”
“Then we begin.”
Sora tensed and immediately brought his weapon up to parry the first blow, staggering back from the sheer force of the attack. He had to sidestep the next swing; Dilan had the height and weight advantage, so the teen had to rely on his speed.
But Dilan was also surprisingly fast for his size, so in most cases the point was moot.
And so Sora had to rely on the fact that he was so much shorter.
He had to dig his feet into the ground as he ran, sliding and using the momentum to spin behind Dilan. Dilan was able to parry without turning, deflecting the attack Sora had meant to aim at the tall man’s exposed back. “Too slow,” he intoned, spinning his pole and thrusting it back. Sora barely dodged the attack, grabbing hold of the weapon briefly and allowing himself to be pushed backwards. With space between the two combatants again, they were able to size each other up. “You’re getting sloppy.”
Sora answered with a determined look, twisting his gloved hands tighter around his sword as he charged at Dilan again. The taller man simply shook his head, easing out of his stance and sidestepping as Sora neared.
The next thing Sora knew, he was on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of sand after being neatly tripped by his opponent.
It was only then that Dilan began to laugh.
“Out! Out!”
“All right, all right-- yeesh, don’t blow a gasket, dude.”
Kairi blinked at the shouting coming from the library, unconsciously relaxing when she saw the professor irately pushing Braig out the door. She could see Aeleus peering out from beyond the professor, probably debating whether or not to stop him from forcing Braig out of the building.
“If you must grace us with your presence, Braig, have the sense of decency to dry off before entering.” Even’s green eyes twitched as he wiped his wet hands on his pants, an annoyed grunt escaping him. Kairi did a double-take at that, suppressing a giggle as she pieced together the scene—from the sopping wet swimming trunks Braig was wearing to the wet and sandy footprints leading into the usually neat library. “And find yourself a pair of shoes!”
Kairi smiled as Braig turned around, catching him roll his single eye at Even’s behavior. “You’re gonna be a bad influence to Kairi over there,” the drenched-but-quickly-drying Braig commented, spotting the redhead heading up the small walkway from the boardwalk. “What’s up, kid?”
“Sora went to train with Dilan, so I thought I’d see how the library work was going before going home.” She stopped next to the older man, taking in the scars on his exposed skin. It was a mystery to everyone how Braig had gotten so badly wounded (to the point where he had lost an eye), but he took the stares in stride. Dilan had once remarked that Braig could probably have been a soldier, only to have Braig dismiss his idea for the exciting tale of a surfer who had fought off a shark with nothing but his surfboard. Unbelievable as the story was, no one but Dilan had the heart to deny the man his fantasies.
“Well, you’ll probably be more welcome than me,” mused Braig, stretching his arms above his head for a moment. “Ah well, better get going and find some lunch. Don’t let the bookworms get under your skin.” Kairi laughed softly as Braig tousled her hair, watching him trot back out from under the shade and down the beach.
“That man needs a swift kick to the head.”
Kairi turned her attention back to Even, who had his arms crossed as he watched Braig walk off. “Now, now, Professor, your forehead veins are showing,” she joked, continuing on her way into the library. Ienzo was poring over a partly-restored manuscript next to Aeleus, his dark hair held back by several clips; his bangs were at that length where they were continuously falling into his line of sight, and no amount of pushing them back could keep them out of the way for long.
Always the practical one, Even had suggested the young man cut his hair. While Ienzo had not appeared to hear him at all, Aeleus had told everyone present that Ienzo liked his hair the way it was.
And that was that, really.
“When are they not around Braig?” Ienzo looked up from his readings, his dark eyes meeting Kairi’s. Aeleus smiled briefly beside his friend, turning a page from the newly-bound book he was leafing through.
“I have half a mind to throw you all out of here,” Even muttered, though not unkindly. He paused, reconsidering. “Aeleus may stay.”
Kairi rocked back on the balls of her feet. They all had an odd sort of friendship; she had been introduced to the older men by Ienzo, who acted as the go-between because of his age and decidedly-friendlier behavior. (There was nothing wrong with Aeleus, but he was more than little intimidating in stature; Even, while in no way bad, emanated what Braig called the “grumpy old man” aura.)
“How long have you three been in here?” She glanced at the clock sitting on one of the lower shelves, knowing their usual habits. “I hope you three haven’t been skipping meals again.”
There was silence, and in the distance Kairi could hear the waves rolling onto the shore. She sighed and marched over to Ienzo, sliding the stack of papers away from him before reaching over and plucking the book from Aeleus’ hands. “Boys. Men. You can’t do anything for yourselves. Come on, let’s go get some star fruit; maybe you can help me reach the higher ones.”
Ienzo smiled wryly, simply shrugging as he and the two older men were ushered out of the library.