gorsecloud (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gorsecloud) wrote2012-03-07 03:34 pm
gorsecloud) wrote2012-03-07 03:34 pm
5. Is it You?
Two in one day! I just got an idea for this one and I'm behind anyway so I decided to roll with it. This is going to be another one of my more unusual stories. I tried to focus on showing, rather than telling. So... it's a little more on the abstract side.
Also since I'm out of whack I'm ditching the days.
#5: Prompt chosen: Is it you?
Reaction.
Repeat after me.
Compliance.
Again. Say it again.
Response to stimuli.
Very good. That is your name. You are number fourteen in this proud Organization. You would do well to remember that.
Words, meanings, pictures. Feet stepping across while ground. A voice speaking to her.
This is the last you'll ever see of these walls.
Movement. Darkness. Light. White walls and ground and glass. A booming call.
Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen...
Head tilting up upon command. Patches of black against white. Faces. Patches of color - brown, red- gold. A patch of black and gold and pale pink. Something stirs.
-----
"She" stands to the side, observing, not moving. Others pass by. Other Organization members. Her comerades. Her superiors. Some disappear in a swirl of black. The Darkness Corridors. How they travel between worlds. Never go in one without a Black Coat.
Number XIV's name... I wonder if it bears some significance..
Number XIV. She is Number XIV. There are thirteen others besides her. Some of them are in front of her. Their colors are different - red, blue... gold. The gold one is watching her. She blinks back.
You worried about the new kid? What was that name again...
Name. Her name is Xion. The blue one says it, then the red, then the gold. An odd feeling prickles. The red and gold talk. Questions. She tries to understand, but the words are a blur.
And our boss's name?
Xemnas. The Superior. Leader of Organization XIII. Obey him at all costs. The red and gold ones leave. All that's left is a nameless question she can't voice.
--------
She moves, breathes. She listens to orders. She does not walk alone, but always follows someone. They tell her what to do.
Come along, Xion.
She is taken to a man with long pale hair. He talks loudly and moves about while she stands in a machine and watches silently.
Yes, yes, it's performing perfectly!
Others come and show her magic. Soon she can produce fire from her hands, though it feels slow and sluggish.
Man, is that really all you can do? You got a ways to go...
Every once in a while, she is taken to a room. There she is ordered to lie on a bed and close her eyes. She does so, and soon enough someone is ordering her up again. The process starts anew.
It's time for more training.
She sees the one with gold hair again, as he speaks to the blue-haired one and disappears into a Darkness Corridor. As she watches, she puzzles. The question is still there.
--------
A few days later, and suddenly things change. The pattern of training stops. She finds herself in the Gray Room, standing across from the gold-haired person, with the blue-haired one, Saïx speaking to him.
Xion, go with him.
She follows, out into bright warmth. The place they're in now is so different, full of light and color. It's overwhelming, and she stares, as the gold-haired person shifts.
Let's go.
She turns back to him, ready to leave. He stares back at her a moment, before looking away. She follows him as he leads her through this new place. Dark shadows rise from the ground, try to attack. Heartless. She is to defeat them. Yet something is missing. They find their target, and attack. The gold-haired person fights too, summoning a giant key she can't help but stare at. The question - forgotten in the awe of their new location - returns. They eliminate the Heartless and return.
I've got someplace to be. You go ahead and RTC without me.
She watches him, wanting to do something, to... to answer the question inside of her, the one she still thinks about, but nothing comes. She turns and obeys. As she steps through the Darkness Corridor, she realizes. She knows him. Somehow, some way. She knows him. And she knows what she wants to ask.
---------
She stands and waits, as the others talk around her, steeling herself for what she is going to try to do.
My name's not "kiddo."
Name. A name. She needs a name. Maybe then she can understand why, why this gold-haired person looks so familiar. She watches him, listens.
Roxas, get to work.
There! That was it! The realization carries her through the mission, as they blast through a team of Deserters. They turn to leave.
I've got someplace to be again today, so go on ahead without me.
No! He can't leave yet, she still has to ask! She struggles and strains, opens a mouth she hasn't used since she first repeated her name, on a hazy day she can't really remember anymore.
"R-Roxas."
He turns back, stares at her. After the first push, it comes more naturally.
"Your name...it's...Roxas, isn't it?"
He seems surprised, and after a long moment, she tenses. Was she wrong? Was it not him? But then...
"Yeah, Xion. ...That's right."
And for the first time, it felt like she was a part of the world, thinking and understanding. With a faint smile, she turned to leave.
Also since I'm out of whack I'm ditching the days.
#5: Prompt chosen: Is it you?
Reaction.
Repeat after me.
Compliance.
Again. Say it again.
Response to stimuli.
Very good. That is your name. You are number fourteen in this proud Organization. You would do well to remember that.
Words, meanings, pictures. Feet stepping across while ground. A voice speaking to her.
This is the last you'll ever see of these walls.
Movement. Darkness. Light. White walls and ground and glass. A booming call.
Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen...
Head tilting up upon command. Patches of black against white. Faces. Patches of color - brown, red- gold. A patch of black and gold and pale pink. Something stirs.
-----
"She" stands to the side, observing, not moving. Others pass by. Other Organization members. Her comerades. Her superiors. Some disappear in a swirl of black. The Darkness Corridors. How they travel between worlds. Never go in one without a Black Coat.
Number XIV's name... I wonder if it bears some significance..
Number XIV. She is Number XIV. There are thirteen others besides her. Some of them are in front of her. Their colors are different - red, blue... gold. The gold one is watching her. She blinks back.
You worried about the new kid? What was that name again...
Name. Her name is Xion. The blue one says it, then the red, then the gold. An odd feeling prickles. The red and gold talk. Questions. She tries to understand, but the words are a blur.
And our boss's name?
Xemnas. The Superior. Leader of Organization XIII. Obey him at all costs. The red and gold ones leave. All that's left is a nameless question she can't voice.
--------
She moves, breathes. She listens to orders. She does not walk alone, but always follows someone. They tell her what to do.
Come along, Xion.
She is taken to a man with long pale hair. He talks loudly and moves about while she stands in a machine and watches silently.
Yes, yes, it's performing perfectly!
Others come and show her magic. Soon she can produce fire from her hands, though it feels slow and sluggish.
Man, is that really all you can do? You got a ways to go...
Every once in a while, she is taken to a room. There she is ordered to lie on a bed and close her eyes. She does so, and soon enough someone is ordering her up again. The process starts anew.
It's time for more training.
She sees the one with gold hair again, as he speaks to the blue-haired one and disappears into a Darkness Corridor. As she watches, she puzzles. The question is still there.
--------
A few days later, and suddenly things change. The pattern of training stops. She finds herself in the Gray Room, standing across from the gold-haired person, with the blue-haired one, Saïx speaking to him.
Xion, go with him.
She follows, out into bright warmth. The place they're in now is so different, full of light and color. It's overwhelming, and she stares, as the gold-haired person shifts.
Let's go.
She turns back to him, ready to leave. He stares back at her a moment, before looking away. She follows him as he leads her through this new place. Dark shadows rise from the ground, try to attack. Heartless. She is to defeat them. Yet something is missing. They find their target, and attack. The gold-haired person fights too, summoning a giant key she can't help but stare at. The question - forgotten in the awe of their new location - returns. They eliminate the Heartless and return.
I've got someplace to be. You go ahead and RTC without me.
She watches him, wanting to do something, to... to answer the question inside of her, the one she still thinks about, but nothing comes. She turns and obeys. As she steps through the Darkness Corridor, she realizes. She knows him. Somehow, some way. She knows him. And she knows what she wants to ask.
---------
She stands and waits, as the others talk around her, steeling herself for what she is going to try to do.
My name's not "kiddo."
Name. A name. She needs a name. Maybe then she can understand why, why this gold-haired person looks so familiar. She watches him, listens.
Roxas, get to work.
There! That was it! The realization carries her through the mission, as they blast through a team of Deserters. They turn to leave.
I've got someplace to be again today, so go on ahead without me.
No! He can't leave yet, she still has to ask! She struggles and strains, opens a mouth she hasn't used since she first repeated her name, on a hazy day she can't really remember anymore.
"R-Roxas."
He turns back, stares at her. After the first push, it comes more naturally.
"Your name...it's...Roxas, isn't it?"
He seems surprised, and after a long moment, she tenses. Was she wrong? Was it not him? But then...
"Yeah, Xion. ...That's right."
And for the first time, it felt like she was a part of the world, thinking and understanding. With a faint smile, she turned to leave.