Across Sand and Sky and Gravel

On Plants And The Care Of

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:12:41 GMT

So I have these two plants. An African violet that I bought from Lowe's in maybe February, and a hydrangea shoot(I think? What do you call a hydrangea that isn't yet a giant bush yet?) I got for free a couple weeks ago. With both plants, I was assured they would be very easy to care for- the African violet doesn't need much water and all I have to do with the hydrangea is keep it alive until spring when I can put it in the ground and let it do its thing. Not too hard, right?

Shyeah right.

I'd bought the African violet because it was dying and on a clearance rack and it wouldn't be so big a deal if the thing died on my watch (which it really would have been, because pride is my vice of choice and I would have taken offense to the violet's death). It kept dying for a week or so, until I gave up on watering it on a near-daily basis and the damn thing flourished. I had to re-pot it and I'm pretty sure it's long overdue for another pot, but the point is that it isn't dying so actively now. Also, despite being a violet, I have yet to see any flowers.

Now, the hydrangea should have been easy to keep alive. Keyword being 'should.' It started wilting the day after I got it, not helped by the fact that my sister ran off with the van before I could get the plants out. Being as we live in Panhandle Florida, mid-October is as hot as early May, if not hotter. My mother, who successfully raises fruit trees in the backyard, said I didn't need to water the hydrangea more than every few days. The hydrangea, I have found, is a very emo plant. It wilts when the sun is out and shining and now that Tropical Storm Ida has gifted us with ridiculous amounts of rain, is the happiest plant in the yard.

So yeah. I have the most contrary plants in the world.

Also, Boondock Saints is one of the better movies in the history of ever and I kind of want to write for it. Just a little.

Mutant 'Verse: Getting The Gang Together

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:18:45 GMT

It's been a long time since I posted anything, and I really really wanted to post some of my more recent stuff, so here. Some of my cast in a 'verse with metas/mutants/supers/whatever the term is now. Not the first timeline-wise, but starting like this makes more sense. The old backstory I have for my canon cast is being reworked, but this has little to do with that anyway, so. On with the show

~*~*~

The scientists where Evan is, the telepath admits to himself, have done a rather good job at suppressing his powers. Evan should hope they have, he broke three of their best minds before they realized they needed to change the drug cocktail they were giving him. Evan pretends the latest works- it keeps him from damaging anyone's minds with his own, but it doesn't keep him from looking.

And so he watches the couple people the scientists have put in tall tubes of liquid just like they have with him. There's Tenzou, who, despite the fact that the chemicals he had been injected with have nearly killed him time and again, won't die. His powers with wood won't be of any use in getting them out, but Evan looks in on him time to time with his telepathy. Mina had the power to change into a bird, but died within the first week. Across had been John, incredible potential with fire, but the drugs the scientists use on him reduce his power to merely controlling the flames, not creating them. Evan could have used that, but a man came and rescued him. No one will come for him or Tenzou.

~

One day-or night, Evan can't tell- another boy is brought in. He's kicking and screaming so loud Evan can hear him through the glass- "So help me, I will murder you myself, lemme GO!"

His eyes meet Evan's-half-closed so the scientists don't realize he's awake- and Evan sees the sheer will to survive in his eyes. Even though the scientists have shot him full of a drug to dull his powers, one scientist still gets sent flying when Brandon hits him. He pokes the smaller teen's mind as the scientists inject him with a tranquilizer. Brandon, is it? What do you call your power?

Wariness and an odd sense of familiarity and a thought drift to the forefront of Brandon's mind, the last one a quote. That which does not kill me makes me stronger.

Evan approves. And waits for help that they'll need.

~

Next, after one month, two shattered containment tubes, and convincing Brandon they need more than just who they've got to get out of here, a boy blinks into view, almost as pale as his hair as he realizes where he is. "My God," he says, horrified. Tentatively, he approaches Evan's tube, and puts a hand on the smooth surface. He looks Evan in the eye. "I'm Mal," he introduces himself quietly, eyes hard. "Give me two days. I'll be back."

Evan nods slightly, and Mal disappears just as the door opens and the scientists appear. The telepath closes his eyes. Two days. They can wait that long.

~

As promised, Mal returns, with company. The taller boy strolls over to Brandon and taps on the glass, waking the teen. "Name's Justice," he introduces himself, and the metal of Brandon's tube peels away with a flick of his wrist. He catches Brandon as the teen collapses. "We got ya, kid."

"Not a kid," Brandon mutters and rights himself. A single well- placed punch shatters the glass surrounding Tenzou. "I'm Brandon, this is Tenzou. What's our exit strategy?"

"Helping your buddy out," Justice says, jerking a thumb at Mal as he pulls Evan out the conventional way. Alarms start blaring and Justice waves a hand, the metal of the doors flattening into sheets so they can't be opened. "Mal, ya planning on getting out of here this week? That patch job ain't gonna hold anyone for long, and I can't do much better if we plan on doing this right."

"Got him," Mal grunts, and suddenly flickers over to them with Evan, one of Evan's arms slung around his shoulders. Justice grabs Brandon and Tenzou by their arms and Mal puts a hand on Justice's shoulder. "Hold your breath."

Suddenly, they're all outside, in a wooded area. Evan catches Mal's thought without even trying-oh shit- and yanks Brandon out of range as the teleporter doubles over and begins throwing up. Brandon, not much caring that he's only clad in shorts and the questionable liquid they were kept in, crosses his arms. "We're gonna have issues if you do that every time," he says and looks towards the compound. Lights are still flashing, and Evan knows soon the surrounding area will be searched. "What's next?"

Mal motions Justice forward. "Do it. I can still 'port us home."

"Bullshit," Justice retorts. "You're barely on your feet now, Mal. We won't be able to get away-"

"We can hide." Everyone turns to look at Tenzou. The dark haired boy ducks his head. "I can hide us."

Evan grins. Their rescuers have no idea that Tenzou has the best control out of any of them, and how well suited his ability is to their situation. Also, what Evan senses from Mal should prove interesting in practice. "He can. Do your thing, Justice. It sounds like fun."

The older teen rolls his eyes. He stretches his arms out towards the compound, and slowly lowers them. All the metal that forms the buildings creaks down and within a few moments, the secret facility is reduced to rubble and flame and warped metal. Justice drops to his knees. "Dumbest idea ever," he says, breathing raggedly. "Some rescue this is turning out to be, the rescuers epically fail at the last minute."

"Look for me in the white forest," Evan says, grinning as Tenzou creates trees that look just like the rest in the forest, save for the large hollows. "Hiding in a hollow tree."

"Shoulda known you'd be an emo kid," Brandon snorts with no real heat behind his words. He puts Mal in one and Justices refuses help in getting into another. He climbs in another and settles comfortably against the back of the hollow. "Sure it'll be enough?"

Tenzou closes the trees around all of them, save for a tiny hole so they can breathe. "Yes."

~

"Thanks a lot," Mal says to Aya, a day later. The five boys are sitting around the table in her kitchen, eating like they haven't done so in forever. For three of them, it's pretty close to true. Brandon has given up on eating politely, and Evan is hard-pressed to not do the same. Tenzou still looks like he almost doesn't remember what it's like to not be fed through a tube. Evan thinks-he doesn't know, since he refuses to look through the minds of those he considers friends when it's not necessary- that he probably doesn't; he was in the facility longer than Evan.

The woman waves a dismissive hand and pushes the serving plate towards Tenzou. "Anytime, kiddo," she assures Mal. She leans against the table. "Are you sure you can't-"

"Yes," Mal says shortly. He looks down to his plate. "I'm sorry. I can't. They know that."

"That doesn't mean they like it," she returns. Shaking her head, Aya looks at the other four. "So what will you do now?"

Tenzou frowns. "I don't know," he admits. "I don't remember having a home or anything. I mean, I know I must have had one, but..."

"Stay here." Aya drops a hand on his head. "Arashi would love you, I just know it. And Kyouji and Kouichi don't mind having more people in the house. All of you could stay."

Mal walks away from the table while Aya chatters on and assures them it's the perfect solution. He makes it as far as the porch when a voice stops him. "You won't even tell them goodbye."

He looks at Kyouji, sitting on a cushion and plucking idly at his koto. "I didn't tell my family goodbye either. Why tell these guys I barely know when I'm leaving?"

Kyouji eyes him shrewdly. "Why did you save them?"

"Because I could." He shakes his head. "Well, I'm out-"

"Wait the hell up!" Brandon appears in the doorway. "The hell do you think you're doing? You're not going anywhere without us!"

Mal looks stunned. "Wha..?"

"You heard him," Justice drawls, walking up. "And me, too. You think you can just ask me to help you save people and think that's the end of it?"

The stunned look disappears in favor of an annoyed one. "Don't you have families to go back to?"

Evan decides to intervene before Brandon can start in on property damage. "I don't think going home is a good idea. They'll just find me again."

"Yeah, same here," Brandon agrees, the anger disappearing in favor of seriousness and a bitterness that likely has nothing to do with being caught and everything to do with his family situation. "It'll be good for Tenzou to stay here, kid needs a normal life and all. Tenzou can at least pretend to be normal. But me? I stay in one place too long and someone's bound to notice I put dents in things when I'm mad."

"We're coming with you, Mal," Evan informs him. "Whether you like it or not."

Mal shakes his head. "Can't win, can I," he says ruefully. "Guess we're heading out now."

"Malice." Mal's breath catches in his throat; no one since his family has called him by his full given name, and he remembers how much he misses them. Kyouji pauses. "I will tell your parents and your sisters you are well."

"Thank you, Kyouji."

The four boys disappear.

SPN-Fic. Sort of

Thu, 21 May 2009 06:53:55 GMT

I started reading the fics long before I ever saw the show. And I'm up to episode eight of season one. So yeah, OOC here and there and possibly screwing around with ghost canon.

It's a long time before she figures out that she's dead. So long by herself in this place that she loves (never past tense, she'll never stop loving a place she fought so hard to make her own), she goes through the motions of her morning routine before going back upstairs and finding her body on the bed. It looks asleep. Peaceful in a way she hasn't known for a long time. She doesn't know what else to do, so she stays here and wonders how long before someone finds her.

Eventually someone comes, a petty thief. She watches and waits, curious to see what he'll do. That lasts as long as it takes for him to get to the bar and reach for the crystal glasses on display. At that point she throws a chair at him. He's stunned at first that someone caught him, and then terrified when he realizes that someone is kinda see-through. She doesn't think she's seen someone run that fast since she chased her brother off the property.

After the thief come the cops, and then the ambulance to take away her body. She considers following along, but what would be the point? If she's to be a spectre, she likes the idea of staying in her bar more than wandering circles around her grave. She understands a little when someone comes to box up all her belongings, her tools of the trade, but she only ever lets one person do it, some slip of a girl who reminds her of her sister- a mean little firecracker who doesn't let the idea of ghosts frighten her out of doing her job.

Time goes on, or she supposes it does. She counts time in the number of would-be thieves, frat pledges on dares, real estate agents looking to renovate, hopeful entrepreneurs hoping to use the prime location. All but the pledges stop coming by the time the dust covers every surface of the place, and she imagines the air might be heavy and stale. It isn't as though she needs to breathe.

One day she throws a glass (forgotten, but she likes to think the slip of a girl left a few on purpose) harder than she expected and the pledge bleeds to death right outside. She doesn't think she cares.

Someone does, she supposes, because two young men with salt and iron come not long after that. The shorter one blinks and she doesn't blame him. She met the last pledge at the door with a good solid glass, after all. This time she's just sitting on the edge of the bar. "You're the ghost?" he asks. As if she'd let any other spirit stick around, and says so. "You are... refreshingly not homicidal."

His companion (friend, brother, lover, she can't tell) looks to the ceiling for guidance, something which she knows from long experience isn't coming. "Why did you attack all those people?"

"They wanted what was mine," she answers and feels the familiar surge of anger at the thought of someone taking this place from her. It's the only emotion she has known lately.

He settles on the bench built into the wall, not minding the dust and leaning forward to ask, "This is yours?"

A glass breaks next to her. That happens lately, too. "I fought for it when no one else would. Kept it together when everyone else said it would fail." Even if it did, in the end.

"Because you love this place," he says and she nods. The next question startles her. "Do you remember why?"

She starts to answer, and then stops. She doesn't remember, only knows that she will drive away anyone who would take it from her. "It's 'cause you're losing parts of yourself the longer you let yourself stay here," the shorter man informs her. She'd forgotten he was even there. " Pretty soon all you'll be is anger, and I don't think any of us wants that. So why don't you do us all a favor and tell us where you're buried."

She stares. "...why?"

"So we can help you move on," the other one explains and she thinks she likes him better anyway. It helps that he isn't the one with the gun.

The clipping with her death announcement and funerary arrangements is right where that slip of a girl left it- tacked to the wall next to the bar. "If I move on, someone else will take this place," she says. "How will I know they'll treat it right? Love it like I do?"

The gun-toting one snorts. "Lady, I hope they don't love it like you do. You just hope they like it enough to not burn it to the ground around your ears."

She hadn't expected good reasoning from someone who looks so trigger- happy and says so. The seated one snorts and smiles and takes the clipping from the wall himself. "He's a real gem, isn't he," he says.

"He's a keeper," she replies.

"Every frickin' town," the gun-toter bitches and they leave.

Sometime after, she does, too.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:12:14 GMT

今　夏休み、東京　に　参ります！！参りたい　から、　うれしい　でござる。　でも、私　も　しんぱいしている。　日本語　を　話すの　が　上手じゃありません。　がんばりますの　は　私　の　やくそく。

A Sandbox AU

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:09:15 GMT

It's one of many that I've sent raven_scarlett . Probably not the last, though. I've got a Merc 'Verse too. I should maybe post Canon here. Eventually. For now, meet MiaS 'Verse:

Mal watches as Evan and Justice run back to his starship under heavy fire, followed closely by a small blond. "Who-" he starts to ask as the shots actually start hitting the ship. "What the shit, Ev, I leave you for five minutes and they're shooting at me and my ship! And who the hell is this?!"

"New medic," Evan answers breathlessly as he dives into the pilot seat, taking over the lift-off procedures. "Shut up and let me drive. Justice! Why isn't that door shut?!"

"It is now!" Justice yells back as a heavier blast actually meant for the ship rocks them. "I'm sending Donny up there until we hit atmo, don't bother me!"

The young man comes in as Evan finally manages to pull away and Mal gets the shields up and returns fire. "Hullo," he greets the new guy absently. "So you're Donny?"

"Brandon, actually," the medic corrects and does a double-take, looking around. "Wait, where- who said that? Intercom system?"

"Kinda," Evan hedges. "That's our captain, Mal. He's, um, he's the ship."

The fallout is even better than Mal expected. "The ship?!" Brandon practically shrieks, proving that he's not far out of puberty and Evan is no longer the baby of the group. "The captain is the ship?!"

"Yeah," Evan drags out as he sends the ship into a sharp upward spiral, making Brandon crash against a wall and Justice's curses reach all the way from the engine room. "Sorry, boys. But yeah, there was a- well, we're not sure how it happened, but we're going to That Great Mythical Place to get it fixed, or at least explained. Ah, here we go."

The clouds clear and Brandon's jaw drops as he sees space, up close and personal for the first time. Evan leans back and grins. Mal says, "Really cool, huh?"

Brandon snaps out of it almost immediately. "You're a ship!!"

Mal sighs. "Is it going to be like this all the time? Because if it is, I'm spacing him."

Justice comes in. "Now, c'mon, we kinda need him. At the rate Evan keeps getting shot-"

"At!!" Evan breaks in defensively as Mal makes the temperature drop drastically with the environmental controls. "Getting shot at!! Never been hit!"

"Then why are you bleeding all over the cockpit?" Brandon snaps, hauling him out of the pilot's seat and down the hall and ignoring the protests that it's just a graze. "This is just great, first time offworld, and I'm the medic on a ship where the mechanic triples as hired muscle and psychoanalyst, the co-pilot doesn't realize when he's been shot, and the captain of all this insanity is the ship. I should have stayed home and gotten married."

"Now, now," Mal cajoles. "That wouldn't be as fun."

Justice grins as Brandon starts a new tantrum over the disarrayed quarters that they've dubbed the medical bay. "Makes life a little more interesting, huh."

"Think I'm going to like having him around," Mal agrees.

Starting anywhere not the beginning was always my favorite way to go.

Spring Semester Blues

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:21:27 GMT

So I wish I actually liked any of my classmates, because then I could ask them what I'm doing wrong with my project due in three hours and forty-ish minutes. They're not bad people, just better than me at all this programming business and a combination of hyper-competitiveness and pride won't let me ask them questions. I just really don't like having to deal with the attitude of "how can you be having problems with this?" when I ask questions. It's probably all in my head.

Trying to figure out what to give up for Lent. Also, will start posting my revamped Canon here after midterms are over. And maybe the thousand AUs my Canon has come up with.

EDIT: I'm amazing and found what I was doing wrong. Now to finish the assignment....

Public Service Announcement: Firemen's Revenge

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:00:54 GMT

You're supposed to park fifteen feet from fire hydrants to keep stuff like this from happening.

Another post to the crossover comm

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:18:09 GMT

This time it's Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and Witch Hunter Robin- Something Like Lucky

My sandbox and school keeps me busy.

Bad day at Hallmark

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:32:03 GMT

For everyone who has to go back to school, or just needs a good laugh...

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

My tire was thumping.
I thought it was flat

When I looked at the tire...

I noticed your cat.

Sorry!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heard your wife left you,
How upset you must be.

But don't fret about it...

She moved in with me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking back over the years

that we've been together,

I can't help but wonder...

'What the hell was I thinking?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congratulations on your wedding day!

Too bad no one likes your husband.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How could two people as beautiful as you

Have such an ugly baby?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've always wanted to have
someone to hold,

someone to love.

After having met you ..

I've changed my mind.

-------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------

I must admit, you brought Religion into my life.

I never believed in Hell until I met you.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

As the days go by, I think of how lucky I am...

That you're not here to ruin it for me.

####################################################

Congratulations on your promotion.
Before you go...

Would you like to take this knife out of my back?

You'll probably need it again.

********************************************************************************

Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad!

(Available only in Tennessee , Kentucky, West Virginia & of course Hope Valley )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy birthday! You look great for your age.

Almost Lifelike!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we were together,
you always said you'd die for me.

Now that we've broken up,

I think it's time you kept your promise.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

We have been friends for a very long time .

let's say we stop?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'm so miserable without you

it's almost like you're here.

=====================================================

Congratulations on your new bundle of joy.

Did you ever find out who the father was?

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Your friends and I wanted to do

something special for your birthday.

So we're having you put to sleep.

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

So your daughter's a hooker,
and it spoiled your day.

Look at the bright side,

it's really good pay

A Question for Anyone Who Reads Naruto + Edit

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:19:15 GMT

Is it 'gennin' or 'genin'? I prefer the first one, but a review at the pit called me out on it and says it's the second one. Wikipedia doesn't have an answer, so I figured I would ask over here. Thanks!

EDIT: Okay, they're right. *pouts*

Another Crossover Entry

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:09:48 GMT

This time, Top Gun and X:Men. I have another Top Gun and FF8 in storage, might put it out soon. I'm on a bit of a Top Gun spree.

The fic

Also, for Top Gun slashers... a video

A Crossover From Hell

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:26:12 GMT

From hell, because I wrote it. And because it crosses over Final Fantasy VIII and Top Gun

New SeeD Cadets

Original Fiction: Tags

Wed, 21 May 2008 02:59:21 GMT

A possible ending for the boys. Mina and John were introduced in Meetings.

The news comes in when Mal and Evan are having a good laugh in Mal's apartment. It's the same apartment they all shared when they were in college. Justice and Brandon are due for leave and should be back from the Middle East within the next couple of days, Evan's on leave for a couple weeks and it'll be just like old times. "Better than," Evan votes. "Else Brandon's going to try to kill you the second he gets within arm's reach of you."
Then the phone rings, and, still laughing, Mal picks it up. "Hello- Mina?" The smile instantly disappears from his face and he leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Slow down, Mina, take a couple of breaths, and start again." A beat passes, and Mal says, "All right, we'll be there in five minutes."
Evan is already standing, has gathered their wallets and the keys to Mal's car. "Mal?" he prompts, toeing his shoes back on and shrugging on his jacket.
Mal throws on his own coat. "I don't know. She wouldn't say."
~
The drive to Justice and Mina's house on base is short, largely due to luck with the traffic lights and Mal's perpetual lead foot. It still feels like it's too long, Evan thinks, watching Mal's white- knuckled grip on the steering wheel, the sharp lines creasing his forehead. Evan and Mal have known Mina for years, first as friends, and then as Justice's wife, and they've all remained close. There are few reasons she would call them with something that can't be conveyed over the phone, and none of them are good.
Three year old Matthew is sitting on the couch when they arrive, looking confused and scared because his mother is crying. Mal leads Mina back to the couch and Evan settles Matthew in his lap. Matthew breaks the silence first. "Mommy says Daddy and Uncle Don are in heaven now," he says, and Mina breaks into a fresh round of tears. Something in Mal's face breaks and he holds Mina tightly. Evan swallows as Matthew's bottom lip trembles and the boy continues, "Why would God take them away and make Mommy cry?"
Evan wraps his arms around his best friend's son. "God doesn't want your mommy to cry," he says quietly. "Bad men killed your daddy and uncle, and God brought them to a place where the bad men can't hurt them anymore."
"Can Mommy and I go?" Matthew pulls back and looks up at Evan hopefully. "Can we be with God, too?"
"Someday," Mal tells him hoarsely. He tries to smile. "But your dad would want you to live and be happy and help your mom for now. Think you can do that?"
Matthew nods bravely and a tear drops onto Evan's arm. "I miss Daddy. I miss Uncle Don. They were s' posed to come home for my birthday..."
~
Evan drives them back to the apartment after Mina's parents and brothers come to the house to grieve with her. Mina had said they could stay, but Evan and Mal are a different kind of family, not the one she needs right now, and Evan knows Mal doesn't want to fall apart where just anyone can see him.
Mal drops onto the couch, settling his elbows on his knees again, and takes a breath. "Justice and Brandon are dead," he says quietly, as though it's hitting him only now.
The words feel like a sledgehammer to Evan's chest. "Yes," Evan hears his own voice crack and takes a shuddering breath. "They are."
Their world shatters.
~
The day of Justice and Brandon's funeral-just one, because they would have appreciated it, Evan knowsthinkshopes- is cold and clear and weirdly appropriate. John can't make it, and neither can Ethuil, but Kage and Celian show up, as do Evan's parents and Mal's mother. No one knows where Brandon's mother is, or cares to look for his father. Justice's parents make it just in time for the service. He and Mal speak, even though their words do their friends little justice, because there are some things that should remain between friends, and those who should hear it already do. Mal plays his violin, a piece no one has heard before or is likely to ever forget, and maybe, just maybe, the other people in this church who didn't know Brandon and Justice like they did, maybe they can understand a little how this feels to them.
Mina approaches them after the burial, hours after everyone else has already gone, and hands them a box. "I think you should have these," she tells them. "Justice and Brandon- I think they wanted this."
There are two sets of worn dog tags in the box. Evan lifts one out and sees that one tag is from Justice's set, and the other bears Brandon's name. "Yeah," Mal says, nodding once and he looks fragile, like he's going to break again and never come back together. They've lost both lost people before, but it never gets easier, and Justice and Brandon were their best friends. Evan isn't sure this is something either of them will ever really come back from, and this is how Mina shows that she knows it, too. "I- thanks, Mina."
Evan puts the tags on, and they hang right next to his, over his heart. Mal mirrors the movement a little shakily. They hug Mina tightly, and they leave. Mal curls in on himself once they're driving back to the apartment. "I don't ever want to wear your tags, Ev," he says quietly, gripping the tags tightly, hard enough to leave imprints in his palm.
Evan can't promise anything, they both know it. He nods and takes a hand off the wheel to curl it around Mal's fist. It's all he can offer. And it's not enough.
And then there were two.

I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.
But I always thought that I'd see you again.

Original Fiction: The Sound of Music

Tue, 20 May 2008 01:52:18 GMT

Based on a true story

Justice starts humming as he and the other ROTC students unpack for their week-long training camp. "Listen, baby," he starts singing quietly. He's not Mal, but he sings just a bit better than Evan, which counts for something. "Ain't no valley high, ain't no valley low-"
"Ain't no river wide enough, baby!" one of his classmates, Roarke, continues with a grin. His bass voice is nothing like Brandon's tenor or his own baritone, but it all fits.
By the end of the first verse, the rest of the room is singing, and then the entire hall. But by the end of the second chorus all of them were face down in the courtyard, doing push-ups. "Ooh, I'm going to kill whoever's to blame," Roarke mutters as they go down on push-up number sixty-eight and Justice nods.
"I'm with you on that-" Justice starts to agree when their teacher starts yelling.
"You are not here to play Sound of Music!" the officer bellows.
Justice flinches and and he and the rest of his room avoid looking at the rest of the ROTC students from their and other schools until their commander lets them go.

Original Fiction: Double-Post

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:25:52 GMT

I just realized I've been remiss and haven't posted so much of any of my sandbox as of late. So here's a sequel to Other Meetings:

Aiden watches Axe putter around their tiny kitchen and wonders if he'll ever remember who he once was. Mikhail had said sometimes after terrible shocks, people just lost their memories and didn't get them back, and said, trying to cut out all the medical terminology, that he wasn't particularly surprised that Axe had no recollection of his past. "Think about it," the doctor had put it during a phone call two weeks previous. "If you were him, would you honestly want to be that person again?"
He hadn't had a response for the doctor then, and isn't sure he has one now. Axe's former life had been pretty luxurious, and if things hadn't turned out the way they did, the redhead could be one of DC's most eligible bachelors. Instead, he is living in a cheap apartment on the other side of the country with someone he doesn't realize is there to protect him from his past. Aiden supposes it's for the best that Axe doesn't remember, it makes hiding that much easier. His own identity had been destroyed and remade, even though it was highly unlikely that people from Axe's old life would think to trace the rookie bodyguard who had barely any ties to the missing scion of a fortune. So unlikely, that the same people who had relocated Aiden and Axe hadn't bothered to change his twin sister's name or location.
He expects that it's best Axe not return to DC, as, while he had money enough that he would never have to work, there were enemies of his parents still around. "Until they are all gone or sufficiently believe he is no threat," Aiden remembers Axe's grandfather saying, "you are not to bring him back here or let him have any contact with any of us. Do not call me."
"Hey. Argos." Axe is suddenly in front of Aiden, touching his forehead. "You sick? I've been calling you."
Argos. That's who he is now, and will be for the foreseeable future. Aiden bats Axe's hand away lightly. "What is it?" he asks, almost warily. Axe has been reading up on current events and asking rather interesting questions. Such as what everyone's problem was with same sex marriage, and who are these idiots running for the presidency who want to pull out of the Middle East right now and completely destroy everything that they've managed to get somewhat right over there.
Axe points out the window at the setting sun. "Shabbat."
Argos hides a smile, wondering what Axe's Bible-thumping devoutly Baptist grandmother would say if she knew her grandson had decided to be Jewish right along with who he thought was a complete stranger. He sets down the computer parts he was fiddling with, and leans back in his chair. "So it is."
This isn't the way Aiden pictured his life going at all, but now that it is, he's rather curious as to how it will all turn out. Judging by his companion's outlook on life-Who I was has nothing on who I'm going to become- he's in for one hell of a time.

And something for Mal and company:

For a moment, Brandon is seven years old and alone on the playground. He is approached by a boy who says, "Hey, let's be friends" and "Are you any good at racing? Ev and me, we're the fastest people in the world! Well, just on the playground, but someday, someday..."
What the hell's going on?
"Brandon?! Fuck, somebody help!"
Brandon is eight years old for half a moment, giving into an older boy's order to punch at him and actually making it through the other boy's defense. His name is Justice, and Brandon lets himself be semi-adopted by Justice, and Justice is welcomed into the fold.
"Hold on, buddy, the ambulance is coming, just hang in there, okay? Goddammit, Mal, what the hell happened to him?!"
"I don't know! Ev and I kept going, he was right behind us-"
"No one's blaming you, Mal-"
"The hell no one isn't! Donny? Donny, stay with me, c'mon!"
I'm not going anywhere, Brandon distantly thinks. Am I?
Twelve years old again, Justice is starting high school and Brandon wonders if that means he won't be hanging with the trio of seventh graders he left behind. "Moron," Justice says affectionately, ruffling Brandon's hair. "No way I'll leave you behind."
It's not hard to believe him.
"Justice, you have to get out of the way, let the paramedics do their job-"
"Damn you, Evan, I'm not leaving him. I fucking promised-"
"No one's asking you to break that promise, you bastard, just move and they'll let you get in the ambulance with them. Ev and I'll bring your car. You just stay with Brandon."
Year fourteen is full of awkward limbs and changing voices and sneaking out to take advantage of the fact that that Justice now has his driver's license. "Don't worry," Justice assures him, laughing as Brandon trips over his too-big feet again and Evan's laugh makes a funny sound. "It'll be over before you know it."
Fifteen and he learns to drive while he and his best friends aren't talking and are trying to live without each other. Gets his first kiss and wonders why everyone thinks it's such a big deal. Goes back to being best friends with the others again and spends what's left of summer wreaking forgivable havoc. Sixteen and watching Evan's football games, Mal's concerts. Watching Justice pack up to leave, but "I'll be back, and we can work together if you want."
"We're losing vitals!"
"Sir, we need you to wait here."
"Donny, I'll be right there when you wake up, okay?"
For a brief moment, Brandon is seventeen and not quite fast enough to avoid the incoming car and dying.
And then nothing at all.
Brandon opens his eyes and gags a little on the scent of lemon cleaner and antiseptic. Justice is in a chair next to the bed, hand close to but not touching Brandon's own, fast asleep. Mal and Evan are sitting against the wall under the window, Evan asleep with his head on Mal's shoulder, Mal plucking idly at his violin. "Just missed him," Mal says, tipping his head towards Justice as much as he can without dislodging Evan. He smiles that too everything-but-the- truth smile he has. "Scared the shit out of us, you know. It's been over a day."
"Here...entire time?" Brandon asks hoarsely. He tries to be quiet because Justice looks like he's had a hell of a time just waiting and needs all the sleep he can get.
Mal looks at him oddly. "Where else would we be?"
Brandon turns his head a little and finds Justice watching him tiredly. "Welcome back, Donny."
The smaller teen closes his eyes and twitches his hand so it's touching Justice's. "Good to be back."

I'll have more for them all over the next few...whiles.

8 Facts

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 06:15:03 GMT

The rules:
1. post these rules
2. each person tagged must post 8 random facts about themselves.
3. tags should write a journal entry of these facts
4. at the end post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named
5. go to their page and leave a comment telling them they're tagged

I tag anyone who reads this! <3 Do tell if you're taking this up, I'd like to read them.

1. I'm really flipping lucky. Might be the power of positive thinking, prayer, stubbornness or the Force, but bad things have a tendency to work out and leave me relatively unscathed.

2. I have a tendency to write fan- and original fiction instead of homework or anything else I should be doing. Writing just comes easier when I should be doing other things. Give me a boring afternoon with nothing due anytime soon and I can't write to save my life.

3. I sing along at the top of my lungs to most of my mix CDs- windows down or not. Particularly if the song playing is from a musical.

4. I may or may not still have a massively high school crush on the same person I had a crush on my freshman year of high school. It's actually up for debate as to whether it's a crush or not, but on my mental hierarchy of friends, he's right there with my two best friends. And it's a lovely Catch-22 now- He's one of the few people I trust to not screw up going out with, but he's also one of the people I won't date because I don't want to screw up what we've got. No need to rock the boat when we're sailing along so well. That, and I heard mention that a long time ago he had a crush on my older sister and may or may not see the rest of us in a sibling way.

5. I actually like chocolate a hell of a lot more than I like vanilla, but always choose vanilla anyway because I'm contrary like that and choosing vanilla usually ensures I won't have to share it with anyone else. Same goes with a few other foods and other things not-food.

6. I'm a sucker for chick flicks, particularly the ones with the sappy endings. I make fun of them as often as I watch them. Top favourites have to be Enchanted, Elizabethtown(I don't care how much everyone else seemed to not like it), and Beauty & the Beast. I believe in twu wuv, so sue me.

7. My way of writing males may seem off to some people-it seems that way to me too sometimes- but I'm basing them off the interactions of the boys I know, and for the most part they're not the manliest guys out there. Two, in particular, I realized recently are heavily based off two guys I know IRL, and suddenly it makes sense that the two characters keep trying to get together in the little aside stories I drabble out to Delena-chan that have nothing to do with the main story line.

8. I have heard pretty much every pronunciation bastardization of my name in existence. No lie, there are maybe seven depending on what part of the world you learned phonics in and your accent.

Original Fiction: Other Meetings

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:28:33 GMT

Simply because this sandbox is a bit larger than usual. These characters connect with the others-the triplets, their parents, all of them- but later on.

You opens your eyes and look at the cracked and water-stained ceiling and wonder when you fell asleep. The bed underneath you is lumpy and hard and you're pretty sure that the bit of metal poking you in the ankle is a bedspring. You sit up, looks around, and it's then that you realizes two very important things- you don't know where you are, and you don't know who you are.
Before you can start panicking, the door opens. A young man with dark brown hair in a low ponytail and wire rimmed glasses walks in, a brown bag in each arm. He looks at you, smiles, and says, "Oh. I was wondering how long you were going to sleep."
He then starts complaining good-naturedly about grocery store lines, and prices, and would you believe I had to bag my own purchases? While he talks he opens a bag of bread and starts putting together peanut butter sandwiches. His clothes-like yours, you note- are worn and patched in places, and he wears them as naturally as anything, but you think he would be more at home in slacks and blazers than worn jeans and threadbare t-shirts.
"Excuse me," you say, cutting off what sounded like the beginning of a tirade on the decline of Western Civilization. He pushes his glasses higher on his nose and waits for you to continue. "I don't know who you are."
He looks down, but not before you see a tiny gleam of sadness in his eyes. He smiles tiredly as he looks up and brings the sandwiches to you. "You can call me Argos."
It's an odd name, but you've more to worry about than the name of this stranger. "And who am I, Argos?"
Argos sits down on the bed, the plate of sandwiches between you. "That," he answers, picking up one sandwich and nudging the plate towards you, "is for you to decide, don't you think?"
You think whoever you were before is going to have nothing on who you will become and pick up the other sandwich. "Call me Axe."

Original Fiction: Signs

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:42:28 GMT

Just a small piece featuring Celian and Kage again, but focusing on Ethuil mostly.

"People used to think Eth was deaf," Kage tells Celian offhand. They're lying on the roof of the school, heads pillowed on sweatshirt and textbook. They should be inside learning, really, but Celian has always been able to pick up lessons faster at night, and Kage is so far ahead that it's not even funny. She's brilliant, all three of the triplets are. Ethuil's specialty lies in computers and there are few in the school who feel the music quite like Mal, but Kage is jack- of- all- trades brilliant. Celian sometimes finds himself in awe of them, even though he's no slouch either.
"Why?" Celian asks, still contemplating the sixteen year old next to him. Kage could do so much, but all she really wants is that derelict bar across town. She says after the bar is up and running that she'll put her genius to other uses, but the bar comes first. He's not sure what got them on the subject of Ethuil, he doesn't like her all that much, really, but he's willing to listen if Kage is going to talk. He'll always listen to her.
"She wouldn't respond when people spoke to her, Mom said." Kage shrugs. "For the first year and a half of our lives, she didn't answer any of them, so Mom and Dad learned how to sign. We picked it up, too, and learned it faster than we did to speak. We liked it better."
Celian rolls onto his side and pushes his hair out of his face. It's actually strawberry blonde, but the shade is so close to pink that people actually think it is, the way they think Mal's hair is really white. "But you knew she wasn't deaf."
"Well, yeah." Kage turns her head and smiles. "Eth always responded to Mal and me. It just took everyone else a while to figure that out."
Celian laughs, because that is a typical thing for Ethuil to do. "She responded to the only people important to her."
Kage grins. "Ain't that the truth," she agrees.

Real World Update

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:21:43 GMT

I'm taking a summer class so I can graduate from the university this coming spring (Guess where my tax return's going?). It's Database Systems, and an online class. Never had an online class before, so this ought to be an interesting experience. Still trying to catch up with, well, everything, and it's terrible that when I need to be working the most is when I get the most urge to write. I've been dabbling in an alternate line for my sandbox instead of school work, so hurray for sheer and utter laziness combined with a fight/flight twist. My major's maybe the scariest thing in the world right now, but I suppose it'll all turn out. Changing it won't make it better, since yeah. Too used to living on the internet.

Maybe will update my sandbox over here when I finish this C++ program I should've started last week.

EDIT: Oh, and to make matters worse, I'm considering trying to go back to Honors. It's a ridiculous idea, and I'm not sure I even want to, but I'm just curious.

Original Fiction: Meetings

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:10:34 GMT

A look into the oldest triplet, Mal. Originally two pieces, but works just fine as one.

Mal scrambled high into the tree, watching his fellow seven year olds head for the playground. He didn't particularly like them, they made fun of his name. A lot. Eth had said she'd beat the snot out of anyone who so much as laughed at her name, which got her a lecture from Mom, Dad, and her teacher, so he'd learned fast that hitting the other kids wasn't an option. Neither was Kage's way, which was to smile and tell her classmates it was okay that they thought her name was weird because theirs were stupid. Mom and Dad had been called in to talk to her teacher, too. So Mal just avoided his classmates.
He pulled out his plastic recorder and started playing quietly. The piano was too big to take anywhere, so his father had given him the recorder and sometimes the music teacher let him play the piano because he wouldn't bang on it.
"Hey." Mal almost fell out of the tree, but a hand steadied him. Grey eyes shone merrily and the dark haired boy hauled himself up from the branch below. "What'cha doin'?"
"Playin'." Mal held up the recorder.
"Huh. So're we." The other boy pointed to where more boys were standing in a loose circle by the track. "We're racing. I thought you might want to come play, too."
"Why?" Mal was confused. He was just the kid with the white hair and the strange name.
It was the other boy's turn to look confused. "Why not?" Mal can't come up with a reason, so the boy grins. "C'mon, it'll be fun. My name's Evan."
"I'm Malice." He winced a little, waiting for the expected laughing.
It didn't come. "Cool," Evan said. "Never heard that one before."
"My sisters call me Mal." Eth and Kage had said if he ever found a nice person who didn't make fun of his name, then they could use the nickname.
Evan grinned. "Cool. Let's be friends, Mal, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he began tugging Mal's arm. "C'mon, they're starting!"
The other boys found out that while Mal had a weird name and different-colored hair, he and the new boy were still the fastest in the class. When Mal told his family, Mom smiled and congratulated him on making a friend. Dad asked about the races. Kage and Ethuil didn't say anything, because they already knew. They were scary like that.
~
Malice meets more people and makes more friends after Evan, but only a few meetings really stand out.
There was Brandon, a quiet blond that the adults just loved. He simply showed up on the playground one day and Mal befriended him in much the same way Evan had done with him- Hey, let's be friends.
After that had come Justice, a boy two years older than them who had lived in the area as long as Mal, but they hadn't had much in common until Brandon came along. Justice, wanting to show off his new self-defense from his karate classes, told Brandon to punch so he could block it. The eight year old punched- and went straight through Justice's guard and got him in the stomach. Evan hovered, worried that Justice would hit Brandon, but Mal, too used to having sisters, grinned and congratulated Brandon, "even though, you know, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean for you to hit him that hard". Surprisingly, Justice more or less adopted Brandon, and was by proxy adopted into their odd group.
Jessica was next at ten. Mal met her at the principal's office- him for being overenthusiastic with his volcano science project, her because she was correcting her teacher on his talk about evolution. "He's wrong," she said offhandedly. "Because if we came from monkeys, then that means God looks like a monkey, and really, if we were made in His image, then I'd imagine He'd like us to stay that way."
Mal really couldn't argue with that kind of logic, especially since he thought evolution was pretty stupid too. "Different people believe different things," he offered. "Just because we're right and they're not doesn't mean you should be mean at them about it."
The pigtailed girl thought for a moment. "There's no commandment for that."
"No," he agreed. "But it's common sense."
There were Daniel and Hannah, twins he met in middle school who the triplets had to fight for control of Beta Club. Mina was with him the day he, Evan, and Brandon blew up the chemistry lab his freshman year, and Justice swears up and down she must have switched out some of the ingredients to do that, since he just had that class the year before (they ended up going out). Then John, who was an Air Force brat and was really smart even though he looked like a slacker.
True to form in a mostly military town, the people moved, faces came and went. Jessica moved away the day after they finished sixth grade, and Daniel and Hannah went to a school for the gifted in upstate New York right after eighth grade. John had only been in their high school for a semester, and Mina's family got orders to move right before their senior year("The new kid again in senior year," Evan had said, shaking his head. "Bummer."). Justice had been gone for a year by then, choosing to enlist in the Air Force, and Brandon had mentioned wanting to go the same way, but his father insisted he finish college first.
"It's not too bad," Mal had tried to console him. "Who knows, you might even get stationed together."
At the end of the day, Evan is the only one who is there all along, surprising since both came from Navy families. Mal, now days shy of eighteen, leans over the bridge in the park. A thin layer of ice covers the pond, and it'll be a month at least before the ice is thick enough to skate on unless they get a sudden cold front. Evan is sitting with his back to the railing, trying to sketch out the skyline in the fading light. "Hey, Evan?"
The dark haired teen looks up questioningly. He's a little shorter than Mal now, but muscled, and is more than competent on the football teams(both American and soccer). "Yeah?"
Mal grins a little sheepishly, the tips of his ears going pink under his cap. "Thanks for being my best friend."
Evan smiles broadly and raps Mal's knee with his fist lightly. "Hey. First, last, and always."
"You said it." Mal ruffles Evan's hair and takes off running. "C'mon, I wanna make some gingerbread!"
"You are such a girl, Malice!" Evan calls, but stands and quickly catches up. "You don't even know how to make gingerbread."
"No," Mal concedes, "but Mom does. I figure I can get her to make it and reap the benefits."
Evan laughs. "Race you there."
It's a tie.

An Introductory Push Into My Sandbox

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:52:43 GMT

Original Characters for the win. I've got a bit written for them, and will post them in the order that makes most sense. Which is to say, very little at all.
Worth Noting: Ethuil, Kage, and Malice are triplets whose parents-Artemes and Alesca- had much joy in giving their children odd names. Fortunately, the triplets are not alone in the weird names department. Eth is the mean one, Kage is the nice one, and Mal is the boy.

~~

    The building is old, built in the style of western saloons and about as structurally sound, but thirteen year old Kage things it's absolutely perfect. "I'm going to own this place someday," she announces.
    Celian looks up from the graph paper he's doodling on. "Okay," he agrees. "When you do, I'll make sure it's no longer liable to fall down around your ears."
    And no matter what Ethuil says or how Mal teases, Kage thinks this boy with the pink hair is nice.
~
    The building hasn't gotten any younger, and the newest thing about it now isn't the indoor plumbing but the demolition notice nailed to the door. Kage drags Celian over to see it, indignant that the city would try to take away such a work of art. He nods once, slowly, and says, "That's an idea."
    Two weeks later, seventeen year old Kage and eighteen year old Celian are the proud owners of a historical site. Kage smiles mischievously at Celian. "You promised."
    "I did," he acknowledges, and pulls out the plans he's been working on in his college classes. And of course, it's absolutely perfect and maybe Celian is just a bit more than nice.
~
    Ethuil is convinced that the building is going to fall on them anyway, and Mal is too busy trying to convince the Air Force that music is a valid major for him to make them pay for to really notice, but Kage is okay with that. She is one year away from a degree in management ("almost as useless as a degree in English," Ethuil says scathingly, but will knock the teeth out of anyone else who tries to say the same) and works nights at a bar across town to get experience.
    Celian is just finishing with his architecture degree and works in construction. He gets a few of his classmates to help work on the soon-to-be bar so they can claim to have experience in the field. Kage works alongside them all, and once Mal realizes what's going on, he's helping, too, and Ethuil helps in her usual abrasive way- being overly critical and making one of the young men actually cry, but supplying them with ridiculously good food and first aid. Celian initially hates her(Kage knows he's disliked her sister from the start, and this only makes it worse), but the fact that she went and cleaned and repaired all the plumbing while they were all at lunch one day endears her to him.
    "She's almost as singularly awesome as you," Celian says offhand one day while he and Kage are watching her coerce her maybe-boyfriend Firith into climbing the rickety ladder on top of a table to fix a light. Mal is holding a video camera and laughing. The ladder falls and Ethuil ends up catching Firith mostly by accident. Celian smiles at Kage as the two fall and refuse to get up. "Almost."
    The fact that he genuinely likes her family makes Kage ridiculously happy for the rest of the month.
~
    The bar and grill is finally finished, after almost a year of work. Kage and Celian sit in the empty bar long after their friends and Kage's siblings have left, doing nothing. A filing cabinet is behind the bar, and one of Kage's regulars at the other bar has already laid claim to a drawer, so Kage can easily reach all the fixings for her drinks.
    "You get to pick the name," Kage tells Celian, pouring him the first drink ever.
    He smiles at her and passes her his book of graph paper as he takes the shot glass. "I thought you might say that," he answers. "It's kinda cheesy and generic, but-"
    "It's perfect," Kage says, looking at the drawing of the sign that will soon adorn the front of their bar. She's pretty sure she's in love with this nice boy with the pink hair.
    Two days later, Kage's Bar & Grill is open for business.

~~

Oh, and I was wondering how people managed without having a song or sandbox constantly in their heads. I just remembered recently how it felt to not have both, and I mostly remember not being very happy.

Non-Update

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:22:08 GMT

Soooooo how's the world going for the rest of you?

Naruto Fic: Untitled

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:18:54 GMT

Actually, the working title is 'Kyuubi Approaching'. But rejoice! It's not precisemente Kyouji-centric, mostly for my Devil's Duo, Kotetsu and Izumo. I'm working out canon for Kyouji, so if you notice him being retconned on several occasions, don't worry too much, there's not much in the way of continuity where Kyouji is concerned. Delena-chan gave me horrible inspiration for a 'verse where Kyouji dies and comes back often and a lot, and everyone's cool with it. Think Kenny from South Park.

Another textbook mission completed, and Izumo is ready to head home. Fire Country is unseasonably warm for late October, and the crunch of leaves under his feet is loud even to his ears. He looks over to Kotetsu and Kyouji and grins. "Ready-"
"Quiet," Kyouji orders suddenly, sharply, eyes on the horizon.
Kotetsu tenses at Izumo's side, and the Kamizuki freezes as he felt a wave of malicious intent and chakra just seconds before a roar shakes the earth beneath his feet. "What was that, sensei?" Kotetsu asks, voice steady though Izumo can almost feel his partner shaking next to him.
"The sound of the world falling down around your ears," Kyouji informs his former students, but there is none of his usual condescension, no exasperation in his tone. Izumo's eyes widen as he recognizes what is in Kyouji's tone- fear.
"Sensei," he says, but Kyouji turns to them and his eyes betray how serious a situation this is.
"Run," the jounin commands and the ground trembles again.
Kotetsu and Izumo run, faster than they ever have before. Kyouji is right on their heels, urging them faster, faster, up the steep wall of a cliff-face, and then Izumo stops and turns and sees. A creature born of fire is there, numerous tails waving and wreaking havoc where they touch land. The forest all around the creature is in flames. Distantly he realizes the where the monster is, they just were minutes before.
Izumo is distracted from his terror by Kyouji pushing chakra into the seal on his shoulder, and the answering flare as the Yondaime Hokage appears in their midst. Minato opens his mouth to give Kyouji a piece of his mind-the blond is barely awake, still in his sleep pants- for calling when Kyouji is obviously just fine, but Kotetsu grabs the man's arm and points. "Look."
Minato stares, eyes widening as he too hears the sound of the world falling, and breathes the name of Konoha's doom.
"Kyuubi."
~~

The seal on Kyouji's shoulder blade is the Hiraishin Seal, the one on all Minato's kunai for his Hiraishin no Jutsu. More detailed explanation to come when I put Kyouji's complete information out here.

Surprise!Crossover fic.

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:45:13 GMT

All you need to know is that Zarbon and Kuja are perfect for each other. Within KH: AU²

Predictably, Zarbon didn't like Seifer. "I just can't see you sharing your apartment, much less a bed, with a complete stranger, Irvine. This isn't one of your better ideas."

Irvine kept washing the dishes. "Seifer isn't a complete stranger, Auntie Zarbon. I know him well."

"My dear, I know everyone you know, the Islands aren't exactly spacious. Quaint and charming, yes; large, not particularly." Zarbon looked vaguely concerned, as much emotion as he was willing to show. Wrinkles, after all, were far from attractive. "This is not like when you brought that charming little girl home. This Seifer looks and sounds like someone from one of the larger islands, you know how it can get there."

"Will you go ahead and skip to the part where you admit it's his appearance where you and Aunt Kuja find fault?" Irvine sighed. He had no idea how his mother ended up so normal(read: like the rest of the Islanders) with a brother like Kuja. She had been sure Kuja would never settle down because of his personality, and then Zarbon came from a nearby Island, and the rest was history.

"No, his appearance is acceptable," Zarbon assured Irvine. "Even with the scar. And I daresay he's the best looking within your age range. I'm just not sure this is safe. Are you sure-"

"Zarbon, honestly, you'll get wrinkles," Kuja admonished, sashaying into the apartment. He held up a packet. "Scones, dear. Let's have some with coffee."

Over coffee and homemade scones, Kuja continued what Zarbon had started. "So, you're perfectly fine sharing your apartment, your bed, with an outsider."

"Yes," Irvine said patiently. He tried a tack that had worked in the past. "Sel likes him."

"Nice try," Zarbon complimented, delicately sipping his drink.

Kuja was giving Irvine a knowing look. "So you're sleeping with him, then."

"That's generally what's done in bed, yes." Irvine kept his face carefully neutral. Zarbon and Kuja had neither room nor inclination to be judgmental on Irvine's choice of bedmates, but Irvine was more worried about what would happen if they approved.

The two exchanged a look, then turned twin smiles on Irvine. "We must meet him properly," Zarbon declared with no room for argument. Kuja's pleasant expression suggested that even attempting to do so would not end favourably.

"Oy, Kinneas." The door opened and Irvine resisted the urge to sigh. Seifer's timing was impeccable as always. "Who else is coming for dinner besides Fuujin, Selphie, and Riku-“ he stopped when he saw the two strangers at the table. "And your friends?"

"This is Seifer Almasy," Irvine introduced his roommate. "Seifer, this is my aunt Kuja and his life partner Zarbon."

To Seifer's credit, he didn't even blink in surprise. Rather, he shook both their hands-more courtesy than he'd shown anyone else- and said, "Good to meet you."

Kuja and Zarbon exchanged a look, and then Kuja turned to Irvine. "We approve," he announced, and swept over to Seifer. "I will be providing dessert. Will seven be an appropriate hour to return?"

Seifer looked slightly surprised by how well Kuja had taken to him. "Um, sure."

"And just so you know," Kuja continued blithely, "if you hurt my darling nephew, I will bake you a cyanide cake."

With that, Kuja floated out of the apartment. Zarbon shook his head, smiling dangerously as he passed Seifer. "But if I get to you first, well, you'll know it's me killing you."

There was silence in the apartment as the door shut after the green-haired man. Irvine looked at Seifer, warily wondering what he would have to say. Seifer grinned and said, "Sweet mother of Ifrit, I love your family."

KH: AU post-fic LONG post.

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:55:45 GMT

^^ So this won't make much sense at all without knowing what's going on in the AU, and many apologies for that, but I'm under orders here. The AU(what we've got of it so far) in a nutshell:

-Lulu and Irvine are on the Islands. Lulu likes to make dolls of the people she knows, a fact that comes into play in 6
-Selphie was on the play island That Night and kept Kairi from being attacked
-Sora took Riku's hand and they both get to be sucked in by the Darkness, making Kairi the Keyblade wielder (Yes I know she's a Princess of Heart.)
-Selphie and Kairi end up in Traverse Town, meet Aerith, and go onto Atlantica to find Riku and Sora, just barely missing Leon who had just seen Donald and Goofy.
-They lose Atlantica to the Darkness, return to Traverse Town, and meet Fuujin. Fuu doesn't say how she came to be in Traverse Town, doesn't precisely know, since she was ridiculously ill when Aerith found her. Fuu joins the party. (Much later find out that Twilight Town was torn apart by the Darkness, same as what happened to Destiny Islands.)
-Rocks fall, Riku starts to realize just how much shit he and Sora are in rather late into the first arc(Divergence) but it's a little late since Sora's steeped in more Darkness than Riku. Sora kills Maleficent.
-More rocks fall, Kairi goes Heartless like Sora did in canon(thanks to Sora, they both ended up Heartless for a while there), comes back, Aerith is killed by Sephiroth, Kairi defeats 'Ansem', and we move into the AU's equivalent of CoM- Severed Chains.

-Namine isn't such a wuss, that's Roxas' department since Sora's all Darkity Dark McDark. Namine is actually rather powerful, besides the memory-witching, she wields white chains. Roxas still has a Keyblade since Sora (and Riku) made artificial Keyblades, is quite a bit less powerful, a little more easygoing, and still leaves the Organization to look for his Other(but that's not til later). Namine ends up killing Lexaeus and Marluxia herself.
-Severed Chains is still a WIP, moreso than the other arcs, but they end up in the pods and Riku goes off to find Sora and try to knock the Dark out of him.
-Sora goes to Twilight Town, razes the place, taking out Edea, Laguna, Vivi, Setzer, Seifer and Raijin.
-Roxas hides from the Organization in the fake!Twilight Town of his own accord. Namine finishes her work.

-KH: AU2(Retribution) starts. Kairi, Selphie, and Fuu go to Twilight Town, hear from Hayner about what Sora's done.
-Axel is looking for Roxas, Roxas and Kairi are separately chasing after Sora(the latter when she's not trying to save the worlds again. She also doesn't know about Roxas. Or Namine)
-Lots and lots of rocks fall, Sora gets captured by the Organization, saved by and later merges with Roxas, Axel still dies, Riku joins the party somewhere along the line, and it's Sora stuck with Kairi in the end to defeat Xemnas, a sort of redemption for Sora.
-Everyone returns to the Islands, Fuu leaves for a while and comes back. I write FuuSelRiku, Raven writes FuuSel

Where are King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy during all of this? Good question. We're still working on that. I'm pretty sure Mickey had something to do with Kairi coming back from her stint as a Heartless, but beyond that, yeah.

Arcs: Divergence, Severed Chains, Retribution.

And for the mild!AU AU I've got going- the characters from FF7 and FF8 begin remembering during various stages of the journey that they had past lives(Befores).
So here's 6 of the 7 I mentioned previously. Not in timeline order, but in the order I wrote them. Timeline order will be in parentheses.

1(KH: Retribution, right after Twilight Town)
It's just shortly after the girls returned from where ever it is they've been for the past year. While Leon's words are blaming himself for the fact that Heartless are still crawling all over their home, everything else about him blames the Keyblade Princess. Yuffie goes up the stairs in the house to see if she can maybe calm him down some before he completely destroys Kairi's self-confidence and then where will they be? Someone has beat her to him, and she's surprised to hear Selphie, but it's not Selphie like Yuffie is used to hearing her. Selphie's voice is battle- hardened, very nearly vicious and her tone is of one familiar with the gunblade-wielder as she lashes out with, "Goddammit, Squall, Kairi isn't the same as Rinoa!"
Yuffie stops short of opening the door, stunned. Selphie has no reason to be calling him Squall -only the ninja ever does anymore, everyone else goes along with the delusion that is Leon- and who on the Planet is Rinoa? Selphie is continuing and Yuffie strains to hear the soft and angry words. "- won't run out on us like Rinoa did. Saving the worlds isn't something any of us are doing for shits and giggles, we're not doing it because we're bored, it's not some one-time only deal and then we'll run when it gets hard. You know Fuu better than that, you know me better than that, and you damn well better know by now that the Princess isn't going to take whatever the hell else is going on lying down."
"Selphie, this is bigger than Ultimecia. You three disappeared, Traverse Town disappeared, and the only thing that's gotten better is the fact that the worlds aren't actively disappearing." Yuffie watches Squall stalk to a window and look over the town and gets the feeling this is what Squall feels like whenever she starts swearing on the Planet.
"And you don't think I know that already?" The Melee Soldier just joins him at the window. "You're not the only one who's going through this again. In case you didn't remember, I was two feet away from Seifer when Sora killed him. Trust Kairi, would you? Maybe we won't be strong enough to make it right, but you can bet we're going to make it a damn sight better, Squall."
"Not Squall anymore," the man sighs, aggravated.
"You're right." Selphie's tone is hard as she walks away and Yuffie dives into another room to avoid being seen. "Squall would be out there doing something about this instead of bitching about it."

2(KH: Divergence)
It occurs to Aerith that she has had another life besides this one. She had never really given much thought to it in the past, as looking over your shoulder and under your feet for Heartless tends to be time consuming and a little more important. But the fact of the matter is that, yes, she had been someone else before.
Granted, this someone else had the same name, same personality, same inclination towards flowers and pink and magic, but it's not her. Aerith wasn't someone who traveled the world with the most motley of crews(she isn't surprised to remember that Yuffie and Cloud and Cid were part of this, if she has to have a screwed up past life, so do they). She hasn't enough power to save the world(this was proved to her eight years ago). She doesn't love Cloud, or the man he thought he was.
Aerith isn't dead because of Sephiroth.
That one memory bothers her the most, that Cloud just stood and watched him kill her while she prayed for the world's(Planet's) safety. Granted, at the time there was precious little he could have done and, really, that was a terribly bitchy thing for Sephiroth to do, kill her from behind, but it's the principle of the matter. She has the feeling that her death in that past life is as much of the reason that Cloud is chasing the General as personal demons, Darkness personified, and the fact that the man stepped aside and let the Heartless take Radiant Garden(always Radiant Garden, no matter how LeonSquallwhatever insists on calling it Hollow Bastion).
She keeps the memories that aren't quite hers and aren't exactly someone else's to herself as they fight while the Keyblade Princess goes to face off against Ansem and makes a mental note to ask Yuffie if she remembers any of this as well.

Aerith doesn't get the chance.

3(Post KH: Retribution, #1)
Leon has always remembered. But this life was different, and still a little the same, and he changed his name accordingly kept his old weapon. Life, fate, and whatnot else, however, kept reminding him of the past.
He knew who Fuu was the instant she arrived in Traverse Town. He suspects the reverse was also true.
He knew what Selphie would be capable of even before Aerith started teaching her magic, and that teaching her fire magic was an accident waiting to happen. Ice was an odd affinity for someone so vibrant to have, but it worked for her.
Squall expected these little reminders, and was almost relieved by them. Losing memories of his past life, however much he didn't want them sometimes, was like losing himself. Seeing Kairi after forgetting about her and the other girls for a year threw him off balance.
The Keyblade Princess looked like a red-haired Rinoa.
This brought up unwanted memories in droves and he almost shut the door in Selphie's face when she went up after his cold greeting and demanded an apology for Kairi. Her words (Squall would be out there doing something about this instead of bitching about it.) were a slap in the face and a reminder- things don't have to be the same this time.
Seifer and Raijin are dead.
Fuu is on their side.
Selphie is still Selphie no matter what, but she's so much stronger than she was.
Zell has a different name and honestly doesn't remember he was ever anyone else besides Hayner.
Kairi isn't someone he needs to protect. She's more than capable of protecting herself.
So much is the same, but it's also a different world, a different life. Maybe he's still Squall and maybe he's Leon now and maybe it's okay to be both of them at once.
This time, he thinks Rinoa's happily ever after could happen- and last- even if that girl is long gone.

4(pre-KH: Divergence.)
It bothers Hayner, sometimes. That Seifer just decided he was going to pick on Hayner for no reason, that sometimes he starts to call him a name not his own before switching to 'chicken-wuss' or something else equally degrading. That Rai somehow expects him to be really good at martial arts-he's actually pretty good at it, better at it than Struggle fighting, but how did Rai know that?- and Fuu...well, he doesn't know if Fuu is in on this 'thinking Hayner is someone he's not' business, but it's damned weird how he can usually figure out pretty fast what she's talking about even though she speaks in only one or two words at a time.
Hayner knows it isn't just the Disciplinary Committee seeing this. Principal Edea still has to take a few seconds before she can reprimand him for goofing off. It's not so bad, since that hesitation gives him time to regroup and come up with a good enough excuse for his actions. That, and she usually doesn't mind when he takes candy from the jar on her desk. Laguna from the edge of town-little crazy, everyone says, but he's the unspoken leader when big decisions have to be made- doesn't have a clue either, but is good for commiserating. He also writes a little, said he was a journalist at some point in his life, but it's nothing anyone remembers him actually doing.
Hayner thinks he sees what everyone else is seeing sometimes too. He'll see his reflection out of the corner of his eye, and there will be a swirl of black on his cheek, or he'll blink while looking directly at a mirror and his eyes will be blue for just a split second. Hayner drew the tattoo he's pretty sure he saw on his face one Halloween. Seifer almost had a heart attack, which made Fuu kicking him in the shin later sooo worth it. That year he finally heard what they've been trying to call him for as long as he can remember.
Zell.
There's no way he can talk to Seifer about this-it's Seifer- or any of his posse, and Edea left Twilight Town for parts unknown, so he doesn't know who to go to about it. Olette and Pence and school take up most of his time anyway, and it's not like he could talk to Seifer about any of this without them around assuming he's looking for a fight. Laguna starts doodling a story on the margins of newspapers and napkins about a different world, where some of the characters are Twilight Town natives, and Hayner isn't sure what to feel when Laguna writes in Zell and not Hayner, and it kinda feels right and a little wrong that it feels right and he gets confused thinking about it and goes off to lose to Seifer in Struggle matches. They tried hand-to-hand once, and while Hayner won by a landslide, it never felt right trying to fight Seifer when the older teen was empty-handed.
He doesn't get it at all. Hayner sighs and decides that first thing tomorrow he's going to ask Fuu about Zell, about them, about everything. He's understood her when most other people couldn't or wouldn't, and he hopes it works both ways.
Tomorrow doesn't come.

5 (KH: Divergence )
Yuffie doesn't want to remember. Doesn't want to remember being the princess of a dying country (Wutai), doesn't want to remember that Cloud was always that crazy and a little bit is Tifa's fault and the rest is pure Sephiroth, doesn't want any of it. She doesn't want her new life to be ruled by ghosts of her old, but it's kind of hard with Cloud (still) chasing Sephiroth (in Vincent's, oh gods, Vincent's, cloak and claw) all over and Cid building airships out of pieces of gum and Aerith smiling prettily and obliviously and just not remembering she was ever dead.
So Yuffie tries to change herself. Ninja is a defense mechanism she never could get rid of, but she quits stealing. Stealing from anthropomorphic ducklings isn't as much of a challenge anyway as stealing from members of a terrorist group who could kill her very quickly and messily. She doesn't try to chase after Cloud when Hollow Bastion, or at least run from Traverse Town. It's not in her nature, never was, to stay in just the one place, so she makes it up to herself by going all over Traverse Town, memorizing every nook and cranny of the place until she is thoroughly sick of it and can stand to tend flowers with Aerith for a few weeks.
She isn't entirely successful. Yuffie still dresses the same, carries the same weapon, pesters the hell out of everyone, but that's okay, even if it goes against what she wants. If she was really serious, she would've gone and sort-of changed her name, like Squall had. She can't decide who's luckier- him because he can have a fresh start completely, or her, because she still has something familiar from Before.
Then parts of Squall's past catch up to him, and there's maybe a savior for the worlds and just when she starts to believe it's okay to remember now that Aerith is starting to remember, too...
Aerith dies.

6 (Right at the end of KH: Severed Chains)

Dear People I Don't Remember,

At least I'm assuming you exist, since Lulu's dolls are always based on real people, but we can't figure out who these four unfinished dolls are. It's Irvine Kinneas, from Destiny Islands.

This is the craziest thing I've ever done, I mean, I'm a little old to be sticking messages in bottles and dropping them into the sea, but I have the feeling I should do this. Whoever you are, I don't know why none of us remember you. The Islands...it's the kind of place where no one forgets anything, and I do mean 'no one' and 'anything' (I still haven't been forgiven for scalping tickets for the biggest blitzball game of the year, but that's a story for another time). So something freaky must have happened to make everyone forget, or else Tidus was right with his conspiracy theories about the Island leaders brainwashing us all.

But, almost like it was in exchange for losing memories about you guys, I got different memories. Memories...of a different life. A different world.

A different me. And the scary thing is, I believe it. I know I was this mercenary sniper, one of a group of mercenaries who saved the world. And one of those dolls Lulu has, it has a dress like one of the others in these memories. Thing is, I don't remember who she is right now.

So if I'm not going crazy, and this other life I'm remembering is real, I just want whoever finds this, the people I don't remember or those from the past life, I'm okay with either finding this, to know you're not crazy either.

This is Irvine Kinneas, mercenary sniper of Galbadia Garden. Squall, you owe me fifty bucks for doubting there was reincarnation. Zell, you never did tell me the end of that last joke. Seifer, I bet you're still an ass.

Send a message back the same way, would you? It'll get to me.

Rai grinned and Seifer chuckled as he read Irvine's letter. "Rai, hand me a pen." Seifer pulled out a Struggle poster and began writing on the back.

Hey Cowboy.
Rai and I are here in Twilight Town, it's almost as boring as Balamb was. Zell's here, too, but I think he's just now figuring out he's had a past life. Matron's principal of the school, but she's not saying anything and Laguna...well, let's just say this new life hasn't given him any more brains than he had last time around. He's a journalist again.

I get what you're saying about forgetting people. I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be someone else with us, too, but I can't remember. Shut up, Kinneas, I know you're laughing over there and I'm going to kick your ass next time I see you. If you see Squall, I never admitted to not remembering something.

This is Seifer Almasy, gunblader mercenary and head of the Disciplinary Committee of Balamb Garden. _{Raijin's here too.}

I'll see you as soon as I can.

PS- Yes, in fact, I am still an ass, going to fight me over it?

Seifer handed Rai the bottle, who threw it as far as he could into the sea. The town was in utter chaos when the two got back. "Seifer!" Hayner ran toward him, bleeding from a shallow cut on his arm. "Some psycho's killing everybody! They got Matron!"

Swearing and wishing not for the first time that he still had his gunblade, Seifer barked, "Well don't just stand there, let's get the idiot who decided to pick on us!" He heard Hayner call Principal Edea 'Matron', could that mean he remembered..?

"Crazy Laguna" Guess not "told me to give this to you." Hayner hefted a case at Seifer and ran for the Sandlot. "I'm gonna try to stop this guy!"

"Zell, you idiot-" But Hayner was already gone. Seifer swore again and opened the case, nearly dropping it as he saw what lay inside: Hyperion, or as close to it as he was getting in this world. Seifer smirked. "Raijin, get Vivi. This sucker's going down."
~~
Irvine waits on the beach for about a week every day after school and work at the shooting range. Tidus gives him space, and Wakka's usually off with Lulu now, and Irvine tries not to compare the sea here to the one off Balamb.

"Who am I kidding?" Irvine chuckles ruefully on the seventh day, and turns to leave.

There is a small flash of light off shore, and he's into the water up to his waist before he even completely registers what he saw, or that Tidus is yelling after him, asking what the hell. The light winks off the bottle as it sinks deeper, and Irvine dives after it, ignoring Tidus' shouts and the fact that he's probably ruined these clothes for good.

His fingers close around the cracked bottle, and Irvine barely waits to surface before opening it. Water has made most of the words run together, but what he can make out is worth the ruined clothes and Tidus freaking out the entire island.

This is Seifer Almasy.

see you as soon as I can.

~After the end of KH: Retribution~
Selphie let herself into Irvine's apartment, arms full of baked goods from his aunt. Depite the fact that Irvine was twenty and had been living on his own for a couple of years by then, she firmly believd that he still needed taking care of. Seeing the clutter and quasi-organized chaos that made up the one bedroom apartment, Selphie was inclined to agree.

She had been friends with Irvine since the day he found her wandering around the play island humming nonsensically and searching for a princess. They'd remained close even if there was a four year age gap between them. Selphie wondered briefly if he remembered Before, and went into his room to see how much messier it had gotten in the time she'd been gone.

Surprisingly, the room had remained relatively clean. There was a box of shotgun ammo on th dresser, next to a cracked empty bottle. There were a few more posters on the walls, for blitzball, paintball-

Selphie's breath caught in her throat as she saw a poster ruined by the ocean, for a tournament that the Islands never had and never would host.

A Struggle tournament.

There had been a few tattered posters on the walls of Twilight Town when they had arrived. Hayner (Zell) mentioned that it had been a popular fighting sport. He had been fairly good, but, predictably, favoured empty-handed fighting. But how-?

"Sel?" Irvine appeared in the doorway. He smiled at her. "My aunt's still using you as a messenger?" Selphie's attempt at a smile fell flat, judging by the concern appearing on the young man's face. He stepped into the room. "What's happened?"

"Nothing!" Selphie was quick to assure him, but Irvine didn't look convinced. She gestured to the Struggle poster. "I noticed your poster. Where did you get it?"

"Message in a bottle. The year we couldn't remember any of you, I got some pretty interesting memories about a different life. A Before." Irvine studied Selphie as he went on. "So I wrote a letter to who I couldn't remember, and the ones I knew Before. About a week later, I got an answer."

"The poster." Selphie's voice shook a little. Only a handful of people from Twilight Town were from their Before, and Hayner hadn't mentioned any contact from outside his world other than them.

Irvine carefully pulled the poster down and handed it to her. "The water got to most of the message, but it's enough to make me wonder why only Fuu came here with you and the others."

Selphie's eyes widened upon seeing the name, then filled with tears as she read Seifer's message. "Oh, Irvine..."

He blinked in surprise as Selphie dropped the poster and his arms were suddenly full of crying teenage girl. "Sel, what's wrong?"

And then she said three words Irvine was sure he'd never forget, no matter how many lifetimes he went through:
"Seifer isn't coming."

This is how a heart breaks.

Happy Holidays from Twilight Town
Plans are made so that their first Christmas together is actually spent apart. Fuu leaves for Twilight Town to spend the holidays with ghosts. Christmas had been Rai’s favorite holiday, and the New Year had been Seifer’s, so it was unlikely that she would be back until after both. Selphie had received a message from Yuffie saying that Squall was brooding again and could she come snap him out of it, please? Normally Yuffie would handle it herself, but Cloud had returned, an oddly non-hostile Sephiroth in tow, and Yuffie wasn’t sure she could handle Squall on top of Tifa’s anger, Cid’s renewed chain-smoking, the General’s apologies, and her own lack-of-Aerith angst. Naturally, Selphie goes.
This leaves Riku with just the Islanders for Christmas. It’s almost like before, with Tidus and Wakka’s huge Christmas bash, but he’s skipping out with Sora and Kairi for slightly different reasons this year. It’s a little hard sometimes, hearing their old friends talk about life without them, a life of oblivious calm.
“Selphie and I would drag you two out on the dance floor,” Sora says suddenly. They’re in a different secret place on the play island, one Tidus and Wakka, for all their exploration, hadn’t yet found. Lulu might know of it, and it’s not really certain just how much Irvine knows anymore. Sora smiles a little. “It was nice.”
They talk about old Christmases of laughter and cheer and spiked eggnog and fireworks and are just a little relieved they can’t see the sunset from where they are.
~~
Selphie is barely in Traverse Town for five minutes before she’s packing a travel case for Leon. “C’mon,” she says briskly and tries to smile like her old self. “We’re spending the holidays with Fuu since I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what you and she and I all need.”
He raises an eyebrow, but makes no move to stop her from packing his bag. “…Why?”
Her smile falters a little and the Melee Soldier looks away. “Because she’s spending it with Seifer and Raijin.”
Oh. Squall remembers that winter was the Disciplinary Committee’s time, more than it ever was his, and walks over to her, adding a jacket to the case and closing it. “Let’s go.”
She gifts him with a brilliant smile, and says, “We’ve got one more stop to make.”
~~
Irvine, as a general rule, hates winter. It always reminds him of Before, and that he wasn’t there to help as the worlds were torn apart in the Now. He’s overheard enough of Selphie talking to Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Fuu (he plays along with Selphie’s charade that Fuu was always there but doesn’t buy it for a second, they were from his Before) about what happened those years they were gone. He’s ashamed to admit that he forgot about them for a year, but that year was the one he remembered he even had a Before. He and Selphie talk about it on occasion, but other than that, they try to move on.
She also told him that Seifer and Raijin are dead, thus the hate for winter and all the associated holidays. Irvine knows it was impossible for him to have done anything to save the two, like hating Sora for it now will do no good since he was more or less out of his mind, but it doesn’t stop him from wishing there was something he could’ve done.
A star shoots across the sky and it takes Irvine all of five seconds to realize it’s not a star and it’s heading straight for him. The brightly coloured airship-spaceship?- lands almost next to him, and by then Riku and Sora and Kairi are there, trying to figure out how to tell him he’s had too much of Wakka’s Specialty Eggnog(one part eggnog, two parts alcohol) or some other cover up story.
Selphie waves at the four of them as the door opens. “C’mon, we’re going to Twilight Town.”
Irvine freezes as Sora flinches and Riku demands to know if Selphie has forgotten it’s not just the group that went away on the beach. Going to Twilight Town means admitting to himself that Seifer and Raijin are two more people from his past that he won’t ever see again, but then Squall is there, standing in front of him with a hand on his shoulder, asking him if he feels up to it. Irvine doesn’t bother with his usual charming smile, going with the more honest one that feels like it’s about to shatter (because this is Squall and he’s really here and thank God he’s all right). “Yeah, I think so.”
~~
Hayner trudges up the hill where he buried Seifer and Raijin and isn’t at all surprised that Fuu is already there. She glances at him, questioning, as he pulls out four shot glasses and fills them. One he hands to Fuu, and two he puts before the graves, keeping one for himself. “First time I ever drank,” he says, knocking back the shot with experience not gained in this life, “it was from Raijin on Christmas. Seifer said no one should go a Christmas or New Year’s without a shot of something to make it worth remembering. My mother here nearly had a heart attack when I remembered enough of Before to start doing it here.”
Fuu nods and drinks her own shot. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Hayner sighs and looks up at the stars. “Ass though he was, I really miss him. Rai, too.”
And suddenly Selphie is sitting on Fuu’s other side with Riku and Kairi and that bastard who killed Seifer and Raijin, and Hayner is lunging at him, but arms wrap around him from behind, preventing him from getting very far. “Hey, let me the hell go or-”
“Or you’ll do what?” Hayner sags immediately, stunned. Selphie told him, Fuu backed up the story, but it’s nothing in comparison to having Squall Leonhart here in person. Squall lets him go and sits down between him and Fuu and helps himself to the alcohol. “Good stuff,” he says approvingly.
“Seifer said it was the only kind worth drinking,” Hayner says numbly, still trying to process this all when an arm reaches from his other side to take the bottle.
Irvine Kinneas winks as he knocks back some of the drink, trying for normal and almost making it. He’s older than Hayner and Selphie, older than Fuu, even, though not by much. Distractedly Hayner wonders if Squall feels better that he’s not the only older than teen there. “Irvine?”
“Zell,” the cowboy acknowledges, setting down his hat in respect for the dead. He looks all at once more unburdened and grieving than Hayner remembers him ever being.
Hayner offers a shaky smile. “Actually, it’s Hayner, now.”
“Hayner,” Irvine repeats, testing it out and nodding as he slings an arm around the younger man, fingers brushing Squall’s shoulder. “I think I can do that.”
“Leon,” Squall reintroduces himself, pausing. “Though if you’re more comfortable with Squall…”
“No, ‘Leon’ works.” Hayner slumps against Irvine a little, the weight of all he’s lost hitting him again and harder.
“Oh!” Selphie looks over, distressed. “Please please please don’t cry, if you start, I won’t be able to stop.”
“Little late for that,” Irvine manages as Hayner dissolves into tears, finally able to grieve for Seifer and Raijin and everything that’s gone wrong in both lives that he’ll now never be able to fix. He hauls Hayner up and tugs him away. “I’ll take care of him.”
Squall walks off in the direction Fuu indicated as being where his father and Matron are buried. Sora goes to leave, but Selphie holds up a hand to stop him. “It’ll be all right,” she says, wiping away an errant tear. “Really.”
“No one ever wants to die,” Fuu says abruptly, suddenly eloquent and Selphie remembers the last time she spoke more than shortly, begging for Seifer to stop and think, because he was going down a path she couldn't follow. “But if Seifer had to die, he said he wanted to do it fighting for something he strongly believed in, protecting those he cared about.” She looks at Sora and Selphie knows she’s seeing the scars Seifer left on the brunet, wounds that prevented Sora from killing anyone else after that fight. “He did. That’s more than he hoped for from this new life.” She looked back to the grave markers. “Raijin wanted the same.”
Kairi slips her hand into Sora’s and Riku takes his other hand, squeezing Selphie’s. Selphie’s arm is slung around Fuu. The melee soldier laughs suddenly. “He had an ego to rival yours, Riku. You wouldn’t believe the fights he and Squall had.”
And, along with Hayner, Irvine, and Squall as they returned, they celebrated Seifer and Raijin’s lives.

An Epilogue for 6
They return to Destiny Islands with little fanfare. There is some noise about Riku not telling his boss about his vacation, or Fuu and Irvine doing the same with their bosses, but it all dies down after a few days. Selphie drags Fuu and Riku shopping with her to restock for school and then spends the rest of the afternoon with Irvine. "You're sure you're all right," she reasserts, swinging her legs back and forth as she sits on the counter. Selphie's seen the water-ruined Struggle poster on Irvine's wall, almost hidden among the posters for blitzball and paintball tournaments and the one or two rock bands. She knows it was there before she and Kairi and Fuu returned, and will bet good money that it has to do with the broken bottle-same brand of vodka as what they had in Twilight Town for Christmas- sitting under it and next to a box of shotgun rounds.
Irvine flashes a quick, disarming smile as he disassembles a rifle. "Yeah, I'm fine. Fuu's going to think I stole you away, Sel, you'd better get going."
"You're not worried about what Riku will do?" Selphie teases as she hops off the counter and picks up her bags.
"Nope. I'm bigger than him. 'Sides, I remember how hard Fuujin kicks." Irvine kisses Selphie on the forehead and nudges her towards the door. "Go."
The clock is at a few minutes past five and Irvine is cleaning a shotgun when the door opens, making the bells above it jingle merrily. "Range's closed," he calls, not looking up.
"Aw, c'mon, cowboy, make an exception."
And for the first time in either life, Irvine dropped his gun. He stared at Seifer, Raijin a grinning mountain behind him. Seifer looked the same as always, smirking like he owned the world. Raijin stepped forward and picked up the shotgun. "Developed butterfingers?" he asked as he handed it back. "It's us, y'know?"
Seifer limps forward. "Geez, Kinneas, I know I look good, but-"
Irvine tackles him, knocking them both to the floor. "You were dead, Almasy, this isn't even funny, I just came back from visiting your grave-"
"Yeah, they told me." Seifer looks sober. "I'll tell you what I had to tell everybody else so far- I don't remember anything from my life in Twilight Town. I remember everything from you know, Before, but that's it."
"Is that so?" Irvine stands and helps Seifer up.
"Yeah, he's not limping for fun," Raijin puts in helpfully. "Fuujin kicked him when we went to visit her. Ain't speaking to us, y'know. And Zell punched the both of us."
Irvine laughs at the irate look on Seifer's face as Raijin launches into a detailed description of how Seifer got beaten up by a kid two years younger and twenty pounds lighter than him because this is how things should be. "So, have you seen Squall yet?"
"Yeah." Seifer snorts derisively. "The ice princess is calling himself Leon? That's the most unoriginal name he could've come up with, at least Zell had some taste about it. Oh," and the blonde reaches into his pocket, "found this when Raijin and I came around. That's how we knew where to go after Traverse and Twilight."
It's the letter Irvine wrote over a year before, when he couldn't remember Sora, Riku, Kairi or Selphie, and was starting to remember his past life. A little waterstained and smudged and worn, as though it had been carried around in a pocket for a long time.
Seifer looks distinctly uncomfortable. "Hey, I didn't write back anything stupid, did I?"
Irvine thinks back to a poster with a promise-see you as soon as I can- and laughs again because he's pretty sure he knows what Seifer was worried about saying. Destiny Islands wasn't home before, but it's starting to feel like it could be now.
"Oh, you have no idea."
"Give it to me, I'm burning it-"
"Not a chance!" Irvine ducks out of Seifer's reach and bolts for the door.
"Raijin."
Rai jogs after Irvine, clearly wary of leaving Seifer by himself after all they've been told of this life they had supposedly lead. "Hey, give it to him, Kinneas, y'know?"
"Getting Raijin to do your dirty work for you now, Almasy?" Irvine taunts.
"When I get my hands on you-" Seifer threatens.
"Promises, promises." Irvine waggles his eyebrows suggestively and Seifer damn near blushes.
Oh yeah. Definitely home.

Seifer only ever addresses Kairi about it once. "Fuujin, Selphie, and Riku."
She just looks at him and says, "You and Irvine."
At that he beats a hasty retreat, not because he's afraid of the Keyblade Princess(though there is admittedly something to be feared in such a slight girl packing that much power), but because he's not quite sure what it is he and Irvine have, and it's not something he wants to tackle just yet. Posse first, and all that. Selphie and Fuu together isn't something he has a problem with. Selphie is good for Fuu, Fuu is good for Selphie and -not that he'll ever admit it- Seifer has a bit of a soft spot for the spunky girl, a little to do with the fact that they're all from the same Before. Riku isn't someone he knows at all.
Talking to Sora about it isn't going to happen, since A)he doesn't know Sora at all either, and B) they avoid talking to each other because it's just too awkward right now. He knows he should feel something concerning the one who killed an incarnation of himself, but all that Seifer can summon are embarrassed and affronted to have been killed by someone smaller than Squall or Selphie(who had never managed it despite numerous attempts Before to do so).
Seifer would rather die than talk to Squall about the three, particularly since the newly dubbed Leon doesn't know whether or not he loves that wannabe ninja jailbait. He expects all he'd get from Zell(Hayner, now) are more cracks about Irvine.
He doesn't talk to Selphie about her relationship, but is in the next room when Irvine brings it up. "They make me happy," she says, sounding hurt that Irvine, who she has known since she arrived on Destiny Islands years ago, doesn't seem to accept it.
Irvine chuckles and Seifer is pretty sure he hugged her then. "Then that's all that matters, Sel. As long as you're happy."
"Good." Seifer's 'oh, shit' sensors go off. "Now about you and Seifer..."
Seifer sneaks out at that point because he wants to figure this out for himself before talking to Irvine about them, whatever they are. So he and Raijin get Fuujin and the hang out on the play island. Seifer lets Raijin talk first since he's been itching to. "You and Selphie." Fuu says nothing, just arches an eyebrow. "You and Riku. Selphie and Riku." He frowns. "Which one is it?"
"All," she says firmly, and kicks Raijin off the pier before glaring at Seifer.
He's leaned from Raijin's lesson. So instead, "You're still part of the posse." Both question and statement.
Fuu looks at him like he's an idiot, emphatically says "Yes", and kicks him off the pier, too, before walking away.
Raijin looks at Seifer as they haul themselves up. "You and Irvine," he prompts.
Seifer pushes him back in the water.
After, Raijin goes to ask Tidus and Wakka about blitzball because, despite Island suspicions and the couple years' age gap, sports are sports. Seifer lies spread-eagle on the beach and it's not long before Irvine finds him. The once-sniper doesn't even look at him funny, just smiles a little and settles next to him, arms resting on his knees. Riku passes by, and Seifer sits up, stopping him with a single look. "If you hurt them, I'll shove Hyperion down your throat and pull the trigger," he promises, and knows it's true. For Fuujin, it's a given, but he realizes he'd do the same for Selphie, if only because she's from his Before and really important to Irvine, making her important to Seifer. He jumps off that train of thought and glares for emphasis. "Got it?"
The younger man nods warily and Seifer can just see Irvine's expression in the corner of his eye. Irvine has a sharp smile on his face, promising pain and malice in equal measures. It strikes Seifer that Irvine may have already given Riku this talk. Seifer nods. "Good. Think you three might be good for each other after all." If Fuu's willing to challenge her posse and Selphie choose them over Irvine, it has to be something worth fighting for.
Irvine's grin morphs into something like approval and he squeezes Seifer's shoulder. Riku raises an eyebrow. "You two."
"You three," Irvine returns, and Seifer decides there and then that possessive is a good look on the other man, and that it's definitely good that Selphie doesn't have a thing for Irvine in this life because she'd have to fight Seifer for him.
"Right," Riku concedes with a grin of his own. "No judging here."
"Hey, what-" Seifer starts to say, but Riku is already jogging off. Seifer lays back down. "So. Fuujin, Selphie and Riku."
"Yep," Irvine agrees and lays down next to him.
"You and me." It sounds oddly right and Seifer holds his breath.
"Looks that way." Irvine grins at him, and Seifer decides that coming back in a place just like Fisherman's Horizon is worth seeing that smile directed at him.
No one says anything when he comes back for the first weekly dinner for everyone who traveled the worlds sunburned all over save for patches on his hand where Irvine's fingers fit perfectly. They're all thinking it, Seifer knows, but he's finding it hard to mind.

#7 is saved for Sephiroth, and is giving me the most trouble.