Hollow Bastion, Second Visit:
In Which Makeovers are Distracting
Namine took slow steps to the edge of the stone ramparts and leaned over to peer at Hollow Bastion below. It was beautiful at sunset -- very different than Twilight Town, full of wide-open spaces, painted orange in the dying light. It became a town of elegant, strange shadows, the weird silhouettes over the sky becoming weird silhouettes stretched out against the cobblestones.
She turned her head to the castle some distance away, slow but involuntary, and she knew immediately that it wasn't the right one.
That wasn't the castle where she'd been born.
"Watch the edge," Roxas told her, and hopped lightly down to the nearest overhang, then the one slightly below, glancing back at her to ensure that she was following.
Special treatment. He wasn't sure she could make the jump to the ground. Namine gave him a small smile and leaped from the battlement, overtaking him quickly and landing in a crouch, one hand dropping to the cobblestones to keep her balance. She still thought it was a fairly decent jump, all things considered, and more than sufficient to prove that she could make a simple jump without breaking her delicate bones.
After a moment, Axel and Roxas each dropped in on either side of her, and Roxas rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Namine said, a little amused. "I'm not really dressed for that sort of thing anyway." She smoothed a hand over her dress -- it was too tight over her thighs to allow her perfectly free movement.
"Yeah, it's not exactly the most practical outfit to spend a whole year sleeping in," Axel said lazily, moving forward into the marketplace. Namine followed him, for lack of anywhere else to go.
Roxas walked alongside her, and frowned at the dress. "Mmm, yeah -- those are your soul clothes, aren't they?" He didn't say anything -- kindly, she thought -- about how plain and simple they were, but he noted, "It looks kinda threadbare, doesn't it? It's a little worn thin in a few--"
She felt herself flush and he stopped, eyes going wide.
"Sorry. I didn't mean--"
"No, it's okay. You're right, after all," she said, smiling quickly at him and then resuming motion. Of course she knew that they weren't in the best condition, but for such a very long time, getting new clothing hadn't been an option. Unlike the other human-formed Nobodies, she had not been made a member of the Organization, had never been offered something else to wear, something tougher and uniform; she had never been part of anything, except as part of Kairi.
It had simply never occurred to her, until very recently, that she could be part of herself.
Keeping that thought in mind, it was easy to break the now-awkward silence, ask them, "So where are we going?"
Roxas shook his head, like he needed to clear it. "To Merlin's. Leon and the others-- you know about them, right?" He glanced at her, and she smiled and nodded, amused that he'd have to ask. She remembered. "They're living there with him, now. They let us stay the night last night, and so we're going to beg a room tonight, too. We'll figure out where to go next in the morning."
"Oh," Namine said, not quite able to hide her surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise. She hadn't imagined that Roxas would be interested in making friends with the people Sora had known. "I think that's a good plan."
She heard Axel make a strange sound behind her, maybe a skeptical snort or laugh, but Roxas was asking, "So -- how did it go at the mansion? Obviously you got out okay..."
Namine bit her lip, realizing she hadn't had a chance to tell him the news, in all the confusion that had ensued when they met her at the train station. "No, there wasn't any trouble," she assured him. "It was empty. But... Donald and Goofy..."
They both turned around sharply, Axel's eyes narrowing and Roxas's widening in the same moment. "What happened? What went wrong?" the blond boy demanded.
"Nothing went wrong," she said quickly. "It's just... The mansion was empty. They weren't there."
She had headed immediately to the basement, despite not having any idea what she could say to them to explain the situation; they wouldn't remember her, and they wouldn't understand why Sora was gone, and she wasn't sure that she could tell the story to his friends without doubting -- without being doubted. What if they hated her? What if they hated Roxas?
What if they didn't? What if they were just... devastated?
But it hadn't come up. When she had headed to the pods she remembered them sleeping inside, they had been gone, their capsules depressurized and empty. She'd gone through every pod, every room in the mansion, and found no trace of them or what had happened to them.
"Maybe that kid let them out before he took off," Axel said, shrugging and resuming motion down the road. Roxas frowned as if he doubted that, but he followed after a beat
Riku? I suppose Riku might've remembered them... she thought, but dubiously.
"Well, one way or another, they're not asleep anymore," he said. "I guess that's good."
Still, it didn't feel resolved. Namine couldn't help wondering, and she knew from the terse silence that fell that Roxas was wondering too.
When they reached what could only have been Merlin's house, Roxas knocked and glanced back to be sure the other two were with him. Axel was standing slightly off to the side, hands in his pockets; Roxas told him dryly, "Don't think you can slip off without someone noticing," and Axel returned, "It's so cute that you think that'd stop me."
Namine was smiling when the door was yanked open and Yuffie swung out with wild speed. She stopped short before running into Roxas, apparently startled, but made a quick recovery and smiled warmly. "Oh, hey! Come on in. I didn't think we'd be seeing you guys again so soon."
"Sorry to wear out the welcome," Roxas said, with a small rueful smile. Namine realized that he had been smiling quite a bit with almost shock. "It's getting late, and we hoped to spend one more night sponging off you."
Yuffie waved them in, dismissively saying, "Whenever you want! You'd be surprised how easy it is to put up visitors. Merlin cheats. Hi!" Namine jumped a little, not expecting to be spoken to, but the taller girl was already looking her over. "I'm Yuffie. Your shoes are adorable."
"Hi, I'm -- Namine," she said, twisting slightly to get a good look at her sandals. She could only distantly recall what they look like, even though she'd worn them every day for as long as she could remember. "I think they're cute, too. I really appreciate your generosity..."
"Bah, a friend of Roxas is always welcome." Yuffie winked. "Besides, this way he'll have to help us if Heartless drop in."
Roxas scowled at her, but Axel said blandly, "As tempting as it is to be indebted to opportunists, aren't any of these neighboring houses empty?"
Unfazed by the rudeness, Yuffie smirked. "Look at how unfriendly this guy is!"
"I've been apologizing for him all day," Roxas said, sighing.
Namine took a step back, watching them. She understood, now, why Axel had stood back. It was a strange sensation: like she saw the room through a thick haze of difference, of isolation. Yuffie and even Roxas were both so alive, connected in some way that slipped through her fingers, even when she had been the center of that vivid attention so recently.
A quick glance at Axel made her sure. Roxas didn't feel out of place, but whether he noticed or not, it was different for Namine and Axel.
"It's a good idea, though," Roxas was saying. "I don't want to put you out of your beds again. We'd only have to drop in to steal Leon's cooking."
He grinned at her, but Yuffie didn't return the expression. She glanced aside, starting, "Well, um."
"Welcome back, you two," said Aerith, coming up from the kitchen and drying her hands with a towel. "Who's your friend?"
"Hi, Aerith," Roxas said, offering her another small smile. "This is Namine, a friend of ours that we just met up with again. We were asking about the possibility of grabbing a nearby house, so everyone gets to spend the night in a bed."
Aerith tilted her head. "You're probably better off getting rooms here. The livable houses are full up -- and the unlivable houses, well." She drew closer and smiled privately at Namine. "I hope that the keyblade master isn't dragging you into all kinds of danger with him."
Yuffie whispered to her exaggeratedly, "She's not really mute. I've heard her talk!"
Namine brought a hand up to her mouth, stifling a nervous giggle -- they were all watching her now, Roxas slightly abashed-looking. She lowered her hand again and said serenely, "It's true, I'm not. Thank you for reminding me." To Aerith she added, "I can use magic, so don't worry."
"But how do you defend yourself? What kind of weapon do you carry?"
"Well, she's-- Of course she's got--" Yuffie said immediately, and then rubbed the back of her neck. She echoed sheepishly, "What do you have?"
"These are probably questions we should've asked earlier," Roxas observed, bemused. Yuffie elbowed him, to his alarm.
Namine contained another smile. "I don't have one -- at the moment." It had been the subject of much discussion, at one point; Riku had wanted her to have something to fight with, but DiZ had deemed it unnecessary... and, although he hadn't said it, probably dangerous.
Roxas said slowly, "That won't do. Obviously, we need--"
"Shopping!" Aerith said, clasping her hands together and turning to Yuffie, nodding a little. "We can take her shopping. Don't you think?"
Yuffie seized on that idea quickly, agreeing, "Ooh, yeah! And we can get her new clothes, too! Something really cute!"
Namine bit her cheek and kept smiling. Even though she'd been considering it herself, it was such a huge move to get a totally new look after she'd lived her whole life like this -- and distressing to be so quickly commandeered, with only cursory consultation. But something about the air in the house -- strained, uncomfortable -- made her think that perhaps the shopping trip wasn't really about her at all.
"I have the munny to cover it," she said gamely.
Don't let them see you unsettled.
"As for tonight..." Aerith tapped her jaw, thoughtfully, and then turned around, crossing over to the door she'd emerged from. "Let's ask Merlin what he thinks we should do about the beds." She winked at them and knocked twice, firmly, on the door.
There was a distant sound of an explosion, and then the door that had previously led into the kitchen banged open, and Merlin ascended the steps from the basement as if carried on the great puff of blue smoke that accompanied him. "Yes, madam?" he said, cleaning his glasses with his beard. "You rang?"
Aerith gestured at the three companions, still hovering just inside the doorway. "Roxas and Axel brought a friend back, Merlin. But we're a little short on space."
"Short-- Short on space?" He blinked owlishly, and shook his head. "Absolute rubbish -- there's no such thing, my dear! No such thing! There's an infinite amount of space."
The enchanted door slammed itself closed abruptly, and then opened again with equal violence, nearly smacking into Merlin both ways. Cid emerged from the kitchen with a flamethrower strapped to his back, nozzle held in his hands and glaring. "Are we under attack? What happened? I heard an explosion -- oh, he's up." His gaze fell on Merlin and he immediately relaxed, shaking his head. "That answers that." He glanced over Namine, and Roxas, and Axel in turn, then looked back at Namine, but he addressed Merlin. "You're not pulling coins out of these kids' ears, are you?"
Merlin's expression turned dark, and he started rolling up his sleeves. Aerith said diplomatically, "Merlin was just going to help us find room for Axel and Roxas, and their friend Namine, so that they can spend the night without you having to sleep on the computer bench." She smiled sweetly at him.
That took the wind out from both their sails. Merlin muttered something to himself and edged closer to the stairway, stroking his beard and considering. Cid complained, "You're asking him to just magic up extra space? The moment the old coot takes a nap the room and everyone in it'll just vanish into the ether."
"My spells are extremely self-sufficient, thank you, Cidolfas," Merlin said stiffly. "Besides, the very nature of the ether is such that they could spend a thousand years there if necessary without being harmed a whit!"
That statement was not as reassuring as he'd probably intended it to be; Namine glanced back at Roxas and Axel, worried, and found Roxas grimacing. Axel said, "You know, we can always sleep down here, on the--" He glanced at the sofa, which was stacked tall with various books and scrolls. "--pile of books."
"Pay the fool no mind," Merlin said loftily, and gathered himself up, hovering grandly with wand raised for a moment before he tapped the wall and turned around, satisfied. "There. Two extra rooms, one for the gentlemen and one for the young lady."
Cid snorted and pointed a finger significantly at Axel before he stalked back into the kitchen. The redhead, startled to be singled out, raised his eyebrows at his companions. It was comforting to see that Namine wasn't the only one who was skeptical -- even if she would much rather be confident that they wouldn't wind up spending a thousand years in the ether, starting the moment Merlin turned in for the night.
Her room was at the end of a long corridor, across from Axel and Roxas's, and slightly smaller. Each room had two beds, and they were decorated neutrally -- blue linens in their room, purple in hers. Bland, featureless rooms that gave no sign that they had ever been lived in before; they looked like rooms that had just been conjured up.
Waking up in the early morning to find herself still squarely in her own dimension, Namine headed downstairs. Aside from the hot dog the previous evening, she hadn't eaten anything, and so she knew she must be hungry, even though she didn't quite feel it.
Cid was already there, pouring himself coffee, when she arrived. She froze in the doorway, but he'd somehow heard her footsteps on the hardwood floor, and he called out, "You can have some of this if you're hungry. It may be your only chance for real fuckin' food."
It was too late to flee back up to her room until people she knew better were present. Namine hovered a beat longer before slipping into a chair close to the door, tentative. "Did you not sleep well?"
He looked so tired, the lines of his grizzled face drawn and harsh. She wasn't surprised to hear him say, "Haven't been to sleep yet. I've been manning the night shift, so someone can sound the all's well when Leon gets back." He gave her a stare. "You a morning person?"
She knotted her fingers in front of her on the table. "I don't... really do better at any particular time of day," she said, hopefully politically.
He stared a moment longer, then grunted. "You're getting the last of the eggs."
"Thanks..."
"Eh, you deserve it. Yuffie said you kids were going shopping -- she seemed to be looking forward to it."
Although he didn't finish the thought, it was obvious that he was grateful to have seen her upbeat. Namine smiled to herself. "She and Aerith are very kind to help me out."
"Better you than me," he said philosophically. "I'll never wear the shit they buy me. Hope you like 'em sunny-side up." He slid the eggs onto a plate and dropped it in front of her. "Coffee?"
"I don't want to steal your coffee."
"I hate coffee. Goddamn poison."
She glanced uncertainly at the mug in his hand, wondering uneasily why he was drinking it if he hated it so much, but honestly the man was -- a little intimidating. Better not to ask. "I -- prefer tea."
Cid sighed, irritable, and said, "Yeah, me too. Guess I'd better make it myself, or Aerith'll try." He finished off his coffee in one swig and then set himself at the counter again, getting hot water. "What kinda weapon you looking for?"
Such a long conversation, with such a near-stranger, and about... her, what she liked and wanted. Even if it was simple minutiae, it was an almost completely foreign experience. Namine kicked her legs a little. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."
"Well, what do you know?"
Namine was silent for a moment. It felt like confessing a sin. "I don't... have any experience. I've only used -- odds and ends, when I've had to fight. Like a pipe or something. I could get a staff?" she mused.
"--a staff?" Cid demanded, disbelief in his voice. He turned around with another, fiercer stare, and Namine straightened, bewildered. Had that been the wrong answer? Had there been a right one? "That is the most-- Is that what you're supposed to use, 'cuz you use magic? At that rate you'll end up with a goddamn fairy wand. You're not good enough for a real weapon?"
She was silent for long moments, lost in the fierce tide of his opinion. She composed herself, and asked with dignity, "Do you have any suggestions, Cid?"
That caught him off-guard, but not as much as it should have. He leaned against the counter, tapping his fingers on his folded arms. After a very long moment, he said only, "Eat your eggs," and stalked over to a staircase leading down.
Namine let out a slow breath and lifted her fork. She'd sort of assumed she would wield something like a staff -- being as close to her own experience as she could match -- or a wand; weapons that were known for their ability to channel magic. Could she really wield a sword? Or something more ranged... like a bow?
She sort of liked the idea, although the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that she would only manage to shoot herself in the foot.
Cid returned in a few minutes, with a long shape shrouded in cloth. He unwound the fabric and then extended the contents, held out flat on his palms.
A spear.
Namine looked up at him, and he said, "This is a good, solid weapon. Nothing too fancy. It's standard military issue, in fact, from back in the day when this place had a military."
"Is this -- yours?" she asked hesitantly, standing up.
"Eh, it's been a long time since I used this old girl. I was just an engineer in the army, and I've got other toys now." Cid smirked at her, but his touch was almost affectionate when he slowly placed the haft into her hands. "But I think the balance might be okay for you. Whaddaya think?"
She hefted it a little, pretending to have any idea what the balance should feel like or what she might do with it in combat. It was hard to say, really, but she found herself smiling anyway. For some reason she felt warm. The absurdity of fighting with a weapon that she was entirely unfamiliar with didn't seem nearly as important as that warmth.
"I think it's... wonderful."
Although she had been uncertain before, the shopping trip seemed to be affected by that warm feeling, and she had no hesitation in picking out clothes. Yuffie and Aerith were very quick to offer opinions and flattery, and they made her laugh with their whispered conversations, even if she didn't have much to add to them, and often contributed nothing at all.
Before yesterday, and her brief meeting with Olette, she had never really spent time with another girl before.
Pieces of clothing fell in her hands and stayed there: a ruffled skirt, a long shirt, and a pair of clunky sneakers. And a hoodie -- a small, but almost masculine hoodie, that she unfolded with lingering fingers and clutched to her chest and immediately felt safer. Stronger.
"That looks like an outfit to me," Yuffie said cheerfully. "Go on, try it all on!"
"Will this really look good together?" Namine asked dubiously.
Yuffie frowned. "It all matches, doesn't it?"
Aerith set a hand on her hip and gestured imperiously for the younger girl to turn in a circle and head to the dressing rooms. "The only one who can decide if it looks good together is you. And first you have to try it on!"
Namine slid into a booth with an uncertain glance at them and changed quickly, trying not to think too much about it until she was fully dressed. She looked at herself in the mirror for a long moment. They did go together, actually -- and she looked good in them -- and she didn't look like Kairi.
She left the booth and said, confident, "I'm getting these."
Yuffie clapped her hands together, excited. "Oh, man! That looks adorable on you."
"Bring it all up to Max," Aerith advised. "He'll tell you how much it is."
Yuffie took hold of Namine's shoulders and actually pushed her over to the cashier, a bored-looking dog, older than the ducklings but still recognizably young. Namine immediately thought, He looks like Goofy, and glanced around uncertainly, but Max didn't seem to notice her hesitation. He leaned over, eyed her attire, and then leaned back.
"Twelve hundred fifty munny," he said, and leaned on a gloved hand, holding out the other for the cash. "Take the tags off before you go."
"Oh," Namine murmured, startled by this brusqueness, and reached for her purse. Yuffie whispered, "He's always like that. He hates working here. When his dad gets back, Max'll probably beat him up for letting Scrooge babysit him."
Goofy is his father, she thought, meeting his eyes for a brief moment. She could see it in him.
But before she could think of anything to say, Yuffie had grabbed her wrist and hauled her away; Max didn't blink, droned, "Thanks for your patronage," and yawned.
"We gotta get home," Yuffie said, impatient. "Sorry to drag you around like this, but since you've already got a weapon, we need to get back ASAP! What if Leon got back while we were out?"
Leon's actually missing? Namine thought vaguely.
But Yuffie was looking at Aerith, whose expression was distant; she was staring out at the silhouetted castle, and she murmured, "I don't think he'll be back."
Yuffie's pace slowed. "You think -- he's in trouble. So we should go find him!"
"No, Yuffie," Aerith said, shaking her head. "You need a little more time to recover from the injuries you took last week. Leon wanted you to stay here. If you go, and hurt yourself more, he'll be angry at you." She smiled slightly.
"But--"
"I want you to ask Roxas," the older woman said calmly.
There was a long silence, Yuffie and Aerith watching each other, measuring; Namine took a step back, knowing that she was witnessing something significant, but with no idea what might be passing between them. This tension, their melancholy expressions, didn't mean anything to her.
"Why me?" Yuffie asked. "You should be the one who--"
"I think he'll appreciate it more coming from you," Aerith said cheerfully, and breezed ahead to the house.
Axel was in the living room, observing the various scattered books, and he tensed abruptly as they returned, but before Namine could even get a good glimpse at him he was relaxed and at ease again. He looked her over and smirked. "The hoodie's real cute," he said insincerely. "I like it."
Namine flushed a little. It figured that he'd easily pinpoint that, and -- probably why she liked it, too. "It doesn't sound like you do," she said with dignity.
"Oh, but I do," he said, eyes going wide. "I mean it. Really."
Now Yuffie was scowling at him on her behalf; Namine opened her mouth to reassure her (she knew better than to think it was a personal slight, when Axel so enjoyed his private laughs) but Roxas emerged from the kitchen, distracting them. He took in Namine's clothes with clear eyes and he simply smiled, saying, "That's really cute. And the skirt's more practical than what you were wearing before."
"Thanks," Namine murmured, smoothing her hands over it self-consciously. No one had rushed to applaud Roxas's new outfit, but she was a little glad for the reassurance anyway. Perhaps it was a privilege of being female.
Yuffie cleared her throat, looking a little awkward, and she said, "Hey -- Leon didn't -- come back, did he?"
Roxas's gaze dropped for a beat, recognizing the tension that entered the room at that question. "Uh... no, he didn't. Sorry."
"Ah. Roxas, can I--" Yuffie looked at Aerith from the corner of her eyes, paused, and then started again. "I need to ask you for a favor. Leon's been gone for over a day, and... we can't go after him. Could you please go to the bailey and look for him?"
She seemed desperately unhappy, a stark contrast to Aerith's quiet, composed melancholy. Namine could feel their worry as strongly as if it were her own, and from the look on Roxas's face, he couldn't even begin to turn down the request.
"What did I tell you?" Axel asked from across the room, not facing them. "T-R-O-U-B-L-E."
NEXT >>> Hollow Bastion, Second Visit (Part 2)