kingdom hearts; gen
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Characters/Pairings: Roxas, the Organization; Axel/Roxas slightly implied
Title: Plus One
Rating: G
Notes: In that vague period between KH1 and CoM... sort of? Spoilers for the Nature of Roxas, KHII prologue possibly, etc.
Posted: kh_drabble, for the challenge 'mathematics'
Before Roxas, they had been twelve.
Twelve is an easily handled number; it always cooperates. The organization in those days was effective, cohesive, certain -- divisible in as many ways as needed to serve their purposes, with faces set into evenly malevolent smiles.
Twelve is simple. Twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight; there are easy patterns, easy rules. But add just one, and suddenly nothing is easy.
Number thirteen -- Roxas. When he came into the equation, everything fell apart.
Those eyes, reflective of a world long left behind, were fountainheads of uncertainty. Marluxia took one look and felt his carefully-laid plans crack and shatter. Demyx glimpsed the blue of tranquil waters, untinged by blood or darkness, and began to doubt. Axel let his gaze linger a little too long, got a little too lost, feeling a phantom heartbeat where there should have been only emptiness.
They had gone from even to odd. As much as they all tried to deny it, the equations just didn't check out anymore.
Thirteen is contrary. Infinitely stubborn, it refuses to be rearranged or simplified. Before Roxas, their identity had been easily bent to their will. They were three deadly enemies times four schemes for revenge; two shouted commands times six hearts stolen; two parts darkness times two parts malice times three parts thirst. But there is only one way to write thirteen.
The problem was that none of them could find it. Thirteen lost, broken souls times one inescapable destiny was what they kept coming up with -- but that couldn't possibly be right.
Characters/Pairings: Roxas, the Organization; Axel/Roxas slightly implied
Title: Plus One
Rating: G
Notes: In that vague period between KH1 and CoM... sort of? Spoilers for the Nature of Roxas, KHII prologue possibly, etc.
Posted: kh_drabble, for the challenge 'mathematics'
Before Roxas, they had been twelve.
Twelve is an easily handled number; it always cooperates. The organization in those days was effective, cohesive, certain -- divisible in as many ways as needed to serve their purposes, with faces set into evenly malevolent smiles.
Twelve is simple. Twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight; there are easy patterns, easy rules. But add just one, and suddenly nothing is easy.
Number thirteen -- Roxas. When he came into the equation, everything fell apart.
Those eyes, reflective of a world long left behind, were fountainheads of uncertainty. Marluxia took one look and felt his carefully-laid plans crack and shatter. Demyx glimpsed the blue of tranquil waters, untinged by blood or darkness, and began to doubt. Axel let his gaze linger a little too long, got a little too lost, feeling a phantom heartbeat where there should have been only emptiness.
They had gone from even to odd. As much as they all tried to deny it, the equations just didn't check out anymore.
Thirteen is contrary. Infinitely stubborn, it refuses to be rearranged or simplified. Before Roxas, their identity had been easily bent to their will. They were three deadly enemies times four schemes for revenge; two shouted commands times six hearts stolen; two parts darkness times two parts malice times three parts thirst. But there is only one way to write thirteen.
The problem was that none of them could find it. Thirteen lost, broken souls times one inescapable destiny was what they kept coming up with -- but that couldn't possibly be right.