From The Background (challenge)
Title: From the Background
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Rating: K to M
Pairing: Nida/Xu
Warnings: Violence, Character Death, unbeta'd.
Chapter: N/A
Notes: Whoo! I finally finished my claim for 1sentence! They all fit together into a single story, though they're out of order chronologically. *shrug* I'm happy with them, I guess.
Summary: Some heroes don't need to stand in the front to be heroes, some love doesn't need to be obvious to be strong, some lives are lived entirely from the background.
01 - Ring
When they first lifted from the ground, the gold ring at the base of the Garden tearing free from the earth, he had been too shocked to do much more than fall over-whereas she had not only caught him, but continued to fire on her attackers with her free hand.
02 - Hero
It shouldn't have mattered much and they both knew it, but on occasion they would sit down for a cup of coffee and complain about the fact that no one ever seemed to remember their part in saving the world when they told the stories.
03 - Memory
He had been there as long as she could remember-not that that meant much, considering-but she found it interesting that when she thought back as far as she could into her memory, it wasn’t that he had been there as long as she could recall, but that she could recall only as long as he had been there.
04 - Box
Before the war, before the exam, before he’d even been fitted for a proper uniform, when she had been a tutor and he a new student, she had told him that to live here one needed to think outside the box-over the years as he watched her progress in her training he began to wonder if she had ever thought inside it.
05 - Run
“I know you remember that I taught you to retreat, Nida-” she stops for a moment as he tightens his grip on her hand and they hasten their frantic flight from the creatures overrunning the Garden, “-but sometimes there’s nowhere to run to, sometimes a stand has to be taken!”
06 - Hurricane
He had never piloted through a storm before, and tonight as lightning flashed and the sea below churned and surged into white-capped waves so high they washed up the walls and into some of the open windows of the lower rooms he was afraid-then a slender hand pressed against his back and a voice whispered in his ear and everything was all right.
07 - Wings
The spell was Nida’s favorite not for any practical purposes, but because he knew she had a soft spot for those bizarre creatures of legend called “angels,” and Float-for just a moment-gave him the wings of one, and brought a light to her eyes.
08 - Cold
She had never seen him sick before, but she’d had enough experience with illness before to know what to do with him when he came up to the bridge with an unpleasant flush to his features and a grating edge to his voice-“Get back in bed,” she ordered, “and let me pilot for a day.”
09 - Red
It had become a ceremony of sorts for the two of them to sit down on the bridge and gaze out the window at the sunset; with the sky on fire and the sun barely visible they both appeared scarlet, stained with blood, and for some reason it made Nida feel better to know that he could still love her like that.
10 - Drink
It was against regulations to drink while on a mission, but they both knew that this had been on hell of a day and they both certainly deserved a glass of something that burned all the way down.
11 - Midnight
A knock on the door roused her from her sleep and she was instantly on her feet-opening the door she was greeted by a very familiar figure, dirty and worn and obviously recently returned from a mission; she sighed in exasperation and started, “Do you have any clue what time it i-” and then he kissed her.
12 - Temptation
She liked angels, and because of her love for the bizarre mythical things every time he passed the antique shop in Dollet he was tempted to buy the sparkling figurine in the window; he knew, though, that a traveling war machine was no place for winged girl with a ceramic face, so he left her there every time.
13 - View
Even with missiles bearing down on them, Xu had to admit that this part of the Garden had a view that she doubted she would ever see rivaled-and she was more than grateful that he was here to look out on it with her.
14 - Music
Late that night, after the music stopped and all the others went to bed, Nida coerced her into coming with him to the site of the Garden festival and, carefully positioning his fingers on the unused clarinet, played her a song he hoped she would remember after they left.
15 - Silk
When he spoke it was with a hint of exhaustion, a lining of confusion: “Women are supposed to like pretty things; shiny baubles and pointless statuettes,” he said in exasperation, “but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to buy her that silk dress she keeps eyeing-I know that the calluses on her fingers would catch on the threads and that no matter if it’s red or not it would get stained even redder eventually.”
16 - Cover
The memory was clear, clearer than most, because it was the first time she had asked him to cover her instead of the other way around; the first step toward being equals.
17 - Promise
He had heard the stories, of course-mostly from Zell, who never seemed to have learned the meaning of the word eavesdropping-about Squall’s promise to Rinoa, and he almost wished that he could be like that-promise to be a knight for his lady fair, to wait for her in a place he knew she could find-but the longing was banished when she came up on his side and slapped him on the back so hard it stung, asking why the hell he wasn’t in the training center with his students yet.
18 - Dream
When he was younger, in the interim years after she had graduated but before his own exam, he had dreamed about donning that sleek uniform not for the prestige, not for the title, but so they would match.
19 - Candle
When their airship had been shot down and of the only supplies remaining between the two of them was a week’s worth of food and a candle, they both smiled-because that candle would never be enough to keep them warm at night, giving them a loophole in the ban on intimate contact during a mission.
20 - Talent
There was a certain level of talent required to make it through a SeeD exam, but watching him as he fought his way through the Galbadian soldiers she had to admit that a man without that innate ability, a man with carefully-honed skill, was much more interesting.
21 - Silence
They rarely spoke after she graduated-she was always away or teaching some newbie how things were done and he was busy studying and practicing for his own approaching exam-but when they managed to pass each other in the training center, hands brushing as she led her class in and his class was led out, the silence wasn’t so hard to handle anymore.
22 - Journey
“I never thought it would turn out like this,” he said softly, staring down into his coffee like a fairytale soothsayer reading tea leaves, then lifting his gaze to look across the table, “but it’s been quite a ride, hasn’t it?”
23 - Fire
She stood at the front and he just a step behind her; with plenty of fear but not a hint of hesitation she lifted her hand, his muscles tensing at the signal; she called out as the enemy horde drew closer-“Fire!”-and he did.
24 - Strength
He liked to think that he would have the strength to protect her if something else went wrong, but deep down he knew that she held far more power than he could hope to possess himself, and that in another time she would have been the one polishing her armor and sharpening her sword while he stayed home and swept the floors.
25 - Mask
As a SeeD they both wore masks; to the outside world they were both civil and polite officials of the Garden, to their enemies they were savage monsters that could kill a hundred men without batting an eye, to each other they were only human-and that was the thickest mask of all.
26 - Ice
She had laughed-actually laughed-for the first time in his memory on one of their visits to the Shumi Village, when he-a SeeD, one of the few who had helped to save the world a mere year ago-had stepped in the wrong direction and been defeated for the first time since graduation; not by some massive beast or monster from the darkest corners of his closet, but by a sheet of ice cleverly disguised as snow.
27 - Fall
Balamb was relatively warm all year round, save for the winter snows that occasionally drove sailors back into their homes but passed within a day or two with little change to the scenery, so when they reached Dollet and found the surrounding woods shining bright yellow and scarlet, like fire, neither one knew quite what to think.
28 - Forgotten
“When it all comes down to it,” she said with a shrug, speaking as she lifted her coffee mug from the table, “after seeing what Squall and the others go through with the media and every government organization on the planet, you have to admit it’s not actually that bad being the forgotten ones.”
29 - Dance
It took all his courage to ask her to dance that night, to hold out his hand-gold chains jingled, red velvet rustled, new shoes clicked with each half-step-and he almost passed out when she slipped her hand into his-shoes clicked as she came forward, red velvet rustled, gold chains jingled-and gave a smile of affirmation.
30 - Body
She was the first to ask if they’d found a body when he was three days late for communication, the first to pull out the black band worn on the arm when a SeeD lost one of their own, and the first to jump into his arms when he at last returned-a bloody mess, of course-a month later with an amazing story to tell.
31 - Sacred
It was rare for an orphan to hold anything sacred, but where Squall had his ring and Zell that bizarre tattoo-though he claimed he’d had the mark since birth-Nida had a lock of hair from right before Xu’s SeeD exam, when she’d cut it to her shoulders to reduce the possibility of getting grabbed from behind.
32 - Farewells
Every time they left it was hard to say goodbye-this might be the last time they touched, the last time they tasted one another’s breath, the last time they saw those eyes alive-but neither would ever suggest giving it up, because giving up this life meant giving up each other.
33 - World
“You know, with the Garden flying like this we could have the world; there’s pretty much nowhere we can’t go, no one we can’t fight, nothing we can’t-” she cut him off with a questioning look, and Nida wondered if having the world would really be that great after all compared to what else this place had given him.
34 - Formal
She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for the requirement of wearing her SeeD uniform to every formal function or upset-while it meant she never had to worry about choosing an outfit, it also meant that little blue dress in her closet would be completely devoured by the moths before he got to see her in it.
35 - Fever
Between the nightmares and the insomnia, she began to wonder how the human race had survived the fever long enough to advance so far-at least, she wondered until he came to visit that night, pressed a cool washcloth to her head and promised not to leave until she was better.
36 - Laugh
The first time they laughed together was during a mission, after their target fell rather unceremoniously down a flight of stairs, slipped along a guardrail and flew into the ocean; it was Xu’s bullet that had done it, and watching him flop around like that had been a little too funny to ignore.
37 - Lies
Being what she was, dishonesty had become second-or perhaps even first-nature to Xu; for Nida it was probably third or fourth but he managed his espionage missions just as well, and for some reason it made them both happy to know that they would never have a reason to lie to each other.
38 - Forever
When they were little and he looked out over the ocean it had appeared to go on forever; she had smiled and patted his head softly; when a little age and teaching proved him wrong she smiled again, but this time took his hand and told him that even though the ocean ended eventually there were some things that lasted forever.
39 - Overwhelmed
It had been impossible, at first, to even imagine steering something as huge as the Garden like an airship, but when she pressed up against his back and moved his arms into position, forced him to lift this hand and lower that one, suddenly there were other things that were much more overwhelming.
40 - Whisper
Her words, so quiet as she reached up to run one hand down his cheek, leaving a trail of scarlet with her touch, were just quiet enough for him to have to strain his ears to hear and just loud enough to make him believe that she really was going to be all right after a little rest.
41 - Wait
He shot to his feet when the doctor stepped out, and before the older man could even remove his facemask the youth spoke, for the first time since he sat down just outside the operating room several hours before: “You had better have good news.”
42 - Talk
Years later he would say that he missed talking with her most of all, hearing her voice and watching the way her eyes sparkled when she thought of something particularly interesting, but in truth he missed the whole of her so much that he couldn’t choose only one thing to mourn.
43 - Search
He carefully set the porcelain-faced figure beside the last photograph he had taken, the little doll's wings chipped and scratched now after so many years lost; regardless of how long it had taken him to find the thing after someone else bought it in Dollet a decade ago, though, it was worth it to finally see her favorite sort of angel standing next to his.
44 - Hope
He didn’t seem to give up, even after she was long gone, but his students would tell stories to the other teachers of how Nida fought a lot rougher, more recklessly, now than he had before Xu died.
45 - Eclipse
The days after she was lost were dark for the young mercenary, black only such as daylight prematurely darkened could be; like every eclipse, though, the shadow eventually moved aside and let the sunlight back through, although it was never quite as warm on Nida’s face as it had been before.
46 - Gravity
It was a gravity spell, one that was known but too dangerous to use: it had been her undoing, using it to save him and shattering every bone in her body had been the last thing she did-when he learned this he wasn’t sure whether or to hate himself or love her even more.
47 - Highway
As he drove down the road alone, silent, he thought back to the days before he had been ordered into taking a month of personal leave: “We could, I don’t know,” he had offered when she asked what he would do if they did manage to get a month of leave, “take a road trip or something, or maybe-” she had interrupted with the reminder that just staying here was plenty enough of a road trip, considering the Garden could travel a lot faster than any car and didn’t need a highway to legally speed up.
48 - Unknown
SeeD didn’t have children, it was an unspoken rule, but Nida nevertheless found himself mourning the infants he would never hold, the names and faces he would never know.
49 - Lock
Zell had taken to breaking into Nida’s room while he was asleep, jimmying the lock and prying the door open quieter than seemed humanly possible; he was glad to find that the slightly-older man seemed to be sleeping well even without Xu-though once he began to find Nida’s room unlocked, (once there a hot dog in a box waiting for him just inside the door), he decided the brunet needed his privacy and left him to dream about other times in peace.
50 - Breathe
Sometimes, late at night, he could still hear her breathing next to him-rather than let this drive him mad he allowed the quiet sound lull him to sleep, a promise that one day this would be reality again rather than delusion.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Rating: K to M
Pairing: Nida/Xu
Warnings: Violence, Character Death, unbeta'd.
Chapter: N/A
Notes: Whoo! I finally finished my claim for 1sentence! They all fit together into a single story, though they're out of order chronologically. *shrug* I'm happy with them, I guess.
Summary: Some heroes don't need to stand in the front to be heroes, some love doesn't need to be obvious to be strong, some lives are lived entirely from the background.
01 - Ring
When they first lifted from the ground, the gold ring at the base of the Garden tearing free from the earth, he had been too shocked to do much more than fall over-whereas she had not only caught him, but continued to fire on her attackers with her free hand.
02 - Hero
It shouldn't have mattered much and they both knew it, but on occasion they would sit down for a cup of coffee and complain about the fact that no one ever seemed to remember their part in saving the world when they told the stories.
03 - Memory
He had been there as long as she could remember-not that that meant much, considering-but she found it interesting that when she thought back as far as she could into her memory, it wasn’t that he had been there as long as she could recall, but that she could recall only as long as he had been there.
04 - Box
Before the war, before the exam, before he’d even been fitted for a proper uniform, when she had been a tutor and he a new student, she had told him that to live here one needed to think outside the box-over the years as he watched her progress in her training he began to wonder if she had ever thought inside it.
05 - Run
“I know you remember that I taught you to retreat, Nida-” she stops for a moment as he tightens his grip on her hand and they hasten their frantic flight from the creatures overrunning the Garden, “-but sometimes there’s nowhere to run to, sometimes a stand has to be taken!”
06 - Hurricane
He had never piloted through a storm before, and tonight as lightning flashed and the sea below churned and surged into white-capped waves so high they washed up the walls and into some of the open windows of the lower rooms he was afraid-then a slender hand pressed against his back and a voice whispered in his ear and everything was all right.
07 - Wings
The spell was Nida’s favorite not for any practical purposes, but because he knew she had a soft spot for those bizarre creatures of legend called “angels,” and Float-for just a moment-gave him the wings of one, and brought a light to her eyes.
08 - Cold
She had never seen him sick before, but she’d had enough experience with illness before to know what to do with him when he came up to the bridge with an unpleasant flush to his features and a grating edge to his voice-“Get back in bed,” she ordered, “and let me pilot for a day.”
09 - Red
It had become a ceremony of sorts for the two of them to sit down on the bridge and gaze out the window at the sunset; with the sky on fire and the sun barely visible they both appeared scarlet, stained with blood, and for some reason it made Nida feel better to know that he could still love her like that.
10 - Drink
It was against regulations to drink while on a mission, but they both knew that this had been on hell of a day and they both certainly deserved a glass of something that burned all the way down.
11 - Midnight
A knock on the door roused her from her sleep and she was instantly on her feet-opening the door she was greeted by a very familiar figure, dirty and worn and obviously recently returned from a mission; she sighed in exasperation and started, “Do you have any clue what time it i-” and then he kissed her.
12 - Temptation
She liked angels, and because of her love for the bizarre mythical things every time he passed the antique shop in Dollet he was tempted to buy the sparkling figurine in the window; he knew, though, that a traveling war machine was no place for winged girl with a ceramic face, so he left her there every time.
13 - View
Even with missiles bearing down on them, Xu had to admit that this part of the Garden had a view that she doubted she would ever see rivaled-and she was more than grateful that he was here to look out on it with her.
14 - Music
Late that night, after the music stopped and all the others went to bed, Nida coerced her into coming with him to the site of the Garden festival and, carefully positioning his fingers on the unused clarinet, played her a song he hoped she would remember after they left.
15 - Silk
When he spoke it was with a hint of exhaustion, a lining of confusion: “Women are supposed to like pretty things; shiny baubles and pointless statuettes,” he said in exasperation, “but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to buy her that silk dress she keeps eyeing-I know that the calluses on her fingers would catch on the threads and that no matter if it’s red or not it would get stained even redder eventually.”
16 - Cover
The memory was clear, clearer than most, because it was the first time she had asked him to cover her instead of the other way around; the first step toward being equals.
17 - Promise
He had heard the stories, of course-mostly from Zell, who never seemed to have learned the meaning of the word eavesdropping-about Squall’s promise to Rinoa, and he almost wished that he could be like that-promise to be a knight for his lady fair, to wait for her in a place he knew she could find-but the longing was banished when she came up on his side and slapped him on the back so hard it stung, asking why the hell he wasn’t in the training center with his students yet.
18 - Dream
When he was younger, in the interim years after she had graduated but before his own exam, he had dreamed about donning that sleek uniform not for the prestige, not for the title, but so they would match.
19 - Candle
When their airship had been shot down and of the only supplies remaining between the two of them was a week’s worth of food and a candle, they both smiled-because that candle would never be enough to keep them warm at night, giving them a loophole in the ban on intimate contact during a mission.
20 - Talent
There was a certain level of talent required to make it through a SeeD exam, but watching him as he fought his way through the Galbadian soldiers she had to admit that a man without that innate ability, a man with carefully-honed skill, was much more interesting.
21 - Silence
They rarely spoke after she graduated-she was always away or teaching some newbie how things were done and he was busy studying and practicing for his own approaching exam-but when they managed to pass each other in the training center, hands brushing as she led her class in and his class was led out, the silence wasn’t so hard to handle anymore.
22 - Journey
“I never thought it would turn out like this,” he said softly, staring down into his coffee like a fairytale soothsayer reading tea leaves, then lifting his gaze to look across the table, “but it’s been quite a ride, hasn’t it?”
23 - Fire
She stood at the front and he just a step behind her; with plenty of fear but not a hint of hesitation she lifted her hand, his muscles tensing at the signal; she called out as the enemy horde drew closer-“Fire!”-and he did.
24 - Strength
He liked to think that he would have the strength to protect her if something else went wrong, but deep down he knew that she held far more power than he could hope to possess himself, and that in another time she would have been the one polishing her armor and sharpening her sword while he stayed home and swept the floors.
25 - Mask
As a SeeD they both wore masks; to the outside world they were both civil and polite officials of the Garden, to their enemies they were savage monsters that could kill a hundred men without batting an eye, to each other they were only human-and that was the thickest mask of all.
26 - Ice
She had laughed-actually laughed-for the first time in his memory on one of their visits to the Shumi Village, when he-a SeeD, one of the few who had helped to save the world a mere year ago-had stepped in the wrong direction and been defeated for the first time since graduation; not by some massive beast or monster from the darkest corners of his closet, but by a sheet of ice cleverly disguised as snow.
27 - Fall
Balamb was relatively warm all year round, save for the winter snows that occasionally drove sailors back into their homes but passed within a day or two with little change to the scenery, so when they reached Dollet and found the surrounding woods shining bright yellow and scarlet, like fire, neither one knew quite what to think.
28 - Forgotten
“When it all comes down to it,” she said with a shrug, speaking as she lifted her coffee mug from the table, “after seeing what Squall and the others go through with the media and every government organization on the planet, you have to admit it’s not actually that bad being the forgotten ones.”
29 - Dance
It took all his courage to ask her to dance that night, to hold out his hand-gold chains jingled, red velvet rustled, new shoes clicked with each half-step-and he almost passed out when she slipped her hand into his-shoes clicked as she came forward, red velvet rustled, gold chains jingled-and gave a smile of affirmation.
30 - Body
She was the first to ask if they’d found a body when he was three days late for communication, the first to pull out the black band worn on the arm when a SeeD lost one of their own, and the first to jump into his arms when he at last returned-a bloody mess, of course-a month later with an amazing story to tell.
31 - Sacred
It was rare for an orphan to hold anything sacred, but where Squall had his ring and Zell that bizarre tattoo-though he claimed he’d had the mark since birth-Nida had a lock of hair from right before Xu’s SeeD exam, when she’d cut it to her shoulders to reduce the possibility of getting grabbed from behind.
32 - Farewells
Every time they left it was hard to say goodbye-this might be the last time they touched, the last time they tasted one another’s breath, the last time they saw those eyes alive-but neither would ever suggest giving it up, because giving up this life meant giving up each other.
33 - World
“You know, with the Garden flying like this we could have the world; there’s pretty much nowhere we can’t go, no one we can’t fight, nothing we can’t-” she cut him off with a questioning look, and Nida wondered if having the world would really be that great after all compared to what else this place had given him.
34 - Formal
She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for the requirement of wearing her SeeD uniform to every formal function or upset-while it meant she never had to worry about choosing an outfit, it also meant that little blue dress in her closet would be completely devoured by the moths before he got to see her in it.
35 - Fever
Between the nightmares and the insomnia, she began to wonder how the human race had survived the fever long enough to advance so far-at least, she wondered until he came to visit that night, pressed a cool washcloth to her head and promised not to leave until she was better.
36 - Laugh
The first time they laughed together was during a mission, after their target fell rather unceremoniously down a flight of stairs, slipped along a guardrail and flew into the ocean; it was Xu’s bullet that had done it, and watching him flop around like that had been a little too funny to ignore.
37 - Lies
Being what she was, dishonesty had become second-or perhaps even first-nature to Xu; for Nida it was probably third or fourth but he managed his espionage missions just as well, and for some reason it made them both happy to know that they would never have a reason to lie to each other.
38 - Forever
When they were little and he looked out over the ocean it had appeared to go on forever; she had smiled and patted his head softly; when a little age and teaching proved him wrong she smiled again, but this time took his hand and told him that even though the ocean ended eventually there were some things that lasted forever.
39 - Overwhelmed
It had been impossible, at first, to even imagine steering something as huge as the Garden like an airship, but when she pressed up against his back and moved his arms into position, forced him to lift this hand and lower that one, suddenly there were other things that were much more overwhelming.
40 - Whisper
Her words, so quiet as she reached up to run one hand down his cheek, leaving a trail of scarlet with her touch, were just quiet enough for him to have to strain his ears to hear and just loud enough to make him believe that she really was going to be all right after a little rest.
41 - Wait
He shot to his feet when the doctor stepped out, and before the older man could even remove his facemask the youth spoke, for the first time since he sat down just outside the operating room several hours before: “You had better have good news.”
42 - Talk
Years later he would say that he missed talking with her most of all, hearing her voice and watching the way her eyes sparkled when she thought of something particularly interesting, but in truth he missed the whole of her so much that he couldn’t choose only one thing to mourn.
43 - Search
He carefully set the porcelain-faced figure beside the last photograph he had taken, the little doll's wings chipped and scratched now after so many years lost; regardless of how long it had taken him to find the thing after someone else bought it in Dollet a decade ago, though, it was worth it to finally see her favorite sort of angel standing next to his.
44 - Hope
He didn’t seem to give up, even after she was long gone, but his students would tell stories to the other teachers of how Nida fought a lot rougher, more recklessly, now than he had before Xu died.
45 - Eclipse
The days after she was lost were dark for the young mercenary, black only such as daylight prematurely darkened could be; like every eclipse, though, the shadow eventually moved aside and let the sunlight back through, although it was never quite as warm on Nida’s face as it had been before.
46 - Gravity
It was a gravity spell, one that was known but too dangerous to use: it had been her undoing, using it to save him and shattering every bone in her body had been the last thing she did-when he learned this he wasn’t sure whether or to hate himself or love her even more.
47 - Highway
As he drove down the road alone, silent, he thought back to the days before he had been ordered into taking a month of personal leave: “We could, I don’t know,” he had offered when she asked what he would do if they did manage to get a month of leave, “take a road trip or something, or maybe-” she had interrupted with the reminder that just staying here was plenty enough of a road trip, considering the Garden could travel a lot faster than any car and didn’t need a highway to legally speed up.
48 - Unknown
SeeD didn’t have children, it was an unspoken rule, but Nida nevertheless found himself mourning the infants he would never hold, the names and faces he would never know.
49 - Lock
Zell had taken to breaking into Nida’s room while he was asleep, jimmying the lock and prying the door open quieter than seemed humanly possible; he was glad to find that the slightly-older man seemed to be sleeping well even without Xu-though once he began to find Nida’s room unlocked, (once there a hot dog in a box waiting for him just inside the door), he decided the brunet needed his privacy and left him to dream about other times in peace.
50 - Breathe
Sometimes, late at night, he could still hear her breathing next to him-rather than let this drive him mad he allowed the quiet sound lull him to sleep, a promise that one day this would be reality again rather than delusion.