allsoend | A day with family remembered

Entry tags:

A day with family remembered

Who: Kairi and Ven, but more can appear
What: The first memory in the next chain...where does it lead?
Where: Memory chains
Warnings: Nothing thusfar

There are seven new sparks of light remaining in the darkness along with the others at the end of Sora’s last available memory. When touched, the light of this memory opens up onto a bright, warm place that no one present would recognize. It doesn’t appear to look like any world anyone would have visited before, while at the same time feeling strangely familiar.

The scene actually starts from a bird’s eye view before those visiting find themselves suddenly swept to the ground. From above can be seen a wide lake fed by two waterfalls, with a vast forest hugging sloping mountains on one side, and a large town spreading out on the other. Up the hill from the town is a castle, although it’s not recognizable.

When brought down to the ground, those visiting will find themselves in an open-air plaza, situated right next to a garden overflowing with gorgeous flowers. A couple small clusters of people are talking or enjoying lunch in the plaza; there looks to be a bakery nearby. The two will find themselves closest to a father and son sitting at a table right next to the garden’s entrance. The father, looking to be in his late thirties, sports dark skin, black hair and blue eyes, while his son is a squirrely six-year-old with brown eyes. The boy apparently has a beloved pet with him: a blue beta fish with yellow-edged fins swimming around in a small fish bowl. The father is attempting to get the boy to sit down and eat the sandwiches just purchased, but the boy is too busy fussing over the fish or getting up to look at the gardens closer.

There is one thing distinct about this place: it seems to be overflowing with light. Everything here feels happy and at peace.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, it's contagious. If we get out of this mess I wouldn't mind visiting someday." Riku knew it could merely be the emotion from the memory, but that didn't make him want to visit any less. Could this be the waitress's memory?

"Girls take forever to do others, you know," he smirked. The smirk faded a bit when the fish bowl got pushed to the edge of the table. He couldn't help but think it was asking to be spilled.

For a moment he thought maybe they should take the waitress up on her offer, helping them to blend into the crowd, but he realized the problem with that. "Nah. We didn't bring any munny with us today." The best he could offer was a smile and a shrug. Left my wallet in my other pair of pants. The real ones, he thought amusedly to Kairi. It wasn't like they needed to eat as mere hearts anyway.

Riku did catch out of the corner of his eye the feline. Dunno why, but I really don't like that cat. He went back to looking at the father and son.

"Yeah...I wonder what this world is called?" Usually it was pretty easy to figure out the name of one world or other, but she seemed to be getting a lot of different signals from here.

"Maybe some things!" she replied in a joking manner. Didn't excuse the boys being lazy sometimes!

Kairi felt bad that they couldn't take the waitress's offer, as it just made her feel like they were sticking out more. We could always just find some Heartless and get munny from beating them, she thought back to Riku. Although she had the distinct feeling that they wouldn't find any Heartless in this place.

She didn't get any strong impressions of feeling from the waitress, so she wasn't sure if this was her memory or not. It was really difficult to pinpoint just whose memory this was, it seemed to be taking bits and pieces from everyone around them.

Then came the new arrival. It's just a cat, she thought back with a bit of a mental shrug. It was kind of strange to not like it on sight, although truth be told, she wasn't exactly wanting to pick it up and cuddle it, either.

The waitress looked a little confused, but then just shrugged. Why would this couple come to the cafe if they weren't going to get a table? Perhaps they were just heading straight for the gardens. Well, if you change your mind, let me know. And with that, she ran off to grab the drink for the father.

The father sighed at his son's antics. I thought you liked tuna. Do you want me to cut that into smaller bites for you?

No, I can eat it like this! Toshi replied, obviously being stubborn. He grabbed up his sandwich again and switched back to overly-big bites. This was a mistake, as he bit off more than he could chew, and ended up attempting to chew his too-big bite without spilling a lot of it back onto the plate.

In the meanwhile, life continued to go on around them. An older couple were sharing an ice cream together, a young woman was sitting by herself reading a newspaper, two sisters were feeding seeds to a couple of sparrows, and the cat began to creep closer to the table where Toshi and his father sat. Apparently, the reflections of sunlight glinting off of that fish bowl were very interesting to the feline.

Cocking his head slightly, he, too, wondered what the world's name was. It felt almost like it was on the tip of his tongue, but just out of reach. "...Good question."

"Just as many," he asserted, still smirking. Riku wasn't really lazy, and he remembered well how he caught Kairi hanging with Sora instead of working on the raft. He hadn't hesitated to call her out on it then.

Riku doubted they'd find any Heartless either. This place was far too at ease. Why DO they have munny anyway? Not like they need it. Then again, it didn't seem fair that hearts held by darkness could carry it and here they were, pure hearts, and they couldn't even carry a facsimile of it with them. It was a shame they couldn't open up a tab... right?

Riku briefly wondered if there was such a thing as a collective memory.

Yeah. It really didn't make sense, and Riku knew it. He resumed watching the scene unfold, listening to Toshi and his father and watching the couple.

Kairi couldn't help but feel the same way. "...I guess we could ask?" It felt kind of strange to just walk up to someone and ask 'what's this world called?' though. Especially since they were trying to blend in for now.

She raised an eyebrow at Riku again. Do you mean the people in the memory, or them back when this happened? I'm sure people needed to make a living even in a place like this. She heard of very few worlds that didn't use munny in some capacity. I guess we could always leave before having to pay a bill. Not like they'd find us, anyway! She joked. Although she was not-so-secretly thinking it wouldn't be fair to stiff a waiter, even in a memory.

Kairi caught on that kind of thinking, and continued it a little further. It would explain some of what they were feeling here...but then, how collective of a memory could they be talking about?

The bustle continued around them as Toshi continued to scarf down big bites of his sandwich. Eventually, the waitress returned with a glass of fresh lemonade, and set it down at their table. She gave them another curious look as she passed by again. Apparently she was still waiting for them to make a decision on the cafe one way or another.

Toshi leaned forward once the drink arrived. Can I have some of the lemonade?

How about you finish one sandwich first?

Pleeeease?

The father finally smiled back at his son. Apparently he had a face that was hard to resist. Okay...just a little.

He scooted the drink closer to the center of the table so that Toshi could take a sip. However, in his leaning over, he got part of that sandwich all over his shirt, as little kids did.

Oh, Toshi... His dad groaned, and pushed the lemonade aside again to try and get his son to sit down and be neater. This unfortunately spilled some of it on the table, which got Toshi reaching for it again.

Father and son were so engrossed in the situation with the lemonade and sandwiches that both failed to notice the current situation of their third party: the beta fish in the fishbowl. The tomcat stepped up onto the wall beside the table now, and observed the fishbowl with a hungry look. It considered this opportunity for a snack, and then decided to make a move for it while the humans were distracted. The cat plunged its head straight into the bowl, grabbed the fish by the tail and pulled it out.

The splash instantly grabbed Toshi's attention, and he turned with wide eyes to find his pet in the cat's mouth. FINNY!

Or we could read the signage. There's gotta be some sign for the library or town hall, right? It would require a little more work on their parts, but it was something. And worst-case scenario, maybe at a library they could ask for a book on the town history.

No, "they" as in Heartless. Why do they have munny? If their bodies went elsewhere, why did Heartless have it? Nobodies made better sense, though they had it, too. Hmm, they wouldn't, but honestly I'd rather not cheat a memory out of paying for food we can't really eat. Not only was Riku not exactly okay with it, he also found it not worth the potential risk.

If Kingdom Hearts was collecting memories, "collective" could be every memory of that world at that time.

Riku atypically acted without so much as a thought. On sheer impulse he quickly vaulted over the wall, making a dash for the tomcat with the beta in its mouth. There's not much time!

Yeah, I think so. It did look like there was a library nearby, or at least a few blocks away. This town really did seem to have everything. But she was more curious to see what this place held for them first.

You know...maybe it's something we shouldn't think about. She certainly didn't want to stop and think over it too much, because the idea of Heartless was always just a little bit upsetting for her. Call it a throwback to things that happened with Sora when they were younger. Yeah. It hardly seems fair, even to memory-people!

Her thoughts were interrupted by the cat's sudden grab for the fish. Her eyes widened in shock, and her first thought was that they should try and intervene, if for nothing else than the obvious fact that the boy really loved that pet. But to her even greater surprise, Riku beat her to the punch, vaulting over the wall and going after the cat right away. That was fast, even for him!

"Riku, wait!" She called after him, and broke into a run after the cat as well.

A few other patrons looked up in surprise as Toshi started wailing. FINNY! He's got Finnyyyyy!

His father started up and made a move to grab for the cat, but just missed it. He also saw the two visitors go chasing after it, and looked a bit baffled at this whole situation. Where'd they come from, anyway? Hey, wait!

The tomcat saw straightaway that it wasn't just going to be able to sneak off with this prize. It leapt down from the wall with the fish still in its mouth, and sprinted straight into the gardens, running in a zig-zag pattern for the nearest place it could climb or hide. This could prove difficult for the two of them, as there were plenty of both such places in that garden for a cat.

Leave it to Riku to wonder about something like that, anyway. He gave her a shrug, knowing that would be at the back of his mind a long while. Maybe we can open a tab later or get a job here. He wouldn't mind revisiting this world, though he knew they may not have time to.

Climbing, Riku could do if the cat decided to. He'd scaled many a palm tree, and a tree with branches would be a piece of cake. However, the zig-zag pattern proved troublesome for Riku. While he was very fast, Riku was also very tall, meaning that with a higher center of gravity, those hair-pin turns forced him to slow down. That didn't deter him in the slightest, though.

Kairi didn't have the same running speed as Riku or Sora, but she was certainly quick on her feet. And there was nothing like the sound of a crying child to spur one to action. Or maybe it was something else...she definitely felt like she needed to catch this cat, like there was something personal at stake.

She darted down the garden rows by Riku, eventually running off to another side from him so that she could attempt to cut the cat off. Talk about trying to herd cats!

Once she thought she was close enough, she attempted a grab to get it by the scruff of the neck.

Unfortunately for both Riku and Kairi, the cat managed to dodge both of their tackling attempts, and reached the nearest tree. It was a thin and branchy thing, just enough to support a cat's weight but difficult for anything else. It shimmied up the trunk with practiced speed, climbed out onto one of the branches and then jumped from there to a vine-covered, eight-foot stone wall partitioning one part of the gardens from another. It stared down at the humans trying to reach it for a moment, with the beta fish in its mouth still flailing about and attempting to escape.

The tomcat figured it would have to be fast if it wanted to keep its lunch. After a feline glare down at the two visitors, it threw its head back with a sharp jerk, and gulped the fish down whole. In a series of quick swallows, poor Finny was gone.

Perhaps the one good out of this was that Toshi wouldn’t be able to see his pet’s demise. His father, however, was still trailing after them through the garden paths. Hey!

Riku attempted to scale the tree, but the weak branches broke under his weight, losing him valuable time and a decent amount of dignity as he landed on his posterior in a flurry of leaves. There was no way he could scale those weaker vines. He returned that glare.

Just as he considered simply trying to float up there, the cat downed the fish. Riku felt strangely cold. "No..."

Kairi gritted her teeth and made her grab for the cat, but just missed it, and ended up stumbling around to the side to avoid running headlong into some bushes. She righted herself just in time to see the cat on top of the wall, and Riku attempting to follow...only for him to come crashing back down.

She ran over to his side, keeping one eye on the cat as she did. "Riku! Are you all right?"

Kairi stooped to help him back up, but it quickly became apparent that Riku was not all right. Following Riku's gaze up to the wall, she saw the cat swallow up that poor fish, and her heart sank.

She knew that Riku of course would care about trying to help out a little kid that lost his pet, but he was definitely reacting strongly here. Then again...she felt a lot of that cold sadness, too, and an odd sense of responsibility. Why wasn't she able to stop that cat from getting away?

The cat gave Riku what could pass for a smug look, as if knowing that it'd gotten away with some dastardly deed that specifically had annoyed the visitor, and started to clean its face. However, the smug look quickly turned sour, and it produced a few unpleasant hacking noises. Apparently, Finny was determined to get in the last word on his way out. Considering the cat didn't even try to run again, but just remained sitting on the wall looking miserable, that last word was 'indigestion.'

By that point, the father had caught up with them, and stopped just behind the two. He stopped to catch his breath, and his face fell once he realized they'd been too late to stop the cat. Oh, no...

He put his hands on his hips and sighed with the kind of resignation dreaded by every parent: having to explain to their child what happened to their pet. He even sounded a little guilty. I shouldn't have let him bring that fish with us...

The boy in question came running up towards them too, obviously too small to keep up at that breakneck speed. He looked and sounded terribly anxious. Dad! Did you get Finny?...

Riku took her help, still staring at that cat. A hint of a smirk crossed his face when it gagged, but it was short-lived. Served it right. At least the fish was a fighter.

It was a parent's responsibility to explain this sort of thing. That said, Riku felt like he had a stake in this, too. There was no doubt by now he and Kairi had been noticed by the father and likely little Toshi. As such, he stood nearby, ready to offer any support he could. It wasn't his fish, and they were strangers, but he still ran after the cat. He still involved himself.

Kairi finished helping Riku back to his feet. At least it mostly seemed like just his pride was hurt, not that it would matter much in this space, anyway. She shot her own glare back at the cat, and probably would've picked something up to throw at it if she was the kind of person who could throw things at animals, even troublesome ones. As it was, the glare would have to suffice.

She was more concerned about the boy approaching them. She hadn't expected them to get so involved with this memory, but there was little turning back now. She glanced back towards Riku, uncertain of what to say to him or to the father in this memory.

Well, there was at least one thing. "I'm sorry..."

The cat glowered down at Riku as if he was somehow responsible for this stomachache, and remained sulking up on the wall, determined to keep down its lunch despite how vehemently it was disagreeing with him.

The two visitors had definitely been noticed by father and son, especially the father, who kept giving Kairi a somewhat confused look. But that quickly fell by the wayside when Toshi caught up with them. The father looked pained, but then knelt down so that he was more eye level with his son. No, Toshi. I’m sorry. We didn’t reach it in time.

F-finny’s…

The information that his friend was gone slowly sank in, and the boy’s eyes welled up with giant tears. It was clear that he wanted to go ahead and cry, but was holding it in in an effort to appear stronger to the two strangers. He choked back a sob. The father stood back up, and nodded towards Riku and Kairi. Can you say thank you? This young man got hurt trying to get Finny back.

Toshi stepped forward, snuffling and rubbing at his eyes, although there was no hiding the tear streaks on his cheeks. Th-thank you for trying to help Finny. He swallowed, and looked to the ground, scuffing his shoes. When Finny comes back I’m sure he’ll say thank you, too.

Riku would have been a little more tempted to wing something at the cat if he’d thought of it, but he’d be less inclined to try to get out the fish, which probably wouldn’t survive the experience regardless.

He could only wish he were responsible, though he felt he could relate to a fish being a fighter. He couldn’t quite figure out why the father was giving Kairi an odd look, though. It was Riku with the grass clippings across the seat of his pants.

When the father said Riku’d been hurt, he simply waved a hand. He was fine. He did kneel down when Toshi stepped forward. With a bit of a sad smile, Riku replied, “It’ll be okay.” He stopped suddenly, looking to Kairi. What am I thinking? Looking back to the child, he paused, then continued in a way that made more sense. “It’s hard now, but you’re trying to pull yourself together. You’re a tough kid. Like how Finny was a tough fish.” He smiled slightly at the miserable cat still out of reach. “Or is.”

Kairi couldn't quite figure out why she was getting the curious look, either, although before long she found herself returning it. There was that feeling again...like trying to remember someone else's description of a dream from long ago. She brushed some hair behind her ear. "It's nothing! We just saw what happened and wanted to help."

What are you thinking? She thought back at Riku. There was no sense un-involving themselves from the whole matter now, but trying to console a sad boy was tough for anyone.

Toshi's last statement, however, left her a little confused. Did he think that his fish was going to come back somehow? Sure, it was putting up a good fight now, but that wasn't going to last forever. She debated whether she should respond to it or not, but decided too, anyway...that strange feeling of responsibility wasn't going away. "I'm sorry, but...I don't think Finny's gonna come back. That's why you have to be brave now. And I know you will be...you're being really brave right now, I can tell!" He certainly seemed to be taking it as well as a little kid possibly could.

The cat continued to scowl down at Riku's smile, and finally turned around so that it wasn't facing them anymore...likely to try and hide its sour expression. It couldn't mask its twitching tail and occasional impatient growls, though, indicating that it was still trying to wait out the pains in its gut. This fish had definitely been more trouble than it was worth.

Yeah, I-I know... Toshi was still struggling to hold back full tears, but was momentarily distracted from his grief for the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge to strangers. But didn't your mom and dad tell you? When a heart has to go away from the world, Kingdom Hearts calls it back to the place where all hearts and all the light comes from. Then it stays with all the other hearts and it's happy because there's light there. He paused for another quick snuffle. Then when it's ready, Kingdom Hearts brings it back to the world and the heart turns into a new thing.

Toshi looked towards his father for approval of getting this correct, and got it with a silent, affirming nod. S-so...I know his heart will be happy and come back someday as someone new..." But finally the grief got to the boy, and he broke down sobbing. He ran back to his father and wrapped his arms around one leg. B-but I miss Finny now!

The father knelt down and gave his son a hug, giving him the safe space to cry freely for his pet. He didn't say anything, although he did keep glancing towards both Riku and Kairi with a thoughtful expression.

I don't know... It's not okay, just I feel like it is or should be or... He trailed off.

As Toshi told his story, Riku's expression became serious and thoughtful as he looked to the child. Slowly he turned to Kairi with a similar expression, but still spoke to the child. "No... My parents never told me that." Slowly he looked back to the child in front of him. Those additional words left him even more thoughtful.

His eyes widened slightly when Toshi began to cry, and Kairi would get a sense of Riku trying to figure out how to comfort a sobbing child. Undoubtedly she'd also feel his relief When Toshi went back to his father.

After a moment, Riku stood and turned back to Kairi, speaking quietly. "Thanks for helping me out when I took off."

And then something came to mind and he went over to the child to kneel again. "Hey. If what you're saying is true, you know what? Maybe you and Finny will be friends next time, too. And who knows? Maybe you'll be a fish and he'll be human."

There was a whole lot of confusion there, which Kairi felt that she shared. They didn't stop the cat, and Toshi had lost his pet...so why did it strangely feels like would still be okay?

"Oh...no, I'm sorry, mine didn't tell me that, either," she replied to Toshi's question.

That wasn't the sort of reaction Kairi was expecting, especially from a young child. Kingdom Hearts was a distant, strange thing to her and everyone she knew...or at least it had been before now. But this family seemed to talk about it as if it were common knowledge. That left a pretty big hint as to where they were now, especially since this world felt so full of light. Maybe this isn't any specific world...maybe it's the whole world, before it was broken up by the Keyblade War.

Kairi's breath caught a little bit once Toshi started crying, and her first instinct was that she needed to reach out and comfort him. But she hesitated, which was probably for the best, since the boy ran to his father instead. She was left feeling a little saddened by the whole affair, and wishing that she could do more.

She smiled back at him. "Anytime, Riku."

She didn't add on to Riku's statement to Toshi, because it was appropriate words of comfort. But she couldn't help wondering... If this really is the ancient past...then that's probably already happened for them. Maybe even multiple times.

Thank you both for helping, too. You didn't need to step in like that. You were so quick you nearly left me behind, there! the father said, offering them both a sad smile.

Toshi was too busy crying to respond much to their admittance at not hearing this about Kingdom Hearts. However, from the dad's thoughtful looks, it was clear this sort of thing was supposed to be more common knowledge. After getting out his initial crying, he tried again to snuffle it down and wipe away his tears.

He faced Riku when Riku addressed him again, hiccuping back another sob. M-maybe...although I wouldn't know it's Finny and he wouldn't know it's me... He thought over this more, trying hard to find the good in it. But it's still our hearts being friends, so it's okay, even if we don't remember.

Another series of snuffles, and he felt cried out enough to let go of his dad, at least for now. It seemed like the thought of their roles being reversed was a little strange for him, but could make sense. A-and I bet if my heart was a fish and his was a person, he'd be really strong and smart and not let any dumb old cat get me!

The cat simply ignored the jab from below, hunched up on the ivy-covered wall. It started to clean itself again, trying to act nonchalant but not completely succeeding. This fish was going to give it an ulcer at this rate.

Riku offered a small shrug. "No problem. I think we took ourselves by surprise at how fast we acted." A look to Kairi was enough to tell her it was true for him at least.

His eyes widened at the thought of this being the whole World, curiousity piqued. Then man what I'd give to be able to take a longer look. And then a thoughtful, speculative idea floated though his mind. If Kingdom Hearts was always hidden, and there's only a World instead of worlds, could Kingdom Hearts be the heart of this World?

"You know, you're right, you won't remember. But a friend of mine taught me about memories. Listen up, now it's my turn to teach you something." I owe Namine one. "Just because something's forgotten doesn't mean it's gone. If your hearts are still friends, then it won't be gone, right?"

And then there was a time to simply humor the kid. With a smile he replied, "I bet you're right. And you know what I'd bet he'd do? He'd keep you at home and use blocks to build a wall almost as tall as the bowl. He'd turn it into your very own castle. You'd be nice and safe and you'd be King Fish." Emphasis on keeping him at home.

Riku continued on Kairi's thought of their hearts having gone to new people. Does Toshi seem familiar to you? He couldn't shake the feeling, and he had a lingering suspicion he couldn't quite shake.

Having that cat up there wasn't helping things. It couldn't see Riku's scowl. He briefly considered throwing something at it, but the thought was short-lived. Vengeance didn't help anyone. ...But reality checks did. If it was gutsy enough to linger after what it did, then it deserved what was coming. Riku walked to the wall quietly, slowly reaching up to take hold of the ivy with both hands. His height came in especially handy here since it meant he could pull that much further down when he jerked back abruptly.

*TTLY listening to Peaceful Hearts from BBS*

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

TTLY listening to Peaceful Hearts from BBS