Thursday, June 8, 2006

   DUNDADUNDUN! Part the 3rd (and last, for now): "Cradle Me"
xDDDDD *squees* *glomps Lolly and Chelsea* I'm glad you guys like this stuff! You really make me want to persue the rest of this fic (which, I will, xD). Well, here's the last part.

As tradition: Here, it's set before the other two. Backstory on the setting: before KH, Mikaela lives in Traverse Town, with Leon, Cid, Yuffie, and Aerith. (Not all in the same place; in my story, Mikaela/Aerith/Yuffie live together, while Leon and Cid each have their own place.) In this part, Mikaela is staying at Leon's for a few days, before resuming her duties with Sora and the gang.

This piece, i actually WENT THERE. So yeah, you'll see what I mean. But yes, THOSE PARTS I kept in my class piece. XD

Enjoy!

----------

Mikaela sat at the kitchen table, her headphones resting around her neck, and the CD player cranked to full volume. She turned over a page of the ratty parchment she was reading, some of the dark, yellowed pages sticking together. “Meh,” she breathed, pulling apart a set of pages, wincing at the near-ruined ink between them. “Last time I attempt to save a book from Atlantica, or any source of water for that matter. Good thing the rest is dry, at least." She began humming to herself as she translated the smeared passages, losing herself in her work. “When you walk away, you don’t hear me say, please, oh baby, don’t go. Simple and clean is the way that you’re maki-“

“Cute. Sounds like shit. You skipped a part too, I think.” Footsteps sounded behind her, bringing her out of her work. Without looking at the owner of the rough, bored-sounding voice, she picked up her pen again, scratching something on the pad of paper on the table.

She snorted. “Like you’d know.” Pushing some papers out of the seat next to her, she finally turned around, her eyes locking on to those of her best friend. “You know you love my singing voice.”

The brunette boy sat down next to the smaller girl, tugging on a lock of her black hair, before slumping down in his seat. “Yeah, sure.” He yawned, resting his head in his hand. “I’m just telling you that it sounded like shit, the song itself. Why don’t you ever sing happier songs?”

The girl snorted, giving the boy a wry smile. Marking her place on the papers, and setting them down on the table in front of her, she pushed her chair back a bit, allowing her to look into the boy's eyes straight on. “I do sing happy songs, remember? Except, I think it might only be when I’m drunk...”

The boy gave her a dead-pan look. He shook his head, rolling his eyes. “You are incredibly vulgar for a girl. Has anyone mentioned that before?” He shook his head again when she opened her mouth to respond, holding out a hand to stop her. “No, forget it. We are not going there tonight. I don’t need more stories about last month and the sake incident.” He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “Change of subject though, Mikaela. And don’t avoid an answer. I need an update on the mission status. On your mission status. How are things going so far?”

Mikaela adverted her eyes, turning in her seat so that she was facing the table again. She let her smoke-colored eyes drift down to the scrubbed wood, shrugging her shoulders. She bit her lower lip; the gloss tasted like cherries, she thought, her mind escaping her as she tried to come up with a believable excuse. “Fine, Leon. It’s been fine. We’re getting closer to our next destination; we just need another few days, and for the ship to be fixed. We’re returning to the desert tomorrow, if things go alright tonight at the shop, and-“

The boy had stopped her, holding his fingers to her lips. His stormy grey eyes were fixated on her, locked with her paler ones. Though he was barely showing any emotion, he commanded her silence and attention. “No,” he began, keeping his hand firmly over her mouth so she couldn’t protest. “I don’t want that kind of update. Mikaela, don’t keep things from me. We’ve had this discussion before. When I want the truth, I want the truth. And I want it now. Tell me the truth, Mikaela Redamo; how is the mission, your mission, going?”

Mikaela adverted her eyes once again as he removed his hand, her breathing quick and ragged. She didn’t want to tell him the truth. Even if she had to, she sure as hell didn’t want to. Sighing, she lifted her eyes, plastering on a large, fake smile. “It’s fine! I promise you! Nothing bad has happened since we arrived in the desert!” She held back a wince at just how fake she sounded. Leon was going to kill her, she knew it. “The rest of the group is fine, our targets are in sight, protected, we’re all doing well in flight sessions, and except for onelittlemishapwiththatstalkerofmine we haven’t-“

A cold glare was enough to cut off her sentence, and she would’ve whimpered if it would’ve helped her situation. Yep, she knew it. Leon was going to kill her. She held back her cringe at the glare as she tried to explain what she had just blurted out.

“Leon, stop, it’s ok, I promise nothing bad-“ She did cringe, however, when Leon pounded his fist on to the table, and began to shout. Yep. Going to kill her.

The boy’s eyes were flashing, cool grey turning to hard steel. “What the hell?! You said you’d taken care of him! You swore to me that he was not coming after you again! Damn it Mikaela!” Leon turned away from his friend, his rage mounting. “Why don’t you listen to me?! Why do you have to be so stupid?!” He jumped up from his seat, his heart racing, as he paced the floor. He turned back to the younger girl, who was looking up at him with terrified eyes. Shaking his head, his long brown hair flying about his face, he started up the tirade again. “He could kill you! Do you want that?! He could turn you into some kind of sick plaything! Hell, next thing you know you could be locked up somewhere, just waiting to get raped!” Mikaela flinched again at this, fighting back tears. “He’s always one step ahead of you! This guy’s smart, Mikaela! Smarter than you! You know this! And what do you do?! YOU KEEP PUTTING YOURSELF IN HARM’S WAY! GOD DAMNIT MIKAELA, QUIT BEING SUCH A LITTLE FUCKING BITCH AND-“

Silence rang out in the kitchen as the older boy cut himself off mid-rant. His eyes widened in realization of what he had said, and he sunk back into his seat, eyes refusing to look at the tense girl next to him. “No. No, no, I didn’t, I swear, I...” He slumped a bit, sitting lower in the seat, eyes frantically looking about him. He leaned forward, supporting his weight on his fore arms. “Mikaela, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t, I would never...”

Mikaela jumped off her seat, pulling herself down to sit on the floor, her head in his lap. Leon had begun to shiver fiercely, looking as if he was about to break down.

Great. Just what we need, another episode.

Mikaela could care less about the screaming, about his words. She knew Leon never meant any of it. But she had to stop him before he let what he had said get to him. “Leon, no, no Leon, it’s ok, I promise, Leon no, I’m not mad, I...” she babbled, rubbing soothing motions on his legs as he held back the terror, covering his face with his hands. “I’m not mad Leon, why would I be mad? I know you didn’t mean any of that. Leon...”

Her words seemed to be falling on deaf ears, however, as the boy just started to shake harder, scrubbing at his face with his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he muttered over and over, the mantra barely heard through the rough skin and leather gloves covering his face. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry!” He bent his head down, gripping the table roughly. “I didn’t mean it, Mikaela, you know I didn’t...”

“Shh.” Mikaela stood up, resting her head on his, her cheek against his soft, dark brown hair. “I know Leon. I know you’re just worried about me.” She did know it, even if she acted like she didn't care. “But you have to learn to control yourself.” She pulled his head up, forcing him to look at her, reversing their roles from only a few minutes before. Her gaze was steady, and she kept her hands on him as she talked; it was a calming method Goofy had been teaching her, should she ever need to use it while on the mission. It seemed to be working, as Leon’s shivering had calmed down, now being only soft tremors every now and then. Though his eyes were rimmed with red, no tears were falling, which was a relief for the still-shaken girl. Mikaela took another deep breath, steadying herself. She would have to act as an anchor for the both of them.

God, I hate these things.

“Leon, I know you just want to protect me. I thank you for it, I really do. And I know you don’t want me to get hurt. Again, I thank for caring. But unless I do this on my own, handle this guy on my own, I won’t be safe, or unhurt. You say you know him; you only know a little bit. Leon, you don’t know what he’s capable of. He’d come after the rest of the group. He’d come after you.” Her voice was shaking slightly, but she closed her eyes, holding back tears. Be an anchor, she thought to herself, though the thought was hard to hold on to. “I’d never be able to live with myself if you came into harm’s way. That’s why you need control, Leon.” She reopened her eyes, keeping them on the boy’s. “You need to learn to hold back, to not fight. You need to learn it wasn't your fault, no matter what it was. I don’t want to lose you...to...to the darkness...”

Those words were her undoing; the small girl fell into the boy’s arms, crying, her sobs echoing in the small room. “I don’t want to lose you! Never! You’re almost all I have, and if you were gone, I’d...I’d...” She tried to find her words, but they were lodged in her throat, held back by tears. Instead, she clutched on to Leon harder, her nails digging into his shoulders.

They sat there, in silence, for nearly an hour, just holding on to each other.

God, I really hate these things.

~OWARI~

----------

xD My favorite piece. Yes, when I said I WENT THERE...I meant all that cursing, the emotional break down...yep. Did it. xD

Oh, and to explain: As Chels put it, Leon is an emo shit. xD I just take it pretty far into the world of emo. Why the episode? Well, think of it this way: Leon likes being in control. Any time he thinks he's lost control on a situation, he, well, freaks. This I attribute to the fact that he was a SPAZZ about his world being destroyed. (He changes his name to avoid the shame he feels, but is still a freak about it. WTF.) So, when Mikaela tells him about her "stalker incidents", he feels like he's failed to protect her, like how he failed to save his home world. Failure = breakdown.

The class version of this is pretty different. xD I like this one much better though.

Love,
-Megums
Comments (2)