![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Eventually, there will be a post here about how much Brighton rocks, and observations on Hickory Farms, and other assorted goings-on in my life. Eventually.
For now, Puma got an oil change (and a surprise alignment /stares at wallet, sobs) this morning, which meant I was in the local Coco's for two and a half hours, eating breakfast and writing. That's right: there's another installment of the fic today. This one really got away from me, to the tune of two and a half pages. So much for these being drabbles, huh.
As always, this is untitled, unbeta'd, and overall in pretty rough form. If anyone has any criticisms or corrections, by all means let me know. |Db Enjoy~
~~*~~
After a distance, Eraqus no longer needed Aqua's directions; instead, he followed the sound of screams.
"Get off me! Get off me!"
It was the first time he could remember being happy to hear a child's distressed yells; they meant the boy was still alive. He summoned his Keyblade to his hand with a flash of light and put on a burst of speed, heading for the crest of the hill the screams were coming from.
"Get off me! Get o-"
The yelling cut off suddenly as Eraqus reached the hilltop, seeing with sinking horror the boy pinned to the ground by four Heartless - Neoshadows -with a fifth perched on his chest. The boy's body slackened, eyes blank and unseeing, as the fifth Heartless sunk dark claws into his chest, searching, Eraqus knew, for his heart.
In that moment, something deep within him tightened - the same small part of him that made itself known whenever Aqua was injured or hurting.
In that moment, Eraqus knew he could not let the Heartless have this boy.
He hurled his Keyblade at the creatures, never breaking his stride, watching as his aim proved to be true and his weapon cleaved clean through the Heartless on the boy's chest. The Keyblade returned to his hand; the creature dissipated into darkness; the boy jerked and gasped for breath, panicked awareness snapping back into his eyes. Eraqus allowed himself the momentary comfort of knowing he had not been too late.
The four remaining Heartless released their grip on the boy and turned, fixing their yellow eyes on Eraqus. They would see the Keyblade as the more immediate threat and would go after him instead of the boy. Eraqus had been planning on that. He met them head-on, effortlessly slicing through the first, the second, the third-
"Look out!"
He turned to see the fourth Heartless, which had somehow made its way behind him, leap. Catching it easily in the teeth of his Keyblade, he watched calmly as it too returned to darkness, then paused, quickly sweeping the area with his eyes to make sure there were no other Heartless waiting to ambush them. From what he could see, there weren't.
Only then did he return his attention to the boy, who had made his way unsteadily to his feet and had been the one to warn him about the last Heartless' surprise attack. The boy must have been an offworlder - nobody in this world would have let a neighbor go hungry for so long, let alone a child. He felt a momentary flash of anger burn for the world that had neglected this boy to such an extent.
But that way lay darkness, and Eraqus would not indulge.
He noticed instead bleeding nicks and cuts on the boy's bare arms from his struggle against the creatures' grip and puncture wounds on his chest from where claws had thankfully not dug deep enough. First things first. "Heal," he intoned. The green light of the spell form at the tip of his Keyblade and burst over the boy, seamlessly closing injuries as the boy watched in surprise. The spell faded, its job finished, and Eraqus gently laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
The boy looked up at him, wide-eyed but surprisingly unafraid - not the reaction Eraqus would have expected from someone who had nearly been destroyed by Heartless. Instead, he simply seemed bewildered, as though he didn't quite know what to think. "Y-yeah," he answered with a short nod. "I- yeah."
"Good." Eraqus returned the nod, removing his hand from the boy's shoulder.
The boy shifted, as if working up the courage to speak. "I'm gonna have one of those someday," he finally managed, pointing to Eraqus' Keyblade.
"Oh?" It was not uncommon for children in town to decide they wanted to be Keyblade Masters and inform Eraqus of the fact. Given that their life goals tended to change weekly, he tended not to put much stock in these pronouncements.
"Yeah," the boy nodded, absolute certainty in his tone. "And you're gonna teach me how to use it."
That was unexpected. It was one thing for a child to have a goal; it was quite another for them to pronounce it as fact. The boy had spoken not with the hope of a dream, but with the confidence that solid knowledge provided. "And how do you know that?" he questioned.
Only then did the boy lose that surety, nervously shifting again, visibly searching for words. "I just know," he finally replied, as though it were the obvious and only answer.
"I see." There was something different about this boy; that much was evident. For now, however, Eraqus had other priorities. "We should return to the market. I'm sure your parents are worried about you." He straightened, dismissing his Keyblade, and turned in the direction of the town, expecting the boy to follow.
"I don't have any."
He paused. Given the boy's condition, that statement should not have been a surprise; given his tone when delivering it, that had likely been the situation for quite a while. That somehow had not made it any less of a shock to hear. Deep down, that small part of him tightened again.
He turned to face the boy. "What is your name?"
"Terra," the boy replied after a slight pause.
Eraqus nodded. "Come with me, Terra." He opened his hand, palm up. Terra hesitated, looking from the open hand to Eraqus and back, before crossing the few steps between them and placing his hand tentatively in the Master's.
Eraqus closed his hand gently over the boy’s and together they began the short walk back into town.
For now, Puma got an oil change (and a surprise alignment /stares at wallet, sobs) this morning, which meant I was in the local Coco's for two and a half hours, eating breakfast and writing. That's right: there's another installment of the fic today. This one really got away from me, to the tune of two and a half pages. So much for these being drabbles, huh.
As always, this is untitled, unbeta'd, and overall in pretty rough form. If anyone has any criticisms or corrections, by all means let me know. |Db Enjoy~
~~*~~
After a distance, Eraqus no longer needed Aqua's directions; instead, he followed the sound of screams.
"Get off me! Get off me!"
It was the first time he could remember being happy to hear a child's distressed yells; they meant the boy was still alive. He summoned his Keyblade to his hand with a flash of light and put on a burst of speed, heading for the crest of the hill the screams were coming from.
"Get off me! Get o-"
The yelling cut off suddenly as Eraqus reached the hilltop, seeing with sinking horror the boy pinned to the ground by four Heartless - Neoshadows -with a fifth perched on his chest. The boy's body slackened, eyes blank and unseeing, as the fifth Heartless sunk dark claws into his chest, searching, Eraqus knew, for his heart.
In that moment, something deep within him tightened - the same small part of him that made itself known whenever Aqua was injured or hurting.
In that moment, Eraqus knew he could not let the Heartless have this boy.
He hurled his Keyblade at the creatures, never breaking his stride, watching as his aim proved to be true and his weapon cleaved clean through the Heartless on the boy's chest. The Keyblade returned to his hand; the creature dissipated into darkness; the boy jerked and gasped for breath, panicked awareness snapping back into his eyes. Eraqus allowed himself the momentary comfort of knowing he had not been too late.
The four remaining Heartless released their grip on the boy and turned, fixing their yellow eyes on Eraqus. They would see the Keyblade as the more immediate threat and would go after him instead of the boy. Eraqus had been planning on that. He met them head-on, effortlessly slicing through the first, the second, the third-
"Look out!"
He turned to see the fourth Heartless, which had somehow made its way behind him, leap. Catching it easily in the teeth of his Keyblade, he watched calmly as it too returned to darkness, then paused, quickly sweeping the area with his eyes to make sure there were no other Heartless waiting to ambush them. From what he could see, there weren't.
Only then did he return his attention to the boy, who had made his way unsteadily to his feet and had been the one to warn him about the last Heartless' surprise attack. The boy must have been an offworlder - nobody in this world would have let a neighbor go hungry for so long, let alone a child. He felt a momentary flash of anger burn for the world that had neglected this boy to such an extent.
But that way lay darkness, and Eraqus would not indulge.
He noticed instead bleeding nicks and cuts on the boy's bare arms from his struggle against the creatures' grip and puncture wounds on his chest from where claws had thankfully not dug deep enough. First things first. "Heal," he intoned. The green light of the spell form at the tip of his Keyblade and burst over the boy, seamlessly closing injuries as the boy watched in surprise. The spell faded, its job finished, and Eraqus gently laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
The boy looked up at him, wide-eyed but surprisingly unafraid - not the reaction Eraqus would have expected from someone who had nearly been destroyed by Heartless. Instead, he simply seemed bewildered, as though he didn't quite know what to think. "Y-yeah," he answered with a short nod. "I- yeah."
"Good." Eraqus returned the nod, removing his hand from the boy's shoulder.
The boy shifted, as if working up the courage to speak. "I'm gonna have one of those someday," he finally managed, pointing to Eraqus' Keyblade.
"Oh?" It was not uncommon for children in town to decide they wanted to be Keyblade Masters and inform Eraqus of the fact. Given that their life goals tended to change weekly, he tended not to put much stock in these pronouncements.
"Yeah," the boy nodded, absolute certainty in his tone. "And you're gonna teach me how to use it."
That was unexpected. It was one thing for a child to have a goal; it was quite another for them to pronounce it as fact. The boy had spoken not with the hope of a dream, but with the confidence that solid knowledge provided. "And how do you know that?" he questioned.
Only then did the boy lose that surety, nervously shifting again, visibly searching for words. "I just know," he finally replied, as though it were the obvious and only answer.
"I see." There was something different about this boy; that much was evident. For now, however, Eraqus had other priorities. "We should return to the market. I'm sure your parents are worried about you." He straightened, dismissing his Keyblade, and turned in the direction of the town, expecting the boy to follow.
"I don't have any."
He paused. Given the boy's condition, that statement should not have been a surprise; given his tone when delivering it, that had likely been the situation for quite a while. That somehow had not made it any less of a shock to hear. Deep down, that small part of him tightened again.
He turned to face the boy. "What is your name?"
"Terra," the boy replied after a slight pause.
Eraqus nodded. "Come with me, Terra." He opened his hand, palm up. Terra hesitated, looking from the open hand to Eraqus and back, before crossing the few steps between them and placing his hand tentatively in the Master's.
Eraqus closed his hand gently over the boy’s and together they began the short walk back into town.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
I love it! I like how you've captured Eraqus, especially in his quest to be so much light and not darkness.
♥!
From:
no subject
Eraqus is fun and yet stupidly hard to write. I edit while I write, which is probably not a good process, and I got stuck on so many of his lines. He makes prose difficult sometimes. I'm glad it seems to be working, though. |Db
♥!
From:
no subject
I bet he was hard. I don't think I could write for him if I tried! It worked, though.
That's also how I write... >>;aFrom:
no subject
I think you should try! You may surprise yourself.
I've heard you're not supposed to edit until afterwards, but "afterwards" winds up being two months down the line. This is why I edit why I write.From:
no subject
sadfkj maybe after finals ;o;
Yeah, that's the technical writing way, but I always have to reread a sentence to a few paragraphs before I can get back to writing and if I see something I want to change, it'll drive me INSANE to just leave it there.From:
no subject
Also echoing that I love how you've been doing Eraqus so far! XD
From:
no subject
Well okay then - I'm glad it's working. XDb
From:
no subject
From:
no subject