Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Eye of the Storm ❯ Chapter 2
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Sailor Mini Venus 
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.18.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 291 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.18.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 291 | Status: Completed
Character Profiles!!
Well, one person agreed with my idea about doing profiles for characters in this story, so here we go: we'll start with my original characters and after this do two-three people from the actual game for each chapter. And I think among these original character's of mine, Skylar is my favorite followed by Sorika.
Sorika Kagi
Parents: Riku and ?
Age: 15
Eye color: blue
Hair color: silver-white
Hair style: long, 2 inches past shoulders
Background Story: She has moved around for most of her life with her father, never staying in one place for longer than two years. When she was 8 they moved to Destiny Gardens and during that year she met Andrew and through him Nerina. It was about halfway through the school year that she met Skylar when she changed to a higher level hand-to-hand combat class. She and Riku still live in Destiny Gardens in a one-story house. Her room is a converted attic that is perfect for the sleepovers she has with Skylar, Nerina, and Andrew. Her favorite clothes are her pairs of baggy jeans that have all sorts of buckles on them and short-sleeved shirts. In the summer she wears tank tops and spaghetti-strap shirts to go along with her loose fitting shorts which are just her old jeans cut off and sewn up at the knee. Around her neck is a chain from which a silver heart hangs. The heart is part of a collection of 4. Skylar, Nerina, and Andrew have the others. Her goal is to find and meet her mom.
Skylar Strifehart
Parents: Leon and Cloud
Age: 16
Eye color: blue
Hair color: blonde
Hair style: layered, cut above shoulders. Spikes up in back (like Cloud's)
Background Story: Born and raised in Hollow Bastion, Skylar has always been her daddys' little girl and has been surrounded by guys for most of her life. Although she's only a year older than Andrew and Sorika and 2 years older than Nerina, she's already ready to graduate from Destiny Gardens. She's the one who always keeps a cool head in a fight or come across a problem and usually doesn't show much emotion when she's at Destiny Gardens. That all changes when she goes back to Hollow Bastion and is reunited with the friends she grew up with or when she talks to her younger brother on the phone. The reason for this is because she's known them all (with the exception of her younger brother) since they were all little kids and feels comfortable enough to relax and let down her walls around them. She actually met her younger brother when she was 7, which means he was 4, and somehow convinced her dads to adopt him. (you find out who her younger brother is in this chapter) She started going to Destiny Gardens when she was 9 (which was the year the building of the rest of the school buildings was completed) and met Sorika in their hand-to-hand combat class halfway through the school year. She didn't meet Nerina and Andrew until the next year when they all had lunch together. She wears a chain around her neck that has a silver star hanging from it. Her goal is to one day teach at Destiny Gardens.
Nerina Tillmitt
Parents: Tidus and Selphie
Age: 14
Eye color: blue-green
Hair color: light brown
Hair style: falls to shoulders, single ponytail or braid
Andrew Tillmitt
Parents: Tidus and Selphie
Age: 15
Eye color: amber
Hair color: blonde
Hair style: spiked up
Background Story (for both Nerina and Andrew): The two were born on Destiny Island and moved to Destiny Garden several years after they started going to the school. The two keep in touch with their friends there, and go to visit a few weeks in the summer sometimes. Nerina is a complete Blitzball addict and is can usually be found wearing some type of swim suit with a wrap skirt tied around her waist. The only time she doesn't wear something like that is at school where they're forced to wear uniforms. Andrew is a little different. While he likes the beach and the water he would rather go skateboarding or rollar blading or something else. Another difference between the two is that Andrew wears light colored clothes that aren't bright or extremely colorful. Andrew was the first to meet Sorika and he introduced her to his sister a week or two later. Nerina wears a necklace with a silver teardrop hanging from it while Andrew's is a silver diamond. Nerina's dream is to be the first professional female Blitzball player and Andrew's dream is to have a big family when he's older.
Haruko Gainsborough
Parents: Aerith and Zack
Age: 15
Eye color: blue
Hair color: brown
Hair style: pulled back with a baby blue ribbon
Background Story: Like Skylar she was born in Hollow Bastion. She and Skylar are old aqaintences, but they rarely talk even when they're in the name class. Haruko is an over-all friendly young woman, which is to be expected with her mom being Aerith. Andrew has a crush on her. She tends to wear light colored clothes, usually in baby blue and she prefers skirts over pants. Around her neck is a pink jewel on a silver chain that Andrew gave her on her 14th birthday. Her dream is to one day be the greatest healer at Destiny Gardens.
Warning: There are mentions of mpreg in this story, so if you don't like that you can either ignore the mentions or not read the story at all. Oh, and some shonen ai. Eventually.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. I do, however, own Nerina, Andrew, Sorika, Skylar, and any other OC's made up for the purpose of this fanfiction.
And one last thing, I feel the need to elaborate on how Destiny Gardens came to be since it's not explained in this story. After the reconstruction of Hollow Bastion was completed, Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, and the others basically had nothing left to do. (other than watch over Skylar, who was 5) And then Cid found enough gummy's to construct a new gummy ship and they (with the exception of Cloud, who stayed in Hollow Bastion) set off to find Destiny Island because Yuffie thought it'd be fun to go visit Sora and Riku. On their way they run into an undeveloped world and when they stop there for supplies they find no one even there in the world. That's when Yuffie gets her brilliant idea of creating a school where people from Hollow Bastion and Destiny Islands can learn to fight and she enlists Leon, Tifa, and Cid to help her. Leon did most of the planning while Yuffie "supervised" and Cid worked. When the construction of the school and two dorms was completed (2 years after they found the world) Yuffie convinced them to go to Destiny Island to visit everything there and see if any of them want to teach there. By that time Skylar is around 7 which makes Sorika and Andrew 6 and Nerina 5. Sora went missing 7 years prior to their arrival and Kairi went missing 5- maybe 6 years before. (sorry to everyone who got confused by this paragraph. I'll have to work on it and put a better explanation in the story later.)
“Your dad was crying?” Nerina asks in disbelief. “But he’s- he’s- he’s Riku!”
Sorika sighs as she pushes aside her lunch. “It’s not that he was crying when I got home, it’s more like he looked like he had been crying. He was laying against the wall near the front door with his head resting on his knees. It was… weird.”
“I’ll say.” Skylar comments, sliding a bookmark into her book before she closes it. “Uncle Riku is a lot like my dad and papa in that he doesn’t show his feelings often unless it’s around close family. They’re too… too…” She tries to think of the right word to describe them.
“Strong.” Sorika murmurs.
“I was thinking more along the lines of stubborn and prideful.” Skylar says as she puts her book back into her school bag. “But strong works too.”
“Are you sure he was crying?” Andrew asks, ripping open a bag of potato chips. Nerina makes a face as he takes a couple and stuffs them in his mouth. (“Eww! Do you know how bad those are for you?” Nerina complains.) He swallows before he speaks again. “I mean, what if it was something else?”
Skylar raises an eyebrow and stands up. “Andrew, what else could it possibly be. And believe it or not everyone cries. Even guys. You should have seen daddy after--” She cuts herself off and shakes her head. “Never mind. I’m going to talk to Mr. Cid. He wanted to talk to me about my swords and my new one that just came in. Later.” She raises a hand in a wave as she walks off leaving Sorika and the Tillmitt siblings alone to finish their lunches.
“So… what do you think he was crying about?” Nerina asks. “I mean, Riku’s not exactly ‘Mr. Sensitive’. No offense, ‘Rika.”
“Momma…” Sorika murmurs. “It has to be. Dad’s never cried about anything else. Not even when Fluffy died.”
“Riku hated Fluffy.” Andrew points out. “So did I, for that matter.” Grumbling about rabid guinea pigs, he goes back to eating his unhealthy chips.
“You’re just angry because Fluffy bit you.” Nerina says, sticking out her tongue at her older brother.
“Nuh uh!” Andrew protests.
“Yeah huh!”
Sorika sighs and tunes her friends out, trying to focus on actually eating something before their next class.
------
“Mr. Cid?” Skylar loudly knocks on the door to Cid’s office, trying to get rid of her nervousness and act calm like usual. “It’s Skylar.”
“Come in.” Says a gruff voice. “And I’ve told you before, it’s just Cid. Calling me ‘mister’ makes me feel old.”
Skylar smiles at that and steps into the room and looks around, not at all surprised to find her weapons teaching sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on the table as he cleans his ever-present spear. “You said you wanted to see me?” She asks.
“Yeah.” Cid says, taking his feet off of the table and setting down the spear. “Go get ‘em. They’re over there.” He nods toward the right, where two large swords wrapped in white cloth are leaning against the wall. “Yuffie’s gotten some strange news of something weird going on in Hollow Bastion and she wants you to take those with you in case you run into trouble.” He explains, watching as Skylar easily lifts the heavy weapons and one at a time carefully slides them into the holster on her back. “And I’ve gotten in your gun blade that Leon wanted me to get for you. Don’t let me hear of or see you using it around campus, you got that? Your father’s going to teach you how to use that one since he’s the expert around here.”
Skylar nods. “I understand.”
Cid looks up and looks around to try and find the gun blade in his cramped office. He spots it across the room teetering on a stack of papers. “It’s in that box over there.” He says, pointing to it.
Skylar looks in amusement at the stack of papers that looks about ready to topple over and then makes her way across the room to pick up the box. She nearly drops it once she gets it off the papers, surprised by how heavy it is.
Cid chuckles. “Heavier than you thought?”
Skylar grins and turns around with the box safely tucked under her arms. “Nah, it’s nothing compared to these things.” She jabs her thumb to the two swords on her back. “I can handle it.”
“There wasn’t ever a doubt in my mind, kid.” Cid says gruffly. “Now scram. I’ve got work to do.”
------
While the children have school to finish up with, the adults are having their usual monthly meeting in Yuffie’s spacious office. And although it’s Yuffie’s office, it’s not her who is in charge of the meetings. It’s Cid.
While Yuffie, Riku, Cid, Leon, Cloud, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie sit around a table and talk about the remaining events for the school year and a new summer problem, Aerith is busy listening in the corner while she makes tea.
“Yes, but you two and Skylar aren’t the only ones going to Hollow Bastion for the summer.” Yuffie argues, tossing her now long black hair over her shoulder. “There are other students here who live in Hollow Bastion and could see her over the summer. It won’t be fair to just allow Skylar to take her weapons home!”
Aerith sighs as she pours tea into a blue china cup and then moves on to another one.
Leon narrows his eyes. “I know that, Yuffie.” He says in a clipped tone. “But exactly how many of those students would you actually trust to let them take their weapons home?”
Yuffie says nothing and looks away from Leon as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Hmph!”
“Might I make a suggestion?” Aerith asks as she carried the tray of tea cups over to them. She begins handing them out as she makes her suggestion. “Perhaps you could make it more fair by choosing a select group of students who aren’t staying here for the summer who will be able to take their weapons home with them. You could go over their grades and conduct reports and then talk to their teachers. Is that agreeable?”
“Yes…” Yuffie and Leon grumble.
Aerith smiles and takes a seat with her own cup of tea.
“Ever the peacemaker, huh Aerith.” Selphie comments as she takes a sip of the tea. “Mmm… You make the best tea ever!”
“You’ve obviously never drank her first attempts.” Yuffie mumbles to the amusement of Cid and Leon, who were both there for Aerith’s horrible first attempts at making tea and lemonade. (1)
Aerith pretends to have not heard Yuffie’s comment, not wanting to get everyone arguing again.
“Now that we’ve gone over all of this school stuff, why don’t we go on to our next order of business.” Cid says gruffly. “What’s this thing about problems in Hollow Bastion?”
“Those are just rumors though, ya?” Wakka asks. “We don’t know for sure?”
Yuffie slowly lets out a breath and leans back in her chair, having been dreading this conversation. “I don’t know what to think about it.” She glances at Riku for a moment, unsure of how he’ll take her next few words. “Kairi contacted me recently.”
Everyone looks at the ninja girl in shock.
“But we haven’t heard from her in years!” Tidus exclaims.
Riku clenches his fists under the table until his knuckles turn white. “When? When did you hear from her?” He asks, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.
“A week ago she called me.” Yuffie says. “I didn’t even recognize her voice until she told me it was her. From what I gathered through that phone call she’s been living in Hollow Bastion for six or seven years in the same area as Cloud and Leon.” She glares at the two men, who look away from her.
“How is she?” Riku asks weakly.
Yuffie smiles, glad that Riku still cares for his old friend. “She’s fine. And married now. I think she said she has a kid. But anyway, she called me and said something about weird things happening there. And it’s not just the normal weird things. It’s stuff like people vanishing at night and these mysterious brutal deaths.”
Aerith looks worried. “Mysterious deaths?”
Yuffie nods. “Yeah, and we’ve gotten reports of strange noises at night.”
“M-maybe we should evacuate Hollow Bastion.” Selphie nervously suggests. “If there’s people dying and stuff, we need to get everyone out of there.”
“And where do you propose we put all of those people?” Leon asks. “There’s not enough room.”
“Oh… yeah. I guess you’re right.” Selphie says.
Yuffie, who was sipping her tea, sets down her tea cup. “I’ve already sent Tifa out to monitor the situation, but she’ll need some help.” She informs them. “Cloud, Leon, I need the two of you and Skylar to leave early. And Aerith, I want you to go with them. You’ll all leave two days from now. That’s only three days earlier than planned.”
Aerith nods. “But what about Skylar and Haruko’s schooling?”
“With Skylar’s skills and how advanced she is in her studies she’s on the same level as the seniors so she’s already taken her exams.” Yuffie says. “But I want Haruko to stay here since she has to finish up the year and she doesn’t know Hollow Bastion as well as you four do. And don’t worry, I’ll take good care of our mini-Aerith! She can stay with me and Cid!” She says cheerfully.
“I told you to stop volunteering me for things without asking first, ninja girl.” Cid says.
Yuffie just sticks out her tongue at him.
“If that’s all, I need to get home and start on dinner before Haruko gets home.” Aerith says.
Everyone looks expectantly at Cid, who rolls his eyes and says, “Fine. Meeting over.”
Most of the group stands up and say their goodbyes to one another but Riku, Cid, and Leon quickly make their escape from the office before Yuffie can send them on any strange errands like going to get her groceries.
Eventually every except for Yuffie and Cloud have left the office.
“Something wrong, Cloud?” Yuffie asks, standing up from the table and pushing in her chair. “Usually you’re the first to get out of here.” She laughs a little at the memory of the last time Cloud fled and ran into Skylar on his way out. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she begins collecting the abandoned tea cups.
Straight to the point like always, Cloud asks the one question Yuffie was dreading. “Have you heard from Sora?”
Yuffie sighs and carries the cups over to her sink in the corner, completely aware that Cloud is watching her every move.
“Yuffie.”
The raven haired girl empties out the cups and stacks them up in the sink. “I…” She starts hesitantly. “I have, actually. He called yesterday.”
“And you said nothing to any of us? Not even Riku, who has had you looking for him for years.”
Yuffie turns around. “Cloud, you can’t say anything to anyone else! Please!” Yuffie begs. “I promised Sora I’d keep it a secret!”
Cloud calmly waits for an explanation.
Yuffie takes a deep breath. “Sora’s coming back.”
Cloud’s calm composer is lost as he openly gapes at Yuffie in shock. “What?”
Yuffie smiles, tears of happiness springing to her eyes. “Sora’s coming back!”
------
Later that evening, after staying for two hours after school to watch Nerina’s Blitzball game, Skylar gets home in high spirits to find her dad talking on the phone and her papa in the kitchen finishing up dinner.
“I’m home!” She announces.
Cloud looks up at her and smiles, motioning to the phone and mouthing a name that’s familiar to Skylar. In return Skylar nods and points down the hall to her room.
This is the way things go every single day when Skylar gets home, even on days where Skylar stays after school for something. Except on those days whoever is cooking is finished by the time she gets back. Usually.
While Cloud finishes his conversation, Skylar heads back to her room to change out of her school uniform and put on a pair of black sweatpants and a dark blue t-shirt. After that she goes back out to the living room and takes the phone from her dad.
“Hey Rox,” She warmly greets. “How are you?”
“I’m good, although Tifa and Kairi have been acting even more protective than usual. How about you?”
Skylar takes a seat on the arm of the couch as Cloud gets up and goes into the kitchen to check on Leon. “Pretty good.” She says. “I’ve already finished my exams and I got my gun blade earlier today.” She raises an eyebrow when she hears arguing on the other line in the background. “Roxas, I’m hoping that you have someone supervising Axel and Demyx this time.”
Roxas laughs nervously. “Well… Namimé and Zexion are with them. But Reno is here too…”
Skylar groans. “Oh no, does this mean we won’t have a house when we get back?”
“Don’t worry, it’s Axel and Reno’s house. They know better than to--”
A small boom and a scream of fear that sounds like it came from Namimé is heard.
“You were saying?” Skylar teases.
“You would think they would have learned by now.” Roxas grumbles disappointedly. “I should probably go and make sure Reno and Axel aren’t trying to kill one another again. Or that Demyx and Reno aren't trying to kill Axel. I’ll see you Sunday, right?”
“Of course.” Skylar replies, her voice taking on a playful edge. “I’ll see you then, baby brother!”
There’s a sigh on the other end of the line. “Yeah, see you. And stop calling me that!”
Skylar laughs and hangs up the phone before she allows herself to fall backwards onto the couch, landing softly on the leather cushions. ‘I miss them. Hearing that the group’s together having fun and being idiots like usual makes me feel home sick.’
“Skylar, it’s time for dinner.” Leon says, stepping halfway out of the kitchen.
‘Just four days until I see them.’ Skylar thinks, getting up off the couch. ‘I can’t wait for Saturday to get here.’
------------------
(1) If you couldn't tell by that comment there, I've read the wonderful books including the mini comics at the end of them. I found Aerith's lemonade making amusing.
Shiro: Hmm... somehow Skylar's personality feels all over the place in this chapter. And Cid doesn't seem quite right. I'll work on that. But the reason Skylar's personality seems a little out of it is because I'm trying to show how different she acts around people she grew up with all her life and how she acts at school and with the people she's known for only a few years.
Bast: (flipping through what little story plans Shiro has) You're gonna do what?!
Shiro: (glances over at the page) Oh, that. Yeah.
Bast: That's just cruel!
Shiro: (grins) I learned from the best!
Bast: (blinks) Oh.... I'm so proud! (glomps)
Shiro: Bast! Get off!
Until next time! And remember, reviews feed plot bunnies!
Well, one person agreed with my idea about doing profiles for characters in this story, so here we go: we'll start with my original characters and after this do two-three people from the actual game for each chapter. And I think among these original character's of mine, Skylar is my favorite followed by Sorika.
Sorika Kagi
Parents: Riku and ?
Age: 15
Eye color: blue
Hair color: silver-white
Hair style: long, 2 inches past shoulders
Background Story: She has moved around for most of her life with her father, never staying in one place for longer than two years. When she was 8 they moved to Destiny Gardens and during that year she met Andrew and through him Nerina. It was about halfway through the school year that she met Skylar when she changed to a higher level hand-to-hand combat class. She and Riku still live in Destiny Gardens in a one-story house. Her room is a converted attic that is perfect for the sleepovers she has with Skylar, Nerina, and Andrew. Her favorite clothes are her pairs of baggy jeans that have all sorts of buckles on them and short-sleeved shirts. In the summer she wears tank tops and spaghetti-strap shirts to go along with her loose fitting shorts which are just her old jeans cut off and sewn up at the knee. Around her neck is a chain from which a silver heart hangs. The heart is part of a collection of 4. Skylar, Nerina, and Andrew have the others. Her goal is to find and meet her mom.
Skylar Strifehart
Parents: Leon and Cloud
Age: 16
Eye color: blue
Hair color: blonde
Hair style: layered, cut above shoulders. Spikes up in back (like Cloud's)
Background Story: Born and raised in Hollow Bastion, Skylar has always been her daddys' little girl and has been surrounded by guys for most of her life. Although she's only a year older than Andrew and Sorika and 2 years older than Nerina, she's already ready to graduate from Destiny Gardens. She's the one who always keeps a cool head in a fight or come across a problem and usually doesn't show much emotion when she's at Destiny Gardens. That all changes when she goes back to Hollow Bastion and is reunited with the friends she grew up with or when she talks to her younger brother on the phone. The reason for this is because she's known them all (with the exception of her younger brother) since they were all little kids and feels comfortable enough to relax and let down her walls around them. She actually met her younger brother when she was 7, which means he was 4, and somehow convinced her dads to adopt him. (you find out who her younger brother is in this chapter) She started going to Destiny Gardens when she was 9 (which was the year the building of the rest of the school buildings was completed) and met Sorika in their hand-to-hand combat class halfway through the school year. She didn't meet Nerina and Andrew until the next year when they all had lunch together. She wears a chain around her neck that has a silver star hanging from it. Her goal is to one day teach at Destiny Gardens.
Nerina Tillmitt
Parents: Tidus and Selphie
Age: 14
Eye color: blue-green
Hair color: light brown
Hair style: falls to shoulders, single ponytail or braid
Andrew Tillmitt
Parents: Tidus and Selphie
Age: 15
Eye color: amber
Hair color: blonde
Hair style: spiked up
Background Story (for both Nerina and Andrew): The two were born on Destiny Island and moved to Destiny Garden several years after they started going to the school. The two keep in touch with their friends there, and go to visit a few weeks in the summer sometimes. Nerina is a complete Blitzball addict and is can usually be found wearing some type of swim suit with a wrap skirt tied around her waist. The only time she doesn't wear something like that is at school where they're forced to wear uniforms. Andrew is a little different. While he likes the beach and the water he would rather go skateboarding or rollar blading or something else. Another difference between the two is that Andrew wears light colored clothes that aren't bright or extremely colorful. Andrew was the first to meet Sorika and he introduced her to his sister a week or two later. Nerina wears a necklace with a silver teardrop hanging from it while Andrew's is a silver diamond. Nerina's dream is to be the first professional female Blitzball player and Andrew's dream is to have a big family when he's older.
Haruko Gainsborough
Parents: Aerith and Zack
Age: 15
Eye color: blue
Hair color: brown
Hair style: pulled back with a baby blue ribbon
Background Story: Like Skylar she was born in Hollow Bastion. She and Skylar are old aqaintences, but they rarely talk even when they're in the name class. Haruko is an over-all friendly young woman, which is to be expected with her mom being Aerith. Andrew has a crush on her. She tends to wear light colored clothes, usually in baby blue and she prefers skirts over pants. Around her neck is a pink jewel on a silver chain that Andrew gave her on her 14th birthday. Her dream is to one day be the greatest healer at Destiny Gardens.
Warning: There are mentions of mpreg in this story, so if you don't like that you can either ignore the mentions or not read the story at all. Oh, and some shonen ai. Eventually.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. I do, however, own Nerina, Andrew, Sorika, Skylar, and any other OC's made up for the purpose of this fanfiction.
And one last thing, I feel the need to elaborate on how Destiny Gardens came to be since it's not explained in this story. After the reconstruction of Hollow Bastion was completed, Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, and the others basically had nothing left to do. (other than watch over Skylar, who was 5) And then Cid found enough gummy's to construct a new gummy ship and they (with the exception of Cloud, who stayed in Hollow Bastion) set off to find Destiny Island because Yuffie thought it'd be fun to go visit Sora and Riku. On their way they run into an undeveloped world and when they stop there for supplies they find no one even there in the world. That's when Yuffie gets her brilliant idea of creating a school where people from Hollow Bastion and Destiny Islands can learn to fight and she enlists Leon, Tifa, and Cid to help her. Leon did most of the planning while Yuffie "supervised" and Cid worked. When the construction of the school and two dorms was completed (2 years after they found the world) Yuffie convinced them to go to Destiny Island to visit everything there and see if any of them want to teach there. By that time Skylar is around 7 which makes Sorika and Andrew 6 and Nerina 5. Sora went missing 7 years prior to their arrival and Kairi went missing 5- maybe 6 years before. (sorry to everyone who got confused by this paragraph. I'll have to work on it and put a better explanation in the story later.)
Chapter 2
Lunch time the next day finds Nerina, Andrew, Skylar, and Sorika sitting outside at school eating lunch in the grass. Or more like Nerina, Andrew, and Sorika are eating lunch and Skylar’s sitting there with a book with a bored expression on her face.“Your dad was crying?” Nerina asks in disbelief. “But he’s- he’s- he’s Riku!”
Sorika sighs as she pushes aside her lunch. “It’s not that he was crying when I got home, it’s more like he looked like he had been crying. He was laying against the wall near the front door with his head resting on his knees. It was… weird.”
“I’ll say.” Skylar comments, sliding a bookmark into her book before she closes it. “Uncle Riku is a lot like my dad and papa in that he doesn’t show his feelings often unless it’s around close family. They’re too… too…” She tries to think of the right word to describe them.
“Strong.” Sorika murmurs.
“I was thinking more along the lines of stubborn and prideful.” Skylar says as she puts her book back into her school bag. “But strong works too.”
“Are you sure he was crying?” Andrew asks, ripping open a bag of potato chips. Nerina makes a face as he takes a couple and stuffs them in his mouth. (“Eww! Do you know how bad those are for you?” Nerina complains.) He swallows before he speaks again. “I mean, what if it was something else?”
Skylar raises an eyebrow and stands up. “Andrew, what else could it possibly be. And believe it or not everyone cries. Even guys. You should have seen daddy after--” She cuts herself off and shakes her head. “Never mind. I’m going to talk to Mr. Cid. He wanted to talk to me about my swords and my new one that just came in. Later.” She raises a hand in a wave as she walks off leaving Sorika and the Tillmitt siblings alone to finish their lunches.
“So… what do you think he was crying about?” Nerina asks. “I mean, Riku’s not exactly ‘Mr. Sensitive’. No offense, ‘Rika.”
“Momma…” Sorika murmurs. “It has to be. Dad’s never cried about anything else. Not even when Fluffy died.”
“Riku hated Fluffy.” Andrew points out. “So did I, for that matter.” Grumbling about rabid guinea pigs, he goes back to eating his unhealthy chips.
“You’re just angry because Fluffy bit you.” Nerina says, sticking out her tongue at her older brother.
“Nuh uh!” Andrew protests.
“Yeah huh!”
Sorika sighs and tunes her friends out, trying to focus on actually eating something before their next class.
------
“Mr. Cid?” Skylar loudly knocks on the door to Cid’s office, trying to get rid of her nervousness and act calm like usual. “It’s Skylar.”
“Come in.” Says a gruff voice. “And I’ve told you before, it’s just Cid. Calling me ‘mister’ makes me feel old.”
Skylar smiles at that and steps into the room and looks around, not at all surprised to find her weapons teaching sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on the table as he cleans his ever-present spear. “You said you wanted to see me?” She asks.
“Yeah.” Cid says, taking his feet off of the table and setting down the spear. “Go get ‘em. They’re over there.” He nods toward the right, where two large swords wrapped in white cloth are leaning against the wall. “Yuffie’s gotten some strange news of something weird going on in Hollow Bastion and she wants you to take those with you in case you run into trouble.” He explains, watching as Skylar easily lifts the heavy weapons and one at a time carefully slides them into the holster on her back. “And I’ve gotten in your gun blade that Leon wanted me to get for you. Don’t let me hear of or see you using it around campus, you got that? Your father’s going to teach you how to use that one since he’s the expert around here.”
Skylar nods. “I understand.”
Cid looks up and looks around to try and find the gun blade in his cramped office. He spots it across the room teetering on a stack of papers. “It’s in that box over there.” He says, pointing to it.
Skylar looks in amusement at the stack of papers that looks about ready to topple over and then makes her way across the room to pick up the box. She nearly drops it once she gets it off the papers, surprised by how heavy it is.
Cid chuckles. “Heavier than you thought?”
Skylar grins and turns around with the box safely tucked under her arms. “Nah, it’s nothing compared to these things.” She jabs her thumb to the two swords on her back. “I can handle it.”
“There wasn’t ever a doubt in my mind, kid.” Cid says gruffly. “Now scram. I’ve got work to do.”
------
While the children have school to finish up with, the adults are having their usual monthly meeting in Yuffie’s spacious office. And although it’s Yuffie’s office, it’s not her who is in charge of the meetings. It’s Cid.
While Yuffie, Riku, Cid, Leon, Cloud, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie sit around a table and talk about the remaining events for the school year and a new summer problem, Aerith is busy listening in the corner while she makes tea.
“Yes, but you two and Skylar aren’t the only ones going to Hollow Bastion for the summer.” Yuffie argues, tossing her now long black hair over her shoulder. “There are other students here who live in Hollow Bastion and could see her over the summer. It won’t be fair to just allow Skylar to take her weapons home!”
Aerith sighs as she pours tea into a blue china cup and then moves on to another one.
Leon narrows his eyes. “I know that, Yuffie.” He says in a clipped tone. “But exactly how many of those students would you actually trust to let them take their weapons home?”
Yuffie says nothing and looks away from Leon as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Hmph!”
“Might I make a suggestion?” Aerith asks as she carried the tray of tea cups over to them. She begins handing them out as she makes her suggestion. “Perhaps you could make it more fair by choosing a select group of students who aren’t staying here for the summer who will be able to take their weapons home with them. You could go over their grades and conduct reports and then talk to their teachers. Is that agreeable?”
“Yes…” Yuffie and Leon grumble.
Aerith smiles and takes a seat with her own cup of tea.
“Ever the peacemaker, huh Aerith.” Selphie comments as she takes a sip of the tea. “Mmm… You make the best tea ever!”
“You’ve obviously never drank her first attempts.” Yuffie mumbles to the amusement of Cid and Leon, who were both there for Aerith’s horrible first attempts at making tea and lemonade. (1)
Aerith pretends to have not heard Yuffie’s comment, not wanting to get everyone arguing again.
“Now that we’ve gone over all of this school stuff, why don’t we go on to our next order of business.” Cid says gruffly. “What’s this thing about problems in Hollow Bastion?”
“Those are just rumors though, ya?” Wakka asks. “We don’t know for sure?”
Yuffie slowly lets out a breath and leans back in her chair, having been dreading this conversation. “I don’t know what to think about it.” She glances at Riku for a moment, unsure of how he’ll take her next few words. “Kairi contacted me recently.”
Everyone looks at the ninja girl in shock.
“But we haven’t heard from her in years!” Tidus exclaims.
Riku clenches his fists under the table until his knuckles turn white. “When? When did you hear from her?” He asks, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.
“A week ago she called me.” Yuffie says. “I didn’t even recognize her voice until she told me it was her. From what I gathered through that phone call she’s been living in Hollow Bastion for six or seven years in the same area as Cloud and Leon.” She glares at the two men, who look away from her.
“How is she?” Riku asks weakly.
Yuffie smiles, glad that Riku still cares for his old friend. “She’s fine. And married now. I think she said she has a kid. But anyway, she called me and said something about weird things happening there. And it’s not just the normal weird things. It’s stuff like people vanishing at night and these mysterious brutal deaths.”
Aerith looks worried. “Mysterious deaths?”
Yuffie nods. “Yeah, and we’ve gotten reports of strange noises at night.”
“M-maybe we should evacuate Hollow Bastion.” Selphie nervously suggests. “If there’s people dying and stuff, we need to get everyone out of there.”
“And where do you propose we put all of those people?” Leon asks. “There’s not enough room.”
“Oh… yeah. I guess you’re right.” Selphie says.
Yuffie, who was sipping her tea, sets down her tea cup. “I’ve already sent Tifa out to monitor the situation, but she’ll need some help.” She informs them. “Cloud, Leon, I need the two of you and Skylar to leave early. And Aerith, I want you to go with them. You’ll all leave two days from now. That’s only three days earlier than planned.”
Aerith nods. “But what about Skylar and Haruko’s schooling?”
“With Skylar’s skills and how advanced she is in her studies she’s on the same level as the seniors so she’s already taken her exams.” Yuffie says. “But I want Haruko to stay here since she has to finish up the year and she doesn’t know Hollow Bastion as well as you four do. And don’t worry, I’ll take good care of our mini-Aerith! She can stay with me and Cid!” She says cheerfully.
“I told you to stop volunteering me for things without asking first, ninja girl.” Cid says.
Yuffie just sticks out her tongue at him.
“If that’s all, I need to get home and start on dinner before Haruko gets home.” Aerith says.
Everyone looks expectantly at Cid, who rolls his eyes and says, “Fine. Meeting over.”
Most of the group stands up and say their goodbyes to one another but Riku, Cid, and Leon quickly make their escape from the office before Yuffie can send them on any strange errands like going to get her groceries.
Eventually every except for Yuffie and Cloud have left the office.
“Something wrong, Cloud?” Yuffie asks, standing up from the table and pushing in her chair. “Usually you’re the first to get out of here.” She laughs a little at the memory of the last time Cloud fled and ran into Skylar on his way out. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she begins collecting the abandoned tea cups.
Straight to the point like always, Cloud asks the one question Yuffie was dreading. “Have you heard from Sora?”
Yuffie sighs and carries the cups over to her sink in the corner, completely aware that Cloud is watching her every move.
“Yuffie.”
The raven haired girl empties out the cups and stacks them up in the sink. “I…” She starts hesitantly. “I have, actually. He called yesterday.”
“And you said nothing to any of us? Not even Riku, who has had you looking for him for years.”
Yuffie turns around. “Cloud, you can’t say anything to anyone else! Please!” Yuffie begs. “I promised Sora I’d keep it a secret!”
Cloud calmly waits for an explanation.
Yuffie takes a deep breath. “Sora’s coming back.”
Cloud’s calm composer is lost as he openly gapes at Yuffie in shock. “What?”
Yuffie smiles, tears of happiness springing to her eyes. “Sora’s coming back!”
------
Later that evening, after staying for two hours after school to watch Nerina’s Blitzball game, Skylar gets home in high spirits to find her dad talking on the phone and her papa in the kitchen finishing up dinner.
“I’m home!” She announces.
Cloud looks up at her and smiles, motioning to the phone and mouthing a name that’s familiar to Skylar. In return Skylar nods and points down the hall to her room.
This is the way things go every single day when Skylar gets home, even on days where Skylar stays after school for something. Except on those days whoever is cooking is finished by the time she gets back. Usually.
While Cloud finishes his conversation, Skylar heads back to her room to change out of her school uniform and put on a pair of black sweatpants and a dark blue t-shirt. After that she goes back out to the living room and takes the phone from her dad.
“Hey Rox,” She warmly greets. “How are you?”
“I’m good, although Tifa and Kairi have been acting even more protective than usual. How about you?”
Skylar takes a seat on the arm of the couch as Cloud gets up and goes into the kitchen to check on Leon. “Pretty good.” She says. “I’ve already finished my exams and I got my gun blade earlier today.” She raises an eyebrow when she hears arguing on the other line in the background. “Roxas, I’m hoping that you have someone supervising Axel and Demyx this time.”
Roxas laughs nervously. “Well… Namimé and Zexion are with them. But Reno is here too…”
Skylar groans. “Oh no, does this mean we won’t have a house when we get back?”
“Don’t worry, it’s Axel and Reno’s house. They know better than to--”
A small boom and a scream of fear that sounds like it came from Namimé is heard.
“You were saying?” Skylar teases.
“You would think they would have learned by now.” Roxas grumbles disappointedly. “I should probably go and make sure Reno and Axel aren’t trying to kill one another again. Or that Demyx and Reno aren't trying to kill Axel. I’ll see you Sunday, right?”
“Of course.” Skylar replies, her voice taking on a playful edge. “I’ll see you then, baby brother!”
There’s a sigh on the other end of the line. “Yeah, see you. And stop calling me that!”
Skylar laughs and hangs up the phone before she allows herself to fall backwards onto the couch, landing softly on the leather cushions. ‘I miss them. Hearing that the group’s together having fun and being idiots like usual makes me feel home sick.’
“Skylar, it’s time for dinner.” Leon says, stepping halfway out of the kitchen.
‘Just four days until I see them.’ Skylar thinks, getting up off the couch. ‘I can’t wait for Saturday to get here.’
------------------
(1) If you couldn't tell by that comment there, I've read the wonderful books including the mini comics at the end of them. I found Aerith's lemonade making amusing.
Shiro: Hmm... somehow Skylar's personality feels all over the place in this chapter. And Cid doesn't seem quite right. I'll work on that. But the reason Skylar's personality seems a little out of it is because I'm trying to show how different she acts around people she grew up with all her life and how she acts at school and with the people she's known for only a few years.
Bast: (flipping through what little story plans Shiro has) You're gonna do what?!
Shiro: (glances over at the page) Oh, that. Yeah.
Bast: That's just cruel!
Shiro: (grins) I learned from the best!
Bast: (blinks) Oh.... I'm so proud! (glomps)
Shiro: Bast! Get off!
Until next time! And remember, reviews feed plot bunnies!