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Fool's Journey	By : wickedorin Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Het - Male/Female Views: 692 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Fool's Journey and the general overall concept of Fool's Journey
are completely copyright Orin Drake 2005, as are the characters Kyrie Almasy
Leonhart Kinneas (whew!), Rodger Kinneas and John Sparda. The name/idea
of Sparda and the weapons Ebony and Ivory are copyright Capcom. The
names of Griever, Vincent Valentine, Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Seifer
Almasy, Rinoa Heartily, Quistis Trepe, and probably a million other things
I'm forgetting are copyright Squaresoft. Riku, Sora, Traverse Town,
Leon, the Heartless, Ansem, the Unknowns and a million others are copyright
Square and probably Disney... and whatever I've forgotten likely doesn't
belong to me, so... let's not worry about it. Sheesh.

        Background: Actually, this
is just a side story taking place immediately after Descendants of the
Mundane. It's meant only to set-up the next actual part in the
Sins
saga/universe/storyline, Ties That Bind and Tear Apart. In
other words, you could skip it and be just fine if you wanted... well,
mostly.

        As for WARNINGS:
uh... sex, sexuality, violence, and a lot of general oddities. No
distinction made between "'types' of sexuality" or individual moralities...
and overall just a strange sense of humor that not everyone can appreciate.
If you've read The Sins of Two Fathers, Retribution
Nor Redemption, or Descendants of the Mundane, then you'll
know what to expect. If not... then... uh... don't judge the rest
of them by this. Heh.

Fool's Journey

Chapter 3

By Orin Drake
        Kyrie leaned back against
the wall to catch her breath, Leon at her side... but staring off into
the distance. Yeah. Some help he was. If forced to admit
it, she supposed that she should have known better than to have opened
her mouth in the first place. Mental note: never speak thoughts
out loud again. Not that it would be remembered, of course.

        Pushing herself away just
enough to be sure of standing on her own, she tried a slow, deep breath.
Not so bad. Not so good, obviously. Just as she was seriously
contemplating finding that blonde bastard and returning the favor, he actually
stepped out of the building he'd entered just a moment before, walking
back toward them. All of a sudden she felt less desire to step up
and whap him across the face. Uh-oh.

        Luckily for her, not-quite-Cloud
seemed to have another and much more important purpose in mind. The
glowing blue eyes showed some mix of confusion and concern. "Leon...
he's here."

        The brunette looked rather
stunned at the news. "It's far too early." He insisted, quietly.

        "The fact remains..." Cloud
countered with a definitive nod.

        Leon nodded back with a
strained sigh. "We'll wait for him here. I'll take him back
to Traverse Town to rest."

        Having nothing else of value
to accomplish... the blonde gave the new girl a glance; noting a mildly
vicious gleam in her eyes as she returned his stare. (Her moment
of uncertainty had passed.) There was no
malice there... but
it was clear that she was just the slightest bit pissed. Specifically
at him.

        At least he had the chance
to speak to her again... not that she looked all that thrilled about the
possibility. Though, to her credit, she didn't look like she was
backing down, either. It wasn't in his nature to be apologetic, let
alone to give much of a damn. At least... it wasn't anymore.
He stepped forward slowly, noting her continued eye contact turn more to
curiosity than vengeance. "I shouldn't have reacted like that."
He admitted, honestly. "I apologize."

        Kyrie blinked. Wow.
That was... wow. Completely unexpected... but then, this was most
certainly an alternate universe. "No problem. --Well, a little
problem. But bruises heal and bones mend."

        He seemed genuinely pleased
about her attitude... not that his expression showed it. "Hmph."

        It was at that point Leon
decided it might be a better situation for him if he walked a bit away
from them, seemingly to stretch his legs. In reality, he just didn't
want to have to deal with whatever conversation was about to happen.
Regardless of his curiosity.

        Kyrie watched him distance
himself without a word, amused at the behavior. He probably came
off as quite a jerk... and she found it funny. It was like glancing
into a window that showed her dad as a younger man, really.

        Cloud continued, generally
ignoring the other's behavior. He'd had practice. "I've never
known anyone to come here from an... alternate world. It's
a curious situation."

        She was not one to disagree
with that. "Perhaps I'm just in a coma somewhere."

        He grinned ever so slightly,
just a moment's slip of his expression. "I've thought the same thing.
Many times."

        And nobody ever wakes
up. She tried to push away from her mind. "This isn't your
world, either?"

        "Oh, it... it was."
Memories needed slow and constant tending to, so that they would remain
buried. "It's just not so... familiar anymore."

        Finding it hard to swallow,
she wasn't quite able to respond. Waves of extreme loss and agony
were hitting hard, almost bring her stomach over the edge with them.

        He noticed. There
was no way he could have ignored it. "Things are happening.
Again." It was a subtle subject change, but enough to draw her mind
away from the past.

        She understood that sentiment,
alright. Just not all the details. It gave her saliva enough
to swallow, at least... and the courage to press an obviously delicate
subject. "About... earlier..."

        It was his turn to keep
his gut in check, not to mention his emotions. Perhaps some things
were already understood without needing to be spoken. "Many years
of... negative circumstances." Understated, but true enough.
He looked away, at the ground, trying to gather the rest of his thoughts.
"The last time I saw him..." He sighed, not knowing how to express
it. "He just... smiled at me." The words make no sense, even
as he spoke them; it was all he could clearly remember without... without
having to... relive...

        How she'd kept the shiver
away was anyone's guess. The inferences were enough. She knew
too much of Sephiroth in her own reality, not willing to think of alternate
cruelty. "I would not take him smiling at me as a good sign at all."

        She'd met him, alright.
He agreed to her sentiment with a grunt, not caring to keep that line of
thought open.

        Kyrie, however, was unable
to block them again. It was as if her mind were flooding, a dam had
broken apart. Anything to make the memories go away. Anything
to dull the pain. Anything to forget, just to press away the
faces of her loved ones, gone forever...

        He instantly knew that look,
those needs. His life had been like that... Regardless
of having just met her, knowing so little of her past... he felt for her.
It was that dulled sort of feeling, nothing stronger having come through
his worn emotions for too many years to explore... but the fact remained
that he found himself wishing she didn't have that look in her eyes.
He'd known hardness for a long time. Certainly in the world he inhabited,
the one that used to be his home... he wanted to offer her hope.

        His wing extended unconsciously
in his effort to calm her... and somehow not even all the collapsing walls
of Hell attacked her with more inhuman claustrophobic fear. It was
a painful ache that managed to stretch even beyond the cold darkness that
the Lifestream couldn't reach... all contained within the vision of that
wing. Just as Sephiroth--the crazy, vicious, horrible version of
him--came to the forefront of her mind. She could feel the darkness
behind the wing as though it were a purely tangible thing... gnawing viciously
at every one of her senses.

        No. She did not like
this world. This reality. It was... dauntingly awful.
The bile in her throat was hardly held down with what willpower she managed
to collect.

        "Kyrie?" she barely heard
behind her. Her father's voice--and yet not her father--didn't help
matters in the least bit.

        Nope. She answered
in her mind, closing her eyes in an attempt to gain control. I
am not okay. And I don't think I ever will be again.

        Cloud could swear that he
saw her falling, her sanity cracking right before him. His hand clasped
on her shoulder to catch her, to give her strength, to grab her attention--but
all it wound up doing was causing an influx of memory. The worlds
were too similar and too different at the same time. The Darkness
in Cloud's body seemed to fuse momentarily with the power in her Sorceress
blood, causing bits and pieces of past events to rip open and unfold before
her. She must have been especially sensitive to the cracks in the
universe; it hurt her. Agonized her.

        "Please..." her voice came
through in a thick, rough whisper. "Let go."

        Why he didn't...
why he couldn't release her... he couldn't explain it. He
tried
to let go, but his hands would not respond--something else seemed to be
holding them there, almost feeling as if there were other hands pressing
his fingers into her flesh--

        She shoved, but it
didn't matter. Her strength was gone, and that hand would go nowhere
until whatever was to be done, had been completed. Unfamiliar memories
of worlds destroyed began to flood her consciousness; a history of what
this Cloud had been through, and then some. No... the worlds were
not as different as she'd have liked them to be... but no doubt, his life
was full of suffering. Not always, no... but enough. And certainly
recently.

        And then, there it was--Sephiroth's
smile. Cold, gleaming eyes in love with pain and fear; they seemed
to be staring right at her. Through her. Calling up things
she remembered, and things that never happened in her reality.

        Footsteps. Over everything,
by some graceful miracle, she heard shuffling feet. The one that
could only be Sora stepped into the coliseum. His presence... at
once, she could feel it destroying the forced connection between Cloud
and herself. Free of that hell, she turned to see her savior... and
wished he hadn't come at all. More connections. Not quite right.
Indirect... but unable to be ignored.

        Oh, Hyne. Fucking
Hyne. It couldn't get worse... it couldn't be more horrible.
She... she recognized him. He was older than when she'd...
yes, she was certain. So sure that... that mindfuck in Hell, following
John, when that devil had tried to get all of them trapped in their own
thoughts, memories... illusions. She'd seen him then, not knowing
what the hell he had to do with her life. Seen him as a kid... and
there was no doubt in her mind that it was indeed the same person.
If she was still hanging onto that little lump of substance inside her
skull, that was.

        Leon managed to catch her
as her legs locked--but she was able to avoid a complete faint. It
was just kind of a... clutzy trip backwards. Yeah. She could
live with that.

        And the new guy, Sora...
he watched everything with an expression showing both blank curiosity and
perhaps knowing too much. He may not have been able to work out or
even explain exactly what had happened, but he'd... felt it. With
slow steps, he walked to his old friends, and the somewhat unstable new
girl. "Are you alright?"

        A compassionate voice, she
was nearly surprised to hear. "No." She panted roughly, trying
to regain any sense of clarity in her thoughts. "But I should be
used to it by now."

        Silence. A worried,
confused sort of silence from all directions.

        Amazingly, it was Leon who
managed to break it. Perhaps the only one thinking clearly at that
point, he glanced calmly between Kyrie and Sora. "Looks like you
both need some rest."

        They had bid farewell to
Cloud somewhat quickly; Kyrie because she was rather certain it was best
for all concerned to merely leave, and Sora because he was eager to get
to a place where he felt safe. The Gummi Ship's third seat was revealed...
a rather cramped bit behind the other two, usually closed off by a small
wall unless it was in use. Kyrie gladly agreed to sit there--she
would have clung on the to outside hull just to get back to a place where
she could break more things.

        Landing again at Traverse
Town, Leon lead the way in silence back to the hotel. They stopped
at a room on the far side, where their guide held the door open... for
both of them. In turn, they glanced at one another and then back
at Leon curiously.

        "It's the common room."
He explained. "I have things to do. You may as well keep each
other company."

        Well, with a warm and soothing
invitation like that, who could refuse? Leon was glad to see them
enter without argument, and moreso to know that he didn't have to baby-sit.
Though, if he were to be honest with himself... he'd already seen enough
pain for one day. Yes, it had been a long time since he'd gotten
to see Sora. He'd have loved to sit down with him and catch up, but...
it would have to wait until he could deal with it himself.

        If he thought he could just
sneak out without anyone being the wiser, however, he was completely wrong.
One step out the door of the hotel, he was assaulted with a loudly "whispered",
"Leon!"

        "What, Yuffie?" he
growled quietly, not breaking his stride.

        Unfortunately, she caught
up. She always caught up. "You're leaving Sora already?
You're leaving them alone? Together? You don't even know her!
Not really, anyway!"

        "He'll be safe with her."
He simplified, not slowing his pace.

        She kept up surprisingly
well, even for her. "Are you sure?"

        "Yes." He answered
definitively. He just... knew. It was better to leave them
alone together than for him to attempt to strike up a painful conversation
with either.

        The common room itself was
something out of an old oil painting; one Kyrie remembered from a museum
when she was a child. It was all dark wood and rich, full colors
with large, over-stuffed chairs and a roaring fire in front of a semi-circle
of various sitting spaces. It was... beautiful. Home away from
home... not a thought she cared to keep in her head at the moment.
She elected to distract herself by rifling through a small collection of
books on a side table, instead.

        Sora took a moment to appreciate
the decor, himself. It had been considerably re-done since the last
time he had been there, somehow turning out more... "comforting" than last
he remembered. Finding one of the plush sofas around the fireplace,
he sat with a hiss of pain and stiffness. So old he felt, sometimes.
But that pain was internal... in a way he never cared to describe, and
hardly wished to think about at that moment.

        Kyrie joined seconds later,
at the sofa to his right. While the furniture was turned to stare
into the fire... she couldn't really take her eyes off him. He looked...
so much more tired than she'd ever felt before. The weight of multiple
worlds on his shoulders... Yeah. She could relate... but even
she had to admit that she only knew so much about his situation.
Certainly she'd had her own run-ins with fate or whatever the hell it was...
but nothing the likes of which she saw in his eyes. The only polite
thing to do was talk to him. Not to mention, she felt an extremely
strong need to communicate with someone--especially him. "Sora,
was it?"

        "Yeah." He grated
quietly, sounding more than exhausted. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch
your name." Tired or not, he was determined not to forget his manners.

        "Kyrie." She carelessly
tossed the word.

        He paled considerably.
It was just... too close to memories... "Is there... anything else
I could call you?"

        The question itself was
puzzling... but she got the distinct indication that it was not the time
for those kinds of questions. "'Ky' is popular." She forced
herself to get somewhat comfortable, digging into the cushions so that
her back was perfectly supported--and boy did that hurt. Damn
spiky blonde lunatic... a small smile at her lips as the thought spread
throughout her mind.

        He nodded to himself, committing
the name to memory. "I guess we're left alone for the night."
He continued the attempt at conversation, suppressing an exhausted yawn.
"How pretentious."

        In spite of all the shit
that had just happened... she greatly appreciated the sentiment with a
chuckle. "At least they left us in a hotel. I think sleep is
stalking the both of us."

        A small twitch of his lips
agreed. "I haven't slept... in a long time. Not really
slept. I can't... can't remember what it's like to dream...
without having nightmares."

        She shuddered at the horribly
empty quality of his voice. At once she was both glad to have never
wound up that way... and disturbed to know how close it had gotten a few
times. It must have shown in her eyes, because she caught an answering
nod before he turned to stare at the fire for a moment. The warmth
and the crackle... it was kind of peaceful. Like those bonfires on
Destiny Isl--augh. It still hurt to remember, sometimes.

        And that much she saw with
a certainty. Memories had a way of being understood even when they
couldn't be experienced directly. "I bet I can catch the basic layout
of the kitchen. Should I try to find some tea?"

        "That'd be nice."
He smiled a little, feeling relieved that she seemed comfortable.
It was a contagious type of feeling... and one it didn't seem he encountered
very often anymore. Once, he'd had many friends in all worlds...
"But I should help--"

        "You're going to sit there
and you're going to stay there."

        Were it not for the wink
she'd given him at the end of her statement, he really would have thought
that she'd given a direct order not to be questioned. Well.
Who was he to deny her wishes?

        The kitchen entrance being
obvious across from the fireplace, he watched her walk in... then turned
back to the flames. His body begged him for sleep; and, honestly,
so did every part of his conscious being. He didn't want to listen,
though. He wanted the comfort of a hot cup of tea... of a new companion
that seemed very much just as lost as he was... of no promises and no spoken
assurances. The warmth of the fire was enticing his body to relax...
something it hadn't done in a very long while.

        Kyrie called lightly from
the kitchen, "Sugar? Cream? Whatever is in this jar that I'm
too afraid to open? It's heavy and it doesn't make any noises when
I shake it..."

        He was glad for the humor.
"Nothing, thanks. It taints the caffeine."

        "Man after my own heart!"
she congratulated him, searching for the cups.

        Funny... being called a
man. Sometimes he felt like he was too old to still be alive... but
every once in a while, he was just a boy again. When had that happened,
manhood? Probably sometime soon after he'd started becoming addicted
to caffeine.

        Again, she called to him.
"How strong would you like your tea?"

       "Strong." He responded,
wondering what kind she'd found. He used to hate tea... until
he began to deeply understand its calming properties.

        She poked her head in quickly,
waiting for the kettle to boil. "Should have made coffee, then."

        "It's too late for coffee."
His tone was completely deadpan, but his eyes held a bit of sparkle.
It was one of Leon's little quirks. Any time after the sun had passed
the height of the sky, it was "too late for coffee". Funny, that
way.

        Had she known his line of
thought, she'd have told him of how Seifer used to say Squall's favorite
food group was coffee... but even that memory seemed too much. Fortunately
enough, the kettle had begun to whistle, removing her from even the slightest
possibility of that line of thought. She poured the boiling water
over the tea bags in the teapot like a practiced servant, arranged the
set on the fancy tray with two cups, the sugar bowl and the cream (both
containers being empty, but looking nice). Sometimes it helped to
be granddaughter of a president, showing up early to watch the staff set
up for dignitaries. Of course, they never once betrayed just how
heavy the damned trays actually got. She made it to the end table
in the common room without a single spill, though. An achievement
worthy of a decent cup of tea.

        Sora's face betrayed his
exceptional appreciation of the service. "Thank you." He breathed
in the scent of brewing tea deeply. So long... He watched her
pour like a professional, curiosity about her situation invading his every
thought. Subjects changed rapidly. "I don't mean to be forward,"
he began slowly (and in somewhat of a lie), "But... have you ever given
thought to what illuminates your life?"

        "What a question."
She admitted.

        Something about her truly
did set him at ease. "Yes."

        She nodded, pouring her
own cup and sitting with it before she responded. "I've had... a
great many situations where I thought about why I was alive, if that's
what you mean. This one, for instance."

        Her answer was interesting
in itself. Perhaps pressing was too harsh of a thing at that moment...
but he longed to converse so badly.

        "A light..." she whispered
into her cup, unknowingly catching hold of one of Sora's deepest thoughts.

        He flinched a little at
her words. Instead of being surprised... he felt the least bit ashamed,
instead. "My light is... in the shadows." He sighed, sadly.
"And I think it's... dimming." Why he had said that to a complete
stranger...

        She sipped at the steaming
liquid, enjoying the blend of flavors. More than tea, it was edged
lightly with something herbal and minty that relaxed her throat.
"I've known a few to insist that when a light dims, it's time to move on
to a brighter one." Her voice was on the harsher side, expressing
that such an idea was not her own.

        He nodded, knowing the thought
himself... but never claiming it. Never once believing it.
"I need hi--my light. I can't... leave it behind."

        "You shouldn't, then."
She pretended not to have noticed the almost-slip... "Him", huh?
Yeah. Seems to be going around.

        But he saw it. That
spark of recognition, of knowing his slip and understanding it completely.
He'd learned a lot about recognizing those tiny signals from the eyes.
Well... nothing worth hiding, anymore. Something about her, just
being around her, made him feel absolutely comfortable. And, most
surprising of all... it made him feel talkative. "He got... caught
up. In the Darkness... He just couldn't hold up to everyone
meddling... forcing..." He paused for a moment--to collect his thoughts
and to calm his feelings with a shaking sip from his cup. "He tried.
For too long." For me.

        "Happens to the best of
us." She responded quietly, eyes turning to the fire.

        If she were anyone else,
he knew that he'd have interpreted those words to be something disgustingly
callous--empty and worthy of a good keyblade-shaped scar. Something
about... her, though... about how her eyes gazed far beyond the
flames, to another world entirely... He knew that she wasn't dismissing
him. Rather... she seemed to be trying to bring the situation down
to an understandable level for them both. If that made any sense.
He realized that he'd been staring at her while he pondered over her nature,
and immediately apologized. "Didn't mean to... zone out like that."

        "It's the least of your
worries, I think." She grinned slightly, taking another sip.
There was... just something about him. It was weird, really.
There was no reflection of him in her world, but... it felt like there
almost ought to be. For every bit of comfort she seemed to offer
to him, the same could be said for him to her.

        "And you?" For some
reason he found himself incredibly interested in her reason for being there.

        Her reply took another sip
and a long swallow to find its way out. "I've been informed that
my world is gone." She started out, the nonchalant tone almost creepy
even to herself. "So... there's really not much point in being anywhere
but here."

        "You've... 'been informed'..."
There really was something ridiculously funny about those words... but
laughing seemed too hard.

        "If there is no more world
of mine, then... I don't suppose there's much more to worry about."
They made eye contact... broken only by her shrug. There was no use
in being angry again. At least, not then and there. Later,
probably...

        "But..." she continued,
thoughtfully, "I was wondering if maybe... something else happened.
Since my world seems to be more of an... alternate one to this. Since
I knew a version of Cloud... Sephiroth. Sq--Leon..."

        All of a sudden, even through
the serious tone, that was very amusing. "Squleon, huh?"

        They giggled together, both
overcome by a lack of sleep and a general need to be silly for a while.
It certainly took the edge off. "It kinda fits." She agreed.
"I doubt he'd think so, but... no one's going to ask him."

        Again they laughed, Sora
eventually having to place his tea on the table so it wouldn't spill everywhere.
He hadn't the advantage that Kyrie had, learning how to deal with holding
a drink and laughing constantly.

        "Maybe..." she managed a
slightly pained smile the entire time, "It's just that I don't want to
think there's no light left in my life."

        A clear downer in any other
conversation, it actually managed to be a thoughtful point. "We'd
all like to believe." He countered, another sip taken. He shook
his head, exhaustion taking hold of his mind for a moment. "He was...
so much. And I didn't know it until he was gone."

        She took a deep breath with
the sentiment expressed. To listen... seemed at once the most important
thing she could do.

        "I fought for him."
He continued, quietly. His eyes closed hallway, almost dreaming.
"He was my light in the darkness. And he fought for me... way too
often." His eyes opened then, realizing that he wasn't sleeping.
"I'm sorry." He snapped out of his memories, apologizing for taking
her ear without offering his own. "You most certainly have a light
of your own."

        "I have many of them."
She grinned for reasons she wasn't entirely sure she should divulge.
Though... she got the somewhat strange impression that he just might understand.
"But, yeah. I do have a husband." There was a... certain sense
of necessity, using the present tense for those words; do, have.
"And... others. That mean quite as much."

        A bittersweet smile crossed
Sora's face. Yes, others... there were others, too. He'd lost
touch until recently... His eyes closed again, but not with tiredness.
It was enough to open up. The risk of crying in front of, for all
intents and purposes, a stranger was not at all appealing.

        Emotion was thick in the
room. Thick and familiar enough to burn. She reached out for
his hand--then pulled back a bit. After that incident with Cloud...
she just wasn't sure about contact with anyone else. And then there
was his privacy, for that matter. Whatever he didn't tell her was
none of her business. Simple.

        He gave her a bit of a shock
when he grasped her hand first--and held on. The experience that
followed was only less horrifying because it was shared.

        Had anyone been there to
watch, they'd have only seen two people holding hands for several minutes,
staring off into space. While that was weird enough in itself...
the truth of the matter was quite a bit more surreal. With Cloud,
Kyrie had been overcome with nothing but an influx of someone else's life.
This time, it was an exchange. Thought for thought, as it were--the
rush of experience went both ways, no less confusing but certainly preferred
to being totally overwhelmed. It still hurt on a higher than simply
physical plane, but... not so much.

        The disconnecting, the detaching
of hands, seemed to come for them hours later. One glance at the
clock told them otherwise... but time was a different sort of thing, sometimes.

        Kyrie was the first to sit
back, blinking at the sheer unexpectedness. So. That figure
that kept appearing in his mind... There was no need for verbal confirmation,
the sad longing in Sora's gaze as he disconnected and sat back was quite
enough. The corners of her lips found themselves wickedly uplifted
for the shadow of a second, however. The boy had taste, she'd give
him that. Dark powers notwithstanding... hey. Hottie in a robe.
Beyond her libido, however... yeah. She... she understood.
They'd been through... a hell of a lot together; heartbreaking... but empowering.
The most lingering memory was the one of Sora granting his Light a mark
across the chest to hold his memory together... It was the ultimate
painful, romantic gesture, akin to her Squall's "A" shaped scar on his
own chest. And, at least she finally knew why her name was such a...
sore spot.

        The Keyblade Master swallowed,
nodding slowly to himself. She had her own stories, alright... and
a lot of them were quite enough to still be able to make him blush if he
thought too much about them. Little though it mattered; she seemed
to have her priorities firmly in place, in the end. It was the memory
of the deaths of her parents that seemed to stay with him there.
Himself, he didn't remember much of his parents... but at least he'd never
had to see... that. To know what she did. And no wonder Sephiroth
was spoken of in hushed, vicious tones regardless of where he traveled.

        Gentle, comfortable silence
rested warmly between them as they finished their tea. At long last,
and as expected, Kyrie was the first to comment... with a none too subtle
thumbs-up. Hey, it inspired another welcomed gigglefest.

        "You've literally been through
Hell." Sora chuckled comfortably.

        "Yes, well. It could
have used some air fresheners, but it wasn't so bad." Almost lying
more than joking, frankly... But she'd survived. They all had.
It could have been a lot worse. Taking a deep breath due only to
the fact that it felt good, she diverted the subject. "You need your
rest."

        "I doubt I'm alone in that."
He calmly accused.

        Her legs, shoulders, and
spine most of all agreed with him. "True. But I'm used to it."

        "So am I." He countered.

        "So what?" she challenged
in a friendly way. "We should have a staring contest now?"

        "A waking contest."
He answered. "See who takes the longest to fall asleep."

        "Believe it or not, I'll
pass." Not that it wasn't tempting... but she was hardly in the mood
to be a competitive bitch.

        His eyes dropped for a moment,
going over some of the memories he'd seen from her. Strange... now
they were on an incredibly intimate level in some respects. All that
in a heartbeat--it'd never happened before. And, honestly, he never
wanted it to happen again, but... he didn't mind that one. Carefully,
voice low and eyes diverted regardless of the teasing tone, "You're not
going to..."

        It was then that she realized
just how intimate they had gotten in memory. It was far more
amusing than anything. "What, come for you in the night?"

        Her humor and frankness
very much slapped the teasing look off of his face, to be replaced by a
child-like blush. He stumbled, but did not fall. "Uh, yes.
Something like that."

        "Nah." She grinned.
Sure she could hold his feet to the fire, but... there was no reason to
be so cruel. "You're promised. I can respect that."

        As much as he'd come to
know that her curiosity was close to suicidal... he had to admit that his
was just a hair away. "But you would if I weren't 'promised', wouldn't
you?"

        His tease earned quite the
spectacularly wicked expression. "Strangely enough... I don't think
I would."

        His head turned in an almost
disappointed kind of way--before he caught himself. Curiosity overrode
the rest. "And why's that?"

        "Well, kinky as it may be...
you seem more like a brother." With that, she picked up the tray
and went back to the kitchen.

        It was best to let it drop
completely. He knew that. But the blush didn't disappear even
as he followed. "I can help you clean up, at least."

        "Clean up?" she turned,
leaving the tea set as it was on the counter. "That's Squleon's job."

        An unexpected giggle fit
hit them as the agreement was reached. Hey, had to give the guy something
to do besides sulk.

        I think I might actually
know where this is going, now. And it's a lot weirder than even I
thought it might turn out. No promises on when I may update next,
though. So much going on!

        If you'd like to be e-mailed
when I update, drop me a line (orin(at)sephain.com) with whatever story/stories/website
you'd like me to inform you of.
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Fool's Journey