Kingdom Hearts: Army Of The Roses

A Wasted Time

'Twas the 'evil' night of Halloween, I gag.

"Superstitious younglings waste their breath with such precautious titles. How is it such a treacherous night if I, of my thousand odd years of life, have never witnessed any malevolence on such a boring, tedious day?" My eyes wandered from the bog I lied in, they looked to the sky and began to scour the stars. I could already see the pale spec which represented my world, and to an extent the army.

"I suppose wandering in this filth would be more refreshing than having to stomach up there, amongst them. Better to spend my time here than to waste it in my atelier — hiding away." Spite swallowed my voice.

"How is it I've soldiered through wars yet still find myself..." My words escaped me for a moment, "Dependent on the opinions of underlings! Such a childish effort. Pitiful even." With silence I no longer wanted to think.

I sat up from the log I lie on, with my joints resting on my knees I looked on to my boots, more so what rested near them. Nudging, I gently kicked the pumpkin-bodied Heartless that slumped near me. It wiggled briefly but its stem and top didn't open to let it look upon me. Instead it sat forced to gaze at the foggy marsh of the land. Forced for it was wrapped in black chains.

"Are you still awake there? I guess you don't really sleep, least I've never cared an eye to it. If that makes any sense." I grumbled.

"This uncertainty is a plague." I yawned. "Brought upon by misinterpretation." I sighed before my mind snagged the nearest distraction: a shape. A ghostly shape of violet color floated into my field. Hovering across the water, it bounced one way to another, as they all do. Eugh!

Shifting my weight, I slid from the mossy oak I sat on. Ankle high the bog water did stay as I sunk to the mud. Sloshing through disgusting parasites and lili pads was not the way I expected to spend my night but I'm at fault: I snatched the opportunity I had once I had one, anything to send me away from pointless ridicule and wasteful bickering. I stepped about fifteen paces from the beast before it finally had the awareness to notice me. It's dumb maw opened. The stitches in its cheeks pulled one way back. This cretin held the audacity to smile at me.

"I didn't want my monologues to end." I pointed my blade to the hovering Heartless. "But letting you live is an affront to everything I honor, so to Hell with this recess." My palm loosened and with the silence my keyblade left me. It aligned itself behind the demon before I myself vanished from sight. With a furious strike — I appeared where Cain had settled — I sent the beast to a murky crater before gently landing to the water below.

"Is it troubling? The morality of your being is considered by no one. You're a faceless pawn, one that will be forgotten the hour after your annihilation." The Heartless rose from the swamp and lashed out with its arms. Easy. With a momentary block of Cain a foot followed suit before sending the beast skidding back once more.

"Weak. Again." And so it did and once more did it find itself countered and discarded.

"Again." I demanded just seconds before I tossed the ghost away.

"Pathetic! Again!" With a fancy maneuver, I took the Heartless' face in my hand before slamming it to the mud.

"Again."

"Again."

"Again!"

"Again!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally I grew somewhat sore but not entirely tired. As the beast clambered through the willows I looked to my palm. Shifting in place, a lavender insignia of diamond shape crawled across my skin. The illusion was a complex watch — in simplest terms. The stars had moved in place about ten hours worth; I had been at this joyful spar for nearly all night.

I turned my back and faced the small pumpkin. Still still and without movement it sat in its shackles just as I had left it.

"I suppose I should take my leave, shouldn't I? The Almaker forbid any of them come here to find me." With a sigh I stole the crown from my head and held it waiting.

"If only I was to be so lucky." The Heartless lunged at my back though failed to be surprising. With a pivot I threw my crown onward. Breaking apart, it dropped the cretin to the ground as bronze bonds quickly wrapped it 'round. Losing in pigment, the chains turned as onyx as the Void. These bindings held the beast in place just as the pumpkin had been kept.

Suddenly, an exhaustion gripped me as my crutch had just been turned to binds.

"Aye..." I leaned against my hilt.

"I think you'll do..." My breath sunk as sleep nearly took me. It was the smaller creature I spoke to, with that being said the ghost behind me bursted from within; a flash of light rode on the cries of agony the beast did wail. The silence that followed was a bitter sweet feeling, such a noisy annoyance finished despite me enjoying it while it was here. My crown returned to me as I began to hobble on. With an open fist, I plucked the pumpkin from the log and began my way back home.

Such a redundant waste of time.