Disclaimer- I do not own Kingdom Hearts

Withered Flowers

The flowers were dying. They always did when the frost came. It made her upset to know that her beautiful garden would be bare for the long winter months. She sighed as the patches of carnation's she planted were dying off slowly one by one. Some of the more resilient ones still lived, looking as fresh and beautiful as the day they bloomed. Yet, a sad smile spread across her lips knowing very well that they too would eventually succumb to the bitter winter.

A frosty breeze whipped past her, forcing her to tighten the grip on her jacket. She cursed herself for wearing a dress in this weather but that is how she felt comfortable. She felt at ease in her simple dress and her simple boots. Her hair always tied back in a braid tied with a pink bow. This was her, simple.

She let out a breath, which appeared from her hot mouth. It was getting colder as the day pressed on. She would leave soon and come back tomorrow to her secret garden. She would enjoy the last precious days until finally every plant here would die. Looking up at the vast gray sky, she decided it was time to leave, before it got too cold. Before she could go, she felt another cold breeze behind her. Someone else was here.

No longer alone, she turned to face the person behind her expecting it to be one of her friends. Possibly, Yuffie and Leon were the most plausible answer since they were usually with her. Maybe even Cloud, worried for her safety. However, it was neither.

"You're here again," she spoke.

The man did not say a word, he never did. Instead, he assumed a position at the far end of the garden like he always did. The girl spoke to him every time he entered her garden but he never once responded. At first, it unnerved her when he sat at the fountain not speaking but watching. Yet for the entire summer, he came and watched that it became such a fixed routine.

The girl frowned. "Can you not speak?"

The man before her watched as the gentle girl stood a little ways from him, staring at him. He dressed in a black hooded robe. Him with his pale skin and wild rose pink hair. Marluxia came here to steal her heart. He was supposed to. She had the strongest heart of anyone in all of Hollow Bastian. She was supposed to become a heartless and a nobody, like him.

X, X, X,

The day he entered Hollow Bastian for the first time, Marluxia was drawn to this garden. The flowers called to him. After all, he possessed powers to manipulate them. He entered the garden and saw the beautiful patches of flowers, so carefully placed that they lined up in neat, even rows. He looked around, wonder how many people tended to this single garden that Eden be put shame at how beautiful it was. Then as if appearing from nowhere a girl appeared, dressed in a simple summer dress and her hair tied back in a braid with a pink ribbon.

Initially stunned that one lone person could create something so beautiful. He thought nothing of her but the love she poured into every flower. When the girl finally felt him enter her beloved garden, she stood, facing him. Neither spoke, the girl continued to her tending and the man took a seat at the far end of the garden on a fountain.

Marluxia watched her as she worked hard on her garden. Making sure each and ever flower received her attention. As he watched her, he could sense a slight uncomfortable feeling emitting from her. He first thought it was because of whom he was, a Nobody, but as the day passed his thought changed. No one had entered the garden the entire day but him and this girl. Perhaps, she was use to the solitude.

When she was gone, he looked at her garden and noticed how lovely the flowers were, more lovely than he first noticed. Her heart and her soul were in these flowers. Her hard worked caused them to bloom.

After watching her for three days, he concluded that he would steal her heart and make her like him. As silly as the idea was if he were to tell any of the other members of organization that he believed this girl possessed a strong heart do to her flowers, they would mock him. The fourth day came and after she finished her work, he planned to steal it. He did not want to disrupt her work. The flowers needed her this sweltering summer day. Yet, the day passed something he did not foresee happened. She began to leave but before she left, she spoke to him.

"Do you like flowers too?" she asked smiling at him.

Marluxia did not respond. She approached him. She then quietly handed him an acacia. He took it and they looked at each other. Her eyes locked onto his for a brief moment. His azure eyes looked into her deep emerald ones. She turned away, a smile still on her face. The acacia flower is known as a sign of friendship. He took it, stunned because no one had ever given him what he would consider a gift. She walked away that day and he forgot all about his plans on stealing her heart.

The next day he returned and sat by the fountain. Like always, he watched her tending to the flowers. She even talked to them because people believed talking to flowers helped them grow. Upon seeing how beautiful her flowers grew, he believed it. That day before she left, she once again stopped in front of him. She smiled at him and asked the same question as before.

"Do you like flowers too?"

He did not respond but this time instead of an acacia she handed him a variegated tulip. One with pink and white colors that looked simply beautiful. This tulip meant "beautiful eyes." He smirked as she left because she had beautiful eyes too. When several minutes passed, he realized that he forgot his mission again.

Gently, he tucked the tulip away in his robe.

X, X, X,

He did not show up the next day but the day after. Again, he did the same. He returned to his spot near the fountain and watched her, thoughtfully. When she saw him, she seemed relieved this time. She did not say anything to him, but he assumed she wanted to. The anxiousness in her eyes showed.

He took a day away believing that her simple gestures were confusing his thoughts. He knew his mission yet her constant boldness made him forget. This time he would not. The moment she finished her tending, he would do it. Nothing would stop him this time.

"Do you like flowers too?" she asked before she left, at the same time interrupting his thoughts.

This time he nodded. She held out a different flower again. This time it was a zinnia with a mixture of color. She smiled before leaving him to his thoughts. Marluxia watched her leave, holding a brown basket full of the same flowers. Thinking of an absent friend is what this flower meant. Any thoughts in his head about stealing her heart flew away.

For the entire summer, that is what happened. Every time he came to the garden, he would sit by the fountain and watch her. Just before she left she would come and give him a flower. He would accept the gift and let her walk away, heart intact. Marluxia cursed himself for forgetting each day.

X, X, X,

Now they were dying. She would no longer be able to distract him by giving him a flower. Her smile and cheerful attitude would not sway his thoughts. Her heart would be his and that is that.

She walked up to him, he could clearly see no flowers in her hand and she no longer carried her plain brown basket anymore. Her summer attire of the strapless, white dress and brown boots were gone. Now she was wearing a long red jacket over a button up pink dress and brown boots. Her hair, as always tied in the thick braid with a pink ribbon. She was simple yet beautiful, like the flowers.

"Do you like flowers too?" she asked softly.

When he did not respond she opened her jacket and handed him a tiny purple flower. The stem was so small that he could only hold it by the tips of his thumb and index finger. He smirked. Even now when the flowers were dying, she still managed to find one. Yet, before she always gave him a bigger flower, this was by far the smallest. He looked up half expecting her to be leaving but she was still in front of him.

"It's cyclamen," she explained.

Marluxia knew what she meant when she gave him this flower. She was saying goodbye. Of course, now that winter would set in there would be no reason for her to stay here. There would be no reason for him to stay here either. She turned to leave, believing this would be the last time they see each other. She never did see him in town and no one even knew about a man with pink hair.

He watched her retreating figure. He held up his hand, knowing the time was now. Snatching her heart would be easy. The girl was walking away without any thought that Marluxia could very well be a harmful person. She was oblivious to him and for that she would pay with her heart…

"Yes, I do like the flowers," he said, speaking to her the first time.

She turned around to face him, finding him standing now, arms at his sides. The flower she gave him resting on the fountain.

"You can talk," she giggled. "Why did you not say anything before?"

"No reason to I guess," he replied. "I did not wish to disturb your work."

"I see, and may I ask you another question?"

He nodded.

"What is your favorite flower?" she asked.

"Hydrangea," he said after a moment. He moved toward her and held something in his hand. She looked at him curiously until he finally handed her a flower with many tiny blossoms on the stem. The one he handed her was a purple hyacinth.

"Are you sorry for something?" she asked.

"Extremely," he replied. "That I never got to know you and now we shall be parting ways. I guess you can say a hydrangea is like me, frigid, heartless."

The young woman took in the scent of the hyacinth in. She smiled. "You know your flowers."

"You can say that the flowers and I go together well." He mused slightly.

"I would not have mind talking to you at all. I think it would have been enjoyable."

"I guess it was hard to find the words to say to such a beautiful flower."

She blushed at the compliment, her head down slightly. Gently, he tilted her chin up preferring to see her stunning face. Yet, she averted her eyes.

Coyly she asked, "So you were admiring my flowers this whole time."

"Indeed I was but there was one very beautiful one that I was particularly interested in… in more ways then one."

Her blush deepened. The corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile before straitening. He held out his hand slightly, the girl looked down wondering what he was doing. For a moment, it looked as if he was debating on doing something but instead he waved his hand and turned around.

Not yet was the thought in his mind. He did not want to do it just yet. A reason was all he needed.

"Sometimes seeing such a beautiful flower makes you want to pluck it from the ground and keep it forever. Nevertheless, flowers die like everything else."

"How heartless," a sad reply came. She had no idea.

"Everything dies… plants, animals, and people. Everything moves on and they forget about what has died. Maybe it is better to just forget about everything and give up."

If she were to give up… agree to him… then…

"You can never forget someone who is special towards you," she countered softly. "Their hopes and dreams live on. Like flowers, they spread their pollen and seeds all around to create more flowers. They leave behind something beautiful that allows you to always remember them."

He bent down touching one of the flowers on the ground. The flower seemed to perk up at his touch, something that went unnoticed to the young flower girl.

"Is that how you would live on?" he asked, "Through your flowers?"

She giggled. "If that's how you remember me than yes… yes that is how I'd live on."

A cold breeze blew past them. The girl shivered but the man did not even flinch from the cold. Soon night would fall on them creating an even colder temperature.

Marluxia smiled. "It is cold is it not?"

"I should be going before my friends will worry. Will I see you again?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders in response.

"I guess not… no point on returning here when there are no flowers. I will not even be here until spring. By then the flowers should begin to return."

Marluxia thought about the warm spring and how the flowers would begin to bud and bloom. Even if they die now and he forgot how beautiful these flowers were, he would see them again and remember just how beautiful they were. If she were to die, would he remember her the way she was?

"I shall return… when the flowers bloom." He responded.

She nodded and turned her back to him. It was then he decided that she would remain with her heart. Marluxia loved the flowers. He could manipulate them and make them strive even in the harshest of weathers. She could as well. Yet, unlike Marluxia with his special abilities, she could not prevent them from dying and he could prevent her from dying. Her flowers, with her hard work and not a simple wave of the hand were more beautiful than any flower he could produce and if she were gone, these flowers would never return as radiant as they had been.

Marluxia wanted to see the flowers bloom again. He wanted to see her again, the most delicate, strong, and beautiful flower of all. Her heart was strong and he knew it. For only a strong heart could do something so beautiful. Therefore, he reasoned with himself that he could never touch her heart or let anyone else for that matter. He watched her walk away towards the gate as always. He sat back down on the fountain, picking up the tiny flower she gave him earlier.

Marluxia stared at it for a moment before bringing it under his nose and taking in the faint scent. It would be a long time before spring. He watched as she paused at the exit to the garden.

Before she left she turned to face him one more time. "I'm Aerith. Who are you?"

He grinned, "A nobody… just looking at the flowers."

X, X, X,

Author Note- I have no idea why I wrote this. I just did. A Marluxia and Aerith story coming from me, I never would have thought it. Then again, I have written Demyx and Aerith fanfics. Well, I hope you all enjoyed it.