I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Ships: (friendship) Lexaeus&Zexion
Warnings: None.
Beating Drum Heart
Chapter 6: Aftershock
Our heroes are people and people are flawed. Don't let that taint the thing you love.
~ Randy K. Milholland
Zexion found him perched on the top of Memory's Skyscraper. He sat down to his right side beside him on the metal ledge, careful not to disturb the pile of unsolved Rubik's cubes. Not wanting to jump into things right away, he cast a glance over his shoulder at Aeleus's memories being broadcast onto the monitors behind them. Even flickered into Vexen and back.
The Rubik's cube in Lexaeus's hands stopped clicking and Zexion watched as he added another block to the miniature skyscraper to his left, its walls made up of blocks of three-by-three colour. Zexion handed him one from his pile of jumbled cubes and kept one for himself, turning the pieces around passively.
"You know, I never had enough patience to solve one of these things," he said. He waited. Only Lexaeus's fingers moved to turn the pieces of the puzzle.
Zexion tossed his Rubik's cube at his friend's head, where it bounced off his temple harmlessly and rolled away across the rooftop. Before Lexaeus could react beyond turning towards him, Zexion started speaking. "You're solving Rubik's cubes. You haven't said a word –" an accusing finger jab cut off what he knew would be a reminder of the 'silent' part of a certain nickname, "spoken or unspoken in days. Something is wrong."
Lexaeus opened his mouth again but Zexion stood and started to pace about the roof. "I honestly don't understand it, Lexaeus. I've known you for two lifetimes, and I know you're not anti-social. Xemnas was pleased with your report; we'd never thought that the earth connected you to the heartbeat of the world too. But here you are avoiding everyone." He stopped and held his index finger in front of Lexaeus's forehead meaningfully. "So help me, I might invade your mental space and find out for myself."
Lexaeus didn't blink. "I saved a world."
"You… what?"
Lexaeus broke eye contact, actually sighed for himself. "It was going to fall into darkness if I didn't do anything."
"That… doesn't make any sense," Zexion said above him. "You've let hundred of worlds fall before. We all have. And you've never batted an eye."
"I know. But I've never been able to feel a world's heartbeat before." The leather of his coat creaked slightly as he clutched at where his heart used to be. "I became connected to it, I suspect."
Zexion was silent for a long time, frowning thoughtfully. Eventually he sighed too, sitting back down. "Well, we never were able to hotwire ourselves back into the cardiovascular system of the universe. And Sora stabilized the worlds while you were gone by defeating the Superior's Heartless, so it doesn't matter much, but it doesn't change the fact that you defied protocols."
"I know."
"If a world native spots you, they're to be eliminated."
"The first time, when I crashed, she saved my life."
"…The first time," Zexion repeated, his voice rising just the slightest. "You mean, this second trip, you went back to the same world you were spotted in?"
"I tried to turn her into a Heartless the second time," Lexaeus replied defensively.
"And?" Zexion opened his arms, probably hoping a new Dusk would appear out of the open air and Lexaeus could introduce them.
"It didn't work."
"It didn't… work." Zexion rubbed his eyelids.
"She defeated her own darkness. It was incredible."
"'Incredible'. She defeated… She." Zexion repeated Lexaeus's words numbly, letting his head sink into his hands before sighing deeply.
"I know." Lexaeus's fingers started working at the puzzle again unconsciously. Zexion sat up at the sound of the familiar clicking, tore the puzzle from his friend's hand and threw it off the skyscraper.
"Alright, let me get this straight. A world native saved your life from the crash, but you didn't kill her because your powers were connecting your to the world. So then you went back to the world and saved it, alerting thousands to your presence in the process."
"That sounds about right."
Zexion stared at him, looking as confused as Lexaeus had been in the past several weeks.
"Apparently, that makes me a hero."
"Oh, yes. Not only do you do things for others without expecting anything in return, you do things that blur the line between bravery and sheer stupidity."
Lexaeus found a chuckle deep in his chest. "I suppose." When he looked at Zexion again, he found Number VI distracted by the screens behind them. He turned around to see what it was showing, but a twist in his stomach told him he had a good hunch.
Nakoma clutched at her hair, gritted her teeth at someone off-screen. She let her hair fall to her shoulders and then moved out of view.
Zexion drummed his fingers on his chin. "Lexaeus, are you sure your powers connected you just to the heart of the world, or-?"
Lexaeus smiled at the gravel and the monitors flicked to a blurry image of Dilan. Zexion turned back with a wide smirk beneath his bangs. "The Hero doesn't have a damsel in distress, does he?"
"If he does, she's certainly not in distress anymore."
Zexion knew that that probably translated to a 'yes', but for once he wasn't entirely certain.
"Hm," he said. "You'll have to tell me more some time."
Lexaeus knew that that translated to 'Your secret is safe with me'. And he smiled gratefully.
---
"Hello, Lexaeus."
The Nobody sat down beside the girl with the sketchbook, in the front row seats of Xigbar's training arena. The page open on her lap showed a cluster of motion sketches made of quick pencil swipes. "Hello, Naminé. What are you doing down here?"
She pointed with the pink eraser end of her pencil towards Xaldin, who was down in the ring sparring with Vexen. "Xaldin brings me down here sometimes when it's his turn to look after me. He said it's important that I know about combat even though I can't fight."
Lexaeus nodded. "It is a good thing for you to observe."
"Is it really?" He could hear the cringe in her voice. A little too compassionate for a fighter, but she was still useful to them.
"Yes, I think so," he replied. One of Xaldin's spears glanced off Vexen's shield, and she flinched.
"I heard you found out more about your powers." She flicked through the sketchbook, little flickers of colour passing by. "The geomancers told me. And I think they're changing too."
She stopped at a page of watercolour sketches. He recognized a full-body drawing of Zay taking up the left half of the page, and wondered how far up and how far away the little girl must've been to take his whole form in. On the right, was a diagram of a geomancer's back. A pale red circle with lines webbed through the centre was drawn there.
"It started appearing while you were away. The geomancers told me you must've succeeded in finding a new part of your power. I don't understand the shape, though."
"It's a dreamcatcher," Lexaeus replied quietly. His gloved fingers drifted close to the red paint and he made a note to speak with the geomancers later. "Perhaps, when we come back from Castle Oblivion, I can bring you one. I know the world they come from."
Naminé smiled brightly, but flinched when Xaldin called her name. They looked towards the center ring, where Axel was standing in the doorway, his long arms blocking the way. "And this is the arena, my fine friend!" he announced loudly.
"Goodbye, Lexaeus," Naminé whispered, folding her sketchbook and jumping off the seat. She ran into the portal Xaldin had summoned was closely followed by her watcher.
Roxas managed to shove past his friend just as the last sign of Xaldin and Naminé faded. "I've been to the arena tonnes of times, Axel! Stop being such a jerk."
"Oh, but being a jerk is so much fun." Axel reached out and ruffled Roxas's blond spikes fondly, before the boy brushed off his hand and looked around the arena.
"Weird. I thought I heard Xaldin in here a second ago."
"You did," Vexen said, dismissing his blue shield to the air. "And I was nearly winning our match before you interrupted."
"Pff, yeah. Sure," Roxas replied, turning his attention to Lexaeus as Vexen spluttered in exasperation. "Lexaeus. You're finally back."
"So it would seem."
"You tested your new powers out yet?"
"They're not exactly powers you can use in battle, Thirteen."
The boy smirked, the air was cut twice by sound and light, and he held his two keyblades. "Never know until you try."
Vexen and Axel glanced at each other and moved out of the ring. Lexaeus stretched out his hand and allowed his tomahawk to come up out of the floor. "Since you asked so kindly, I won't mind sparring with you at all."
Roxas twirled his keyblades in his hand, settled into his fighting stance. "Good. You go first, Hero."
Lexaeus hefted his weapon up into the air, and felt… something.
The air burned with intensity around him, turning black and orange-red and rising in steady streams above his head. He could see dim, hollow shapes move amidst the colour, like totems of spirits. The earth beat beneath him, readying itself for his command.
Beyond the aura, he could hear Vexen collecting data and Axel make some sort of smart remark. But within it, he could hear only the sound of the forest and the quiet laughter of a woman turned shaman.
And within the hollow of his chest, a silent drum beat thrummed where his heart used to be, pulsing and pushing against his rib cage.
And he laughed.
Fin
AN. Happy Lexaeus day, everyone! (I'll probably add more end notes/grand hoorah when I finish posting this all over LiveJournal, ahaah.)