A/N: Ta-DAH! Finally, another update for an actual story of mine! It's getting easier to write for this one as I now have two perspectives to write from! I love writing from Zexion's perspective, but he's such a depressing guy, no matter what circumstance I put him in. Demyx definitely makes things happier for me to write! And as it's Christmas, I need to have some happy writing. SO! I hope you all enjoy this! By the way, a kind of chart to figure out how to tell the difference from people of the North, South, East and West, since I got confused myself:
North: Silver or blonde hair, green or blue eyes, very pale
South: Brown or black hair, brown or amber eyes, dark skin
East: Red hair, blue or green eyes, peach complexion
West: Brown hair, blue eyes, slightly darker complexion
Hope that helps!
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (CoM, II) belong to Square Enix
Quietly, Zexion padded out of the Queen's room through the tucked-away door in the back. This was a door that lovers and bed warmers were specifically supposed to use so that others would not see someone coming out of the Queen's chambers. If, say, a guard or a royal priest saw a slave such as Zexion walking out of the Queen's chambers with dishevelled hair and shaky hands, there would be whispers and the Queen's reputation would be utterly destroyed. So she had to be very careful with her consorts, and thus the secret door in the back.
The door itself led to the Second Gardens. This was a garden of fruit trees and bushes and captured butterflies. It was the only garden in the palace that had a glass-domed ceiling to keep the butterflies from escaping. The door into the gardens was tucked behind a large plum tree, the petals pink and purples and the fruit picked to be used in banquets. None of the trees in the garden were native to the Southern lands, where the weather was harsh, hot and dry. This was the second reason for the glass dome above. With the glass dome, the scientists of the kingdom had devised a way to control the temperature and climate so that the trees and other plant life could grow naturally. It was a very clever invention and one that the Kingdom of the South was most famous for.
Zexion thought it to be an unnatural beauty—something to hear about, yet to actually see it was too strange, too abnormal.
He sighed, placing a hand on the bark of the plum tree and looking at it with blank eyes. He could not stop shaking. It was probably because he had absolutely nothing in his stomach, which was a very bad thing for him, yet he didn't move towards the kitchen to amend that. He didn't want to face Cid just then, nor the other servants like Kairi or Yuffie or Selphie. He didn't want their questions and their fake concerns, because he knew that he was just a slave and therefore he couldn't have anyone worry about him except for himself.
Shaking his head, he wiped a hand through his hair and continued his way through the garden pathways, making his way towards the hall to his room. He would just lie down and sleep for a while. Perhaps he'd feel better by dinner time.
"Axel, are we there yet?"
The redhead looked away from the road for a moment to the young man beside him looking at him in what seemed to be pure boredom. His lips twitched at the sight of his friend, usually a bouncing, gangly, much-too-tall nuisance, slumped over in the world-known stance of a bored child wishing the road trip was over. Smirking, he removed a hand from the reins he held and patted Demyx's shoulder, looking back to the road. "Not quite yet, my friend. It's another half a day's ride yet."
"But Axel! The cart's uncomfortable, I can't feel my ass, and my sitar is bouncing around probably so out of tune that it's in pain! Can't we at least make a camp for the night? All we've been doing is riding and riding and riding, only stopping to piss!"
It was statements such as these that reminded Axel that Demyx was not a child, but a full grown man. It was way too easy to forget.
"I don't want to be even a day later than we promised, Dem. I know usually we can just go as we please, but that's when we're just going from city to city, earning our money and getting the hell out. Now we're actually hired, and therefore on a deadline. Be grateful I'm letting you guys piss at all."
"I think Riku would kill you if you don't stop."
Axel frowned a little bit as he glanced at the silver haired youth in the next cart over, rubbing a hand over his face. It's true that the entire troupe was exhausted from this journey to the South. They had been travelling nonstop from the far reaches of the West just to get to the kingdom in time. Axel bit his lip, thinking of the invitation given to their troupe to perform during the week festivities of the Queen's birthday, before he shook his head, looking at Demyx. "Go relieve Riku from driving and let him sleep in the back. We can't stop, but we'll start alternating who controls the carts and who sleeps."
Demyx frowned before he nodded and hopped off the moving cart, jumping onto Riku's and gently taking the reins from the silver haired boy. He looked at him in confusion and Demyx smiled, indicating for him to go sleep in the back, which Riku did gratefully with a few muttered words of thanks. Demyx then looked over to see Axel nodding to him before the redhead took the lead, leaving Demyx to ride behind him.
The blonde thought as he watched the road, listening to the sounds of the caravan. There were a few women singing in the back, trying to keep spirits up, while a few of the smaller children and younger girls slept in piles for warmth and a sense of security. Demyx smiled at that; he remembered when he would sleep in the pile, arms around the children as they all kept close to him. It was a feeling of family and security, something which he loved.
Axel had then told him that he had to sleep in his own bed as he was getting too old to sleep in the piles. Of course, this was very true, but it still made Demyx sad that he now had to sleep alone with no sense of company and therefore no sense of family, comfort or security. It was sometimes hard to sleep at night. On those nights, he often played his sitar.
A silence had fallen over the road after Demyx had taken charge of Riku's cart, something the blonde hadn't noticed before. He noticed it then, though, when a woman's soft voice started to sing one of the new babies born in the troupe to sleep.
"I see you are lying there,
Sleepy eyes,
Sleepy Head.
I see you are lying there,
In my arms
To sleep.
I see you are watching me
Watching you
Sleepy Head
I see you are watching me
Singing you
To sleep.
Why don't you close your eyes?
Close your thoughts,
Sleepy Head
I will carry you tonight
In my arms
To sleep.
I will protect you from
Boogey men
Sleepy Head
No little critter bugs
Will bother you
So sleep.
Why don't you dream simple things?
Pretty things,
My Sleepy Head
Dream the most wondrous things
I can't dream,
So sleep.
I see you are resting there,
Peaceful breaths,
Sleepy Head.
I see you are dreaming now,
So quiet down,
And sleep…"
Smiling, Demyx hummed along with the woman as she repeated the song, watching the road with a dreamy expression.
Zexion was forced awake by Kairi shaking him urgently.
He sat up and looked at her curiously, straightening his hair with his fingers as she fidgeted trying to say something but unable to just spit it out like she usually did. When he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly she sighed and plopped down on the floor beside him, straightening her skirt so that her thighs were covered.
"Okay. So, the Queen just came to me to ask where you were. I told her that you were sleeping, begging her pardon, and asked if she wanted me to get you; she said no though. So I thought that was fine. She then turns to tell me that you might want to get up though because something big is happening right now and she would appreciate your presence."
"Subtly ordering my being there. Alright, thank you Kairi. Why didn't you just tell me to go?"
"Uhm…Because I was wondering why the Queen wanted to know where you were like you weren't where she expected you to be?"
Zexion looked to the side at this question, lips tightening as he thought over his answer. He couldn't tell her the truth—that he had been with the Queen earlier that day and had left her bedchambers when he had woken up, returning to his own room to sleep—as that would cause her to grown concerned for him. He didn't need that. As he had decided before, the only person who needed to worry about him was he himself. He glanced over to see Kairi looking at him with curious eyes and sighed, shaking his head.
"I should have been up and about. What slave has the right to sleep while he is on duty, after all? Anyhow, thank you for waking me. Where is the Queen now?"
"Uhm…I think she would be getting ready for the big banquet. Are you going to serve her?"
"It is my duty to, and if she wants me there for whatever reason then I might as well. If I were hiding in the back, there would be no point to my being there would there?" Kairi smiled, shaking her head. Zexion nodded then, standing and tying his robe around his waist, straightening it and running his fingers through his hair again. "…I should bathe soon."
"You can do that tonight after the banquet. I'll make sure there's a bath for you, alright?" Kairi stood up as well, brushing off her backside of any dust before grinning at him. "Shall we get to the kitchens then?"
"Hm?"
"I'm serving Prince Roxas tonight, since I wanted to see what the big event was. So I asked him. He's so approachable! Oh, yeah! Prince Roxas would appreciate it if you stopped avoiding him. And His Highness Prince Cloud would like it if you took a walk with him after the banquet. I was asked to deliver both of those messages." She paused, before pouting. "Man, why do you get to hang around the princes so much, Zexion? I mean, I know they've known you much longer than I, but I'm a girl and I'm pretty cute, if I do say so myself. You'd think one of them would ask for my company once in a while."
"I don't think either of the princes is interested in that, Kairi," Zexion said with a straight face, inwardly grimacing when he thought of Cloud with Kairi. He didn't think Prince Cloud would ever be with any woman, let alone hyperactive, slightly irritating but still loveable Kairi.
"Mm…I guess you would know the best, right? You seem to be the person they talk to the most. I think the entire Royal Family talks to you, except for the King of course. Hm. I wonder if that's because you're a slave and therefore you can't tell anyone what they tell you. No…I doubt that's it." He really didn't. "I mean, usually Royal Families don't even trust the slaves with secrets. There must be something about you…something trustworthy. Heh, even I trust you with things I don't trust with my own mother." She smiled sheepishly when he looked at her incredulously. "Well…it's that sense or whatever you give out. You just seem to scream, 'Trust me, I'm honest!' It's nice to see within the palace, you know?" She rubbed the back of her head then flushing. "A-anyway…I think we should get going! The banquet's bound to start soon and you have to tell the servant serving the Queen that you'll be serving her! Come on!"
She grabbed his wrist then, dragging him off, leaving Zexion alone with his thoughts pertaining what she had just said.
Zexion knelt behind the Queen as he placed her food in front of her. When she glanced back at him, he kept his eyes lowered to the ground. He didn't even flinch when she touched his cheek in a mock of affection.
"I'm glad you're here, Zexion. I thought you would like to see this," she whispered, before turning back to face the man who stood before her. Behind him stood an arrangement of colourfully dressed people, including a man with silver hair and a man with blonde hair and blue eyes. Zexion was staring at them with quiet interest, making sure to make it look like he wasn't paying the least bit attention to them; however, his deep grey eyes were fascinated by the people that held an audience with the Queen.
"We are relieved that your troupe has arrived safely into our borders, our entertaining friends," the Queen said loudly then in her best majestic voice. Queen Larxene had a beautiful voice when she wanted it to be beautiful and commanding of respect. "You look very weary however; was the trip a long one?"
"Your Majesty," the red headed man spoke, stepping forward and sweeping a bow to the Queen. She nodded and he straightened, looking at her with a smile. "We have travelled from the Western Lands. However, we thought it only proper that we should travel quickly so that we might arrive in time for your most highly anticipated birthday and the celebrations that will follow it for the following week." He paused, looking at everyone in the area. He had acid green eyes and looked remarkably like the man Zexion had wanted to be bought by, many years ago now. "We hope that our simple troupe will entertain you and your court and the people of the streets, as that is what we aim to do."
"We hope the very same, friends. Yet the celebrations do not commence until next week. You have a week of rest so that you may all sleep away your weary travels as well as prepare your stages across my capital city." The troupe all bowed as one then, and Zexion looked them over one more time before catching eyes with the blonde haired, blue eyed mane most definitely from the North; it was easy to tell from his light coloured hair and eyes (the Queen herself was from the North; the marriage between the Queen and the King was a complicated one). He stared at the man for a good while, watching as his mouth fell open a little and a flush crawled across his face. Zexion smiled a little to see the flush, making the man look younger and sweet. He then remembered what he was and quickly glanced down, feeling his ears burn.
What had he been thinking? He wasn't allowed to stare at anyone like that. It wasn't proper for his station.
Demyx inwardly sighed and held back a yawn as Axel spoke to the Queen of the South: a pale woman, who obviously came from the North, yet seemed more comfortable in this dreadfully hot country. He didn't see the appeal himself, as he was already sweating horribly…but he wasn't going to say anything. Once the necessary discussion happened and they were invited into the city properly, they all swooped down into a bow. Demyx took that moment to look at the people around the banquet, his eyes catching onto a young man sitting behind the Queen in nothing but a tie-around robe on his thin waist. He seemed smaller than he should've been, yet tall and regal at the same time; almost as if he could be a prince. Yet both the princes were seated to the Queen's right…
Demyx stared at the man, fascinated as the man's eyes caught his own. They were the deepest grey he had ever seen before, his hair a wonderful shade of he didn't even know. He couldn't tell where exactly the man had come from; he had dark features yet he was as pale as any Northerner. He felt heat come to his cheeks as a small smile came to the man's lips before suddenly his eyes shot to the ground. What was that?
They all straightened then and turned, leaving the banquet hall to return to their troupe. Demyx caught up with Axel.
"Who was the guy sitting behind the Queen?"
"Hm? Oh, that was most likely a slave of some sort. You couldn't tell from the tie-around he wore?" Demyx looked at him incredulously and Axel laughed. "Right, right, the North doesn't keep slaves. They just loose people to the slave trade and 'widower's taxes'. Okay. Well, slaves only have one item of clothing that they use for everything, and that's the tie-around. It's the same in the East and the West as well as the South. The robe is used for a blanket, a towel, clothing, to clean floors and to collect fruits and stuff. Pretty much his all-around useful item. Of course, if it's being used to carry something, the slave has to walk around without anything on, so usually slaves get baskets from cooks or something to do chores like that. Most likely that was the Queen's personal slave; he's likely to be a bed warmer as much as a general slave." Axel shrugged then, looking at Demyx curiously. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. I couldn't really tell where he was from."
"Well…from his eyes…I'd say the South. He's pale, though, but even Southerners can get pale. Especially if they're a mixed bred. Maybe his mother's from the North and his father's a Southerner. It's not like it matters. We'll never get the chance to ask him."
"Why's that?"
"Well, if it's a royal slave, he was bought when he was still a child and grew up in the palace. Most likely, he doesn't even remember where he's from." Axel then smiled, patting his shoulder before walking ahead of the group again, leaving Demyx alone to think.
Couldn't even remember where he was from? That was a sad thought…