A Moment of Respite (Finished)

[shinjihirako]

Some rest was always appreciated by Roze even if he hadn't been doing much before. He rested against one of the walls sitting down on a small bed of rose petals his eyes closed enjoying the quiet. Of course Roze wasn't asleep but he was approaching it.

He wondered if there'd ever be a chance to rest like this again. The heartless but at the same time humans populated many parts of Traverse Town so it was common to feel a dark prescence but in the First District it would be considered odd. As well as that a rosy scent filled the area simply because of his prescence.

(crappy start but it'll pick up soon enough)

[antique]

There was only so much Antique could do to keep herself from being bored; she was Jadis' apprentice, but even still, there was still so much time to kill! Sure, she met so many interesting people, but the architecture---this place had lost it's interest. Tomorrow she'd find something wondrous about her second home, but for the moment, she was bored.

So, making her way from the Second District to the First, she sighed, thinking of ways that she could entertain herself. The Heartless cured that for a few hours when they tried to steal her heart and whatnot, but even that got old sometimes.

Lifting her electric pink and blue head, she thought something was off--there was a particular smell.

Roses?

In Traverse Town?

The smell sent nostalgic feelings of her adopted father's garden, and the month of May, the one month of the year where there was enough sunshine to have the flowers bloom.

"What a lovely smell..." she sighed out loud.

[shinjihirako]

"What a lovely smell..."

A voice broke through the silence that was first district, a young female's if he was to be correct. His eyes still closed he homed in on her with the gift that all heartless are given, the ability to sense hearts. This one was surprisingly full of light though there were still hints of darkness to be found. He sighed and stood up stretching like a cat as the rose petals faded away. He took a few steps out into the open turning his head slightly to look at the girl who had complimented the smell but at the same time interrupted his chance of sleep. Quickly he took a few steps towards her before stopping when he was 15 feet away.

She seemed rather short with astonishing eyes and a rather cute face but he didn't mark anything else down to remember this person by except the blue hair with an electric pink highlight just above her left eye. "I do not believe we have met before, I take it you are new here then?" Roze's voice held the soft delicate tone it always had which suited his gracefulness. In truth Roze had actually only been to traverse town only so many but he knew many of the faces of the city of endless night.

[antique]

Antique took in the sweet smell while she could, letting herself smell the flowers that reminded her of her adopted father's garden. They used to remind her of wonderful things, but as time went on, like anything that was good, it brought images of death, blood. Then again...burning bodies of knights with fires along with roses probably didn't make the association any better. Granted she didn't smell any burning wood at the moment, the smell was...gentle.

"Maybe you would instead prefer a rose; to see it in an almost falling pose...? With my hair and neck filled with sweet smell, I would be wrapped in death's scent as I fell..." she sang lightly as she looked up at the eternal night sky, folding her hands behind her back. She was unaware that anyone else was here--she tended to wander around, even when the rest of the town was sleeping.

"I do not believe we have met before, I take it you are new here then?"

She paused for a moment, and turned around to face him full, her skirt swaying with her movements, fluidly. Tilting her head, she wondered how long he had been there. He seemed to carry the smell of roses with him.

"Ah..." she said, her lips breaking into a delicate, almost carefree smile. "A few months now, actually," she said with a bit of a laugh, her eyes squinting warmly at him, a smile painted over her face.

"I'm Antique...and you are?"

[shinjihirako]

Antique, the name sounded smooth like water flowing in a river. Such wondrous things names were though ultimately only used to give a title to something. "Names are such odd things would you not agree? How we decorate them and fit them to things we know of or don't. Though I still have not answered, I am Miyabita Roze, Roze for short. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Roze ended with a slight bow to the girl, he enjoyed formalities to some extent but only in gestures, not in names. Miyabita was long winded to him and did not describe who he was. He was a simple rose, pleasing to look at but not to handle lest one be willing to experience it's thorns.

"So tell me Antique, what brought you to this city of never ending night, were you whisked away from your world by the darkness? Or did you simply come here of your own will?" Roze questioned with mild curiosity, though he may not like what humans have done, a human who realizes their races faults could be brought to the side of the dark.

[antique]

Roze was his name? Antique unconsciously brought her hand over her heart. So, Roze it was. Roze, the man with the delicate face. Roze, the man who smelled of roses. When he bowed, Antique looked a little bit shocked--the only person she had come across who was that formal in Traverse Town was perhaps Jadis--though her Lady had no idea to bow to anyone else.

Stepping back delicately, her head bowed, footwork allowing her into a graceful swoop of a curtsie. It was obvious the girl was very familiar to formal gestures, considering the ease she did it, like second nature.

"Nice to meet you, Roze," she said quietly, wondering what he had meant about names. "It seems your name fits you very well," she smiled. It did seem to fit him in a way, with his red hair and delicate appearance. Not to mention the smell. It was a contrast to how she perceived her name fitting her, anyway. But it was one of the few things she owned her entire life--Antique didn't perceive herself as aged or delicate or worth a significant amount of money--not a name that fit the word very well.

"So tell me Antique, what brought you to this city of never ending night, were you whisked away from your world by the darkness? Or did you simply come here of your own will?"

She straightened up, and looked up to the sky again, knowing that every time she looked up, there would be less and less stars. It was a delicate topic for everyone here, she could have said.

"I wish it had been the latter option," she chuckled, shutting her eyes. "The first, though...I wouldn't blame the darkness," she said quietly, not usually liking to mention that she thought it was her fault.

[shinjihirako]

As Antique performed a curtsy rather neatly he couldn't help but let a smile dart across his face. Apparently someone else held manners and formality, always in the last place you looked. "Yes, a suitable name that fits but I do not know if it is blissful serendepity or some work of my heart that I do not know of. And the name Antique fits for you quite well. Though most think of an Antique as an item that is simply aged or something to be purchased I think of it as something unique and hard to find or even one of a kind. I have met many people that all fall from the same story, same personality... same darkness within. That is why I believe your name fits quite well, your heart, though containing darkness, holds quite a large amount of light." Roze could almost not control what he was saying and with each word he knew he was treading in deep water. With luck Antique would not consider him some form of freak or thing to be cast aside.

Though the Heartless' own heart was coated in darkness there was still some light to be found in it. He listened closely and was rather perplexed, for many souls the heartless had come and simply taken there world from them but it almost seemed as if she blamed herself. "Tell me Antique, do you believe Heartless can feel emotion, that they can feel anger, sadness, love, envious, prideful, depressed?" Roze spoke calmly and buried beneath, a hint of sadness.

He had met people that thought his own emotions fake and something that did not exist, as if he was like a nobody. The nobody had no hearts to feel with but still had the memory of those emotions so they could pretend to show them. The Heartless were different, they still had hearts to feel with though many expressed dark emotions such as wrath and envy they still had the capability to feel things be it happiness or kindness. Perhaps that pertained to why he wished for a world of darkness, humans did not understand that heartless could still feel. But they could, he had held spite for Max for his arrogance, a form of kinship with Maverick because he had been abandoned by the light, and a feeling of friendship with Elaeus... his first and only friend.

[antique]

Antique smiled. His words were almost flattering without intending to be--she never did do too well with kind words about her. She was something rare to find? An inward chuckle--someone had called her an angel once, and it was hard to believe. Nothing, nothing of the sort. Don't get her wrong, she appreciated things like that, but she never really took any of it to heart. Well, she rationalized it....well, as if rare meant she were a little bit strange, then okay, yes, she could understand it.

It was funny how he had guessed what she was thinking though. Perhaps he was just a very empathetic person.

"That is why I believe your name fits quite well, your heart, though containing darkness, holds quite a large amount of light."

Once again, unconsciously, her hands rested over her heart. She looked at him curiously. Could he see hearts? Or was he being metaphorical?

"Tell me Antique, do you believe Heartless can feel emotion, that they can feel anger, sadness, love, envious, prideful, depressed?"

Curiouser and curiouser. It was a strange question, really, none that she really ever considered. And yet, she felt a hint of sorrow within the man who smelled of roses--she wanted to comfort him, though the physical distance between them made it a little bit awkward for her to approach. And, perhaps it was just a metaphor, but, she had tended her adopted father's garden before, and though she had taken care of the roses, she had also game out scratched as well.

Could the Heartless feel? She bowed her head. She was certain they could. Her former Queen's face. Eyes widening, she knew very well that they could. She had to shake the image from her mind, for it brought too many thoughts that were unpleasant--so she smiled. It was soft, though it was strained.

"I'm positive that they can," she said, and smiled at Roze. "Feelings and emotions," she said, and sighed. "I mean, there are always exceptions. There are humans I believe that cannot feel them, and there are Nobody's that can feel emotions, too."

She thought about Caxnon. She was positive he felt emotions. Her first friend in Traverse Town. "But the Heartless...I'm certain that they can, or at least, some kind. Perhaps it varies. I'm not sure..." she said softly. "I mean, I've never personally been one. But I'd like to believe they do..."

She shut her eyes to think. "Just because I don't understand them fully doesn't mean I can't give them the benefit of the doubt, right?"

[shinjihirako]

Roze turned around away from her but did not move and held his hand at an angle so he could see the palm. "I am glad that there is someone else that believes they can, because even I doubt that I can sometimes feel emotion." Roze spoke less calm as anger and sadness started to flood in. The thoughts of the ones who had denied him the privelige to believe his emotions were real. Unconciously a few rose petals materialized and started spinning around his body.

"Everyone has always been so foolish. To call our kind heartless when our hearts are more real than theirs. They believe they are part of the light but use deceit and trickery more than any other heartless. And our counterparts, the nobodies, they shouldn't have existed in the first place. Yet they continue to and get in the way of our goals. They wish for hearts that are no longer theirs and they should be punished for such atrocity." Rose's voice no longer was calm but was quiet and full of spite. More petals materialized and started to spin.

He turned his head to the side with one eye looking at Antique the petals not getting in the way of his vision. "I had said I was glad that you thought that way and I am but something tells me you would continue to side with humanity. Surely you have seen the atrocities they commit and cover up with the same heart that they deem pure when it is blacker than this towns sky! I want peace in this world but humans that deem themselves saviors and the nobodies interfere. I had called my name some act of serendepity or an unforeseen act of the heart and this is why. I am a heartless who brings roses under my command to bring judgement upon those who have yet to be judged. You could never be harmed by them though, your heart is too full of light to be judged as evil." Rose's voice had dimmed in it's spite and held it's soft pleasing tone at the end. This is why he could only have Elaeus as his friend, humans no matter who they were sided with humanity because they didn't want to believe that the heartless were in the right. A stray tear slipped out of the unseen eye but it was wiped away by a petal. His eyes burned, his body ached, his mind was blurry... everything seemed so out of place to him and yet for some reason he didn't care.

[antique]

Antique's eyes widened at the sight of rose petals, then relaxed at the display, as if she were in a daze. She sensed such sadness, such anger in the kind faced man. Emotions that were so strong they were almost overbearing. Her arms traveled up hold herself, to keep everything in--it was almost too much of a cognitive dissonance; lovely rose petals, a gentle face, but such anger and sadness. Spite.

She didn't think it was his intention to try and hurt her though, so she carefully took a couple of steps forward, palms open as her sides. He had said he was a Heartless--a Heartless with a human face. Her Queen. Immediately, guilt. Mixed feelings.

She stopped a few feet from him. Oddly not afraid. Curious, but not afraid. Guilt ridden, but not afraid.

"I..." she started lightly. If he was a Heartless, then he could see what her heart bore, though she had personally never seen it before. "I don't believe I can even imagine to understand what you've gone through...to say that would be me lying..." she said, sighing. "I do agree with you on some points though..." she said, looking at him with fuchsia eyes. Eyes that tried to understand. "Humanity...we're not as squeaky clean as we say we are...and there are...really...really bad people out there that do bad things in the name of good. I mean, alot...I would know," she said, and sighed. "But at the same time, there are also very good people out there--at least, that's what I would like to believe. So when I side with humanity," she said, tilting her head. "It's because I want to believe that there are good people out there. The innocent, the ones that need to be defended."

She touched her chest. "And it's possibly because we're afraid. When I first saw a Heartless," she said, looking at the ground. "I didn't understand. But it's probably what lies under it all is a lack of understanding."

She looked at him. "I've only met one other with a face like yours..." she said, and trailed off, shutting her eyes. She didn't like the flood of memories that came with it. "And what I did was probably unforgivable. It's not an excuse that I don't understand. I simply do not. Not everything."

Fighting back tears, she raised a sleeve to her eyes to wipe them, though a few managed to escape. But she wasn't crying for herself. No, these tears were for him.

[shinjihirako]

"Do not think I am taking this from my memories. I had lost those for so long but they they have been steadily coming back, so far alls I know is that I did not choose this existence. But I believe I am all the better for it, I see things clearly. These beliefs have come from my observations of humans for the past year. Though it may be data it is the same as if I had experienced it." As he spoke the blur in his head continued, he could only make out one thing in it, it was him when he was human, when he was a child.

Roze turned around towards her again and the petals started to form around his right hand. And once they had all collected it had formed a single rose head. From that the steam, thorns, and leaves formed around it and with that the red rose changed to a deep blue. "You... are correct, I believe that some humans should continue to exist, though it is what comes after that bothers me. Their offspring may have the same dark hearts as others and the problem would rise again. As for the understanding... I don't believe people want to understand. Prejudice may ultimately win against reasoning, and that is my one true fear." There was no longer anger in Rose's voice, just the sadness that knowledge brings. The spite was gone and he watched as a few tears fell from Antique's eyes.

"Please do not cry, you shall make the emotion rose sad." The rose he held in his hand was no longer a deep blue but was a dark violet. He held it out to Antique with a smile. "The heart is a wondrous thing you know, the darkness and light playing against eachother but at the same time living in peace. If something such as that were possible I think I could die with a smile." As he spoke he looked towards the sky at the shining stars and smiled.

[antique]

Antique was a silent crier, really. Perhaps it had come from years of practice; but the only evidence of it was on her face. Very rarely did she cry in front of anyone--perhaps it was the cultural distress that coming from a new world put on her. She was always so cheerful and happy, and smiling! But to do something like this was...a little bit weird for her. When it was time for bed, or when she was alone she'd shed tears sometimes for fallen comrades, or even enemy knights from other kingdoms.

"I wish I could predict what would happen," she said quietly. "I can't say that the next generations children will be good hearted or bad hearted...all I can do is protect what precious things there are now," she said lightly. She smiled. "I can't say, I mean, that I aim to make a utopia or anything of the sort--there has to be a balance with everything...kind of like how darkness needs the light, and how daytime needs the night? It's like the two are always one...a harmony, almost," she said. "As long as there are both..." she said, and paused. "Everything is fine. It's when there's too much of something....I fear the day when there is too much light....but...I could say that for the other too."

He held the rose out to her, and she smiled a little bit, wiping off more tears. "I'm sorry...I really don't do that too often..." she said, cautiously reaching out for the rose, which had turned dark violet. She paused though, and looked up to him. Not that she was suspicious, but she wasn't used to things like receiving gifts--her eyes questioned him if it was really okay.

"People might not want to understand because they're afraid," she whispered. "I'd like to know more," she said. "You seem very kind, Roze. I'm not sure I could dislike you just because of what you are. But if you're willing to put up with a girl who seems to want to cry today," she said, smiling softly, "I wouldn't mind learning more," she said quietly, holding her palm out to him, innocently, perhaps too trusting--not for the rose in his hand, but for him.
She rubbed her eyes again with her sleeve, biting down on her lip.

[shinjihirako]

"You do not have to apologize for something so natural. Tears can be shared among many or held by ones self. Tears are important because if you feel sadness for something that means you actually cared for something or someone. Roze's voice was calm and held some joy. As Antique stopped in taking the rose and looked at him as if she were unsure that she should take it. "If you do not want it you have no obligation to take it. A rose always scratches those who it is forced onto."

As she held out her palm he reached out and grasped it as a mutual sign of trust. "If you wish to know more then simply ask and I shall answer. Of course there are certain things that I am not allowed to answer but those are few and far between." Roze held a smile and a joyful tone to his voice, perhaps he would have another friend along the way.

[Shun]

((Yes, I'm a meany mean person <3))

"Or maybe because the Heartless plant seeds of fear in them, like when they kill innocent people?" His voice was loud, but still calm. The man had managed to lower his aura, and he had succeeded. He had been drawn nearby by the sweet smell or roses, just before the red headed has asked if the Heartless could feel. The Heartless... those damned creatures of darkness. Sure, this one seemed way more pacific and less dangerous than the other ones, but Mikael wasn't one to trust immediately, specially when talking about Heartless.

Jumping down the building where he was standing, the fire user landed near the other two, looking at Roze carefully. "Excuse me for the sudden entrance, and for interrupting your conversation. I believe some introductions would be appropiate," he said, smiling at the son of darkness. "My name is Mikael, Mikael Darrow, nice to meet you Roze." He held out his hand for the man to shake. Why was he willing to shake hands with a Heartless? One, Roze didn't look hostile. Two, he didn't deserve to be judged. And three, Antique was there. "Good to see you again, my curious rabbit."

Mikael glanced the red crystal hanging on his neck, dark energy being its core. Memories of Mira came to his mind as his eyes became watery. But he did not cry; not even a tear escaped his eyes. She wouldn't have liked that... Mira. She has been strong and skillfull; she didn't need anyone to cry for her. Looking at Roze once more, Mikael spoke, ready to defend his believes against the Heartless ideals.

"Well, I think Heartless can feel emotions, but their strength depends of their heart power. For example, you, a human shaped Heartless, can feel the same as a human. But a Shadow's emotions wouldn't be as strong; they would be vague and fading, like a shadow. About humanity's "innocence", I also believe that we, humans, aren't sweet, white doves of peace. Our kind has made many mistakes, but that doesn't mean that we must all perish. There is something called redemption, which will forgive our sins. Now, if you disagree with this, let me ask you something. Why should the Heartless be forgiven for the destruction of the many worlds and the death of people? While many of those people did terrible things, others were innocent, some even pure hearted. I mean, if you are against all the human race for things some people, but not all of them, did, then why should we not be against the Heartless?" Mikael paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Light, darkness... they are the same. How we use them makes the difference." The young man was wary, mad at, and maybe even afraid of darkness. But now, after the many things that had happened, the fire user learned that darkness was not evil.

[shinjihirako]

(i'd wish you'd have asked first before joining but as long as it's fine with Antique you can stay.)