Post by Vortrex on Feb 28, 2008 18:31:59 GMT -5
The Hall of Empty Melodies.
It hadn’t been nearly so empty when Demyx had still been with us. He would sit in there for hours, plucking away at that silly sitar of his, day and night. Sometimes he would conjure up water clones, making them dance wildly across the large hall, just because he could.
Most times, though, he would just play, just to hear the sounds of his notes reverberating back at him. Man, did that place echo. Dem could be playing all by himself in there, but the second you walked into the hall, it just felt like you were surrounded by a whole chorus of strings; the music came at you from every direction until you felt like you were being swallowed up by it, as completely as being swallowed up by the shadows.
No, more like being swallowed up by the light. It had never felt morbid in that hall, not with that cheery smile on Demyx’s face that not only brightened up that hall, but the entire castle.
Man, was that an amazing feeling. I’d walk in on the kid all the time in the middle of his jam sessions, sometimes for no reason at all. When he was playing he got so wrapped up in it that I could stand in there for ten minutes without him noticing me, and then eventually he’d look up, and look all surprised to see me standing there. He’d climb to his feet real quick, apologizing, blushing, trying to mollify me. Since I was his superior and all, I had to be there for some important reason, right?
Nah. I’d make up reasons to be there, make up messages from other members of the castle, so he wouldn’t know why I’d really come. I bet I confused the poor kid, probably thought I was messing with him, sending him all over the castle with fake missions.
Even after I realized I could place myself on the ceiling and sit in there for hours and never draw him attention, I still liked to walk in on him the other way, to see the look on his face change when he saw me. It was worth it, just to be able to walk in, and have the room really vibrating with life, all around me, to see that peaceful look on Dem’s face as he plucked out random chords, and filled that whole fucking hall.
Empty. Yeah, real funny, Superior.
Xemnas’d named it when Dem had come to the castle, right after he’d found out the kid played an instrument. He liked the irony of it, he’d said. That music was always empty without feeling, and since the kid had no heart and no feelings, his music would be just that. Empty.
But he’d never walked into that hall when Demyx was playing, he’d never seen the look on that kid’s face, and he’d never heard the raw emotion that flowed from his fingertips.
If he had, he would have had to revise his whole theory about our lack of hearts. Dude, if anyone had a heart that kid did. He was all heart.
But with him gone, the music and life had been ripped from the room, as surely as if I had had a heart it would have been ripped from my chest when that news came back to me.
Curse him. Curse that brat for losing to Roxas or Sora or whoever the heck the Keyblade Holder was. It didn’t matter. Demyx was gone now, and he’d left a gaping black hole in the castle where there should have been music and life.
He’d left a gaping black hole in my chest where there should have been a heart. If I had one. When Dem had been there, I really believed I had.
Even if I hadn’t had a heart, there had been something. There had been some void of space within me that Demyx’s music had filled, there had been some SOMETHING that had made him and his music and his smiles special to me, and now with it gone, I was painfully aware of it.
I’d been spending time in the Hall of Empty Melodies ever since. I felt right there, in the place Demyx had once made his own, I felt like the now truly empty hall matched how I somehow felt inside, and it was less painful than dealing with the rest of the slowly emptying castle.
Somewhere within me I clung to the hope that he’d come back maybe, and the entire hall would come to life suddenly, just jump into motion around me, and fill the void in the room and the void in my chest, and then I’d see him sitting in the corner, strumming, strumming, not even noticing his small audience. If he did come back, I would find him here.
He wasn’t coming back, and I knew it, but hell, if the kid had made me feel, he could make me be hopeful. Even if the hope was pointless.
If I thought hard enough, though, I could feel the music, hollow and vacant, like a bad recording. Not the music so much as the memory of music. It was nice to pretend that he would return.
I’d been there when Saïx reported that the traitor was in the castle. I was to wait there for him. If he got past all the Nobodies within the castle, I had orders to take him out. I didn’t need the orders. I was more than ready to wrap my hands around the Keyblade Holder’s scrawny neck, to nail him right through his restored heart, to yank the world out from underneath him.
Killing the kid who had taken away Demyx, had taken away the music, and the life from this hall… that’d be no problem on my conscience. And killing him here, in Demyx’s hall, would be the ultimate justification.
And, well, if the traitor won, as he just might, at least I’d be vaporized here. At least my memory could fade away with the faded fingerprints of music in the hall, and would mingle with whatever trace of Demyx’s spirit had been left behind. If I had to be nothing, than at least I could be nothing here.
It hadn’t been nearly so empty when Demyx had still been with us. He would sit in there for hours, plucking away at that silly sitar of his, day and night. Sometimes he would conjure up water clones, making them dance wildly across the large hall, just because he could.
Most times, though, he would just play, just to hear the sounds of his notes reverberating back at him. Man, did that place echo. Dem could be playing all by himself in there, but the second you walked into the hall, it just felt like you were surrounded by a whole chorus of strings; the music came at you from every direction until you felt like you were being swallowed up by it, as completely as being swallowed up by the shadows.
No, more like being swallowed up by the light. It had never felt morbid in that hall, not with that cheery smile on Demyx’s face that not only brightened up that hall, but the entire castle.
Man, was that an amazing feeling. I’d walk in on the kid all the time in the middle of his jam sessions, sometimes for no reason at all. When he was playing he got so wrapped up in it that I could stand in there for ten minutes without him noticing me, and then eventually he’d look up, and look all surprised to see me standing there. He’d climb to his feet real quick, apologizing, blushing, trying to mollify me. Since I was his superior and all, I had to be there for some important reason, right?
Nah. I’d make up reasons to be there, make up messages from other members of the castle, so he wouldn’t know why I’d really come. I bet I confused the poor kid, probably thought I was messing with him, sending him all over the castle with fake missions.
Even after I realized I could place myself on the ceiling and sit in there for hours and never draw him attention, I still liked to walk in on him the other way, to see the look on his face change when he saw me. It was worth it, just to be able to walk in, and have the room really vibrating with life, all around me, to see that peaceful look on Dem’s face as he plucked out random chords, and filled that whole fucking hall.
Empty. Yeah, real funny, Superior.
Xemnas’d named it when Dem had come to the castle, right after he’d found out the kid played an instrument. He liked the irony of it, he’d said. That music was always empty without feeling, and since the kid had no heart and no feelings, his music would be just that. Empty.
But he’d never walked into that hall when Demyx was playing, he’d never seen the look on that kid’s face, and he’d never heard the raw emotion that flowed from his fingertips.
If he had, he would have had to revise his whole theory about our lack of hearts. Dude, if anyone had a heart that kid did. He was all heart.
But with him gone, the music and life had been ripped from the room, as surely as if I had had a heart it would have been ripped from my chest when that news came back to me.
Curse him. Curse that brat for losing to Roxas or Sora or whoever the heck the Keyblade Holder was. It didn’t matter. Demyx was gone now, and he’d left a gaping black hole in the castle where there should have been music and life.
He’d left a gaping black hole in my chest where there should have been a heart. If I had one. When Dem had been there, I really believed I had.
Even if I hadn’t had a heart, there had been something. There had been some void of space within me that Demyx’s music had filled, there had been some SOMETHING that had made him and his music and his smiles special to me, and now with it gone, I was painfully aware of it.
I’d been spending time in the Hall of Empty Melodies ever since. I felt right there, in the place Demyx had once made his own, I felt like the now truly empty hall matched how I somehow felt inside, and it was less painful than dealing with the rest of the slowly emptying castle.
Somewhere within me I clung to the hope that he’d come back maybe, and the entire hall would come to life suddenly, just jump into motion around me, and fill the void in the room and the void in my chest, and then I’d see him sitting in the corner, strumming, strumming, not even noticing his small audience. If he did come back, I would find him here.
He wasn’t coming back, and I knew it, but hell, if the kid had made me feel, he could make me be hopeful. Even if the hope was pointless.
If I thought hard enough, though, I could feel the music, hollow and vacant, like a bad recording. Not the music so much as the memory of music. It was nice to pretend that he would return.
I’d been there when Saïx reported that the traitor was in the castle. I was to wait there for him. If he got past all the Nobodies within the castle, I had orders to take him out. I didn’t need the orders. I was more than ready to wrap my hands around the Keyblade Holder’s scrawny neck, to nail him right through his restored heart, to yank the world out from underneath him.
Killing the kid who had taken away Demyx, had taken away the music, and the life from this hall… that’d be no problem on my conscience. And killing him here, in Demyx’s hall, would be the ultimate justification.
And, well, if the traitor won, as he just might, at least I’d be vaporized here. At least my memory could fade away with the faded fingerprints of music in the hall, and would mingle with whatever trace of Demyx’s spirit had been left behind. If I had to be nothing, than at least I could be nothing here.