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Daybreak Town never truly slept.
The place was absolutely teeming with young, bright-eyed kids and teenagers taking their first steps out into the large world, and as one would expect, all of them had found their own way of going about their business now that the only adults in their life were the foretellers, who they rarely saw anyways. There were parties within each of the unions that would exclusively go on missions in the middle of the pitch black night, returning home just in time for a new wave of keyblade wielders to rise from their slumber to go on their merry way in the early hours of the morning. If there was one thing you could count on, is that at any hour of the day there were just as many people waking up to start their day as there were those finally returning home to rest.
Rould was one of those who preferred to travel during the night hours. While he didn’t have a party to call his own, there was something about the night atmosphere that enthralled him as he walked down the shadowy streets of Daybreak Town. Everyone was on a different, more electrifying energy. The people running in and out of the shops, the buskers who were always belting out tunes without a care as to who was asleep or not while they tried to earn munny to buy supplies, all of them were in a chaotic harmony that just didn’t feel quite the same when the sun was out. And then the absolute thrill of the heartless lurking deep in the shadows of the darkened city. It felt like it’s own dangerous adventure, and you didn’t even have to leave to another world to experience it.
On one particular night, Rould had completed his mission earlier than he normally would, and had returned back to Daybreak Town with time to spare to play a couple of games of cards with familiar faces in one of the gathering areas by Fountain Square. The games had ended as they always had, with the other keyblade wielders finally throwing their hands up in defeat, their wallets significantly lighter while Rould’s weighed heavily in his pocket. He left the place with an easy grin plastered across his face, eager to return home for some well deserved rest just before the sun began to rise. Though, despite the contentment he displayed, there was an underlying tension. He knew no matter what, there could be anything waiting in the shadows. Even with his excitement, it was important to stay on guard.
Which is why he quickly caught the sounds of something unfamiliar to him as he reached the doorstep outside of his flat. He paused in front of the door, listening intently. The sound of hauntingly quiet notes dripped down towards him, seemingly coming from the roof next door to his building. It almost sounded like a guitar, but not quite right. He had heard plenty of guitar players busking around Fountain Square, and their notes would sound sharp and clear. But this...it sounded almost distant, like it was being muffled by something despite his being absolutely certain that it was coming from nearby. He looked up towards the roof, and sure enough he saw a shadowy figure sitting up there, on the building next to his. Rould couldn’t quite make out what the person looked like, but he could see the outline of a keyblade in his arms.
Then it finally hit him. This mystery person wasn’t playing a guitar, no, he was playing his keyblade. He could just barely make it out, but he could see it. There were thin, glimmering wisp-like strings stretching from the teeth of the keyblade disappearing down past the person’s figure, presumably connecting to the hilt. Every pluck of the glowing strings came with another echoing note.
It was absolutely fascinating.
Without any hesitation, Rould began to scale up the side of the building. Climbing, climbing, climbing, until he reached the top. He finally got a good look at this mystery person just as the sun was beginning to rise.
As soon as Rould had popped up over the ledge, the young man who had been playing his keyblade jumped and yelped in surprise, the strings on his weapon disappearing as it clattered off his lap and vanished as well.
“Ellie, I was just about to come insi--you’re not Elrena.” The boy gaped at him.
“No, I am certainly not.” Rould responded, climbing up fully and sitting down next to the boy.
He seemed to be a couple of years younger than himself, with haphazardly cut sandy blond hair and sea green eyes. Rould had never seen him before, he was quite sure. Either he was not one who was usually up at this hour or he was new in town.
“I-uh, I’m, uh…” The boy stuttered. “I wasn’t keeping you up, was I? I was trying to be quiet.”
Rould chuckled. “You shouldn’t worry about that. No one ever bothers trying to keep quiet in this town, there’s no point. But don’t worry, I was just getting home when I saw you.” He leaned forward slightly. “How did you get your keyblade to do that?”
“Oh, the strings?” The boy shrugged. “I can’t really explain it...I couldn’t afford getting a guitar or anything, since Elrena and I just use our munny for supplies. But I wanted to play something, so I just kinda...thought really hard about it and I could?” The boy didn’t even seem satisfied with his own answer. “I’m sorry. I’m really bad at explaining things.”
Rould let out a low whistle nonetheless. “The heart does work in mysterious ways. Perhaps it heard your desire to play music and responded accordingly.”
The boy’s face brightened up at that. “You think so? I didn’t think my heart was strong enough to do that...Most people in my family were surprised that I even got a keyblade in the first place.” He sighed, his expression suddenly downcast again as he looked towards the sunrise. The colors were quickly starting to shift as the sun started its ascent into the sky.
“Chin up, why don’t you just keep playing…” Rould trailed off, realizing they hadn’t exchanged names yet.
“Edym.” The boy responded, catching on. “You?”
“Rould. Well then, Edym. Why don’t you play something? Show your family that your heart is strong enough to be able to do what you want.”
Edym’s face beamed as he summoned his keyblade into his arms again, his fingers gently touching one of its teeth as he carefully produced one of the glimmering strands, stretching it down towards the hilt carefully, as though sudden movement would cause it to snap. Rould watched with interest as he repeated the process. Edym gave the instrument a few test plucks, before finally settling back.
“Any requests?” He asked, looking over at Rould.
He shrugged. He wasn’t very attached to any particular tune. “Just keep doing what you were doing before. It was quite nice.”
And so Edym played some notes before he settled back into playing the same haunting tune that Rould had heard from his doorstep. And despite being right next to Edym as he played, it still had the distant, airy quality to it.
If it weren’t for the sun finally fully above the horizon, Rould wouldn’t have realized how long they had been sitting out there until he really felt the heat on his face and he realized that sleep was threatening to overtake his heavy eyelids. He almost considered just falling asleep up there, when he felt a weight suddenly hit his shoulder. Edym just as surprised as he was, jumping suddenly from where his head had lolled onto Rould’s shoulder.
“Oh, my bad!” He apologized quickly.
Before Rould could respond to tell him it didn’t bother him, another voice interrupted him.
“Edie, are you still up there?! Get back in here and get some goddamn sleep!” A girl’s voice suddenly shouted from below them.
Edym’s keyblade disappeared and he smiled apologetically to Rould. “Sorry for keeping you up like that. It was nice meeting you, but I’d better get to bed before my sister kills me.” Edym looked sheepishly at him before he leaned over the edge. “I’m coming, Ellie!”
“Wait!” Rould stretched his hand out before Edym could climb down and disappear from sight. “Would you like to join me on my mission tomorrow?” It was sudden, even for him. But there was something about Edym that intrigued him.
Edym looked at him, eyes widening for a moment. “Oh...Sure! I’d love to! You might have to wake me up though.”
Rould chuckled. “If your sister doesn’t wake you up first. But I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Edym laughed along with him, before he finally disappeared from the ledge. Rould took that as his own cue, hopping the short distance between buildings, turning just in time to see the flash of a girl with blonde hair closing the window that Edym had presumably disappeared into.
Very curious...very curious indeed.
--
Luxord had only been apart of the Organization for a couple of days when he heard it. He had just completed one of his first solo missions, and was absolutely ready to return to his room away from all the other members of this group he was now apart of. When he entered his empty room it took him a few moments to realize what he was hearing. The soft sounds of strings reverberated through his room, seemingly coming from outside of his window. He was fairly certain he didn’t recognize the tune being played in particular, yet the notes sent a strange chill down his spine that he couldn’t quite place as he approached the window. He leaned out of it, searching quickly for the source of the sound before he suddenly looked above him. Sure enough, there were a pair of familiar organization standard boots swinging thoughtlessly above him, and the shape of an unfamiliar instrument barely able to be made out from the shadows of the permanent night sky.
He only cleared his throat to make his presence known, and received a yelp in response as the instrument disappeared from the nobody’s hands.The face leaned down, his green eyes apologetic and...perhaps a bit scared? Though, Luxord had to remind himself that it had to be acted out, as none of them had hearts. At least that’s what everyone in this castle seemed to be drilling into his head every day along with the boundless amount of information and rules. He almost snorted at the thought. All these missions, every single day. It left him feeling hollow. Different than the usual kind.
“Sorry!” The man, who Luxord was fairly sure was number nine, squeaked. “I….kinda forgot we had a new member now. Usually this room was empty so I just. Let loose?”
“Why exactly are you outside?” Luxord asks, noting that it was raining as well.
“No one else wants to hear my music.” Nine rolled his eyes. “Outside is usually the only place I can do it. By these rooms since they’re empty. Or were empty. I’m probably gonna have to find a new place now….” Nine muttered that last part more to himself, than to Luxord.
“What gave you the idea that I wanted you to go away?”
“Uh...the fact that everyone else usually does?”
Luxord waved him off.” No, go right ahead. I much prefer this to any stuffy comment that Seven or Four have been giving me on a regular basis.”
Nine grinned at him and let out a, perhaps slightly exaggerated, laugh. “Oh, that’s because you’re new. They’ll back off soon enough and just kind glare at you instead.”
“I take it you speak from experience?”
“Oh, not me. They still yell at me pretty often.” Nine summoned his instrument again. “Any requests? And it’s Demyx by the way. Nine feels too formal.”
“Luxord. Just keep doing what you were doing before.”
Demyx nodded, plucking a couple of notes before returning to the melody he had been playing before. Both of them sat in silence, looking up at the dark sky. Rould felt the same chill that he had felt when he first heard Demyx playing.
Almost like they had done this before.