Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bragi, or, rather Luxu, didn’t know what to do with all the time he had. Going for a late night stroll, he looked to the clock at the center of Scala ad Caelum. It was around 3am but from this distance it was nearly impossible to read the clock. He was going on this walk to see good spots to fake a death. Luxu wanted to hold onto this vessel for longer than what the universe had planned for it, luckily the universe seemed to not plan for Luxu being there. About to turn back to the sleeping quarters for students, Luxu realized if he headed back but got caught he would have no cover story. And he didn’t want to get into more trouble than he was already in. So, shuffling his feet around he turned to the direction of the library. Students sneaking off at night to study or practice wasn’t uncommon. Specifically, two students had the biggest track record of this, Xehanort and Eraqus. Xehanort would creep off to the library to study, while Eraqus would sneak out to practice. They also reminded him of Ira, who would disappear to do both.

The dandelions on the way to the library only bloomed at night. As strange as that was, they were bright and warded off Heartless from Scala ad Caelum. Luxu tried to not pay attention to them, besides, they remind him of those times where Luxu would sit on the hill with Ava and make flower crowns out of the blooms they could find. They laughed a lot there. Eventually, they argued and the bells tolled, and she died. He was staring again and had stopped walking. Picking up his feet and turning his eyes, he started to continue on, yet there was a strange russell sound around the window planter. Looking back at the flowers, something had blown their tufts to the wind, but there was no wind that night and Luxu was too far from the flowers to have caused their dispersion. What made it look even more suspicious was the fact the flowers in the middle of the group were the ones depuffed. Almost like a person purposefully hit those flowers. But no one else was here. However strange it was, it made Luxu remember Ava’s union members, specifically the dandelion union she had. And for the second he remembered the union, Luxu could have sworn he felt eyes on the back of his head. He was used to the sensation though. He often felt it when he was in the room with No Name. That or when someone was suspicious of him.

Deciding he had spent enough time with flowers, Luxu hit the brick road. Traveling past houses and official buildings, he arrived at the library. A large building, painted white but still standing out from the surrounding architecture as it was always built upon, never destroyed. The top looked like it fit current Scala, while the middle reflected Scala ad Caelum’s early years, and the first floor looked like something from Daybreak town. His heart pulsed when he looked at it, missing home. Opening the door, he smelled books that were being printed, as well as those that were collecting dust. It was comforting, as the Master of Masters smelled of old books and sea salt. Luxu traced the title of a book on the counter. No one was behind the counter because the library was closed, but Scala ad Caelum was so safe the people didn’t even lock their doors at night, trusting each other entirely too much. Luxu looked for a book to pick up that wouldn’t arouse suspicion. He chose a book that went over the basics of world formation and had a map of the worlds in it. Bragi was fully interested in world formation, saying he hoped to make his own one day. But Luxu didn’t hope anymore, and he didn’t care. Just one foot in front of the other while killing time, centuries, to be exact. Time was one hard bastard to kill when you didn’t know how much you had on your hands but were waiting on something important. The Foretellers would have understood. Ava would have understood. While pulling out the book from the row in front of him, the row behind him fell over to the ground. Jumping around, he found no Xehanort to blame for this. No one but himself.

Taking his time, he picked up the books and arranged them back in the right order. Luxu had helped at the library a few times and so he remembered the order they were organized in. Basically, in a way no one could find what they wanted unless they asked. Taking his book, he went upstairs then to the back. Pushing on the wall, then pulling on a lamp, Luxu opened the door. Xehanort had found this hideaway anyway, not first, but Luxu let him think that. Luxu, in fact, had carved it out. So, technically he found it first, but Xehanort showed it to him and Bragi was around 17 with no background in carpentry, so he played along. Like every other life. He hated lying, but he would do it. For the mission. All for the mission.

Going inside, there was Xehanort, engrossed in a historical book that was most likely over the Great Keyblade War of old. Luxu thought that maybe he should have taken a more adult vessel and applied to teach, or even better, be an old shopkeeper with theories that kids flock to in hopes to understand what happened. But the cards were dealt for this hand and he had to play. Sitting down across from Xehanort, the motion didn’t draw his eyes from the book, but instead drew words from his mouth. “Same deal as always?”

“Yeah, birds of a feather and all that.” Their deal was that neither of them would directly rat out the other for being out past curfew if they weren’t caught, and if they were they would vouch for each other. Whoever arrived at the library first had to say they pushed the other to go. The room wasn’t sparse. Luxu had made sure of that, as he thought he was going to be the only one in it. Though what Xehanort brought in to add something to the place, it wasn’t overlooked. It was a little too new compared to the rest of the items, wallpaper, and flooring. But it was nice, they helped tell time without a clock. It was a fancy pot from the Academy with a dandelion.

“So…”

“Something you want to talk about, Bragi?” he asked, still not turning from his book. Luxu bent over the floor table they shared in the late hours of the night. He strained his eyes to read upside down. Xehanort snapped the book shut in his face.

“Dude!” Bragi exclaimed, “You got my nose. Watch it next time!”

“Top fighter Bragi can’t handle a little pain?” Xehanort smirked.

“As if!”

“So what were you peeking over here for?”

“What are you looking to learn in those old books? They’re boring. History is done and over. This-” he holds up his world formation book, “is the future. The new worlds are our future. Why look back when you can look forward?” Luxu tried to slowly move into the topic of the war and what happened to the Foretellers. Using Bragi’s obsession with world formation and pitting it against Xehanort's obsession with the Keyblade War. Xehanort rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“I thought people like you would get it.” Xehanort sighed, annoyed.

“Get what?” Bragi pushed.

“There are going to be problems in the future we can’t fix without looking back at the past. I want the knowledge there and ready when those problems come up. So far, I’ve gotten to the reason the war started.”

“Really? Never got that far before it became boring to me. Maybe you could give me the quick notes version you got?” Luxu almost had him.

“Well… There was this lost master, I believe he was called the Master of Masters.” Xehanort had bit. All Luxu had to do now was wait for the rambling teen to get to the information he wanted.

Time passed and Luxu had zoned out, waiting for the words “and the lost master disappeared” to come out of Xehanort’s mouth. Looking at Xehanort this long though, caused more thoughts than usually to occur to Luxu. Xehanort smiled like Ava, fox like. They smiled like they knew something and knew you wanted to know as well. They also shared the same blue eyes. A lot of people have blue eyes though, but how the light shines in them. They are hopeful. They want to make a difference. Luxu had thrown in the towel of hope, but it was nice to see someone who hadn’t.

“And so the lost master disappeared and left his five apprentices with five books that foretold the future. None of which survive to the modern day, both the people and books. Over time, the Foretellers, as they were titled, started to drift apart. Someone was, apparently, a traitor, but they never figured out who it was. By the time the war started, the foretellers were no longer friends, and they all felled each other in battle. Now,” Oh. So, the master wasn’t lying. He saw them die and thus planned for them to die. Even Ava. And never told them. What a sad fate. Luxu felt his hand clench into a fist. But quickly returned his attention to Xehanort. “-saved the dandelions. What I’ve been looking for is the reason for the war. To me, it seems pointless to fight just because you are no longer friends. What I have found so far is that the Leopard Foreteller, Gula, wanted to summon Kingdom-Hearts.”

Wait. “But wasn’t that like, super disallowed by the master?” Bragi questioned. Luxu questioned as well, Gula knew that was not allowed. Gula was always such a rule follower, like Ava and Invi.

“That’s just it. It seems to have been a move of pure desperation to find out who was the traitor. That is why they fought.”

Just as Luxu was about to speak, the vase was knocked over. Both could tell because of the crash and pieces flying towards them. Luxu quickly rushed into action, calling out his keyblade and casting reflect on Xehanort and himself. The pieces flew off them back towards the cabinet the had vase sat on, lodging into the wood. There went days of Luxu carving. Looking over, they saw the vase pieces scattered around yet also making a heart shape, with the dandelion in the center. It looked almost too perfect to Luxu eyes to have been an accident.

“Did you set that up Bragi?” A look of discontentment spread across Xehanort's face.

“As if! I would never go for something like that. Now, freezing your mouth mid-ramble? That, I would do. But nothing like breaking an expensive and fancy vase like that. Plus, wouldn’t I have sat further away so there was a less chance of me being hit? I almost lost an eye!”

“If not you, then who? You're the only other person I shared this space with.”

“I don’t know, Eraqus? Bet you brought your boyfriend in here before.”

“We are not boyfriends!” Xehanort exclaimed in frustration. Luxu has held Xehanort’s obvious crush on Eraqus over his head since they held hands in front of him. To be fair, Luxu was 89% sure Eraqus felt the same way about Xehanort. It hurt a bit to think about, but he didn’t know why and didn’t care to analyze why. Maybe it was because he was worried for both of them. They had this air of being quote-on-quote “right person, wrong time” for each other. Didn’t stop Luxu from hanging the equivalent of mistletoe above their shared door during the holidays to see the reach. Priceless each time.

The two got up to check out the damage and the set up. To their surprise, there were no strings. Nothing to suggest fowl play was afoot. Just a shattered vase. Xehanort picked up the dandelion, probably having taken it from someone else and moved it to the dirt filled vase in the room where its root would be choked, and from the looks of it, a few more months in the vase and it would have died naturally. Xehanort took out a mover pot made of biodegradable materials already filled with dirt and put the flower in.

“Why do you carry a planting pot with you?” Bragi asked.

“In case of times like these, or if I find a flower that is especially pretty that I want.” Xehanort stated. Luxu made a mental note to get into his room.

“So, great detective, how did the vase break?”

“It just did, probably placed it too close to the edge.”

“I saw you put the vase and flower in the room, it was right in the middle of the cabinet top. I haven’t nudged it. And when I checked it last time I was in here, which was yesterday, it was still centered. That puts the blame with you, buddy.”

“I didn’t set it up. It just broke. Just how things are. I guess there is no one to blame for it… Huh.”

“What?” Bragi sighed out frustrated.

“A thought just occurred to me. What if it was the same for the war? No one set it up, it just happened. The bells tolled for no other reason then they were set up to. It might be a possibility.”

“A stupid one.”

“Life is stupid sometimes.” Xehanort looked down. It was the same look. Dejection, that light of hope dying slowly as the truth is revealed. Luxu wouldn’t let that light die that easily though, not this time. After all, that wasn’t even something worth the death of hope. No. Walking up to Xehanort and hanging his arm around Xehanort’s shoulder, Bragi looked Xehanort in the eyes. “Hey now, whatever happened on that other world of yours, it brought you here. You were bored there right? Wanted to learn more? Felt like you should’ve been more?”

“Yeah?” Xehanort responded quietly.

“Life brought you here. Life, thought you should be a keyblade wielder. You have great friends like Eraqus and me. You are going to be a great keyblade master one day, and are already great in so many ways. Memory just isn’t one.” Xehanort barked out a laugh at Bragi's joke. “One day, Xehanort.”

“Sure, Bragi. And when I am a great master you can be my apprentice.”

“As if! I’ll be great too! We’ll all be great together and oversee a stuffy Academy like this one, and I’ll teach fighting.”

“What about Eraqus?”

“He would teach the application of magic in day to day life.”

“And I assume I would teach history and Keyblade wielding etiquette?”

“Right on the mark as always!”

Looking down at the potted dandelion, Xehanort noticed it was closing. That generally meant it was 4am. The students were to be at the dining hall by 6am each morning when they had classes, and they did that day. “I think we should be going. I know how you love to write your little diaries.”

“Oh, come on Xehanort.” Bragi groaned out as he shut the secret door behind him.

“Until you stop with me and Eraqus, I will continue with you and your diaries. One day, I might even find where you keep them. Read them, find out why you really think history is so boring.”

“What? You would never!”

“I would too. Though there is another reason I would read them.”

“What's that? To find out if I have a crush? News flash buddo, no one catches my eye.”

“No, though I would beg to differ on the crush, the actual reason is because there is just something… Off about you, Bragi. Like you’ve lived before? Reincarnation, but you're aware of it. You just seem to know what to say when others don’t or do things with such ease when we first learn about them.”

Luxu pauses. “That’s just because I am a natural at everything and you’ve never met anyone like me!” Xehanort was way too close to hitting the mark. Luckily they drew close to the dorms.

“See you at class, study buddy!”

“Good night, Bragi.”

And they go their separate ways to their quarters. Luxu was lucky as Bragi’s parents wanted their son to feel at home during his time at the Academy so they had paid extra to get him a bachelor bedroom, which meant no roommate. Just Luxu and his vessel. And his diaries from the dark corridor. It was a good storage medium, especially since no one went through them. Pulling out diaries until he got to current one, he opened it up and wrote about the strange occurrences of the day, or rather the night since his day was already recorded. When you're thousands of years old mentally, stuff gets hard to track down. Time starts to blend together, and always seems to go faster. He planned to be looking for a spot for like 3 hours and he had been looking for 6. Putting Bragi’s keyblade on its stand, he threw himself onto the bed. The first page of the diary is always his real name, mission, and the date when the journal was started, then when he was finished the date would be the last thing he wrote. Taking out a shard of the pot, he taped it to the inside of the journal. Then began writing and looking back on older entries.

After about an hour Luxu heard a loud jarring noise. Looking over his shoulder, it wasn’t his door. He turned to get off the bed, and when he turned around Bragi’s keyblade was on the floor. Going over to it, Luxu knew that when he set it down the blade was steady. There was nothing to knock it over. Throughout his many many lives Luxu never believed in hauntings and spiritual bull other than souls. Luxu was sure he was being haunted at this point. Things broke and were moved around him when he wasn’t looking. He noticed a presence others didn’t. Everything pointed to a ghost haunting him. But the question would be, who? Ava? The other Foretellers? His many vessels? The Master? He didn’t know. However, he would research and then try to make an offering to the spirit tonight. Maybe something to figure out whose spirit was following him. A fox plush would be a good first offering.

As it was 5am Luxu decided to leave and hit the showers. Picking up his keyblade from the floor and slinging it over his shoulder, he moved to the door. With Bragi’s vanity behind him, the mirror most likely reflected the back of Bragi’s head where Luxu used his hair to cover up the head-wound the vessel received in their fight. Bragi wanted to be the strongest after all. Unconsciously Luxu patted down the back of his hair. Luxu breathed in, then out, he reminded himself of his persona. For a moment he thought he should look back to the mirror. Just to see. Make sure everything looks okay. But the day had to start sometime and Bragi smelled. Luxu opened the door and stepped out into the hall, where the carpet had a magically moving pattern and had clocks scattered through its fabric. Lanterns were on the walls about every 10 feet. Bragi took a breath, closed the door, took up his normal posture, and strutted down the hall.

If only he turned to look in the mirror.

Chapter Text

Luxu would have seen Ava looking at him from the crack in the door. She was dead, but not quite. She had tried to go to the digital world where her dandelions would end up after the world, but found that she was blocked from reaching it. A spot was not made for her even though she was taught how to go. Thus she was put into the inbetween. If you wander between sleep and death long enough, you will be able to catch glimpses of the world again, and Ava had been wandering for centuries. Following the people who remembered. Watching her union members be forced into sleep until they would be woken again. Now, she watched the last person with memories of her, Luxu.

Ava went from vessel to vessel with him. She decided that the master would understand that her new role was to watch him, to make sure he was never alone and that he was always safe from harm. Ava often wondered why the master had only taught Luxu how to transfer his heart. Maybe Ava learned how to transfer her heart to another world, not another body. She missed being with the others. Ava had lost her friends during the war. The other Foretellers disappeared, leaving her standing alone on the battlefield. She decided she was too vulnerable without them and tried to follow her dandelions. And got stuck. Being between sleep and death was one thing. Ava was between sleep, death, and life. She was here, but she was also not. No one could see her, and if someone was looking in her general direction she couldn’t do anything. Ava found her real power when people's backs were turned, when eyes were closed. When the no name keyblade was either out of the room, or she was out of the room it was in.

Slowly over the hundreds of years, Ava grew angry. Why was she the only one stuck? Why wasn’t any other foreteller suffering the same fate? It was almost like she was a ghost. She could only touch and interact with the world when no one was looking, unlike Luxu, who seemed to need every pair of eyes on him at all times. Sometimes she missed Luxu. Ava could not be seen so she made her existence known. Pushing over his keyblade, knocking over cups, shattering glasses, and sometimes, when the nights got cold enough, warmed Luxu by cuddling whatever vessel he had taken while he was in a deep sleep. It was not the same. But it was close enough to know it was him. Sure her hands would phase through his body, but to her that was okay. As long as he still remembered her.

Luxu’s new vessel was called Bragi. He was strong and had put up quite the fight against Luxu, but nothing could stand against hundreds of years of training. Apparently Bragi went to a school for keyblade wielding, it was extremely similar in looks compared to the Daybreak clock tower. It put both Ava and Luxu off at first. Ava sat in during Luxu’s class, throwing things when no one was looking, leaving them all to blame the prankster, Bragi. He had no defense when it was clear he was always bored. Slowly though, Ava started to notice Luxu grew closer to two friends. One was named Eraqus, he was a nice boy with black hair and a keyblade that reminded her of Brain. The other was another boy named Xehanort. He had silver hair and came from an unknown world. He was obsessed with the Keyblade War, and Ava often wondered why Luxu didn’t tell Xehanort his true identity along with other information in a deal where Xehanort would promise to help Luxu with whatever he planned for the future. However, the reason Ava found is that Xehanort seemed to remind Luxu of her. Ava chuckled to herself as she picked multiple different flowers and made them into two bouquets during the night after she broke the vase in the secret room. If the two understood Scala flower language, it could translate to “I love you, you are beautiful.” Or, “I plan and hope for your death.” Xehanort would love them, even if he didn’t understand the meaning. But, Ava almost forgot one addition to both gifts. Taking some paper from the journal that sat on Luxu’s face, she used it and some ribbon from a festival decoration for tomorrow to tie the paper to the bouquets. Then she picked up Luxu’s pen. Carefully, she copied Xehanort’s pen strokes and wrote out “From Xehanort '' on and attached it to the flowers in Luxu’s room. Once finished, she flew across campus to write “From Luxu'' in Luxu’s handwriting on the tag upon Xehanort's boquet. At the very least they would think of them as festival gifts from each other and would give Eraqus the teasing material he sorely lacked.

The next morning was great. Ava watched Luxu again as he got up but did not check his mirror, the same as any other day. It might be something subconscious, where he still can’t accept what is doing, but also understands its importance to the mission. Ava wondered what she would do in Luxu’s shoes. Would she feel bad? Definitely. Would she ever be able to take a teen as a vessel? No. Ava understood after watching the process a few times why the master didn’t pick her, or any other Foreteller, for Luxu’s role. He was great at keeping his head down and staying quiet, though recently he was growing bolder, challenging potential vessels and taking them in broad daylight. She wondered if this was a mercy, giving the people a chance, or if Luxu was losing his empathy. What Ava did know is that she couldn’t blame Luxu. It is a dirty job someone had to do, and he got the short end of the stick, not that Ava’s end was much better. Luxu finally noticed the flowers she had left. Cackling, Ava watched from the mirror as Bragi’s cheeks flushed. Luxu had spent some time learning flower language, as Bragi came from an important family and thus had time to learn unimportant things such as that.

Ava floated out of the window and crossed the campus. She watched as Xehanort awoke. Eraqus, already having woken up, had put the flowers on Xehanort’s vanity to get them out of the floor. The room was split with a chess table in the middle. On Xehanort’s side, pottery hung from the ceiling and walls. In those pots were dirt and plants, some herbs, and some flowers. A few minutes after Ava got to the window, Eraqus came back in, probably from the showers. Sighing, Eraqus casted aquada on Xehanort. The poor boy. “Wake up Xehanort! You got flowers for the Star festival. It even has a ribbon.”

Turning over, Xehanort saw the flowers. Rolling out of bed and getting to his feet, he quickly moved to his desk to pick and examine the specimens. They were native floras, he would have potted them like every other flower he had gotten if they weren’t cut. They had no chance of growing roots now. He could maybe propagate them onto another plant if he knew the genus, but Xehanort didn’t. Finding the card, Xehanort quickly threw the plants to the floor as blush crept onto his face.

“Hey now! Don’t throw those away so quickly, they could mean something nice.” Eraqus whined.

“If you're so knowledgeable why don’t you tell me the possible meanings, and then maybe explain why you decided to tease me like this when we had an agreement.” Xehanort growled, blocking Eraqus’ path to the flowers.

“I didn’t bring those in! I didn’t have time to get you flowers, in fact. I was too busy training.”

“Then how did they get here?!”

“I don’t know, let me have them and I might be able to narrow down the possible pool of people.”

Xehanort sighed and shuffled out of Eraqus’ way, letting his friend through to the bouquet that was damaged due to how hard it was thrown onto the floor. Ava watched on, oh if only Luxu had told Xehanort who he was before. Ava had been the one to prank others, but no one can blame someone they don’t know exists. It was oddly relieving.

Eraqus took up the bouquet of mostly red flowers, there were some white, but those were tastefully scattered few and far between. He seemed somewhat sad when looking at it, his eyes searching for clues as to whom made the arrangment. Eraqus seemed to like Xehanort, but seemed aware of his feelings towards Xehanort. Whereas Luxu, who, even after being alive for centuries, was still in the pits of bisexual denial. Ava had seen the same looks he gave to women he took to bed aimed at men. She knew what Luxu was. It was insane that someone who had lived for so long still lacked self introspection, but there was Luxu, still standing after centuries and still not posessing the skill.

As Eraqus finished, he moved to his shared closet with Xehanort. Opening the doors, he dug through Xehanort's side while also fighting off the teen, and extracted a vase. Then, Eraqus danced around Xehanort and got to the wooden side table next to Xehanorts bed which already hand a rainbow of flowers and vases on it. He dodged another attempted swipe by Xehanort and place the vase down, then ducked as a kick came towards his head and picked up the bag of dirt Xehanort kept on the open lower shelf. Using the dirt to fill the vase, Eraqus stabbed the flowers into the pot, a smug smile stretched across his face as his victory was cemented.

"You know they won't survive if I keep them the way you planted them, right?" Xehanort chided.

"I know, but those flowers are a very nice gift! By the way, one of their meanings is that the sender thinks your beautiful." Eraqus stated. The light from the window the flowers and vase in a way that highlighted the white flowers in the boquet.

"And who is the sender?"

"..." Eraqus tried to turn away from Xehanort and walk out, but was stopped when the white haired teen grabbed his collar.

"Who was it, Eraqus?" Xehanort excalimed impantiently.

Eraqus shut his eyes, sighed, and turned partially to Xehanort. "Well... Have you been hanging out with Bragi lately?"

"Yes, why? What does that have to do with this? Is he the one behind this?"

"I can't exactly tell as no one in the school has this handwriting, but based on everything else Bragi is the biggest suspect, the main thing is that other than knowing about your precious secret, he probably knows about flower language."

"Bastard."

"We can talk to him tomorrow before the Star Festival."

"Why before?"

"Oh, right. This is your first time actively particapting in festivities. Okay, long story cut incredible short if someone gives someone else flowers the day before the Star Festival, especially with a meaning such as "I love you" or "Your beautiful", it is them asking the receiver to the festival."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Xehanort released Eraqus collar and Eraqus rubbed at his neck which was now sore. Opening his eyes, he saw that Xehanort was blushing. Eraqus felt a twisting in his stomach, his face drop, and though he didn't eat anything yet that morning he tasted something horrible on the back of his tongue. All of Eraqus' muscles twinged, then in that moment he decided to tell Xehanort.

Quickly Eraqus readopted the smile he usually wore and start on his way as if the two didn't being moving down the hall they would be late to breakfast. "Hey, by the way you remember when I mentioned there was another meaning?"

"Yeah... What about it?" Xehanort followed him, blush still across his face but lighter, and a hand grasped at his chin. Eraqus recoginzed his best friends common think posture.

"Their second meaning is wishing for the destruction of the reciever." Xehanort turned in shock to Eraqus as Eraqus looked to the windows lining the hallway.

"No." Xehanort dragged the end in disbelief.

"Yep. Leave it to Bragi to play such a cruel prank."

"We will have to talk to him tomorrow then to see what he truely meant."

"Sounds like a plan!" Eraqus beamed at Xehanort.

Ava’s plan and the duo's path was quickly interupted as the class was called to the breakfast hall for an announcement over what the school would be doing during the Star Festival tomorrow. Ava was going to have to wait another day to see the finale to her antics. Waiting was her strong suit however, so she didn’t mind. It was just another day.