Will
September 18, 2007. 3:12 a.m. Aegis Hospital. Wind’s blowing in through a small crack in the window.
I just woke up… guess whatever drugs they pumped me with this afternoon just wore off… Those are some dang good drugs… I feel better than I ever have. I’m wide awake. The knots in my shoulders are gone. My back feels sturdy. My legs still hurt though… Wait… I can feel my legs. I get up from my bed and stand next to the window. No splints. No braces. No casts. No blood. No wounds. No scars. Amazing… Thank you so much, God…
A piece of paper the size of my palm falls out of my robe and hits the floor.
I pick it up and examine it. It’s covered with beautiful handwriting written in admittedly adorable pink ink.
“Here’s a small gift from a fan. We saw Aegis refusing to heal you, so I took matters into my own hands. I would love to meet Oo Diablo in person. Please meet us at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels at 2:00 a.m. on September 20th if you would like to thank us.
Sincerely,
Doc”
Most intriguing. I fold the note up and stuff it into my robe.
Vivian
September 18, 2007. 5:43 a.m. Dorm room. I wake up three hours before my alarm because life just be like that sometimes. Turns out I fell asleep on my cast. That was a poor decision. I roll over to my left side and see Yuko sitting hunched over on her bed. She looks like she’s writing something, but I can’t tell for sure because she’s facing the wall.
I slink out of bed. Sneak sneak. Sneak sneak. I try and lean over her shoulder and can just barely see a pile of papers. Some were sheet music. Others looked like designs for superhero suits. Hers looked like something a techno idol would wear. Mine looked like some kind of sneaking suit with a whole mess of notes on it that included such gems as: ‘composite mythril? Maybe? Too many belts? Butt needs to be good.’ Here goes. I jump up on her bed. “Whatcha writing there?”
“Whoa!” Yuko turns around and elbows me in the cheek.
My body rolls off her bed like a sack of potatoes and lies on the floor. “Ow…”
“Vivian!” Yuko leans over the corner of her bed. “What the hell were you thinking?!”
“I just wanted to know what you were writing…”
“Homework.” Yuko rolls her eyes. “Happy?”
I roll over and look up at her. “What are you talking about? You don’t do homework.”
Yuko drops a pillow on my face and begins shuffling around in her backpack.
“C’mon, you can tell me.” I toss the pillow off and get back up on her bed. “Is it some poetry?”
“No. Go to bed, Vivian.” Yuko began collecting papers together and opened up a folder.
“Tell me. Lemme see.” I reach around her and begin tugging at the papers.
“Stop it! Don’t look at it!” Yuko tries to push me off the bed again.
“No.” I smirk, dig my hands into her sides, and begin tickling her. “I wanna see!”
“Vi-pffft aaha!” Yuko begins tossing and turning side to side. Her legs kick wildly. Laughter erupts from her lips. I got her. “V-stoooop! Ahahajg! VIVIAN!”
“Not until I see what you’re working on!” I continue tickling her.
“S-staaaaahhp! Hnnnghaa!” Yuko’s voice grows coarse. She sounds like she’s struggling to breathe. She lets go of the papers and begins trying to pry my hands from her sides.
“Got you!” I reach around her, snatch the papers up, and retreat over to my bed.
“Vivian…” Yuko collapses onto her bed and looks up at the ceiling. Her breath is heavy. Her face is twitching. Drool and sweat runs down her cheeks. “You bitch…”
“Yeah yeah.” I begin reading through the paper. It’s a piece of sheet music with lyrics. It’s titled Never More.
“Come on.” Yuko coughs and gets up from her bed. “Laugh already.”
“This is good.” I look up at her. “Were you planning to have it accompanied by any instruments or were you just going to sing solo?”
“I- uh…” Yuko blinks. “It’s just an acapella piece for now… though I thought it might go well with some piano.”
“How convenient. I play piano.”
“Seriously?” A weird, unfamiliar smile spreads across Yuko’s face. It’s very nice to look at. I feel all my troubles wasting away looking at her. “You play piano?”
“Yeah. It was a choice between an instrument and a sport, so I just picked the instrument my grandma had. What, is there something weird about me playing piano?”
“A little.” Yuko chuckled. “You just seem more like the triangle player.”
“Snrk. Okay, that was pretty good.”
SLAM
We hear the front door to our dorm open and slam shut.
“A.D.” Yuko pounds on the wall next to us. “Shut up!”
“Whoa! Wha?! That isn’t me!” A.D. replies. He sounds like he just got up. “I’m still in bed.”
“Nani?” Yuko mutters and slides over to our door and peeks out.
I follow her and see Will drinking a fat glass of milk by the fridge.
“Billiam?!” I cry out.
“Will?!” Yuko yells.
A.D. walks out of his room in his pjs still rubbing his eye. “What’re we all yellin- Jesus Christ on a pogo stick! You’re alive!”
“Hey!” Will barks and wipes his milk mustache off. “Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain.”
“Your catholicism rules do not apply to me.” A.D. shakes his head.
“We worship the same god, you idiot!” Will barks.
“Sooo…” Yuko sizes him up. “You wanna explain how you’re walking?”
Will put the glass in the sink and stretched his back. “Don’t have a clue. I just woke up good as new. Must’ve been a miracle.”
Yuko rolls her eyes.
“Will…” I walk towards him. “Holy crap dude… That’s amazing. Good for you, dude. Do you need to report to Suzy?”
“Suzy?”
“Sorry. The headmaster.”
“Oh, yeah. Reckon I should do that. Morning run comes first.”
“Let me accompany you!” A.D. rushes back into his room and starts dressing himself up.
“Only if you can keep up.”
“That’s the Will I know.” A.D. cheers.
Will and A.D. race off to their room and begin prepping up for their run.
Yuko yawns and returns to her room. “Aight, cool. I’m going back to bed.”
I follow after her and also go back to bed.
Suzy
September 18, 2007. 10:04 a.m. My office. The hospital receptionist is cowering and shaking like a bean in a grinder. Poor girl. Must be new.
Gulp gulp gulp
Aaaah. Least she knows how to make a halfway decent cup of coffee. She even got the robusta beans just right. “C’mon out with it. It can’t be half as bad as you’re thinking. I ain’t got all day.”
“M-miss… William… the patient with severe back trauma.”
“Yeah I know him. Bit of a pissant. Did he croak overnight?”
“He’s gone, ma’am.”
“...”
“Ma’am?”
“Excuse me.”
Gulp gulp gulp gulp
“Ma’am?”
Gulp gulp gulp
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
“I mean he’s gone. He isn’t here.”
“Well how did he get out?! People with half a spine don’t just walk out of bed!”
“I’ve reviewed the security footage, ma’am… It would appear that’s exactly what he did…”
“Hm…” I lean on my desk with my hands curled up in front of my mouth. “Did anyone unusual go into his room at any point?”
“No, ma’am. Only his teammates, a student called Janelle, and the usual nurses came in.”
“I see… How… irksome.”
“What should be done? Are we still moving him to support classes?”
“No.” I shake my head and lean back in my chair. “I’m a woman of my word. He’s walking. He’s back in the field. Just tell him to report to some fitness tests to make sure his spine still works.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Right away ma’am.” She bows and runs out of my office. She nearly trips on the way out.
“Get me another pot while you’re out.” I lick the bean residue off my cup.
slorp
Yuko
September 19th, 2007. 5:37 p.m. Dorm room. I’m sitting on the sofa with Vivian, A.D., and Will. Vivian’s bent behind the tv setting up a PS2 she borrowed from Angela. Her butt’s sticking out… Anyway, on the table in front of me are two game boxes with Disney and anime characters on it. “I’m sorry, why should I play this again?”
“Because it’s super good. Trust me.” Vivian bonks her head on the table. “Damnit…”
“That’s a pretty crappy argument.”
“It has Disney in it. You like Disney, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but I hate anime.”
Will bursts out laughing. “No you don’t. Everyone loves anime. Especially the people who say they hate anime.”
“You like anime?”
“Is there a problem with that?” Will asks,
“No no. Not at all.”
“Come on, Yuyu.” A.D. picks up one of the boxes. “Kingdom Hearts has fantastic gameplay. Even if you don’t find it fun, it would surely make a good training exercise.”
“Heh…” Vivian laughs. “Yuyu. I like that. Can I call you Yuyu?”
“If you wanna get your ass kicked.”
“Yuko-chan it is.”
“Ugh…” my eyes look back to Will. “But isn’t the plot; like, really stupid though?”
“How dare you.” Will looks legit offended. “The Kingdom Hearts plot is easy to understand and a masterpiece of storytelling in video games.”
“Every. Single. Thing I’ve heard about this franchise makes it sound like the most convoluted BS thing ever.” I look over to the boxes.
“Well what have you heard about it?” A.D. asks putting the box back on the table.
I point over to the Kingdom Hearts 2 box. “Isn’t this guy also this guy?”
“Hohoohoooo…” Vivian emerges from behind the tv. “Okay, so to explain that, we have to go all the way back from the beginning.”
“I’m not listening to this.”
“I will literally give you $50 if you listen to the plot summary and play for five hours.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Vivian reaches into her wallet and smacks a fifty down on the table. “You think I’m playing?”
“Not anymore... Fine. Lemme hear it. Not like I got anything else to do tonight.”
A very… very long, confusing two hours pass. My head feels ready to explode. I need a smoke.
“Okay… so…” I rub my temple. “The keyblade’s supposed to be this really important, unique, one-of-a-kind legendary weapon, right?”
“Yeah.” Vivian nods.
“Roxas can also use it because he’s also Sora… I get that. But then why can Riku use it?”
“Because he was supposed to be the master of the keyblade.” Will interjects.
“... So then Mickey was also supposed to be the master?”
“Well… uh…” Will scratches his chest. “His keyblade’s special.”
“That doesn’t explain the three other keyblade wielders you showed me in that secret ending either.”
“I’m sure it’ll be explained in a sequel.” Vivian scratches her head. “I hope.”
“So the keyblade isn’t special?”
“Well… I guess you’re right there… but it’s still really rare. There’s only about four keyblades though, so they’re still uncommon.” Will looks down at the boxes.
“Okay, but like… aren’t Sora and Riku, ya know?” I curl my hand into a ring and slide my finger in and out. “Because everything you’ve told me about them makes them seem like they’re banging each other.”
“Oh definitely.” Vivian nods.
“100% homosexual.” Will also nods.
“Wait, what?” A.D. looked like someone just decked his mom in the chin. “What are you talking about? Sora is very clearly in love with Kairi.”
“Are you serious?” Will turns to A.D.
“As serious as a wakeup super. Why?”
“They have zero chemistry.” Vivian cut in. “Hell, Sora means ‘sky’ and Riku means ‘earth’ in Japanese. Even their names match.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yuko?” Vivian turns to me.
“That’s true.” I shrug.
“But Sora wants to share a paopu fruit with Kairi!”
“Uh huh. Yeah.” Will rolls his eyes. “But in KH2, when Sora sees Kairi, he goes, “Oh hey Kairi. Glad you’re safe. When he sees Riku? He falls to his knees and cries “Riku! I’ve been looking all over for you. He cries and holds his hand and you’re telling me that’s not even a little gay?”
“I hold hands, cry, and hug my male friends all the time.” A.D. crosses his arms. “It isn’t my fault you two feel the need to sexualize friendship.”
“That isn’t the problem, A.D.” Vivian laughs. “The problem is that Kairi and Sora have zero screen time together. If Sora had fallen to his knees for Kairi, we’d be shipping them together.”
“At least Sora and Kairi actually held hands.”
“Weren’t you just hollering about ‘sexualizing’ friendship?” Will smirked.
The next few hours were characterized by the three bitching over which fictional characters were banging which fictional characters. I’d leave, but Vivian confiscated all the dorm keys… she even took the fifty from the table when I wasn’t looking…
My fingers press to my lips. I close my eyes and inhale. I feel slightly better. I’m staring at the title screen… and this piano sonata is incredible… Sure it’s a little repetitive, but it’s gorgeous. If I close my eyes, I can swear I hear waves washing up on a distant beach. I want to write lyrics for it, but I think I’d ruin it… couldn’t hurt to try though.
5 hours later
I can’t stop playing. The dialogue is stupid and goofy as all hell. The game feels slow at points. The clashing art styles of the characters is super distracting… but I can’t stop playing. I’m smiling like a complete dumbass every cutscene. The music kicks ass too.
“Oh wow.” Will takes another swig of milk from the fridge. “That late already? I gotta get going.”
“Going for another run? I’ll join.” A.D. slips off the couch.
“Oh, no. I’m not going for a run. I volunteered to help supervise the homeless at a local Church.” Will retrieves one of his spare wooden swords that he keeps in his closet.
“This late?” Vivian asks.
“Well… yes. People need to sleep inside when it’s late.”
“Oh. Yeah. That was a dumb question. Good luck with that.” Vivian gives a short salute.
“Aw… Well, I’ll still go for a run.” A.D. does three jumping jacks then sprints out the door. “Later.”
“Later.” Vivian says as they leave the room then turns to me. “You look like you’re having fun.”
“So what if I am?” I turn back towards the screen and find some dalmatians in a treasure chest.
“Nothing. Nothing. I’m glad you’re enjoying this.”
“Shouldn’t you be going to bed? Don’t you have class tomorrow morning?”
“Hnnngh… Owww…” Vivian grasps her cast and wiggles it. “My arm hurts so bad… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go to class again.”
“I got it. So, you’re just going to watch me?”
“Hell yeah. I love watching people experience KH for the first time. Is that okay?”
gulp “That’s fine. Just try and keep it down.”
“Will do.” Vivian gets a throw blanket from our room, tosses it around herself, and slinks up on the sofa next to me. “Do you want me to give you advice on how to kill Clayton o-”
“Sssh.”
Vivian nods. “Sssh…”
I stomp through Wonderland, blast emo boy in Hercules, and start to feel tired halfway through Tarzan. I don’t care what time it is… I just need to beat this stupid world before bed… If I come back to this, I’ll get lost… I’m sliding down a tree branch… and one of my eyes refuses to open… come on you bitch… you can hang in there… Hey, wait… Vivian’s shut up the whole time. Did she leave? I look over to Vivian and see that she’s been conked out on my shoulder. Okay… maybe it’s time for bed… I fall backwards into the sofa and fall asleep with Vivian’s head pressed against my cheek.
Will
September 20, 2007. 2:00 a.m. Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels. Nobody outside. I can only hear the usual cars speeding by and the hum of the street lights. I try to open the door. It’s unlocked. I check over my shoulders, walk inside, and close the door behind me.
I can see four people sitting in the front row. One large, wide figure clad in a brown coat. One tall, lanky figure dressed in pajamas and a stained sweater. Another was completely clad in black. I have never been the shortest person in the room. I dislike this. Fortunately, there was one shorty amidst them. She couldn’t be taller than 5’4, 5’5 if I’m being generous.
They start talking. A smooth, gentle voice fills the cathedral. It sounds… familiar somehow. I feel closer to God just by listening to it. I always thought Guadalupe would have sounded something like this. “Wait… hold on a second. She beat you how?”
El Oso’s voice rang through the cathedral. “I’m telling you. She teleported a stop sign through my chest.”
“Jimmy, you are a complete nincompoop. How could you take bait like that?”
“Oh c’mon! You should’ve seen it! She was totally giving up! She fell on her back and everything!”
“Jim…” a deep, somewhat monotone voice yawned. “You’re thinking of dogs again…”
“I am? Oh… sorry ‘bout that…”
“Oso!” I brandish my Dark Blade of Vengeance. “What are you doing here?!”
“Hm?” Oso turns around and he looks at me with the scorn of 1,000 disgruntled nuns. “Hey! You’re that li-”
“Jimmy.” The smooth voice once again booms through the cathedral.
Oso looks down at the short one. “Sorry, ma’am. I’ll be quiet…” and sat back down in the pew.
The short one rises from her pew, turns towards me, and begins approaching me. Bright, curly red hair. A somewhat aged and pale, but energetic face. If I had to wager, I’d say she was around 55. She has a green scarf that falls down to her waist and a jacket that looks thick enough to block bullets. She looks a lot like that librarian I had at my old school. “William, was it? Do you mind if I call you Billy?” She extends her hand and offers me a smile. I can feel my chest warm and my muscles loosen just by looking at that smile.
“Uh… no, not at all, ma’am.” I shake her hand. I mind immensely. Why did I agree? “What may I call you?”
“Just call me Doc for now.” She gives a surprisingly firm and painful handshake before walking towards the altar and motioning for me to follow. “How are your legs feeling?”
“Better than ever.” I rub my thigh and follow her. “Why did you heal me?”
“That’s what doctors do.” She shrugs. “Do doctors need a reason to help people?”
“Reckon not… but why invite me over here at 2 am if you just wanted me to thank you? Wouldn’t a coffee shop work just as well?”
“That wouldn’t do at all.” Doc shutters. “I can’t stand the smell of coffee… I just thought this would be a nice, quiet place to talk for a little while. Wouldn’t you agree, altar boy?”
“Well…” I look up and admire moonlight shimmering off the organ pipes. “You aren’t wrong…” I take a deep breath. “Thank you… words cannot express how grateful I am… but why are you associating with villains like Oso?”
“That’s sublimely magnificent villains like Oso to you, pipsqueak.” Oso grins like my supervisor used to when he stole my last chicken nugget.
“Oso.”
“Yes, ma’am…” Oso slinks back into his pew. “Sorry, ma’am.”
“Well…” Doc glances over to the pajama man. “Villain’s a bit of a… strong word.” She pulls out two lollipops from her coat and offered me one. “Wouldn’t you like to know why we’re designated as villains?”
“Papa told me never to accept candy from strangers.” I lower my blade.
Doc burst out into a little giggle fit. “Then could you at least hear me out?” She pops both the lollipops in her mouth. “I promise I won’t take long.”
“Certainly.” I nod. “It’s the least I can do.”