Catching Up [Emi]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I forgot what it was like to dream without nightmares.
--

"Good. Friends are good.[/color]"

She yawned again, and kicked off her shoes. She writhed around on the bed until she had removed her jacket, and threw it in the floor. Meanwhile, she was trying to remember the last time she had slept in actual pajamas and not her jeans or underwear. Her coat still needed some repairs, too. When she had the money, she would have to bring it back to that one tailor. The one who cleaned up bloodstains and didn't ask questions.

Since Castle was still in the room, she kept the rest of her clothes on and crawled under the blankets. It was a little early to be going to bed, because it was still daylight out. But she was exhausted. "Pick a bed, any bed. Feel free to sleep late, too. God knows we deserve it and don't have anything better to do.[/color]"

As she drifted to sleep, she remembered that it had been ten years since she'd last slept in this bed. Everything seemed exactly the same, and for a moment... just a moment... she was seven years old again, before everything got all scary and horrible.

Once she was asleep, she dreamed. She dreamed of her mother, in that field of white flowers that Zexion had trapped her in. This time though, it was a sweet dream. A happy one, completely devoid of Jericho or Heartless or drowning. Just her and her mother, picking the petals off flowers and letting them blow away on the breeze....

[Castle]

Watching Emi fall asleep reminded him that he was still really tired, too. However, he wasn't going to pick a bed and sleep in it just yet. He turned around to the other side of the one he was on and took out the first aid kit he had brought from the gummi ship. Quietly, so as not to disturb Emi, he removed the bandages and gauzes from his arms to replace them with clean ones. The burns, cuts, and bruises were healing, mostly discolored now. As long as nothing got infected, he was pretty sure he'd be fine. Most of the cuts were burned shut from the start, anyway.

He'd almost forgotten the one on his chest. That bandage probably needed changed by now, too, since that cut was pretty long. He took off his vest and shirt and saw that the bandage had some red on it, probably from yesterday's struggle. He peeled that off and replaced it with a clean one.

At that point, he was more tired than ever, and he unthinkingly laid down on the bed and rolled over to face Emi. He was almost afraid to fall asleep. Since Radiant Garden was the place she had been taken from before, he had a nagging paranoia that she would be taken again while he slept.

Castle watched her until his eyelids were too heavy to keep open. Finally, he drifted off, still shirtless and still with the first aid kit on the bed beside him.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Pulling a Roxas.
--

A few hours later, Emi woke up. She lay in bed, motionless, for several minutes. It took her some time to remember where she was and that she was safe and okay, but once she finally realized that, she sat up. Outside, it was almost dark.

She didn't know why she was awake. She pushed her hair out of her face and glanced over at Castle. He was still sleeping, and deeply at that. She could probably throw a rock at him and he would sleep right through it.

Quietly, she slipped out of bed. The floorboards creaked under her feet, and she was instantly reminded of all the right places to step so that she wouldn't make a sound. The dark house never scared her when she was a child, and it didn't now. The shadows were something she could hide in, and the safety that provided actually comforted her.

She was on a mission. Now that she was fully awake, the dream she'd had was nagging at her. Ever since Zexion had trapped her in that illusion, she had idly wondered if her mother actually looked and acted like the one in the dream had. Emi didn't have anything else to worry about now, so she was aching to know what her mother was like. She had to find that journal, and it had to be in this house somewhere. Kagabu said she had lost it, but even as a small child, Emi didn't think that was true.

She knew exactly where to look. The one room she had never been allowed in as a child. She had never been able to get on, and it wasn't for a lack of trying. Kagabu had the room booby trapped somehow, and Emi always got caught. But now, there was no one to stop her. She would have done this a long, long time ago but there was always something more urgent to attend to. Now, she had all the time she needed.

Emi walked downstairs, and into the small den. There was a door there that lead into the old woman's former bedroom. The door was unlocked of course, but Emi remembered just how to unlock it. Actually, she just kicked the door in, too impatient to fool with trying to fiddle with the lock until it opened like she used to. The door swung open, undamaged for the most part. She started rummaging through things. The dresser, the closet, bedside table, under the bed. Finally, she found herself sitting on the floor, thinking about where to look next.

The chest at the end of the bed. Of course! That had been the one place she never got to check when she was a kid, because it had always been locked up tight and she always got caught before she could get it open. Emi sat up on her knees and tried to force the lid open, but it was still locked. Worth a try at any rate. She settled back down on her knees, and tried to think of a way to open it.

"Maybe I can use my keyblade...[/color]" she murmured, and stood up. It was a key right? And you use keys to open things. Her idea was a little bit different though. She summoned Lacewing, lifted it high into the air and brought it down hard on the top of the chest. The lid bent under the impact, effectively breaking the lock. Emi put Lacewing away and hit her knees again, digging through the chest. She didn't know what all this other stuff was, probably things that belonged to the old lady. She wasn't interested in that.

Towards the bottom of the chest, Emi found what she was looking for. It was wrapped in a newspaper from eighteen years before. She ripped the paper off and held the journal in her hands for several minutes. It was handsome dark brown leather, with silver scroll work on the corners.

Now that she had found it, she couldn't bring herself to open it for fear of what she might find. What if it wasn't all she hoped it would be? What if it wasn't what she imagined?

[Castle]

Skitter skitter skitter...

Castle's eyes opened slowly, and then blinked into awareness. His gaze focused on the bed across from him. Confused, he stared at the butterfly patterns for several seconds before he realized that Emi used to be there.

Suddenly awake, he sat up and looked around. He was the only one in the bedroom. He tried to convince himself not to start panicking as he jumped out of bed and pulled his shirt and vest back on. Maybe she just went to the bathroom or something. Maybe.

He ventured out of the room and down the hallway. It was darker now, almost nightfall. Emi wasn't upstairs, so he went down to the den. He spotted an open door, and through it, a familiar figure. Relief washed through him as he quietly approached her. She was holding some sort of book.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I don't think I can handle anymore emotional stress.
--

"I dreamed about her,[/color]" Emi said, quietly. She lifted the journal so he could see. "I had to come find it but now I can't...[/color]"

She scowled at the book and then handed it to Castle. "I can't open it. I'm afraid of what I might find. I want you to do it and tell me if it's worth reading or if I should just let it stay a mystery,[/color]" she told him, and leaned her back against the chest. "I'm not even sure if what I know now is true,[/color]" she added, in a murmur. All she knew was a name, and a profession. But that could be chalked up to rumor and petty lies...

[Castle]

Something about this situation made Castle wonder, fleetingly, if he was still asleep. Nonetheless, he opened the book and held it in a way that would catch some of the fading light from the window. It was a journal, written in what he considered to be a distinctly feminine style. After glancing through some of the paragraphs and turning a few pages, he got the gist of what had been recorded here.

"It's a journal," he reported, "It looks like it's about some woman who was pregnant. The dates are from..." He paused to do the math in his head. "...about eighteen, nineteen years ago..."

He trailed off, his gaze flicking from the pages to Emi and back again as the pieces began to line up. No way, he thought at first, not wanting to jump to conclusions, but why else would she be acting so strange?

[Oathkeeper Emi]

We put the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional'.
--

Emi was still scowling when she took the journal back from him. Castle wasn't being as helpful as she had hoped, but it had given her time to work up her nerve. She flipped though a few pages, the smell of old paper and leather fulling the air. Some entries were written in pencil, some in pen. As she was flipping pages, a torn and faded photograph fell out and fluttered to the floor next to her, but she didn't notice.

She turned the beginning of the journal and began to read, tuning Castle out. Her mother had extremely delicate, cursive handwriting that was kind of hard to make out. Must have been a family trait; Emi had horrible handwriting, too.

Today, my maid suggested I start this journal so that one day we can read it together.

Even the first line was a shot straight through the heart. These words had meant to be shared with a mother and daughter. It was enough to make her want to put the journal away, but once she had started it was impossible to stop. She kept reading.

I don't really know what I ought to write about. Life has been boring, to say the least, now that I'm home a lot more. You are making me fat and sluggish, little one. My life used to be all about parties and enjoying myself without a care in the world but now I...

Great, way to make me feel guilty from the grave, Emi though, wincing. She turned a few pages more, trying to find something that didn't make her feel guilty.

Today, my maid has made the cutest dress for you. I keep telling her that I don't know if you are a boy or a girl yet, but she insists you are a girl. Who knows? Even if you are a boy, she'll probably try to put the dress on you anyway. Wouldn't that be funny, a boy in a dress?

Emi couldn't help but chuckle at that, but she didn't exactly know why. A few pages later, though, she sobered up quickly.

I am sad today. Every day, Holly brings me my letters but every day, I am broken hearted because he hasn't written back. Your father... I hope my letters are getting through to him, before it's too late.

Flipping through the book, it was more of the same. Stories about her mother's daily life with her maid, Holly, and little tidbits about her pregnancy and such. Emi couldn't help but notice they were all laced with a little bit of sadness. There were several entries lamenting a lack of her father's reply, which pissed Emi off. "Great,[/color]" she muttered. "Not only is my mom dead, but I have a deadbeat dad.[/color]"

Suddenly, it hit her. Have. As in, currently has. She turned quickly to the end of the journal. The pages there were blank, so she fingered through it until she found the last entry.

Holly says it's a matter of days until you arrive, and honestly, I'm scared witless. Still being honest, I don't know what I'm going to do about the money. My dearest child, I love you but I just don't know how we're going to survive with my savings almost depleted. If only your father would return, perhaps he could save us.

It was followed by some trivial stories and then...nothing. Blank pages. "That's it? That's all?[/color]" Emi said, shaking the book as if that would make more information appear. All it did was shake loose a folded paper that had been stuck in the binding. She sat the journal aside and picked up the letter that had fallen into her lap.

[Castle]

Castle sat quietly on the floor while Emi read through the journal. A few times, he was tempted to ask what she was reacting to, but something told him to keep his mouth shut. He was starting to get bored by the time she reached the end, and he watched her shake it until something fell out onto her lap.

It was a piece of paper, a letter maybe. Emi put the journal down to open it, and that was when Castle noticed something else on the floor. It might have fallen out of the book earlier. While she read the letter, he reached over and picked up the other object.

The object was a photograph. It was old and blurry, and he held it in the light and squinted as he tried to discern the picture. However, he quickly realized that it was a man in a suit.

"Hey, check this out," he said, offering the photograph to her. Maybe the journal said who it was.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Well, this explains a lot.
--

Emi read the letter. It wasn't in her mother's handwriting, but it was dated with the day after her birthday. It lacked any other kind of greeting.


June 18

This baby is the child of Miss Saila Descoteaux, my lady, who passed away late last night due to certain complications. Her name is Emiline, and although it was my lady's last wish for me to care for her, I can't. I am very old and have my own family to take care of. I hope you do not find this disrespectful or irresponsible. I have included Saila's journal. Please give it to Emiline when she is old enough to understand. I have sent a letter to her father explaining what has happened and where he can find his daughter. There has been no reply. Perhaps he will come and claim her, but I doubt it. You might be expecting a visit anyway.

Sincerely,
Holly Sawyer

"That son of a bitch![/color]" Emi suddenly shouted. She crumpled the letter in one hand and threw it across the room, and then pulled her knees into her chest and put her head down, trying to calm herself. What a jerk her father was, if he was indeed still alive... he never replied to those letters, never came to see her, left her mother alone, let her grow up in an orphanage when he was somewhere in this town?

Castle handed her a picture. She looked up and snatched it from his hands, and studied it. It was hard to make out in the dim light, but it seemed to be an old photograph of an older gentleman wearing a suit. It looked like it was taken candidly, and it was blurry and shaky.

The one thing that stood out to her, though, was the eyes. He had the same striking green eyes as she did. This was a picture of her father, which she glared at like she was trying to set it on fire.

"I am going to find you, you bastard,[/color]" she muttered, unaware of the irony of her insult. "Or your tombstone if that's what it comes down to.[/color]"

[Castle]

He'd seen the man's green eyes, but he didn't fully realize the connection until Emi reacted to the photo. She'd just found out about both of her parents, and damn, she was pissed, especially at her father.

"I'm not even going to ask," he said quietly, with a bit of contempt laced around the words for the man who made her so angry. Of course it would be the dad who screwed something up. Even after months of traveling, Castle still didn't have much reason to raise his first-impression opinion of other guys. Hell, he didn't even have much good to say about himself at this point.

He was itching to know more of the details about the journal, but now wasn't a good time to pry. Emi would have to tell him when she was ready to, like everything else.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

This is too much to handle.
--

There was a lot to process, a lot of decisions to make. And Emi didn't feel like dealing with it. She patted down the pockets of her coat until she found what she was looking for. She may have given one pack of cigarettes to Zexion, but she had secretly gotten another pack after not wanting to deal with stupid nicotine withdrawal. It was a stupid idea to do that anyway.

"I'll be on the porch,[/color]" she mumbled. She picked herself up off the floor, leaving the journal and everything else behind. Out on the porch, she could hear all the crickets and whatnot. Night time sounds. She plopped herself down into one of the rocking chairs, but it was old. She sat down a little bit too hard and it broke underneath her. Emi sat there in a pile of splintered wood, with an unlit cigarette in her mouth, and fumed. Eventually, she got up and settled on leaning against the porch railing.

Somewhere out there, her father was probably asleep in his bed and hadn't given a thought to his daughter in eighteen years. Emi wanted to believe that maybe he had just never gotten those letters and he just didn't know she existed, but she knew better than to get her hopes up.

She would find him and get all the answers she wanted. She didn't want anything else. With one quick flick of her thumb against the lighter, she cupped her hand around the cigarette and light it.

[Castle]

Castle knew when to stay away from a woman in a bad mood. Of course, in this case, he knew she was justified. She'd just had a shitload of information thrown at her, right after everything else had happened. All things considered, she was actually handling it pretty well, in his opinion.

As long as she didn't try to jump off any more cathedrals, things would probably be okay, eventually.

His gaze fell on the abandoned journal. After glancing over his shoulder to make sure Emi was definitely outside, he picked it up and opened it at the beginning. He wanted to know the specifics of what she learned. He skimmed over some of it, namely the daily stuff and the parts about what it was like to be pregnant, but by the end, he could see how Emi's nerves would be rattled. The parts about her father even got Castle angry.

It was around that time when the sun went down and he lost his light source. He'd ended up standing as close to the window as possible with the book held up to it. He was done reading already, but he went over to the light switch and flicked it up. Nothing happened.

"Figures," he murmured, flicking it down again.

Now what? Emi was still outside, but he didn't know if she was ready to stop being alone yet. He set the journal on the bed and walked quietly into the den, where he sat down on a couch to wait for her. At least it was more comfortable than sitting in the gummi ship while she was in her bunk.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Might just have to bite the bullet....
--

Having calmed down a little bit and finished her cigarette, Emi went back inside and found Castle sitting on the couch. She sat down next to him, slouching against arm rest. "You read the journal, didn't you?[/color]" she asked, him. It was a rhetorical question, and she shook her head. "Eh, I guess I'm not mad. Not at you at any rate.[/color]"

After sitting there in silence for a little while, Emi decided they needed to do something. Sure, sitting here and relaxing was nice but... just staring at the walls, in the dark, in a dusty old house? Not fun. A beach vacation would be ideal... but not for her. The thought of going back to the ocean made her shudder.

Out of nowhere she announced "I think I need a bath. I know I need a bath. How the hell am I supposed to do that...?[/color]

It looked like she was going to have to suck it up and go jump into one of those waterfalls....

[Fate]

Murfle.
--

What happened?

It was August thirteenth, evening. Zexion had found himself asleep for most of the day, especially after yesterday. Yesterday was awful. He had woken up in the castle, not even remembering how he got there in the first place-- all he remembered was going to the bar and Luxord and Xigbar were there... oh great. That explained everything, or almost everything. He wasn't even sure he wanted to remember what happened the night before last now; yes it was probably better if he didn't.

Today was better. He was no longer making good friends with the bathroom and his head wasn't throbbing nearly as much. Sleep had made that better. Now, he was awake in the library he had managed to fall asleep in and wondering what he should do next with his strength back. Research, wonder if Xehanort was going to come back today --unlikely-- and more reading.

Boring.

Nevertheless, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the various scents that were currently in Radiant Garden. Xehanort wasn't one of them of course-- Zexion would have been able to tell immediately since his scent would have overpowered the others here. Other scents were, the familiar ones of the Restoration Committee and... really now? He opened his eyes. Castle and Emi had made it back here. Together.

That was interesting. Part of him wondered if he should go pay them a visit. The other part of him that was still groggy from just waking up didn't want to bother with that. Besides, he was probably last on their list of people they wanted to see. He opened the Lexicon and started reading.

[/font]

[Castle]

Emi calling him out on reading the journal made him feel a little guilty, but only a little. She didn't really seem to care, anyway. Besides, it was better than him nagging her for information that was essentially none of his business, right?

"If the plumbing in this place works as well as the lights, then maybe you can wait for it to rain," he said.

He rested his head back against the couch and stared at the dark ceiling. He really needed to clean up, too. He was starting to feel itchy. Unfortunately, he was pretty much broke at the moment, so paying an inn just to use the shower probably wouldn't work. Heartless just didn't drop as much munny as they used to.

"There's a bunch of old waterways around here, right? Maybe we can skinny dip in one of those," he said with a suggestive (and sarcastic) smirk in her direction.