[Team One] Once and Future part 2

[green-eggs101.livejournal.com]

I'm still on my nonsense of "what if everything was the same but the Merlin in Kingdom Hearts was the Merlin from BBC's Merlin," this time with approximately 1700 words. Still g-rated 

“That’ll fit right in there,” Merlin said, gesturing at the bookshelf. “I’ll be back in a tik, or maybe a tok.”

Then he turned on the spot and vanished.

Sora glanced doubtfully at the box of books in his hands. There were at least 10 in there, and the spot Merlin pointed out was maybe enough room for two of them. “Uh… ok then.”

He sat the box down and began to stack the books inside the small space left on the overstuffed shelf. But the books hit some sort of resistance. Frowning, Sora looked at the shelf.

The empty spot he had been trying to put the books into was now filled up. Instead, now there was an empty space 3 books over to the right. Frown deepening, Sora began to put the new books into the empty spot.

There was a shuffle as every book scooted over to fill the empty spot. Now the only empty was near the end on the left.

“Hey!” Sora scowled, this time sticking his hand in to hold the spot open while he put the new books in. “Now you gotta make roo—ouch!”

The books slammed into Sora’s hand and he quickly pulled it away, shaking the sting out. “What the—”

The books on the shelf shuffled closer to the left side, now leaving a spot on the right open. Sora grumbled, moving quick to try to shove the book into the spot before the books moved again.

He managed to get a corner of the book into the empty spot before the books on the shelf could block him. “There we go, see? That’s not so—”

The whole bookshelf seemed to give a heave and the book Sora had just placed there fell back out.

Sora huffed, staring at the shelf in disbelief. “Hey, that’s not nice!”

The books hopped up and down in a wave. Sora got the feeling they were laughing at him.

“Oi, that’s enough of that!”

Sora turned quickly at the unfamiliar voice.

A young man stood at the spot where Merlin had just disappeared. He was taller than Sora, maybe as tall as Leon. His blue eyes glared at the books, and, to Sora’s surprise, they parted to make room. Sora placed the new book in the space, then placed a few more.

The books did not move again.

Amazingly, Sora managed to fit all the books on the shelf. He wondered if Merlin’s bookshelves extended themselves to fit, or if the shelves were somehow bigger on the inside.

“Well that went a lot faster,” Sora grinned at the newcomer. “Thanks! I’m Sora! Are you helping Merlin move too?”

Blue eyes widened in surprise. “Uh- Sor— uhh…”

The man looked down at his hands and, confusingly, he seemed surprised at what he saw. Sora looked down at the other man’s hands as well, finding nothing out of the ordinary: young, unblemished hands. Maybe a little calloused and scared, but that was no different than Sora’s own.

The man then tapped his clothing— a blue tunic and brown jacket, before moving up to his face. His blue eyes widened even more.“Oh… Fu—”

“Merlin doesn’t like it when we use that word,” Sora warned with a teasing grin. There was no telling when the old wizard would be back and Sora was 90% sure his furniture kept an eye on things when he was gone.

The man took a deep breath, seeming to calm himself. The grin he then sent Sora was nervous and shifty. “I’m, um… Emrys. I’m Merlin’s… friend?”

He didn’t sound too sure of that.

Sora tilted his head at the sudden nervousness but he nodded anyway. “Great! This will go by a lot faster with help. I promised Merlin to move some stuff around while Donald and Goofy are recovering back at the inn.” He lowered his voice conspiratorily. “One of Donald’s fire spells got reflected back at him and his feathers got singed.”

Emrys’s mouth twitched as he held back a laugh. “Oh? He always— er, I mean— Merlin says he doesn’t always look where he fires. Or thunders.”

Sora laughed. “Especially when he gets a little angry.”

Emrys nodded. “Exactly.”

Sora had never seen this guy Emrys before, but he must have visited Merlin often as he knew exactly where Merlin wanted to put things. More books in the expanding bookcase (Emrys knew exactly how to glare at the books to make them behave,) as well as a set of new tea cups to make up for the ones the sugar bowl and creamer conspired to destroy last week.

“Atleast give these a week,” Emrys muttered. The sugar bowl hopped in response, appearing to stare downt he new tea cups.

The teacups trembled.

Sora laughed. “Why doesn’t Merlin get a new sugar bowl if this one is so…”

“Billergent?” Emrys muttered, placing the teacups on a high shelf, way outside of the sugar bowl’s reach. “It was a gift from a friend a long time ago. It didn’t used to be so lively.”

Sora glanced around. “Did all of this stuff used to be… uh. Not alive?”

Emrys grinned at him. “Nah. It’s just my— er— Merlin’s magic in this universe. The stuff here just takes magic better and Merlin tends to leak magic so it goes into his stuff. If the teacups last long enough they’ll start hopping around a bit more. May even give the sugar bowl a run for its money.”

The sugar bowl turned to Emrys, and if it had eyes, Sora was sure it’d be glaring at them.

“Yeah, I’m talking to you, dollop head.”

Last to move was a big box of armor and a slightly smaller box of knick-knacks for Sora and Donald to practice magic on later.

“I got this,” Emrys said as he lifted the armor. Sora was surprised. He had tried to lift the box earlier but the armor was a lot heavier than he thought. “You got the other box?”

“Yep!” Sora lifted it up and stepped on the tile that would take them to the attic. Sora wondered for a moment if Emrys knew the spell to make it move, but then Emrys’s eyes glowed gold and the platform lifted. “Woah!”

Emrys looked at him, “Oh sorry. I usually say a magic word, don’t I?”

Sora frowned. “Merlin usually does yeah.”

“Right…” Emrys’s mouth twisted in contemplation. “Forgot that…”

The last part was said quietly, and Sora was sure he wasn’t supposed to hear it.

Once they were in the attic, Sora took the knick nacks over to where they usually sat until Sora and Donald were ready for practice. A dresser hopped over in greeting and Sora grinned, placing a hand on it placatingly.

“Not today, I have to get back to the inn. But Donald and I will be back for target practice soon!”

The armoire in the corner squeaked its doors in acknowledgment.

“Do they normally talk to you?”

“Huh?” Sora turned to look at Emrys. “Well… sorta. Merlin said he made them indestructible and fireproof, but I still apologize after sparring with them. Though the dresser can punch back pretty hard.”

The dresser in question rolled the top two drawers open and close to demonstrate. A sort of one-two punch motion that definitely winded Sora in the past.

Emrys hummed in thought. “Interesting.”

Sora grinned. “If they act sorta— alive, then I think they are alive.” Sora looked into the box of armor. “I wonder if this armor will start doing the same thing as the dresser. Come alive and—”

Emrys muttered a word Sora didn’t quite catch but the armor suddenly lept out of the box, coming together as if wrapping around a person. The chainmail even filled out as if some sort of ghost was inside.

“Woah!” Sora summoned his keyblade on instinct, only relaxing slightly at Emrys’s laugh. “Hey!”

Emrys chuckled. “Sorry. It’s not quite the same as your furniture friends, but… you can make it come to life a little bit sooner.”

The armor turned to look at Emrys, the arm pieces moving to cross over the chest plate. There was no helmet, but Sora could nearly feel the person who must have once worn the armor.

Emrys glanced over at the armor, his amusement fading the longer he stared at the figure. “Up you, lazy daisy. Rise and shine.” 

“Huh?” Sora tilted his head, but Emrys wasn’t talking to him.

The armor uncrossed its arms and reached out, one armored hand grasping Emrys’s shoulder.

Emrys gasped and suddenly the armor collapsed to the ground with a clang that startled Sora even as he watched.

He quickly bent down to pick up the pieces before they rolled too far away, but a hitch in Emry’s breast stopped him. “Hey… you okay?”

Emrys nodded, “Sorry… I haven’t done that spell in a while and—” A tear rolled down his face. “Sorry. Sorry… being this age makes the emotions—” he laughed with no humor and rubbed at his face. “He’d told me once no man was worth my tears.”

“He?” Sora turned towards the armor, remembering how it had appeared a ghost had worn it. “Did you know who used to wear the armor?”

Emrys gave another humorless laugh and bent down to pick up the chest plate. “Yeah. A… a very long time ago.” He gave Sora a watery smile. “We were friends.”

“Best friends?”

Emrys nodded.

Sora looked back at the armor, knowing in his heart that the person who had worn it was now gone. Taken by heartless— or worse—

Sora clutched at the place over his heart. If something like that ever happened to Riku—

“It’s okay,” Emrys said. “It was a very long time ago. But I’m still waiting.”

“Waiting for your friend?”

Emrys nodded. “He’s supposed to come back. Someday.”

“Oh…” Sora wasn’t sure how that worked, but he definitely wouldn’t be one to take away someone’s hope.

It felt like hope was the only thing holding him together.

Next up is Nichi. I'll tag you on discord. Your line is "It felt like hope was the only thing holding him together."