Title: Stalk of Roses
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Rating: Teen
Length: ~1,500 words
Content notes: Generally unsettling behavior on Marluxia's part, and references to poisoning.
Author notes: I wanted to write a story about Marluxia being beautiful and creepy, and this is what eventuated. It's set sometime during the events of Re:Chain of Memories.
I should also note that I've only just finished the second game, so this fic is based only on the canon of Re:Chain and KH2! Please don't spoil me for later games in the comments <3
Summary: Sora is given a room card with a strange-looking number on it, like a 7, but sharp and jagged. Marluxia wants to see him.


Tall and firm, his shoulders pushed back and his torso broad as a tree trunk but smoother, the cloak gripping his upper chest before flowing silkily down from his waist to the floor, Marluxia lifted his hand like a butterfly from the bed of roses he had been tending to, and smiled down at Sora through narrowed eyes.

"I see you had no trouble receiving the card from your friend Riku. Welcome to my garden, Sora." His voice was so deep in contrast to the gentle sway of his body. It almost made you feel like you could trust him, Sora thought. Almost.

This was his second time meeting Marluxia, and the impression Sora had had the first time was just as true now. Marluxia didn't seem like the others - Axel, Larxene, and Vexen. Marluxia took soft steps toward Sora and rested a hand on his back.

Sora blinked, looking up at Marluxia. "Riku said... you wanted to see me?"

Something in Marluxia's expression deepened. "You've been climbing so many floors, haven't you? I thought you should have some reprieve. Come this way." Sora stepped forward so he didn't have to feel Marluxia's hand on his back as much, and was led sheepishly through the rows of roses to the other side of the room.

When Riku had given him that white card - the one with the strange-looking number on it, like a 7, but sharp and jagged - and told Sora that Marluxia wanted him, Sora had been a little confused. He hadn't seen a card like this one before, and what did Marluxia want with him? Determined to find out, he'd gone on ahead and used the card on the next door, and now here he was. The room created by the card was a regular castle room, only it was overflowing with roses, all growing in rows of white planters. Overhead, huge bells rang droplets down on to the roses silently.

Marluxia was just as silent as he beckoned Sora to a table and chair, white as the walls and the floor and the card that had led Sora to this room in the first place - a very weird card in a memory game that had only been filled with red cards and blue cards and green cards, and, occasionally, yellow cards, so far.

Marluxia waved for Sora to sit down, and there was, Sora noticed, only one chair to sit down into. There was a tea set on the table. Marluxia stood beside the chair and Sora took a little white to fully lower himself into it. Once he had, Marluxia moved behind him and, as far as Sora could see reflected in the shiny ceramic of the teapot, Marluxia stayed there, right behind him, fingertips on the back of the chair.

"Shall I make you something to drink?" Fabric rustled at Sora's ear as Marluxia extended one long arm, sleeved in black, over Sora's head and forward, to lift the lid from the teapot. Inside it, floating on the surface of the water, were long, pink petals. Thin and wet, they clung to the water and the ceramic like a skin.

Sora turned around in his chair, to look Marluxia directly in the eye. There was only one chair, and there was only one teacup. "Aren't you going to have any?"

"I'm not the one who's been staggering from floor to excruciating floor." Marluxia set the lid of the teapot down on the table, then took a ceramic teaspoon and stirred in into the petals, revealing water which Sora could see was pink.

Marluxia was different to the others in the way he moved and spoke, but deep down, weren't they all on the same side? He was still someone Sora should be wary of, and Sora was. He didn't know what the tea would do to him, and he couldn't find the strength to ask.

After a few more swirls, the teaspoon surfaced, and Marluxia delicately tapped the remaining pink droplets off the tip before setting it down and restoring the lid to the teapot. Both his arms and the long, mysterious fabric they were drenched in shadowed Sora's face on either side, now, as Marluxia grasped the teapot by its handle with one hand, and held the lid on place with the fingers of the other, pressed flat, ready to pour.

"Tell me when to stop, Sora," he said, and hot, dusty steam billowed up into Sora's cheeks as the tea of roses was poured into his cup. He coughed, batting away the steam and blinking rapidly to keep it out of his eyes, too.

"That-- that should be enough," he said, when all that remained of the empty teacup was a thin ring of white ceramic just beneath the rim. That seemed like a polite amount.

Marluxia took the teapot away and Sora stared down at a much pinker, more rippled version of himself. He couldn't see if his nervousness was as obvious on his face as it was in his chest. His toes curled inside his shoes. He didn't want to drink this weird tea. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he did. But what would happen if he didn't? He wanted to ask, but he didn't think he could ask.

The dark fabric on either side of Sora's face had drawn away, but Marluxia remained behind him, Sora could feel it the way you weren't supposed to feel your own shadow. It creeped him out, how Marluxia was just standing there, close to him.

"You don't have to drink it," said Marluxia, "but it's there for you if you want it.

"I will say, though," he added, and leaned in toward Sora, his lips very close to Sora's ear. His words flushed warm against Sora's skin as he spoke, and Sora could hear him breathing, shallow and airy, like he expected something, like he was getting closer and closer to death with each breath, like he was hungry.

Sora held his own, teeth clenched together in fear hidden behind closed lips, the beats of his heart turning into heavy, painful thuds as he waited for Marluxia to lean in further and finally say, "I will say that it does tend to go cold quickly, so if you did want to try it, sooner would taste better."

When Sora swallowed and let out a silent sigh of relief, his mouth was dry and his throat hurt. ...His mouth was really dry, and he hated to admit it, but maybe a cup of tea would help with that. If it turned out to be poisoned or anything, he had a few potions in his pocket that could cure it, didn't he? At least if the tea was corrupted, he had ways of countering it.

Marluxia's presence pierced like thorns into the back of Sora's neck. Sora wanted to roll out of the chair and draw the Keyblade, more to protect himself than to attack, but Marluxia hadn't drawn his weapon (if he had one) and it wasn't like Sora was being threatened. Marluxia said he didn't have to drink the tea.

But that feeling of being watched prickled further down Sora's neck, reaching into the collar of his clothes to inch along his shoulders.

Not entirely sure he was doing the right thing, Sora after a moment carried his right hand to the full cup of tea to curl his fingers around the handle. The tea wobbled as he lifted the cup to his lips. He picked up the saucer with his free hand. And then, holding everything as close to himself as he could, he tipped the teacup toward himself and sipped in the tea. Sweet and smoky, the tea flooded his mouth and he swallowed. He didn't swallow quietly. He really was thirsty. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and apologized, "Sorry," before taking another, more careful sip, and attempting to swallow that one as quietly as he could.

When the cup was empty, which didn't take long, Sora set it back down, saucer and all, on the table. Nothing was happening to him. He blinked.

After a moment, Marluxia leaned down again, this time with both hands on Sora's shoulder. His face reflected in the teapot this time, and even through the ceramic Sora could see that there was a look on his face like he had won something. These people of the Castle, they didn't just give. They took as well. And whatever Marluxia had wanted from Sora, he had gotten it. Sora felt sick, and it wasn't because of the tea.

"Did you enjoy that?"

Sora flinched, his eyes widening. He turned to Marluxia. "What did you do to me?"

"What do you think I did?"

"I-- I don't know, but--" It took a lot of strength for Sora to wrench himself free from the clamp of chair and table and Marluxia, but he did it. Bravery returned to him as he got to his feet. His hand was braced, ready to draw his Keyblade, either to attack or to heal himself. "--But I'm sure it was something."

"Well, then. I'll leave that to you to think about," said Marluxia. "Enjoy the rest of the floor. I'm sure it won't be long until we see each other again soon." A portal of darkness opened behind him.

"Wait!" said Sora, almost stumbling forward. "Marluxia!"

But Marluxia stepped back into the portal and was gone, and the room was left hanging with all the silence of the bells up above, ringing their noiseless chimes over the beds of roses over and over and over.