Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Closing Time ❯ Chapter 1

Closing Time

by Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)

 

 

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing in this fic so please don't sue me. I'm just borrowing the plot and KH guys for a bit of fun. Also if this starts to sound familiar, then good for you! Not too many people would actually even try to stay up for two whole days watching Twilight Zone marathons.

 

 

The blond boy roamed through the large department store stopping every few feet to glance at the many wonderful items and clothes put on display. However, he still hadn't found what he had come for. He didn't have much time since it was close to when the store shut down for the day.

His brother's birthday was coming up soon and he had wanted to get something special for the older brunet. In his hand was a creased ad torn out of the Twilight Gazette. That was the reason why he had come to the one place he'd been caught dead in. The blond wasn't one for one stop shopping, the large stores like this confused him and most of the people were annoying old hags trying to relive their youth anyway. In fact, he was always feeling like he didn't belong anywhere, even with his brother who he was so close to.

“Can I help you?” a cute black haired girl asked from behind one of the counters. She smiled brightly and batted her eyelashes at the rather cute boy before her.

“Um…” he replied blushing slightly, “I'm looking for a silver keychain for my brother.”

“Oh,” she replied disappointed, “Then you'll have to go upstairs to the gift department.”

“Thanks,” the boy said, leaving the put out girl behind.

After weaving through a group of rather noisy gossipy girls the blond reached the elevators. The doors opened almost as soon as he had pressed the call button. Standing inside was a tall blond with a mullet in some kind of uniform. The boy shuddered; uniforms always made him feel uncomfortable for some strange reason.

“Where ya headed kid?” the man asked.

“Um… gifts I think. I'm looking for silver keychains. Your ad says you sell them.”

“Yep, we've got `em,” the elevator operator piped a little too cheerily, “They're in specialties, on the ninth floor.” The taller of the two blondes then pressed a button marked `R'. “Don't know why they need me for,” the man started, “anyone one of the customers can press a button. But hey, I'm not really complaining. This is a heck a lot better than bussing tables all day and night.”

“I guess,” the boy muttered, not used to chatting with anyone except his brother. “It must be my lucky day,” he went on.

“Yeah, why's that?” the operator asked.

“I get the elevator all to myself,” the shorter blond replied, grateful that the girls he ran into hadn't followed him onto the lift.

“Well this is an express elevator, kid. It goes straight to the ninth floor.”

“Oh.”

That was the extent of their conversation. The two blondes rode the elevator for a few more seconds until the light on the button went out and a peppy little ding sound ran through the car. “Well, here we are,” the operator said, “Specialties, ninth floor. Have fun kid!”

The boy stopped out the lift and began looking around most of the floor was dark and dusty, as if no one had been there in a hundred years. Dozens of silent mannequins stood about, silent guardians of the forgotten place.

“Hey! There must be some mistake!” he called, turning around. But the elevator had already left. He was about to press the call button again, when he caught a flicker of light out of the corner of his eye.

Whirling around, he saw a lone display case brightly lit and well cared for. A person with long red spiky hair stood behind it. Deciding to take a chance, the blond carefully walked up to the case. “Um.. excuse me,” he said.

The person turned around to reveal a rather good looking man with two strange tear like tattoos under each of his emerald eyes. “What can I get ya?” he asked smiling warmly at the smaller male.

“This is where you sell silver keychains right?” the boy asked nervously. “It's a little strange don't you think putting stuff like that on a floor like this.”

“Sure is,” the salesclerk replied shrugging his shoulders. “So whatcha looking for? We've got quite the variety here.” He then swept a perfectly sculpted hand across the case.

“This one here,” the blond answered, smoothing out the ad. “The one with a heart and crown. It's for my brother.”

“Well, you're in luck. I just happen to have one left,” the redhead piped, producing the requested item. “You want me to wrap it for you?”

The boy thought it over for a few moments, but declined. “I'll do it myself. So how much is it?”

“For a cute kid like you, twenty-five munny even.” The smaller of the two blushed as he produced the exact amount. `Thank goodness it's so cheap,' he thought “Otherwise I'd be cleaned out til next month.'

“Here ya go,” the redhead said handing the shiny keychain after taking the munny, “Hope your brother likes it.”

“Thanks,” the blonde replied, tucking the small paper bag into his pocket. He turned to go back to the elevator, missing the solemn look the redhead was giving him.

“Hey Roxas,” the redhead called, “you happy?”

The boy froze at hearing his name. “W-What?!”

“Hey, it's ok. I was out of line, forget it,” the salesclerk apologized.

“How'd you know my name?!” the blonde demanded, “I never told you!”

The redhead just smiled. “Again I apologize for being out of line. It was wrong of me to call you by your first name Mr. Kokoro.”

Roxas frowned and continued to glare at the creepy salesclerk a few more seconds then left in a huff, anxious to get the heck out of the store.

“Something wrong kid?” the elevator operator asked as he pushed the button for the first floor and noticing the blond's sullen mood.

“Just a weirdo sales guy,” Roxas replied.

“Oh. So ya get what ya needed?”

“Yeah. I just hope my brother likes it.” The blond took out the paper bag and looked inside. “Hey wait a minute!” he exclaimed, taking a better look at his brother's present. “This is scratched!” Sure enough there was a rather deep scratch set in the heart. “And it looks like someone ran over it with a steamroller or something too!” The points of the crown were all twisted and bent.

“Geez that's too bad, you'll have to take it to the third floor, to Returns.” The taller blond then pressed the button marked `3'. A few moments later, the elevator `ding'ed and Roxas stepped out. “Hope it works out for ya kid,” the operator called.

“Thanks,” the boy said.

After an extremely long time of listening to a bunch of crabby old hags complain about the clothes they bought being too small for their oversized corpses, Roxas finally stepped up to the Returns window.

“So what's your problem, kiddo?” the one-eyed long haired clerk asked in an extremely bored tone. It was pretty obvious the man was wishing he'd be somewhere else, away from all the wacko old ladies.

“I got this keychain today, and I just noticed it was all scratched and bent,” the blond complained.

The clerk, whose nametag read `Braig', sighed. “Then just take it back to Gifts on the sixth floor.”

“But I didn't get it on the sixth floor, I got it on the ninth,” Roxas complain.

`Why is it always me who gets the wackjobs?' Braig inwardly moaned. “Look kiddo, I'm in no mood for games. It's been a long day and I'd like to get home at a decent hour for once. Just go and take it back to the sixth already”

“I'm telling you I got this on the ninth floor!” Roxas shouted, causing the next set of hags to glare at the `unruly punk' causing a fuss.

“And I'm telling you there's no ninth floor so get lost before I call security,” Braig snapped.

“Is there a problem here?” a tall silver haired man asked, coming over to the window, his icy aqua eyes glaring disdainfully at Braig.

“J-Just a punk kid, Mr. Sephiroth sir. Nothing I can't handle,” the employee stammered nervously.

“I don't know what kind of people you've been hiring lately,” Roxas interjected, giving the clerk a glare of his own, “But I know where I got this from! He tells me I got this busted keychain from the sixth floor, but I got it from the ninth!”

The silver haired manager turned his hard glance over to the boy. `Poor kid,' Braig thought sympathetically, having been on the receiving end of his manager's glares way too many times. “We have no ninth floor,” Sephiroth said icily causing those customers closest to the window to quickly back away and run for their lives. “Do you even have proof you bought that thing here? Where's your receipt boy?”

“It's right here,” Roxas spat reaching angrily into the paper bag only for his hand to come back empty. “Wait a sec! I didn't get a receipt! I paid cash for this piece of junk too!”

Sephiroth continued to glare at the blond. “I think it'd be best if you left,” the manager said, reaching into his pocket for his PHS in case security was needed, which he felt they probably would.

“Look,” Roxas started, “I took that elevator,” he pointed to the lift marked `Car 3', “to the ninth floor where I was waited on by a very rude and very weird guy! And I paid twenty-five munny, in cash! All I want is to take this thing and get my money back!”

“Security,” Sephiroth spoke coolly into the phone, not even fazed by the boy's outburst. “I need someone to escort a rather naughty little boy up here on three.”

`Great, just what I needed,' Roxas inwardly groaned, `a jail record at fifteen! Sora's gonna kill me!' The boy glanced worriedly around and spotted a familiar head of spiky red hair. “There's the guy who waited on me!” Cold, hard aqua slid over to where the blond was pointing. “Hey you! You sold me a damaged keychain!”

Roxas ran up to the man only to let out a very girlie shriek. Standing before him was the redhead who had waited on him, but there was no life in the man; it was a mannequin! The wooden doll had the same spiky red hair, the same cocky smirk, and the same emerald green eyes. Sure, it was possible to mistake a mannequin for a real person; many a person had done that. But the resemblance was too uncanny; it even had the very same tattoos below each eye!

The stress plus the major shock had been all too much for the poor boy and Roxas promptly fainted. Sephiroth sighed and gestured for two uniformed guards to pick up the unconscious blond. “Take him to one of the fitting room lounges and make sure he's alright,” the silver haired man barked, “The last thing I need is a lawsuit.”

The two men obeyed and carefully carried the boy away while the other employees went back to start closing the store down for the day.

 

******************************************

 

Hours later, Roxas woke to find himself lying on a lumpy sofa that had seen better days and stunk of little old lady. Grimacing at the stench, he gingerly rose to his feet and groggily blinked his eyes as things came back into focus. Once remembering what had happened, the blond began to search for the pompous manager to complain.

However, there was no one about. The store was empty and the lights were out. All the display cases were locked and covered with dust cloths. `I've been locked in!' he thought in a panic, not to mention really annoyed now, `How could they just leave a customer lying around like that?!'

The boy ran to the elevators and began pressing the call buttons, however, none of them would respond. The power had been turned off. Next, he dashed to the stairwell across the way and tried the door. `No good, it's locked,' he whined. Truly beginning to panic now, Roxas began to bang on the door. “Hey!” he shouted. “Anyone here?! I'm locked in! Hey!”

It was no use, it was obvious there was no one left in the building and there was no getting out. Roxas had never been so scared in his life. He practically almost had a heart attack when one of the elevators `ding'ed and opened.

The blond made a mad dash for the lift and began pressing all the buttons, praying that one of them worked. The doors slid shut and the elevator jerked as it began its journey. Fearful blue eyes stared at the floor indicator at the top, never leaving as the lift took him past the fifth, six, all the way to a floor marked `R'. `Damn!' he cursed, `The roof's no good to me now!'

The elevator made its perky little chime then opened its doors to let its passenger out. Seeing as he had no other choice at the moment, Roxas left the confines of the elevator to find himself back on the dilapidated `ninth' floor. `Finally, I'll get some answers!' the blonde thought.

He began to wonder around, ignoring the dust that swirled about him as he moved. The lack of lighting gave the mannequins an even eerier look now that he knew he was the only one in the whole store. Roxas's eyes darted from painted face to painted face, not sure if any of them were going to pounce on him at any moment.

As the boy began to go deeper and deeper into panic, his mind began to play tricks on him for he swore he could here a whispered voice call out to him. “Roxas,” the voice echoed through the empty floor. Soon others joined the first, each one just as soft and barely audible.

“C'mon kid, who do you think you're foolin'?”

“Stop being so stubborn.”

“Roxas.”

“Roxas.”

“Roxas.”

“C'mon kid.”

“Must you be so stubborn?”

On and on the voices went, causing the blond's heart to race at a dangerously fast speed. He made to run back to the elevator and try to escape, but was blocked by something hard. Looking up was the redheaded salesclerk from earlier.

“Whoa, easy there Roxas. It's ok,” the man said wrapping his arms around the smaller blond. “You don't have to be so scared. We'll help ya remember. Ain't that right guys?”

“Yep,” a mannequin double of the elevator operator said, smiling the same lazy smile as before. “Ya know you hurt my feelings when you acted like you didn't know me back there,” he said with a pout. The poor boy ignored him and began to sob uncontrollably. The redhead pitied the smaller boy. He really couldn't blame him for many of their kind have forgotten themselves as well in the past. He began rubbing soothing circles on the blond's back and let Roxas

“Oh shut it you lazy ass!” a blonde woman in a bikini shot as she leapt from her pedestal. “I'd be so lucky if I could forget you, even for a second.”

“Must you pick another fight, Larxene?” a man with long pinkish hair in a three piece suit drawled.

Roxas trembled in the redhead's arms as frightened sapphires watched the mannequins approach them. “Anything coming back lad?” a pale blond man with a goatee asked once the smallest of the group had calmed down. The boy blinked and rubbed his temples a few times, the feeling of knowing these `people' growing stronger by the minute.

“I… I'm… a…”

“Mannequin?” a sandy blonde man with a sneer spat annoyedly. “Well duh. Why would you think that lazy fool Demyx brought you up here in the first place?”

“Stuff it Vex!” the redhead shouted, “He's been away for a month! What would you expect when you're having fun out there?!”

“T-That's right!” Roxas shot, finally remembering who and what he was at last, “It was my turn to…”

“So now the brat remembers!” Larxene spat, “After I've already missed a day! I was supposed to leave yesterday, but noooooooo you had to be a spoiled brat and not show up!”

“I'm sorry Larxene,” the boy apologized, “I really did forget! I didn't mean for you to be late!”

“Hmph. Well at least I can finally get out of this stuffy old dump! Catch you morons later!” With that, the blond woman grabbed a black trench coat off of a dusty couch nearby and wrapped it around her scantily clad form before waving over her shoulder.

“Good riddance,” muttered Demyx under his breath, “We won't have to worry about that banshee for a whole month.”

“So Rox,” the redhead asked, smiling when he felt small slender hands wrap around his waist. “It was fun out there wasn't it?”

“Loads,” the boy mannequin replied, “I can't believe I forgot about you Ax. You of all people!”

“Well, I'll just have to make sure you don't next time. Got it memorized?” the taller mannequin promised, grateful to have the one person he cared about most back. Roxas didn't reply. He just let the older man hold him, happy and relieved to be back where he truly belonged.

 

That morning, the Shinra department store was filled with the hustle and bustle of its many employees as they went about getting ready to open to the public. Sephiroth stopped occasionally to scold a worker here and there; making sure everything was just perfect.

The silver haired manager paused in front of a group of mannequins, a man, woman, and two children. Aqua orbs widened in surprise upon recognizing the boy who had fainted on the third floor the previous day. “Tch, ridiculous,” he muttered to himself and shaking his head. “I'm just overworked. Again.” Not sparing another glance to the mannequins, Sephiroth went about his daily routine, silently vowing to switch to decaf.

 

~Owari~

 

 

Sakura: Hope you enjoyed this one folks. This just happens to be one of my all time fave TZ episodes. ^_^