Title: Crown and Bee [Sora/Riku]
Rating/Warnings: Gen
Summary: Sora and Riku find a familiar face on some ancient Scalan ruins.
AN: Written for Shiritori. I just want more Scala lore and alphabet!
Crown and Bee
The relief was crumbling along the top and at either end, but still taller than Riku, its surface tightly packed with carved images and Scalan text. It had taken them most of the day to find it hidden in the crumbling remains of the deserted city, and now the late afternoon sun was washing the white marble golden, even the worn edges of the carvings casting enough shadow to seem newly-carved again. Only Aqua had studied enough Scalan to even try reading the legend carved here; Lea and Ventus were taking pictures of all of it to bring back to Yen Sid, Lea from the right and Ventus from the left. To Sora, the Scalan might as well have been hieroglyphics, but he didn’t need any translation to recognize the figure in the center of the relief, concentric halos behind his head, crossed keys over his chest. The paint had long faded from the stone, leaving the figure’s eyes wide and blank, mouth a serious line.
Behind him, Scala echoed with the sound of the wind and crash of waves, empty but never silent. Even with the sun warm on his back, Sora shivered.
“I think I look good,” Riku said at Sora’s shoulder, tone light. Sora gave him a wry look over his shoulder, but Riku only shrugged, smiling faintly. Maybe he had the right idea, Sora had to admit; faced with an ancient prophetic carving that looked exactly like you, what else could you do but laugh a little?
“His haircut’s better than yours,” Sora retorted, turning back to the relief. He forced his voice to carry a teasing tone that he felt none of in his chest.
“Ouch,” Riku said mildly. He slid an arm around Sora’s waist and Sora let himself be pulled into Riku’s side, taking comfort from Riku’s nearness. “He’s had a thousand years to grow his out, give me a break. Why’s he holding a bee, do you think?”
Sora examined the figure’s hands, both held out, palm open to the viewer. In one hand, he held a crown, the same familiar shape as lay against Sora’s collarbones, in the other, a bee, its delicate legs and wings barely visible on the weathered marble.
“Ancient hive mind?” Sora guessed. Riku pinched his side, making Sora squirm.
“It’s the two responsibilities of royalty,” Aqua spoke up, having drifted close enough to eavesdrop. “The crown represents authority, control, firm rule. The bee represents care for your subjects and correct use of resources, the city as a living unit.”
Lea snorted on Aqua’s other side. “Kingdom or hippie commune, you decide.”
“Keep snapping pictures, wise guy,” Aqua ordered.
“Do you think he was a real person?” Riku asked Sora, or maybe he was talking to himself. “Or just a story?”
Sora shook his head, trying not to look at the smaller carved figures under his feet or the way the carved city skyline crumbled away at the edges. A warning, if anything. “He looks lonely.”
“You think so?” Riku asked. “Hm, I wonder. You should see the other side, then.”
“The other side?” Sora said. Riku took Sora’s hand, twining their fingers together, and let him down to the end of the wall and around to the other side. A tangle of ivy had grown up over the others side. When Riku tugged the ivy to the side, another figure covered the center of this relief.
Where the figure on the front had a sun halo, this figure had a crescent moon with its pointed tips resting on its shoulders, a starburst over its heart. Elemental magic symbols surrounded its hands, carved in the spaces between the fingers, a dagger in one hand and a feather in the other. This figure had its eyes closed, mouth curved in an enigmatic smile, but most surprising of all were the carved hair spikes.
“Who the heck is that?” Sora asked, heart beating erratically in his chest. He stepped closer, touching fingertips to the starburst symbol.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Riku said, reaching up to drag gently through Sora’s wayward hair spikes. “Sure looks like someone I know.”
