Work Text:
Coping Mechanisms
by GypsyKate
"Squall–"
"It's Leon."
Every time someone called him 'Squall', his mother yelling at him to run and Ellone`s screams as the Heartless dragged her away rang in his ears. Changing his name gave him a bit of respite. He might take it up in the future...if he earned the right to use it again.
(If his family had known what he had done, they would have said 'It's not your fault', 'We still love you', and 'Don't torture yourself, it's breaking our hearts'.)
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Yuffie wasn't a thief. Aside from the occasional ill-gotten snack, she left other people`s possessions alone.
That was before she lost everything within two hours.
She became a hoarder after that. Coins, sweets, someone else`s teddy bear, another`s silver brooch, that fire crystal she used as a nightlight– if it was left unattended, she took it.
(Her parents would have been disappointed, but glad that their daughter was alive, healthy, and watched over by good people.)
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Cid had dreamed of going to the stars since his first flight. His wish was granted when the Heartless invaded.
No Garden to go back to even if he wanted. No assistant to give him disapproving looks whenever he stepped outside for a smoke. No old friends to regale with his adventures in space. Just a sea of black swallowing up everything he loved.
He stayed away from alcohol until grief lost its edge. He had orphans to look after.
That didn't mean he had to quit smoking, though.
(Shera would've been pleased with his teetotaling, but not with the cigarettes.)
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Aerith found dishwashing relaxing. It didn't require thinking, and she let go of her worries about her adopted family, lost loved ones, and a future that might be trapped in madness and darkness and despair while doing it.
But she didn't take up gardening again until she had spent a year in Traverse Town. It brought up too many memories.
(Both of her mothers and her father would have been happy to see her managing as well as she did.)