Locked & Far Away
When all you have is yourself and nobody's there to save you…
Chapter 1
Alone
RoxasXKairi (Roxiri)
Romance & Friendship (Hints of Drama? Probably some hints of humor too.)
T
#Warning! In this story Sora is the Keybearer and his adventures happened for real. But in every world, he meets the characters again… he doesn't remember all of them! (Just saying to avoid confusion)
Afterwards, everything seems much easier. You wouldn't have done that, you would've said the correct thing. But at the moment you should've said it, you shouldn't have done it, you'll find yourself doing the exact opposite thing. You'll do the wrong thing, you'll say the wrong thing.
That's how things are. No one has ever tried to do anything about it, because that's just the way it is. Today, I found myself in a situation so bizarre, so strange that even I find it hard to believe it.
A month ago…
"Guys!" Sora ran into the room, waving with a pile of papers. "Look at this!"
He nearly threw the papers in Riku's face and in mine. "LOOK!"
Riku, staying calm no matter how worse the situation was, removed the papers from his eyes. "Sora, for God's sake, you can't expect me to immediately look at something the moment you brought it on."
Sora pouted. "Dude, aren't you just completely happy?"
Riku raised an eyebrow. Sora sighed and turned to me. "C'mon, Kairi!"
I looked at the papers he brought in.
"Reservations?"
I stared at him in disbelief, while he proudly looked down at us. "Reservations?"
"For what?" said Riku as he let himself sink further away in the chair.
We always met up in this cave. We, mainly Sora and I, kept coming here and we drew a lot of things here when we were younger.
I gave Riku the reservations. "He just got us reservations for the Twilight Town Hotel!"
Now even the cold and cool Riku gasped. "No way!"
He then glared at Sora. "How did you get this?"
Sora winked. "I'm the Keybearer. Whether you like it or not, I'm famous, baby!" He stroke a ridiculous pose and made us both laugh.
"So, when are we going?" I asked my ex-boyfriend as he sat down, calming down a bit. He grinned widely. "Well, as soon as possible! I was thinking about… next week?"
I gasped. "You can't be serious! I need to pack, to call off everything I had planned and-"
Sora sighed and leaned back. "Fine. Over two weeks?"
Riku snickered. "Sure pal, what about the match between me and Tidus? I really want to kick his ass for once."
I shook my head. "Sora, you own an amazing imagination system, but you really need to learn how to be realistic."
Riku agreed. "Why not plan it next month?"
Sora threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine. Next month. The reservations are still valid 'till the end of this year."
-
I sighed, rubbed my arm with my hand and sank back against the cold tiles.
It seemed so long ago, like it happened an eternity ago, instead of a month.
Why I did recall this? I shook my head and rested it upon my hands.
I was tired, so tired of waiting. Did no one miss me out there?
One week ago…
"Aaaah, feel that?" Sora sucked in as much air as possible.
Riku swung his backpack nonchalantly over his shoulder as he looked around the train station.
"Well, I don't get the point why sniffing so loudly people think you're on drugs."
Sora whacked him in the chest. "That wasn't necessary to say, pal."
I pushed a few strands of my auburn hair behind my ear and swung my bag over my shoulder too.
"Well, shall we go instead of standing here?"
My friends nodded and we all made our way to the exit. It wasn't very crowded, but everyone seemed to know where they had to go.
We did not really know the way, so we just followed a chubby guy with a huge camera. He wore a red cord around his forehead; His black hear fell messily on his head and his footsteps were amazingly light and cheerful.
"Um, why are we following that guy?" I whispered.
Sora shrugged. "He seems to know where he's going."
Suddendly a voice shouted. "Pence! Where the heck were you?"
A blond guy with green eyes came running towards the chubby guy we'd been stalking, to say it the way I saw it. The guy we'd been following turned and grinned widely at the newcomer. "Hi there, Hayner! Were are Olette and Roxas?"
"Back at the Usual Spot! C'mon!"
They both ran off and left us in this unknown, foreign city.
I took a deep breath. "So… which one of us brought a map?"
-
I chuckled gently. I should've known Sora always forgot those important things and Riku always thought I took those 'important' things with me.
And I… I forget things too.
I yawned and felt my stomach twirl and roar with hunger. Strange, because I was not really starving. Maybe I was, but I didn't really think about the hunger.
Or, maybe I was already in a kind of a unconscious state. Who knew?
I was the only one here in this small room, with bright white tiles and a (closed) white door.
At first, the whiteness of this room had blinded me. But now, the brightness had faded a bit.
A week ago…
After we finally arrived at the hotel, Sora checked in, leaving me and Riku alone in the hall.
I looked around, admiring the nice furniture and the chandelier. "Nice…" I mumbled in myself.
"Sure. But this is the best hotel in the whole region. It has to be nice, don't you think?" Riku answered. He crossed his arms. "I mean, we paid for it."
I laughed. Typically Riku. "You didn't have to pay."
Riku shrugged.
There fell a silence between us.
Then, I looked worriedly at the counter, where Sora and a man in black were talking.
"Shouldn't we join him? I mean… you know Sora…"
Riku snickered. "Sora's not fourteen anymore, Kai."
No. He wasn't.
"I know, I know." I muttered.
Riku put his hand on my shoulder. "But I know you miss that age… in all of us."
I looked up at him. "Sora isn't the only one who changed much in our adventure, I know. But I think he's the only one who still tries to get that old 'self' back."
Riku shrugged and removed his hand from my shoulder. "Hmm… I think we all try to. But Sora… well…"
We watched him come our way and he grinned at us. I chuckled. "He's the only one who succeeds."
Riku smiled as well and turned to Sora. "You did get us the best rooms, right?"
Sora's smile fell. He started fiddling with his backpack. "Err… We have to share one room… I thought you guys wouldn't mind…"
I gave him a small hug. "Of course we don't mind. Without you we wouldn't even be here, now would we?"
I felt him gave a sigh with relief in my neck as he hugged me back. "I miss you." He whispered, so soft and gently only I could hear.
I sighed as I planted a kiss in his neck. "I miss you too."
-
Sora and I had been boy and girlfriend for quite a while. From our fourteenth to our eighteenth. Four years... happy years.
We broke up because the spark was over. Still, we both missed the safety of never being lonely, the safety of someone always waiting for you when you arrived home. We missed being together.
Still, we both knew it was over, forever. It was harsh, but true. We were just not in love anymore.
However, we still knew what the other was thinking, we still knew how the other felt.
I missed him even more now. I wouldn't feel so alone if he was here.
He could bring joy everywhere he came.
He would know what to do.
A couple of days ago...
"I've had enough of the swimming pool," Riku declared. "I want to go into town."
I nodded. "Yeah, it'd be fun to check the town out as well."
Both Riku and me looked at the bed, where Sora laid, covered under his blankets. "Sora...?" Riku started. "Sleepy retarded moron. Get out of bed. Now."
He left the bedroom to collect his stuff.
I still waited and finally saw Sora stretching himself. He yawned as I sat next to him. "You know Riku hates it when something remains the same every day again."
Sora wrapped his arm around my shoulder and rested his face there as he yawned again. "You're right. You're right." When he yawned again I pushed him away. "God, Sora, how late did you make it last night?"
"GUYS!" Riku shouted. "If you don't come now, we won't have to go anymore."
The town was beautiful. It was big, but there weren't much people on the streets. Riku acted like a real tourist (by taking pictures of everything), Sora was continuously yawning and I... I was just walking together with them.
"Hey, isn't that the guy we followed earlier this week?" Riku said, pointing with his camera to the black haired guy. Sora yawned again. "Huh?"
He got a whack on his head. "Oh, that guy. Yeah, we followed him."
I laughed at his sleepiness. "And look, there's that blond haired guy too."
There was also a girl with them now, with brown curls and another blond haired guy. He was the only one who wasn't smiling. He stared at the pavement under his feet and his hands were stuck into his pockets.
Sora, the spontaneous one, suggested we should ask them to show us around. I, being awfully shy, wasn't sure it was a good idea.
Riku shook his head and ruffled through my hair. "They know this town. Let them show us their town!"
That's why I kind of hid behind Riku while he followed Sora, who was already standing by the four teenagers. "So, since you know all 'bout this town... would you mind give us a tour?"
The blond guy we'd seen earlier, stepped closer to Sora, while the rest took a step back. Ah, that was the leader. "You look familiar... do we know you?"
Riku snickered and bent over to my ear. "He just didn't ignore Sora. He changed the subject... very subtle."
I held back my laughter and wrapped my hand around my mouth to stop myself from laughing. The other blond guy looked my way. His crystal blue eyes were rather cold and icy, and he raised a brow at me. Oops. Nice first impression. We could forget that tour.
"Uhh, I can't recall ever seeing you before." Sora said, tapping his chin while thinking.
Good lie. We did see him before, but then we had to admit we stalked his black haired friend.
The boy shook his head. "Never mind. I'm Hayner." He said as he shook hands with Sora. "Sora."
Hayner nodded and pointed at the black haired guy. "This is Pence," He gestured behind him. "Olette," and at least he pointed to the guy with the cold eyes. "and Roxas."
Sora grinned widely and pointed at us. "Riku and Kairi."
"Why do I always get called last?" I muttered at Riku. "Always. 'Sora and Kairi,' 'Riku and Kairi', 'the boys and Kairi'. Marvellous."
The icy boy, Roxas, heard and a small smile curled his lips. He didn't say anything, but I felt relieved. At least the tour was granted.
-
Maybe they would hear me if I screamed. Maybe they heard me if I screamed so hard I would hurt my own ears.
Useless.
There was no one down here.
Sora and Riku would probably be somewhere near the coast.
"Help...?" I said. Nobody replied.
-
Yesterday...
"Guys, can you imagine that we were all separated last year? That we all had no idea if we were going to make it to the end of that year?" Sora suddendly said, in a very serious mood.
"Well, I've been trying to forget, my dear Sora." Riku said, and he flipped over to his stomach. Yes, we were back at the swimming pool.
"No, seriously..." Sora said weakly. "Every time I think about it..." He stared at something we couldn't see and he put his hand on his chest.
"Do you miss it?" I asked.
Sora blinked twice and returned. He gave me a smile. "No, I don't miss it. It's over."
"Yeah," I began while sinking back in the chair. "For now. Wait until the Heartless come back. You'll notice how quickly King Mickey calls you back."
Sora frowned. "Well..."
"The darkness always returns, Sora. You know that. It's not predictable... sometimes it can be in your own heart." Riku said, face down in the grass.
"Probably." Sora said. "But maybe the people have learned and-"
"Dude," Riku said while sitting up. "Have you seen Roxas?"
"Who?" Sora said, dumbfounded.
I slapped my forehead. "No wonder it was easy for them to remove your memories. You don't have them."
Riku snickered. "You know, the guy with the icy stare."
"Oh!" Sora remembered.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's from the Dark Side." Riku finished his sentence.
I frowned. "I don't think so, because-"
But my two friends rolled their eyes at me. "You should stay out of this conversation. You've a pure heart. You can't dislike someone."
I crossed my arms. "Incorrectly. I dislike you, at the moment."
Riku laughed and pushed me from my chair. I laughed too and pushed him away and sat down again.
"Kairi," Sora suddendly said with a gentle smile. "You know, I can't think of somebody disliking you."
"Where did that come from? We were talking about the Darkness. You know I'm the Darkness itself." I joked, earning laughter.
Yeah. Me and Darkness? That's the same as Sora being a member from Organisation XIII.
Or... Icy Roxas trying to help somebody out.
-
I think somebody disliked me. Somebody disliked me so badly he or she wanted me to die here.
My stomach roared again.
I sighed and crossed my arms. "I don't think it's someone's fault I'm here... only mine."
It was me, who saw this on the way to the train. It was me, who said to Sora they should go ahead, that I was going to check something. It was me, who opened this door and walked in. It was me, stunned and amazed, who let the door slip from my fingers and let it fall close behind me.
-
Today...
"I miss the beach." Sora stated. "I absolutely love the swimming pool, but I miss the salt water."
Riku rolled with his eyes. "That's why we're going to the beach, you moron."
Sora gave him a whack. "Don't talk like that in the company of the Keybearer!"
"Seriously, I'm one too, idiot!"
I laughed and watched the station come closer.
Suddendly my eye fell on an abandoned alley.
"Sora..." I said, trying not to make it too clear I was going to that alley. It attracted me somehow, but Sora hated those alleys. He was scared something would happen to me.
"Hm?"
"Why don't you guys go ahead and leave me here for now? I want to check something..."
Sora immediately turned and stared at me. He didn't trust it. "What are you up to?"
I tried not to look at the alley. "Sora, c'mon! I'm not a three years old! I'll be with you within thirty minutes."
Sora's eyes narrowed, but Riku gave him a push. "Come on, Sora! Give her a break. She's not going to get lost or something."
Sora sighed. "Fine. We'll see you within," he gave me a stern look, "thirty minutes."
-
I laughed, softly. Within thirty minutes. I raised my wrist to look at my watch. I sat here for three hours already.
"What came into my mind?" I wondered out loud.
I know I have a weak spot for those dark alleys. Ever since I was lost in the Darkness, I have this fear and fascination for the usual darkness. Like I want to prove I'm strong enough to conquer the darkness in alleys, dark rooms and stuff like that.
I sighed again and decided to try, one last try to get me outta here. I stood up, walked to the door and took a deep breath.
"Can somebody hear me?"
I yelled at the top of my lungs.
No reply.
I rested my forehead against the door. "Please...?"
"Kairi...?"
-
