Smoke and Mirrors

by lawfulidiot

Sora hates the prison Roxas is trapped in inside their head and he'll do anything to make things better. [RoxasSora][Oneshot][Post KH2]

A/N For: Lazzchan, who puts up with me being an idiot on AIM and writes hot fic. This thing gave me so much trouble, like you would not believe. It was supposed to be a drabble for the RoxasSora community on LJ but my brain kind of died a little and was like, bitchplz, like you want to write a drabble. And no matter how much I protested, "yes, yes, I do" it took over. : anyway, here you are. New job starts tomorrow, so I'll be hella slow uploading fics, ugh. :\

-

I

Sometimes Sora found that he hated mirrors; it's really kind of a stupid thing to hate, he knows, but at the same time he doesn't want to be reminded of everything He had lost. It's okay, Roxas assured every time that he thought his Other will listen- more often than not, Sora doesn't. They are both stubborn, both unwilling to give up, and while it pissed Roxas off to no end, he knew that it would be hypocritical for him to say anything about it.

It's okay.

'It's not okay,' Sora shot back like always, his mental voice tinted with anger and disappointment as he pressed his hands to the mirror in front of him. After a moment of staring back, Roxas pressed his to the opposite side of the glass. 'It's not. You shouldn't be trapped like this.'

Roxas sometimes wanted to point out that there's no other way for him to exist because he's whole now and that's the reason he left the Organization in the first place. He left to find his Other and that was what- all he wanted to have. Sora, he knew, was the one that was truly upset by the arrangement. The boy was too selfless for his own good and Roxas silently hoped that it wouldn't be his downfall.

II

Sora sighed over breakfast, digging his fork into the pancakes, and cutting them into small squares. There were some things that had carried over from Roxas to Sora- neatness was one of them. Sora wasn't messy, per se, but Roxas was very particular with where everything was and how it was; Sora's mother had noted it a little happily, but both Kairi and Riku teased him, commenting how Roxas would need to keep him in line.

More of that strawberry stuff, Roxas commented, and Sora felt his hand move for it of its own accord. I don't see how you can only use a little of this, it makes them taste so much better. Sora smiled a little, fading back just enough so it still looked like him but Roxas was in control of the majority of his body. Sora's mother never seemed to comment on the changes that sometimes occurred though they were both extremely careful to keep them as inconspicuous as they could to keep from drawing attention to the fact they were trying to be secretive. It was the last thing that they needed, having Sora's (their, Sora corrected with a scowl) parents asking questions about stuff that they really didn't want to answer.

It had been something that all three of the teens had done- they'd been somewhat considered celebrities around the islands and none of them were too keen on the idea of people finding out about Sora's…issue. Riku had withdrawn the most out of the three, more out of guilt and the uncertainity of how to act around a place he thought that he had destroyed. If anything, the past two years had drawn the three of them together even more than before, tying the bond between them a little tighter while combining Roxas and Naminé into the mix.

"I wasn't sure what to expect," Naminé had quietly confessed to him once while they were sitting on the beach. Behind her, Sora could see the shadowy form of Kairi showing her how to braid thalassa shells into a bracelet. "It seems like we're intruding sometimes. We…"

"You belong with us," Sora said through Roxas and they could see a flash of a smile that was all Kairi's. "It's as simple as that."

III

Sora sprawled out on his bed, tired and sore in a wonderful way that came after stretching, sparring, and then the longest, hottest shower he could manage. Blowing his bangs out of his eyes, he shifted onto his side and watched Roxas carefully. The blond was leaning against the window, nearly transparent fingers brushing against the glass. "You were holding back a few times," he said quietly. "And I don't mean with Kairi and Naminé."

Roxas shrugged gracefully. "It's just sparring."

"But how are we supposed to get better if all of us are holding back?" Sora asked, combing his fingers through damp spikes in an attempt to set them right. There was another shrug from the other Keyblader as he made his way to the beanbag sitting in the corner of Sora's room and flopped back into it with a sigh. "Roxas…"

"Naminé's not a fighter." Roxas slouched back a little more in the chair, the two of them watching each other carefully. "Kairi is, but they don't have to fight. If Heartless attack, you, Riku, Kairi and I will be enough."

Would they? Would they really be enough to stand up against the swarms of Heartless if it really came down to it? They didn't know for sure that it was over. Kingdom Hearts was safe and the worlds were gone, but was everything going to really be okay? "I wish…" Sora sighed quietly, rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling, not even bothering to hide the subject change. "I wish that you didn't have to worry about this… You deserve your own body."

Eyes narrowing at the seemingly endless conversation, Roxas debated on just telling Sora to drop the matter. They danced around it all the time and never got anywhere. Fingers tapping the beanbag absently, Roxas simply contented himself with looking around Sora's room. "We're both alive, aren't we?" he asked quietly, watching as Sora shifted onto his side and examined him with surprisingly serious blue eyes. "I'm alive through you."

"Is it enough for both of us?" Sora asked quietly and Roxas had no answer.

IV

Climbing up into Kairi's window had become easy now, he noted with vague amusement. The ability to jump higher, combined with being able to glide made it simple to launch himself up and land with barely a sound in her room so her parents didn't notice. He didn't feel like explaining just why he was randomly sneaking in to their daughter's room at night.

"Hey," Kairi said warmly from where she was bent over a piece of paper, chewing on the end of a pencil. Sora toed his shoes off and hid them behind her bed, moving over to her and resting his hands on her shoulders. Absently she twirled the pencil around in her fingers, flipping it up and under each of her fingers; it was something that Riku had taught her that Sora could never pick up. "I still can't get down what Naminé can do. It's harder than it looks."

Sora ruffled her hair affectionately and looked at the picture. It was the five of them, sketched out on the curved trunk of the paopu tree; the background was already done, a wash of pinks, pastel blues, greens and a hint of purple. "It looks great," he assured, and in the back of his mind he could feel Roxas stir, shifting forward and looking out of his eyes. "You both have different styles," Sora felt his mouth say, but with a different lilt to his voice. He faded back to give Roxas more control, "But it's…nice, either way."

The smile that both girls flashed them was nearly too bright for the blond. Roxas faded back gently leaving Sora out and distantly, the brunet thought that maybe that contentment he felt wash over him wasn't just his.

V

School was tedious, utterly annoying and Sora was completely and totally bored out of his skull. Roxas wasn't helping the matter, having moved to the back of Sora's mind and refusing to do anything helpful (take over Sora while Sora himself slept) so it left the brunet to doodle on a spare piece of paper. In the front row, he could see Riku half-asleep, his chin propped up on one arm and long hair tied back in a sloppy ponytail. Behind him, Kairi was tapping her pencil absently and God, he was bored. Glancing at the redhead, he tore out a piece of paper and scribbled on it quickly.

'Hey, tomorrow morning before school, meet me by the old candy shop.' Sora tossed the note back casually and ignored the questioning look that Kairi sent him in return.

'Why?' Kairi wrote back, kicking the note to him and then turning her attention back to the teacher as Sora picked up the note and scribbled something back.

'Because I SAID so!' He moved to fold it up and then realized that it sounded a little mean. Fixing it quickly, he scrawled a, 'Please and thank you,' after it and threw it back again.

-

Glancing around the corner, Sora sighed with relief when he saw Kairi walking up, her backpack hanging from one shoulder and skirt blowing with the ocean breeze. Roxas was still asleep in his head, having been tired out by the entire day that he had spent outside of Sora's body.

Quickly, Sora grabbed the redhead and jerked her around the corner, pressing a finger to her lips before she could say anything. Her eyes were wide with surprise and with a huff, she placed her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "What are you doing?" she hissed, smacking his shoulder. "You're so weird, I swear- and I'm too tired for you to be like this. It's too early for you to be weird."

The brunet rolled his eyes and dug his hands in his pockets, scuffing his foot on the ground. "Sorry. It's just…I need help on something." He looked up at her and she bit her lip at the nervousness in his face. Glancing around to make sure that no one was around to hear, he lowered his voice. "…I…I have an idea."

"So weird," she repeated affectionately. "So what's this idea?" Kairi crossed her arms, not sure that she liked the hesitant look in Sora's bright blue eyes, coupled with the way he was biting his bottom lip. "Sora? This requires secrecy and whispering because of what?"

How did he say this? The plan wasn't even really a plan at all- it was a ragged idea that he had no idea how to put into action. Leaning back against the wall he refused to look at her at first, knowing she would object instantly. "You-do you remember how Roxas and Naminé were created?" he swallowed hard.

Kairi's breath caught and she felt Naminé shift inside her head, worry flooding both of them. "Sora- you can't be considering-" Kairi fumbled for words and Naminé gently urged her aside, their form switching to the slender blonde girl.

"Sora…it's so very, very dangerous." She reached up and touched his cheek gently, fingers sliding over his face. "Roxas doesn't know what you're considering, does he."

He shifted his gaze to the opposite wall. "No. He's asleep. That's why I came to you guys- I need your help. I'm thinking that I can free him and get him a body if…if we try something. Like, what about-"

"You're actually serious," Naminé said quietly, withdrawing. Kairi stirred inside her, irritated and worried. "Sora, you have to think this through! You and Roxas are-"

A small, sad smile curled Sora's lips, and Kairi distantly thought that he looked far too old in that moment. "That's the difference between us, Naminé. We're too different and it's not right to keep him bottled up in my head. It's not right that he's only out for a few hours at a time."

Kairi switched places with the blond, her hand reaching back to the wall as she leaned on it for support; it took energy to switch between them and they had just done it a few times in such a short amount of time. "Sora…please don't do anything reckless. Think with your head and not your heart."

Sweeping the girl up in a boyishly strong hug, he smiled down at her. "S'what you're gonna be there for! To make sure I don't do anything stupid!"

Pursing her lips, Kairi withdrew from him and glared. "This is a stupid idea."

Waving off her concerns with one hand, Sora shrugged. "Don't worry so much!"

VI

Unusually quiet at dinner that night, Sora picked at his food and tried to keep his thoughts from mixing in with Roxas' own. The blond had been startlingly aware of how Sora was acting, though not voicing any of his suspicions and simply keeping to watching his Other as much as he could while inside his mind. Forking a mouthful of pasta into his mouth, he chewed and mulled over the next few days, making sure to keep up a mental shield around those thoughts.

"Sora, what's wrong?" Sora's mother asked, nudging him with the blunt handle of her fork. Jerking with surprise, Sora's head swung up and he regarded his parents with wide eyes, flushing a little with embarrassment. "Are you feeling okay? We've been trying to talk to you for the last few minutes and you were just-"

Laughing a little bit, Sora shook his head and smiled brightly at them. "Sorry, just kinda tired, I guess. I think I'll head to bed after dinner; I've got a test tomorrow and I'm kind of worried."

Sora's father hummed in response, but Roxas frowned at Sora. 'You're lying to them. You don't have a test tomorrow- what's going on?'

Stretching out, Sora blatantly ignored his Nobody, offering to help put the dishes away and then tromping upstairs into his room, throwing himself down onto his bed with a sigh. "Nothing, I'm fine," he murmured, too lazy to elaborate or explain anything. Roxas made a disbelieving noise and slipped out of him, sitting on the bed with his legs stretched out in front of him and his back against the wall.

Sora opened his eyes sleepily and tugged on the edge of Roxas' pants, a pleased noise escaping him when Roxas lay down beside him and didn't resist when Sora curled an arm around his waist. Roxas had never been one for openly touching each other, but after Sora's blatant ignoring of his personal space, he had learned to deal with it and now -though he would never admit it- enjoy it. He supposed that there was a word to describe their relationship, but 'boyfriends' as Kairi had called them, didn't quite fit. Riku didn't call it anything; he was content to pretend like it didn't exist in all honesty.

"Significant Others," Sora mumbled from where his lips were pressed to Roxas' shoulder. The blond jerked in surprise, realizing that he hadn't bothered to shield his thoughts as he normally did. "S'what we can call it."

Fingers trailing across the small of his back, Roxas relaxed against the solid weight of his Somebody, and was content enough to say nothing else.

VII

"You've done a lot of stupid things," Kairi muttered, "but this is gonna be the stupidest one yet."

Sora grinned cheekily and wrapped their arms together as they walked down the beach. "Like I said, that's what you're here for!"

She made a little annoyed noise in the back of her throat and looked up at him, violet eyes serious. "Sora, what are you thinking about doing?" Kairi asked, her hand on his arm and her voice concern-laden and quiet. "What if something goes wrong or-"

"That's why you're there," he repeated, poking her in the side. "And you know…nothing big. Anti might be able to do something and if that doesn't work than a Hear-"

Kairi made an odd choking noise and waved her hands a bit frantically before settling on hitting him hard in the shoulder. "You've got insane. You're kidding. You died, Sora, you died when a Heartless took your heart and now you're going to do it again!"

Fixing a jagged, fake smile on his face, Sora withdrew and stared up at the clouds. "Yeah. That's the general idea."

VIII

"Something's going on with you," Roxas murmured, tangling a hand in Sora's hair when the brunet slid down his body and pressed kisses to his collarbone.

Sora's eyes met his and he nipped at Roxas shoulder gently. "No," he said quietly, moving down more until his lips pressed to Roxas' stomach, pausing before he went down anymore. "You're imagining things."

"You suck at lying." Roxas tugged him back up, kissing him lightly and sighing when Sora pressed as close as he could to him, the contact comforting. The boy hummed quietly, shifting closer and kissing him a little harder, with a little less finesse and a little more desire. His hands slid over as much skin as they could, tracing over spots that Sora knew were sensitive on Roxas' body.

"I," Sora murmured, kissing Roxas' jaw, then trailing down and then back up his throat. "I'm not lying."

Rolling his eyes in response, the blond rolled them over only slightly awkwardly and shifted. "You're lying again," Roxas said lazily but with just a little annoyance, fingers dancing across Sora's bare chest. Pushing himself up onto his elbow, he looked down at the brunet and slid one leg over Sora's so he was straddling it, his hands on Sora's stomach. "What aren't you telling me?"

Sora shrugged, his hands coming to wrap around Roxas' slender wrists, his tan skin a stark contrast to the blond's pale. "Don't worry about it," he murmured in return, not bothering to defend himself, fingers wandering up pale arms to lace behind Roxas' neck.

Lips in a thin line and frowning, Roxas bent forward, pressing their lips together and felt Sora sigh into the kiss. He arched his back a little and dragged the pads of his fingers through blond hair, tugging just a little to make the ex-Nobody deepen it. "Don't lie to me Sora," Roxas whispered against Sora's mouth, biting his bottom lip as if it would make Sora spill all his carefully wrapped secrets.

Fingers rough with calluses from years of wielding the Keyblade pressed to the small of Roxas' back, holding him there.

Their lips barely touching, he opened his eyes and met Sora's own, murmuring, "I'll find out, you know. You can hide it but I'll search until I find out."

"Isn't that part of the fun of guessing?" Sora asked impishly, their lips brushing with every word.

"Different ideas of fun," Roxas tossed back, a little annoyed now.

Sora only offered him a crooked smile, nipping Roxas' bottom lip teasingly. "True."

IX

Relax, Roxas, this is just for training. Plus, I'm curious to see if I can still Drive without Donald and Goofy, Sora assured quietly, summoning the Keyblade and meeting Kairi's eyes squarely. Roxas shifted in his mind, obviously uncomfortable with the idea, but he wouldn't stop the brunet, not when he was so set on trying it. "Kairi, you ready?" Sora called, watching Kairi nod and summon the Keyblade that he had given to her upon their return home.

Standing there, he closed his eyes and reached inside himself for the well of magic that he always felt in the back of his head, waiting until he saw a dark shimmer and pulling on it hard. There was only a moment of brief panic from Roxas who shoved himself to the far corner of Sora's mind at the rush of Darkness through the Keyblader and then Sora was falling to his knees, choking on air and shifting. It hurt more than when he purposely tried to shift, which made sense because he had never drawn on the dark part of himself before. Roxas was yelling his name in the back of his head, his voice angry and the slightest bit worried as he slipped back a little and let Anti take over.

It was odd, he realized, digging his fingers and toes into the sand that he knew should be hot, but couldn't feel. It was like he was more in control when he was purposely trying to shift, but at the same time the urges were stronger. Jerking his head around he blinked golden eyes and caught sight of a thin redhead standing there holding out a Keyblade and watching him carefully. She would be an easy target he thought and then jerked back. No. She wasn't food, she wasn't a heart for him to take- she was important somehow.

Sora, shit- Sora, snap out of this.

Sora shifted on his feet, looking around for the voice and then crouching when he realized that it was coming from inside his head. Yeah. You idiot, you're going to hurt someone. With a curl of his fingers into the sand, Sora-not-Sora realized that there was no way he could remove his heart like this- they would have to try the other way. Stupid. You're so stupid.

A moment later, he felt the air snap around him and he was slumping bonelessly into the sand, panting for a breath and trying to erase the coldness that came with each time he shifted into that other form. Distantly he could hear Kairi's heavy footsteps as she rushed forward, sand spraying as she skid to a stop and brushed brown bangs away from cold, clammy skin. "Your parents would have killed me," she whispered, relieved when Sora stirred and shot her a wry smile, pushing himself up and groaning. "I would have been so dead."

Stupid. You are so many kinds of stupid. Roxas moved back to his section of Sora's head, kicking the Darkness back a little more.

So you've said, Sora replied dryly, blocking the blond out for a moment and turning his attention back to Kairi. "That didn't work."

The look that she sent made him wince and want to draw away from her anger before she hit him or something. "You're so stupid."

"…I've been told that already."

X

Roxas was still bitching at him in his head that night when he was getting ready for bed. The words "stupid", "moron", "idiot" and any other variation of those were evidently the only words that could fit Sora anymore. After a while, the brunet threw himself down on his bed and nudged Roxas out of his head so the ex-Nobody was sitting on the bed, still glaring at him.

"I already know I'm stupid," Sora mumbled tiredly, throwing an arm around Roxas' slender waist and curling his fingers under the waistband of the loose blue pants Roxas wore. "At least we found out now that Driving isn't a good idea without Goofy and Donald. And at least we found this out when it wasn't in the middle of a battle- that would have been bad."

Still silent, Roxas looked down at the brunet and slid fingers through still-damp hair from the shower earlier. "It seemed—it felt, like it was almost on purpose," he said carefully, not missing how Sora's face went carefully blank at the words and he tucked his face into the curve of Roxas' side. "What were you trying to do, Sora?"

Sora shifted to a comfortable position, pulling Roxas down so he could rest his head on Roxas' stomach, curled close so Roxas couldn't see his face. "Nothing. I wanted to see if I could Drive, s'all."

Roxas made a noncommittal noise and laced his fingers through Sora's hair, tugging slightly. "Right. Liar."

XI

"Right, so, you know what to do," Sora said cheerfully, Oblivion snapping into existence in his right hand. Roxas nodded once and turned to where the girls were sitting, their eyes on both of them. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Roxas answered, holding one hand out and pulling on the Darkness inside of him, summoning a few Heartless and watching them scurry about, melting into the shadows of the dunes of sand, watching Sora with glowing eyes. Easily, he kept them from heading to where Naminé and Kairi were seated; this was Sora's practice.

The brunet crouched low, and in a rush of blue, white and black (really, Sora thought distantly, his mother was going to kill him for getting his school uniform dirty) swept through the few Shadows easily. "Roxas, come on, you can do better than that. We gotta know if this works!" He waved Oblivion and tapped his foot restlessly. "You can bring better stuff than that!"

Sighing a little, Roxas raised his other hand and tugged once more, summoning Neo-Shadows and a mix of other Heartless. It was only a little tiring keeping his control over the Heartless, but as Sora blew through them, throwing magic and swiping his Keyblade, he knew that they had nothing to worry about. Besides, Sora looked nearly surreal out in the sand as he twisted and turned gracefully, his eyes almost electric blue in the bright sunlight, and it almost hurt to look at him sometimes; it hurt to think of all that the boy had given up for Roxas, just so they could both live.

Summoning more Heartless, Roxas leaned back against a tree and nodded to Sora when the boy looked back, as if he could read his thoughts. Gaze moving up to the clouds, he lost himself in the sound of Sora practicing, testing the strength of his magic as he couldn't when he was sparring against the girls or Riku. For the latter, it wasn't that Sora was afraid he would hurt Riku; it was more that he hated the serious feel that magic brought back. When it was just the Keyblades, things were different.

Roxas blinked, shifting his gaze back to Sora, the air suddenly feeling thick and the feeling of utter wrongness swamped him suddenly, leaving him confused. Meeting Sora's eyes, he gasped as he was jerked back into Sora's head and pushed aside, a solid mental wall slamming up so he couldn't do anything but pound on it and yell. 'Sora! Sora, what the hell are you doing!'

Sora didn't answer, falling to his knees and shedding his Keyblades. The Neo-Shadow practically crowed its victory, jumping on him; then its hand was sliding into his chest and he was throbbing, dizzy, exhausted and all he could hear was Kairi's ragged breathing as she kicked aside the Heartless that had stolen his heart from him. When Roxas slipped from his mind, no longer tied to him, Sora sank back into the sand and vanished, leaving nothing but a tiny Heartless behind.

XII

Roxas curled up in a ball, shivering and stark naked, unconcerned with that as he fought to make his limbs work and lurch forward to protect Kairi, only to groan as dizziness overcame him. Sora.

Kairi whirled around and swung her Keyblade viciously, killing the Heartless and grabbing the second heart in between both of her hands carefully. A slender Heartless moved closer to her, nuzzling her leg gently and making a quiet noise as Kairi fell to her knees, hugging him with the hearts still in her hands. "Sora, please…please, you have to come back." The Heartless in her arms pressed close to her, and then it was Sora curled in her arms, pale, cold but still alive. This wasn't right, she thought dizzily, realizing something. Before, Sora had been able to regain his heart- this time he couldn't, not when she was holding it away from him.

Roxas swayed where he was kneeling, working on getting on the pants that they had kept prepared, not concerned with modesty, more concerned with the way that Sora was almost deathly still. "Kairi. Kairi, you have to give him his heart back. I can stay like this, he can't. It'll be too much for him to handle." Roxas hissed, voice hoarse, mouth dry. Moving closer to the two of them, he placed a hand over where Sora's heart had been, not knowing why he was checking when he already knew that there wouldn't be any heartbeat. "Sora, you fucking idiot-"

Kairi held him close, fingers stroking back sweat-damp hair from Sora's clammy skin with her free hand, her other one holding his heart as gently as he could. "Roxas…I…"

Both teens' heads jerked up at the sound of footsteps in the sand and the hoarse sound of Riku's voice as he paused a few feet away, his eyes wide and worried in his pale face. "Sora— Kairi, what the hell happened?" His gaze flicked over to Roxas kneeling there, shirtless and with his hand pressed over Sora's chest. "Roxas. What did you do?"

Defensive at being accused of something that wasn't his fault, Roxas glared back, his tone venomous. "I didn't do anything. This was Sora's bright idea and he didn't tell me anything about it." His attention switched to the girls as something dawned on him. "You knew. You were planning this with him."

"Does it matter now?" Kairi held the brunet boy closer and tried to share some of her warmth. "We don't have time to argue; Roxas, I…I don't know if I can split his heart. It could make him a Nobody too, or it could kill him."

Sora shivered, fingers clenching in her pink dress and opening glassy blue eyes that slid shut partially as Roxas moved around to his other side and he was cradled between the two. "Give it to him. It's my fault he's like this; you shouldn't have to deal with my-"

"Sora, stop being a selfless little bastard. Kairi," Roxas bit out. "Give it to him- right now, he's – I don't even know! Do it."

'Kairi- think about this. You're a Princess of Heart and he's a Keyblade Master. Don't you think that it means you might be able to draw the energy out somehow and create two? He's proven his heart is strong enough multiple times.' Naminé whispered.

'I- I don't know! None of the other Princesses mentioned something like that!'

'Try, Kairi; look at him, he's fading and we're wasting time. Separate his heart and try to push our heart's energy into it.'

Gingerly, she let Sora slide into Roxas' grip, the blond boy pressing his forehead to Sora's, chest aching and distantly wishing that he could feel fear and worry rather than this vague sense of his breath catching at the way Sora seemed to be fading. Kairi closed her eyes, fingers circling around the heart, and Riku's breath caught at sight of it glowing almost too brightly to look at, and then she was holding two hearts in both of her hands. Roxas' head jerked up at the glow, his blue eyes huge in his pale face and gently, oh-so-gently, Kairi pressed one of the hearts into his chest, doing the same to Sora as well.

There was a long moment of silence filled only by ragged breathing by all of them, the air tense and palpable. Roxas wavered unsteadily and then his eyes rolled up in his head as Sora slipped from his arms and into the sand the two of them unconscious.

XIII

Sora woke to the solid warmth of a body curled against him, slow, even breathing and the faint thrum of a heartbeat under his hand. Eyes sliding open slowly, he winced at the brightness of the room and curled further against the warmth, tucking his head down to block out the light and then jerking back when he realized who he was pressed against. Head throbbing, he craned his neck up and found a tangled mess of blond hair and pale skin, the sharp features of Roxas sleeping making his heart skip a beat in surprise. "Roxas," he rasped quietly, hand still pressed to where he could feel a heartbeat- a real heartbeat, and he realized that his stupid plan actually worked. Yeah, it felt like he was going to die of exhaustion and yeah, his head was pounding so hard that it was a wonder his eyes didn't fall out, but Roxas was whole and there and everything turned out okay.

The blond shifted slightly, rolling onto his back and Sora followed, tugging the covers back over them and not bothering to fight off the utterly idiotic grin on his face. When Kairi wandered in nearly ten minutes later, she smiled so brightly that Sora thought he could go blind, and he whispered a thank you. Kairi nodded, and beside her, he could see the outline of Naminé smiling gently at the two of them, and he realized that everything would be alright.

-

Omg thanks so much to Tricksy-love and Papillionwings for betaing this for me so quickly. I fail at grammar but you guys make it all better. D If you have the time to favorite something or someone, please take the time to review! It makes our day. Especiallly if you just read it and liked it. Just two words like, "I liked" will make an author's day. :) Have a good weekend, everyone!