E F F U L G E N T
Prompt: "'Don't worry. You're still all you.'"
Pairings: Implied SoKai and mentions of AkuRoku.
Warnings: None.
Rating: K+/T
Kairi cannot remember when she has last been quite as angry as she is in this moment.
It could, quite possibly, have something to do with the fact that Namine is just as pissed as she is.
"Don't worry. You're still all you."
She knows, really, that Riku cannot be expected to say anything different. DiZ—Ansem—taught him to believe that Roxas was nothing more than a shadow of Sora, that he could and would never be his own person. And Riku has been in the darkness long enough to have an excuse to think Roxas is nothing.
But still. It is one of the most callous things he has ever said, because Kairi can see Roxas wilt behind Sora's eyes. And she knows, suddenly, exactly why Axel was so determined to find Roxas, exactly why the look in the other redhead's eyes had echoed the pain in her own. She knows that Roxas is about as hurt as he can be, because Riku has just confirmed all of his fears…
Because Sora doesn't love Axel's Somebody, and if all that is inside Sora right now is just echoes of him, if he's still "all Sora," that means that Roxas never truly loved Axel at all.
And Kairi feels her own heart break in sympathy.
--
About a day after Sora gets back to the Islands, he and Kairi are sitting on a bluff overlooking the ocean. "Sora…" she says slowly, hesitantly. "Can I talk to you?"
"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Sora asks with a confused smile.
She sighs. "It's about… well, Roxas." Sora nods for her to go on. "It's just… it's not true, what Riku told you. You're not… you're not all you. Well, you are, but…" She bites her lip, unsure of how to continue. "The thing is… you survived without Roxas, and you were fine. I mean, you even fought Xehanort's Heartless, and you beat him! So.. Roxas makes you whole, but you can live without him. I think… I think it might be because I brought you back from—from being a Heartless. In Hollow Bastion, I mean. And Sora… when you were managing on your own, Roxas was too. And—and he made his own friends, and he had his own life, and he fell in love on his own."
"Namine?" Sora said with a frown. "I didn't think…"
"No, Sora," she says softly. "Axel. That's why he was so hell-bent on finding him. They loved each other. They love each other still. And Sora, that's why…" She trailed off, and sighed again, looking off into the distance.
"That's why what Riku said was so horrible. Because—because you're not in love with Axel's Somebody—you've probably never even met him. I mean, he's probably a Heartless right now. And if you're not in love with Axel's Somebody, and Roxas is just a part of you…"
"It would mean that Roxas wasn't in love with Axel," Sora says, finally putting the pieces together with widening eyes. "But… I mean, he is, isn't he? He loves Axel. That makes… a lot of sense. Oh…" He trails off, hand on his heart, and tears suddenly in his eyes. He's not sure if they're Roxas' or his own.
"Oh Roxas," he says softly. "I'm so sorry."
And it's with a heavy heart that Sora puts his hand over Kairi's in the sand, because he understands now that someone inside of him is crying every time he looks at Kairi with that special sort of longing.
fin
AN: Well, this is my belated birthday present to myself. :) This is going to be a series of oneshots and drabbles to get my creative juices flowing.
And honestly, who didn't get totally pissed off when they realized just what Riku had said? .
Also, because I have a tendency to use obscure words for titles: effulgent means glowingly beautiful.
Full-Fic Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square Enix, and I, to my great depression, own no part of it. –cries miserably--
--Naeryx--
