How to start.
How do you start something like this?
Roxas tapped his pencil against the paper, frustrated, and ran a tired hand through his hair.
How to start.
Dear…
Who could he write it to? Family? People who've lost someone dear to you?
Somebody?
He settled for somebody, scratching the empty word against the paper.
Dear Somebody,
I am…
Sorry?
No.
Appreciative?
Hell no.
Uh…honored. Let's go with honored.
I am honored to have received something so precious from your…
Husband? Son? Brother?
Family member…
It truly has been an experience. I have waited nearly two years for someone as amazing as him to come along.
I am alive today because of him.
The doctors did not tell me his name. Only that he was twenty four, and his heart was ready for me. And although I have never felt this lucky in my life, I cannot express how sorry I am for your loss. Anybody who is brave enough to be an organ donor doesn't deserve to die. It might sound weird, or insincere, but I mean it.
I should be dead.
I should be dead and he should be alive, but I guess that's just not how it worked out.
Today, I am three weeks out of the hospital from a 100% successful surgery. I have no one to thank but him.
And he's no longer here.
So I knew that I had to contact you, or at least some of his family and friends to tell you how grateful I am.
This is really difficult for me to write. Mostly because I have no idea what to say to you. Sorry means nothing when it comes to losing someone. I know that. But all I can tell you is that I'm going to make this heart live as long and happily as possible. That's the least I can do.
I don't expect you to write back.
You have no obligation to.
But I just want to let you know that his heart did not go to waste, and I'll be damned if I let it.
Sincerely…
No.
From?
Gross.
Deepest regards…
He couldn't write his name. He wasn't allowed to release any personal information, it was basic donor 101. The doctors got to read his letter first before they approved it.
Nobody.
Finished.
Now, all he could do was wait.
!
!
3 months later
Roxas strolled outside to his mailbox. He had to head out early today, he had been volunteering at the hospital ever since the transplant, and had never felt more alive in his life.
Ironically, all at the expense of someone else's.
He emptied the few advertisements, letters from his mom and dad, and finally, a letter from the organ donor society.
It was all to be expected, they had been checking up on him for the last few months to make sure he was doing alright.
On his way inside, he ripped open the letter, only to find something he certainly wasn't expecting.
A dusty, handwritten letter, in elegant script with a small color photo attached.
Dear Nobody,
I have to admit. I've been meaning to write you back for a long time but every time I'd look at this letter, I just couldn't bring myself to write a word.
So, here it is.
His name was Sora. Sora Hikari. I'm his sister, and I miss him more than I ever could've imagined.
After the car accident, he was rushed to the hospital, only to be declared brain dead after fifteen minutes on life support.
A few blotched specks on the paper lead Roxas to believe that she had been crying when she wrote the letter. It made him feel…sick.
He had wanted to donate his organs. In your letter, you sounded really guilty. And I just want you to know that you shouldn't be. You didn't kill Sora. You never hurt him, and I can only wish that if you two would've met under different circumstances, you would've been great friends. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for you two.
I'm glad that it was a success. Sora would've been happy.
So I'm going to tell you about my beautiful brother, Sora.
He loved hiking. He'd insist on taking everyone in our family for a hike at least once in their lifetime. He'd climb to the top of Magnolia Mountain, and look down into the canyon and say 'that is one big crack' and then laugh for twenty minutes straight.
He was funny. Always cracking jokes at the most inappropriate of times. He used to try to make me laugh during church so I would get glared at by the priest.
He left behind a wife and a two month old daughter.
I miss him. I miss him so much and yet the longer I've thought about it, the more I've come to realize how much I appreciate you. You are living proof that Sora lives on. Not even death could push him down.
So thank you, thank you so much Nobody.
Sincerely,
Somebody
The photo attached to the bottom was of, presumably Sora, a brown spiky haired man who was standing at the edge of a cliff, comically waving a hiking stick around with a bright smile plastered across his face.
Roxas blinked.
He felt…complete.
A weird thing to say, but oddly, the letter had covered up the insane guilt he had felt ever since accepting Sora's heart.
But he smiled, because he knew exactly what Sora would've wanted him to do.
He hurried to his kitchen, snatched a piece of paper and a pen, then sat down in this favorite chair, and got to work.
Dear Somebody,
!
!
Today was the annual hospital fair.
It celebrated the major success of the hospital, as well as a lovely get together of the town to celebrate health by eating deep fried everything.
Roxas had been invited to his own booth, to share his amazing story about Sora and his recovery, and how just signing up to be an organ donor can save the lives of sixty people.
He felt a little silly, retelling his tale to a bunch of wide-eyed teenagers, while pointing to the framed picture of a hiking Sora, and a lazy post it note across the bottom with two simple words.
My hero.
Cheesy. He knew that well enough, but damn it, Sora deserved some credit.
But, he did have over twenty seven people signed up to become organ donors on his little sheet of paper.
It wasn't too much, but hey, the day had just begun.
Roxas sipped his ice water coolly, listening to the bustling sounds of the fair. Kids screaming, adults yelling, teenagers laughing.
All of a sudden, Roxas's tranquil world was interrupted by a child.
A small child.
Probably a little over a year of age, toddling over to his booth with the scent of curiosity ripe over her little jumper and windbreaker.
The child grabbed ahold of his folding table for support, tracing her chubby hands all over his papers.
He didn't make any move to stop her. Only watched in awe that this kid clearly had no parental supervisor anywhere near.
She babbled some incoherent nonsense and shoved the capped pen in her mouth, before waddling to the next booth.
At this point, Roxas decided to take action. Didn't want this little brat getting kidnapped.
He set the toddler on the grass next to his booth chair and handed her a piece of paper to crumple up. That oughta keep her busy for the next few minutes.
The next dozen people to look at his booth all had the same question: Is that your daughter? She's so cute! Before listening to Roxas's lecture, and, surprisingly enough, scrawling their names down on his sign up sheet. (which was now a little crumpled due to the little girl's adventures).
After fifteen minutes of unscheduled babysitting, Roxas lifted the kid up and looked at her.
"Where is your mom?" He wondered aloud, knowing very well that the girl's answer would be something similar to woosheegaga.
"MOLLY!"
Ah. That sounds fairly motherly.
Roxas turned to see a brilliantly red-headed woman marching towards him like he was the one who stole her baby.
"What are you doing with my daughter?" He could tell by the woman's sense of harsh urgency that she was fiercely protective of her kid. Even though she lost her.
"Relax, she just wandered in, figured I'd let her crash here until her parents showed up." Roxas said, trying to sound as polite as possible because this woman looked like she was going to stick him in the deep fryer.
Her face calmed a bit. "Oh. Very sorry, she's just mastered walking and is very, very curious." She hoisted up her daughter and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"It's fine." Roxas said.
A short, blonde haired girl came running up next to the woman, sounding out of breath and stressed.
"Oh thank god, you found her," she praised the older woman, looking relieved and a bit astonished.
The redhead looked up to the sign on top of Roxas's booth, and for a split second, looked like she might've been sick.
Her eyes scanned over him, probably to make sure he wasn't a major league creep-o that had kidnapped her daughter.
Ad Roxas had to admit, he did appear to be a little bit rough around the edges. But for God's sakes, a guy running an organ donor booth with a sob story?
But, although Roxas had been expecting a smack to the face with a good 'stay away from my daughter' at the end of it, he definitely wasn't expecting the woman to slap a hand over her mouth and scream.
She set down her baby and started bawling, frantically covering her mouth to muffle her screaming.
"Kairi! What's wrong!" The blonde haired girl rushed to her aid and set a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
"N-Namine! It's…it's…" Her words were cut off by her inanimate cries.
But her shaky hand was pointing to the shiny picture frame with Roxas's savior, peering through the glass.
Oh.
Oh.
It hit Roxas like an ice cream truck.
She knew Sora.
He had a thousand questions. Well, at least a few that Somebody hadn't answered for him. They had been mailing back and forth for almost a year now, but it wouldn't beat actual talking face to face.
"Oh my god," Namine cried, covering her mouth as well while tears streamed down her plum cheeks.
"Uh…are you girls going to be alright?" Roxas asked, nervously scratching the back of his head.
The smaller girl, Namine, wiped her eyes and studied him, and he allowed himself to do the same.
Light blonde hair wisped across her shoulders, and warm, indigo eyes skirted him up and down. And if you really looked close enough, she looked, a little bit like…
Sora.
"You…you're Nobody. Aren't you?" She asked shakily, feverishly wiping her tears.
His mouth went completely dry.
"Then I suppose…you're Somebody." He answered.
Her watery smile made his heart lurch.
And for more reasons than one.
"Hi." She said, a bit awkwardly, but he couldn't have asked for anything more.
"Hi." He returned, because maybe finding his Somebody was exactly the thing he, and Sora, needed.
They'd be ok.
how do u like that karen. i murdered sora.
do i get the lazy af award for rewriting a thing i wrote for ft and just sticking it up here? anyways, this was solely bc karen wanted me to post something lol. have fun with ur daily life i guess