UPDATED ENDING. Also, I posted the prequel, titled Never Stop Believing! You can read them in any order, but I did write this one first.
Warning: Mentions of ghosts and reincarnation, suicide. Character death, though hopefully not angsty or violent. Riku bashing, I guess. Rated T to be safe. And yaoi, though non explicit, suppose I should warn you about that.
Disclaimer: I don't own KH, so don't sue me. I'm broke anyway. All I own is the plot for this, and I am actually quite proud of it, considering I came up with it in pre-calculus! Oh, and the Ghost Whisperer reference at the end? Don't own Ghost Whisperer either.
Thoughts are in italics.
Edited on 6/9/08 to match with the edits I did on Never Stop Believing.
I Believe
(intro is in first person/Roxas' POV)
Everyone knew the old mansion was haunted. It was common knowledge after Riku Hitoshi got killed by the ghost. So when Hayner dared me to go to the old mansion and do the ritual, of course I was a little hesitant. Let me start at the beginning though…
(Switch to third person POV)
"Roxas!"
Roxas Yamato turns to see his best friends running up to him. Hayner Kinoshita, the one who called his name, is in the lead.
"Hey Hayner. Hey Pence, hey Olette." Roxas grins.
Roxas stops to wait for his friends to catch up. Hayner looks arrogant as usual, but Pence Honda and Olette Hikari both look concerned.
"What's up?"
"C'mon, Hayner, don't do it!" Olette pleads.
"Yeah, man, you know what happened to the Hitoshi kid! It's too dangerous!" Pence joins Olette in pleading with Hayner, but Hayner has already decided.
"What's too dangerous? Hayner…?" Roxas asks.
"I dare you. To do that ritual, the one Riku Hitoshi did," Hayner smirks.
"Roxas! Don't do it!" Olette cries.
"You don't really believe in that sort of thing, do you, Roxas?" challenges Hayner.
"Did Seifer put you up to this?"
"No. Man, just because I lost to him in the Struggle battle doesn't mean I'll do whatever he wants," Hayner answers. "So, you gonna do it?"
Roxas laughs nervously. "Why not? Sure, I'll do it."
"Well we're coming with you."
"Sure, Pence. You can come. It'll be fine anyway." Roxas smiles, trying to convince his friends -and himself- that everything will be okay.
"Meet you at the usual spot at eleven thirty then," Hayner grins.
"I'll be there."
During dinner that night, Roxas doesn't join in the conversations that normally happen between his parents, Hiro and Kisa, and his twin brother Sora. He's too busy wondering what will happen tonight. As he puts his dishes into the sink and starts upstairs, he is ambushed by Sora, hyper as always.
"Hey Rox! Why you so quiet? Did something happen today?"
"No, Sora. Nothing happened. I'm just tired, alright."
"Okay… Um, Roxas? Will you help me with that math homework?"
"Sure thing, Sora." Roxas smiles.
Several hours later when the Yamato house is dark, Roxas packs the things he'll need for the ritual and sets out for the usual spot.
"I'm here!" Roxas calls out, as he approaches the usual spot.
"Then let's get going."
The four friends start towards the mansion on the edge of Twilight Town, completely unaware of what lies ahead of them.
"Okay. Pence, you and Olette stand guard, make sure no one comes. I'll be standing here making sure Roxas doesn't wimp out."
"I'm not gonna wimp out, Hayner." Roxas scowls.
"Whatever you say."
"Good luck, Roxas…"
"Thanks Olette."
Roxas smiles one last time before he enters the room where the ritual is to be performed. Hayner, Pence, and Olette get into their positions outside as Roxas is setting up the candles, preparing to summon the ghost of the mansion.
'C'mon, Roxas, you can do this… It'll be fine…'
Roxas takes a deep breath and begins the ritual.
"I believe in the mansion's ghost. I believe in the mansion's ghost…"
Thirteen times he says this, then he spins around once. As Roxas turns to face the mirror, a misty figure appears inside it. The ghost's eyes are shockingly emerald green, his hair flame red. Those eyes and that hair are the last things Roxas sees. As the ghost reaches out to draw him into the mirror, Roxas collapses, falling into darkness.
"ROXAS!"
Hayner, Pence, and Olette rush to open the door, but they are too late. The candles are extinguished, the mirror is empty, and Roxas Yamato lies dead on the floor. The three remaining friends run screaming from the mansion, and in his bedroom, Sora Yamato wakes up, drenched in a cold sweat.
"Roxas… no…."
The next morning, the police are summoned to the mansion on the hill. They interview all of Roxas' friends, all his family, trying to figure out what happened to him.
"I didn't think anything would actually happen, man… The ghost in the mansion, it's just a myth, right? If I had known this was going to happen, I never would have dared him to do it. Never!"
"Pence and I told him not to do it, we told him not to do it! After what happened to Riku, I believed in the ghost! Hayner shouldn't have done that… I knew something like this was going to happen…"
"I was there when Riku did it… I watched the ghost do that to him… Why did Roxas have to do it? Why did he do it, Kairi?"
Sora is sobbing into his girlfriend, Kairi Minagawa's shoulder.
"I don't know, Sora. I don't know…"
Naminé Kinoshita is also crying, though she has no one to comfort her. Her brother, Hayner, was the one who dared Roxas to do the ritual. She hadn't worked up the courage to tell Roxas her feelings, and now she would never get the chance.
After the police have interviewed them all, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Sora, Kairi, and Naminé are sitting in the usual spot, silently pondering what went wrong.
"We have to go back," Hayner murmurs.
"Hayner, that's crazy! You want the ghost to get you too!" Kairi yells.
"The police aren't gonna find anything, Kairi. They don't believe in the ghost," Olette whispers.
"I'm coming with you. I have to know what happened," declares Sora.
"Sora! Don't!"
"It'll be okay, Kairi. I won't do the ritual. But I have to go."
"I'll do it. It's my fault he's dead, I'll be the one who does it." Hayner sighs. "It's my fault…"
The six friends fall silent. After a few moments, Naminé speaks.
"Kairi and I will come too."
Kairi nods. "Roxas was our friend. We owe it to him to figure out what really happened."
At eleven thirty the night after they first set out, the six remaining friends begin the hike up to the mansion. Hayner carries the eight candles required for the ritual, Pence holds a lighter. Olette, Kairi, Naminé, and Sora are silent.
Upon reaching the mansion, the six friends squeeze into the room. Pence and Kairi set up the candles in a circle around the mirror. When the clock strikes midnight, Hayner begins to chant.
"I believe in the mansion's ghost. I believe in the mansion's ghost…"
Again, he chants this thirteen times, then spins around once. As he finishes turning, all six friends turn towards the mirror. But something is different this time. Instead of just the redheaded ghost that Roxas saw, there are two figures appearing in the mirror.
"Roxas…" Naminé gasped.
"Hey," Roxas smiled. "How have you guys been?"
"Rox? But you're…" Sora stuttered.
"Yeah, I'm dead, aren't I?"
"What happened?" asked Olette.
"Well, Axel? Do you want to start, or should I?" Roxas turned to the other figure in the mirror and smiled.
"I owe you all an explanation…" The redheaded ghost sighed. "My name was Axel Minagawa… Two hundred or so years ago, I lived in this house with Roxas."
"We were in love," Roxas sighed happily. "But I got sick. I was dying. Axel, he spent every moment caring for me, but he couldn't save my life."
Axel laughed once, a harsh grating sound, unused for so long.
"You, Sora, you thought Axel killed me. You accused him of killing me, and somehow you convinced the entire town." Roxas smiled sadly.
"The townspeople chased me through our manor; I locked myself in this room. I was so upset, Roxas… he was dead. Gone. My friends had turned on me, Sora; he had turned them all against me. So I grabbed my dagger and stabbed myself. I died right here, just as the mob broke down the door," Axel murmured.
"He waited here for two hundred years, waiting for me to come back to him." Roxas smiled again.
"I am sorry, Sora. Your friend, the one with the silver hair? He did not deserve what I did to him." Axel murmured. "Your loyalty to your brother and your friends is admirable. I only wish I had had that much strength." He managed a small smile.
"Thank you, Hayner. Thank you for daring me to come here. If you hadn't, I never would have remembered Axel. Then and now… he's everything to me. Now we can be together…" Roxas grinned happily.
"Wait… your name, it was Minagawa? That's my name..." Kairi asked.
"Yes. I am not surprised you do not know about me." Axel laughed once more, slightly less rough than before.
"You're my…?"
"Your great grandfather was my brother. I suppose he was ashamed of being related to the ghost of the manor. It is no wonder he did not speak of me."
Naminé appears very sad. She loved Roxas while he was alive. She also thought that he may have been able to return her feelings. Now her hopes have been killed, all in the span of a few minutes.
"I'm sorry, Nami. You and I weren't meant to be together. Your light is out there. Keep looking."
Roxas looked at the clock.
"Almost time then. Sora, please, bury my body beside Axel's. Tell Mom and Dad I love them."
"Ready, Roxas?" Axel asked.
"Yeah. I'm ready."
As Roxas is saying this, a small ball of light appears inside the mirror. Slowly it expands, until both Axel and Roxas can fit inside it.
"Goodbye!" Roxas called to his friends. "Never stop believing! Dreams do come true."
Roxas and Axel hold hands as they step into the white light, leaving the troubles of their lives behind and heading for a new future.
As the light faded, Hayner smiled.
"Good luck, Roxas. Good luck, Axel. You deserve it."
--Owari--
A/N: I've somewhat left this open for interpretation, I guess. This has now been extended. The prequel is called Never Stop Believing, and I've posted it as of November 24, 2007. The original plot for this decided to attack me in the middle of my pre-calculus class, and even though that's my worst class, I absolutely had to stop and plan this out. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. The ritual was somewhat based off of the story of "Bloody Mary", which I've never done, so I may have gotten some things wrong about it. Most of it, however, was made up off the top of my head. Happy Halloween, if you celebrate it! So, please read and review! Thanks!
Also, the names of Sora and Roxas' parents were taken from Fruits Basket... which I don't own either.
-Kiki Lelsissia