The sound of a solitary telephone reverberated throughout the room. What once had been a dearly beloved tune sounded like shrill shrieks of metallic urgency. The sound continued on for a few minutes, as if pleading for its owner to attend to it, before giving up and silencing.
"Hello. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but please leave a message after the tone." A chipper voice escaped from the small black box on the table, before giving a high pitched beep.
"Sora…" The voice of the caller sighed. "Sora, I know you're there and I know you're angry at me, and you have every right to be. I should have never said those things to anybody, especially when you were there to overhear it. I thought you should know that the wake is this Satur-"
A mound of blankets piled on the couch quivered and shook before a tanned hand shot out from between the folds, reaching to the phone and lifting it up before slamming it back down again. The quick movement succeeded in effectively stopping the voice from continuing. The silence only lasted a few seconds before the tune once again sang into the room. The blanket mound groaned in frustration.
"Hello. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but please leave a message after the tone." Once again a loud beep could be heard from the small black box.
"I must have run out of time or something. Anyway, I was saying that the wake for Roxas is on Saturday. We were thinking it should be held at the mansion since it was his favorite place, after all. Sora… I really think you should try to make it. He was your brother and it would help you find some closure… I guess I'll call back later, but please? Just… just think about it."
A soft click proved that the caller had finished the recording and hung up. Slowly from the mountain of blankets emerged a body that had been connected to the hand. A boy who was no longer a child but had not yet reached manhood stretched his arms above his head and glared at the telephone. His chocolate hair was uncontrollably messy with spikes that jutted out in every direction and his eyes were a mixture of the noon sky and the uncharted depths of the ocean. They had a peculiarity about them and the strange, bizarre, and beautiful ways the hues seemed to mesh and merge with each other, eyes not often witnessed in this world.
He reached over and past the black box, and upon finding purchase, pulled back and stared at the object.
A picture of a family stared back at him. A pale golden frame and clear glass protected the photo from the elements, but could not stop the charred smudges from obscuring the adults' faces. Who knew Axel and cigarettes could be so helpful? Three young boys stood in front of their parents. One of them was a tall blonde with blue eyes. Another was the boy who sat holding the photo, Sora. The last might have been Sora's mirror image, save for a few minor differences.
Sora was wearing bright reds and blues, while his reflection seemed to only be wearing black and white. The boy's only other color seemed to be his blue irises and honey hair. Sora's eyes radiated a bright, heartwarming feeling to them, while the others' were locked in a constant icy glare despite his wide smile.
Only a slight glimpse of the background could be discerned, but what could be seen was a large, black wrought iron gate with an equally large, white building behind it.
Sora could feel his gaze being pulled to the younger blonde in the photograph, his fingers gently brushing the image's face. "Roxas…" He whispered to the silence, almost immediately shivering. He retreated into his blankets and vaguely remembered the thermostat reading at least ninety degrees.
He knew this cold would come; it always came when he thought of his brother. The cold permeated through the blankets, under his skin, and all the way down to his bones.
"Sora…" Sora froze and clutched the picture to his chest at the familiar voice.
"R-Roxas," The brunette tried to force his trembling voice out. "Is that you?" A sudden beat of music played, startling Sora from his daze. He shrieked and snatched up the phone.
"What do you want?!" The boy roared into the receiver.
"…Sora?" The same voice from the message recorder whispered softly.
"Riku." There was a cold terseness to Sora's voice.
A short silence floated in the air before Riku began to speak again. "Come on, listen… Sora…"
"Stop. Just stop, Riku. I know what you're going to say. 'I'm sorry' and 'everything will be all right', but you're lying. Roxas isn't dead." Sora kept his voice steady and unyielding. He spoke the truth, after all. There was no way that Roxas was… dead…
Nervously, Riku's voice replied to Sora's inflexible statement. "I believe you. Honestly, I really believe you."
"No, you don't." A voice that belonged to neither of them commented from the background. Sora frowned slightly, it sounded like that Wutian girl that liked to hang around their group. Wasn't her name Youfie or Twofie, who had moved to Twilight Town a couple years ago? Sora could never remember.
"Yes, I do." Riku responded more to the voice behind him than to the one on the other end of the line. Then to Sora he said more tentatively, "I know you're certain that he's still here, but the fact is that he… well… isn't anymore. And going to his wake is the first step to healing you, Sora."
A cold swept through the blankets and around Sora. "I got your messages, but I'm not going."
"But… Sora… Roxas was your brother, you should go. You know… better safe than sorry. Right?" His voice held hints of exasperation, as if he was dealing with a small child who wouldn't let go of their teddy bear for fear that it would be thrown away instead of washed.
"No," was Sora's curt reply, posing his thumb over the 'end' button to hang up.
"Wait, Sora, please!" The boy sighed and held the phone back to his ear. "What do you want, Riku?"
Riku breathed heavily for a few moments to recover from his slight panic. "Isn't there any way that I could convince you to go?"
Sora paused for a few moments to think it over.
"Is Axel going?" was his quiet, almost miniscule reply. A soft sigh and groan provided all the answer he needed. "I'll take that as a no."
"He… he said he would only be able to let go of Roxas if you were ready to, as well."
"Well then," Sora snapped into the phone. "Looks like you have a dilemma, good luck with that. Goodbye Riku, it was such a pleasure talking to you." He pulled the phone away from his ear and ended the call before Riku could protest. Sora sighed away his anger before stretching and remembering the frame in his lap. Hugging the photograph to his chest one last time, he placed it back on the table facing him and drifted back to sleep.
"Sora…" The singsong voice echoed around in the nothingness that surrounded Sora. It was the voice of a young child… but it sounded so familiar. Then it hit him.
"Roxas!" The ground and sky materialized around him before trees and a wrought iron gate rose up from the grass to weave themselves into the scene from the photograph. Sora looked around and saw no one. He was alone.
"Sora…" The same childlike voice playfully sang out again. Sora whipped his head towards the direction of the sound before realizing it came from inside the estate. Pressing his face and body against the gate, he watched the cheerful child, no older than six, amble towards the mansion's front door. The closer he came to his destination, the older and more solemn he became, until he turned around directly in front of the door to gaze at Sora, now appearing to be Sora's age.
"Sora…" The voice was older now, laden with deep sorrow instead of the child-like banter.
The massive oak door behind Roxas began to open. "No! Don't go in there! Please, Roxas!" Sora started to assault the ancient gate. Roxas simply gave a short shake of his head and gently raised a finger to his firmly closed mouth.
"Shh… Please… We mustn't wake the sleeping man…" Pausing just for a moment, Sora wondered how a voice so faint could travel across the lawn's great expanse, or how Roxas was able to speak so clearly without opening his mouth. When Roxas' body slowly began to blur around the edges, Sora jolted out of his thoughts and resumed striking the gate.
"Roxas, please, I'm begging you, stay here, safe, with me!" Sora accented each of his words with another frantic smash against the solid iron. Roxas turned, his form appearing as if made of stained glass. He took a single step, passing over the threshold. At that moment, everything around Sora shattered into colored shards, and he was thrown back into nothingness.
"We mustn't wake the sleeping man…" Roxas' voice echoed around him as he fell backwards.
"Sora…" The somber teen and the cheerful child harmonized together.
"Shh… don't wake him." More indistinguishable voices echoed together now in the endless nothing.
"Sora, do you remember?" All voices fell silent at this last question.
The eerie silence terrified Sora more than he could imagine. "Remember? Roxas, come on what are you talking about." Sora chuckled nervously. Nothing came. No noise. No voices. No response. "Roxas!" Now his voice echoed like Roxas' had, but lacked any ethereal quality or tone.
"Sora!" This time the voice wasn't ghostly. It didn't echo and wasn't faint, but rang loudly in Sora's ears.
Sora twisted his body around until his eyes found Roxas standing in the nothingness. Metallic grey shackles clasped his wrists and ankles securely while a black collar threatened to strangle him as his fingers clawed at the seemingly living material. Trying to reach out to his brother, Sora was forced back by a foul wind. Sora closed his eyes and suddenly felt himself falling.
Waking, Sora quickly threw off the blankets and moved to stand up. A loud clatter drew his attention to the floor, where the picture had fallen. Picking it up, Sora gasped and promptly threw the photo a few feet away from him.
A thick crack in the glass now ran between Sora and his twin. His brother's wide smile had vanished, replaced by a frown. A black collar was wrapped around his neck, and his gazed focused somewhere off to the side.
Sora disentangled himself from the remainder of his blankets and sprinted down the hallway. Every picture… every picture he had that held Roxas in its view had been affected. Each one distorted in the same way. When a knock came from the front door, Sora screamed.
"Sora!" The door was thrown open and in rushed a very tall, very thin person. Sora could only collapse to the floor in a sobbing heap. The person kneeled down next to him and held his shivering figure. Sora whimpered and breathed in the scent of this new person, a faint mixture of cigarette smoke and cinnamon.
"Is… Is that you Axel…?" The red haired man nodded once. Closing his acid green eyes, he rested his chin on Sora's hair.
Axel gently murmured soothing nothings into Sora's scalp. "Shh… Shh… Try to calm down."
"Shh… we mustn't wake the sleeping man…" The voice drifted around Sora once again before dissipating. Axel seemed completely unaware.
Sora cowered into Axel's jacket. "Don't… please, don't." he whined into the black leather.
"Alright… Calm down… I'm not going to hurt you, buddy." After what seemed like hours, Sora calmed down to a somewhat stable state. "What's got you so upset?"
He kept his gaze to the now very interesting carpet before mustering up the courage to answer. "The pictures…"
"What about the pictures?" Axel looked up to the many photographs lining the walls of the hallway. "Oh, my God… How did that happen? Oh, God. What did this?" Axel's voice trembled slightly as his arms tensed around Sora in fear.
"All the ones… All the ones with… All the ones with Ro…" Sora choked on the sentence, but Axel nodded in understanding.
Risking a glance at Axel, he took note of the man's disheveled appearance. "You haven't been sleeping well." The dark bags under Axel's eyes looked terrible with the purple tear-drop tattoos on his cheekbones. His once vibrant red hair was dull and rampant with knots and tangles. "Or eating well, either." Sora added, as Axel was more skeletal than simply thin.
"Nightmares…" Axel explained. "They started when I turned down Riku's invitation to the wake. He called me to complain about how I wasn't going to go unless you went, and you weren't going to go unless I went." He breathed in to regain his thoughts before continuing. "How about we go together? If anything, maybe it will stop my dreams and give you some hope."
"Hope?" Sora tilted his head at Axel curiously.
Axel nodded. "Yeah, the Organization is planning on being there to claim that Roxas isn't dead." The Organization was the towns' rebels and delinquents. Roxas had joined them, even regularly wearing their uniform. The same one Axel had on now.
Throwing his head back, Sora covered his face with his hands. "Great… Now there will be more fighting…"
"Not this time. The Committee and the Organization took a vow of no fighting on Saturday. It was required if the Organization wanted to attend the wake. I can't stand it, though. Roxas was our member and just because Cloud is your guy's guardian and leads the Committee, he thinks that he can try and keep us from attending because Roxas was his little brother." Axel quietly vented his frustrations of Cloud's actions toward the entire situation.
"So you'll go?" Sora peered up at Axel.
"Yeah… if you'll come with me?" Axel replied back to Sora.
Sora smiled slightly at Axel. "I'll be able to get through it with you there, Axel." Axel hugged Sora one more time.
"Let's do this, for Roxas."
Axel stayed with Sora until Saturday afternoon. When the dreaded time finally came, they set out together for Roxas' wake. Out of all the people who attended, the Organization members were the hardest hit by grief. But the three who had been hurt worst of all were Roxas' two brothers, Sora and Cloud, and Roxas' boyfriend, Axel. All of them loved Roxas dearly, and his disappearance shocked and confused them.
The wake took place at the old mansion. Or rather, it took place at the gates before the mansion. The only way to reach the estate was through a hole in the city wall, then into a dense forest.
The forest had a peculiar air no one really liked, so few strayed into its depths. The forest was eventually named the Silent Wood, because people never heard the birds sing, or the winds blow. Voices always sounded muted. Maybe that's why the wake started out so quiet.
The wake began normally enough. People stood and spoke about their memories of Roxas and sat back down. Then it was Cloud's turn to speak.
"Roxas… Roxas was a good kid, and many of us miss him. But we need to understand that he's dead and gone. He is no longer with us and trying to deny that brings more har-" The Organization members shot up in outrage. They started shouting that they would not give up on Roxas reappearing alive and well. Sora knew that they were trying to stick to their promise of non- violence, but he knew a fight could quickly erupt. The Restoration Committee had more people, but the Organization carried personal weapons.
Sora slipped away from Axel's side and escaped the increasingly rowdy crowd, gazing up at the mansion.
"The cards are never wrong, love. The Ace of Hearts is still alive, safely guarded by the Jack of Diamonds, and other forces." Sora jumped and turned to face the voice, only to find that it was Luxord.
Luxord had been one of the Organization members Sora never felt comfortable around. He had short, platinum blonde hair and icy grey eyes, with several piercings decorating his ears and face. A pirate from Port Royal, it was rumored he had arrived at this quiet, forgotten town to escape the authorities that were after him. A strong British accent, a love of poker, and a fondness of rum, seemed to contradict his cordial politeness and extensive vocabulary. Luxord always kept a deck of cards in his pocket.
Axel and Roxas were convinced he could tell the future, check on a person's well-being, and even tell time with those cards. When Sora had asked them how Luxord could check up on people, they had explained that he had had everyone draw a card from the deck to represent them. If there was a fight between two members, Luxord would look at his deck and tell them who would win. He was always correct.
"The Ace of Hearts?" asked Sora. Luxord shuffled the cards back into his deck.
"It's your brother, dear." He answered plainly.
Sora nodded silently. "And who is the Jack of Diamonds?" Luxord stopped his hands and looked at Sora with some emotion the brunette couldn't place.
"Who knows, only those which walk in the dark and feast on the flesh of the living. Nightmares, horrors, even fear itself know, for they know all and all is theirs to know." This was why Sora didn't like Luxord, because he only spoke in riddles.
"Remember, my dear lad, and make sure to remember well. Light is not as pure as it appears, nor is darkness as evil. Just as darkness shades and hides the path of righteousness, so will light blind the traveler. Always remember who you are, not name nor title, but a person. And remember who that person is." The man smiled, showing his teeth. Sora had heard those words before from someone long ago, but he could not remember the circumstances.
Bowing deeply, Luxord presented Sora with his deck of cards. "Only the cards will show true face value. Trust the cards to be genuine, my lad, for people will always lie." Luxord leaned over and whispered one last piece of advice before he gave a jaunty laugh and plunged back into the crowd. "Quiet now, we mustn't wake the sleeping man, or must we?" Sora blinked, mouth agape, slipping the cards into his pocket.
"Sora…" A voice whispered urgently, a chilly wind swirling around his body briefly. "You need to stop them… the noise… Sora… it's too loud… Stop it… stop it, Sora… Stop it!"
"STOP IT!" Everything went silent at Sora's shrieked plea. "Just stop it… stop it…stop…" Slowly sinking until he hit the grass, Sora wept, the tears flowing down his cheeks and onto his hands. Riku and Axel were by his side in seconds.
The silver haired male comforted Sora with hushed words as the red haired male glared at the crowd. Quickly and silently they all left until only the three remained in front of the gate. Axel and Riku looked at each other for a few moments as Sora calmed down. Riku stood first and helped Sora up, while Axel silently watched the mansion.
A breeze blew past them, making the three shiver. "We shou-" Riku's words were cut off as the wind violently picked up, forcing the gate open and throwing them inside the mansion grounds. As they tumbled and rolled, trying to regain their bearings, a loud and ominous clanging rang throughout the air.
Axel was the first up, running towards the now closed gate and yanking on the iron bars. After a minute of fruitless effort he turned to the others. "We're trapped." The two nodded numbly.
"Sora…" Sora turned and looked at the mansion, only to see Roxas disappearing through the solid door.
"Roxas!" Startled by Sora's cry, both boys were too late to stop Sora's full sprint towards the front door. Riku was immediately after him, followed by Axel. Sora flung open the mansion door and entered, ignoring Riku's and Axel's shouts behind him.