In the year 2056, it was decided that people with mental disorders that could cause them to be dangerous had no options. They would be observed and it would be decided if they were dangerous or not. If dangerous, they would face a trial. Witnesses of danger would stand on one side, and witnesses who thought otherwise would be on the other. A battle of opinions would begin.
When the final verdict was reached, there were two things that would happen. If decided harmless, the person on trial could go on with their normal lives. If decided otherwise, they would be put down with no questions asked.
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It was dark in the room. The curtains were thrown open, but it was a new moon, so there honestly wasn't a point. Two figures were wrapped around each other on the too-small hospital bed, arms and legs twisted together like they would never unravel.
"Roxas, you should know that I can't live without you." Axel said into the blonde's ear.
Roxas shook his head and mumbled, "You could. I'm just me. You're fantastic you. You could do it easily."
Axel met Roxas's lips with his own, then pulled back and said angrily, "You don't understand, you idiot. I love you, I love you so much that it hurts, and I cannot live without you. It would be impossible, and I would kill myself before even trying to."
Roxas was silent. He buried his hands in Axel's hair, and then mumbled, "We'll see. We'll see..."
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"Roxas, you have been brought to court on the question of your sanity. The charges state that you are, in fact, not of mental stability, and have a form of dangerous split-personality disorder. Do you deny this?" asked the stuffy man in a powdered wig. Roxas nodded. He'd promised Axel that he would fight hard, so, damn it all, he was going to.
The three witnesses in the corner all stood up. Of course.
"We highly disagree," stated one. Roxas remembered that his name was Hayner. He wanted to punch him.
"Yes," began Olette, "He is highly unstable. His other half is very violent and comes out at the most random times."
"He is a danger to anything or anyone near him," stated the other, slightly tubby male. Pence. The traitor.
"I disagree," called a voice from Roxas's other side. Ah. Xion. He grinned in spite of the situation.
"He is Roxas and only Roxas. He is gentle and caring, and he is one of the best friends that I have ever had. I've met his other half only once, and he seemed to be a very nice person." She said. He could hear the grin in her voice. He had the confidence to look up, and did so, meeting the eyes of the judge.
"Yes," Axel's voice rang out like music to Roxas's ears.
"There aren't even words to describe what that Roxas means to me," he said, "and the other kid inside of him doesn't seem to be too bad. He's only come out once. He said hi, and then went away. Roxas is the one that matters to me." said the redhead.
Roxas's heart swelled. He could make it through this.
"I'm not sure exactly what his other half did to you two, but it's obvious that it scared you enough to make you stay silent," snapped Olette. Axel opened his mouth furiously, but Hayner cut him off.
"When that psycho hung out with us, he would go crazy at completely weird moments. Once, he pulled a knife on us!" he yelled. Roxas clenched his fists and tried to stem his anger. Getting mad would only bring him out, and with those idiots here, God only knew what he would do.
"That's probably because you insulted him!" Xion shouted, "And it's not like you've never pulled a knife on someone!" She continued. Hayner flinched.
The sides spent a few moments glaring at each other, and then the tirade began again. The judge's head was jumping back and forth like he was following a tennis match. After what seemed like hours, Roxas felt himself slipping.
No, no, oh God, please, no… he thought. But… he couldn't resist. His mind transformed and twisted, and his vision went black. He stumbled a bit and vaguely heard, "Oh, look, he's changing now! We can prove it to you!"
Then, suddenly, it was over. But he wasn't him. He was him. Sora.
"How long is this going to take?" he heard himself whine in a different tone of voice.
"I'm so boredddddddd~!" he continued. The judge was glaring at him. Hayner was smirking. Axel and Xion looked worried.
"The accused will not speak!" the judge spat.
"If you think about it, I'm not the accused..." said Sora, folding his arms and leaning back a bit.
"Roxas is the accused. I'm Sora." He said breezily.
The judge stared. Sora grinned at him.
"W-well, there is certainly proof of an extra being living inside of Roxas's mind…" Mumbled the dumbstruck judge, "and now there is only the question of whether he is dangerous or not."
"Hey, Sora!" called Hayner, "Seen much of Riku lately?"
Roxas's body stiffened and he felt Sora's anger course through him.
Calm down, calm down, please… He thought, even though it didn't make a difference. Sora was Sora. He couldn't hear him.
"You shut up." Sora said in a deathly calm voice to Hayner.
"Why should I? I'm just asking if you've seen Riku," teased the brunette.
"I said to shut your MOUTH!" Sora yelled, fists clenching.
Stop, stop, stop…
"Riku, Riku, Riku," chanted Hayner, Olette and Pence joining in.
Sora snapped. He attempted to fling himself over the podium that he was standing on, but was immediately restrained by two guards.
"Well, I think that is proof enough," sniffed the judge.
NO!
The change ripped through him faster than one had ever come before.
"No, please, please!" Xion was crying now. Axel looked ready to either break down or kill something. Probably both.
Roxas's eyes filled with tears, but he held them back. He was led away, arms held on both sides. He heard the sounds of Xion and Axel begging for anything but that, anything at all, please just keep him alive, and don't you understand?
"You will be allowed a final night," said one guard gruffly, "with one of your choosing."
"Axel," was Roxas's immediate response, "I want Axel."
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The two were silent for several minutes.
"Just… don't do anything stupid, okay?" said Roxas. Axel didn't say anything.
"I love you…." mumbled the blonde. That was phrase that had been overused much in this final night, but neither one of them seemed to care.
"…Do you have any clue of what time it is?" asked Axel.
"No, and I don't care," he snapped, "Look, can we stop talking about this? I know it's my last night. I get that. But I want it to bejust you and me, no worries," he said before crushing his lips to Axel's.
The fiery redhead responded enthusiastically, and soon they found themselves drifting off, despite their earlier promises that they wouldn't sleep and that they'd make the most of their final time.
Forgetting the cruelty of the world was easier when they were in Dreamland; all wrapped up in each other both in reality and out.
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Roxas and Axel were shaken awake, the guard sent to do so tutting in disgust at the obscenely sweet picture of them sleeping on each other.
"Come on, let's get this over with…" he grumbled, yanking Roxas up. Axel angrily slapped his hand away from Roxas, then grabbed the blonde by his shoulders and kissed him with as much vigor as he could.
"Uck." The guard rolled his eyes and looked away. They broke apart.
"I love you, and I'll be there every step of the way." Axel whispered. Roxas couldn't bring himself to open his mouth and simply nodded.
The guard allowed them to pull on their shirts, and he missed Axel slipping a box into his shirt pocket, as his gaze was trained on the "dangerous" Roxas.
When they were ready, he took one of Roxas's arms and led him out of the door and down the stark-white hallway of the hospital. Axel followed.
When they reached the waiting area of the mental ward, Xion jumped up out of a chair. There were gray bags under her eyes, which were red and puffy. She gave Roxas a hug, and then broke down sobbing again. Roxas averted his eyes so he wouldn't do the same.
The blonde was led into a room with a glass window that looked out into the waiting area. It was sparsely decorated, containing only a hard leather seat covered in paper. Roxas sat down on it and stared at the window. Axel and Xion were next to it.
After a few minutes of tense waiting, the doctor entered the room. He held only a syringe and a bottle of amber liquid.
"This won't hurt a bit, Roxas," the portly man said, wiping perspiration off of his brow with his sleeve before filling the syringe with a small amount of the liquid.
He injected Roxas's arm with it.
"Well… It was nice meeting you. Goodbye," he said lamely, before nodding at Roxas and backing out of the room.
This stuff works fast… thought Roxas. His vision was already going hazy. He looked to the window, his gaze drifting slowly, like it was moving through molasses.
Xion was sobbing again, and Axel was simply staring at him.
Roxas smiled, and mouthed, "I love you. Goodbye,"
Then, he laid his head back, and, very slowly, the world around him went black.
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"No," I said. Xion looked at me with those huge blue eyes that were so like his.
"That did not just happen. Roxas isn't dead." I said, voice increasing in volume. I banged on the window.
He didn't stir.
I snapped.
"Xion- get yourself out. Now." I said, reaching into my pocket.
"A-Axel, what are you d-doing?" she squeaked. I'd never seen her like this before. I hated it.
"Get OUT! Unless you want to die, get OUT!" I yelled. Hospital staff suddenly jerked their heads up from their work.
Xion ran for it, slamming her whole body into the door to the stairs and jumping them two at a time. I yanked out my box of matches. Simple, but guaranteed to get the job done. Like me.
I pulled one out and scraped it against the side of the box. It burst into flame, and I threw it at the table covered in magazines. They burst into flame. Nurses began to scream, dropping their clipboards and sending papers flying everywhere.
I repeated my previous action, catching a thousand fluttering documents on fire.
I burned it all.
And then, when I was done, I went into Roxas's room. He was still lying there… Just… Lying there. I grabbed him and let the tears flow. The water wasn't enough to stop the fires.
It burned to the ground, taking Roxas and I with it.
Well, we'd always agreed on one thing; cremation was the best way to dispose of bodies.
[A/N: WHAT. WHAT IS THIS. It's AkuRoku, of course!
…But seriously, I have no real explanation for this. I suppose you can make of it what you will.]