Destiny

"So, we can be together again!"

"Right. Anytime Sora and Kairi are together."

Even as Naminé was reassured by those words, she also felt troubled by them. There was no doubt that she had wanted to meet Roxas again. He was a sweet boy, and she certainly liked him. But there was something about the finality of his agreement that she didn't feel entirely comfortable with.

"We'll be together every day! Right, Sora?" Kairi's words only deepened her concern. She knew very well that Kairi and Sora were soul mates, destined to be together for the rest of their lives, if not eternally. But they were more than friends; they were lovers. And that relationship would no doubt be reflected between Roxas and herself. But was that what she wanted?

She took Kairi's hand, and with a light glow, she faded back into the Somebody. She watched from Kairi's eyes as Roxas did the same with Sora.

Together forever, huh…?

Roxas caught a flicker of doubt in Naminé's eyes as he said that they would always be together now, and felt that shadow pass over his own thoughts. As he joined with Sora for what was likely the final time, he lapsed into his own thoughts as he passively watched the final battles from behind Sora's eyes.

It was great to see Naminé again. The two of them didn't have much time to talk or get to know each other before he found Sora and joined with him the first time. He couldn't deny that he felt a special bond with her. But he wondered if that wasn't just because of who their Somebodies were. When he considered being with Naminé the way Kairi and Sora would eventually be, he wasn't certain that he wanted it to be that way between them. Naminé was his friend, definitely. But he wasn't exactly attracted to her.

He couldn't identify why he was so certain of that, but he felt a distinct pressure in his chest and an aching sadness as he realized that something, or perhaps someone, was missing from the people he and Sora had met during their time traveling the worlds. He knew there was a promise, too, to destroy Kingdom Hearts, though he didn't remember making the promise. Sora and his friends were the ones to fulfill it, but he figured that was fine. Besides, it wasn't the promise that was most important anyway. It was who he'd made it to.

Someone was missing from his life, and he thought he would probably never feel fully at ease until he found it.

Naminé watched from behind Kairi's eyes as she interacted with Axel—sorry, Lea. She couldn't help feeling jealous as the fire user ruffled Kairi's hair, making the girl sputter indignantly. She wished it could be her in Kairi's place. Yes, she was there, technically, but it wasn't Naminé Lea saw, and it wasn't Naminé Lea talked to and teased.

As a Nobody, Naminé knew she wasn't supposed to feel the way Somebodies did, but she didn't truly believe that anymore. Even if Nobodies weren't supposed to have feelings, it was clear they did, and besides, she was joined with Kairi now, so wouldn't that mean that she had a heart to feel with?

During her time at Castle Oblivion as a captive of Organization XIII, Axel had been the only person she'd felt comfortable around. Marluxia and Larxene tormented her mercilessly, Zexion and Lexaeus completely ignored her, and she never even saw Vexen, but Axel talked to her. He'd brought color into that pure white world. She was happy when he was around. He looked after her and was an actual friend to her when no one else was.

She'd done things she wasn't proud of either, but even so, he'd reminded her that she could make a difference, and he'd let her go in the Castle. He'd been using her, perhaps, but she still believed that he cared at least a little. When Marluxia used her as a human shield, she had faith that Axel wouldn't have hurt her. She was too small to be a useful shield anyway. He could've easily avoided hitting her. Sora misinterpreted the situation, since he'd only been there for a short portion of it.

She looked on as Lea became part of the main group focused on taking down Xehanort once and for all, but she noticed he still stood apart from them. She wondered if the others noticed, or if she was the only one since she was always watching him. He had a distant look on his face, as though he wasn't really there. Maybe he was thinking about Isa, and how he could save him. She only hoped that he wouldn't sacrifice himself to rescue him. He had a bad habit of giving something his all in an explosion of energy instead of fighting alongside others to accomplish a goal with them. Axel had died that way. She desperately hoped Lea wouldn't do the same.

She'd fallen in love with his voice, the sarcasm and cheerful teasing, the sadness and determination when he spoke of his friends. She paid close attention to everything he did, not wanting to miss anything since he could change his mind in a split second. Sometimes she dared not blink in case she missed an emotion that flitted across his face for just a flash before disappearing forever. He hid his feelings well, rarely allowing them free reign to affect his actions. But perhaps that just made the moments when he allowed his true thoughts to show that much more important and genuine.

She wished so deeply that she could be there beside Lea, not as Kairi, but as herself. She missed the feeling of being around him. It was harder to feel that when she was within Kairi, especially because she was rarely anywhere but by Sora's side. She wanted to be with Lea so much, but she despaired that it could never be.

In the dusky quietude between connected hearts, Naminé and Roxas met with each other as their counterparts slept peacefully. They stood beside each other, Roxas with his hands in his pockets and Naminé with arms wrapped around herself lightly, as if she might fall apart if pushed too hard.

"So…it's been awhile that we've been together. I think it's time we talked about what's holding us both back," Roxas said quietly.

Naminé nodded carefully. Neither of them had been able to do anything with the other except talk, which they had done a lot of, to be sure. But a relationship is built on more than speech. They were friends; very good friends, in fact, but friendship was all she felt they were suited for. As she met Roxas' gaze, she knew he felt the same.

After a few moments of silence as she formulated her thoughts, she said, "Sora and Kairi…they're destined to be together. And they're our Somebodies. So doesn't that mean that our relationship is destined to mirror theirs?"

He paused for a long time as well. The space between realms had no true flow of time of its own, and the two Nobodies had all the time in the world to consider what they wanted to say. "I don't know. I thought that was true before, but now I'm not sure I believe that."

"Mm…" Naminé hummed in quiet agreement. "I suppose…the question really is, do we have a choice? We're only Nobodies; we were never meant to exist in the first place. Do we have the ability to choose our own path? Axel…Lea," she amended, "and the others, they became their Somebodies again. Is there anything split about them? I just don't know. And we're different from them in any case."

"Yeah…neither of us died or anything. We chose to rejoin our Somebodies. And yet we're still here. We're part of Sora and Kairi, but we're still us. I don't know how any of this is supposed to work, but I think something about it is different."

"We were created in a special way as well, you know. I was formed when Kairi's heart was expelled from Sora's, which is why I can manipulate his memories. So I'm not really just a part of Kairi because I'm part of Sora too. You were created at the same time, but Sora had expelled his own heart by choice, which is another difference from everyone else. We're unlike other Nobodies, but I'm pretty sure that's still what we are, even though we're not the same. But even so, we are still part of Sora and Kairi."

"Right. So do we have the ability to make a different choice from them? We make great friends, Naminé. I know you agree," he asserted, to which Naminé nodded. "But we just don't work as a couple."

"Yes, you're right. But I don't think we can be with anyone else. We don't have our own bodies. Doesn't that mean that it's our fate to be together, since Sora and Kairi are?"

"Maybe that's true, but is that what you want? I don't."

Naminé paused for a while, before answering with a pained expression on her face. "No. That's not what I want. But does that even matter? Maybe we can just be friends for the rest of their lives, but what will that really change? We can't be with anyone else, no matter how much we may want to! We're stuck here." She tightened her arms around her torso, her fisted hands clenching the sides of her dress.

Roxas didn't answer. After some time, he responded, "Maybe that's true for now. But maybe someday that won't be the case. You can make yourself heard to Kairi, right? Let's try talking to her and Sora, and maybe they'll be able to find an answer for us. We won't know until we try, right?" He gave her a half smile.

Absorbing his words, she managed to relax her grip on herself. "Yeah. Okay, let's do that. Just choose the time carefully, okay? I don't want to get in the way of their own lives."

"You're too considerate," he joked, grinning. "I'd prefer to interrupt Sora in the middle of something important, just to give him more incentive to get rid of me faster!"

Naminé giggled. "We'll still be friends, if we manage to get our own bodies. After all, I made a promise." A flash of black hair and blue, blue eyes flitted across her mind's eye, as she saw more than heard the words, 'Naminé, will you please watch over Roxas once I'm gone?' She didn't know exactly who it was she'd promised, but she knew it was important and that it was the one thing she could do for them. And it's not like watching over her best friend would be any real chore.

"Yeah, of course," Roxas agreed. "Besides, someone's got to make sure that idiot pyromaniac doesn't hurt you," he teased. As Naminé blushed, he added, "What, you think I didn't notice? Sometimes your thoughts are written all over your face, Nam. Whenever we would talk about him, your expression would light up. It's pretty obvious, even to me."

She hid her face in her hands for a minute as she turned a vibrant shade of red. "Okay, okay, just stop talking about it!" she cried. After a moment she composed herself. "And you know, I'm sure you'll find her. The person you're looking for. It might be hard, but if it's you, I know you'll find her again."

Roxas gave her a strange look. "I don't remember telling you I was looking for someone."

"No, you didn't. But you are. There's no memory of her, but there are traces remaining." She closed her eyes. "Flashes of a face we don't know, pieces of conversations that we can't remember having, promises that we keep even though we don't recall making them. That's where she is. And you'll find her, if it's you. You're probably the only one who can." She opened her eyes again and smiled.

"Huh…well, thanks, I guess." Roxas felt better, knowing that he wasn't the only one who knew something was missing that should be there. And somehow, he believed Naminé when she said he'd do it. Naminé never lies.

He met her eyes with determination. "We'll find a way to have our own bodies. And then we'll be free to make our own destiny."

A/N: Got this idea one night when I was wondering about destiny for the two Nobodies that were like no others. I don't particularly care much for NaminexRoxas, as I think they're better as just friends at this point, but I do follow canon for Sora and Kairi (usually), so I was interested in how the relationship would affect their Nobodies since they're now part of each other. I recently started shipping AxelxNamine so I wanted to give it a try in this. It's one-sided because we only see Namine's perspective on things and she isn't interacting directly with Axel, but I still consider it a pairing so I listed it as one. I wish I could've done more with Xion but since not even Namine can really remember her, there wasn't too much I could manage in this particular story. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!