Archipelago

Summary: He thought it was all over, he thought he was dead, but it was only half of him that ceased to exist. The other half lived on. akuroku

Radishface

Prologue

Sora was back in Destiny Islands and everything was back to the way it was before.

Funny, his mother said, how one minute I was just on the couch reading—and then the next minute there was that storm outside—and then—

Your mother and I, his father said, we didn't know where you had gone.

But that wasn't all, his mother said, that storm tore up the house,

But it's like it never happened, his father said. I remember being stuck in something for a while.

It seemed like a while, his mother huffed. It was—

Grey.

When Destiny Islands disappeared, where did it go?

It was as if Destiny Islands—and the world in which they were situated—had been paved away to make room for an intergalactic highway. And now they were back; through force of will, no doubt, through Sora's force of will—

As long as he held the keyblade, he had a duty to fulfill. But Destiny Islands was safe and secure—he didn't have anything to do in the mean time—school had suddenly appeared the way it had before, and the summer breezes had begun to give way to autumn chills.

Summer vacation was over, thought Sora. It felt familiar.

He was poised on the edge of the classroom window. He wasn't worried about falling off; he'd done this so many times before. He saw Kairi coming at him out of the corner of his eye, and leapt off the windowsill just in time before she pushed him.

"You're going to fall over one of these days, you know." Kairi smiled. Sora laughed.

"If you'd stop making so much noise when you came in the room, you might actually surprise me for once."

"It's deliberate," Kairi huffed. "I don't actually want you to fall off, you know."

"Yeah?" Sora looked outside. The leaves weren't falling yet. But the color they were—

red

-- indicated that they would. Soon.

"Sora?"

Kairi was waving her hand in front of him. Sora blinked.

"What?"

"You zoned out for a minute." Kairi frowned. "You've been doing that a lot lately. Something on your mind?"

Sora tried to think of anything that was on his mind. He drew a blank.

"Never mind," Kairi turned around, heading for the door. "Lunch break is almost over. We should get to our next class."

"Okay."

When Sora closed his eyes for the night, he knew what he would see.

Roxas came to life vividly at night, during his dreams. Roxas thought a lot more than Sora did, about a lot of things; on the nature of friendship, the ways of the world, the meaning of love, that kind of thing. Or maybe Sora was just making excuses, maybe Sora didn't want to own up to all of his thoughts. After all—Roxas was completely integrated with him now. It was as if they had never been separated in the first place.

I got my heart back, thought Sora. This vessel—this container, my body—holds my heart—

Why did he still feel empty?

"Do you think everybody is going to be okay?" Riku asked him. They were sitting at the lunch tables. Sora had been chewing the same bite of sandwich for five minutes, and it was getting a little more than disgusting in his mouth. But he didn't want to swallow.

"It was fine when we left it," Sora said, his mouth full.

"Ugh." Riku made a face, but Sora could see the indulgent smile in his eyes. "Close your mouth when you're talking to me."

Sora blinked, and then registered the joke. "Oh."

Riku laughed, and reached over, and flicked his nose. Sora spluttered indignantly, and flushed with embarrassment as the tuna fish sandwich mush dripped from the corner of his mouth and onto his shirt.

"You'd better clean up." Riku was still laughing, the jerk. "To think that this kid holds the key to all of our destinies."

"No pressure," Sora muttered under his breath, wiping himself off.

The leaves were starting to fall.

They'd been an angry shade of red for the last month. Sora was beginning to wonder if they'd ever drop at all, or if they'd just stay up there—sort of permanent. He liked that idea, blazing red trees set against the bright blue of the sky, all year around. The autumn bitterness and chill warmed him more than any day at the beach.

He wondered when he had become an autumn kind of person. He wondered when it had ever really been autumn in Destiny Islands.

His shoes rustled the leaves, crunched the dead ones. He liked wading around in the sea of scarlet. But he knew it wouldn't last long—

He felt so sad, so unbearably sad, for some reason.

How does one reach the next life without leaving the present one?

It was a question Sora had been asking himself lately. He shouldn't have any reason to ask that question, save for the most obvious one.

I would

Miss you

He went to the cave at sundown, ignoring the protests of his mother, who told him that he had to stay and do his homework. But really, what was the point of doing his homework if the sky was just going to open up again and swallow his home into his seedy vortex? It would be a better excuse for not turning in his homework than saying that his dog ate it.

The door was still half-etched, half-protruding from the cave walls. Sora resisted the temptation to press his ear against it and listen for something from the other side. Instead, he sat down on the cave floor and rummaged around in his pockets.

He had found a leaf the other day. He'd been walking through the leaves again—this time they were all dead, and brown, and crunched when he walked. But a red leaf fluttered by, still brilliant in its decaying, aging prime—he caught it between his hands. The color—

crimson

reminded him.

Sora sat in the cave and wrapped his scarf a little tighter around his neck, huddling his knees up to his chest and passing the leaf back and forth between his hands.

Having a heart—that was a privilege. But if you could still make yourself act like you had one—and make yourself believe the feelings you outwardly expressed—then why should people not believe you?

It must need another heart to believe—

My heart just wouldn't be in it, you know?

He woke up the next morning, groggy and drowsy. He didn't know why he had gotten up so early, especially when he had gone to bed so late. The sun was barely over the horizon.

Sora brushed his teeth and washed his face and took a quick shower to try and wake himself up. He plodded downstairs and reluctant choked down a bowl of cereal. He still hadn't finished his homework assignment from last night, he could probably finish it on his way to school.

His backpack felt strangely heavy. He felt strangely heavy himself, like he was carrying somebody else on his back— or somebody's burden. But he didn't want to get too metaphorical.

He headed to the bus stop, nibbling on the end of his pencil, eyes fixated on his homework. There was somebody standing under the barren tree by the bus stop. Sora looked up.

He couldn't have been much older than Riku. His red hair was tied back in a spiky ponytail and his bangs hung haphazardly in front of his eyes, green eyes lively, mouth unsure of itself, a smile one moment and a frown the next. His build was tall and lanky, his hands were shoved into his pockets, as if once they were out, they wouldn't be able to contain themselves.

"Hey." Sora said, trying to quell the emotion that was threatening to rise up in his chest. He knew this person. He knew.

The red-headed youth looked back at him, and something flashed, then dulled, in the green eyes. "Hi."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as they studied each other.

"You're up pretty early for school," Sora said.

"I don't like to sleep." The redhead proclaimed, a little loudly. "What a waste of time."

Sora let out a reluctant smile. "Are you new around here? I haven't seen you at school before."

"School— oh, I'm not here to learn."

"Dropout?" Sora remarked.

"Only by choice."

Another lengthy silence. This time, Sora looked away first. "Well."

"I'm—" the redhead fidgeted. Squinted. Shook his head, rubbed his hands together. "I'm looking for someone. I've been looking for a while, actually."

"Oh." Sora's heart skipped a beat, his breathing hitched, his cheeks flushed.

"Yeah." The green eyes met Sora's, unblinking. "You wanna know who?"

Sora buried his face with his hands. He didn't understand this feeling, this head-twisting euphoria, an almost enjoyable nausea— it wasn't his feeling—

"Who?"

"Roxas." The redhead said the name slowly, as if sounding it out for the first time. "R-o-x-a-s. Got it memorized?"

to be continued

Reviews are greatly appreciated! This is my first Kingdom Hearts fic, so I'd love any pointers/tips on storyline stuff, especially where accuracy is concerned. Thanks again for reading!