AN: Might write more idk. READ I GUESS? Random idea that popped up in my mind.
Roxas felt it. Something was pounding in his chest, worming it's way out of his body. It squirmed in his arms and was soft leather on his skin. Roxas wanted to hold it forever and never let go, so that the warmth he felt would stay with him.
His eyes stuttered and opened. Where was he? His mind was a blank. He lay there curled up on the floor, his arms hugging something and legs tucked in close, as if to protect whatever lay in between. There was a faint and tiny heartbeat between the two of them, the heart struggling to stay alive, almost dead, yet still managing to cling to whatever life it had.
Roxas sucked in a deep breath. His eyes darted down to see two yellow pupils staring up at him. It took a moment for Roxas' tired mind to register what he was seeing. A small heartless was curled up in his arms, snuggling close to his chest. The heartless blinked, then turned its attention from the Nobody's eyes and fell asleep, resting it's head on Roxas gently.
The Nobody was beyond confused. It knew what a heartless was, a being of darkness that preyed on the hearts of people. Roxas didn't have a heart - to his knowledge, anyway - so why was this heartless here, much less in his arms, sleeping? It looked so defenseless and weak in this state, as if hugging it too hard would break such a delicate creature.
Please…
Roxas in an attempt to separate from the creature, he stood up and tried prying the heartless from him, which was not easy. Finally managing to get the shadow away from him, he panted, shoulders heaving up and down. That was WAY harder than it should've been.
The small heartless clumsily stood up and started crawling towards the Nobody again, much to Roxas' confusion. As the heartbeat was absent from his ears, Roxas could hear his thoughts more clearly. Why was it-
Suddenly, Roxas felt a great pain of being ripped apart in his chest, as if everything inside him were twisting and his lungs attempting to escape his rib cage, his whole system was being rejected. Roxas leaned over and held himself, his ears ringing. His face twisted and winced, the feeling of pain so intense.
He couldn't prevent the heartless from coming back over. It scampered like a small animal towards the Nobody and onto his long black coat. Roxas was helpless to stop it, the shadow climbing on his coat, struggling to heave it's body up and dig it's softened claws into the fabric. Roxas fell down to the ground from the shock he was in, twitching a bit.
The heartless finally made it's way to Roxas' chest and nestled in close to the small amount of heat Roxas was radiating, the warmth bringing comfort to the creature of darkness. Roxas slowly felt the pain ease and insides mend, his body returning to peace. He could also hear the heartbeat returning, he could feel it in his skin, the light thumps oddly soothing. Roxas' body untensed and he relaxed, holding the shadow like a teddybear close to his chest, his eyes growing weak. He just felt so… so… safe, so... tired. Maybe if he rested his eyes, his strength would return.
...take care of me.
Roxas opened his eyes, and sheepishly rolled on his back. The heartless was still sleeping on his chest. Strangely it seemed smaller somehow, a tiny bit different in size. Maybe it was Roxas' imagination.
It seemed to be almost weightless, his chest slowly going up and down with ease, the heartless curled up like a cat. Just why was the two of them here? It seemed they were in a bedroom on the floor, instead of wrapped up in the surely more comfortable bed.
Roxas took the heartless in one arm, and held it's sleeping body like a child and a doll. The heartless squeaked a bit uncomfortably, but then relaxed again.
He sighed and summoned his keyblade in his free hand. "Let's get out of here." He mumbled to himself. The keyblade seemed odd somehow, like it should look different. It felt weird in his one hand, his other hand seemingly etching to hold something.
He shook his head and opened the door using the keyblade, the light from the tip unlocking the door. He slowly pushed the door open and stool his head outside. A empty hallway. Fantastic.
Deciding it was safe, he pushed the door fully open and stepped out onto the blank floor, an echo filling the air. As it faded, Roxas looked around the long corridor.
It was eerily silent, the mysterious heartbeat being the only thing that faintly filled his ears. As he looked down at the creature in his arm, he wondered if the strange rhythm came from the heartless. Heartless actually had hearts, albeit consumed by darkness, unlike Nobodys which were empty on the inside.
The neo shadow somehow looked smaller than before, but the difference was so small he could just be seeing things. It seemed to be shrinking the more it slept. Come to think of it, he'd never seen a heartless sleeping before or a heartless so gentle and close.
As if knowing he was pondering these thoughts, the heartless opened his yellow eyes. It stared blankly at the Nobody. "So you're up? What are you anyway?" Roxas asked, not expecting an answer. The heartless just blinked.
"Just what I thought. Nothing." Roxas sighed. The heartless curled up tighter to his chest and once comfortable, went to asleep again.
...Please...just let me heal...
Roxas averted his eyes and looked down the long hallway, there was another door at the end. Maybe that was a way out. "Finally!" Roxas said excitedly. Maybe he'd finally get some answers.
He ran towards the door, the hall seemingly going on forever. "C'mon! C'mon!" He mumbled, getting tired. His lungs were burning, his steps growing weak. He stopped, catching his breath.
Suddenly, heartless started popping up around Roxas. Neo shadows like the one sleeping against his chest. It shifted uncomfortably in their prescience. Immediately, he swung his keyblade at the heartless, their hearts freed and darkness dispelled. "I don't have time for this!" Roxas shouted. His voice echoed through the empty hall, making him feel truly small. Like he was all alone in the world, small and helpless like the little heartless in his arms.
Why hadn't he destroyed this creature yet? It was as if something inside was stopping him from raising his keyblade against it. It irritated him that he didn't know what this feeling was, but he guessed that this heartless was the only thing he had, so might as well keep it around. The heartbeat from earlier was slowly growing stronger, the smaller the heartless shrunk, the more Roxas could feel the steady rhythm.
He looked closer at it, it seemed to be holding something precious in it's hands, something he could not see. Roxas shook his head and began to run towards the door again. He needed to get out.
thank you.
The heartless rested close to the knocked out Nobody.
Warm warm safe warm must stay can't leave so warm my other sweet other must protect thing precious thing must hide from other yes keep safe
The heartless thought. It nestled in closer, curling its body on Roxas' chest. The small being of darkness had been born from the heart of someone strong, so the heartless had the strong urge to protect the heart it had tightly wrapped in his hands. The shining light the heart radiated was dull and bland and did not wishing to harm the creature, the brilliant heart barely managing to cling to life. The heart wanted to be near this nobody, so the heartless let it.
This particular neoshadow, was very similar to all of it's kind. Walking hearts swallowed by darkness and given mindless form, their movements determined by instinct, the hunger to feed constantly drilling through their heads and directing them towards food: the light of a human heart. It is not hard to pity these small creatures, seeing as the hearts inside are probably lukewarm and empty, all memories of who they once were, gone. This also meant you should feel no shame or guilt for killing them.
And yet, this particular neoshadow, was somewhat different. It had no hunger, no constant need to find hearts and devour them, assimilate their warm light into cold darkness. It did not fear the keyblade wielder, and did not wish to fight him. More so, a being of energy, constantly awake and limbs twitching with the need to feast, found solace in sleep, content to rest in this Nobody's arms.
There was also a voice that this particular heartless could hear, urging it along and guiding it movements with a gentle push. It was faint and seemed to be softly smiling, trying to sound happy. But the voice could not hide the hurt it was feeling, and the heartless twitched whenever it heard the small crack in his voice, as if it was about to break into tears at any moment.
The first time this heartless heard this voice, was when it first came into existence.
The soul and body ripped away from the heart, it drowning in nothingness. That is when the darkness came with greedy eyes and unmerciful smiles and claimed the heart for its own, consuming it. The darkness wrapped around the heart, creating a form smoothly and effortlessly, taking the place of what was the heart's body and soul.
In the Realm of Darkness, the small neoshadow stood. It blinked its bright yellow eyes, giving a tiny bit of light in the empty void. The heartless didn't know anything, it had no instinct of hunger or thirst, so it just stood there.
Hello…
Came the voice for the first time.
I need you to be near him, he'll keep me, no- us safe. As long as you're near him, I'll be able to heal and return to my body and soul again. It's easier if I'm close to my Other.
The heartless was confused. There was a light inside it, a bothersome light. The darkness disliked that light and immediately sook it out, trying to crush it.
Please stop! I need you to protect me, please… I'll give you some of my light if you leave me alone.
The heartless stopped as it tilted its head in confusion, what was the voice saying? It suddenly was pulled into a world, plopped down on a wooden floor. He was held in the arms of a boy with, blonde hair and resting blue eyes, shifting uncomfortably, face twisted in pain. The boy held the heartless closer to his chest, relaxing a bit in it's presence.
The heartless began to feel strange, as if it was being filled with something it never had felt before. An odd sense of comfort and safety, as the heart caged inside reacted to being near its body and soul. It seemed the boy too, was finding console in the heartless being with it. The voice let out a joyful sigh and smiled.
Thank you... Now… now my heart has started to heal.
The nobody stirred and awoke, staring into the heartless' big yellow eyes. The voice still tried to keep the being's attention.
But I need to sleep, my heart is still weak…
The heartless didn't quite understand the voice, but listened to it. It was weird, it's eyes grew tired, as it's heart lulled it towards sleep. Heartless didn't need sleep. They didn't have the luxury to, for something might kill it, being the lowest rank of the food chain. But being next to this boy's warmth felt cordial and instilled a sense of hospitality inside it that the creature of darkness was foreign to.
Please… rest...
The heartless was coaxed into relaxing all of it's senses, slowly laying its head on the Nobody's head as it gave into sleep.
The heartless slept as what was left of Sora started to heal. It was hard to have maintained a sentience after it's heart had been consumed by darkness, the first time he'd been lucky to have Kairi. But now, he didn't have such a luxury.
First, it was the fact that Roxas' heart had been ripped from his after merging so smoothly, it was like a half of it was gone. All Sora needed to do was get his heart back with Roxas' again. So slowly, the more he was with his Nobody, he'd return his heart to Roxas' own and merge again. The more the heartless slept, the smaller it shrank, it slowly dying as Sora's heart healed. Sora didn't want the heartless to die, truthfully, it'd been so faithful and friendly, not devouring his heart and it's light. All Sora could do was watch sadly as it bit by bit disappeared.
"How far away is that door?" Roxas said, panting. It seemed he'd been running forever. Moments like this, he'd usually be super determined, but determination runs out after you've been running for a copious amount of unknown time.
These white walls were so familiar, yet so far away. Why didn't he just stay in the bedroom?
AN: That's all for now, I guess :P