Hi there everyone! I need your help with something. I'm trying a new concept out with this story, and I want your opinions on it. Basically, throughout the story, I'll be leaving cues in the text as to what music you should have playing in the background as you read. It's not a songfic, the text is not based around the songs; rather the songs are placed into the text to set the mood. It's not hard to do, you'll just need to download limewire (one note on limewire. People are mean. They make viruses and disguise them as a something else so you'll download it. There's one that pops up on just about every search I do. I won't go into details, but let's just say that if it seems like a trap, it probably is.) or some kind of torrent program to get the music, and whenever you see something in asterisks, play the song its saying. It'll be something like this.
Text text text
begin playing the song (song name here) by (artist name here)
At that point you would begin playing that song and read on. It's for effect only, and will not subtract from the plot if you choose not to play along. So read the story, enjoy the music, and then leave me a review telling me what you think about all this. After all, it's an experiment, and I need feedback to tell me if it's effective or not. Thanks!
Before I forget, here's a list of the songs you'll need for this chapter.
Padmasana, by Buckethead
Shine on, by Ryan Cabrera
Witches on the Heath, by Buckethead
Ghost, by Buckethead
Omnishred, by Powerglove
And the disclaimer : I'm not writing this for profit, so don't sue me squaresoft. The music, while I didn't write it, doesn't make me money either.
Begin playing (Padmasana) by (Buckethead)
Namine was wrong. She had to be.
Never meant to exist? Only half of Sora?
Lies. Every word of it. Roxas gave a heavy sigh as he pushed through the mansion's front gates. He settled on a nearby stone bench, just outside the mansion's courtyard. Gazing into the night sky, he could clearly see the stars shining, as there were little to no lights on nearby. He thought of his friends, and how real he felt when he was with them.
Hayner…The two blondes had a competitive rivalry for as long as he could remember, but they always had each other's back. Whether it was sticking up for each other in face-offs with Seifer, or just helping each other up after a well-fought struggle battle, they knew they could trust one another.
And Pence was there to capture every moment of it in the camera the other three bought for his 12th birthday. If there were two things you could expect from Pence, it was that he would be carrying a sea-salt ice cream in one hand and his camera in the other, and that he could never say no to going shopping with Olette.
Roxas smiled at the thought. Pence always was a bit of a pushover because of his friendly nature, and Olette definitely took advantage of this. She was the only girl in their group, yet she never fell into girly stereotypes. Thus, she didn't quite fit in with the other girls in twilight town and spent her time with Hayner, Pence, and himself. As much as the other two boys didn't want to admit it, they all owed her a lot.
Whenever Hayner lost a struggle to Seifer, it was Olette and Roxas that hoisted his unconscious body back to his house to rest. Whenever Pence would drop his ice-cream, it was Olette who offered the rest of hers with a smile on her face. And perhaps most of all Roxas owed her. Now that he thought about it, she really held him together. She was the one who patiently guided him through his homework every night. She was the one who covered him when he didn't have enough munny for a train ticket to the beach. She was the one who waited by his bedside until he recovered from his broken arm he got while skating.
A chill wind from the mansion brought him back to reality. He needed to get back home soon, as he had been out for over an hour. Slowly bringing himself to his feet, he strode back towards the forest that led to Twilight Town.
"I'm real. She can't possibly take that away," the young teenager thought. "Whole…" he scoffed, kicking a tree. "What is whole, anyway? I don't want to be whole. All I want is to be me," he said, now thinking aloud. Frustrated, he screamed to no one in particular.
"Damn it Namine, don't take this away from me!"
"What's that, Roxas?" Roxas spun around to see his friend Olette leaning on a tree next to him. Her earthy green eyes were fixed upon him, staring pensively.
"Olette? What are you doing out here this late?"
"I came to check up on you. Pence told me you ran out here all on your own. We've been worried about you; you haven't quite been yourself lately," she said, concern evident in her voice. She got up from her place on the wall and slowly approached him. Placing a hand gingerly on his shoulder, she asked, "Are you feeling okay? Anything you need to talk about?"
She was right. Lately he had been having these weird hallucinations of things that didn't happen; dreams of people he never met, and he was thrown a little out of step by it. But how could he possibly explain all this too her? So much she wouldn't be able to understand; so much HE didn't even understand. Rather than get her caught up in his mess, he lied.
"Thanks, Olette, but I'm fine. I think I just ate a bad hotdog at the struggle yesterday. You never know what's in those things…" he chuckled. But somehow he thought she could tell otherwise.
But all she did was smile gently at him. "I know, right! What have I told you about those things, Roxas?" she scolded, wagging her finger at him. He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. Olette moved her hand down from his shoulder to his waist; turning to stand next to him. "Come on, I'll walk you home. It's been a long day with those independent studies."
She knew he was lying, but he would tell her about whatever was bugging him when he was ready. He always did. You can't force stuff like that out of someone. It'll only make it worse.
"Yeah. I'd like that." He smiled back at her. Grateful that she didn't push the subject any further, he placed his hand around her waist as well. And as they traversed through the small clearing of trees back to Twilight Town, the chill wind blew in their direction once more.
Music cuts
Namine's words haunted him for the whole walk back to his house, as well as the other man, completely hidden behind his red bandages. Just who was this "Sora" kid anyway? And why was it so important that they meet and become whole? None of this made sense…
"Hey Roxas…" Olette's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"We're all going to the beach tomorrow…or at least Hayner says we are," she giggled. "He says he has some "Master Plan" to get us to the beach easy, but somehow I think we're gonna end up doing odd jobs again." Roxas laughed along with her, the two still arm in arm.
"Yeah...Hayner never was one to plan much past lunch," the blonde joked.
The two youths shared a lighthearted conversation back up to Roxas' house. As they approached his doorstep, he turned to give Olette what he hoped was not his last goodbye, but Olette spoke up first.
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" And Roxas could tell she meant it.
Start playing (Shine on) by (Ryan Cabrera)
He nodded. "You don't know how much that means to me," he replied, noticing the faintest hint of a blush on Olette's cheeks. She turned to leave, and he thought about what might happen if Namine was right. He'd fade out of existence, and everyone including Olette would forget about him…unless…
"Wait!" he blurted. She halted suddenly, surprised at his sudden shift in volume.
"Hm?" she said, tilting her head inquisitively.
"I need you to do something for me. It's going to look really stupid, and you probably won't understand why you're doing this, but trust me in that it's important. Okay?" he almost pleaded. She nodded her head slowly. "Great, wait here." He dashed into his house, being as quiet as possible so as not to wake his parents, and returned promptly with a photo in his right hand, and a pen in his left.
The photo was of the two of them at the usual spot; Roxas sitting cross legged on the floor and Olette standing above him, resting both her elbows on his shoulders and her chin atop his head. Roxas had a disgruntled look on his face, while Olette had a mischievous grin. She smiled at seeing the photo.
"I remember that! That was the day we all went back to school last year, and your mom made you take all sorts of photos with us."
"Don't remind me! She's such a picture geek…made us do every possible person combination," he groaned, pushing her lightly. "I like this one though. You look really happy in it." There was a brief silence, and Roxas spoke again. "What I need you to do, is to write something on the back of it for me," he said, handing her the pen.
After thinking for a moment, he recited, "His name is Roxas, and he'll never forget you. Don't let him slip away from you." She gave him a strange look for a second.
"Very well," she mused, copying his exact words to the paper. "That everything?" she asked.
"One more. No, put the pen down, you don't need to write this. Promise me two things. First, that you won't ever let go of that picture, and second, that we'll never forget each other, even as we grow up."
"It's a promise," she said sincerely, nodding quickly.
He pulled her into a quick hug, and turned back to his house. She never noticed the single tear that fell down his face.
"Meet us at the usual spot at 10:00 sharp tomorrow!" she chirped.
Yeah. By then she won't even know who I am. He sighed inwardly, closing the door to his house. He just hoped that, bound to the world by the writing of someone real, the photo wouldn't disappear with him.
Music cuts
Start playing (Witches on the Heath) by (Buckethead)
That night he dreamt of Sora again.
He was fighting a man with dark blue and black skin tight clothes, with a red emblem on the chest. The two were exhausted, obviously having been going at it for at least half an hour.
"Give it up, kid! Your heart isn't strong enough to win this fight! Give the princess back her heart!"
"I'll never give up! Not when Kairi's heart is on the line! There's no way you're ta-…"
Now they were in some kind of castle, talking to a Man dressed in black leather with long brown hair, and another girl next to him, who resembled a ninja. The man in brown spoke.
"Though we may never meet again…we'll never forget each other."
The scenery shifted again. Now they were at a coliseum, a man with spiky blonde hair, a tattered red cape and an enormous sword passed them.
"I've been searching too," Sora said to him.
The man turned to face him. "For your light?"
Sora nodded.
"Don't lose sight of it," he muttered, before handing him something and walking towards the exit.
Scenery shift. He was surrounded by darkness, on a narrow path leading to a large, ornate door. Sora ran across the path, to find another youth, slightly older but with silver hair behind the door.
As they closed the door, the older boy whispered to Sora…
"Take care of her."
Music cuts
Roxas awoke with a start. Glancing at his alarm clock, he saw the time to be 8:45. "Know what Namine? I'm not buying it." He quickly got dressed and arrived at the usual spot with time to spare. Passing through the curtain, he saw his three friends laughing about something. He smirked. Namine could bite him, and Sora could wait. For now, he had a beach to go to, and no one was going to take that from him.
Begin playing (Ghost) by (Buckethead)
"Man guys, I had the weirdest dream last night…" he yawned, approaching the group. But they did not hear him. "Guys?...Hayner…" he said, reaching an arm out to grab his friends shoulder.
"No…" Roxas gasped. His hand phased straight through his best friend, as if he wasn't even there! He couldn't believe it. Namine was right. And he hated her so much for this.
Suddenly, the three stood up from their respective seats and raced out the door. Olette froze though, turning to face his direction. Could she see him?
"Olette?" Roxas whimpered.
No response, she just stood there.
"Hey Olette! Get the lead out will ya? Train leaves in ten minutes!" Hayner called from outside.
"I'm coming! I just thought I…never mind." Olette took one final glance his way, and ran out the door to her friends.
He chased after her, but to no avail. They were out of sight. He collapsed to the ground, unable to believe what just happened.
" But you knew it was coming, didn't you, Roxas?"
Roxas wheeled around to see a man garbed in a black robe, carrying a pair of chakram. He had fiery red hair, and gave a sympathetic smile to Roxas.
"I'd like to offer you a way out of all this. Just come back with me, and I'll explain everything."
"So someone CAN see me then? Look, I'm sorry but you sort of caught me in a bad mood. I'd rather just be left alone for now," Roxas retorted.
The man was unshaken by his comment. "Man, the guys upstairs weren't kidding. Blank with a capitol 'B'. Look, you're coming back with me, conscious or not."
"You two were best friends…" Namine's voice echoed in his mind.
"Wait…but…we're friends, right?" Roxas stuttered.
"Yeah, well I'm not getting turned into a dusk for – wait, you remember then!?" Childish optimism evident in his voice.
"Y-yeah…"
"Great! Well…gotta be safe and all so uh…what's our boss's name?" he asked, still fully optimistic.
Roxas hadn't expected this. He just stood there dumbly, trying to think of the name. And the longer he waited, the more Axel's good mood diminished. Axel sighed. "Then you really don't remember, do you?" Roxas said nothing. And without a second's warning, Axel raised his chakram and poised to strike, but froze in mid swing.
Roxas flinched behind his left arm, but when nothing came, he lowered it, peeking through his eyelids as if he might regain his motion at any moment.
Another voice spoke to him, though he couldn't see the body it came from.
"Roxas! Do not listen to this man's trickery. Come to the mansion at once."
Alone and confused, he had no other choice but to obey the voice. He made it to the mansion as fast as he could, and entered the front gates. He sighed, and climbed the stairs to his left, entering a white room filled with drawings. They all seemed vaguely familiar…
Then there was a high pitched screech that split the air around him. He instantly developed a migraine and, unable to take the pain, passed out. Memories started flowing back to him…
From the time Sora was turned into a heartless, causing his birth, to his first meeting with Axel, to his adventures in organization XIII, to being knocked out by Riku and placed in a digital Twilight Town. All of it came back to him in such a rush he could hardly make any of it out. But when he awoke, he had the full memories of his past life recovered. And boy was he pissed.
When he found the computer room, he smashed it to bits in a blind rage. How could he be used like that? WHO did DiZ think he was?
Passing through the next door, he was once again face to face with Axel.
Music cuts off
Begin playing (Omnishred) by (Powerglove)
"Axel?" Roxas blurted, taken aback by his sudden appearance. "Look man, I'm sorry. I remember now. Take me back to the organization."
"Oh, so you really DO remember me now? I'm so FLATTERED!" he shouted, obviously not happy with their previous conversation.
Feeling in danger, he called the two keyblades to him. In his right hand, he held the bright oathkeeper, and in his left, the dark and powerful oblivion.
(A/N: The following scene should be imagined in extreme fast motion. The two will be moving almost too fast for the eye to catch.)
Axel was always the one to make the first strike. Slamming his chakram into the ground and mustering his control over fire, he summoned a wall of flame around them, and enveloped the floor in hot lava. Roxas would have to do something about that.
He dashed at Axel, Oathkeeper poised to strike but Axel covered, and jumped back. The two met in a series of aerial clashes, each one releasing a shockwave into the air, until Roxas saw his opening. He jumped above Axel and kicked him into the ground, landing on him with both keyblades that cleared the lava from the ground.
Roxas jumped back and allowed Axel to stagger to his feet. "Not bad, Roxas…" he muttered, before throwing both his chakram at him in a fiery blaze. Roxas was able to deflect the first, but wasn't expecting the second and took that one straight to the chest. Knocked back, Axel hid in the wall of flames. When Roxas regained his senses, Axel was nowhere to be seen.
Not skipping a beat, Axel leaped out of the wall and slashed him in the back, before returning to his fiery shroud. He repeated this pattern several times at breakneck speed before Roxas caught him in the corner of his eye. He hurled the Oblivion at him and dashed to meet it. The Oblivion hit it's mark, and
Roxas got several hits with the Oathkeeper before Axel fell to the ground. The wall of flames dissipated, and Axel rose to his knees.
Music fades
"Just like old times, huh?" he grinned, though his wounds contradicted his tone.
"Yeah. I suppose do." He replied, returning his grin.
"Well, sorry champ, but I'm really in no condition to take you back to the Organization. And judging from how you looked at that girl, I don't think it's what you really want."
Roxas blushed slightly at the latter statement. "Yeah, you're right. Sometime in the next life, I'd like to take you to the real Twilight Town. There's a few people I'd like you to meet."
Axel stopped him there. "Silly…just because you have a next life…" he said, opening up a dark portal. "And don't worry bucko; your actions here weren't completely wasted. Echoes of their digital selves' memories will reflect in the real versions…as well as certain items they may have come in contact with." Flashing a toothy grin, Axel disappeared into the dark void.
Roxas shook his head. Axel had to have been talking about Olette. Hopefully Sora could make her happy for him. He could feel his presence in the next room.
"Well…" he sighed, "looks like my summer vacation is…" he stopped in front of the flowering pod that held Sora's body.
"Over."
So what did you all think? The music and the text lined up pretty well? Did it make it hard to concentrate on the text? Are you upset that I had to go all canon and shit and make Roxas and Sora merge?
Well don't worry, the story's not over yet. And that's as far as I'll go on THAT subject. But I will say that I wasn't lying when I advertised this as a Roxas/Olette.
