Songfic: Taylor Swift and The Civil War's Safe & Sound. I suggest listening to the song so you can fully experience it, but it's just a suggestion...
*:.｡. oo .｡.:*
She found him like that. Sora. She found him.
Dying. All alone. On the beach, for his first time home in almost a year. Dying, staring at the stars, with a distant look in his eye like he was already gone.
Call it instinct. For why else would she be walking down that specific beach at midnight? She had snuck out to take a walk on the beach, for no apparent reason. Instinct. That's what she said later. It hadn't come as a surprise, of course. People had always known for years that they were connected more than most people.
"Sora...?" an inquisitive outburst of emotion left her mouth. A glimmer of hope coursed through her as the body on the beach shifted slightly. Rushing. Running as fast as her legs can carry her to the boy she loves, dying on a beach.
"S-Sora?" she pants, kneeling at his side and clasping his hand like if she never lets go he'll be able to stay. Blue eyes meet hers with a flicker of confusion. They flash back and forth frantically; studying her face like it's under a microscope.
"Y...you're K-Kairi, right?" he closes his eyes for a second. "I can't really re-remember. It's most-mostly f-fuzzy. Y-you're there a...a lot though." he manages to cough out, blood dripping slowly from the corners of his mouth, more of it with each word he speaks.
Tears. Falling, falling, falling. Falling on her clothes. Falling on his shirt. Falling into the sand. So many tears, but Kairi hardly notices. "Yes. I'm Kairi, Sora. It's OK, I'm here now." Tears fall even faster, mixing with blood. Blood, blood, blood. Blood everywhere. Drenching the sand, his clothes, her clothes. Puddles of it. Coming from his deep shoulder scratches, soaking him. Coming from his forehead, blinding him. Coming from his chest, killing him. And there was nothing she could do.
She could only sit and watch him die.
I remember tears streaming down your face,
When I said I'll never let you go,
When all those shadows almost killed your light,
I remember you said "Don't leave me here alone!"
But all that's done and gone and past tonight
Talking just to fill the silence.
"It'll be OK. I'm here now. Shh..." soothingly murmuring to him, clutching his hand tight with one hand, running through his hair with the other. He stares at her for a moment his left eye, the one that isn't blinded and marred by salty blood. Then, suddenly, he is looking beyond her.
Silent sobs from Kairi. "I-I'll never let you go." Her arms wrap around him, coating her in blood, but she doesn't care. She places her lips against his in a final kiss. The taste of iron fills her mouth as she pulls away. He looks at her with real eyes, not distant ones, for a moment. She has brought him back in a way. But nothing lasts forever.
"D-don't leave me..." desperation taking control of his body, terror filled voice pleading quietly. "Please, p-please don't leave m-me!" Shivering, tears dropping down both faces.
"I'm not going anywhere," she soothes. She knows there is no need. He'll be gone soon, all she can do is be with him in his final hour. This, for some inexplicable reason, calms him. He sits back and begins to watch the stars once again.
"S-sing me a song." Soft and distant voice, surprising her. Closing his eyes, evening out his breathing. "Pl-please."
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Singing a lullaby, giving peace to his troubled heart, and only bringing pain to her own. Fond memories of her mother singing her to sleep suddenly soiled by the memory of singing the same song to a dying boy. A dying boy that she loves.
Don't you dare look out your window,
Darling everything's on fire,
The war outside our door keeps waging on,
Looking into the boy's face, memories. Running, him, her and Riku. The secret place. The first Keyblade he held, damn it to hell. Him fighting, destroying, getting caught up in a war that wasn't his. Saving her. Finding him, only to leave once more. Soon a whole shelf full of bottles, all with a tiny Mickey etched into the side of a green letter. Each time both of them coming back worse then before. No longer the playful boys she considered her best friends, but war-hardened men that she couldn't even begin to understand. The happy light in Sora's eyes seemed to grow dimmer with every time he returned.
Hold on to this lullaby,
Even when music's gone,
Gone...
And then it comes like a thief in the night. His final breath is really more of a sigh, bright blue eyes finding her, finding the sky, finding oblivion. Closing and finding no more.
Screaming at him to wake up. Yelling for all she is worth. Screaming until the neighbors come. Screaming so hard that her voice gives out.
The rest is fuzzy. She can only briefly recall when her parents gather her in their arms and take her home. Showering his blood down the drain, hoping in vain to wash the memory away as well. Her mother telling her to try to get some rest. Tomorrow she has to face the worst: Sora's parents, Riku, and a funeral plan.
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Her mother singing her to sleep, unaware of just how much she is hurting her daughter as she does so. Kairi sobs into a pillow all night long, somewhere halfway in-between on the road of sleep and consciousness.
A week later, the funeral. Flowers everywhere, roses, lilies, and his favorite, Destiny Island Hibiscus. It, in a way, is almost beautiful. Of course it is. Between Riku, her, and his parents there was no way it couldn't be. Together they had taken the ugly, terrible pain and made something beautiful.
It still doesn't make it any easier to know that the boy in the coffin is their best friend.
People they barely know show up to honor his life. Funeral procession, so many people that he didn't even know, much less Kairi. So many strangers at his funeral. It doesn't seem right somehow.
She clings to Riku throughout the entire procession, and he lets her because she is a leaf in a storm and he is a rock. An emotionless rock of nothing, running his hands through her hair in a soothing fashion. Preparing to go up to the podium when it is her time to speak.
"S...Sora is...was..." Threatening to burst into tears once again. Seeing something unbelievable. Eyes widening, her mouth an "O" of shock.
Jumping down, running toward him, alive and well, and leaping into his arms. Crying and laughing and screaming all at the same time. Wishing she could freeze this moment forever and ever, staying in his warm comforting arms. Crying because of the ridiculousness of it all. Typical of Sora, to crash his own funeral.
Then suddenly, without warning, a thought occurs. A terrible, ugly thought that is the only thing that could ruin this moment.
"Sora, if you're h-here, then who's in the casket?"
A small, sad smile. "Oh, that? It's just a Nobody."
Just close your eyes...
You'll be alright...
Come morning light...
You and I'll be safe and sound...
He was never supposed to exist anyway.
*:.｡. oo .｡.:*
I didn't mean to have the little twist at the end. He was supposed to die. I don't know what is wrong with me today...
Total Writing Time: Four and a half hours. Procrastination is my mortal foe…
Total Editing Time: Forty minutes...hurried through it this time, and I bet it's a grammatical masterpiece.
Total Contemplating Time: Three days, give or take.
~Raven