chiaroscuro

Kingdom Hearts III Countdown Challenge

Day 13 (January 6th): Promise

She never thought they would meet again like this.

The hooded figure lifted his head, the movement slight and very, very deliberate. It could have been someone else. Oh, how she wished it were somebody else, but it was him. She just knew. Steeped in darkness and carrying a piece of Xehanort's heart, but him all the same.

And he was looking up. She could see one golden eye from this angle and it was fixated on her. Naminé's grip on the banister tightened as a bitter sense of deja vu came over her.

The old, wooden stairs creaked beneath his weight as he made his way up, as casual and unhurried as a lord returning to his castle. Heart beating, Naminé stayed rooted to the spot, a deer in the headlights.

Seven steps from the stop. Then six, five, four…

Naminé forced herself to move, a part of her scolding herself for the futility of it all and another fighting against it. When Roxas reached the mansion's second floor, she managed to put herself halfway between him and the door leading to the library. He mustn't find the lab.

"Naminé." His voice was flat. "There you are."

Steady… "Roxas." She sounded more confident than she felt.

Undeterred, he walked forward, still casual and unhurried, but certainly with a sense of purpose. He came to a stop, just a few feet away. Close enough to be within arm's length. Close enough for her to see both eyes beneath the shadow of his hood.

"I am here for the Book of Prophecies," he offered as an explanation.

What game are you playing, Roxas? Or rather, Xehanort? "And you think you'll find it here?"

"Yes." Roxas lowered his hood, shaking his blond locks loose. He made another visual sweep of the mansion before fixing his golden eyes on her again. Naminé tried not to shiver. "There's always been something about this mansion isn't there?"

"I suppose so." A part of her always did wonder.

"No ghosts, though." A corner of his mouth turned up. "Just a lonely girl looking out her window."

"Close enough at the time."

He raised his arm. Naminé braced herself, but Roxas merely held his hand out, palm up. "Come with me, Naminé," he implored softly. The echo of Xehanort's voice was nearly inaudible. "The prophecy will come to pass. Light will expire and darkness will prevail. This is the only way we can be together."

Caught off guard, Naminé gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. Was that… another reason why Roxas had been chosen to look for the Book of Prophecies here of all places? Even as she thought it, she already knew. Of course it was. Xehanort knew how to make use of the tools at his disposal.

It would be so easy, to take his hand and never let go. Naminé closed her eyes, reminding herself this wasn't Roxas.

"Are you worried about Marluxia and Larxene?" she heard him ask in a tone that was paradoxically both gentle and apathetic, "Don't be. I will protect you. That's what you've always wanted, right?"

Opening her eyes, she had no idea what spurred her into such an action, nor did she know where this sudden burst of fury had come from. Naminé slapped him.

Roxas slowly turned his head back, golden eyes flashing.

Naminé closed her still-stinging palm, breathing deeply through her nose. She turned away so he wouldn't see her blinking back tears. "Not while you're like this."

"Very well," he replied coldly. She heard him move and the distinctive sound of a pair of keyblades being summoned didn't even finish reverberating throughout the mansion foyer before Oathkeeper came to a rest over her shoulder.

Naminé's heart pounded at the sight of it in her peripheral vision. Would he really do it? The boy who looked at her so tenderly, looked at her in a way no one ever did on their own free will… would he really use that weapon to destroy her if Xehanort willed it so?

"If you won't come with me, Naminé…" His dangerous whisper may have been directly into her ear for the effect it had on her. "Stand aside."

Not what she was expecting at all.

Naminé turned around to face him despite the weapon at her neck, wondering just how much the person standing before her was Xehanort and how much he was Roxas.

In either case, she had only one thing to say, "No."

"No?" he repeated, incredulous.

Taking a deep breath, Naminé squared her shoulders and shook her head. "No," she said again firmly. I'm not that scared little girl in Castle Oblivion anymore. "I won't."

"Don't make me say it again," Roxas hissed, his grip on Oathkeeper tightening, "Stand aside."

His refusal to act only made her resolve build. "The only way I will move… is if you make me."

Roxas jerked as though someone had cast a spell on him. Oathkeeper shook ever so slightly and he took a step back.

Naminé blinked in surprise. Was he… Was he really backing down?

Either way, she knew this was her chance. He did not back away as she approached him, but he was breathing as though every breath he took was a labor in itself, his golden eyes never once leaving her's.

Oathkeeper lowered by an inch. Naminé put her hand on the elegant white blade and pushed the keyblade lower.

"Roxas," she called softly, trying to appeal directly to his heart now. "Can you hear me?" Perhaps it was egotistical of her to assume she would be able to reach him through all that darkness, but… she did it once before during his Dive. Maybe she could do it again.

He didn't reply, drawing his keyblades back to his side and narrowing his eyes.

Naminé reached out, though still not quite sure what she wanted to do. "I still see myself the way you remember me," she said, "Perhaps it's hard to realize right now. Impossible maybe. But you still see yourself the way I remember you, don't you?"

He blinked. For a moment, she thought she saw blue.

"No one has ever fought harder to be your own person than you," Naminé reminded him. "The fate of a Nobody had been tragic, once. I thought it was pointless to fight it. But you… you weren't like that. You fought against it anyway, even when the world told you otherwise." I always admired you for it. Wished I had that kind of courage.

"I…" Oblivion vanished into a dark mist. Lost and confused, but he sounded like himself now.

"Don't let Xehanort win," she said, gently touching his cheek, the one she'd slapped earlier, a silent apology for hurting him earlier. "You're stronger than he is, Roxas. I know you are. I… I believe in you."

He slowly closed his eyes as she spoke. Oathkeeper vanished in a glimmer of light as he raised his hand to place it over her own.

"Naminé..."

When he opened his eyes again, they were a brilliant sky blue. She could have started crying in relief. She almost did, but despite keeping their fingers intertwined, she saw how he was keeping her at arm's length. It only took another flash of gold for her to understand why.

A portal appeared behind him and Naminé felt herself panic. "Don't go," she pleaded, grabbing his arm. "I can use my powers to lock him away." And you will lose your memories again, she remembered too late, but…

His gaze - Roxas's gaze - was warm and affectionate, but he shook his head. "It won't defeat him for good," he said, already starting to disappear into the portal. "As long as any part of him lives, this won't end. But... We'll meet again, Naminé. Someday soon."

Then the portal was gone. And with it, Roxas.

Heart beating like bird's wing, he stumbled out of the portal and landed in an undignified crouch in the shadow of Memory's Skyscraper. He hadn't expected… He hadn't thought…

Naminé. An anomaly in every sense of the word, but one he was sure he'd be able to control. He had not anticipated certain vessels' memories of Castle Oblivion to impact Roxas this way, stirring his anger and reigniting his sense of self, but, as frustrating as it was to have Roxas fighting him now as Terra did, a weakness was a weakness and Xehanort had fully intended to exploit it.

But you underestimated her.

Xehanort scoffed. He didn't think such a petty victory was something worth celebrating.

She's had enough people trying to use her for their selfish goals. I won't let you use her too.

A bold declaration for someone trapped in his own body.

I made her a promise. I intend to keep it.

How sentimental. And pretentious.

His bearing gathered, Xehanort summoned a portal to the Round Room. Today was a disappointment, with his failure to find the Book and secure Naminé, but he was a patient man. This wasn't over yet.

No. It isn't.