The sun was starting to set, the sky turning a brilliant shade of orange and yellow.
Each of them held a Sea-Salt Ice Cream, the clock chiming behind them.
It was another day in the shadows followed by another evening under the sun.
It was their Usual Spot; they just knew to meet there after work.
But . . . they were . . .
"Who are they?"
He had dreamed of the people on the ledge of the clock tower for the past week. Upon waking, he'd try to remember the dream's details, but within moments, it started to escape, life overtaking him.
Another phone call, another disappointment when he didn't get the job he wanted.
A text message from Olette, claiming that homework took precedence over going to the beach.
Losing in the Struggle Tournament to Seifer, the blonde taking the trophy once again for the third year in a row.
Learning that his friends had all past their driver tests while he didn't, meaning he still had to take the train into town.
Life was a series of doors closing in his face.
He tried to recall the shadowed figures from his dream, if he could just remember their faces . . . but instead, all he could remember was hair the colour of fire, a laugh that sounded familiar and the Twilight Tower.
The Twilight Tower . . .
Why, why was the Twilight Tower in his dream?
Why was he meeting them at the Twilight Tower, he'd never seen them in town before.
With his dream on his mind, he decided to visit the Twilight Tower. Maybe if he tried to recreate his dreams it would jog his memories. "No, not my memories," he mumbled to himself, stepping out onto the small ledge surrounding the clock's face. "It's –"
Instead, he fell off the ledge.
The last thing he remembered was the cobblestone's rushing to meet him.
He was going to die.
"Time to wake up, Roxas!" Roxas woke up with a jolt, Olette standing a few feet away from him. "Hayner and Pence are going to beat us to the Usual Spot again – you were supposed to meet me at the train station an hour ago –"
"The train station . . . wasn't I . . ." Roxas shook his head. "It felt so real, I had a dream that I fell off the Twilight Tower –"
"If you did, you'd be dead," Olette shook her head. "What on earth would make you dream that, you can't even get up there, that exit's been sealed for years . . ."
Years? It felt like last week for some reason.
Instead, he let out a laugh, stretching. It wasn't real. "Come on, let's go. Last one there buy's the ice cream?"
# # #
"Roxas . . . I'm out of time."
"Who are you again? It's weird . . . it's like I'm forgetting something really important."
"You get on their bad side, and they'll destroy you!"
"No one would miss me."
He woke with a jolt – someone had just died. The girl with the jet-black hair, the one who'd haunted his dreams for the past week . . . she died in his arms. He caught her as she stumbled, the girl suffering from a flesh wound that was hidden by her black clothes.
But, he knew it was a dream. He watched as ice encased her feet, her torso and then she was gone. He blinked, and he was clutching air and yelling into his pillow. Sighing, Roxas stared up at the ceiling, running a hand over his face. ". . . wait, why am I crying?"
It was all a dream, he shouldn't be crying over a figment of imagination.
Roxas shook his head; he was going to push those thoughts away. After weeks of working on their homework, all that stood between them and the beach was one report about the haunted mansion in the forest.
But, like everything in Roxas's life, another door was slowly closing on him.
However, within thirty-six hours . . .
Time froze momentarily, a blonde girl appearing before him, leaving more questions than answers.
While researching the mansion, these white things came after him, their limbs seeking him, wanting to draw him into the darkness . . .
To make matters worse, he ran into Seifer and his gang moments later, the white things still on his tail. Only to have Hayner appear around the corner moments later, jumping to conclusions – like always.
But, before he could talk to Hayner again, the Struggle Tournament took a turn for the strange as he received some sort of a key (that he didn't want) and two cloaked figures arguing over what was best for him.
He found himself drifting from Hayner and Olette, drawn to the mystery of the haunted mansion and the blonde girl who was rumored to appear in the windows. It was the same girl that froze time and knew everything about him.
Then, the words that pierced his soul – "We weren't meant to exist . . . with them, we'll be whole again!"
And just like that, the final door slammed in his face.
He wasn't meant to exist.
His friends walked through him, unable to see him.
And then there was nothing; nothing around him, he felt nothing, he was nothing.
. . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . .
It wasn't until they were at the World That Never Was, Kingdom Hearts behind them, staring at his true-self that it all came back to him.
He had been the thirteenth member of Organization XIII.
His last week in Twilight Town was a computer simulation, his previous life calling to him from his dreams.
Xion and Axel . . . his friends . . .
He remembered that it was him that killed Xion.
He learned that Axel had apparently sacrificed himself for the sake of their friendship.
Roxas was the last one alive, he had outlived his friends.
In Twilight Town, he had hated the idea that he wasn't meant to exist – he was a person, he had rights to life just like anyone else. But, if his friends were dead, maybe it was time to let it all go.
If he had never been separated from Sora years ago, none of this would have happened.
Maybe this time, he would close the final door himself.