Disclaimer: I, Black-Kimauri, do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor do I own any characters here. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.
Phoenix
Challenge: VIII 'Sunset'
"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix."
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He lays in his complete darkness. So much time has passed. Has it? Maybe not . . . Faces pass through his eyes, so fast and blurring he can't tell if they are real, or if the pressing darkness is toying with him. He can't trust his memory very much anymore . . .
Many, many faces and voices pass by, names, titles, numbers, it doesn't matter. They never mean much to him in his dreams, waking or not, so he wonders where the dreams end and where reality begins.
Roxas, No. 13, Key of Destiny, appears in his memories most. He knows he is real. The Superior, too, he is sure. Saix. Zexion. Larxene. He remembers a man, and a girl. Marluxia was almost always by this girl's side, ordering new memories to be drawn. His memories of the Memory Witch are vague, the taller, darker shape of Marluxia always blotting out her small stature. Namine was quiet, hardly ever speaking even when spoken to, whilst Marluxia would narrow his eyes, calmly have his say, burn the words into your brain. Not even a Nobody could forget them.
Whoever this Namine is, he'd like to remember her better. Or, maybe if she wasn't real, which a little girl so pale and quiet could never have really existed with the people he remembers, maybe if she wasn't real, he'd like to forget her.
Nah. Real or no, she seems tied close to Roxas, and he wants to remember everything about Roxas. Roxas, The-Only-Friend-He-Ever-Had-Roxas. He remembers Roxas being someone he would go farther he ever imagined going, all to meet . . . this. This . . . void. So, he thinks of this Witch a lot.
Soon though, memories he was sure were true, become like shadows in his mind, intangible, untouchable. Every grasp he makes at them draws them further away. So, he lays in the Void, clutching at memories of Roxas and Namine and Sora and Kairi and some-boy-with-silver-hair and a rat with a Keyblade and . . .
. . . he wants to see Roxas . . .
—he begins to feel a boiling in his veins. Everything . . . everything burns, as it once had, but he cannot feel the fire. Hotter, hot, hotter, scorching. The sensation grows, spiraling away from his chest. It aches in pins and needles, tingling as—as the rush of heat, feeling, and a throbbing longing fills his torso, limbs, to the tips of his digits. He's laying catatonic as the fire burns in his cells—
then the fire cools, and he's alone, burning ever so pleasantly in the darkness.
Spheres of light, blinding, though rationally he knows they aren't be so bright, fill his vision. They circle and spin—tiny grains of sand thrashing him in a cyclone. It does not burn. His chest feels warm, he feels warm, but it does not burn . . .
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Axel opens his eyes—he's positive they were closed, because in one second he's in darkness, and he doesn't think the ocean before him could have just arrived. He gazes at the sea, glittering gold in the four o'clock sun. He's all alone.
Blue, blue water laps softly against the beach here. There aren't even any kiddie waves, no breaks on the main. This place would be a surfer's nightmare. The sand is soft under his palms, not even many shells to step on. The beach here is clean, so Axel crosses off a few places in his mind. He can't put his finger on it, but he's sure he's been here. Palm trees grow all around him, offering shade and a backrest, but his eyes are all for the curving, spec-i-al tree, adjourned to this island by a sandbar and a little peeling bridge.
Axel stands up from the sparkling white sands, his black boots sinking to the ankles in the fine grains. He scowls, debates, then chucks them away, far out of the incoming tide's reach, he's sure. For a moment a choice breeze blows in from the angelic sea, and, for a moment, it's the beach of Twilight Town, and Axel isn't Axel, but another Somebody, one with flame red hair and glowing grey eyes.
Then the air is still; much too hot for a thick, black coat. He shrugs it off without thought, tossing it next to his abandoned boots. He can get them later. For a minute more he stands, just watching the fringed trees waver in the slightest breezes, feeling the sun crisp his shoulders.
But soon he remembers this new sunset, and he heads up the steep embankment of the beach and the forest. Wherever he is, the beach isn't much. A few yards perhaps, then he's on tropical dirt, with a rainforest's supply of vegetation around him. He considers going back for his boots, but he can see the sun's setting with its last crescendo soon. He jogs up the well-kept path and past a few random shacks—obviously, someone is here—coming to the last on the path. The dirt trail goes right through the door, and he finds it a relief that it's open. He likes a good seat for sunsets, and the place he has in mind seems to outdo all options.
He pushes through the door, peering into the dark with orange beams of light through the windows, the shed completely empty, void of all but a set of stairs. He finds it strange, why build a huge shed then leave it empty?, but he doesn't pause long enough to lavish consideration into the thought. Whoever build this shed had the foresight to place the portholes so he can see the sun's soon reaching its finest point.
He exits at the second level of the beach, crossing the suspended—pier? bridge?—now regretting his choice to leave his boots behind. The little 'island'—it's definitely not a sandbar—is bigger than it looked back on the beach, and he finds it a pleasant surprise to find soft grass, or leafy moss sprouting here. His tender feet still hurt though, so he gratefully slides onto the sloping tree trunk. Once there, it makes a perfect seat as he begins his work of removing splinters from his soles.
Orange light is splayed across the ocean when Axel hears a voice.
"I figured it was time I called you to my Other's home."
Grinning a bit, Axel looks over his shoulder at Roxas. He holds Axel's cloak draped over one wrist, both Army-style boots in the other. "Forget something?"
"Yeah . . . guess so. So. Tell me. This your turn to say goodbye, or do I get to do again?"
"Not exactly."
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Sora takes a step off the bridge planks, a black jacket and heavily worn black tennis shoes in his arms. The shivering teen sitting on the paopu looks back at him, arms wrapped over a thin grey shirt, teeth chattering, slightly. They just stare at the other for a moment, then the red-head raises one hand in swift greeting, returning to shivering in a quick second. A little wind blows in and the teen's shivers become full-blown quakes.
Sora smiles a little, walking forward with the clothes. The teen grabs them like a drowning man clutches to a raft, slipping the jacket, socks, shoes on, wrapping tight back into himself.
"I-I-It got c-colder than I-I expect, yo," he chatters.
"Yeah. Happens a lot. You're new, huh?"
"J-just m-m-m-moved in, yo. N-Name's R-Reno. R-E-N-O. G-Got It Memorized, yo? . . .W-What?"
"Nothing. You just . . . reminded me of someone."
"Who?"
"Sora!" Sora and Reno look back, spotting another red head teenager—a girl—and a silver haired teenage boy standing at the beach. The girl waves at them, cupping her hands around her mouth. "We're leaving. Come on, Sora! We're meeting Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka for ice cream. Umm . . .Your friend can come, too!"
Sora cups his hands around his mouth. "Sure thing, Kai!" Turning to Reno, he asks, "Wanna come? They sell great sea-salt ice cream."
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"No-no-no, no-no, no-no-no-no. No!"
"Aw, c'mon, Axel! I thought you liked sea-salt ice cream."
"We were in a freaking null-void! Nothing was like reality! To me, it tasted like—Hey. Rox, is that Namine standing on the beach?"
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"Sounds good." Reno hops off the tree trunk, feet a little more cushioned in socks, shoes, and he's pretty sure he's already removed the splinters. At least the majority of them. And what's the difference between being sore at home, or sore with new people? There's something oddly familiar with two of them in the way they look . . .
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"What's Namine doing here?!"
"She's Kairi's Nobody. You know that, Ax."
"Yeah, but—but—"
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"Hello. I'm Kairi," the red head girl states. Her hands are twined behind her back, and she's rocking on the balls of her feet as she talks. Reno smiles his most charming smile, getting the strangest sense of deja vu.
The silver haired boy, Riku, as Sora and Kairi had introduced, smiles slightly, searching him for something. After a while he states, "Have we met before?"
To which Reno shrugs, answers, "I don't know, yo."
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"You look shocked to see me, Axel."
"Not shocked, really, Namine. How longs this dream last, Roxas?"
"A long, long time, Ax."
A/N: For the record, I don't think Axel yet knows he's returned to being a Somebody. I like the idea that, if you Fade and your Heartless still exists, then you can go back to being a Somebody. Basically, that could bring any Organization member, except Xemnas, back from the 'dead'. Because only Xemnas' Heartless is the only one to be confirmed destroyed.
And the 'Change' that the quote was referring to was, Reno had gotten close to where Sora was, and being close to Roxas' Other woke Axel up, causing his 'rebirth'.