heartbeat
The gentle drumming of his heartbeat is making its way into his dreams as the boy sleeps, his eyes closed in bliss, his expression of pure happiness. His arms are outstretched as if trying to catch a memory, long-lost, and he is peaceful. His dreams are simple: the rush of the tide, synchronized with his heartbeat, washing away seashells; the sunset, beautiful on the horizon; and most importantly, the faces of his two best friends.
Then he moves his arm, still asleep, and one who knew him would recognize the familiar, now reflexive motion of summoning his Keyblade. But the key doesn't appear, and he fitfully shakes his head, dreaming of Heartless below his dark-lashed eyelids. His brown, spiky hair shakes along with his head, and his blue crystal orbs open for the smallest fraction of a second before closing again.
He will wake soon, but for now he sleeps, a smile on his face as a red-haired girl giggles in his mind's eye.
Nearby, a boy very like him is shouting as a girl very like the one in the Keyblade master's dream is being pulled away. Sora's eyelids flicker once more, and his face contorts to anger for a brief second, mimicking the expression on the other boy's face.
The other boy is standing there, shouting, his own Keyblade clutched tightly in his hands, a look of fury and determination on his face. His blond hair seems to shiver with rage as he watches, frozen to the spot, as the girl disappears. Her sapphire eyes, so like the other girl's, are filled with pain, and her own blond hair is lashing as she struggles to get free.
Roxas shouts, but she is gone. And Sora's lips move, echoing the shout of his Nobody. He is asleep, and does not realize it, but in the absence of his consciousness to move his body, his other self is moving it, without his knowledge. And Naminé's last words echo not only in Roxas' ears, but Sora's. But his mind's eye cannot conjure up the image of the blond girl, and instead, the red-haired girl reappears, shouting as Sora is pulled away from her by the breaking ground on the last night he saw her, a year before. And his heartbeat pounds angrily along with Roxas' as, in his dream, the girl, Kairi, is watching him in silence and sadness.
And Sora's emotions are so strong that they resound into Roxas, because Sora is the source of all of Roxas' emotions. While the Keyblade master sleeps, his Nobody draws from him the feelings, of happiness, sadness, and anger. But they twist as they reach the boy without a heart. Sora's cheerful disposition turns mournful, and Roxas wishes he knew where these emotions came from, because if Naminé was telling the truth (and she couldn't have been lying), then Roxas has no heart to feel with, so why does he feel as if the heart that he doesn't possess has been ripped from him?
Sora's heartbeat slows as he finds himself on the branch of a paopu tree. Kairi is seated next to him, her eyes bright, and his silver-haired, turquoise-eyed best friend is leaning against the limb on his other side, staring thoughtfully into the waves, the waves that are slowly echoing Sora's heartbeat, just like Roxas is echoing Sora's feelings.
Then Kairi and Riku fade away, replaced by Donald and Goofy, and suddenly Roxas feels a burst of friendship as he smashes up the computer with borrowed rage. Jiminy Cricket is perched on the Keyblade master's shoulder, smiling and writing in his minuscule journal. And Shadows appear everywhere, and as strength floods Sora, it rushes through his Nobody, as with one last bang, he walks away.
And while Sora fights, Keyblade flashing, keeping time with his roaring heartbeat, Roxas fights too, his own Keyblade glittering in the dim light as he weaves among the many Dusks, Nobodies, just like he is. And the two are fighting side-by-side, heart-by-heart, until no spectator could tell where Sora's strength ends and Roxas' begins. They wear the same expression of grim determination. Their blue eyes, so alike, are narrowed in concentration. Sora's real eyelids lift for a moment, and then close. Roxas fights on.
And just as Sora's best friend reappears in his dream, empowered by darkness, cloaked by it, Roxas' best friend joins him. As Sora and Riku trade blows, Axel, in a final furious attempt, explodes the room into a huge pit of fire, burning to the sky as Riku's dark energy swirls around Sora. In the surreality of Sora's dream, Riku becomes Ansem, and in reality Axel is blasting fire at Sora's Nobody, who dodges it, Sora's heartbeat resounding in him as he spins his twin Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, no longer trying to avoid landing a hit on his best friend.
Sora heaves against the door, the door to Kingdom Hearts, and as Riku aids him, Axel disappears into a portal. As the doors slam, Roxas stands there, battle-rush gone, Sora's cries for Kairi reminding him of Naminé. Roxas brushes himself off and prepares to go after Kairi's Nobody.