Aneko: It's storming at my house. And since I get so terrified of nighttime storms that I can't sleep, here's a little fiction for you to read so that you can stay up with me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
When We Are Older
"There will be a someday for you," she tells him, a white being in a white room.
He shakes his head, looking out the window.
"There will," she persists. "I can see it."
He wants to believe her. To believe that right now is not where he will always be. But he can't seem to see beyond the reflection of yellow eyes that stare back at him through the glass.
"When you are older" she whispers. It sinks through his skin to anchor in his mind, holding like a spell—as though she is truly the witch that Diz called her.
They do not speak again, but her words stick and plough through his mind in the most unpredictable moments, leaving him feeling lonelier with each occurrence.
Later, after she has returned to her place, and he has regained his self, he dares for the first time in a long time to think about what could be. Because Sora and Kairi are beside him. Because he isn't travelling through corridors that try to strangle him with dark fingers. He is back on the island that makes the breath in his throat come easier, the island he never thought he would be so happy to return to. He thinks about how he always took it for granted, the peace that feels so solid he might be able to hold it in his hands. How he wishes he could go back in time to his younger self, to beg and plead that you don't need to escape. You need to be here—they need you to be here.
It is still a raw thing, all those feelings from when he couldn't understand how true friends acted. But though they are hard to think about right now, he wants to keep the memory of them. So while they still burn too fiercely for him to touch, he tucks them into a corner of his mind, guards them against forgetting so that he will never make the same mistakes again.
And he thinks about when he will be older. When he will have a family, children of his own. He will tell them stories. Fantastical stories about other worlds, places they will wonder about for years, stars and worlds filling their eyes.
He'll tell them about a boy who went searching for his best friends and never gave up, even when he seemed beaten, even when all hope seemed lost, even when one of those friends nearly destroyed him.
And he'll tell them that two of the kindest, bravest people he ever met were a boy and girl who no one will ever meet, who could have defied their roles, but didn't and helped save the world.
And he'll tell them that strength isn't the ability to hold a weapon, or fight the "bad guys," or win. Strength is being kind when you don't have to be, and always always doing the best you can even when it feels hopeless. He'll tell them about his admiration-turned-jealousy-turned-admiration-again for his best friend, because they must know that jealousy is a darkness to something much brighter. That admiration is not bad, but that if it turns to selfishness, it will fester and turn rotten.
He'll tell them that miles don't separate a friendship.
He'll tell them that no matter how big a journey it is, there must always be a resting place, and that that is with the people you love.
In the middle of this, he starts, realizes he hasn't been paying attention. He sits on the Paupu Tree with Sora and Kairi. They look at an ocean that only a few years ago felt so much bigger.
"Someday, we should build another treehouse on this island," Sora says.
"Sure," Kairi agrees. "Everybody else thinks they're too old for it anyways. It could be our own private island."
He closes his eyes and hears it again. Someday.
Sora laughs. Kairi laughs.
Before he knows it, he laughs too.
Aneko: It's still thundering. :(