Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
This all takes place in the beginning of KH2, where Roxas meets with Sora in the Pod for the first time in order to merge with him.
[New Light is Born]
"I said, that... you're lucky... because my summer vacation is ... over."
"Sora?"
The footsteps were... beautiful.
No. The footsteps were...
"Sora...?"
Agonizing... Sad... Pained... Dark... Empty.
Ah... maybe... those weren't the right words.
Beautifully agonizing... Painfully sad...
... and darkingly empty.
The footsteps drew nearer, more urgent this time, more desperate.
Sora breathed shakily, attempting to register the source of the footsteps.
I need to breathe! Sora coughed, his chest heaving up and down alarmingly, his back leaned against a freezing surface that did not contribute one bit to his hyperventilation.
His face went completely numb, and he bent over, frantically trying to control his breathing. He ignored the tingling feeling that was exploding all over his face, along with the fact that everywhere his body touched, each surface was excruciatingly cold as the next.
He could not see—it was black, so black that Sora would've gone downright insane, running in every direction in order to find an escape from his madness.
But his lungs were failing to cooperate with him, his eyes were stinging and felt sucked of every fluid, and his body was shaking uncontrollably from the cold.
No good. He tried to lift his head up, mentally preparing a cowardly but dignified speech to the newcomer whose footsteps were nearing and whose intentions would surely be to wipe out his existence.
Sora gritted his teeth. No. He wasn't playing the role of Matryr Hero. This darkness... this coldness... the way the footsteps walked, as if played tragically on a broken instrument.
Those things, more or less, in some way, fitted the elements of a Heartless.
"Donald! Goofy! Can you hear me?!" Sora's eyes darted around, hoping his friends were nearby and could hear him. His voice had aged; he sounded older than he ever remembered, but he continued to strain his ears, looking for a sign of response.
But false hope answered him instead, as no being responded nor a miracle occurred and the footsteps were etching closer than ever.
"Who're you?! Come out now!" he yelled, and in an impulsive attempt, extended out his right hand.
The Keyblade did not come.
Sora's hand went smashing into the wall that stood in front of him. He screamed, and doubled back, only to realize that there was another wall from behind.
And as he let out another yell of pain, he staggered, knowing full well that he was trapped, defenceless, and in the open field of the enemy.
And that sucked.
"Keep calm keep calm keep calm", Sora murmured almost feverishly, his blue eyes shot wide open and daring not to blink.
The footsteps were coming. Each step seemed to vibrate and resounded in Sora's heart.
Fear took over his body and he gritted his teeth harder, eyes still unblinking, bracing himself—he should not be scared, it was not like him to be this afraid—
"Sora."
And as he saw him, the light welcomed him, with the warmest hug he had ever received.
"Hey Roxas... Bet you don't know why the sun sets red."
"You see, light is made up of lots of colors."
"And out of all those colors..."
"... red is the one that travels the farthest."
Sora's light-blue eyes stared as the sunset slowly diminished, signalling the end of the day.
There was a streak of red light that pierced through the black coat, and then through the light-colored hair.
Sora smiled.
"Hey Roxas. Let's meet up for ice cream again after your next mission. I mean, who wants to spend their days bouncing between work and the castle, right?"
A small laugh. "Not me!"
There was silence.
"Hey... I laughed. I guess we really are friends..."
Sora's smile faltered a bit.
"You know, Roxas, each day the three of us meet up there for ice cream. Now why do you think that is?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, if you think about it, I don't need to go out of my way to meet you guys, right?
"I don't know..."
"You want me to tell you why? It's because you guys are my best friends. Get it memorized, alright? We are best friends."
Hands behind his back, the brown-haired teenager laughed softly.
"Best friends, huh?"
"Is it... that I'm not suppose to exist?"
"Well, what do you want to do, Xion?"
"I want... to be with you two."
"She... looks ..." Sora cut off. As he watched the three of them, something like painful sorrow seemed to ache inside him.
"Who... are you again? It's weird. I feel like I'm forgetting something really important."
Sora's eyes widen.
"You'll... be better off... now, Roxas..."
"N—!" Sora ran forward, but somebody had caught her instead.
"Am I... the one who did this to you?"
"No... It was my choice to go away now... Better that, than to do nothing, and let Xemnas has his way... I belong with Sora."
The light-blue eyes dilated in shock... and were covered in tears.
"And now... I am going back to be with him. Roxas, I need you to do me a favour... All those hearts I've captured, Kingdom Hearts...set them free... It's too late for me to undo my mistakes... but you can't let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts... you can't."
A smile.
"Goodbye, Roxas. I'm glad I got to meet you. Oh and of course, Axel too..."
His tears filled the ground and he covered his eyes with his arm.
"Never forget... that's the truth."
There was a small desk in front of him.
Sora frowned, taking note of the familiar yet unfamiliar walls which were made with glass and had tints of grey. Was he finally out of the mad darkness? He glanced behind him to see a hard-looking bed with no blankets or pillows. A few distance away from the bed was a door.
"I'm probably in someone's bedroom," Sora deducted, scratching his head. He advanced toward the bed but soon realized he could not touch it; his hand pierced through as if transparent.
"What the—!" he withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted, and shook his head.
Displeased and certainly almost disillusioned, Sora turned his attention back to the small desk, and walked up to see a journal. He was able to open it, much to his surprise, and scanned the pages which, toward the end, had tear stains.
Sora turned to the first page.
"Day 8: Axel and I went to Twilight Town today. He taught me a lot. Before we RTC'd (Returned to the Castle), we swung by the clock tower and had some sea-salt ice cream. Axel called it the "icing on the cake" after a successful mission. Well, except there was no cake—just the ice cream.
I don't know what to write in this thing!"
Sora froze, no doubt remembering the scene he had witnessed earlier.
"I need to find out more information!" he rustled through the journal.
"Day 153: It's hard spending time with Xion, and Axel seems busy, too. I've been having ice cream alone, but it's just not the same. All I taste is the salt, and my hands get all sticky. It's like I'm going through the motions of eating it just so I can throw the stick out and get on with life. I must've had about a hundred of these things, and I still haven't found another WINNER.
I never did find a way to ask Xion about the pictures that go through my head. I don't really know what to do about anything right now."
"He..." Sora shook his head and flipped frantically to the last few pages of the journal.
"'Day 354... I don't understand the Organization'", Sora read out. "'I don't understand Axel... I understand myself the least of all. Why do I keep coming back to the castle? Xion and I are special, connected by "Sora." I don't know what I am.'"
"Connected by me..." Sora turned the page.
"'Day 355... I have to know who I am. I am done with this...' And he wrote it all in big letters," Sora mumbled.
And the very last entry.
"Day 357: I'm going to set Kingdom Hearts free and find my way to Sora. I'm going to get Xion back. The three of us will have ice cream together again—I know it."
"The three of you..." Fresh tears dripped onto the journal. "I know how you feel..."
"... You do?"
The brown-haired boy's head shot up, eyes ready to lock on the culprit of that voice—but the scene before him vanished and once again he was in the darkness, surrounded by freezing walls.
"W-what's going on! Why don't you show yourself!" Sora demanded, anxiously continuing his fruitless attempts to summon his Keyblade.
"I can't..."
"What do you mean you can't!? Just step out from wherever you're hiding!"
"Answer my question."
Which was a rather rude question, in Sora's opinion. There were a thousand things running through his head at this moment, and it was difficult for Sora to maintain long-term memory for an exhausting period of time. In other words, the more questions the enemy asked, the more questions Sora will forget to ask.
"You haven't really asked me a question, you know." Sora retorted. Strange. Somehow, it was suddenly warm. Much... much more warmer. "And where are my friends?"
"Sora—" the voice spoke, but there was a groan.
"Ouch!" Sora doubled over, going on his knees as he clutched his chest, feeling a hot sensation rippling over the area. "I-it hurts!"
"It hurts?" the voice repeated sadly.
"R...really hurts..." Hot, burning tears found its way onto the dark ground. "Why... why am I crying...?"
"Sora. You didn't hear me earlier...?"
"... H-hear you...?"
"I said, that... you're lucky... because my summer vacation is ... over."
"Stop!" Intense pain shot across his chest and he fell completely onto the ground. But the surface wasn't freezing cold just as he expected it to be. It was sticky, warm, and moist.
As if somebody cried their entire lungs out, filling the ground.
"You saw them, didn't you?" The voice was hard.
Full of anger, even.
"I..." Sora could not muster the energy to talk, let alone get up.
"You saw my memories! You saw Axel and Xion! You saw everything! And yet—"
The voice seemed to choke on its words.
Is it... raining? Something wet fell upon Sora's head, yet he was unsure if he was starting to hallucinate. It was getting difficult to breathe and think—
"You're suppose to be me!" the voice screamed.
He froze.
"... why? Why...?! Why can't I be me?! My heart—"
Stop... it hurts... it hurts... I myself don't get what's going on either...
"My happiness—"
Stop...! This pain...!
"MY BEST FRIENDS—"
"STOPPP!" Sora shot up, running in the first direction his legs took off in, not caring nor noticing that no walls were blocking his way—but he was not the only one getting worked up—
"I WON'T! AT FIRST I THOUGHT I HAD NO CHOICE BUT NOW I KNOW! Prove it to me...!"
Sora stopped in his tracks so fast that his trails were still hissing from the impact of his shoes. Prove it to him?
Images were playing in his mind—
Riku—
"Prove it to me!"
Kairi—
"Prove that you and I..."
All his friends—
Was it desperation, that lingered in his voice?
He gritted his teeth.
"—are connected, Sora!"
Sora looked up.
"I WILL!" he yelled, and he thrusted a shaking finger out. "I WILL PROVE IT TO YOU! I MAY NOT KNOW ANYTHING NOR UNDERSTAND MUCH AT ALL BUT I WILL DEFINITELY, DEFINITELY, PROVE IT TO YOU! YOUR MEMORIES!" he bellowed, his voice cracking and becoming jumbled as the tears now turned into sobs. "Your memories... won't ever disappear into nothing! You hear me?! I'll prove it to you! I'll change everything! So please... no more tears! Stop this... pain..."
The wet blue eyes were so full of life, as if it contained all the worlds of the hearts that resided within...
The Other's footsteps... were beautiful... even though they weren't perfectly continuous because he would stagger and fall...
... truly beautiful...
... He now knew that same pain... knew that same loneliness... knew that same emptiness... knew sadnesss.. knew agony.
Sora, wiping his tears and sniffing, extended out a hand into the dark.
"Thanks for walking here... I promise... that I'll prove it you... that I'll save you this time."
He smiled.
"Looks like summer vacation isn't over..."
Light suddenly erupted... a new kind of light that was never seen before.
Sora's smile grew wider.
"...right, Roxas?"