Chapter 1 –Reprieve from Appearances
Author's note: The short first chapter to my first fic. …I promise it's not real angst-y the way it might seem.
Disclaimer: You guys know I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters, locations, or plot devices therein, right?
An unusual silence dwelt amongst the halls of Castle Oblivion one overcast winter's night; with the ruckus from the rest of the World That Never Was subtly rallying and rescinding in the background. Normally, laughter, shouting, and all manner of other commotion would seem to be emanating from around every corner, playing off of the cavernous interiors until met by another sound that would be carried in its place.
However, not on this odd evening.
The enormous structure that was sparsely populated at the best of times, tonight, lay dormant, and almost empty. The only source of noise was an ever present backdrop to the scenes that were played out quite sincerely by the nobodies that inhabited the massive building: it was the omniscient hum of the rest of the world.
This particular, lonely, dusk, when the collective scheming and horseplay of the rest of the organization was painfully absent, Roxas leaned from an open window, stopping for once to observe the ominous droning from the endless expanse of urban sprawl laid out before him. His home normally contained so much character… Where was it now? What was missing? He suddenly tensed, then grunted rhetorically to himself, shifting his thin frame to a more comfortable leaning stance on the sill. Why did he care? Like he was ever a part of it… No, scratch that, not that he ever bothered to be a part of it. A sigh passed his lips as he attempted to abandon the complexity of the previous thoughts and simply relax. With eyes now shut, he tried to imagine the weekend alone with Axel. A smirk of at least Zexion's caliber crossed his mouth slowly. Roxas was only just getting into his own fantasies when he sensed the quick flickering of neon cross his face. It brought him, quite unwillingly, back to reality.
The blonde boy looked out, as far as he could see.
"It's so… present, but yet so… empty,"
he muttered quietly to himself.
If he had been a whole being, a deep cyst of emotion would have undoubtedly welled up suddenly within Roxas. A veritable cavalcade of emotion, grief, fear, glee, nostalgia, and a throbbing sort of tenderness certainly would cascade over him in stages.
The mere fact that he could analyze it all from a distance reminded him that he was not.
"And so much for escapism," he thought;
A stray teardrop glistened for a moment in the corner of his eye, bathed in the neon lights cast from below. It began to roll with gathering momentum down his smooth, angular cheek He allowed it to continue, savoring every moment. The tear made it seem like he could still genuinely feel. He shut his eyes. It caught for just a moment on his jaw-line, and dangled, suspended for just a second. Then, as if purposely wrenching itself away, it fell down to the cold, clinical floor. The sight transfixed his gaze for some time, that is, until the entire room was cast into blackness…
