one: rupture

"He… was the only one I liked…. He made me feel… like I had a heart."

That familiar lost, floating feeling. It wasn't dark… but it wasn't light. Just… gray. Was this nonexistence? He remembered this.

"It's kind of… funny…. You make me feel… the same…"

Feeling returned to his limbs so slowly it hardly registered. One moment he was floating… and then he felt hard ground against his side, trapping his arm beneath him, and stone against his back. Cold seeped into his bones. And the… scent. He knew it. Too well.

I'm back.

With a groan, he opened his eyes and pushed himself upright. Silly me, I thought maybe this time I would be gone for good. It was dark, and darker for the hood drawn over his head; when he reached up to pull it back, he felt a sharp pain in his arm and the tingling of feeling returning. A mist of rain pressed in against his face, softening the harsh neon glare of the empty city into a hazy glow. The World That Never Was—it was as dark as he remembered. His eyes found their way up to the sky, to the odd moon that hung there.

Clearly he had been—dead?—for longer than he'd realized. Last he'd been here, the heart-shaped moon had been all but complete, but something had happened in his absence; now the center had gone dark and empty, only the hearts forming the outer edges of the moon still remaining. What could have happened?

Sora. Naturally. Axel smirked to himself—clearly Sora had raised hell for the Organization. A boy after his own heart. Well… if he'd had one.

The icy, invasive feeling of darkness creeping toward him brought his gaze snapping down from the sky to the pools of shadow forming around him in the alley. Heartless. Clearly his arrival had not gone unnoticed; Axel could only guess that someone had sent the heartless after him. They rose from the rain-slick alley floor, leering at him, their movement disjointed and their golden gaze penetrating. He felt the tendrils of darkness creeping in, their whispered reminders of all his evils and faults, and felt the familiar fire rising to his defense from his core. It burned away their icy black murmurs.

For a long moment none of them approached, but then the first one took a hesitant step, and then they were all preparing to leap. Axel felt fire burn down the nerves in his arms, almost painful, as he summoned his chakrams to the fight—

But it wasn't quite chakrams that answered his call. It looked like his chakrams, but it was a single weapon, as if they had been welded together. And it felt stronger, lighter… as if it was a part of something bigger, not just a part of himself as the chakrams had been.

The precious seconds he spent staring incredulously at the weapon in his hands almost cost him his life—But what would it matter? Apparently I would just come back again—before he came to his senses and swung the blade in a flaming arc at the heartless springing toward him. The first one caught in the blade's path dissolved into shadow; the others gave an agonized screech he only heard in his head and fell back, but already the next wave was on him.

He swung again and again, getting a feel for the blade. It was different from using the chakrams, but felt nearly as natural. And it was more powerful against these creatures, cutting through them like light through darkness.

But despite the weapon's power, the waves of heartless kept coming one after another, until Axel felt fatigue in every joint and muscle. I must've pissed someone off pretty bad, he thought.

If he could just clear a space wide enough to…. He kept slashing at the shadow creatures, in his mind calling on that in-between power of travel. The dark portal formed a pace ahead of him. He used the blade to clear the way, and then he dove forward, letting the darkness envelope him.

- xxx -

Sometimes, watching Sora like this, Riku wished he'd been braver back in the beginning, when he still had a chance. Sora was light and alive, splashing through the water as he tried to catch a fish with his bare hands. He used to be so good at it, but he was out of practice, and the fish were wise to his intentions. But the waves of water droplets he sent up glistened in the sunlight, haloing his body in a way that made Riku ache. He was all darkness where Sora was light. They could never meet; they only existed in contrast, and where one went the other retreated.

No, they didn't belong together. Sora wanted Kairi, and their light shone brightly together. Sometimes he was afraid they would blot him and his darkness out altogether.

Sora straightened and began wading back to shore. At first Riku thought he'd simply grown bored of the fish outsmarting him, but the strange expression on his face brought Riku to his feet. Sora put a fist to his heart, his brow furrowed with—discomfort? Confusion? Pain?

"What's going on?" Riku asked, meeting Sora at the edge of the water just as the tide receded from around the boy's feet. Riku grabbed Sora's shoulders when it looked like he might fall, but Sora just shook his head as if to say he was alright and pulled away from Riku to move further up the beach and sit in the sand. "You okay?"

"I feel something weird," Sora explained. "I dunno. Something here." He tapped his fist against his chest. He closed his eyes, his expression tightening. "It's getting worse."

Riku noticed a dull throbbing at the base of his skull and deep in his chest—barely there, but he was sure it was related to what Sora felt. But he didn't have time to say anything before Sora convulsed in the sand with a low moan—

And a breath later, stretched out opposite Sora in the sand was… Roxas. Riku stared for just a moment before moving to Sora's side and helping him to his feet. Sora was breathless but unharmed; he stared at Roxas, stunned, and Roxas stared back.

Roxas recovered first. Sand flew to the sides as he shoved himself to his feet, and then he turned and summoned a dark portal. Before he could step through, though, Sora murmured, "Roxas…"

Roxas met his clear blue eyes, his expression almost apologetic. "It's a second chance."

With that, he stepped through the portal and was gone.

- xxx -

It was over an hour before Axel was finally sure he'd shaken heartless pursuit, and he could only conclude that someone was extraordinarily anxious to see him dead.

Curiosity drew him to Proof of Existence the moment he was able. He had to see how much damage Sora had done. But when he arrived, he suddenly realized that he had never given Sora the credit he deserved—because whatever he'd expected, it wasn't this. Only two markers remained active: Axel's and Roxas'. Zexion's had been demolished since Castle Oblivion, but now three others were, as well. The rest were red. Dead.

For a moment Axel wondered if his own marker had been red while he was in oblivion… but then he was making his way to Roxas' marker. Number XIII. The Key of Destiny. Sora's shell. He'd found Roxas in Sora's eyes. He'd suspected, but he couldn't believe it until he saw it. Roxas was whole. He supposed he should be happier—it was what every Nobody wanted, to be whole. But Axel had always been content with Roxas, almost as if he was complete, a Somebody. What was left for him now?

He stood close to the marker, his boots touching the twin keyblades, and started to reach for the stone, but thought twice. Skin, he thought, and he removed a glove, pressing his palm flat against the blue glow. Roxas.

A dark portal formed… and then Roxas was there.


author's note

So this is the last of what I already had written. I've been considering writing this story for about two years, but I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to it. If there's anyone who cares to see where this story goes, I'll have to make it a point to continue it. Interested? Please review!