"It's Ansem."
Naminé sighs, but complies.
"…Ansem. I'm going to leave."
Riku's eyes widen slightly, and suddenly his full attention is on the girl.
"I don't…I'm going to find Roxas. And I'm going to help him."
"What? There are so many worlds out there…He can be anywhere!"
Naminé looks away, but keeps a stubborn frown on her face.
"And what about Sora? And DiZ?"
Her eyes flash at the names, her hands curling into fists and suddenly her emotionless face is filled with ice.
"Nobodies aren't just beings without hearts…We have emotions too! We should be allowed to exist too, not just be fated to end up back in darkness!"
"But Roxas wouldn't be…He'll be with Sora."
"As a parasite, unable to do anything? It's the same and you know it."
Riku finds himself cringing in guilt, though he says nothing.
Naminé stares at him, waiting. Then, as if realizing that he's not going to say anything, she lets out a disappointed sigh.
"I just wanted to say goodbye."
She turns away, opening a portal of darkness. As she's about to step in, Riku finds himself calling out to her.
"Wait."
She stops, but doesn't turn.
"I'll inform you if we find anything new. Sora has existed without Roxas before…I'm sure DiZ and I can find another way to wake him up."
He can see her straighten in surprise. Her head almost swivels around to face him, but stops.
She is silent.
Then—
He can almost hear that slight smile of hers in her voice.
"Thank you, Riku."
And she's gone.
"So…I assume you're staying?" Leon says, an almost smirk on his face. (Roxas noticed that Leon was never the one to fully brag. It was always subtle little jabs, but never an outright blow.)
Cloud returns the look, a glint in his eye.
"It appears so, for the moment."
Cloud was tied up to a chair, chained up by Tifa's special military knots. And Leon was apparently his bodyguard.
Tifa comes back into the room. Roxas unconsciously moves away as she gets near the chair that Cloud was tied to.
She pulls up her own chair and sits down before beginning her interrogation.
"Alright, Cloud. It's time for answers. Where the hell have you been the whole time?"
"…Searching."
Tifa's left eye visibly twitches.
"Searching? For what?"
"My light."
"Light, huh? You already have—Hmm?"
She stops talking, and suddenly, she has noticed Roxas. The angry look on her face is immediately replaced with a curious look, similar to the one that Aerith had worn that morning.
"Who are you? You weren't here last time I came to Hollow Bastion…"
She turns back to Cloud, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Is he your lovechild? I knew you and Aerith were close but…"
Roxas felt his (mental) heart stop.
"No! I'm just—"
"He's my brother," Cloud cuts in. Tifa raises an eyebrow.
"You don't have a brother."
Leon suddenly seems to be interested in the conversation, leaning forward slightly.
Cloud doesn't back down from her claim.
"I found him on the streets. He didn't have anywhere to go, so I took care of him until now."
Tifa looks unconvinced but she doesn't say anything.
"What? So now you're leaving him here?"
"He has a place to stay now."
Tifa, seemingly annoyed with her findings, turns to her new target: Roxas.
"Well, what do you have to say about it?"
Roxas startled, takes a moment to process the question.
"A-about what?"
Tifa looks scarily like a tiger, Roxas notices.
"Do you want Cloud to stay or not?"
He wonders if maybe there is a way somehow get away from the scary woman. (Not counting the portals of darkness. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to use that here, obviously.)
"Well…I'd ask him to stay, but—"
Tifa stops listening and turns back to Cloud.
"Look! He wants you to stay! Why are you always running off, from your friends, from your family? Aren't we enough?"
Cloud merely stares back, his face blank, almost distant.
"This is something I must do alone." He says calmly.
"But that doesn't mean you have to push all of us away! Nine years….Nine years you were gone! And how many times did you contact us? Come to visit us?"
She pauses for a moment, as if expecting him to say something. When he does not, she goes on.
"Well, if I can't make you stay,I'll get someone who can. Leon, untie him."
She stalks out of the room, and Roxas can immediately feel himself relax. Leon catches this and laughs.
"She's pretty scary, isn't she," Leon comments. "She's usually not like that."
Somehow, he doubts that.
"In fact, she's quite a bit like Aerith."
Roxas snorts.
Somehow, he doubts that even more.
Leon notices Roxas' incredulous look, and chuckles.
"Don't worry, it's only when she's around Cloud that she's like this."
"You make me feel so special sometimes, Leon." Cloud replies, a slight grimace on his face. As Leon finishes untying the knots, Cloud gets up and brushes off.
"Yeah…Well, you better go before—"
"Cloud? Is it true? Tifa said you wanted to stay but was too shy to ask…"
Aerith is unable to say anything else, as she is…was on the verge of tears. Now she's just plain crying and choking up, though she tries to hide it.
Roxas hesitantly goes to her side.
"Er…Of course he's going to stay…"
(Roxas silently sends his apologies to Cloud)
He turns to Cloud, obviously at unease.
"…Right?"
Tifa comes up, an evil grin on her face.
"Cloud…You wouldn't leave now, would you?"
Her voice drops a notch.
"Especially now that you made Aerith cry…"
"If I knew that that was all I had to do to make you stay, I would have done it a long time ago. Alright, here are your ID cards." Leon says, handing them to Cloud and Roxas.
"ID cards…for what?" Roxas asks. It's Cloud who answers the question.
"…Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee…Helper?" Cloud looks up, a small smile in his eyes. (Because Cloud never really smiled with his mouth) "What? I don't get the title of Member?"
"Wait a few years before you ask that question." Leon replies. "Now, since you're new to this, you get today off. But tomorrow, you guys will start working, so you better enjoy your free time while you can."
Leon walks away, whistling.
"We start tomorrow, huh…" Cloud murmurs to himself. He turns to Roxas. "We should test out your abilities then. Can you fight?"
"Yeah…I think I'm decent with a blade."
"What type of blade?"
"…Well…"
He suddenly feels ashamed about the blue staffs that Hayner and him would use. They suddenly seemed so toy-like, kiddy and the fact that he didn't even know what they were called…or maybe that was the way he suddenly felt like about himself.
Cloud takes in Roxas' silence. He reaches into the back of his belt to pull out a thin blade.
"Here, does this feel alright?" He says, handing it to Roxas. "It's my backup blade, but I think you'll put it to better use."
Roxas takes a hold of it, testing the feel and grip.
"Yeah, this is pretty decent."
Cloud nods.
"Good. Now let's see what you can do."
He opens his eyes, and suddenly, it's as if all the Heartless have disappeared.
"You can…use the Keyblades?"
"What?"
The word leaves his mouth unbidden.
"What do you mean? Aren't I using your…"
He stops talking, suddenly noticing his surroundings. The sword that Cloud had lent him lies two feet in his hands, and in his hands…Yup, the Oblivion and Oathkeeper.
He looks towards Cloud's blank face.
"I can explain…"
He had never realized how hard it was to fight Heartless.
Now, it did not take two hits to kill one. It took twenty.
And somehow, though decent enough to use, the blade felt unnatural in his hands.
Clang.
He didn't hear anything. He didn't feel, see, do anything.
There was a Heartless coming at him…and he wouldn't be able to protect himself in time.
"…When a person with a strong heart is turned into a Heartless, they turn into what is called a Nobody. And I'm the Nobody of a Keyblade Master…"
"…Sora?"
Roxas lights up.
"Do you know him?"
"…Yes."
"Have you—Have you seen him recently?"
He can almost see a thread, maybe a connection…
"No. It has been more than a year since I last encountered him."
Crushed.
He feels so hollow.
He wants to know this Sora, this person full of light, this person that that man so desperately wanted to save…
…The person he's supposed to be.
"Roxas. We better go back in before they come to get us. It'll be quite difficult to explain what happened."
Cloud then gets up and starts to walk back.
Somehow, it's as if hearing his name had somehow woken him from a dream.
Roxas can only stare dumbfounded.
"Wha—That's it? That's all you have to say about…this?"
Cloud stops, turning his head back to glance at Roxas.
"I have no right to judge those in darkness."
The scary woman—Tifa—is staring at him. He knows it, he feels it, he can see it out of the corner of his eye…
He cautiously glances at her.
Zoom.
It's like lightning flashing by him—her eyes are on the food.
With a small sigh, he resigns himself to trying to eat.
But he can still feel her stare…
"I'm done."
Cloud stands up and exits, bringing his bowl and chopsticks with him.
I have no right to judge those in darkness.
He had sounded so resigned, so fallen, so…tired. Giving up.
And what made Roxas sadder was that he understood exactly.
"Aerith…"
He's not sure if he should ask.
"Hmm?"
Aerith has such a bright, accepting face that Roxas somehow feels guilty.
"What happened to him? What made him so…"
He struggles to find a word and finds that he can't find one.
Cloud is Cloud.
Aerith gives a knowing look.
"Ah…Hmm…Well, maybe it'd be better if you ask him." She gives a sheepish smile. "I'm not too sure myself."
Roxas nods.
...And the stare is back.
He can't sleep yet again.
"Cloud…"
The man gives no answer.
"…What your favorite type of ice cream?"
It seemed like hours that he watched.
Finally, he turned back over, coming to the conclusion that Cloud was asleep. (Though it just didn't seem right. Cloud…asleep?)
"Vanilla ice cream."
The answer comes so suddenly that Roxas nearly jumps.
"With sprinkles."
AN: I hate these types of chapter where I have to explain things. I always write them so badly. (But yay, decent dialogue!) And Organization XIII is bugging me, 'cause I have NO idea how to fit them in into the (currently non-existent) plot.
