Cloud was the symbol of the cure, his face was everywhere, a shot someone stole of him trieing to hide his face with his hand. Unfortunatly the hand he used to hide his face revealed more than his smile ever would. Although the picture was accidental, it was more symbolic than an intentional one would have been. The symbol of the disease in clear focus why Cloud's face remained blurred and turned away from the camera. Cloud became everything for those fighting the disease, he was the first to be diagnosed, and the first to be cured, the world watched as the healer cured him. The world watched Sora cure him.
December 21, 2018 8:37 A.M
"So during your little midnight endeavors where do you guys usually go?"Axel asked as he made his way to their car after Sora, Xion walking next to him.
"The church gardens." Sora replied waveing for the two to hurry up, he had already made it to the old station wagon and was climbing into the passenger side seat.
Axel slid into the driver's seat next to Sora and Xion sat in the back seat leaning forwards in between Sora and Axel, turning her head to Sora a curious expression crossing her face.
"Why?"
"They same reasons we go to church." Sora shrugged.
"But you don't actually beleive in that bullshit do you?" Axel laughed, and threw Sora disbeleiveing look.
"Yes actually!" Sora declared his tone somewhat offended.
"Seriously? I'd think you of all people would be the first to lose his faith." Xion ran a hand through her short hair trying to work out a few of the tangles
"I suppose not, I think I was also one of the first to need god." Sora shrugged again and turned his gaze to the window. Axel turned the key in the ignition, shakeing his head slightly as he shot down the street.
"So then why does Riku go? I mean Kairi beleiveing...okay i can accept that, but i know for a fact that Riku's an athiest. What does he get out of it? Do you two just make out in the pews?" Axel grinned at Sora resulting in a punch to the arm.
"What? No! We're just friends!" Sora insisted a light blush dusting his sunkissed cheeks.
"So then Kairi and him make out?" Axel asked his grin getting even wider.
"Stop it Axel!" Sora glared his eyebrows comeing together.
"So you and Kairi make out and Riku watches? That's gotta be it, I can see him likeing that sort of a thing." Axel nodded his head with approval.
"Oh shut up!" Sora huffed and turned his head to look out the window again. Axel laughed and focused back on the road, slowing down as he approached a great white church with a beautiful garden to the left of it. Sora dashed out of the car, shooting down the brick path that went through the garden, checking every nook and cranny for his friends. Finally reaching the end of the garden at the large oak cross, tears were once again streaming down Sora's face as he approached the cross. Sora clasped his hands together as he dropped to his knees in front of the cross, praying to his God for some sort of clue or sign ad to where Riku, Kairi, and Demyx could possibly be. Axel walked up silently behind Sora, bending down to crouch next to him and run his fingers through his hair, resting a single large hand on Sora's trembling shoulder.
"Sora?" Axel spoke after a few minutes of listening to Sora's mutterings of prayer.
"hm?"
"What is that?" Axel motioned to a manilla envelope sitting right in front of the cross. Sora reached over picking it up and turning it over to find his own name scrawled across the front in a familiar mix of cursive and print. Sora's eyes stretched wide in a mixture of hope, excitement, and terror because the familiar writeing was that of a boy who went by the name Vanitas.
September 12, 2016 4:06 P.M
Axel imagined that if he could still dream he would probably dream about Roxas, about crystal blue optics, soft pink lips, and a slim almost feminine frame moveing feverishly against his. He'd probably dream about Demyx too, before when he wasn't quite as fake, when Demyx loved Axel so much some would call it an obsession. But Axel didn't care, even if Demyx's actions were that of obsession, because back then Axel would obsess as well, obsess over Roxas and every last one of his irate glares and snide comments. Whether or not Roxas ever had someone to obsess over was unknown, and thanks to the healers would always remain that way, but that was alright too, everything was alright, his dead dog and his diseased boyfriend, those things were also okay. For Axel, nothing really did matter until he had to think about it. That's why this life was good for him, it was surpriseingly simple despite the situation. He stayed holed up in the house watching the T.V and curling up to happily sleep with Sora on the couch, he never had to think, he could live the rest of his life like this and never realize that anything was wrong. Up until people like Zexion and Xion popped up.
If it was up to Axel he would have said, no, just leave them, don't you dare let them into our home. Since it's wasn't up to Axel though, his daily routine was now completely disheveled and he was being forced to think, which consequently drove him to realize just how not okay everything was.
"Karma's bullshit man!" Axel argued, slapping his palm onto the kitchen table just loud enough to startle Kairi and cause her to drop a dish into the sink and Riku to give both Axel and Zexion questioning looks.
"So you're saying you don't think you deserve this, you're too good to get this life" Zexion said with a sneer, keeping his place in his book with his thumb.
"No I'm saying people like Sora, for example, they don't deserve this, he's to good for this life." Axel explained, ignoreing Zexion's obvious insult and the shift of expression on Riku's face, from amused to slightly annoyed.
"He was a healer man..." Zexion's brows slanting into a sad almost dissapointed form. Kairi cringed as she saw Riku's muscles flex for a moment.
"He was was a good kid, ignorant sure, but he was just protecting his freinds." Axel couldn't help but defend Sora, if he admitted to one thing then he'd be forced to admit to everything.
"He was murdering people Axel." Zexion insisted, determined to prove himself right, Axel wrong, and Sora a killer. Riku had had enough, Zexion had no right to make blind accusations about Sora's morality. Kairi moved quickly though, grabbing hold of Riku's shoulder as soon as began to move forward.
"He was cureing people Zexion." Axel stated in a very matter of fact tone, surprised he could speak so calmly considering the irrataion that was building up in his chest, and the holes Riku was burning in the back of his neck with his optics.
"Did he cure Roxas?" Zexion's sneer came flying back full force. Zexion knew what he was doing, he always knew just how to bring about others insecurities and really make them hurt. Kairi's grip on Riku tightened as she felt a sudden peirceing pain in her chest, a feeling she knew quite well to be guilt.
"Maybe he did but what does that matter!" Axel shouted standing up and towering over Zexion. Zexion seemingly completely unfazed looked up at Axel with a smirk, feeling quite accomplished. Riku on the other hand ripped his arm out of Kairi's grip approaching Zexion with two long strides across the linoleum floor, his fingers curling into fists along the way.
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" Riku grabbed Zexion by the collar and lifted him out of his seat. Axel looked to Riku as if he had just proclaimed his undieing love to him. Axel couldn't think of a single time Riku had ever willingly defended him in any way, shape, or form. Zexion's amused smirk did not waver though, he simply put his hands up in a defensive manner and snickered.
"Calm down alright." Zexion gently touched Riku's hand, lightly pushing them off his shirt. Riku roughly threw Zexion back into his seat, before turning around and leaveing the kitchen. Axel followed Riku with his eyes until Riku turned a corner and couldn't be seen any more then directed his attention back to Zexion. "Yes, Axel?"
Axel looked at Zexion for a moment more before turning around and heading out the side door and into the back yard where Kairi could see him rubbing tears out of his eyes with one hand and pulling his shirt collar up over his neck with the other. She considered going outside to comfort him but instead stayed in the kitchen, turning off the water faucet and wipeing her hands dry before sitting down in Axel's previous seat at the table.
"Why did you do that?" Kairi asked calmly, looking Zexion straight in the eyes.
"What?"Zexion shrugged as he flipped through his book that had tumbled over the edge of the table, finding his page.
"Piss Axel off like that, you were doing it on purpose I could tell." Kairi tilted her head slight, anticipateing Zexion's answer.
"Because I hate people like him, people that try to make beleive everythings A-okay and nothing bad ever happened." Zexion had found his page and was now running a finger down the page looking for his paragraph.
"I see...so then we should all just wallow in the past for the rest of our lives, never moveing forward?" Kairi nibbled on the edge of her bottom lip. Zexion looked up as a very serious look crossed his features, more serious than Kairi had ever seen him.
"Well you would know all about that wouldn't you Kairi." Kairi stared at Zexion in shock, he couldn't possibly be refering to that...no not possible...right?
December 21, 2018 10:19 A.M
"What does Ienzo have to do with any of this?" Kairi looked up her eyes revealing nothing but puzzlement.
"Just answer the question" Vanitas stated blandly.
"But-"
"Answer." Vanitas's demand came out as a snarl.
"He was a childhood friend of mine before I lost my memory alright! Nothing more, nothing less!" Kairi spouted off, she felt as if her mind was entering a diffrent world as she thought about Ienzo, sad, lonely Ienzo.
"Did you stay in contact with him even after you lost your memory?" Vanitas asked jotting down Kairi's words on his clipboard.
"Well obviously! He tracked me down and tried to help me remember everything...but he wouldn't just tell me he would just give me clues, a real jerk!" Kairi thought of the long nights spent on the phone with him, how he would subtly pick at her brain until she couldn't take it anymore.
"When did you stop talking to him?"
"...When the epidemic began to infect humans...I heard he was infected..." Vanitas glanced up to see Kairi's eyes filled with guilt.
"For a brief period of time a boy named Zexion lived with you correct?" Vanitas quickly looked back down to his papers though when Kairi noticed him stareing.
"Yes" Kairi began to pick at the hem of her dress a nervous habit, Riku would always point it out and tell her to stop before she unraveled it.
"And what do you know of Roxas Horatio?"
"He lived down the street from Sora, he was Axel's best friend, same age as all of us, he tried to run...he turned himself in...he was publicly cured." She was there when Roxas was cured she had watched him burn.
Vanitas suddenly stood up and walked across the room to one of the four cameras, standing up on a chair to press a small red button turning the camera off, Kairi watched as Vanitas did the same to the other three cameras, each recording light blinking three times before going out. After each camera had been succesfully shut off Vanitas returned to his seat across from Kairi. His gaze going from mildly bored and indiffrent, to extremely serious and tense as he leaned across the table and asked quietly "Do you know why you are here?".
"Because I was holding several fugitive nobodies in my home right?" A quick glance told Kairi there was indeed no more questions on the clipboard.
"..." Vanitas looked saddened by Kairi's response, as if dissapointed by her answer haveing expected her to say something different.
"But that is why i'm here isn't it?" Kairi leaned forwards in her seat as well, her face showing her desperation.
"...one question...I'll answer one question for you...are you sure that's what want to know?" Vanitas raised a single brow and sat back in his seat. Kairi sat back as well, putting pieces together best as she could, what should she ask... one question right? She had to take advantage of this situation, she couldn't mess this one up. Looking down at the hem of her dress she realised she really had managed to unravel a good bit of the bottom, thin white threads tickling her thighs. Riku, where was he? what was he doing talking to Vanitas? And is Demyx okay? Are they going to cure him? What about Axel, Sora, and Xion? Are they here as well? And why do they care about Ienzo? Or Roxas for that matter? He never stayed with them, in fact he never even knew them, they weren't friends, if anything Roxas was just a bully. And then there's the question as to where she even was, or whether or not they were going to kill her, or arrest her, or simply let her go. There were a trillion diffrent questions Kairi could ask but she finally had to settle on one.
"Will any of my friends or I die here?" Kairi finally asked doing her best to keep her voice even and her gaze strong.
Vanitas looked at Kairi for several seconds from across the table before finally standing up and pushing in his chair. "Yes."
Vanitas then turned on his heel and left the room without another word, leaveing Kairi once again alone confused and terrified.
A/N: Sorry for the late update guys, I wanted to try and finish this and get it up on friday before I left for Otakon, but it was giveing me lots and lots of trouble so instead you all had to wait. So far I think this is my worst chapter, it's really awkward and but of course there is soooooooo much dialouge! But I'm a lazy fuck and don't know how to make it any better so...yeah...but I'm hopeing for the next chapter to be way better! And by the way forty five totally came up with Roxas' last name, for some reason that was really troubleing me...so yeah that his idea, he's also a fabulous writer, like ten trillion times better than me, so if you're reading my shit and feel that you brain has been slaughtered then you should probably go read his stuff to recover.
Whimsical Dreamers: Awww thanks bunches! Makes me feel like a decent writer! XD
forty five: I hate tenses with a burning passion...I'm so bad with them...and yeah Cloud does have a highly symbolic part to play, you've just seen a small glimpse of it! And as for Sephiroth, I doubt I'm gonna do anything with him, I had considered a few things but i can really only handle a few subplots (to many and the main plot gets devoured). But yeah hopefully everything's gonna get cleared up soonish!
Well toodles then m'dears!
