What stillness in the air.
Now all he needed was some close-ups, and he had a perfect movie scene right here.
He is still and calm, despite the blade at his throat.
"...Where is Cloud?" Sephiroth asks, her eyes narrow and cold. Chilled like the air around them, chilled like the piece of steel.
Funny...it didn't feel so bad. It felt like darkness.
It felt familiar.
Roxas shrugs.
"...I haven't seen him in a while." He says blandly. A sharp pain sears at his throat, and he can feel the warm blood trickling down.
"Don't lie to me...Where is Cloud? Is he dead?"
His voice starts to get a bit louder, his breathing labored. Hysterical, but controlled. Like ice just beginning to crack.
Roxas stares dead on, not even blinking.
"I don't know."
Roxas leaves the Usual Spot with a heavy hole in his chest. He feels so tired, so dead, so languid…
He could start over.
He could walk back in with a smile, and ask if they have anything to do tomorrow. Go to the beach? Do homework? Sit on the clocktower and eat sea-salt ice cream?
He could be friends with everyone again. He could procrastinate with Hayner, he could attempt to learn cooking again with Pence, he could mooch off candy from Olette, he could do…everything.
(But could he really?)
And before he can ponder any more, a familiar voice calls out to him, stopping him in the dark shadows of the alleyway.
"Roxas…I'd never thought to find you here."
Roxas turns, very slowly, very gradually, to face the speaker.
"In fact, I'd never thought to have found you alive." The person continues jovially. "Though…considering Axel…"
"Must be fate," Roxas cuts in. Or some really bad luck, he adds silently.
Luxord smiles that annoying smile that Roxas had always hated, that oily smile that he could never tell if it was sincere or not.
"Must be." Luxord concedes and for a moment, as he stares at Roxas, a cold wall seems to fall between them as his face becomes emotionless. A perfect poker face…wait, was that Setzer's belt Luxord was wearing?
"What are you doing here?" Roxas asks.
"Well, you see, my apartment building is somewhere two blocks over and I was just taking a stroll but I don't think that's what you meant now, is it?" Luxord answers, an annoying grin upon his face.
(Annoying bastard.)
"It gets tiring traveling around so much doesn't it…" Luxord continues to talk, musing to himself. For a moment, he pauses, mouth opening to say something else, when he stops. Then, with a sigh, he pushes himself off the wall and starts to walk away. "Maybe I'll see you one day again…Roxas."
And as Luxord walks off, Roxas suddenly seems to remember.
That's right. His…friends…were waiting for him.
His eyes narrow, the blue depths seeming to freeze.
"I…can feel it," Sephiroth says slowly, his tone suddenly curious. He tilts his head, getting another look at Roxas. "You're like him, aren't you…A Nobody."
Roxas just shrugs.
"Does it matter?" He asks blandly. "After all…"
Claannnggg!
The sound of metal against metal echoes in the air. Roxas meets Sephiroth's gaze calmly, not moving back an inch as his keyblades holds up against Sephiroth's masamune.
"…I'm going to be the one to defeat you." He finishes.
Sephiroth's face has changed somehow, his blue eyes glittering, almost feral, almost excited.
And before Roxas can even blink, Sephiroth is attacking.
"So, Cloud is sending some boy to battle his own demons?" He asks, an amused grin playing on his face, not seeming to even care about winning or losing.
"Wrong…Cloud's friends are helping him." Roxas narrows his eyes, and continues on in a condescending voice. "Not like you'd understand."
Sephiroth's grin only widens.
"It makes no matter to me. Defeating me is meaningless. No matter how many times I fall, his darkness will keep calling me back."
Roxas jumps back and dodges another attack before going into another parry of slashes and combos.
"Yeah? Well…I have faith in him."
"That's right!" A new voice calls. Wait…that voice…and that shuriken…Yuffie?
A black blur passes by him…Tifa?
"What are you guys doing here?" He finds himself asking in wonder.
Yuffie gives him a quick grin.
"Well, you didn't think we'd let you get all the credit now, did ya?" She says cheerfully, catching her shuriken without looking. "Now let's go kick this guy's butt! Only we are allowed to diss Cloud! Wait, are those keyblades?"
With renewed energy, he twirls his weapons around.
"Pretty much. I'll explain later," Roxas quickly says. Yuffie nods.
"Gotcha."
"Hey Sora, ready to go home?" Riku asks. Sora doesn't answer, his gaze distant. Riku tries again. "Sora?"
Sora jumps, startled.
"Riku! Hehe, didn't hear you there…" He says, his voice somewhat distracted. Riku sighs.
"Alright. What's bugging you?"
Sora grins sheepishly.
"Is it that obvious?" He asks.
"Just a bit. So, what's wrong?"
Sora lets out a long breath.
"I don't know…somehow, I feel different. Like…my heart got torn out and was replaced with another?" He pauses for a moment, a grimace coming over his face as he realizes what he just said. Quickly, he switches topic. "Hey Riku, do you know who Namine is?"
Riku raises an eyebrow.
"Namine?" Riku repeats, wondering. The name sounded familiar…yet…he couldn't place it. "No. Why?"
"Well…In Jiminy's journal, the only sentence there was 'Thank Namine'." Sora looks up to Riku with bright eyes. "Who knows? Maybe this Namine saved my life!"
Riku just gives Sora a look.
"Yeah. Sure."
"Roxas, watch out!"
"Wait wait wait…So you're saying, that we went through Emo Dude's study…for this one paragraph? It doesn't even make sense! 'Results indicate that it's possible that resources of light may or may not have to come from a centralized source. If one is to believe in the theory of Umbra Synchronicity Transfer…' What the hell is that?" Xigbar complains.
Cloud narrows his eyes.
"It's science. Figure out the answer yourself." He says shortly. And before Xigbar can say another word, Cloud has opened up a corridor of darkness and is back in Hollow Bastion, back home.
It was much too silent.
"Roxas, watch out!"
When had Aerith gotten there…?
And as Roxas turns around, he sees it: Sephiroth descending from above, the sword plunging into Aerith's stomach.
And he's just frozen as it happens.
(Theblood, the blood is too much, and it's just pouring out, like water, like rain…)
"AERITH!"
Who's yelling?
Is it him? Tifa? Yuffie?
"Pity. Cloud doesn't even try to protect these so-called friends of his. That's no fun now is it."
As Sephiroth disappears, Roxas doesn't even move.
Yuffie and Tifa has rushed past him, taking Aerith's body, cradling it, trying to heal her with potions.
They're saying things. They're sayings things but he can't really hear them.
Why is Aerith looking at him? Why do her eyes seem so dim, so dead, so…why is she crying?
Why is she crying?
"So…ree…"
Who spoke?
Who knows?
He didn't know how it happened, but somehow, Aerith had died before his eyes.
Somehow, Yuffie had ended up crying on his shoulder, his left shoulder drenched completely with her tears.
She holds onto him tight, grumbling and complaining about how uncomfortable he was, how he was too bony, how he needed more muscle.
And somehow, he found himself holding onto her just as tightly. Even if it was just some small comfort, he found that he couldn't let go of her warmth, he couldn't let go of the small support she gave him…
He felt so broken.
He felt so lonely, so useless, so…dead.
"Hey Roxas…Your heartbeat…it's nice." Yuffie murmurs softly in between her hiccups. She moves her head and nestles into his chest. "Yeah…Comforting."
He had a hearbeat…?
And then it hits him.
What irony.
What beautiful irony of it all.
"Hey…You alright?"
Roxas doesn't even have to look up to know it's Cloud.
He gives off a dry laugh, burning his already hoarse throat.
"Yeah…Just fine."
He looks out the window and hates how the sun is so bright.
Hollow Bastion. Empty Guard.
What a fitting name.
"After all…I'm alive."
End.
AN: I promised that I'd get this done before New Years...so...Happy New Year everyone! I hope you guys all made wonderful and thoughtful solutions. After all, I think the New Year is the time to think about what you really want in life. It made me realize that actually I really didn't know.
I realize the ending is a bit rushed, but I suppose I just wanted this story done with. Sorta selfish, so maybe you call can imagine happier endings. (Yes, Aerith did die for the sake of an unhappy endings. Totally last minute thing.) Yeah, after a few weeks, I'm probably going to delete this. But writing this has been a wonderful experience so...thank you for reading.
