Bittersweet Melody: by hikari-aozora
Bold: parts of the chapter's song
Italics: a thought or flashback
Underlined: emphasis on words
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the KH, KH2, Disney, Final Fantasy Characters, etc, etc, that i may have used, unfortunately. However, if I found out that by some strange occurance I was the heiress to these awesome things, I would be forced to inflict pain upon myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Thank you for understanding.
(A/N: yay another chapter! getting close to the end now, let's see, this is chapter ... nine? yeah, there'll be about twelve or thirteen chapters, somewhere around there. oh and the song for this one is put in the story kinda a different way. and not all spaced out. yup, this chapters gonna be long. it's a turning point, and it may have some stuff in it you kind of don't understand, but all will be explained eventually. now! on with the story!)
CHAPTER NINE: Save Me Tonight
Sora awoke the next morning feeling like his face had been smashed flat. Well, he wasn't in pain or anything, but his cheeks were being pushed inward, his mouth was open in a sort of fish-face, and he could hardly breathe. He just felt ... squished!
It was then that he was lying in a rather uncomfortable position on a rather uncomfortable couch with his face rather uncomfortably sandwiched between two rather uncomfortable throw pillows with his hand subconsciously pressing the top one down harder upon his head ... rather uncomfortably.
The boy, realizing that his position was quite ... odd ... and probably looked like he was trying to smother himself, jumped up from his position so that he was now kneeling on the couch cushions, tossing the throw pillows carelessly out of sight in one swift movement. Only then did he begin to look around. It took a while for his surroundings to completely sink in, so before that, he was in a state of shock. Then the previous night's events hit him hard, and he knew where he was. This isn't my house, it's--
"Haha! Dude, you look so funny!"
Sora jumped a little at the sudden outburst of the person who had been standing in the doorway, and he twisted to face none other than Riku, clutching his stomach as he pointed and laughed at the spikey-haired brunette.
"Aw, man ... what time is it?" Sora said, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light pouring in from the windows around him
Riku took a split second to stop laughing, glance at his wrist watch, and reply. "Quarter to one."
"Oh, okay ..." Sora said, stretching and yawning like he always did when he awoke. Then his eyes grew really wide really fast, and he snapped out of that position. "A quarter to one? 12:45? Holy crap! Did I seriously sleep that late?" He leaned over the back of the sofa, gripping it. "Damn it, Riku, why didn't you wake me up?"
"Woah, chill, Sora, it's Saturday," Riku responded, holding his hands out in front of him in a defensive gesture. Then he smiled. "Besides, you looked too funny when I walked in here. You were all snoring and stuff and drooling and your face was scrunched together ... freaking hilarious stuff there! And you've got creases on your face!"
At that comment, Sora's hands immediately flew to his cheeks, and he pulled them down his face, as if to stretch it out. Then, after bringing his hands back down to his sides, he blinked hard twice. "Ugh ..." he mumbled groggily.
"Anyways, I just woke up, too, so don't feel bad," Riku said. Then he grunted. "It was the weirdest thing ... I woke up because my cell phone was ringing, and it was your mom, of all people. I mean, how'd she get my cell phone number? I know I've known you forever ... I guess I'm kinda like her second son ... but seriously, man, that's just weird. Never thought I'd have to say this, but tell your mom to stop calling me! Dang, that sounded wrong--"
"Woah, wait a minute," Sora said, butting in. "Back up. My mom called? You mean she's home?"
"Yeah," Riku said with a nod. "She was wondering where you were. Told her you spent the night here ..."
Sora groaned and hoisted himself over the back of the couch, landing on the other side with a thud! "I need to get home," he stated sternly, starting to walk past his best friend, but Riku stopped him.
"I wouldn't normally care, Sora, 'cause I'm a teenager too, but ..." He raised an eyebrow and eyed his best friend critically. " ... you look gross. Go ... take a shower or something."
Sora took a minute to examine himself ... and he agreed with Riku. He stunk, his hair was practically matted, and he couldn't even begin to imagine how bad his breath smelled. So, on Riku's order, he dashed upstairs, into the hall bathroom, and took a shower.
After bathing, putting the clothes he was wearing back on, running a comb that Riku gave him through his hair, and borrowing an extra toothbrush that Riku had to brush his teeth, he headed home, feeling very refreshed and awake. However, once he stepped through his front door, he was tackled by his mother.
"Oh, Sora!" she exclaimed, squeezing him in a tight embrace. "I feel like I haven't seen you for weeks!"
The boy was about to retaliate, but then he remembered that this was "normal", well, for his mother anyway, and just responded with an, "I missed you too ... Mom ... heh."
"When I came home and the house was empty, I was afraid something bad might have happened to you!" She sighed. "I just have to remember that you're not a little boy anymore ... You've just grown up so fast ..."
Okay ... this is a little awkward, even for her. The first explaination for his mother's behavior that popped into Sora's mind was that she had been drinking again, but he couldn't pick up any trace of alcohol on her breath. Deciding this wasn't the best time to confuse himself, Sora simply shrugged off her behavior and gently freed himself from her embrace with the classic line, "Mom, I can't breathe."
After his mother apologized and let go of him completely, he made his way to the living room and plopped down on the couch, remote in hand, and flipping through the channels aimlessly, all the while conversing with his mother about the past few days' occurrences as she heated up soup in the kitchen for them to eat. Sora purposely tried to avoid steering the chat toward his mother's job interview, but he knew that eventually the topic would be brought up. And, much to Sora's dismay, it was.
"Well, you'll be happy to know that my job interview went well," his mother randomly stated as she stirred the soup.
"Hmm." Sora tried to give as vague of a reply as possible, because his mother was blissfully unaware of how wrong she was.
"They were very nice people," she said, continuing automatically after her son's response. "They asked a lot of questions, of course, and I tried to give them intelligent answers, but you know me ... I have my blonde moments too." She chuckled, following it up with a sigh as she glanced at her son over the kitchen counter. "Can you believe they wanted me to stay even longer? Claimed all of their potential employees were staying, just so, you know, they could follow up the interview, or something like that. It is a very important position, after all. But I said, 'No way! My son's birthday's in a week! It's his sweet sixteen and I need to start cleaning up now if I'm gonna have that many teenagers in my house at once! That's just an accident waiting to happen!' They understood so they let me go, and I jumped on the earliest ferry and got back here as fast as I could, thinking, 'Sora's probably out of Cheez-It's by now ... you know how much your son loves food,' but what do you know, there's still a full box in there, and we did have soup ... hmm ..." She smiled and stared down at the steaming soup she was cooking as if it were the least bit entertaining.
Sora, on the other hand, was too busy running over his mother's words. "Can you velieve they wanted me to stay even longer?" No, he couldn't believe it, but that was just his luck, and he knew better than to start worrying about this all over again. But then, "My son's birthday is in a week!" Now, that was something to worry about. Was it really that soon?
"Guess I ... should start planning my party, then," Sora said, an emotionless tone gracing his words. But then he grinned. Sixteen, huh? That was something to be happy about, even if he did have a party to stress over. Birthdays were always worth while to him, and he'd have to make up for the one that he'd missed.
His mother smiled as she now busied herself with taking out two bowls and ladeling soup into them. "Oh, I'm so excited! Your sweet sixteen! How fun ... I remember mine like it was just yesterday ... But you know, more than three hormone-infested teens in my house at once is a little too many ..."
"I could have it at the beach, Mom," Sora suggested.
"Now that's a fantastic idea!" his mother said, and then she laughed at herself. "Oh! Sora! Heh, the soup's ready."
And upon hearing those words, Sora made his way to the kitchen to eat his first meal on the first somewhat worry-free day he'd had in a long time.
Sora knocked on Kairi's bathroom door. "Anybody home?"
"Nope, nobody."
The boy growled in mock-frustration. "Hurry up, Kai. You're gonna make me late to my own party!" He felt kind of stupid talking to her this way. He might has well have been arguing with the door.
"I'm still getting ready, Sora!" she shouted back as she applied more makeup. Kairi didn't normally wear much, but this was one of those "special occasions." "I'm a girl. These things take time, you know!"
Sora leaned up against her bedroom wall, just beside the door. "C'mon! I said the party started at eight on the invitations which means we need to be there ..." He glanced at his wristwatch and his eyes grew wide. "... five minutes ago! What the--"
"Sora, if you're so worried about being late to your own party then get going and I'll catch up!"
"Now, wait a minute, Kairi," Sora said in his "cool tone," gesturing to the girl as if she could see his hand movements, "I always have time to escort my date to any party."
"Oh, trying to be a ladies' man, are we?" He heard her suppress a laugh. "Well in that case, you get to wait. Happy birthday!"
The boy rolled his eyes, but he was content with waiting all the same. Anything for her ...
So, while he waited, the boy decided to take a little stroll around his girlfriend's room, looking at all the pictures adorning the walls. They brought back so many memories, ones that pained him to think he might have forgotten at one point in time. All of his friends in the pictures -- Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, Riku ... Kairi ...-- he had missed them so much while he was gone. But the thought of them, Riku and Kairi especially, had kept him going.
"So, you bummed that you didn't get a car?" Kairi asked him, her voice a bit muffled by the door that stood between them.
"Nah," Sora replied, his eyes still wandering the room. "I understand why my mom couldn't get me one. We're not 'financially stable,' as she puts it, since she doesn't have a job right now and ... well, neither do I." He wandered toward the girl's dresser, noticing a rather large black frame positioned on top of it. "Besides," he continued, "I kind of got used to walking, you know, while I was gone."
Kairi laughed. "I bet you have legs of steel now, Sora. All those miles and miles of practically running track ..."
Sora was looking right at the picture in the frame by now, his face just inches from it, and just the sight made him smile. It was one of him and Kairi, that Riku had obviously taken, at the beach, soaking, covered in sand and seaweed, and not caring one bit. They were so young and reckless, with nothing to worry about. But that was before ...
The boy tilted his head to one side, running a finger along the edge of the frame, and he began to wonder. If none of that had happened ... if darkness, the Keyblade, and Kingdom Hearts had never happened ... what would our lives be like now? Would we have taken the raft out to sea? Would Kairi have ever seen what I added to our drawing in the Secret Place? Would Riku have changed as much as he has? Would Kairi and I be ...
Then something else caught his attention. A small purple notebook was lying open next to the picture, a simple black pen sticking out of its folds. But what was interesting to Sora was that there was writing on the page it was open to. At first, Sora had the urge to read it, but then he stopped himself, thinking about what Kairi would say to him if it was her diary and he had been caught reading it. Yet, the words seemed to be written in a sort of pattern, and there was a title to it, much unlike a diary entry. And so, out of curiosity, the boy began to read it.
Kairi writes ... poetry?
"Something wrong, Sora?"
Sora immediately stopped what he was doing and turned to face his girlfriend. "Oh, n-no," he stammered nervously, "just l-looking at the picture," and he flashed her a nervous grin. Then he took the time to admire his date. She was dressed in simple, outgoing attire, with just the right amount of makeup on, but it was the elegant way which she presented herself that completed her look, and Sora liked it. "Shall we?" he asked, extending his arm to her, more to be funny than to be polite.
She smiled and daintily linked her arm through his. "Yes, we shall."
By the time they reached the party, they were fifteen minutes late. But nobody really cared, so long as the host of the party was finally there.
The party took place at the cove of the detatched island where they used to play, and when they arrived, all of the guests, which consisted of Riku, Selphie, Wakka, Tidus, and a few of their friends from school, had already arrived and lit a huge bonfire on the beach. The moment Sora set foot on the shore, Selphie and Tidus grabbed him by the wrists and yanked him over to where his presents were piled, insisting that he open them all now so they could have as much time as possible afterwards to dance, swim, and wreak havoc. So, on order, Sora tore open his gifts, thanking Riku for a skateboard, Tidus for a black sweatshirt with some strange graphic on the front, Wakka for his ... blitzball ("Ya, I figured it was your turn to have it. I got a new one and me and Tidus here gotta teach you the game anyway, ain't that right, man?"), Selphie for his new shoes (which were black with a very large yellow logo on the sides), Kairi for a very intricate keychain (she insisted it would be for his car keys if he ever managed to get a car, not by any means for a weapon), and the rest of his friends for things such as a giftcard, cash, and a digital camera that looked awfully expensive.
After that, they wen't straight to the dancing.
Wakka seemingly pulled a boom box out of thin air, popped in a CD he burned, and began to play the DJ role. Sora was yanked off of his feet and on to a patch of sand that was deemed the "dance floor" by Kairi, who insisted he dance whether he wanted to or not. After one dance with Kairi, they traded dance partners, and he danced with Selphie while Tidus danced with Kairi. After that song, he danced once more with Kairi, and then he collapsed against his pile of new gifts.
Kairi and Riku loomed over him as he sat there, leaving the rest of the guests to keep dancing. Sora was out of breath, his chest heaving. After all, that was three fast, upbeat songs in a row!
"Tired, are we?" Kairi said with a giggle, leaning right over him with her hands on her knees while Riku stood impatiently behind her, his arms crossed.
"Tired?" Sora said, bolting upright. "No duh, I'm tired! I've never danced that much in my life!"
Kairi cocked her head to the side. "What are you talking about? We've all danced plenty of times. Isn't that right, Riku?" She turned to face the silver haired boy, but the older teen just shook his head.
"Nah, he's right Kairi. Sora told me he hates dancing." Riku smirked.
"Is that so?" Kairi turned back to her boyfriend.
Sora just shrugged. "Now, Riku's exaggerating. I didn't say I hate dancing ... maybe strongly dislike, but you know ..."
Kairi just laughed. "Whatever you say, Sora, whatever you say."
"Can we get back to the party now?" Riku asked, tapping his foot. "You coming or not?"
"You guys go ahead and dance," Sora said. He glanced over to his left, smirked, and picked up his new camera. "I'll get some pictures!"
Kairi smiled, but soon found that Riku had placed an arm over her shoulders. "Okay, well, I'm gonna steal your girlfriend for a while, if that's alright with you."
Sora nodded and waved them away. "Go dance! I'm in a photographer kind of mood anyway."
The red-headed girl shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said, and then she began leading Riku away toward the other guests.
Sora, on the other hand, had other plans. Camera in hand, he began snapping pictures like mad. Everywhere he turned, he saw another photo opportunity. Snap! Snap! Snap! He took more and more photos, not caring who they were of. He was just ... having fun!
I wish ... I had one of these before ...
Then he stopped where he was, looking off into the distance, as the two people he had just taken a picture of moved out of his line of sight. There, in the distance, he could see the outline of a cave entrance, the secret place, and possibility upon possibility swarmed his mind. What if he'd had a camera back then, when he was on quests in other worlds? What if he had albums and albums of pictures to show everyone, to help tell his heroic tale? What if he could have taken a picture of Donald, Goofy, the King? What if he had a photo of Leon and the Hollow Bastion Restoration Comittee? Jack Skellington and the residents of Halloween Town? Hayner, Pence, and Olette at Station Heights? Namine? Roxas?
What if ...?
It was then that everything ... all the memories ... really hit him. Life was back to being exacly how it was, and yet, things had completely changed. Everything was so different now. Everything was so ... normal.
So why does normal feel so strange?
A new song began to play, and it started off slow, but the rythm was quick and steady. The melody, though ... it was one of those melodies that twisted your emotions, that made a connection somehow, that hooked your brain so that you craved it, listening to it again and again. But the words ... they didn't seem to match. They were out of place ... they just didn't fit.
Then a thought came to Sora.
'Kairi writes ... poetry?'
Maybe it wasn't poetry. Maybe those words were song lyrics.
Sora tried to remember what she had written on that page, the words that were jotted down on that piece of paper, as if in a hurry, to get the words out, before the inspiration disappeared. The title of the piece had been something sad, something lonely, yet completely heartfelt. The words of the title alone had touched him, almost scared him, since he knew they had been written by Kairi's own hand.
Yes, he knew what it was. "Save Me Tonight."
Sora squinted hard, thinking, trying to recall the words he had seen on the page. He tried to remember ... What did it say?
And as the music continued to play, he replaced the lyrics with Kairi's own.
There was a time when I was lost in thought
Couldn't seen to fight through the darkness clouding my mind
But you were so kind
Giving me a hand so I could stand on my own
Thought I was full-grown
But you showed me that there was still so much I didn't know
And I felt so cold
So you held my hand and promised me that
You would never leave
So where are you now?
I felt so strong, but now that you're gone
I'm not so sure
Wish you would change my mind
But I guess I can't expect you
To save me tonight
And when I start to fall
I remember what you told me
That I've got to be strong
But how can I
When I'm still searching?
I won't give in this time
But hope seems so distant
And secretly I'm wondering
If you will truely ever
Come back to me
Life was so perfect, at least, it seemed that way
But really I was blind to how broken we truely were
And I was so sure
Unwilling to admit that I just might be wrong
Oh, I was so wrong
Everything unwraveled, and now I can barely stand
Meant it when I said
"I love you," but this just hurts too much
What went wrong?
We just fell to pieces and faded away
Weren't meant to be
Won't ever be the same
Still, I'm crying out for you
To save me tonight
And when I start to fall
I remember what you told me
That I've got to be strong
But how can I
When I'm still searching?
I won't give in this time
But hope seems so distant
And secretly I'm wondering
If you will truely ever
Come back to me
Tell me what happened
This disaster hit me hard
And try as I might I won't ever forget
But my heart is healing, I'm moving on
And I know I don't need you
To save me tonight
And when I start to fall
I remember what you told me
That I've got to be strong
But how can I
When I'm still searching?
I won't give in this time
But hope seems so distant
And secretly I'm wondering
If you will truely ever
Come back to me
The music stopped, and Sora snapped out of the trance he had been in, but his heart ... was pounding. Those words ... they were beautiful, but deep down, they terrified him. How could she write such a thing? Why would she write such a thing? Why?
The boy looked back down at the camera in his hand, and what he had been thinking about earlier came flooding back to him. The photos ...
There was a connection.
Sora spun around, searching through the small crowd of people for Kairi's face. He finally found her, sitting in the sand next to Riku, facing the rest of the guests, who were still dancing like crazy. She was hugging her knees to her chest, staring at her feet. But then, as if she felt his gaze upon her, she looked up, and her eyes locked with his. She tilted her head to one side and a smile adorned her face. And then ... Sora saw her.
For a brief moment, sitting in Kairi's place ... was Namine.
Sora couldn't believe his eyes. Why? He was shocked beyond belief, frightened by this sudden change. Yet, for some reason, he felt a sudden longing to be next to her. It was as if, all of the sudden, someone else was dictating his emotions. These feelings ... they were foreign to him. Looking at Namine, he felt ... sad.
Then, Sora looked down at himself, and noticed that he had changed, too. His once dark attire was now white, as if the colors had been inverted. He was wearing different clothes, different shoes, and even his hands looked different to him. He had taken on a different form.
He wasn't Sora anymore. He was Roxas.
Words slipped out of his mouth. "You see, everything is like we said. You are here, but we are here with you. You are together, and we are together." He stretched out his arm toward Namine, and she did the same, but they did not touch. After a few seconds, they dropped their arms back down to their sides. He sighed. "Still, we long for something more."
"At least you have memories," Namine said to him. Though she was far away, he heard her voice as if she was standing right next to him. "We have nothing ... nothing but you." She smiled sadly. "You don't need pictures to remind you of your past. You have what's in your heart."
Roxas chuckled. "If I've learned one thing, it's to be thankful for what you do have, and what time you have left. You have friends, you have a home, you have a life. Everything that I ever knew ... my life, my home, my friends ... was ripped out from under me. I was ... I was ..."
"Heartbroken?" Namine asked, trying to complete the sentence. Roxas nodded, and Namine sighed. "We are, and always will be, Nobodies. Still, through you, we are a little more than that, just a little more. But that little bit makes all the difference in the world." She held out her arm again, and Roxas followed suit.
Roxas looked around, his arm still outstretched, and took in the scenery. "You have a great thing, here, Sora," he said. "Don't lose it."
And then, everything turned back to normal. Sora's clothes were dark again, his shoes were the right color, and his hand was his own once again. He looked at Kairi, and he saw her, the one and only. But, their arms were still outstretched, proof that it wasn't some strange hallucination on his part. It had been real.
Kairi's eyes grew wide as she stared at her outstretched arm. She quickly looked from her arm, to Sora, and noticed that he was doin the same thing. She retracted her arm and proceeded to pat her clothing and her face, as if to make sure she was still all in once piece. Then, she looked to Riku, who was frantically turning his head from side to side, switching his focus back and forth between Sora and Kairi. He had seen it, too. The rest of Sora's guests were still going about their business, partying, having a good time, as if nothing had happened. They hadn't noticed a thing.
Sora, on the other hand, hadn't moved from his position. He was still in a state of shock, just standing there, staring at his outstretched arm. He shook his head then, not wanting to believe that the event had actually happened, but still unsure, he looked up at Kairi. Her eyes were wide with surprise as their gazes met, but then her expression softened. She nodded, sadly, confirming that it had, indeed, happened, for she had witnessed it, too.
The boy lowered his hand slowly back down to his side, and looking at his other arm, noticed that the camera was still in his posession. Roxas' words were still ringing, fresh, in his mind, as he searched them over and over for a deeper meaning. Then, something clicked. Maybe these feelings of paranoia that had struck him so recently were not his, but Roxas' doings. And maybe, just maybe, those words had not been written by Kairi, but by Namine.
But whatever the reason, Sora wasn't going to lose what he had. Whatever the reason, Sora was going to make sure that Kairi would never have to sing that song.