"AHHHHH!!!!" Sora screamed as the machine finally began to take effect. His entire body went into convulsions, the restraints cut deeper into his skin. Tears dripped uncontrollably from his eyes.
"You said that it wouldn't hurt him!" Axel yelled to Malificent, not taking his eyes off of Sora's body.
"So I lied, you will still get Roxas back, what does it matter if Sora gets hurt in the process? After all, this is going to kill him." Maleficent smiled, watching Riku for the reaction.
"Axel!" A second voice yelled behind Sora's screams, "Axel! Help!"
Axel froze as the voice cut through the very core of his being. He could handle Sora's screams, but this was something all together different. Roxas screamed for him, begged him to end the pain. His screams got louder, overpowering Sora's.
"Roxas!" Axel yelled, happy to hear that sweet voice but unable to enjoy it, "There has to be another way to do this!"
"It always hurts when you rip a person in two" Maleficent laughed, surveying her work.
"Axel! Please, help me!" Roxas screamed louder now. "It hurts, Axel, please! Make it stop!"
The boy thrashed around, ripping at the restraints, each movement cutting into his wrists and ankles. No matter how much he moved, he could never get free. He cried out, begging for help, and Axel stood there, watching the one he loved more than his own wretched existence suffer. He tried to tell himself that it was for his own good, that without this, Roxas would never be able to exist again.
Axel looked back and forth between the other three people in the room. Riku glared at him, his eyes trying to bore holes in Axel's body for what he had done. Maleficent stood in the middle, staff in hand, cackling and enjoying the screams coming from both Roxas and Sora. And on the table laid the most pitiful thing he had ever seen. There were two bodies now, one slightly above the other. Sora's hair had started to get lighter now, and shorter as well. Above him, a small dark blob was beginning to form, a heartless. This was what he wanted. He wanted Sora to die so that he could have his Roxas back, that was all that mattered to him. He just wanted Roxas, and he wanted Roxas to be happy.
"AXEL!!!!!" Roxas screamed from the table, "HELP!"
Without a moment's thought, Axel summoned his weapons and began attacking Maleficent. This was not what he wanted. Yes, he wanted Roxas, but he couldn't stand to cause the man he loved any pain. The witch fought back, but Axel's determination to end it quickly overpowered her, causing her to lose control on her spells. The wall separating Riku from the rest of the action faded away.
As soon as he could break through it, Riku ran for the machine, flipping whatever switches he could find until one of them did the trick. He randomly punched in buttons, trying to find the magic combination to stop the machine from splitting Sora apart. Twin screams tore through the air as each press of a button seemed to make things worse instead of better.
Behind him, Axel continued to fight the witch, not allowing her a moment's rest to summon her magic. Even though she was so close to the darkness, she was not able to call the heartless to her, he did not allow her time even for that. He swung at her blindly, missing by inches each time. He had cut her robe, but her flesh remained intact. As a last ditch effort, Maleficent used her staff to block one of Axel's attacks, falling to the ground in horror as the stick snapped in half like a twig.
"Axel!" A voice called out from the opposite side of the room. Axel glanced over, seeing Riku standing by the machine, which was no longer making noise. Sora and Roxas's screams were no longer heard, they were safe, or perhaps dead. By the time he turned back to face Maleficent, he only saw the very last part of a dark portal closing, she had chosen to run.
Axel dropped his weapons, running over to the table. Sora was still laying on it, but he wasn't moving. Roxas was also there, but at the same time, he wasn't. Axel picked him up, flinching at how transparent Roxas was, how he was not fully formed. He held Roxas to his chest, watching as small parts of him began to fade.
"Ax…el…" Roxas whispered, opening his eyes.
"Yeah, its me," Axel assured him, tears running down his cheeks. "Roxas, I'm so sorry, I just couldn't stand to be without you. When you left, I didn't know what to do, I thought that it was Xemnas's fault, so I betrayed the organization. Roxas, please don't leave me again!"
"Axel, I don't have much time left," Roxas warned, looking up into Axel's eyes.
On the opposite side of the table, Riku held Sora close, begging for him to wake up. The small wisps that came from Roxas's body were flowing into Sora's chest, making him whole again. Axel looked down at Roxas, he knew just how little time he had.
"Roxas, I just want you to know, all this time, even if I acted like a complete asshole, I love you."
"I know you do, I always knew," Roxas laughed, reaching one hand up to touch Axel's cheek, "And I love you too, I always have."
Roxas put an arm behind Axel's head, lifting himself closer to the nobody. Just as their lips were about to meet, Roxas disappeared, leaving Axel holding nothing but air. He just looked down at his empty arms, trying to understand what had just happened, that Roxas was now part of Sora again.
Sora opened his eyes slowly, surprised to find Riku leaning over him. He launched himself upwards, throwing his arms around Riku's neck and holding on as tight as he could. His muscles were still weak, and dribbles of blood still flowed down his arms, but he didn't seem to notice. Riku held Sora close, kissing him on the cheek, too afraid to do anything else.
"I thought I had lost you, I was so scared." Ruki cupped Sora's face in his hand, "I should have told you sooner, I love you."
Sora reached one hand behind Riku's head, pulling him down into a chaste kiss, his body still ached with pain and he was unable to do anything else. He felt so happy, like he had found something that he didn't know he had lost. Feeling Riku's warm arms around him, he never wanted to leave. Everything else in the world seemed to slip away, nothing else mattered, until something caught his attention.
A bit of movement caught Sora's eye, making him look over his shoulder. Axel was sitting on the floor, arms still held out in front of him as if there was someone there, his eyes fixed on the spot where Roxas had been only a moment before. His head was bowed, and his entire body trembled. No matter how pathetic he looked, something in Sora was afraid of him. He wrapped his arms tighter around Riku's shoulders, pulling them closer together.
"Come on, lets get you back to the ship." Riku said quietly, standing up with Sora in his arms. He carried him back to the gummi ship and sat him down in a chair, instructing him to just relax, he'd be back soon. As he left the ship, he looked back where he had come from, that room where Sora had almost lost his life. He knew that he had to go back in there, there was something that he had to do. He had to make sure that this never happened again.
