Terra manages to work out the mechanisms of Sora and Roxas' mental communication; that's one conundrum out of the way. They now agree to try and get Sora's soul back as soon as possible. They figure out a plan, but then an unexpected event cause them to completely scrap it. Nothing can prepare them for what is about to be revealed…

Ch. 11 Seeing Double

Roxas

"Really?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "You figured it out?"

I can't wait to hear this, Sora muttered with fervor.

The others were just as impatient. "Get on with it, Terra!" urged Ven.

Terra seemed just as anxious to start. He began hurriedly, "From what I've heard from Roxas and Sora, I've concluded that their mental connection can be triggered through unintentional incapacitation or sudden trauma, and there might be a pain-free method to establish the connection, but–"

"Wait just a minute!" I intervened desperately. "I lost you at 'unintentional incapacitation'. And second, what's up with 'sudden trauma'?" Terra could be hard to keep up with sometimes.

"What I mean is," he explained patiently, "is that if something that happens to either of you is either life-threatening or similar, you guys can start speaking to each other telepathically. And as I was about to say," he added, "there is possibly a pain-free method for you two to establish that connection. I'm still figuring out the kinks, but that's what I have so far."

I could feel Sora's elation so strongly it almost felt like my own. That's great! Then that means we don't have to put ourselves in life-or-death situations in order for us to do this! I can't believe it! Terra can really come through!

Whoa, whoa; calm down just a minute, Sora! I pleaded, clutching my head in my hand. Tone down the enthusiasm, please. It's pain for my brain.

Oh. He sounded sheepish. Sorry.

Well, I can understand that. I sighed in relief as the ache passed as soon as he calmed down. I don't want to have either of us in a life-threatening situation for us to communicate like this, either.

Riku heard me breathing out in relief. "You okay, Roxas?"

I nodded. "I'm all right. Sora's enthusiasm just peaked a bit too high."

He chuckled. "Well, that's Sora for you. A kid like always."

I'm not a kid! I heard Sora protest indignantly. Even when I don't have a body, you guys don't give me a break.

That reminded me.

"Hey, guys?" I asked through the eager atmosphere in the room. "Sora's reminded me of something. I think we should really go take care of something now that that's cleared up."

"Yeah? What do we need to do?" asked Axel.

"Well, first things first. We need to go and get Sora's soul back. Now that the deal's out of the way, it should be safer now if we all go together. You guys don't want anything to happen to it, do you?"

"He's right. We should go there now, while we still have a chance," said Ven, standing up.

"Now hold on," Axel cut in. "If we're going to do this, we should at least plan out a strategy."

"Right." Terra went down to business. "While Axel and I come up with a plan, I suggest you get ready in the meantime, or at least think of some ideas to help us." With that he strode out of the room with Axel following.

How the heck was I going to prepare?

I was in Sora's room, pacing anxiously, trying to come up with a strategy. But I came up with nothing. How do you prepare to fight a guy you know almost nothing about?

Try to relax, Sora advised in the midst of my crisis.

Easy for you to say.

Well, excuse me for trying to help. You were the one who suggested that we try to go get my soul back in the first place.

That stings. That really stings.

Sora got irritated. Look, if you keep looking at things the way you do, things are not going to turn out so great. Try and look at things on the bright side. Honestly, he continued, I don't know how you survived this long with that kind of attitude.

Okay, I know that I am pessimistic, but Sora didn't need to stoop that low. It was the last thing I needed right now.

He could feel the pang of hurt I felt when he said that. Sometimes I wish that this mental connection was a little less intimate, but you can't have everything in the world.

Um…hey, Roxas? I…I didn't mean it like that. He sounded apologetic, and I couldn't doubt his sincerity, even if I wanted to.

I know. I sighed. It's my fault. I'm the one who should be sorry. It's just…it's hard to not be pessimistic when you've been like this your whole existence.

I can see that. Come on, Roxas. Start thinking positive! he encouraged. It's worked with Riku, and you know his whole history, right?

Yeah. What he was talking about stretched back to when Sora and Riku were still on their island, not having a care in the world except to see different worlds. And one time in their Secret Place, as they had called it, Riku had seen the world's keyhole, and the next time he came, he opened it and let the darkness consume his world just so he can go to see other worlds. That's when Sora's whole destiny to save the world got started, something he really wanted nothing to do with at first, but he knew he had to.

Over the course of his journey, he fought with Riku multiple times, and one time even got his Keyblade stolen. But Sora never gave up on him – which was just as well because if he had…well, he wouldn't be him. It's another long story.

See? Everything's going to be okay. His tone was reassuring.

All right, I began, but what do we do now?

Now, Sora said, we come up with a plan.

Sora

I know it's obvious, but being bodiless is not cool. It's also kind of hard to explain what it was like – basically, it's sort of like when Roxas showed me his memory while we were in Twilight Town, or in other words, I saw through his eyes and heard through his ears, and I couldn't move on my own. I'm pretty much trapped in a body, to put it in simpler terms.

So you can imagine how annoying it was for me seeing the same scenery over and over: white door, marble wall, hospital bed, me, the windows, the curtain on the windows, the ground, and to the door again.

Roxas was clearly not bothered since he was too busy pacing all over the room trying to think of a way to help Terra and Axel think of a plan, but he was driving me absolutely crazy. The kicker? He knew it. The way he was acting you'd think he was the one who lost his soul, but luckily I thought of that after I got my soul back, so he doesn't know. But I could understand how he felt.

Three weeks.

It's been that long since Roxas had told us his idea and Terra and Axel had started formulating their plan. I didn't think that such a task would require so much planning. I was starting to get a prickle of fear whenever Vanitas cropped up in our minds, and it certainly didn't help the situation.

Finally, I had to say something. If you were me, you'd want to mouth him off, too. Roxas' pessimism was really getting on my nerves.

"For the love of Heartless, Roxas; stop thinking like this!" I complained. "At least try to think of what might happen if we succeed."

Probably not the right thing to say, considering the circumstances, but when you're really, really, really irritated, clear thinking is thrown out the window.

You're really not helping, you know, Roxas said fretfully.

"Yeah, that's only because you're not letting me. Come on, Roxas. Start thinking positive!" I said.

Easy for you to say. He answered in a bitter tone.

This is where he seriously started to make me want to punch something. I get it that people get angsty at some point, but this was seriously beyond normal phases of human life. Roxas gets pardoned a little since he was a Nobody; just being one sucks in the first place. But this was more than I could tolerate.

"Roxas, I mean it. Pull it together! If you're like this when we actually go out to carry out the plan, your doubt is seriously going to hurt our chances and it'll give you something to be really depressed about!" I positively shouted.

I'm sorry! He was clearly not expecting that reaction to his statement. I'm just–

"I know, Roxas. I know! You're worried about things that might go wrong, and that's exactly where you messed up! You need to start thinking in terms of success – what might go right! Toss the cynicism in the trash and get it together!"

Okay, okay! I get it; you can stop now, he complained. I could feel the relieved amusement that washed over him. I'm glad that did the trick, because I really didn't want to go any farther than that.

"Thank goodness; I thought I would have to go farther to snap you out of it."

I'm glad you didn't since it wouldn't have been pretty.

We laughed it off, but then something really weird – interesting, and kind of creepy, too – but still really weird.

My body started to move. It sat up, and opened its sightless hollow blue eyes, and lifted up a hand. The Kingdom Key appeared, and it shot a beam of light at the opposite wall, and it opened up a bright portal. After that was done, the Keyblade disappeared and my body slumped back lifelessly back onto the bed.

You have no idea how freaked out I was. If I could have screamed, I definitely would have, without a second thought.

Luckily (or unluckily; I don't know. I still don't know) Roxas screamed for me. Actually, it was more like a really loud gasp of panic, but hey, take your pick. At least the others will know what just went on.

"Did…did you just see that?" I gasped, panicked.

I would have my Keyblade shattered into a million pieces to never see that again, he stuttered back.

There was a stampeding sound thundering up the steps. So they heard him. Either he had been really loud or this castle had hidden microphones.

The door slammed open and – bless King Mickey, they were all there. Saves explaining later, which was almost close to utterly impossible.

"What happened up here? I heard you screaming, Roxas!" cried Ven. "Is everything okay?"

Riku and Aqua were stunned speechless at the sight of the seemingly random portal in the middle of my room, and soon the others followed suit.

Riku managed a few words. "What…what is that? How did it get there?"

Roxas explained everything to them about what had resulted in that mysterious portal opening. They were as every bit as freaked out as we had been.

"Sora's body started to move?" Aqua shrieked in disbelief, pale as a ghost. "And…and it opened up that portal with the Keyblade?"

Axel spoke up. "Well, what do you know…looks like we found our answer."

Riku faced him. "What? How is this random portal our answer? We don't even know where it leads!"

"Exactly." Terra had finally spoken. They all turned to face him.

He continued, "Obviously, since Sora's body opened up the portal, it should lead us to clues about his soul's whereabouts. If we enter this portal, we just might find a way to get to Sora's soul, maybe even get it back. I suggest we take this chance."

"Well, it's not really your decision, Terra." Axel crossed his arms and grinned.

"What?"

"I mean, this is Sora's soul we're talking about here. He at least should have a say in all this. It really wouldn't be fair if we made all the decisions, now would it?" said Axel. Then he turned to Roxas – and by extension, me. "What do you think we should do, Sora?"

Sora? questioned Roxas.

"Let's do it," I replied without hesitation. "It's gotta mean something, right? Since my body opened up that portal and all. And just in case we actually find my soul, let's take my body with us, so I can be back in commission as soon as possible. If not…well, we could use it as a handy way to get back here if need be."

Geez, Sora, you think that your body is like something used for mass transit or something, Roxas told me with amusement. All right, if that's what you want. Then he repeated all that I had said to the rest of the gang.

Axel clapped his hands. "It's settled then. Let's scrap our original plan and get going before it disappears." Without a moment's delay he walked into the portal and vanished. Terra, Ven, and Aqua followed only after a moment's hesitation.

Roxas looked at Riku pleadingly, thinking: Please don't make me carry him again.

He immediately understood, and put me on his back, then walked into the portal. Roxas and I trailed in last as webs of bright light enveloped us.

Roxas

When we finally came out on the other side, I didn't really know what my expectations were. A lab was definitely not one of them.

My stomach did a little somersault. It looked disturbingly similar to…his computer room. When I didn't say anything for a minute, Sora prompted me.

Roxas? Is something wrong? he asked.

I tried to pull myself together but wasn't altogether successful. Y-yeah. I'm fine. I must be the worst liar in the world.

C'mon, Roxas; don't lie to me. There's something familiar about this place, isn't there?

…Yeah. As dense as he can get sometimes, you can't really hide anything from him. Even if he's not in your head.

Ven walked up next to me, his mouth agape. "Wow…what is this place?"

"It looks like an underground laboratory to me," observed Terra, fingering a peculiar-looking glass vial.

When my gaze slid over to Riku, he seemed disappointed, maybe even a little upset. "Just great. How is this place going to take us any closer to Sora's soul?"

Okay, let me break it to you: it didn't really look like a lab to me. It was really dim inside, even for a manmade underground structure. Plus, it was quiet. Eerily quiet. I expected some alarm to go off or some security guards or something, but there wasn't any sound at all.

And then, there were the rooms. There was a door to our left and back, and a hallway opening up to the right with even more doors. The doors seemed unimportant, and most of us overlooked them. As I walked around taking in all the strange contraptions, I noticed that there was a faint light from what seemed to be the very end of the hallway. I pointed this out to the others who were busy poking and prodding the strange machinery. I had no idea what they were then, don't know now, and I never want to know. Like they say – some things are better left unknown.

"Really? What do you think is in there?" mused Aqua.

"Well, as for me, I'd love to find out." Axel clapped his hands with finality. "Who's in?"

Of course, we all agreed, then we headed down the corridor.

Hey, don't you think that it's strange that no one's noticed us here yet? Sora asked.

Yeah…I noticed it too. There aren't any surveillance cameras or trip lasers or any security equipment at all. I started feeling uneasy. Something funny was going on here…

We reached the end of the corridor and a door that seemed to be the source of the light. Now that I was closer, the light seemed to shine with a soft brightness, as if it was sun shining through mist. There was something familiar about that light…

All of a sudden, Sora went tense. Fear started to trickle into me, which was probably because of Sora, yet I had no idea what there was here to be scared of. It got to the point where I started to feel nauseous enough that I had to lean on the wall for support.

Hey, Sora? I asked. Are you okay? I'm starting to feel sick.

Don't go in there, he whispered fearfully. Please.

Huh? I was mystified. Why?

There's something in there… I don't…I can't… Just don't go – His panicked plea broke off, then a sharp pain shot through my chest.

I slid to the floor, knees like jelly. My head was throbbing so much I thought it might crack open. The nausea went from bad to worse and threatened to make me gag. But that was the least of my problems.

Whatever could make Sora act like this, I did not want to see.

Ven had noticed me on the floor. He jogged over, concern in his anxious eyes.

"Hey, you okay, Roxas?" he asked, crouching down.

I shook my head. It hurt. "I think…I should just stay here awhile."

"What for?" he asked incredulously. "Our answer could be right there!"

"I know," I replied. "It's just that Sora won't let me go in." I drew in a shaky breath, then I continued, "He's…scared. Really scared. It's hard to explain."

"Oh…" Ven started. He hadn't been expecting that. Then he said cautiously, "Is…is that why you're not feeling so good?"

I nodded. That made me dizzy. "Just go on without me. I'll be fine."

"Well…if you say so," he decided. "I'll let the others know."

I made no move to stop him as he walked toward them. My head was killing me and my arms felt like lead. I began to grow very disturbed, but not at my predicament.

In just moments they surrounded me. I probably should have ignored my arm's protests and grabbed his pant leg or something. Too late now.

"Roxas, are you feeling all right?" Aqua asked. "Ven told us you were feeling sick."

"I'll…be okay." Sora's panic was turning into hysteria. I couldn't find the strength to say any more than that.

"You should stay here and rest," Terra advised. "We'll let you know if we find anything."

Riku walked up and set Sora down next to me. Then he said, "I'll leave him with you, then. Get some rest." He straightened, and left with the rest.

They entered the room and left me in the dark corridor with Sora's body next to me, with me wondering if I would ever find the answer to the reason for Sora's sudden apprehension.

I have no clue how long I sat there.

It could have been a few minutes, or several hours. All I knew was that my nausea was finally gone and, though my arms still felt heavy and my head still hurt a little, and Sora had gone strangely quiet. For a minute I was afraid he wasn't there anymore.

…I'm still here. Sora's tone was hard to place, and it worried me a little. But at least he wasn't gone. I breathed a little sight of relief.

Hey, are you feeling okay? I asked. Do you feel better now?

I should be the one asking that. His tone and manner was laden with guilt. I'm sorry, Roxas. I'm really sorry. I just… His voice broke.

I knew that he was sorry about more than just making me feel sick. I understood. I guess it's the normally unseen intimacy between you and your other self. But there was an undercurrent to his attitude that I couldn't really place – I couldn't tell if it was guilt, grief, or regret, or a combination of any of the three. I really couldn't see why he had refused to go into that room, but I was sure he had his reasons, and I had to respect that.

Hey, don't worry about it, I tried to reassure him. I'm sure you have your reasons.

None of them justify my keeping you here, he responded miserably.

Sora wasn't acting like himself, and it bothered me. I mean, this is Sora we're talking about here – always happy, optimistic, polar opposite of me, looks at the orange rather than the mold on it.

I was just about to ask him about that when the light in the room suddenly flared and I heard a startled cry that I recognized as Ven's. Something was wrong.

I didn't have time to react before I heard something else – a deafening crash, like someone had smashed some sort of container. What in the world was going on in there?

I had to go in there to see what was happening, but Sora argued vehemently.

You can't go in there, what're you thinking?

Well, I can't just stay here! What if something happened to the others?

They can take care of themselves! Think about who you're talking about here, Roxas!

But I –

Just then, another surprise greeted us. A bright, misty ball of light flew through the door and headed straight for us. So that was where the light was coming from.

That aside, it also explained why it looked so familiar. It was –

No way, Sora breathed.

Way.

It was Sora's soul, no denying it. That must've been the crash.

Without a pause, it floated toward Sora's body and disappeared into his chest. Right then, Sora's presence was also fading from my consciousness.

But just before he completely disappeared, I heard one last thought: Thanks for everything, Roxas.

Yeah, I answered. You, too.

His thoughts rang in my mind much longer than it should've, but I didn't care about that. I had been looking over at Sora the whole time.

Sora opened his eyes, and they were the same bright blue that I remembered. He blinked a few times, and stared at his hands as he opened and closed his fists as if to make sure that he had really come back. Then he faced me and grinned.

"Hey." He chuckled a little at his anticlimactic greeting.

"Hey yourself," I answered with a smile. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm feeling awesome." He smiled at me again. "It's so good to be able to move again."

"That's good."

"Yep. I'm sure you can relate."

"Right, for about half an hour compared to your half a month."

"Point taken."

I stood up after what seemed like hours and stretched. Then I turned to face Sora. "Well, we can't just sit here and do nothing. You think you can handle going inside, or are you going to wait?"

"Nah, I feel fine now. I have no idea why I was scared just a moment ago."

"Fine, if you say so. Can you stand?"

He started to get up, and when he was standing, he suddenly staggered, and I had to catch him before he fell on his face.

Sora smiled at me ruefully. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "Not walking for a while can really put your legs in a bind."

"Oh. Well, that's understandable. Geez, you scared me. For a minute there I thought you were going to pass out on me again."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine, really." He certainly did look okay. But I wasn't taking any chances.

"Here, you can lean on me." I put his arm around my shoulder, then headed for the door.

Sora

The room was much bigger than I had cared to imagine. A whole house could have fit inside with room to spare. There were capsules big enough to fit a person inside lining the walls. Almost all of them were empty. Just that and the sheer size of the room was so distracting that I almost forgot what we came in here for.

"Over there," Roxas said, pointing straight ahead, breaking me out of my reverie.

"Uh, right. Let's go."

By this time I was able to walk on my own again, and we headed toward the specks that were our friends. They were scattered out here and there, fairly close to each other just in case something happened.

While walking we passed a capsule smaller than the rest that had been completely shattered. That was probably the source of the huge crash we had heard earlier.

After that, I started to walk faster, almost jogging, my mind churning with questions. Roxas had to jog to keep up.

Aqua was the first to notice me. She just stared at first, not believing what she was seeing. Then she gasped, "Sora? Is that really you?"

The rest of them heard her, then suddenly saw the reason for her shock. They all came running up to me, relief clearly showing on their weary faces.

"Sora, it's really you!"

"I'm glad you're back up again!"

"Nothing can keep you down!"

"I can't believe it!"

I faced round after round of greetings until I heard a different voice. Different, but strangely familiar, too. So familiar, in fact, that I thought I was the one that had spoken. But that wasn't possible…

"Well, of all the people in the world I could've seen first, it had to be you."

Everyone definitely heard that.

"Uh, Sora? Did you say something?" Riku asked.

"No. It wasn't me."

"But I could've sworn it was you…" he trailed off.

"I didn't say anything."

That same voice said, "You'd better turn around if you want to know who it is." It seemed like he was talking to Riku this time.

Riku and the others whirled around as I stepped through them, and what we saw completely defied all aspects of the word 'reality'.

There was someone standing there.

He had spiky brown hair framing his blue eyes, which were looking me over critically, with the smallest hint of a strange mix of envy and amusement. Black and silver clothes; black, fingerless gloves; zipper shoes; baggy pants; a crown pendant …and a Keyblade in his hand.

He smirked. "Hey there, Real Thing."

I was completely speechless.

He was a perfect carbon copy of me.

Yes! Finally, I finished the first book! I feel so proud of myself ^_^. I could've finished this earlier, but life has distractions. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading all of it! It was worth the effort!