A/N: Chapter 25! I'm really sorry about last time's huge hiatus! School and exams are officially over and summer break's started so now I can focus back on DWY :D Well, save for summer school (cramming) that I've got this month…plus SAT cram next month. Gods spare me please ):

I haven't done the disclaimer thing in a while, come to think of it. So here I am, one of the sad millions who don't own Kingdom Hearts. Disclaimer done? Moving on.

…

"I just want to protect you." I turned around in his arms and kissed his cheek gently. His eyes held my gaze for a moment before a laugh escaped him and he clutched me closer. "There you go again, setting my heart on fire. But then again, I don't have a heart to set fire to."

"When we get our hearts back," I said boldly, "I'll burn your heart as much as you want."

"I'll be holding you to that."

…

Time would be what would tear us apart, and I knew that. But I continued to play around as if we would last forever. Ever since I first saw the two of them brought in by Xemnas, my eyes couldn't stop staring at them. So alike, just like twins. It was like what Vexen said. They were identical. The only difference lay in the color of their hair as one was blonde and the other was maroon. The blonde girl wore a simple white dress and sandals, while the other girl wore a white spaghetti-strap, lavender skirt, black choker, and large yellow sneakers.

Something always brings me back to you.

It could almost have been love at first sight. My eyes were only on Naminé.

I'd watched Vexen set her up in the large tank and set up Kairi in the other one. The tanks had been filled up with a sort of strange liquid intended to keep them hydrated and yet make sure that if they managed to escape their glass container, that their muscles would be too weakened to allow their escape. Well, being caged up over time, that tends to happen even without the need of the liquid.

Never takes too long.

It began with seeking their silent comfort. After missions that I was sent to, I would return to the dark room and watch them floating quietly in their tank. The serenity was strangely comforting and I found a sense of peace.

It turned into talking to them. As I grew older, I was sent to much more difficult missions. I fought with stronger Heartlesses and came back with heavy wounds. If Xion and Axel were away on their own missions, I would take that chance to find her. Even after time spent on the clock tower with my best friends, I'd share my stories with Naminé and chatter away about my latest escapade. I soon stopped writing in my diary, preferring to tell her about my days instead.

No matter what I say and do,

There was one time when I'd felt sick of her lack of response and I'd struck the glass, crying. The glass was thick and strong, and hadn't budged the slightest under my punch. Not that I expected it to. I was close to striking it once more until I'd caught a slight fluttering of her eyelids. Her face remained stoic but that slight movement had rendered me frozen. Nevertheless, Vexen was enraged. During the next meeting, he'd complained to Xemnas about my actions towards their hostage and that I should be banned from the room. Xemnas, in his indifference, couldn't have cared less. He'd let me off with a slight warning that had left Vexen unsatisfied. Larxene on the other hand, had actually been pleased with my violence until I promised Vexen that I would refrain from such a thing ever again.

Sometimes the still gaze and emotionless face encroached past my personal bubble. If felt like she wouldn't look away. But behind her closed eyes all she saw were false dreams—a pseudo reality for her. As she developed and matured slowly from an eight-year-old to a nine-year-old, I couldn't bear to leave her lidded gaze. I held no interest towards her body, but towards her mind. What was going on underneath the surface?

I still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone.

Eventually, I was ordered to allow myself to be recaptured by Shinra and I disappeared from her life for six years. Three souls in one room, two in light and one prowled in darkness. My brother, also my original, was taken back by the Organization XIII who contained him in the same cage as the two girls were. I didn't look back. In a way, it was almost like an exchange—him for me.

Exchanges—it was always about exchanges. First me, then Sora, then Kairi, then her. And finally, we were all coming back to the place we started, the Castle That Never Was.

You hold me without touch.

When Riku and I had freed her from the thick barrier of glass that held her for seven years, I could only stand aghast at the pale and fragile body in my arms. She was so pale—save for the redness trickling down her arm. Kairi had seen the same when she'd finally reunited with her sister after seven years. Pale and fragile. Those were the only two words that could describe her. Hidden from the sun for almost a decade and immobile for as long, it was a wonder she could support herself with her two thin legs. Now Kairi was slender, but she was beyond that. It was as if she carried only enough to keep her alive. For all I knew (and Vexen cared to tell me), she was fed intravenously.

But the screen that flashed beside her tank had shown 45kg. She weighed 45kg for a 15-year-old girl. (A/N: 45kg is equivalent to 99lbs.) And it was because of her deteriorated health that I couldn't help but to watch over her no matter what she did, with only a few exceptions.

You keep me without chains.

Even now, as I watched her sneaking down the empty corridors in an amateur style, I felt utmost concern for her. Of course, it was only natural.

"Naminé, be careful. Stay close to me."

I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," she smiled, her arm suddenly reaching to the right where another corridor met this one. I panicked immediately and rushed to her just in time to see a flower fall to the ground and a trembling soldier crawl backwards with a cry.

"W-witch!"

Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.

"Did you do that?" I could only gasp. The soldier proceeded to fall asleep, drooling on the floor. I demanded, "What did you do?"

Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.

"I made him think that he was supposed to go to sleep."

"I meant before that. Where's his gun?"

But you're on to me and all over me.

"Oh," she breathed out the word. "I changed his and my memories of the gun. I mean…I had a theory. If we all think that a gun was actually a flower, then…it would really be a flower. So it did. But I can't hold it for so long."

At that mention, the flower glowed and returned to its original form of a gun.

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile.

We returned to our hunt upwards and encountered only a few guards. The other Organization members must have really caused a distraction down below. It was a grim thought. When war begins, it becomes a haunting mountain of death. The only thing that will matter will become the number of deaths on the other side. The bloodthirsty attraction—I didn't want to think about it anymore. Foolish, you can't escape this, Roxas.

Zack was right. The cost of freedom is really steep. This burden of truth is inevitable. One will fight for freedom, but along the way may lose their lives, their loved ones, and even their morals. It's a desperate battle that I never wanted to be in, but at the same time always needed.

When I thought that I was strong.

We're weak. You wouldn't be able to see it, but we become weaker in our morality the more we kill. It was for that reason that Naminé and I couldn't bear to kill them, to steal their right to live. It's naïve, I know. But killing wasn't something I felt we were capable of. She felt the same and merely seduced them to sleep on the cold marble floor. Sleep was all we were capable of at the moment, because we were young and ignorant. We were full of dreams. And this we wanted to share with them.

And still, a pain of guilt shot through my body as I struck another soldier behind his head, lulling him to slumber.

But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone.

Because we were weak.

And yet, how many times had I slain a Heartless? I never felt it as killing, and it always comforted me to see their hearts fly away. When you destroy a Heartless, they become one with Kingdom Hearts, but who could prove that? The steadily growing mass of the energy? What becomes of those who lose their mind and soul to become Heartless? What happens when we destroy their dark forms? So many questions I'd left unanswered over my short life span.

Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.

I wondered to myself, if we would ever achieve what Zack never achieved: freedom. No, he did achieve freedom. Floating among the others in the green swirls of Lifestream, he was free. He was freer than anyone else who still fought for this independence. But at the same time, he was still locked behind chains, unable to come to us, unable to be with us, fighting in blood and sweat—to be with his loved ones.

Zack, what is the price of freedom?

Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.

It felt like a routine, striking soldier after soldier. And at the same time, I felt like a parent, tempting them with a lullaby. A lullaby of violence and bloodshed.

I can only hope that you will not meet this similar situation, where you will have to wonder if your freedom is worth the cost of others' lives. Where you will have to see blood spray across the walls and hear torrents of gunshots against screams of terror. And all this blood was mine.

But you're on to me and all over me.

"Roxas!" Naminé flew to my side, holding me up. "Roxas…" So stunned was she that she could only say my name. And yet, it was comforting music to my ears. I was loving the way she said my name, and yet hating the sadness and fear that laced it. I wanted her to be happy, not upset.

I swung my Keyblades before me, striking down the men that surrounded us, but at the cost of more darkness to spill from my wounds. "Roxas, don't move," she whispered beside my ear, "let's rest. You'll only lose more blood."

I live here on my knees as I try to make you see that you're everything I think I need here on the ground.

"I can't," I gasped, "We've got to keep going…when they wake up, they'll attack us. I don't want them to hurt you… I want you to stay—"

"I thought we were over that already!" she exclaimed, "I don't want them to hurt you either! If you feel pain when I'm hurt...well, that's what I'm feeling now! I'm looking at you—you're bleeding, full of bullets…It hurts…"

But you're neither friend nor foe though I can't seem to let you go.

I turned around, against her wishes of immobility, and pulled her close to me. For once, I couldn't care less if my blood stained her dress with darkness. My muscles pained in complaint from my movement, and I knew that I would lie in her arms like this for a long while. "Namine…sorry. I'm sorry. I was being selfish. Your right, I really need a rest."

She pressed her lips to my hair and she fell against a marble column. I collapsed into her arms, my head on her chest, hearing only empty heartbeats. Her touch kissed my arms as my arms kissed her waist. "Rest, Roxas," she whispered stroking my hair, "It's my turn to watch over you."

The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down.

Against my wishes, she was putting herself in danger. But I would put aside the war, just for now. My body began to recover, dissolving the bullets. She had lulled me into sweet darkness.

You're on to me, on to me, and all over...
Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

…

A/N: The italicized lyrics are from Sara Bareilles' song "Gravity". One of my friends introduced me to that song through her personal message on Google Talk, and I fell in love with it :) It's a really peaceful song.

Okay, so why does Roxas dissolve bullets and yet Naminé can't? It's simply because he's all on the battlefront and capable of dealing with more damage than she can so her body can't do something like that. That's also why Aerith didn't immediately take her to Zexion when she was shot in the stomach because she'd overestimated Naminé's capabilities.

I know…this chapter's short. Finally a chapter completely from Roxas' view and it's short. 2,626 words. But I can't put everything important into one chapter, so I'll cut off at this point. But man… it's a cliffhanger! Pretty guessable one at that too. Please, please review! And cookies for all those who've reviewed in the past without fail :)

And after posting this, I just realized that something happened to my section divisions...