Fast update by popular demand. It broke my heart to write this chapter. Please don't kill me if it breaks yours too.

The song is "The World Calling" by There for Tomorrow.

Kiss and I Will Surrender

Twenty Five

The World Calling

Sora's eyes widened in horror, and that was the only warning Roxas had before he was wrestling the barrel of a gun away from his temple. Seifer had taken the opportunity whilst everyone was distracted to worm an arm free from Roxas' weight and to pull his own pistol from its holster in his belt.

"See you in hell, Roxie," he spat, and pulled the trigger.

Roxas stared at the muzzle of the gun, which was smoking inches from his face. He had managed to wrestle the gun to point in a different direction just in time to avoid his face being blown off.

He heard a gurgled moan to his right. He turned his head and watched in horror as Xion sank to the floor, a crimson flower blossoming in the centre of her chest and a trickle of blood running out of the corner of her mouth and down her chin.

She looked at him in shock, her eyes wide. The world slowing, she fell forwards clutching at her chest.

What happened next was mayhem.

"Xion!" Roxas screamed, throwing himself off Seifer and running to her side. Blood, there was so much of it, pooling around her like spilled heroin. She was jerking slightly and coughing. The side of her face was soaked in her own blood.

"Don't move her!" Cloud warned when Roxas reached out to roll her over. Roxas clenched his teeth and smacked his fist into the floor as hot tears began to roll over his face.

"I'm so sorry Xion!" he screamed, his voice raw and breaking with the guilt that he had in essence helped Seifer shoot her. "Oh god..." And then someone had caught him under the armpits, hauling him up, but Roxas couldn't lock his legs and he was crying and screaming and Xion was dying and the girls were breaking down.

And Seifer... well, he ran, didn't he? As soon as Roxas' weight was off him, he was on his feet and running down the stairwell as quick as he could.

"We have to get out of here!" Zack yelled, and he began working on the knots of the ropes restraining the hostages whilst Cloud and Riku tried to figure out the best way of moving Xion without making her condition worse.

"She took a direct shot to the chest," Roxas heard one of them say, and then the person holding him up let go as they both fell to the ground. The person, who turned out to be Axel, put his hands over his face and began to tremble, staring at the ground through his fingers.

"Everyone's free, let's MOVE IT," Zack demanded. The hostages were scrambling to their feet – everyone except Sora who was too weak to move. Zack pulled him up onto his back. "We need to go, we'll worry about Xion's condition later!"

Riku and Cloud glanced at each other and then together they lifted Xion as gently as they could. Zack tore off a large piece of his shirt and gave it to Aerith to press against the wound. "Aerith, once we're out of danger, you need to do as much as you can for her."

"Xion...?" Axel moaned. It broke Roxas' heart that he looked so destroyed, Axel who didn't take shit from anybody or anyone.

"For the last fucking time people, get out of here!"

Somehow, Roxas found his feet. More than found them. With a sudden snarl of anger, he ran forward and grabbed one of the guns lying on the floor, and then pelted down the stairs after Seifer with his friends calling after him as he went.

"Don't do anything reckless Roxas!" he heard Cloud order, but he ignored him completely, taking each stairwell at a leap. Sweat and tears streamed down his face and his mouth was set in a feral snarl as he chased after Seifer.

"I'm going to kill that fucking bastard!" he hollered, slamming into the walls to stop his progress before turning back on himself to move to the next staircase. He was half way down the last stairwell when a heavy body smashed into him, slamming him up against the wall.

"Let me go Cloud!"

Cloud pinned Roxas firmly, using his weight to his advantage. "I am not letting you go after him. You'll kill each other!"

"He deserves to die! He's killed Xion for fucks sake!" Roxas spat at his brother.

"She's not dead by any stretch, Aerith is gonna fix her up and it'll be fine! Just don't do it Roxas! How do you think Sora would react if you went out there and got yourself killed?"

Roxas fixed his brother with a venomous glare. "He'd be proud that I died avenging my friend!"

"And destroyed beyond all belief, Roxas."

Roxas stopped struggling at that, his face losing some of its hatred. He slumped against the wall and ducked his head. "Gods, you're right Cloud..."

Cloud squeezed his shoulders, and then moved away. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

And then Roxas punched his brother as hard as he could in the face and ran for it. He was out of the door before Cloud had even fallen over.

"Roxas, NO!"

When Roxas emerged from the warehouse, he immediately saw Seifer sprinting across the barren yard towards the rocks that signified the start of the desert. With a scream he ran after him, his legs moving so fast that they were a blur. He was grateful now that he was lighter, faster than Seifer significantly, because he caught up on him quickly.

Seifer was aiming for an old water fountain that still worked, clearly aiming to jump over it and then run up into the rocks for cover. Roxas didn't let him get that far though. He running tackled him and they flew to the ground, pebbles cutting into their skin and Seifer howling in anger.

"Don't make me kill you too Roxas!"

"Better me than my friend! You have no idea what you've done!" Roxas grabbed Seifer's arm and stamped on it, hard. Seifer screamed with pain as the bone fractured.

"It's what you deserve, you fucking traitor!" he gasped, his eyes watering in pain.

"Getting a life and getting off drugs does not make me a traitor!" A fist connected with Seifer's cheek and dust exploded around his head as it smashed into the ground beneath it. "You're going to pay for ever coming back into my life!"

"Will you shut the fuck up?" With a roar, Seifer threw Roxas off him and sucker punched him. "I would kill you, but your little friends are coming, so I'll save it for another fucking time!" Sure enough, Roxas could see Zack and Cloud sprinting towards them at full pelt. Seifer turned and ran, clutching at his broken arm.

His foot was on the lip of the water fountain when Roxas pulled out his gun and shot him six times.

Roxas' scream as he kept squeezing the trigger echoed out over the empty wastelands around him. His hair was matted with blood and stuck to his face which was soaked in tears and dirt. Even after he emptied the chamber he kept firing, staring at the holes in Seifer's back which were gushing blood already.

Seifer looked over his shoulder in shock, and crashed into the water fountain. He died with his eyes wide open and his blood staining the water red around him.

Roxas dropped the gun, and sank to his knees.

"It's over," he whispered. He could hear Zack and Cloud approaching, their boots thumping on the ground and their breathing harsh and irregular. It was the last thing he heard before he passed out on the ground.

Roxas awoke in a hospital.

He sat up, awake instantly, his eyes wild. Sora was sleeping in a chair next to him, covered in bandages and band aids. Kairi was next to him, awake.

She was crying.

"Hi Roxas," she sniffed, wiping her eyes ineffectively.

"How long have I been out?"

"A day or so. You missed the police. They were trying to award you a medal for bravery."

Roxas scoffed in amazement. "Seifer had it coming. There was nothing brave about it. Is Sora okay?"

"Physically, yeah."

Roxas sighed, looking over at his boyfriend. Sora was sleeping fitfully, a frown on his bruised face. It broke Roxas to see that there were tear tracks drying on Sora's face.

"This is all my fault."

Kairi said nothing. Roxas exhaled slowly, bowing his head. He asked the question to which he really didn't want to hear the answer.

"Xion?"

Kairi's lip trembled, and she shook her head. "We lost her before we even got to the hospital," she sobbed, her face falling into her hands as she began to cry properly, howling out her grief.

Roxas clenched his hands into the sheets of his bed, rested his forehead on his fists, and screamed.

The funeral was quickly arranged. Because Xion hated religion, her family agreed to cremate her. There were no words of God's guidance as they sat in the crematorium. Only words of family and friends.

Roxas thought he could hardly bear it when he was asked to make a speech. Knowing he had played a part in Xion's death had killed something deep inside him, and no amount of consoling from Sora or any of his friends would bring it back to life. His eyes were glazed and vacant as he stepped up to the podium and spoke to the congregation.

"Xion was, and always will be, the strongest woman I have ever known," he said, his voice slightly dull. Sora watched him miserably from the front row, his arm around Kairi who was inconsolable at the loss of her roommate. "She was... funny, and full of life. To lose her so early on is... it's not right. It's unjust.

"When you walked into a room, Xion stood out. She was the life and soul of everything. Every party she threw, every..." Roxas paused here and took a deep, gulping breath before continuing, "Every... every drinking game she initiated."

There were a few humourless, reminiscent laughs here which petered away rapidly.

"I just can't believe that's it for her. She had the potential to become so much. She was an incredible singer, a born performer, and one of my closest friends. And I am gonna miss her... so much."

Tears bubbled over his eyelids then, and he saw people beginning to weep as his lip trembled. "I don't wanna say goodbye... but I have no choice. Xion, good night, and sleep tight."

As he stepped off the stage, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

After the funeral, Roxas and Sora stood outside the crematorium, away from the mourners. They wrapped their arms around each other and cried into each other's shoulders.

"What you said..." Sora hiccupped, wincing as it hurt his broken ribs. "You spoke for every person when you said those words."

"I didn't deserve to say good bye to her," Roxas said, his fingers laced into Sora's hair. "I killed her."

"You can't keep blaming yourself for this!" Sora protested, lifting his head up and looking Roxas in the eyes. "It was an accident! Seifer is dead, and he was the only one who needed punishing for Xion's... Xion's death."

He could see though that his words had no effect. Roxas still blamed himself, and would likely continue to blame himself for a long time afterwards.

"C'mon. Let's go home," Sora sighed.

"I... I think I'm gonna go back to my place."

"Oh, okay... We can go there if you like," Sora started, but Roxas interrupted him.

"No, you go back to yours Sora. Maybe it's... maybe it's better if we don't see each other for a while." He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples.

"What? What the hell are you talking about? After all you went through to save me, you're going to distance yourself from me?" Sora's tears had stopped now, his eyes blazing with anger and hurt. "After everything we went through together?"

"I'm bad news, Sora. Ever since you met me you've had nothing but trouble," Roxas said, not looking at Sora but staring off into the distance. "I need to concentrate on my music now, and you should concentrate on university. I need some time."

"So... you're breaking up with me?" Sora began to hyperventilate and the tears started again. His chest hurt. Roxas looked away with a pained expression.

"Yeah, I am. But only... only for a little while. If you want, when I'm ready, we can give it another go."

"When you're ready?" Sora choked, clutching his chest. "Don't I get any choice in this at all?"

Roxas looked at him sadly. His eyes were still a horribly dull blue, as if he had lost his life force. "You'll know when I'm ready. If you can forgive me when the time comes... and if you want to get back together, then we will. But for now...

"It's over."

The End?