So many chapters to upload...
I regret deciding to just upload them in one go.
Roxas: This hasn't really been 'in one go'
Shhh you're dead be quiet.
Roxas: Oh right.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Father And Son
'Sometimes you're frightened but you have to get through it for those you love'
A man with blonde hair and blue eyes surveyed the scene before him with mild surprise. Maybe the massive battles of conflicting magic could have gained a more extravagant reaction from him, but he had seen the lights of the battle from far away and had already formed an idea of what sight he would be greeted with when he arrived.
He was more or less correct in his assumption.
One thing that did shock him was an odd trail of darkness that led from two of the people in the battlefield to another man. A man he recognised very well.
He summoned up the light in his hand, zeroing in on those trails that he knew very well should not be there, his gaze momentarily alighted on the silver-haired man in the centre of the darkness.
"Well, well Xemnas… who would have thought?"
And without another word, Cloud sent out his light towards the two children wrapped in the dark.
He was drifting.
Everything seemed dark and empty.
He had a feeling he might have been frightened if he could, but instead he simply felt an odd sense of contentment. He could sense nothing, no gentle breath of air on his skin, no warmth, no chill. The only thing that stood before him was a vast expanse of nothingness.
But it wasn't as frightening to him as he thought it should have been.
The boy (was he a boy? Did it even really matter anymore?) reached out a hand, following a strange sense of inner instinct. As he thought it would, light spilled from his palm, spreading around him and turning the area into a bright whiteness that might had hurt his eyes.
But he didn't really feel them there anymore.
The light gave him the oddest sense of nostalgia, snatches of memories long gone rising briefly to his mind before sinking once more under the surface.
His name was Roxas.
He had something important he needed to do.
People he needed to protect.
So why was he here?
Almost as though answering his question, two doors opened up in front of him.
Roxas gazed at them both with vague confusion.
One was filled with the light he loved so dearly. From behind it, he could sense smiles and outstretched hands, calling for him to come, to stay with them.
The other door was filled with terrifying darkness, a hellish flame burning that did nothing to lessen the smoky black that emanated from it. Roxas didn't like that door.
He turned his gaze to door of light once more; a small smile slipping onto his face as he reached out towards it. Then he heard someone calling out his name.
It was distant, faint, but unmistakeable.
He turned from the door and looked back towards the other. It seemed full of pain and fear, sadness and anger. But there was something about it that seemed to be pulling him towards it. He looked down to see a strange kind of glowing green thread, it seemed to be anchoring him, not letting him go through the door. He noticed that it was coming from inside the darkness.
He felt curious about that and hesitantly headed over to it, peering in at it as though it would answer his questions. The fire flared up and he flinched away momentarily before seeing something that made him pause.
Inside of the flame was a red-haired boy.
As though sensing his gaze, he turned to Roxas and grinned, waving and beckoning him to come. For some reason, Roxas found he wanted to obey.
He peered in further and saw a light. A gorgeous, comforting light that made him want to leap in through the door without a second thought. He saw a girl with raven hair and blue eyes. A deep sadness was in her expression but she seemed to smile, reaching out for Roxas, calling him.
He saw others too.
A blonde who he had a feeling looked just like him (though he couldn't really clearly remember what he was supposed to look like), who seemed incredibly important to him.
A girl with blonde hair and a sketchpad in her hands, she smiled softly.
Another who looked similar to her, though she had red hair.
The longer he looked, the more certain he felt that this was the door he must go through. The green thread seemed to glow even brighter at that thought, as though agreeing with him.
"Roxas!"
He turned, pausing in surprise to see another boy there. He was brunette with twinkling blue eyes a wide smile and a familiar face.
"Sora?"
He sensed rather than saw the light door nearby close. For a moment he felt an unbearable sadness, he wondered if he would ever be given the opportunity to go through that door again. He had a feeling it happened rarely. Then the other boy spoke again and the blonde turned his attention away.
"You finally hear me, honestly Roxas, I was calling for ages!" though his tone was annoyed, his smile stayed the same, "well come on then!" he leaned forward, grabbing Roxas by the arm, "where are we going?" he asked quizzically. Sora laughed, "Really Roxas? We're going through the door silly."
Roxas flushed before returning the boy's smile, allowing him to draw him into the darkness.
When Roxas opened his eyes he felt peculiarly warm.
He looked around to see Aya kneeling over him, a look of intense concentration on her face as her hands seemed to glow softly. "Aya?" she opened her eyes, looking at him with relief, "thank heavens, I thought you were gone for a moment there."
Roxas drew his eyebrows together in confusion, 'Sora? What happened?' There was a pause before the other boy answered, "I'm not sure… the last thing I remember is Xigbar shooting at us," Roxas nodded slightly, 'same here,' he paused, looking at the brunette girl leaning beside him for a moment, 'I guess Aya must have healed us.' He sensed Sora's agreement.
Roxas sat up, stopping with a gasp as the movement sent pain sparking from his heart, "be careful," the girl reprimanded, "you were just shot remember? I may be able to heal but even I'm not that good, you're still going to be hurting," the blonde nodded distractedly as he looked around. The place was a mess. Almost everyone was knocked out, whether it had been from their battles or Xion's light Roxas wasn't sure.
Xion.
He turned as he thought of her, eyes sought out her form before coming to rest on the girl lying unconscious some way away from the Superior. His heart nearly stopped. Roxas jumped to his feet and ran over to her, turning her over onto her back and pulling her head into his lap.
"She's okay," the blonde looked up to see Aya crouched beside them, her hand on Xion's wrist, "she's just unconscious. What's more, the darkness around her is gone for some reason." Roxas checked and saw that the other girl was indeed correct about that and he sighed in relief. "Could you check everyone else? Make sure they're all okay?" he asked the brunette softly. Aya nodded before getting to her feet and running off. Roxas gently brushed some of Xion's hair out of her eyes.
"It's nice to meet you again after all this time Xemnas."
Roxas looked up in surprise at the familiar voice, doing a double-take when he recognised the Superior standing some distance away talking with Cloud.
His father.
What was he doing here?
He began to get to his feet, gently placing Xion on the ground when suddenly an awful pain shuddered through his body once more.
Roxas let out a small cry, biting his lip as he bent over, hand coming up to grip at his chest, breathing heavily. He waited for the pain to abate as it always did.
But it didn't go away.
It got worse.
Roxas felt like he couldn't breathe, he could hear Sora's pained cried in his mind, he clawed at his chest desperately, as though he were trying to rip out his own heart.
It hurt.
Suddenly Sora was back in control, Roxas didn't even have time to wonder at the fact that neither of them had attempted to initiate the swap over as the pain seemed to follow him into his mind. He yelled out, trying to escape it, and suddenly he was once more in control of the body, then Sora, then him once more.
Neither of them seemed able to hold it for too long.
And the pain just kept getting worse.
"It's nice to meet you again after all this time Xemnas."
Cloud watched as the man's eyes widened with surprise before lighting up in recognition. Xemnas sneered, "Yes, it's truly a pleasure," Cloud could see the barely concealed fury in the man's eyes. "So I heard you've been bullying my sons," the blonde's tone was light but there was an undertone of rage that was all too obvious to the other who smirked, "oh yes, I became very good friends with them. Especially dear little Roxas."
Cloud's temper flared along with the light in his palm but Xemnas summoned darkness around himself like a cloak, ready to combat his attack. Furious, Cloud leapt at the man, his magic shining so brightly it lit up every nook and cranny around the base of the hill. For a moment, Xemnas' darkness was blown away, like a cloud by the wind, before it came back, stronger than before.
He sent his magic towards Cloud, wrapping it around him, suffocating him in the foggy, inky black, ripping him of his will, of his optimism, putting out his light. Cloud fell back.
Then a new light shone, cutting through Xemnas' magic like a knife, releasing Cloud. The blonde stumbled back in surprise, looking around for the source of that magic to see Roxas standing nearby, an oddly pained but determined expression on his face.
The pain had started to fade.
Slowly, but it was still stopping and so, Roxas found he felt relieved. When he looked around once more – able to focus on his surroundings, keep a firm grip on the body and ignore his heart – he saw his father (for although Ven protested, that was still what he was) in the middle of a battle with the Superior.
Roxas watched the light spill from his entire being like some kind of ethereal creature. He could do nothing but gaze in awe as the two battled.
Light versus Dark.
It was then that Roxas realised that it must have been his father who had returned both Riku and Xion to normal with his own light magic. 'My father has magic just like mine…' the realisation hit him with a sudden blow and for a while he could only sit, watching the battle in silent shock.
For a while it seemed as though his father had the upper hand, then something happened and the Superior came back at the blonde man with more force than before. Roxas watched – hand still tightly clutching at his chest – as his father was pushed back by the Superior. He watched in horror as the man was enveloped in the darkness. The Superior had had many years to experiment with magic; it was undoubtable that he had found some way to strengthen his own. Meanwhile Cloud had – by the looks of it – barely even been using his magic most of the time.
Roxas felt his heart beginning to pound painfully as he panicked; his father was going to be killed right before his eyes! And there was nothing he could do about it! The Superior was too powerful, too self-assured. Roxas was weak and pathetic, more terrified of that one man than of anything else.
"It's okay to be scared Roxas, but don't let that guy hurt your dad! Show him who's in charge! Come on! I'll help you!" Roxas almost smiled at the other's words, looking up at the silver haired man who had obtained a mad glint in his eye. Roxas felt dread numb him, but keeping Sora's words in mind he stood up slowing, ignoring the alarm bells his body seemed to send off that it was a bad idea, that his body wasn't healed properly yet.
The instant he attacked the Superior, the man's attention would be turned to him, the thought was enough to make him freeze in horror. What would he do to him? But it was his father the Superior was trying to hurt. No matter what, Roxas couldn't let anyone else precious to him be hurt.
He began to pull light together, the second he began to use his magic, his heart began to hurt once more. After moments, he was gasping for breath again, but he kept summoning more light. When his whole palm was alight he sent it directly at the Superior.
He watched as the darkness around the man faded away to wisps; the darkness around his father also vanished, and Roxas watched him stumble slightly before regaining his footing.
Both men seemed to notice the blonde at the same time.
The Superior glared at him with furious eyes that chilled him to the bone. He wanted to run and hide but he forced himself to stay still. He wasn't going to back out of this now. Even though his heart seemed to be ripping itself to pieces, even though his entire body was fizzing unpleasantly, like he had been shocked, like he had been left with too much energy and not enough things to do with it, even if he felt like he might burst… he wasn't going to back out now.
Slowly but resolutely, he made his way to his father's side, standing tall and glaring at the Superior head on. He could feel Cloud's eyes on him, a hint of surprise, gratefulness, pride… and worry in his gaze. Roxas paused to flash a brief smile at the man, as reassuring as he could muster in his current state.
He figured he must have looked about as awful as he felt, and if that was the case, there was no wonder the other man was worried.
Roxas felt cold and ill, his connection with Sora at the moment seemed oddly erratic, as though their body was having trouble keeping the two apart, telling which one was in control.
But none of that mattered right now.
Because it was time, once and for all to end this.
And so the two stood; one whose time had been in the past, the other, in the present, ready to face the Superior.
As father and son.
Haha… I am no good at making things dramatic pfft.
Also, wow Cloud, you couldn't even defeat Xemnas? And you beat Sephiroth easily enough with Zack. Well actually, it wasn't easy. But let me tell you guys, it was a great story. You'll never get to hear it.
No but being serious, Cloud is totally strong when it comes to his magic, make up whatever excuse you want for his performance here; he was having a bad day, he had spent a lot of his magic returning Riku and Xion to normal, Xemnas was on magic steroids. Whatever.
The real reason I did it was because it was going to be a fight between Xemnas and Cloud, then I thought, Xemnas isn't really the Final Fantasy bad guy, it would make more sense for a Kingdom Hearts good guy to stop a Kingdom Hearts bad guy, right? Not to mention, Cloud didn't even come in until a little while later. For a long time he had no part in this story. Project Kingdom Hearts is about Roxas and Sora and their struggles. Therefore, it would make sense for those two to be the ones to deal the finishing or at least deciding blow in this battle. Especially because for Roxas in particular, the Superior was always a source of immense fear. So yeah.
Explanations~
Roxas: So I'm okay now?
Uh... well other than that 'mysterious' pain in your heart... I suppose so. Aya healed you.
Roxas: Oh good.