HnH: Okay. Lebrezie came the closest to guessing the actual ending, with the whole 'dead but alive' thing, so thanks to her and to Random, Miraclexofxlight, KasperLassie, Mr.Who, kinmoku2, Kamikaze-DES, helenluvsya, Feathers of Hope(awesome username!), and Ellie!
Oh, and, yes, I must say this ending was coming. I practically screamed out the ending in the disclaimer for chapter five, and in Naminé's mysterious drawings. So if you say this ending is too much like another anime, then go back and read chapter five's disclaimer, and when Naminé drew the mysterious picture(which happened thrice in the story, I believe) . Over and over and over again. xD
Angels in Flight: Towa no Shirube
Chapter 34: It's Time to Raise the Cross
"Um...heya, Roxas. What's up?" Sora laughed uneasily, waving to his brother. The brunette had absolutely no clue how to stop Roxas from WHATEVER his diabolical plans were, but Sora did have a goal. He just had no idea how to achieve that goal.
"Sora! You leave me and Naminé alone!" Roxas snarled, throwing a keyblade at him. Sora yawned and scratched his head, reaching out to grab the keyblade Roxas threw at him.
"She's kind of...dead, you know? Vayne killed her." Sora said, not afraid of Roxas at all. After all, he did beat him half to death at L.A.X. It may have not been the actual Sora and Roxas duking it out, but that was a test of their abilities and Sora came out on top.
"I know that, idiot! Do I look stupid to you?!?" The blonde barked. Sora sighed and sat down, knowing this would probably be a while.
"No, but you do look deranged. You know, you're making the weather all weird. It's going to ruin my outrageously spiky hair." Sora said, tilting his head slightly.
"But they all deserve to die! Vayne strangled her and to her last breath she--"
Before Roxas could finish, Sora replied, "You killed Umiri. Using the same perspective as you, wouldn't that mean that all angels deserve to die?"
"...This is different! Angels aren't violent! They don't kill unless the Authority tells them to!" Roxas yelled, beginning to continue his sentence that Sora had cut him off on when Sora cut him off again(How rude!).
"So then, all the deaths you've caused are justified just because you're an angel? Am I really supposed the Authority told you to kill all those people?" Sora asked, tilting his head again. The moogle, who was still there, was just watching the conversation. The furball was fascinated by how much Roxas and Sora looked alike and wondered whom the brunette was and what their connection was.
"I'm not--it's not--"Roxas shook his head and summoned the keyblade he had thrown at Sora, "It's just as I thought, Sora! We will never be able to see eye-to-eye."
"Well, duh." Sora stood and summoned Kingdom Key, "I'm, like, an inch taller over you." It was then that Sora had a plan. 'I really hate to do this, but I don't want any violence. This is the only way to make Roxas not be an idiot for once in his life.'
Roxas prepared himself for an attack, but none came. "It's a shame it's come to this, Roxas. But..." Sora sighed and held out his hand, "Give me One-Winged Angel." He said, the Kingdom Key becoming his silvery wing.
"What? Why should I?!?" Roxas yelled, wondering why Sora would want One-Winged Angel. The blonde was extremely attempted to throw Sora out of the cathedral, but he knew from experience that the brunette could practically throw him to Heaven if he wanted to. Sora was just that more powerful in comparison to his brother.
"Because you have, like, fifty bajillion to spare! Give me one! In an aerial race you'd beat me with all your wings tied, anyway!" Sora said, holding out his hand again. Roxas rolled his eyes as one of his wings disappeared, and he threw the One-Winged angel at Sora.
"Let me ask you to reconsider: Are you positive about eliminating the whole human race just for one girl?" Sora asked, tossing the keyblade up in the air and catching it.
"Yes." Roxas said, preparing for battle. "They murdered her...they murdered her, Sora! Naminé did nothing to them and they KILLED her!"
"Okay." Sora sighed. Much to Roxas' surprise, the brunette did not attack. Instead--he cut off his own wing that represented Kingdom Key. The silvery feathers scattered on the floor glowed and formed the Kingdom Key, which was glowing with insane amounts of holy power. Remember, Tifa gave her holy power to Sora but gave her six wings to Roxas. Sora winced and took in a sharp gasp, rubbing his bloody shoulder, feeling the stump that was now his wing.
"You idiot! Now you're one of them!" Roxas yelled, and Sora shrugged, grabbing the Kingdom Key which he was still able to wield. Although Sora was now not much of an angel, he was still an angel and therefore able to wield the keyblade.
"Yeah. Now you need to kill me too. No big deal for you, right? Just snap your fingers and I'm gone." Sora said indifferently, wondering if the weather was still wacky. He pointed the Kingdom Key at the ceiling and blasted a hole through the ceiling with the power it had from Sora. The brunette immediately got drenched/pelted with hail/frozen with snow/covered in sleet. He stepped away from the hole in the ceiling, shivering. 'Yeah, the weather's still wacky...'
"I-I can't kill you! You're my brother!" Roxas said, his eyes back to that sky blue hue. "W-Why...did you do that, Sora? That's an irreversible decision!"
"..." Sora did not reply and looked back up at the patch of sky through the hole in the ceiling and back at the Kingdom Key. He then pointed the keyblade at the patch in the ceiling, and the glow disappeared from the blade and shot towards the sky. It made this cool 'wron' noise(and it looked like the sky kind of exploded) and the sky changed dramatically.
The people outside saw the change. Half the sky was moody and changing, the other was sunny and peaceful, without a cloud to be seen. Fortunately, the citizens of Tsugare were now under the calm sky, and not the violently raging one. Sora glanced back at Roxas, who had a keyblade to his Ultima wing.
"If you do that, then I have to, too!" Roxas shouted, but Sora just shook his head and yelled 'Wait!' But Roxas just replied, "We live as brothers and we die as brothers. If you don't have any wings, then it's fair that I shouldn't have any, too. Besides, if I don't have any of my holy power, I can't really do any damage while berserk. It's better for everyone!" The blonde looked back at Naminé. "If I had done this sooner, Naminé...I'm sorry..."
"You can't, Roxas! I won't let you! You're more important than me, you have six wings! You can't waste that!" Sora said, shaking his head. Roxas sighed and glanced back at Naminé.
"Is that the only thing that was special about me all this time? That I have six wings? I hate it, Sora! You might think it's great that your brother is the only angel in the entire world that has six wings, but I can't stand it! It's always 'six wings' this, and 'six wings' that, and 'Heaven loves you 'cause of your six wings', and 'oh dear you're powerful ONLY because of your six wings'..." Roxas shook his head, "No more!"
Sora couldn't watch, so he squeezed his eyes shut. Cutting off your wings HURT like a mother, and if Roxas was doing it six times...That was when...
"Stop it!!" Sora heard a girly voice shout. The brunette opened his eyes to see Naminé, all ghostly, holding onto Roxas' arm and wrenching it away from his wing.
"N-Naminé?!?" Both brothers shouted. Sora looked and saw that her body was still lying on the altar. Then that meant...
"Don't do this, please. Don't hurt yourself. I won't be able to stand it. Please!" She begged. Roxas glanced at Sora who shrugged.
"How did you get here?" Roxas asked, and Naminé pointed behind her. Both boys looked and saw...
"Sephiroth?!?" Sora exclaimed. Roxas did not seem as surprised, "What the heck is Sephiroth, the emblem of all angelic evil, doing here?!?"
"I learned that..." Naminé started, sighing, "I learned that he was my Guardian Angel." Sora could just gawk. Roxas walked over to his brother and did the courtesy of shutting his mouth for him.
"It's true. Seifer and I met him once in Heaven. Seifer really liked him because Sephiroth gives off this whole 'evil' aura. Of course, Seifer is dead and gone now, so..." Roxas shrugged.
"I appreciate you calling me the emblem of angelic evil, Sora. I will be sure to let everyone know." Sephiroth said, then turned to Roxas, "Now, dealing with the death of Naminé...she should have been dead. But you took my job as her guardian--"
"You were too busy protecting Mizu no Akashi!" Roxas retorted.
"No, I was too busy cleaning up after a mess someone made after that someone let a mortal girl see all the keyblades!"
"Oh, like it was MY fault the keyblades scattered!"
"Yes, you are entirely too trusting for your own good!"
"Ha! You should tell that to Sora!"
"But Sora was not the one who caused a fatal blow to the whole angel race, now was he?"
"Yes, but he was the one gallanting off with Destiny Kingdom to become ME!"
"That is not my pro-"
"PULL IT TOGETHER!" Sora yelled, not able to take Sephiroth and Roxas fighting. Sephiroth would win, anyway. "This is NOT the time for fighting! Roxas has jumped off the deep end, Naminé is a fudgin' GHOST and the weather is threatening to kill all of us! We need to fix this, people!"
Sephiroth snapped his fingers and they were all on top of a cloud. Everything had an ethereal glow. Roxas looked around, and saw the whole Organization(all ghostly) standing outside of a golden gate. He, Naminé, Sora, Sephiroth(and much to his surprise), Tifa, Ellie, Rikku and Random were all standing inside of the golden gate. Roxas flew over to the golden gate, and the others followed.
"Roxas, are you alright?" Tifa asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I wonder...I don't know the answer to the question." Roxas turned away from the Organization members who had their backs turned to him. "So, why are we up here?"
"We're here to discuss what to do with my lord." Random said, obviously meaning Roxas when she said 'my lord'. Sora and Naminé, who had been making a cloud castle, stood up and walked towards the group assembled right inside of the golden gates.
"That's the Organization!" Naminé pointed out. As if on cue, all the Organization members turned around and gasped. Roxas sighed and covered his ears as they all screamed the obvious(that Roxas was there and how much they loved their 13th member).
"They're so annoying." Said...Ienzo and Axel?!? Both of whom were standing with the group inside of the gate.
"You guys died, too, huh...I'm sorry." Roxas sighed, sitting down. Everyone else sat down as well. "So..."
"I think we should get rid of the weather first! 'Cause, y'know, people are going nuts because they think it's the apocalypse, with the sky all calm and then weird like that!" Rikku said, and fellow member of the Angel Five, Ellie, nodded.
"Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo are handling that as we speak." Sephiroth said, and then turned to Sora, who was still handling the Kingdom Key. "Sora, do us a favor and turn around."
"Huh? Why?" Sora blinked, looking at everyone in confusion. Then he shrugged and did as Sephiroth asked. Everyone excluding Roxas gasped.
"You...You cut off your wing?!?" Tifa exclaimed, and soon Sora got hugged by Rikku, Random, Ellie and even Naminé. Sora grinned and gave a secretly jealous Roxas a thumbs up. The girls then gave Sora their deepest apologies and whatnot.
"I didn't have a choice. It was to help Roxas become sane. And he is right now, but we don't know how long that's going to last so we need to think of something soon!" Sora said, and they all nodded in agreement.
"But the reason why he became insane is because Naminé died, right? I think it's safe to say that we all want to prevent this from happening again..." Ellie said.
"If only I were stronger...I-I'm sorry..." Naminé said, hanging her head in shame.
"It's not your fault, Naminé!" Roxas assured her, giving her a quick hug and earning an 'awwww' from everyone else. Sephiroth then cleared his throat which ruined the potential moment.
"Naminé is a ghost for good now, I hope you realize that." Sephiroth stated.
"A...A ghost?!? You mean...she'll always be roaming the Earth? She'll never become an angel? I'll never see her again!" Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as Roxas' eyes darkened again. Sora, Ienzo, and Axel all collectively sighed as they restrained him from lashing out at Sephiroth.
Roxas, however, blasted them all back with a burst of holy power. He was abut to charge when Naminé stopped him by standing in front of him. "Relax! We're going to solve this in a completely peaceful manner! Please, Roxas, calm down!" Naminé said, and he just looked away with an angry look on his face.
"I have an idea! If we team up, we can revive her again!" Rikku suggested, but Sephiroth shook his head.
"I refuse to bring any more shame to my name! Everyone has revered me since I built Mizu no Akashi, but when she died and then got revived...I refuse for it to happen once more!" He said.
"But I refuse to live if I can't be by her side! She's my one and only..." Roxas said, shaking his head.
"I have an idea!" Axel said, and the whole Organization including Roxas looked shocked.
"Oh no! Axel has an idea!" Arlene screamed, and the members of the Organization took cover. Whenever Axel had an idea...it usually got them in near-death situations or it involved blowing up things. Either or, it was never a good thing.
"Why doesn't Roxas just chill out with the Organization for the rest of his days?" Axel asked, shrugging his shoulders slightly. Everyone blinked.
"Axel...coming up with a...brilliant idea? Oh my god, it really IS the apocalypse! Everyone, run to your mommies and hide!" Dyme shouted, and the Organization that was outside of the gate hid behind Ansem. Sora and Roxas hid behind Tifa, and Ienzo was behind Naminé who hid behind Sephiroth, and Rikku was behind Ellie. Only Axel was out in the open.
"You guys are idiots...so, what do you say, Roxas? Do you want to re-join the Organization until the world really does end?" Axel asked, and everyone scattered out from beneath their hiding places.
Roxas smiled and said, "I accep-"
"He declines." Sephiroth answered. Roxas stared at him blankly, and the Organization 'awww'ed, "Roxas, do not forget YOU need to collect all of the keyblades. And you still need to do those 10,000 deeds in order to not reincarnate anymore."
"That will take forever! I'm not searching the whole word and then do 10,000 good things just to be reunited with Naminé again! And I can't...I can't be reincarnated, either. I want to remember everything that happened between us!" Roxas said, his face turning red. Sephiroth sighed.
"You can't get everything you wa-!"
"Yes, Sephiroth, Roxas can!" Tifa interjected, "He has every right to be happy! In his past life, he took his own life. Do you really wish to lose the one and only six-winged angel there is?"
"See? What did I tell you?!?" Roxas whispered to Sora, who remained silent.
"No, I suppose not." Sephiroth said, and sighed. "Why must you be so difficult, Roxas?" The silver-haired man asked, shaking his head.
It was then that six people showed up. "Hey, it's the people that jailed us, that hot chick and her daughter, and Vinnie! Wazzup?" Axel said, waving at Lucrecia, Vincent, Marlene, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo.
"Hello, Mother." Vincent said to Tifa, inclining his head slightly. Roxas and Sora's mouths dropped open.
"T-That's our half-brother?!?" They said simultaneously, the both of them thinking, 'So that means Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo are somewhat related to us?!?'(at this thought, Random giggled). Tifa nodded. "What about our other one?"
"Well...he..." Tifa started, then she shook her head. "I'll tell you later. Right now we need to concentrate on making sure you don't go crazy again, Roxas. Oh, by the way...what did you all come for?" She asked as Marlene shouted 'Grandma!', ran up to her, and hugged her leg.
"The weather has been fixed, Father." Vincent said. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo growled.
"We..." Kadaj started,
"Were..." Loz added,
"Supposed..." Yazoo said,
"To say that!" The three finished.
"Sephiroth, what are we going to do about Roxas?" Lucrecia asked, adding, "If we let him live you know what will happen. If we let him die the future I saw will be rewritten."
"So it's a lose-lose situation, huh? I say we DON'T let him die! That would be, like, so totally not fair! Roxie can choose his own fate!" Rikku said.
"I don't want to die, but..." Roxas sighed, sitting down. Everyone else sat down as well, "But I have to live! I have to live in the memory of Naminé, but everyone keeps on saying I kill myself...I don't want to die from my own hands! But I CAN'T die if I don't kill myself, so..."
"Foxie Roxie is faced with such a predicament!" Arlene giggled, flipping her blonde hair, "To die or not to die, that is the question!"
"I have an idea!" The similarly-named girl exclaimed, tugging on Sephiroth's pants. The silver-haired man leaned down to hear what his granddaughter's idea was, although it probably wasn't a good one...
"Marlene, that's brilliant!" Sephiroth exclaimed, and Marlene beamed, glad she was of use. "This idea WILL take explaining..." He cleared his throat as everyone(excluding the Organization members whom were outside the gate) gathered 'round. "Before I start, I will need total co-operation from both Sora and Roxas." He said as Marlene told Tifa, Lucrecia, Vincent, and the triplets of the plan.
"Why? What are you going to do?" Sora asked, glancing at his brother who shrugged.
"If I tell you of this plan and you two don't agree, I might have to kill you." Sephiroth said. Both of their mouths dropped.
"Wha-What?!?" They exclaimed in perfect harmony. It was a few moments of long, awkward silence before everyone excluding the twins burst out into laughter.
"Sephy was just joking, guys! And you BOTH fell for it!" Rikku giggled. "So, what's your big masterplan, Sephy?"
"Do not..." Kadaj started, ('Oh boy here we go' was what the rest were thinking)
"Call father..." Loz continued,
"'Sephy!'" Yazoo sneered. Rikku just rolled her eyes, like she was going to pay them ANY attention at ALL.
"Marlene's idea is quite simple, really." Lucrecia said, "It's based on the principal of two souls sharing one body."
"Two souls sharing one body...?" Sora asked. Wait. So if Sephiroth asked them both for total co-operation, then that meant...
"Eeeewwww! No way no way!" Roxas shouted with a rather girly voice that made Naminé and Marlene giggle.
"How about this, Roxas. I make a deal to you: You need to go out and collect all the keyblades. However, that will take thousands of years. This is the only way you can go out and retrieve all of them without growing old. And here's the catch: If you collect all of them, I will revive Naminé." Sephiroth said.
"But I'll be SHARING a body with SORA." Roxas yelled, "That is so totally wrong in SOOOOO many different ways!"
"Don't worry, I'm sure the young, beautiful Naminé will love you even when you're a crusty old man." Random said, giggling a little.
"And our culture will so accept you guys together even though there's an obvious age difference!" Ellie said cheekily, winking at him. It made Roxas wonder whether they were kidding or not...
"How about this: Roxas, you can separate from Sora anytime. But every time you do, you will get closer to going berserk. So, as of now, if you two were sharing a body and were separated, you'd go berserk." Tifa smiled.
"Hey! I never agreed to this! Why are you guys talking like it's final?!?" Roxas yelled. "And besides, even if I'm IN Sora's body which-EWWW on SO many different levels-(he shuddered as he said this) I'll still grow old and whatnot. How will this help?"
"I have an idea!" Naminé piped up, "Why doesn't Roxas, like, transfer over onto Sora's kids. That way he'll be youthful when I see him!"
"Naminé!" Roxas shouted, and she just shrugged.
"I think...I think you have to do this." She stated, and then snapped her fingers as her sketchbook magically appeared in her grasp. "I finally understand my drawing." She flipped to a page and showed Roxas. It was him with Sora floating above him...and a bunch of other people he couldn't care about at this certain moment in time. "It's you, taking possession of your and Sora's body..."
"Will I be able to do that, Sephiroth? I mean, if I agree with this and all?" Roxas asked.
"First of all, we will need Sora's co-operation more than yours, secondly, yes, I can make that possible. But it would be quite hard since both of you would want possession." Sephiroth said.
"There should be a trigger." Ienzo said, "Maybe Sora could feel anger or hate and turn into Roxas. Then when Roxas feels happiness or joy he could turn back to Sora. I also think...that as they take possession, their appearance should change according to who's in control. Therefore they would be able to distinguish who's in control."
"That's perfect!" Tifa shouted, and then cleared her throat. "Of course, are you both game with this?" She asked the two.
"Don't worry, as the process begins I'll sort out all the details with everyone." Sephiroth stated.
"Oh, one more question," Roxas began, "What happens to Naminé? You said she'd be revived, so will she just wait up here until I find all the keyblades?"
"We'll take care of her, Roxas. We promise." Axel said, nodding his head. The whole Organization cheered, and Naminé blushed slightly.
"You realize that Naminé may or may not remember her relationship with you. But she will look exactly the same as she does now. That I will promise." Sephiroth said, waving his hand towards the gate as it opened.
"That's fine." Naminé said, and then turned to Roxas, "Roxas...I may not remember you, and you may not remember me, but we will see each other again. Whether it be 5,000 or five years from now. That I will promise."
"Okay." Roxas smiled, taking off his dogtags and handing them to her. "You did a good job the first time. You need to finish the promise this time, okay?" She nodded, as Axel and Ienzo walked to the other side of the gate.
"C'mon, Naminé, let's get going!" They shouted, the whole Organization already have created portals. The blonde Princess(no, I am NOT talking about Roxas) smiled, waved and walked over to the gate. Everyone was waving back at her too.
"Goodbye!" She shouted, stepping on the other side of the gate and putting the dogtags on. As soon as the gate closed, the darkness of the portals began to envelop her. Naminé's eyes widened and she reached her hand out, shouting, "Roxas! I remember everything now! The true..." And then, she was gone.
Sephiroth tossed Roxas something, and he caught it. "The Eien no Tobira?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.
"It's where they all are, now. Including Naminé. It's where I will draw her soul from. If you lose it or it gets destroyed, everyone will die." He said.
"Anyway, onto more important things..." Tifa said, "Sora, Roxas, if you choose to go through with this, all of us will guide you and your children. That we promise." They all nodded, and Roxas stepped forward, towards Ellie.
"No...Ellie, I want you to find Baralai. I want you two to reestablish your severed relationship." Roxas said, and Ellie nodded with tears in her eyes. "The rest of you, I will see you all later, okay?"
"If not in this life, the next!" Rikku said, giggling and flipping her blond hair.
"You're going to go through with this?" Sephiroth asked, surprised that his demeanor had changed so quickly. No...maybe Sephiroth shouldn't have been surprised. They did save Naminé from being a ghost after all. And Roxas and Naminé did make a promise.
"What do you say, Sora?" Roxas asked, looking at his brother. Would Sora go through with all of this just so Roxas could reunite with his own true love?
"I say..."
And now, the epilogue. -sigh- In case you didn't know, the disclaimer of chapter five was referring to D.N.Angel. Oh, and...the epilogue of this story and the prologue of the next story, Angels in Flight: Eien no Tobira MAY be the same. May. Note the may. NOTE IT!
Oh, and, also, I WILL have sequel up almost immediately after I write the epilogue. So, depending on whether I write something different from the prologue of the next story or not, the epilogue of this story may take an obsecenely large amount of time. Oh, and, read the epilogue really slowly, that way when you scroll down to my stories in my profile, you'll see Angels in Flight: Eien no Tobira!
I hope to read all of your reviews again! But, if not...thank you for reading! Whether you loved or hated it, you stuck through reading half! I so appreciate that! Much love from me to you all! Mwah! -blowkiss-
Until next time
Hoshizora no Hikari