Shadows of a Dream: Final Mix
Chapter Thirty-Five – Everything Burns
"You know," Roxas said to Sora, "it figures that Marluxia would be a flower loving prince who needed a female bodyguard."
"There's nothing wrong with a female bodyguard," Sora replied, but the amusement was still there.
"Besides the point. I'm starting to think that he was actually supposed to be a girl, but someone realized that two girls trying to overthrow a male dominated group and failing would probably insult a lot of people so they turned him into a guy," Roxas said. Needless to say, Sora found this extremely amusing and no one else was sure why he was laughing.
Kairi spent a great deal of time touching Sora's hands lately. She found it incredibly odd that he wasn't wearing gloves, and his hands felt different thanks to the scars that now ran along them from the burns. He found it strange that she seemed fascinated with his hands, and Riku joked about her having a hand fetish.
Her reply to that was to look at him with a sly grin before saying, "Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet and big hands. And I gotta say, Sora's hands and feet are bigger than yours." Sora had found this absolutely hilarious too and Roxas commented that they had taught her well.
Midori had been fairly quiet. Riku had been the one she spoke to the most before, but now they rarely ever had a full conversation at all. Riku wasn't bluntly ignoring her (well, he was, but not all of the time), but he wasn't going out of his way to talk to her either. She had tried to talk to him once, and he had snapped that she should have told them earlier on.
Midori was sick of Riku treating her like something he had scraped off the bottom of his shoe, so she stormed into his room one morning when he was at his most vulnerable, when he was waking up and trying to hide himself because the rooms were all so hot lately that he tended to sleep naked. She had discovered this once by accident, and now she was taking it to her advantage.
"I'm not leaving," she said, folded her arms in front of her chest.
"There's this thing called privacy—"
"No," she snapped sternly, and Riku actually stopped talking. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture of her and said, "Yes, that was me when I was whole. I know something messed up because when I woke up I had green hair. Unless Crysita woke up first had decided to play stylist."
"I don't understand what you could be though," Riku said honestly. "I hung around the Organization for a while and apparently none of them really changed. You're not a Nobody, but you're not...real either."
"I'm not real?" she repeated, anger lacing through her voice. "If I punched you in the face and broke your nose that would be real. I am real Riku. Maybe not completely human, but real. Nobodies, they are real too. Not necessarily, but real. I've known that for a long time, because I hung around the Organization for a while too. Well, not me, but Crysita."
This caught Riku's attention, causing him to tilt his head in an almost Sora-like gesture. His suspicious gaze wasn't lost on her, so she said, "She got her whole universal domination idea from Xemnas. He never just wanted to become human again. He wanted to rule everything. He wanted to bring darkness to everything. She took his ideas and left before even Roxas did. She was number fourteen."
"I had heard rumors about a fourteenth," Riku admitted slowly, his mind flashing back to the time when Sora was asleep and he was wandering around trying to keep track of what was going on. He remembered being at Beast's Castle, and he vaguely remembered seeing a figure in an Organization that was shorter than the rest but definitely not Roxas. Glancing at Midori, he took in her features to see if they would match. She definitely was shorter than him despite being older. Actually, she was probably just a little bit taller than Kairi. It could have been her, he decided, but something didn't quite match up in his head. Of course, he barely remembered that. "I didn't think it was true."
"Oh yes, happy old Crysita was in the Organization," Midori said bitterly. "I see her memories from time to time. It's never at the time, usually when I go to sleep, but I still see them."
There was a silence between the two before Riku's eyes widened and he said, "Wait, you see her memories? Tell me, can you sense her?"
"What?"
"Try finding Crysita."
She closed her eyes for a moment before she said, "I don't know where she is but I can feel her."
"Oh shit," he said with alarm running through his voice. "Oh fucking hell."
"What?" Midori asked, eying him as if he was a crazy person. She quickly looked away as he jumped up, just barely remembering to wrap his sheet around his waist.
"You don't get it," Riku said. "If you can feel her and see her memories what's stopping her from seeing yours? It might not affect us right at the moment, but what if she can and saw everything that we've been doing? You know where we're planning on going, so maybe she does too."
She stared at him and said, "Well, what can we do about it?"
Riku opened his mouth to answer and closed it again. He stared at her for a moment before saying, "We change our plans, and we don't let you know exactly what's going on."
She seemed hesitant for a moment before saying, "If that's what it takes, then let's do it."
VVVVVVVV
Sora had been reading ('Shut up Roxas, I can read for fun too') sitting on one of large, comfortable armchairs in the lounge when Kairi came into the room wearing only her pajamas. She yawned and rubbed her eyes before they landed on him.
"Looks like Sleeping Beauty is awake," Sora said jokingly. He moved his book to the side after folding one of the pages, and Kairi instantly moved so that she was sitting on his lap. She was silent, only letting out a small yawn again, before taking his hand into one of hers and running the fingers of her other hand over it. Sora watched her for a moment and frowned before asking, "You okay?"
Kairi nodded her head and said, "Why did you get up so early? I felt you leave."
"I dunno. I was just restless and you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to bother you. I've been awake for a while. Went through Mickey's kick ass training simulator for a bit," he admitted while running his free hand up and down her back. To be quite honest, Sora was sure that he was suffering from a form of cabin fever. It had only been two days since escaping Forbidden World, but he was still all twitchy and eager to get out there again and fight.
"I didn't have any nightmares," she said suddenly. "Even after you were gone. I thought I would at first you know, but your bed is just so comfy that I didn't want to leave it so I just stayed there and I just tried to focus on happy things and I don't know, I just didn't have a nightmare. Maybe when we get home I should just try stealing your blankets or your clothes or something."
Sora laughed at her excited voice and said, "If you want to steal my blankets you can have 'em. I'm sure I can part with a few shirts too."
"That's good, cause I was gonna take them no matter what you said," she replied happily, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. She curled up a and leaned on him in silence for a moment before frowning and saying, "You smell."
"Wow, rude as fuck Iri."
"You do!" she cried out, throwing her arms in the air dramatically. "You said yourself that you were in the simulator earlier and then you just came here so you probably went in before taking a shower, got covered in sweat and just came here to let it settle. You need a shower!"
Sora was about to reply when they saw an annoyed Midori stomp by the door. They listened in silence when they heard her shove open a door roughly before slamming it behind her, Riku's startled cry reaching their ears. They were silent for a moment before Kairi said, "Shower, now."
Sora suddenly moved his hands so that they were resting on her rear before managing to stand up. She let out a small scream of surprise as her hands latching around his neck tightly and her legs gripping around his waist. Her sudden movement caused Sora to stumble and they ended up crashing into the wall. Kairi let out an 'oof' from the force of being sandwiched between the wall and Sora, but she didn't get the chance to say anything as Sora silenced her with a deep kiss.
At first she playfully resisted him, smiling slightly against his lips. He didn't acknowledge her resistance though, just kept on kissing her, and suddenly a wave of panic flashed through her. She could hear Naminé trying to calm her down, but all she could think about was Jorix trapping her on the wall and then—
Sora suddenly pulled away, looking at her with alarm. She hadn't realized that she had tensed right up, tears welding up in her eyes, and had been whispering for him to stop, even against his lips. He quickly let her down as she hugged herself tightly and let her tears fall silently.
Kairi watched as his hands rose and fell several times, and she knew that he wanted to hug her and comfort her, but he wasn't sure if he should touch her. She could see the slightly hurt look on his face as well, and instantly felt bad. This wasn't someone trying to hurt her. It was someone she loved trying to be affectionate with her. Kairi reached out and took his hands in hers and whispered, "I'm sorry." She didn't know why it had happened. She hadn't had an episode like that in a while now. Hell, not even minutes before she had been so excited because she hadn't had any nightmares even without Sora there the night before.
"It's okay Iri," Sora mumbled as he gently pulled her close. He felt horrible. He had let himself get carried away and he had hurt her. He never wanted to hurt her. "Everything is fine. I promise."
VVVVVVVV
"Burning Embers," Mickey said while looking down at the world below them. "One of the shards of Twilight's Destiny."
"Lovely place," Midori said warily, her eyes glazing across the surface of the world they hovered over. It didn't look like there was any vegetation on the world at all, only rocks and fire and lava.
"Could we even breathe if we went there?" Riku asked curiously. "There's no plants, so no oxygen."
"How are there fires then?" Kairi pointed out. "They won't burn without oxygen."
"So it's coming from an unknown source somewhere," Sora reasoned. "Not the weirdest thing we've ever seen. Maybe just one or two of us should go out first though." His eyes flickered to Kairi before he added, "Just in case."
"I suppose that makes sense," Mickey agreed. "Then they can just stand a little bit away from the portal in case the air isn't breathable."
It was voted that Goofy and Riku would go out first. They were only gone for a few minutes before coming back. Riku explained that they could breathe, but they probably shouldn't stay too long because of all the smoke and ash in the air. Sora expressed worry about Kairi going but she just rolled her eyes and said that she didn't have breathing problems and if anything, they should be worried about him because he just seems to attract pain recently.
Riku pointed out that both of them seemed to attract more pain that anyone else. He also advised everyone to be cautious, because there was a chance that Crysita would know that they were in this world, and from the looks of it, it wouldn't be hard to do one of them in by knocking them into a lava pit or something. He told everyone else that Midori wasn't to be told anything about their plans for now on, telling him that it's possible her Nobody-ish-type-thing would know where they were by looking into her dreams.
Kairi, while warming up to Midori a bit again, seemed instantly wary after she found out about this development. She did have to smile a bit when Riku suggested blindfolding her. The green-haired girl pointed out exactly how stupid that sounded, and then Riku pointed out that he had done it for nearly a year. Kairi added that he had been an emo though. Riku and Midori ended up getting into a rather light-hearted argument about who could fight blind better. Mickey suggested leaving the two of them on the ship to get their search over with, and that was exactly what they did.
"Thanks for waiting," Riku said as he and Midori caught up to the rest.
"We didn't want to have to deal with you," Sora replied with a shrug.
"I don't like this world," Donald muttered. "Why would anyone put a gate to an important world here?"
"Why not?" Mickey asked with a shrug. "This is a place where people wouldn't be able to stay for very long periods of time, and it's possibly surrounded by fire and lava."
"Great, I bet it's floating over a massive river of lava or something," Donald grumbled angrily.
"Don't worry Donald," Sora said with a wide smile. "We won't turn you into a roasted duck."
"That's right," Riku agreed. "We don't have the right seasoning."
Midori, Sora, and Riku all laughed while Donald folded his arms in front of him and Kairi shook her head. Mickey remained indifferent to the conversation but they saw a small smirk on his face and Goofy just looked confused. They continued wandering around the world, hoping that whatever they were looking for would jump out at them. The air was thick and hot, and soon they all found themselves sweating and breathing heavily. All of them were in good shape, but this was ridiculous.
"Are you sure there isn't anything you can turn us into?" Kairi asked Donald after a few minutes. "It's so hot."
"No," the duck said after a moment of thought. "I could put shields of ice around us though."
"That won't work," Sora said, giving Donald a very odd look. "We'd have to wait for it to melt to keep moving."
"If it makes you feel any better, I have amazing air conditioning in your head," Roxas joked.
"I'll give you air conditioning!" Sora said aloud, causing everyone to stare at him oddly.
"Sora, you're talking to yourself," Goofy observed.
"No, I'm talking to Roxas," Sora said with a shrug. He shrugged off his zip up shirt, and everyone watched as he shoved it into the pockets that were attached to his pants.
"Sora can fit everything into his pants," Kairi said with a shrug. Donald and Goofy were used to him shoving a billion things into the pockets, but no on else had really seen him shove such a big thing in them before.
Midori giggled a bit, catching Kairi's eyes as she said, "He can fit everything in his pants, huh?"
Kairi blinked and stared at her with confusion before a bright red blush appeared on her face. She mumbled under her breath and caught up to Sora. The two weren't standing extremely close or holding hands or anything though, because it was just too hot to be all over someone.
Riku rolled his eyes at Midori, having caught the exchange.
Sora carefully climbed up one of the rocky hills ahead of them, looking around the world in wonder.
"Axel would have loved it here," Roxas commented. "It'd be so easy to set of a massive fireworks display. Or a display of anything explosive. He did that for us once, up on the train station tower in Twilight Town."
'Us?' Sora asked him, not speaking out lout this time, nor pointing out the obvious danger of setting off explosives or fireworks off of the top of a very high train station.
"Yeah. Me, him and-" Sora could feel Roxas' confusion before he hesitantly said, "It must have been Crysita. Seems out of her character though. Maybe she wasn't as batshit crazy then. There was a girl though, and it definitely wasn't Larxene. By that point of time you had taken both Larxene and Marluxia out, so we can't say I'm mistaking him for a girl."
'Probably Crysita,' Sora agreed. 'Funny how you don't have those memories anymore though.'
"No kidding," Roxas agreed.
Everyone else had stopped for a moment at the base of the hill, taking a moment to nibble at some ice shards Donald had created. Kairi looked up at her boyfriend and said, "Sora, come get some ice."
He was about to go back down the hill when he froze mid-step. He heard some shuffling, but as he turned around he felt something slam into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to slid down the hill, skidding painfully over the sharp, warm rocks and gravel that covered the ground.
"Sora!" Kairi screamed and tried to rush to his side. Midori grabbed her arm though, not letting her run. Kairi's sudden worry for Sora made her act irrationally, but Midori wasn't about to let her run into danger.
Sure enough, what seemed like dried out, petrified wood burst out of the ground in a spiral, and when it vanished, an imposing figure with only one arm was standing there.
Sora quickly got up, ignoring any discomfort that he had from his stomach. There would be a bruise later, but he had much worse. It was definitely just a tiny bump and not any sort of real injury. His Keyblade appeared in his hands and he went on the defensive.
"Sarlio," Midori growled angrily. He cast her a quick glance before turning his attention to Sora.
He observed how the brunet tensed up a little more, like a rattlesnake waiting to strike. It was like backing a wounded animal into a corner, and Sarlio knew that striking too quickly would cost him.
"I'm not here for playtime," Sarlio said loudly. He pointed his club at Sora and said, "You are going to come with me. Do that, and I won't kill them. Resist, and they're dead."
"Like you can beat all of us!" Riku seemed to appear out of nowhere, Way to Dawn coming down towards Sarlio's head. The attack was intercepted by Sarlio's weapon, but their enemy had to keep on his guard as Mickey lunged at him from the other direction. The two of them distracted their enemy as everyone else rushed to Sora.
"Are you okay?" Kairi asked him, worry evident in her voice. She knew how painful it was getting hit in the stomach.
"I'm good," Sora replied with a confident nod, not even feeling winded anymore. He was about to say something else when several Dusks appeared out of nowhere. They jumped at Mickey and Riku, pushing them away from Sarlio.
The man in question turned his attention to Sora, Kairi, Midori, Donald and Goofy. Though Sora prepared to strike, he wasn't able to as his friends crowded in front of him protectively.
"You're not taking him!" Donald exclaimed loudly.
"That's right!" Goofy agreed. They both shot towards Sarlio, but again, several Nobodies appeared between them and their target, forcing them to deal with that problem instead.
Kairi and Midori stayed in front of Sora, despite him saying that it was okay. They had already summoned Twilight and Oathkeeper, Midori keeping her Keyblade in a more offensive rather than Kairi's defensive stance.
"You're not taking Sora," Kairi snapped at him, repeating Donald's words.
"Who's going to stop me? The pretty princess? Or the other half of our leader? Right. Women are weak. Crysita wouldn't even be anything without the rest of us. All the lesser sex is good for is cooking, cleaning, lying back and letting us have our way with them, and popping out kids. Like your bitch for example. (He nodded at Sora). She wants to play knight, but all she's good for is a quick fuck."
Kairi's face didn't turn into a look of fear at his wandering eyes, knowing that he was doing it on purpose. Instead her face contorted into a look of pure rage as she said, "You want a bet?" Before he could block her with Dusks like he did to everyone else, she brought her Keyblade down on him. He grunted with surprise, managing to block the weapon just before it made contact with his head. He kicked her back, only to have to block Midori's attack. It was an almost mirror battle to his short one with Riku and Mickey before.
Sora felt a wave of affection pass through him, but not just for Kairi. It was for all of his friends, who were willing to risk everything for him. He quickly launched into the fray, noticing that twice as many Nobodies were appearing. Kairi and Midori were still fighting Sarlio, but the rest of them were forced to deal with the attacking Nobodies.
Riku was distracted when he heard a small scream from Midori. She stumbled backwards, skidding down a hill, just managing to stop herself before she would have been burned from the heat of the lava. Now Kairi was fighting Sarlio alone, and though Riku couldn't tell exactly what he was saying, he knew that Sarlio was trying to psyche Kairi out, probably bringing up her rape. Sora was surrounded by Nobodies and didn't notice, so Riku was the one to help her this time. Kairi was knocked to the ground, and he got there just in time to stop the attack.
Sora looked around him, realizing that he wasn't surrounded by Dusks anymore. Instead, Samurai Nobodies crowded around him, all standing still and straight. He breathed heavily, sweat pouring down his face as he looked from one enemy to the next. It was harder to breathe in this world, and the air was insanely hot.
"Samurais usually only attack one at a time," Roxas said to him. "Sor, you're exhausted. We already know that your physical injuries somehow don't affect me, so let me take over. We can switch back and forth to keep us both going. I used to control these things. Maybe I can still do it."
"Worth a shot," Sora muttered. There was a flash of pale blue light as Sora vanished and Roxas was standing in his place. Instead of Ultima in his hand, Roxas had Oblivion and Two Become One in his hands.
The Samurai that had been approaching suddenly stopped, staring at Roxas. They stared at each other for a moment before Roxas said, "Um...destroy those Dusks?" Without a second glance, the Samurai's turned around and started slashing at the weaker Nobodies.
"Well shit," Roxas heard Sora say. "They listen to you."
"Yeah, but the other Nobodies will fight back, and if he summons other types there are some that can definitely take these guys. We've got to finish him."
Nobody else had noticed Roxas' appearance. Not even Kairi and Naminé. The girl in question, and Riku, had actually lost sight of Sarlio in the flurry of Nobodies that appeared.
Roxas saw something shifting to his side and quickly moved, dodging out of the way as Sarlio appeared. The man looked at him with confusion, not quite sure who the blond was. In all fairness, he had seen Naminé, but he hadn't seen Roxas before. Still, Sarlio seemed to be nearly the twice the size of Roxas, so he didn't let his confusion at seeing this blond person was last long. He slammed his club down, but Roxas caught it between his two Keyblades. Sarlio backed off, snarling before rushing back towards Roxas.
The two slashed at each other, blocking and dodging when they could. Sora could feel the strain in Roxas' arms from Sarlio's overwhelming strength as Roxas blocked his weapon. He stumbled back, but instead of falling to the ground, Roxas managed to roll and stand up again.
Mickey easily defeated several Dusks in one hit, but as they vanished and he got a clear view of the fight, he froze. His eyes widened, and he would have been attacked from behind, but Kairi managed to get the Nobody before it got him. His gaze was locked on to Roxas, nothing short of intense surprise in them.
Kairi looked around to see what Mickey was looking at, and smiled a bit before muttering, "Roxas."
"Roxas?" Mickey repeated as he finally started fighting their enemies again. "That's Roxas? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, a hundred percent sure. Why?"
Mickey didn't answer because he wasn't sure how to answer it. When he pictured Sora's Nobody, he had first pictured someone who was identical to Sora (as most Nobodies were), but then he heard that Roxas had blond hair, so he pictured Sora but blond. The fact that he was seeing someone who looked exactly like him stunned Mickey. The mouse listened closely, and realized that even his voice sounded the same. It had been years since he heard that voice, but there are some things that a person just never forgets.
Sarlio seemed to have realized that he was fighting the Keyblade Master's Nobody. The one Crysita had mentioned. Sarlio grinned, realizing that the Nobody probably had the same weakness as the Somebody. Realizing this, Sarlio slammed his club into the ground and old, dried up roots started shooting out everywhere.
Roxas avoided this easily, giving his opponent an almost cocky look, which Sarlio only smirked at. There was a split second before a startled scream caused him to look around.
Kairi felt sheer panic flash through her as the dried wood somehow managed to wrap around her, forcing her hands to her sides so she was unable to use her Keyblade. Kairi felt her horror creeping up, unable to clear her thoughts.
"Kairi," Naminé yelled in her head. "Listen to me! Let me take over! It'll be okay! Just let me take over!"
Kairi was split in two, half of herself trying and failing to fight off the panic attack that threatened to consume her as flashbacks of begin held to a wall of stone, helpless, assaulted her. The rational part agreed with Naminé.
Sarlio wasn't paying attention to the girl, despite the fact that he was right in front of her with everyone else facing them, the battle having paused. He grinned and said, "Look Keyboy, here's the deal. Come with me, and she goes free. Don't, and she's coming with me and I'll make what Jorix did to her seem like bliss."
Roxas was angry, there was no doubting that, but the sheer rage that bubbled up from Sora was incomparable. Roxas had to keep him down, telling him that he would take care of it. At the moment, the Nobody was in a more rational state of mind. Suddenly, he saw a pale yellow flash of light behind Sarlio, and he let his eyes wander over for just a second. It was a long enough look to realize that Naminé was the one being held by the wood, but quick enough that Sarlio didn't notice. She wasn't traumatized in the way Kairi had been, so she was able to remain calm in the situation and actually looked a little angrier than anything else.
"No? Really? Well in that case—" Sarlio moved his hand towards the leg that he thought was Kairi's. Her legs were only loosely bound, because he had been expecting her surprise and panic to keep her subdued. What he wasn't counting on was Naminé to get her leg loose and kick him in the head as he touched her.
"Get your greasy hands off of me," she snarled at him, in an extreme contrast to her usual very calm and quiet self. Her friends with in danger, and she wasn't about to be just shut and quiet now.
Sarlio was effectively surprised, giving Midori the chance to break the wood holding Naminé, who stumbled to the ground but managed to catch her footing. It was a pretty impressive feat, because she was wearing a pair of sandals and they were standing on sharp stones and gravel. Midori helped her get away just in time before the club slammed into the spot where their heads had been moments before.
He seemed to go almost insane after this, like seeing his plan b fail destroyed any mental barriers he had. None of his attacks were thought out, instead rather wild and desperate. His club started to splinter, but it wasn't repairing itself, making the weapon more dangerous than before.
Riku tried to stop the raging bull, but the splitering club slammed into the side of his face. He barely managed to stay conscious as he felt the wood dig into his skin dangerously close to his eye. Midori got to his side quickly to look at it, and once she was sure that he wasn't in danger of loosing an eye, she said, "Whatever you do, don't fall asleep. Or I'll throw you to some fan girls. Got it?"
He nodded weakly.
Sarlio swung rapidly at everything, destroying even some of his own Nobodies that he brought. He didn't care who he hit. Goofy ended up getting bashed in the back of his head, but like he had stated many times before, he had a hard head and it took a lot to injure him.
Donald and Mickey, however, were hit hard. Donald slumped to the ground, a bit of dark red tinting the feathers on his head, and Mickey was thrown into a large, hot rock, slumping to the ground.
The enemy brought the club towards Roxas, but it never met its mark. Sarlio let out a choking sound and the club limply fell from his hand. He looked down and saw blood start to seep from his wound and turned slowly just after the weapon used to stab him was pulled out. Naminé stood behind him, looking torn between being stunned or proud of herself. There was a Keyblade in her hand tinted with the same, red colour as their enemy's blood.
Sarlio laughed insanely at the irony. The quiet, rather useless princess was the one to kill him. Not even her, her Nobody who seemed even quieter and even more useless. A woman had beat him.
Crysita would certainly have something to look forward to when she looked through Midori's mind that night. He slumped to the ground, not fading away though. The body stayed there.
"What did I just do?" Naminé asked, her eyes wide as the Keyblade vanished in a flutter of white sparks. "I—I actually killed him."
Roxas approached her cautiously before placing his hands on her shoulders and saying, "You did what you had to do. Look at what he did to Donald and Mickey. Look at the cut on Goofy's head and the splinter's in Riku's face. How about Midori's burns? Kairi's panic or Sora's exhaustion? If you didn't stop him, he would have killed us."
She nodded slowly, but still looked at the bloodstain on her white dress with a disbelieving stare.
Goofy moved over and picked up Donald and Midori hoisted a semi conscious Mickey up. Though Riku resisted a bit at first, he finally gave in and allowed Roxas to help him.
Midori looked at all of them and said, "Looks like we need to go back to the gummi ship to heal up before searching more."
"The gate's not here," Naminé said with a shake of her head, though her voice was still soft, shocked from what she had done earlier. "He wouldn't have been demanding Sora to go with him. It's not here."
Roxas squeezed her shoulder gently with his free hand as he helped Riku walk with his other side. They walked back to the hidden warp point, not a person without some sort of scar, and he suddenly said, "So, I'm passing out as soon as I get back. I'm exhausted."
"Me too," Naminé agreed. "Probably because we're not used to being on our own fighting." She knew that she'd have to talk to and comfort a still shaken Kairi later on before that.
"Probably," Roxas agreed. He wanted nothing more than to find a nice quiet place in Sora's mind to sleep in. Yes, such a place actually did exist. Then, as if reading Naminé's mind, he asked "Think Kai's gonna be okay?"
"She's passed out, even in here right now," Naminé admitted hesitantly. "She freaked. I can't say I blame her. I was there for that. I'll go into her room, just so she doesn't panic if she wakes up and there's a guy beside her."
"Think it put her back some?"
Naminé thought about this, realizing that everyone else was listening with interest. She sighed a bit, shook her head and said, "I dunno yet. I hope not. I'll talk to her when she's up again."
Roxas nodded. He really hoped that Kairi would be alright. Sora was strong, but he didn't know if Sora was strong enough for her to go back to the fearful, sobbing, frightened girl she had been after Jorix had taken her.
He really really hoped that she would be alright.
Author's Note
I know there are a few things I have to explain here.
IMPORTANT: When I wrote the original of this, we had no idea who the fourteenth member of Organization XIII was. No face, no name, nothing. All we knew was that it was a girl. So Midori and Crysita were created before we knew anything about Xion. That's why Midori says Crysita was 14, and why Xion isn't here. I didn't want to change this part from the original, and you'll see why down the line. This is one of those things you just nod your head to.
Two Become One – Before this Keyblade was known as Acrossing of Two. Two Become One is the official English name is was given in 358/2 Days so that's what I'm using. I think I used the other one before, but just go with this for now on. As opposed to the original Shadows of a Dream, this one is going to be Roxas' main Keyblade.
As always, thank you to my awesome reviewers! You guys are great!
Holy crap, my reviews are at 123 right now. Screen capping cause that's an awesome number! Some people get more reviews than I do but I don't even care. I just realized, looking at the stats, that this is already longer (word count wise) than anything I've ever written before. Even longer than Shadows of Reality and that has like 8 more chapters than this does (at the moment). That's just how much I love you guys, I feel like putting extra work in. lol
Anyway, now that I'm done being distracted, thank you to Trainalf, Shifuni, xlittleyingfax, shadowwolf547, jamrulz, BlackWhiteZangetsu, and NRZWol 13. You guys are awesome!
Krystal Lily Potter