Random really isn't the word! Set whenever the hell you like, or perhaps the future when Zidane enters into KH. Speaking of which I own neither characters or the many worlds they live in/visit.

For Ginger Ninja, because you put the cuteness in my head! I hope it's satisfactory…


It Rained

The room was dark, the perfect atmosphere for his mood, if not good for his spirit, not that he cared because really he had come in here purposely to be with himself. Shadows slinked around him, non-living and almost safe if not for the darkness that lingered in each one. He ignored the shifting shades, time creeping by and altering their shape as clouds passed and covered the night sky and what little remained of its stars.

The rain drummed a steady rhythm against the window, wind howling and battering the glass as he sat huddled away in a corner. He had purposely hurried away after the last conversation, wanting to secrete himself away until he was ready to face his friends again. They would be looking for him, he was sure, perhaps even a little worried right now. He frowned, brow crinkling, he didn't want them to be worried, but then he couldn't quite summon up the strength to go back out there either.

His fingers rubbed tiredly across his face. It had been building for a long time he knew, but the pressure that seemed to weigh on his shoulders with each flickering star was heavy, and he wondered sometimes whether it was just that little bit too heavy. Maybe somebody else would be able to handle it better. Somebody else's turn to play the hero. Because sometimes he felt as if he had had his fill.

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts. His eyes blinked closed, unconsciously backing further away into the corner and making himself as small as possible. Wrapping his arms around his knees and pulling them close to his chest. He kept his mouth shut tight, if he didn't answer, then perhaps whoever was on the opposite side of the door would just go away. The handle clicked, the door creaking open slowly and spreading a pool of light onto the soft spread of carpet.

"Sora?"

The brunette blinked tired eyes open, too late now he realised to pretend he still wasn't there, he'd been caught. The seeker, Zidane, gave a quick glance back outside the room and slipped through the door, closing it shut with one hand and enveloping the room in darkness once again. He waited, back leaning against the door, for Sora to speak.

"You found me." Sora shifted, trying to make himself look less in need of help than he was, a tangle of limbs trying to disappear. Less like he had been doing very un-Sora like wallowing.

Zidane coughed. "I saw you walk in here, but I thought you might need some space, if you..." He trailed off, fingers fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable with having barged in.

"I'm fine." He plastered on a smile for extra reassurance.

The blond eyed him suspiciously; blue eyes piercing and making him squirm. "You look like hell." The smile sank, eyes widening, head trying to think of a quick comeback and coming up blank. Not having yet met any hesitance, Zidane strolled further into the room, taking a seat on the bed and returning his gaze to Sora. "The bed not comfy enough for you?" His eyes twinkled with amusement.

"Its fine," he ground out, still miffed at the previous comment. "I just felt like sitting on the floor." He patted the carpet below him as if to make the sentence more realistic.

Zidane sniffed, blue eyes moving to wander around the room curiously, probably, Sora figured, searching for a topic of conversation. Instead of talk a heavy silence hung between them, one that Sora felt the need to fill, but not the words needed to do so.

Time crept by slowly; he rubbed a hand tiredly against his forehead, wondering if Zidane would take the hint soon and leave him alone.

"You should sleep."

Sora looked up. "I'm not tired." A blatant lie. He was tired, the bone weary kind where it felt like an effort just to breathe. Yet it didn't matter how long he lay in his bed, eyes closed and waiting, for sleep simply wouldn't come. Which was probably a good thing, he had decided, considering the past few times that he had slept, his dreams filled with images of friends drowning in darkness, tendrils stretching out and suffocating them as they stood. Meanwhile he existed in grey, watching from the sidelines helplessly.

Zidane seemed to catch the hidden anxiety, shifting on the bed until he caught Sora's attention. "I can stay if you want, wait while you sleep."

"You don't-"

"Like I said, you should sleep." Zidane moved off the bed, gesturing for Sora to take it. "I promise that I won't leave if that's what you're worried about."

Sora sighed, the kind that shook the whole of his body. "It's not." Well maybe it was, but on the list that was his worries, it was far down there with his hairstyle.

"Want to talk?" Sora shook his head vehemently, that was the last thing that he wanted to do.

The blond moved to sit beside him on the floor, tail flicking animatedly on the plush carpet. It was a moment of silence before he spoke again, tail pausing mid -swing. "You want to cry?"

He breathed deeply, inhaling the silence that followed, it was comforting, serious and completely unlike the atmosphere around Zidane that he was accustomed to, but then he wasn't exactly acting like himself either.

Before he realised what was happening, Sora's eyes burned, lump building in his throat and threatening to force out a sob. He shifted his hand to his eyes and scrubbed away any tell tale tears. He didn't want to cry, he was the keyblade master, he was sure that the hero's of the story never gave in to moments of fear and self-pity.

"It's okay."

Sora sniffed, looking up at Zidane, eyes gazing dolefully at him.

"This time, right now, cry."

Sora shook his head, "I can't."

Zidane turned to look at him, blue eyes glittering in the darkness. His expression the most serious that Sora had ever seen. "Why not?" He didn't answer straight away, the reasons coming to him in flashes, because he was supposed to be the one to keep it all together, the one that didn't give up even in the bleakest of hours. He was the one who should be fighting instead of moping in the darkness.

Zidane sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. "Even the hero needs a time to cry." He smiled, one of experience that said he'd been there, done that and bought the t -shirt.

"But-"

"It's okay."

Which was when he felt the first tear drip down his cheek and the ever-present lump tear a sob out of his throat? Then the next thing he knew he was blubbering, tears running rivers down his face and building a headache behind his eyes. His throat strained as he heaved and sobbed, wailing with everything that he had, clothes dampening as he attempted to brush away the wet from his face.

For a while Zidane sat in the darkness, eyes staring blankly at the wall ahead, offering no platitudes or words of reassurance, his presence alone enough for Sora to let go and anything else unwanted and unnecessary.

Eventually Sora looked up, tears still falling and throat raw. "M'orry." Zidane turned to look at him, seemingly startled from wherever his mind had wandered.

Sora blinked blood shot eyes closed, a hand touching his skin tentatively, surprisingly soft and timidly drying the tears that fell faster with each sniffle. "I said it was okay." Blue locked on blue, faces an inch apart. "You… needed it." Zidane closed the distance between them. For a second time stretched, their lips connected, joined together for that one moment, where everything seemed to slow and nothing else mattered.

Zidane pulled back, seemingly unsure whether he had made the wrong move. The brunette bowed his head, a small smile tilting his lips up.

"Thanks, Zidane."

The blond nodded, throwing a comforting arm around Sora's slim shoulders, the pair of them silent in the darkness as Sora's eyes slid closed and he entered the sleep of nothingness, the taste of salty tears still lingering on Zidane's lips as he watched over.

End.


Let me know what you think.