Black Garden
"K-Keyblade wielders, what're you talking about," Xion said in a desperate attempt to throw Xehanort off, but he didn't buy the act for a second and was more annoyed, than amused.
"Hmph, if you're going to lie to me, you can at least make yourself sound believable. Still, even though you are a keyblade wielder, I can sense how acclimated to the darkness you are."
"What do you mean?"
"It's because you're not afraid of the darkness..." He held out his arm and a long black cloak formed in his hand. "You're familiar with this type of garment, aren't you? You and that other keyblade wielder need these to withstand the darkness."
"How do you know about us?! Who are you?!"
"That doesn't concern you." Xehanort threw the black coat at Xion. "Put that on, you're coming with me."
"Why would I ever do that."
"You want to go home, don't you? If not, then certainly your friend will."
Xion's head and shoulders sank, losing her once defiant stance. She hated the fact she had to give herself up so easily, but if it meant keeping Roxas safe, then that was all the reason she needed. "Fine I'll go with you, but you have to promise not to hurt him."
"You have my word." He ended his sentence with a smirk, pleased everything was going his way as per usual.
After pulling the black coat over her school clothes, Xion waved Isa goodbye, then walked into the dark portal. Once they were completely submerged in the darkness, Xion felt a pull at her arm. She quickly spun her head round, muttering the name 'Roxas' under her breath, hoping and wishing it was him. However, she was surprised to find Isa glaring straight back at her.
Before she could formulate a response, Isa pulled her away and attempted to escape. But no matter how far they ran, Xehanort always remained two steps ahead and though they were able to lose sight of him, the way back home to their Radiant Garden was long gone.
"Shit, what do we do now?" Isa said.
"There's only one thing we can do." Taking initiative as Isa was starting to lose his confidence, Xion ripped off her black cloak and draped it over Isa.
"There, you need it more than I do." She took him by the hand, then forced herself into the unbridled darkness, searching desperately for a sliver of light that would lead them out of the shadows, wherever it would take them.
Finally, she found the light that freed them from the endless abyss and instead of being submerged in suffocating darkness, they were submerged in warm, tropical water. Xion and Isa swam their way to the surface and laid eyes upon a beautiful tropical island radiating under the sunlight.
Following a short swim, Xion and Isa collapsed on the sandy shores of the islands, exasperated and beaten. "Isa...hah..hah...what's wrong with you?!" Xion cried. "Now we're both trapped here! Why couldn't you let me go?!"
"I don't know, I thought I could pull you out in time."
"...just don't expect me to be different because you wanted to rescue me. I don't understand what people see in me that's worth saving anyway."
"That's funny coming from you."
"Why?"
"I figured you always had your head in the clouds. Didn't think you cared much about what other people thought of you."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, it makes you less boring." Isa stood up, then stretched his arms out.
Xion stood up along with him. "So you thought I was boring?"
"Yeah a little bit."
"Well my opinion on you still hasn't changed."
"Which is?"
"You're still a jerk, and I only tolerated you for Lea's sake. It doesn't matter what time I'm in, I can't even look at your face without thinking of..." Xion covered her mouth with her hands, shocked at what she just said. "No, no that came out wrong, I don't know why I would say that. I'm sorry, I must've really hurt your feelings."
"Nah, I'd hate for you to keep 'tolerating' me. Be as unfiltered as you like, I won't hold back either."
'Great, I'm such an idiot.' "Listen, let's just focus on getting off this island first. I would use the darkness again, but I'm afraid it's already gotten to me from being in there so long without a cloak."
"What're you talking about?"
"...Nothing. I'm going on recon, you can do whatever you want." Xion disappeared into the tropical foliage, she had kept it the back of her mind for the longest time, but there was something so familiar about the world. As if she already walked down the same path and seen the same palm trees swaying back and forth in the temperament weather.
It didn't take long for Xion to stumble across a far off island connected by a wooden bridge, where a star shaped fruit hung from a lopsided tree. She went over to inspect it, drawn by memory, only to get sidetracked when she saw two little boys chasing Isa across the beach with toy swords.
'I hope you can handle it Isa.' Xion sat down on the lopsided trees and watched the waves collide in constant battle. 'If only Roxas and Axel could be here, this world is beautiful. I wish I remembered its name.'
—
"Xion really is gone."
The night was nearing its peak and the stars began fading away into the blackness of the sky. Roxas and Lea finished their last search for their missing friend, by now the name 'Xion' had become implemented into each building and house, yet there was no sign of her.
"...You don't think Xion ran away, did she? She seemed really upset after she left the restaurant," Lea said.
Roxas shook his head. "No, she said she was going for a walk. I think something might have happened to her."
"Yeah maybe it was that castle guard guy."
"Doubt it, there's no reason he'd want her." 'By that logic, there's no reason Vanitas would go after her either, since he only wants me, and I know she wouldn't try to fight someone unless her life was in danger so what happened to her?'
"Roxas... hey Roxas, you ok?"
"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking to myself."
Lea rubbed the back of his head. "Uh...hey, I wanna find Xion as much as you do, but it's already past midnight and I need to head home. I got school tomorrow er...today and everything, I promise to help you out the moment I leave school though!"
"No it's okay, thank you for helping me tonight, it means a lot to me."
"Don't sweat, that's what friends are for. And you're free to stay with me at my place since you have nowhere else to go."
"Thanks, but I still wanna keep looking a little bit longer, I'll drop by later tonight."
"Cool, see ya later then!"
Once they parted ways, Roxas took to the rooftops where he could get a better scope of Radiant Garden, but in the dead of night, everything appeared formless, only taking shape under the illumination of the moonlight. Roxas summoned fire magic within the palm of his hand for some added illumination, then proceeded quietly across the slanted roofs.
As he was nearing the outskirts of town, Roxas could hear a sound trailing not too far behind him. He put out the fire spell and used a chimney as cover, waiting for his pursuer to make the next move. 'Wait, I know this presence. It's him, isn't it? Well I can take him.'
The moment Roxas stepped out of cover, he came face to face with Vanitas, fully masked and equipped with his keyblade. "Let's pick up where we left off, Ventus. And this time, there won't be any interruptions."
"If that's what you want, I'm ready to fight you."
A sharp, screeching sound erupted when their blades met again. Roxas pushed down on his blade, yelling, "You won't defeat me, Vanitas!"
"You're lucky if I even give you the mercy of just defeating you!" Vanitas' keyblade was engulfed in a veil of darkness, he disappeared, then reappeared on top of the chimney where he stabbed his keyblade straight down into the brick fixture. A flash of black lightning ripped through the remains of the chimney, then surged across the roof, making part of it cave in.
Roxas fell down into the building and landed on the next floor, which was fortunately an empty office, but it didn't stop the sprinkler system from going off. 'Maybe I can use this water to my advantage.'
He quickly rolled out of the way as Vanitas made his descent into the flooding room, then stood on top of a wooden desk. Roxas pointed his keyblade at Vanitas, mouthing the word 'thunder' and a dark cloud mass formed on the ceiling. Although Vanitas dodged the initial flash of lightning, when it struck the soaking wet floor, the electricity spread across the entire room and electrocuted Vanitas upon impact.
Despite receiving enough voltage to stop anyone in their tracks, Vanitas merely shook it off as if it were static electricity. "I'm surprised that girl didn't come up with that idea, if she was here anyway," He said.
"So you know what happened to her?! Then tell me where Xion is right now!"
"I don't know what you're talking about. Just face it, she doesn't give enough shits about you to stick around."
"Shut up! You don't know anything about Xion!" Roxas charged at Vanitas without his keyblade and slammed his fist straight down on his helmet. The resulting punch caused his helmet to once again shatter into pieces, which Roxas took as a chance to grab him by his spiky black hair, then throw him into the back wall.
"I know enough to piss you off, don't I?!" Using the back wall as a launching point, Vanitas propelled himself forward to lunge at Roxas. He crashed into him and the two of them smashed into the drywall, creating another hole in the building.
"You think you're so strong, Ventus?!" Vanitas said through gritted teeth. "But you can never beat me!"
Vanitas used his keyblade to stand himself up, then landed a direct strike across Roxas' chest. Roxas clenched his stomach, falling onto his knees first, then emitted a loud thump when he collapsed on the ground. Which Vanitas found to be a little more than disappointing that their battle couldn't last longer, but was intent to finish him off as promised.
"See ya on the other side." Vanitas raised his foot over Roxas' head and would've smashed it in, just like that, but before he could make contact, Roxas pushed Vanitas away, then picked himself up.
"Ha, I knew there was still some fight left in you!" He exclaimed, invigorated by his sudden burst of strength. When Vanitas swung his keyblade again, Roxas clasped his hand on the blade, stopping him in his tracks.
"I'm gonna break you." Was all Roxas said before summoning his keyblade as it now shone with a bright, white light that extended far beyond its usual close range reach. In a thunderous bout of rage, Roxas hammered down on Vanitas' keyblade until he broke through his defenses and forced him on the ground.
Acting with haste, Vanitas teleported behind Roxas, only for him to snatch his arm and slam him down on his back. Vanitas shook it off and lunged towards Roxas, keyblade in hand, sounding another ear-piercing screech when their blades made contact.
"Who are you?!" Vanitas demanded. "There's no way someone like you could be Ventus!"
"That's 'cause I'm not." Four pillars of light surrounded Vanitas, then collided into him. The small office was soon basked in a white light, that swallowed everything within its reach. When the light exhausted itself, so did Roxas and Vanitas who were both lying on the ground.
"Your power's no good if it leaves you exhausted."
Roxas was pulled to his feet by a strong force. Though his vision was cloudy and he was teetering on the edge of consciousness, he could still see the prominent features of Terra's face, beaming with radiance even in the night. "I'll take it from here," He said coolly.
"...You're...you're not even gonna let me finish what I started." Roxas fell back down on his knees.
"This isn't just your fight." Terra approached Vanitas, then kneeled down on one leg. "I said I would hunt you down Vanitas, but even if I destroy you now, you'll only come back for him in another world."
"Damn it, then let me do it if you won't!" Roxas yelled.
"I already told you, this isn't your fight, only Ven can finish him off for good. What matters is you kept him away from Ven, that's all we can do for him."
"I don't care..." Roxas dragged himself over to Vanitas, inching closer and closer to him until he could see his bruised face that was partially shrouded by shards of jet black glass. He grabbed the shattered remains of his helmet off the floor, then began piecing it back together on his face.
"What're you doing?" Terra asked.
"I hate looking at his face when it looks so much like mine...like Sora's." Once Vanitas' face was fully covered, Roxas stood up, his keyblade forming in his hand. He raised his keyblade over his body as if to impale him, only to strike his keyblade into the ground beside him.
"...I don't know who I'm supposed to be anymore," Roxas said, his voice shaking. "I thought if I didn't care about the small things, maybe they would go away, but now I'm just an idiot who doesn't know anything. Am I supposed to be Sora...or is Vanitas who I really am? Maybe I'm everything Sora hates."
Terra gave Roxas a sympathetic pat on the back. "Hey, I'm not sure how much this will help you, but if you're ever doubting yourself, think about what you're fighting for and stay focused on that."
Roxas thought in silence for a moment, contemplating on his answer. "...guess I'm just fighting so I can eat ice cream at the clock tower with my best friends afterwards."
"Then that's all you need...and that's what I'll do too." Terra stepped back. "I forgot to ask, what happened to your girlfriend?"
"My girlfriend? Oh you mean Xion," He shook his head. "I've been looking for her, but it's like she's vanished. I don't know where to look next."
"...I see, well she might not even be in Radiant Garden if that's the case."
"What are you serious?! Where would I even begin to look I...uh..." Roxas felt his dizziness creeping up back on him and he became rocking back and forth on his feet, Terra caught him before he could meet with the ground once more.
"Stay with me, Roxas, damn it!" Terra peered outside of the window into the empty streets, he grimaced, 'Maybe he just needs some rest, either way I can't go back there.'
Terra laid Roxas down on the floor, then sat beside him with his keyblade fastened over his chest. "You're more trouble than you're worth, Roxas."
It must of been the middle of the day by the time Terra woke up since he could see rays of sunlight shining on the gray floor. His body felt warmer than usual, although it wasn't from the sunlight, but he saw Roxas leaning on him.
'Isn't he a little bit too old for that?' Regardless, Terra pushed him off when he stood up.
"...Xion...wait..." Roxas muttered in his sleep.
'No wait, I get it now. I should wake him up.' Terra kicked him in the head, jolting Roxas awake.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Roxas yelled, he punched Terra's stomach, but probably ended up getting more hurt from the impact than he did. "Damn it, why did you kick me in the head?!"
"Uh, to wake you up?" Terra said it in such a matter-fact-of way, Roxas wondered if he hit his head too. "Now that you're up, I think we should part ways. I need to follow my own path, but I'll look for Xion along the way."
"Why can't I come with you? I'm...I'm not afraid of the darkness either!"
"That's not it. You'll only slow me down if I have to worry about you. "
"What happened to not taking paths alone? That's what you told me!"
"That was more for you, not me, besides, it wasn't good advice anyway. We're always alone, aren't we? No matter what path we take, we have to walk by ourselves eventually."
"Terra..."
"No, that wasn't what I meant...listen, Ven's begged me for so long to come with me, it wouldn't be fair to him if I brought you along. I know it's selfish, but I promise to bring Xion back to this world as soon as I find her."
"So I'm just supposed to wait around until you come back? I can't even save the one person who matters, well I'm tired of feeling helpless! I'll just find her myself!" Roxas jumped out of the building, then moved down the streets as if he had somewhere to go, some destination to reach, but he was as lost as when he first set out.
A/N: My first draft had Roxas going to jail and finding Ven there. I wrote it out and everything but ultimately decided it wasn't very kingdom hearts-y to have roxas and ven locked up behind bars :P