Fever Pitch
"Roxas?"
"Roxas!"
Roxas felt a hand on his shoulder, so he turned around and was surprised to see Aqua smiling back at him. "Sorry, I didn't scare you, did I?" She asked.
He shook his head.
"That's good, I was looking for Ven and I thought you might have seen him."
"Oh- so you didn't just mix the two of us up?"
That got a chuckle out of her. "It's not that hard to tell you two apart, you're always wearing different clothes."
"Yeah, that's true. What're you looking for Ventus anyway, isn't he still, you know, screwed up?"
"When I woke up this morning, his bed was empty, but I know where he's going. I know he's looking for Terra..." Aqua glared at him in a way that was so foreign from her usual calm, detached demeanor. Though he knew it wasn't directed towards him, he could still feel a little bit of fear rising up in his body. Ultimately, she let the anger cascade out of her in a long, drawn-out sigh, not wanting to antagonize Roxas.
"He didn't mean to hurt you, even if that's what he ended up doing," Roxas said quietly.
She shook her head. "It's okay, maybe it's time to focus on other things for now. You look a little lost yourself."
"Uh, yeah, Xion disappeared and I don't even know where to start." He rubbed the back of his head, then let out one of those awkward laughs that immediately telegraphed something was seriously wrong. "So it's me looking for her now, instead of the other way around."
"You don't know where to start?"
"Xion's not in this world, and there are so many worlds out there..." The more he talked about it, the more he remembered the total despair and isolation he felt last night stabbing him back in the chest, making him all choked up in front of Aqua. "...wh...where would I even start?"
"We'll leave this world and search for her together." She offered him her hand. "Maybe we'll run into Ven too, I'm sure he's already left this world by now."
There was something intrinsically reassuring about Aqua, she knew exactly what to say and knew that's exactly what he wanted to hear. Like, she could be full of shit and maybe they would end up in a worse state than they began, but he'd follow her in a heartbeat.
"Yeah...okay!"
"Let's just move somewhere with fewer people before we go."
"Good idea, everyone's starting to stare."
Roxas and Aqua drew near the outskirts of town, at least they assumed as much, of course, the threat of heartless was never too far off. "We're going to space, and since you don't have any keyblade armor, I'll cast a protect spell over you," Aqua said, coming to a stop.
*tap
*tap
*tap
Whatever part of town they were at, it was quiet, quiet enough that they didn't have to strain their voices to be heard over dozens of other people. One distinct sound filled in the agonizing silence; footsteps. Footsteps that seemed to linger, imprinting itself in the cement with every passing step.
"Sounds like we're not alone," Aqua said.
"—how unexpected it is to see you Master Aqua."
Finally, Xehanort arrived and calmly approached them with his hands behind his back. Roxas stood on edge, not sure if it was better to have his keyblade by his side or hidden away. 'He looks like Xemnas, but how could he be older in the past? I'm not sure if he's a friend or foe.' He glanced over to Aqua to study her facial expression, but she also appeared to be deciding what his motive was.
"Most don't stray too far from the city's boundaries." Xehanort began. "Of fear for the monsters that lurk nearby."
"I know that's not why you came here," Aqua said.
"Always so prudent, Aqua. If you must know, I've heard about the disappearance of those two children and felt obligated to do everything I could to help. Which led me here to recruit the help of Roxas."
"I find that hard to believe, besides Roxas..." Her eyes drew over to the empty space beside her. "Roxas?"
Xehanort summoned his keyblade, then swung it around his back where it was met with the blade of Roxas' own keyblade. "You're lying! You took her away, where is she?!" Roxas yelled.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be here, boy." Xehanort wrestled Roxas' keyblade out of his hand, then smashed it within his grasp. "An empty husk like you could never oppose me."
That was enough for Aqua to unsheath her keyblade, and raise her arm with intent to strike, but her body stopped in mid-movement. "I haven't the strength to combat the both of you at once, so you'll be enough." He picked up Roxas by the collar. "I was hoping you could lead the way to your friend, but you're far too much trouble than you're worth."
"—Aqua's not the only one you have to worry about!" With a quick slash of his keyblade, Ventus broke Roxas free of Xehanort's grasp and the two gathered distance away from him.
"Hey, long time no see!" Ventus greeted.
"Right back at you, ready?"
"Let's do it!"
'That time spell will wear off soon and I'm in no condition to fight the three of them. Roxas is the biggest threat, I need only get rid of them and they'll fall apart.' Xehanort raised his nameless keyblade, and with one hand, blocked Roxas and Ventus' onslaught of frontal attack. When Roxas predictably went to attack from behind, he teleported away and Roxas' keyblade slashed the empty air.
"Damn, who is that old guy anyway?"
"He's our master," Ventus said.
Suddenly, Ventus stopped moving right along with Aqua, which meant Roxas knew what was coming next. Although, he wasn't expecting a barrage of pitch black spheres to drive into his stomach and send him flying a few feet backwards.
Before he could get himself up, Xehanort took the liberty of picking Roxas up by his hair and holding him at arm's length in the air. The look in his eyes made it known he was intent to finish Roxas off this time, "You can give up on your search for Xion. Now that I know she's not in this world, I'll be sure to send her—"
Roxas wondered what he was going to say, but he was left to wonder as Aqua's keyblade impaled straight through his body and forced him to vanish into thin air. Without a moment's notice, she caught Roxas in her arms, "What happened, are you okay?!" She asked.
Roxas shook his head.
With the time spell fully worn off, Ventus wasted no time in running over to his side, "Where is Xehanort?! What did he do to you?!"
"...I think he cast some type of spell on me." A sigh escaped his lips, then he rolled his head to the side. "Listen, don't worry about it. I feel fine, really."
Parts of his body began fading out of existence, alarming Aqua and Ventus. Despite Roxas' protest and insistence 'he would be okay', his words fell on deaf ears as the two devoted themselves to using the spells in their arsenal to reverse the process.
"Nothing's working, let's just take you to Merlin and see what he can do," Aqua said, scooping him up in her arms. He would jump out, but his legs were the first to disappear and he would push her away but his arms were next.
Tired of fighting, Roxas let his words take over for him. "Aqua, Ventus, can you guys find Xion for me and tell her I'm sorry. She won't be so mad if it comes from you."
"What about you Roxas?!" Ventus cried.
"Me? I'm nothing, but...I really liked it here in Radiant Garden."
00:00:03
00:00:02
00:00:01
00:00:00
All Roxas could see was blackness, everywhere, until he opened his eyes and saw orange, red and yellow, meshed up together in a blotchy sky. He hated it.
How could the sky be so peaceful when everything in his life was crumbling at the seams? He could forgive it if the sun was just a little higher so it would burn his eyes or if it was a little lower so there would be nothing to look at, but it never moved, not once, not ever, definitely not now. Neither did Roxas, as he was content with basking in the twilight.
Tears welled up in his eyes, hot and stingy, and blurring his vision so all he could see was orange. "I'm back here...I'm back home, without her."
—
Xion realized she must have dozed off for a while because she woke up to a beautiful sunset that made the surrounding ocean glisten with a soft orange color. It made her sick. 'I can't look at the sunset without thinking of Roxas and Axel, come on, there has to be some way to leave this island without having to use the darkness.'
She made her way down to the shore, the waves were slowly rolling back and forth, temperamental to the time of day. Catching a glimpse of her reflection in the water, a sudden scowl formed across her face, not particularly happy with the crudely drawn beard and mustache on her face. 'Are you serious? That's so childish.'
Xion scooped up a handful of water, then splashed over her face. 'It wouldn't be a bad idea to check my time, so I know who much of it I have left.' She unbuttoned her school shirt, then pulled it off. '41:07:14? Has it really been that long? The darkness must have sped up time or something, well, that's a little less than two days to-'
"Hey, Xion."
"ISA?!" Xion shrieked, quickly hiding her breasts under her arms.
He rolled his eyes in response. "Relax, not like there's anything to look at."
Snapping her fingers, Isa was soaking wet from water. Xion reached for her school uniform, then buttoned it back up, "I hope you didn't come here just to annoy me, and I know it was you who drew on my face!"
"Ha, ha, actually the credit goes to those boys. I don't know, but I thought it made you look better."
"Ugh, so you're definitely not taking this whole trapped on an island thing seriously."
"What do you want me to do? Collect food and water, build us a stick tent? I'm waiting on you to use your dark portal thing."
"That's not how it works, Isa! I'm going to look around this island again, I know there's more to this world..." She wandered towards the wooden fortress that hung off the island, but before she was able to venture inside, someone shouted behind her.
"There's the monster, Riku! Come on, come on let's get her!"
"Wait, I don't think she's a monster, Sora."
Xion spun around and did her best scary face. "Roar! Silly boys, I am the monster!"
"See, I told you! I'll protect you, Riku!" A little boy with short, spiky brown hair charged at Xion with his toy sword. "Take this!"
Sora swung his sword on Xion's leg, though it didn't hurt much at all, she was down on her knees like he gave her the most devastating blow ever. Sora stood back, dumbfounded he had the strength to knock someone down twice his size so easily, but sure enough, Riku brought him back to reality, "She's just playing, stupid," He called out before running over to him. "Look, she's even smiling."
"Aw really?"
"Sorry, guess that gave it all away," Xion said. "But I wasn't expecting two little kids to come after me."
"That's 'cause Isa told us you were a monster, I didn't believe him, but of course Sora did," Riku said.
"Hey, that's not nice! I-I didn't believe him either!"
While the boys were arguing back at forth, Xion was studying them, 'Sora and Riku were pretty cute as kids, they haven't changed too much, but there's someone else who's missing.'
"-So are you from the town or something, grown-ups don't usually come to the island," Riku said.
"You could say that. I'm lost and trying to find a way back home."
"Well, me and Riku live in a town off the island, you can come stay with us if you don't have a home!" Sora exclaimed.
"Uh thanks, but I don't think that'll help much. Although, since you boys know this island so well, can you show me somewhere really mysterious?"
"My-ster-ious?"
"She means somewhere that's not normal," Riku explained, he then turned to Xion, skeptical. "Why do you wanna know?"
"I want to know everything I can about this island."
"There is one place on the island, but adults aren't allowed inside."
"What, are you serious? I'm not even an adult."
He crossed his arms. "You are a teenager, which is even worse. My dad told me."
"You know, you have a smart mouth for such a little kid." Xion walked past them. "I'll just have to find this secret place myself."
"No wait, Riku, she'll never find it! Come on, she played with us so she can't be that bad! Pleaseeeeeee!"
"Fine, whatever, but you better not tell anyone else about it. Only you and Isa knows."
Sora and Riku led Xion down to a boarded-up tunnel near the base of the waterfall she initially didn't pay much attention to. Knowing her, Xion would've carelessly walked straight past this secret entrance several times without ever thinking to investigate. She felt grateful the boys showed her the way and even swore up and down not to tell a living soul.
After crawling through the claustrophobic tunnel, the three reached the inside of the cave which was decorated with various drawings etched into the granite walls. Though the drawings were mere afterthoughts compared to the giant wooden door bolted into the wall.
'I remember this place, bits and pieces anyway.' Xion grazed her hand over the door that clearly didn't belong in the cave, yet something would be missing if it weren't there. 'I think it's a pathway to somewhere, not like it would do me any good.'
She felt a tug on her arm, "Hey, we gotta go home 'cause our parents said there was gonna be a bad storm coming," Sora said.
"Oh, uh...ok."
"You don't wanna come with us?"
"No, I'm fine, thanks. I think I just wanna stay here for a little bit."
"M'kay, see ya! Come on Riku."
Once the boys left, Xion sunk down to her knees. 'I don't know what I was expecting. I don't think I was expecting to find anything at all, I just wanted to look like I knew what I was doing. Oh well, for now, I'll wait here for Isa to come since he knows about this place.' Deciding against sleep, she kept herself busy by drawing on the cave walls and listening to the steady drumbeat of the rain as it developed from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour.
'It's been too long, I'll have to find Isa myself.' Xion stepped out of the solid rock cave floor into the damp, wet sand and had quickly got accustomed to the bullets of rain pelting on her skin. 'Honestly, if it wasn't against my better judgment, I wouldn't bother with Isa.'
"Isa?"
"Isa!" She was at the coast now. "Isa, answer me!"
Xion moved down from the shoreline towards the papou fruit tree. "Listen, I'm sorry about what I said, I just need to know if you're okay!"
*crackle-crackle
*BOOM
"Huh, what was-"
A long shadow cast over Xion from the palm tree that was about to fall down on her. Finally, Isa would reveal himself to her when he tackled into Xion and rolled away into safety.
At first, Xion was shocked, not able to properly articulate her feelings, but that shock quickly dissolved into uncontrollable anger. Her hands acted without conscious volition and clenched the collar of Isa's shirt, pulling him close so she could glare directly into his green eyes, "Damn it! All you ever do is hurt me, so why are you looking at me like that?! Why are you looking at me like I ever deserved to live?! I'm worthless, aren't I? I'm just a puppet! I don't have anything to offer this world!"
The rain masked the tears falling down her face and all Isa did was look on, confused.
"Stop looking at me like that! You always looked past me because you hated me!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" He finally yelled back. "You don't know me! And I don't care what you think of me, I'm gonna save you no matter what! No matter how fucking stubborn you are, 'cause we're friends! Get that shit through your thick skull!"
"What? How could you ever think of me as a friend?!"
"Of course, why else do you think I jumped through that portal in the first place?! Don't you get it now? I want you to live!"
Xion laughed, a small laugh really, but it was enough to set Isa off. "Why are you laughing, is this funny to you?!"
"It's just...I never expected to hear that from you, it was sweet." She also didn't expect Isa to turn a dark shade of red, which only made her laugh more. 'How could I ever think you were him, Isa? You can't be Saïx, not in a million years.'
"Guess you don't get told that very often," She teased
"Shut up! Let's get out of this rain before you catch a cold or something."
Xion and Isa decided to go back inside the cave where Xion could light a small fire for them to dry off and not worry about catching anything on fire.
"Alright, I think I figured you out," Isa said.
"Am I that easy to read?"
"Nah, took me a while, see you act tough, but on the inside, you're pretty soft."
"Uh...that's one way to look at it."
"So am I right?"
"Well, I wouldn't call myself tough, I only do what needs to be done. Maybe I seem that way because there's so little I have to lose. You and Lea have so much to live for, it does make me jealous, but living just to see my friends one more day is enough to keep me going."
"...yeah, I'm way off. You're more brooding and angsty than I took you for, I guess the black hair should've given me a hint."
"Ah, you're getting enjoyment poking fun of me, aren't you?"
"A little, but you're pretty cool just being you."
"Me, cool?" She snorted. "You would say that."
They both shared a laugh, then soon fell asleep by the fire, exhaustion taking its toll.
The erupting sound of thunder was so loud it was like the heavens itself were being split apart and it jolted Xion awake. However, Isa still remained fast asleep. 'He must be a heavy sleeper.'
She managed to create a dark portal within the cave, if the loud clap of thunder didn't wake him, then surely the uncanny, suffocating sensation the darkness radiated would snake up his spine and wake him up. It didn't. Neither would shaking him awake or yelling into his ear. So Xion resorted to magic and somehow the splash of water over his face did the trick.
"Very funny, Xion." Isa muttered. "Wait- you can make your portals again?"
She shook her head. "I already told you how it works, I could always create a portal."
"Uh huh, so you were wasting time for what reason?"
"I realized there was no other way the two of can leave this island together." Xion threw him the black cloak she rescued from the storm. "Go home, Isa."
"What, why? What's the point of going home if you're not coming?"
"There's no home for me at Radiant Garden."
"Even if that were true, are you just gonna abandon Roxas and Lea?!"
"I have to, there's only one cloak between us. It's not safe to travel the darkness without it and lose what little light I have." She smiled at him. "I'll be fine, Isa, okay? Radiant Garden is your home, it always will be, whether I'm there or not."
"No! I'm not going without you, so you can cut that shit out right now!"
"...Tell Roxas he'll just have to wait a little longer until he sees me, he'll believe it if it comes from you."
"You can tell him to his face!"
Xion approached Isa, unable to look him in the eye, but instead focused on the darkness that would lead his way home. "Keep going straight and never look back, if you're ever lost, follow the light, Radiant Garden shines the brightest." She grabbed Isa by the collar, then pushed him through the dark portal.
"Goodbye...Isa."