The White Witch

RESTORATION AT 97% COMPLETE

Sora pushed against the huge, white door, but it wasn't enough. It wouldn't budge under his strength alone.

A chirpy voice cut through the dark. 'Now, Sora. Let's close this door for good!' There was a silhouette on the other side. Small, with two large, round ears.

'Your Majesty!' Donald Duck called out.

Sora pushed again half-heartedly. He was pushing it closed on King Mickey. 'But,' he said.

The mouse-shaped silouhette answered him from the other side. 'Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light.'

Goofy, Sora's loyal sidekick gave him a reassuring nod. 'You can trust King Mickey.'

A flash of silver hair appeared as Riku approached the door. He was on Mickey's side too.

Sora wanted so much to pull that loveable hard-ass to his side, but they had to close the door to the darkness. They had to do it together.

Riku's eyes narrowed. His voice rang out urgently, 'Now! They're coming.'

Sora heaved against the door. With the joint effort of him and his companions on his side, and King Mickey and Riku on the other, the door slowly moved.

Riku's gray-blue eyes shone in the crack of light that remained. 'Take care of her,' he said as the door slammed closed.

He meant Kairi, their childhood friend.

Take care of yourself, Sora thought.

I woke with a start. Sunlight streamed through the flapping curtains. Axel was reclined at my desk. He was sipping from a coffee cup while watching me. He was deliciously naked.

'You kids do like to sleep in. I thought we'd lost ya to the land of darkness,' he remarked.

'Very funny,' I said as I ogled his lean body from the bed.

He set the cup down. 'Come on. Let's get showered, sleepyhead.'

I was groggy from the early morning and my whole body felt stiff. After a day of fighting in the tournament, and some sparring with Axel, I was sore in places I didn't even know could get sore.

The water was hot and steamy, but Axel's touch behind me made me feel hotter still. He put an arm around my chest and massaged my back and shoulders. It made me feel tingly all over. This was perfect. If I could stay in Twilight Town and have this every day, I could have died happy.

We held hands as we walked through the woods.

'I thought the mansion was abandoned,' I remarked.

'It's not really what it seems.' Axel led me up a small dirt trail to the crest of a hill where there was a set of wrought iron gates. Behind the gates was a sprawling building that had succumbed to a curtain of weeds and ivy. The whole place had this stillness that was unnatural. There was no wind, no critters scurrying past, no sound of distant traffic. Only there was one thing that struck me. A hint of motion from one of the upstairs windows.

'Did you see that?' I asked.

'That'll be her,' Axel replied.

Naminé was sat in a large room that was painted entirely in white. It was like someone had intended to decorate, but had just left the room a blank canvas.

Axel hung by the doorway. Naminé beckoned me to join her at a long table. Its white surface was so varnished I could almost see my face in it. Naminé had some drawings around her and the only color in the room was in those drawings and the pencils beside them.

'Roxas,' she said warmly.

One of the drawings caught my eye. Two figures in black cloaks had been scribbled hastily on the page. One tall with red hair, the other short with spiky, brown.

'Wait. This is me? And Axel?'

'You are best friends. I'm glad you've reconnected.' She pushed some of the light-colored fringe out of her eyes.

'Why have we both got black cloaks?'

'You were both in Organization XIII.'

'Very funny.'

'Do you want to know the truth?' she asked me. 'About who you are?'

'No one knows me better than me.'

'Of course…'

I shuffled through the other drawings. Some of them were right out of my dreams, the weird dreams with Sora and his friends.

'You know these three don't you?' She picked up a brown pencil and added some color to Sora's spiky hair.

'Yeah. Sora, Donald and Goofy. They're from the dreams.'

Naminé focused on her coloring. 'About a year ago some things happened and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. But now I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. You know who Sora is. Don't you?'

'Yeah. We've spoken before.'

'Wow,' Axel gasped from behind us.

I looked round at him.

He waved a dismissive hand. 'Sorry, guys, I didn't realise the link would be that strong.'

Naminé nodded. 'It's taken me a long time but pretty soon Sora will be his old self again. The process has been affecting you too, Roxas.'

'You mean the dreams.'

'Yes.'

'You and Sora are connected. And in order for Sora to become completely whole again he needs you.'

'He said something like that before,' I recalled. 'But what does he need me for?'

'You hold half of what he is. He needs you, Roxas.'

I could feel myself frowning. 'But why? How do you know all this? Who even are you, Naminé?'

'I'm a witch with power over Sora's memories and those around him.'

'I never did believe you were a transfer student, but a witch?'

'That's what DiZ called me.'

'DiZ?'

'Darkness in Zero,' she explained patiently. 'I don't know why I have this power...I just do. I'm not even sure there's a right way for me to use it.'

'I can't help you there. You just gotta do what feels right,' I said. 'It's funny. Suddenly I feel like I don't know myself at all.' I fiddled with the zipper pull on my jacket nervously. 'I guess I would like to know, what do you know about me that I don't?'

She looked to me earnestly. 'You were never supposed to exist, Roxas.'

I bit my lip. 'How could you even say such a thing? Even if it were true?'

'I'm sorry. I guess some things really are better left unsaid.'

We both looked out the window. In the distance you could see the tops of the trees across the forest.

Axel's boots tapped quietly on the floor as he came over. 'Naminé, are we about done?'

Naminé nodded vaguely but her eyes remained fixed outside. She looked so bright in her white dress and blonde hair, but there was something in her expression that seemed to age her beyond her years.

Axel took my hand and we left for the front gates.

'I'd sorta heard most of that already,' I said.

'Good,' Axel replied 'But listen, just because it's what they want you to do, doesn't mean you have to. Think on what you want Roxas.'

'I wanna stay with you,' I said.

He smiled at me. 'Great. Well, I gotta take care of some stuff. Meet me later?'

'Yeah, okay.' I put my arms round him and leaned up to give him a kiss. It still made my pulse rise as I tasted Axel and felt him so close. It was hard watching him walk away. I felt like I needed to be with him. I felt like I was better when I was with him.

It's odd, because, looking back I feel like I should have taken the news that I wasn't supposed to exist much worse. It's funny the way you just carry on with stuff. Even if you don't quite know why you're here or what you're supposed to be doing, you gotta keep trying until you make it. There was a niggle in the back of my mind as I crossed town. Something big was going to happen. I tried not to let it bother me.