Archipelago
By Radishface
A/N: Feedback is highly appreciated! I look forward to hearing what readers think, especially as this story goes on; I have some major things planned for this piece, including further study into character dynamics as well as the rationalization (and tacit question of plausibility) of the Kingdom Hearts universe. I will try to keep this as close as possible to the original story (although some may argue that I may not do the same for the characters), but at this point I do not know of a site that offers the complete chronology of events. If somebody would be willing to point me out in that direction, I would be most appreciative. Once again, thanks for reading!
Prologue
The bus came around, lethargic and creaking. The sun was just peeking over the horizon now; violent, concentrated rays of light scattered over the suburban landscape. Sora could hear the gulls by the beach crying their morning breaths; the sound of waves echoed distantly in the back of his head.
"Roxas." Sora repeated, and felt a kind of unconscious, crushing glee. "Roxas."
The bus doors opened. Sora turned around and ascended the stairs, expecting the red-haired stranger to follow. He did.
They sat down next to each other on the old faux-leather seats. The stuffing was spilling out of the seams. Sora wished he had worn shorts.
"So, you—" He started,
"Right. I'm sorry." The redhead blurted out, and started to laugh. It was surprising and a bit unexpected—a few students grumbled disapprovingly as they were jolted from their midmorning naps. "I should introduce myself, right?"
Sora nodded gravely, not knowing what to make of the situation.
"Well, I don't know." The redhead smiled conspiratorially. "What should I introduce myself as?"
"As—" Sora blinked. "As yourself, of course!"
This outburst solicited a few more grumbles from the bus passengers and an unappreciative grunt from the bus driver. Sora ignored them.
"As—" The stranger pursed his lips together and looked out the window. "Look, why don't you give me a name?"
"Axel." Sora said immediately, confidently. "You're Axel, right?"
Yes, he had seen Axel die, but of course… of course, nothing was impossible in this world.
"Who's that?" The redhead shook his head, unmoved.
"What do you mean by that--? He's—isn't he— "
"Try again."
"I—" Sora's heart was racing, and he felt the color drain from his face, completely unheeded. His fingertips felt cold.
His body was experiencing these things involuntarily. Sora did not know why he should care, or even if he did care about this stranger. But something.
Something—!
"Look, it doesn't really matter." The stranger said. "I can be Axel, I can be whatever you want to call me. I really don't care."
"I'm sorry if I don't understand." Sora said, dejected. "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."
"It's like this," the redhead—Axel, whatever—turned around, eyes blazing; Sora shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "we all come into being, and—we just are. And I know that I'm missing something really key in my life. And—"
He sat back abruptly and closed his eyes and remained like that for a minute. Sora reached out and touched his shoulder; the other man didn't respond.
"Sorry," he said a few moments later, eyes opening, shivering as if he were shaking off something. "Just needed a moment there. I know I sound crazy."
"It's okay," Sora's eyebrows knitted together and he twisted his hands in his lap. "I'm sorry I can't help."
"No, I know, but—" The man's voice dropped to a whisper. "I wish I could find him. Her. It. Is it a place, a person, a thing?"
"Roxas?"
"Yeah."
Sora wanted to say so badly. He didn't doubt that the redhead could sense that some part of him was related to Roxas; otherwise, how could he have found him across such space in such little time? It couldn't have been more than a year since he was reunited with Roxas. So Sora knew, of course, and he could feel his vocal chords quivering with the urge to speak, honesty—honesty, above all things, beguiling him to tell.
"Well, good luck with that..." Sora said, and let his voice trail off.
The stranger kept staring out the window, lost in thought.
They made a few more stops, picked up more people. Sora's heart started beating hard again, a lump formed in his throat and he swallowed many times to try to get it to go away, but it persisted. He wanted to talk, he wanted to talk so badly. He wanted to say something nice, something encouraging.
No, you can't tell him!
I want to! I want to! It's not fair to him, he's been searching for so long!
How the hell do you know who he is, anyways? He's nobody important to you—
But it feels, it feels like—
The bus driver announced: "Oracle High School, last stop."
Students were shuffling about, picking up their backpacks from the floor, making their way down the narrow bus aisle. They passed by Sora, who sat as still as possible, as if trying to disappear.
The redhead turned to him concernedly. "Hey, don't you have to go to class?"
Sora bit his lip. "I—" he tried, and then tried again, "aren't you going too?"
"Me?" The redhead laughed. "Nah. I think I'll skip class today. Keep looking. Or get some food. I'm kind of hungry."
"Oh!" Sora dove into his backpack and started rummaging around, "I think I have an apple or something—I brought it from home—"
"Don't worry about it." The redhead got up and moved past Sora, into the aisle. "I'll get going. Sorry for bothering you this morning. I don't know what came over me—usually I can keep my cool.
See ya."
Sora looked up, eyes wide and unwillingly filling with tears. What—?
But he'd already left. Sora was still hunched over his backpack, his hands moving aimlessly inside, and found the apple, brought it up and out of the bag.
It gleamed bright red at him, juicy and promising, and Sora took a bite, closed his eyes. Two tears rolled down his cheeks. He felt hollow.
"Hey, kid." The bus driver turned around and stomped his foot to get Sora's attention. "In case you didn't notice, your friend's already gone. Get out of here, I have to drive this thing back."
- - -
The bells rang at 2:30 and Sora had never been more glad for them in his entire life. He power-walked to the bus stop and sat down and waited for it to arrive.
He could barely stand as it was. He hadn't eaten lunch in favor of moody contemplation of what he had done that morning. He had withheld the truth from somebody; not even for his own happiness, or out of any selfish reason. In fact, he was sure that he would have been happier if he had told the stranger the entire story about Roxas and the Keyblade and Kingdom Hearts; though it was likely that telling this story would have taken all day and Sora would have had to skip class and feel a different kind of guilt entirely.
"Hey, Sora." Riku uncannily appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to him. "You going home now?"
Where else would I be going? Sora thought to himself, uncharacteristically grumpy. But he managed a sunny smile for his best friend, even if he could feel the weariness tugging it down. "Yeah. You don't have any club activities after school today, Riku?"
"Well," Riku huffed, cheeks turning a little red. "I do. But. I noticed that you looked a little down today. Anything happen?"
What a nice guy. "Not really," Sora said, conscious that he was withholding another truth.
Riku gave him a Look.
"Well," Sora relented. "I talked to this guy this morning. Or rather, this guy talked to me. It was weird."
"He didn't— wait, he didn't do anything… bad to you, did he?" Riku's voice grew alarmed.
Sora blushed furiously and buried his face in his hands. "No! No, nothing like that—geez, Riku, why are you always thinking about stuff like that?"
Riku cleared his throat. "Actually, I wasn't implying anything. I thought this kid had stolen your lunch money or something. I didn't mean anything like whatever you're thinking about" He smirked at Sora. "Whose mind is in the gutter, now?"
"Shoot." Sora grimaced, and they both laughed at the same time.
"But seriously," Riku shook his head, "what did you two talk about?"
"Well…" Sora twisted his fingers in his lap, wondering why the hell he was beating around the bush so much, "nothing really. He asked me a question."
"Nothing suspicious, right?"
"No." Sora said. "Just… about stuff."
"Stuff?" Riku encouraged.
"Like… stuff. About Kingdom Hearts."
Riku's eyes widened. "A Nobody?"
Sora shivered. "I don't think so. But he asked me about Roxas."
Silence. Sora looked over at Riku. The other boy was hunched over, elbows on his legs, fingers crossed, eyes looking at some point on the horizon.
"He doesn't know that you and Roxas are the same person?"
"It— no, when I talked to him he really sounded like he didn't know."
"Hey." Riku said, and his voice seemed very distant, but steely.
"What?" Sora's voice was a little above a whisper.
"If you see that guy again, don't talk to him again."
"Okay." Sora replied automatically.
"No, really. Promise me?" Riku looked at him, blue eyes dark.
"Okay. I promise."
This seemed to appease him, because Riku gave a relieved sigh and leaned back on the bench. "That's good. Because knowing the way you work, you really would take candy from a stranger."
"Hey," Sora protested, "I know better than that. They taught us that stuff when we were in elementary school!"
"That's what I'm saying," Riku said, and dodged the punch aimed at his stomach.
They sparred like that for a few minutes, and then the bus rolled up, creaking and wheezing, puffs of black smoke steaming from its wizened tires.
"All right," Sora got up, smiled at Riku, "I'm sorry for keeping you from your club activities. See you later."
He turned to go, but Riku reached out and touched his hand—Sora turned his head and saw Riku looking at him intently.
"Just—" Riku said, voice small.
"…Riku?" Sora frowned.
"Nah." Riku huffed, and shook his head. "Just looking—to see that you're going to keep your promise. Don't take the candy, kid."
"Ch'." Sora stuck out his tongue.
"See? You are a kid."
"Bye, Riku." Sora turned, and headed to the bus.
"…See ya."
- - -