Beyond The Darkness: IV
Roxas stood looking deeply into the darkness at the glowing eyes of the figure.
"Why do you keep bringing me here?"
The figure closed his eyes and it seemed to get darker. Without a word the figure turned and began to slowly walk in the opposite direction.
"Hey, Stop!" Roxas held out his arm. The darkness was different from the last time he was in it; it was much easier to move this time. The sound of his shoes hitting the ground echoed through the emptiness as he ran to catch up with the stranger. As he closed in on the figure he violently grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Tell me why I'm here!" The figure stopped abruptly as Roxas held onto his clothes. He recognized the cloak that the figure was wearing as the garb of the nobodies from Organization XIII, similar to the cloak that he once wore. Still the figure said nothing.
"Hey, Answer me!" Roxas tightened his grip on the stranger's shoulder, his knuckles whitening.
Without turning the figure quietly spoke under his breath, uttering only a single word.
"Temper."
"What?" Roxas roughly pulled at his shoulder, turning the figure around to face him. He could no longer see the glowing green eyes underneath the hood. He slowly took his hand off the figure's shoulder, feeling uneasy about what he had just done. Before Roxas could even see him move, the figure had grabbed him by the throat.
The figure stood about a foot taller than Roxas, allowing him to easily lift him off the ground. Roxas grabbed for his throat in an attempt to break his hand away, but this attempt was futile; his grip was too strong. He brought Roxas closer to his face as he spoke softly yet distinctly. Each word its own sentence.
"Keep. Your. Temper." Roxas was out of air.
With one final look into his enemy's reddening face, with one fell movement of his hand, the figure threw Roxas across the empty void.
Roxas hit the ground headfirst and slid across its surface. He lingered on the ground breathing heavily trying to regain his lost air. He lifted his head up from the ground to see that the figure was no longer standing in front of him. Could he have thrown Roxas so far that he was no longer visible?
"Behind you."
Before Roxas could stand up the figure violently grabbed his arm and brought him to his feet.
Still clutching Roxas's arm, the figure reached for the hem of his hood, pulling it back to reveal long silver hair. Covering his glowing green eyes, several long pieces of hair fell over the right side of his face.
"Who… are you?"
"You won't learn anything if I just give you all the answers."
The figure used his free hand to brush stray strands of hair out of his eyes. He smiled. The stranger looked rather young, no older than sixteen. His skin was very pale and he looked slightly feminine. The tips of the hair covering his face were coloured a dark blue, contrasting the paleness of his skin.
"But…" he gently released his grip on Roxas's arm, "if you can defeat me, I might reconsider."
Roxas took his chance and moved out of range of the mysterious enemy.
"Oh so it's a fight you're looking for? Alright, I accept your challenge!"
--
"I found him like this when I came in. I'm really starting to worry about him, Riku."
Kairi crouched on the tiled floor next to Sora's unconscious body.
"What're you worried for, he probably just fell asleep there." Riku stood above Sora with his arms cross over his chest.
"It's not just that. He's been acting strange ever since you two came back to the islands."
"Well it is a pretty big change…" Riku knelt down beside Sora and placed him hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, wake up!"
He shook Sora but there was no response.
"Hey, Kairi's worried about you so you'd better wake up."
But still no response. Sora continued to lay motionless on the floor, both of his friends leaning over him, trying to bring him back.
--
Roxas hit the ground hard, losing Oathkeeper as it slid across the floor. The man walked to the keyblade and picked it up.
"That wasn't much of a challenge at all." He turned Oathkeeper over in his hands.
Roxas was on his back breathing heavily after being continuously struck down by his opponent. His one remaining keyblade was held tightly in his grasp. The figure slowly walked over to Roxas, dragging the keyblade carelessly across the ground.
"I thought you were going to give me a good fight." He picked Roxas up by the collar of his shirt.
"Stand up."
Roxas staggered as he tried to stand his ground.
"If you still want, I can tell you why you're here."
The man looked up into the blackened sky and held up his hand. The darkness seemed to coil around his arm as it began to form into a weapon.
"Or," Roxas was transfixed by the creation of the weapon, "I can tell you how to get out."
Roxas stood for a moment with a dazed look in his eyes, staring at his enemy's new Shadow-blade.
"I'm not… running away." He finally said with a determined look in his eyes.
"Don't be stupid you know you can't beat me. And now…" The man again summoned the darkness as it bent and contorted to his will. The absence of light wrapped itself around the keyblade, choking any essence of light that was in the vicinity. In the blink of an eye, Oathkeeper had been consumed and destroyed by the darkness. Roxas was mystified.
"…You are without one of your weapons."
He looked down to Roxas and smiled. He brought his Shadow-blade down and sliced Roxas's arm.
"Ahh!" Roxas yelled. Without letting go of Oblivion blood began to flow down the keyblade to the floor.
"What's the matter Roxas, you were so full of questions earlier and now you've hardly said a word. Well… would you like to know why you're here."
"No…" Roxas spoke completely disregarding the immense pain that he was feeling in his right arm.
"Now I'm more interested in where 'here' is."
"Very well, I suppose I can answer that."
He rested his weapon on his left shoulder.
"You are behind the darkness." The figure spoke in monotone.
"Big deal, I'm not afraid of the dark…" Roxas refused to let his guard down.
"I'm afraid it isn't that simple. You see, when you are beyond the darkness you are no longer one with Sora, and you can only remain here when Sora is unconscious, which means…"
"…I can't leave until he regains consciousness…" Roxas finished his sentence.
"Correct."
"But that still doesn't explain why I'm here, or who you are."
The figure brought his weapon away from its resting position and held it at arms length.
"Roxas…" The way he said his name made Roxas's skin crawl.
"I never said I would give you all the answers. You still have to defeat me. But keep in mind… without Sora, your own strength is reduced to half."
"Fine by me, I can still beat you."
Roxas released his grip on the handle of his weapon and spun the blade several times, finishing with a lunge towards his opponent.
A fierce battle broke out, and with only one keyblade in hand, Roxas was managing to stand his ground. The silver haired rival however, seemed less than entertained by the fight. With several swift movements, the figure managed to counter all of Roxas's attacks.
Without the help of Oathkeeper, Roxas was not as quick to counter or attack.
He managed to break through his opponent's defense and land a clean hit across his chest, breaking the chain that hung from his collar. The pieces of metal hitting the ground seemed to be the only source of sound, all other noise seemed to be smothered by the darkness, save the sounds of clashing weapons.
"That's one…" The figure stated as he quickly regained his balance after the hit.
"What?"
"One hit that you've managed to land since the fight began."
After a short pause Roxas's eyes were wide-open in shock; his mouth was open, crying out with pain. Before Roxas could see what had happened, the man in black had appeared instantaneously in front of him and implanted his weapon through his right shoulder causing him to simultaneously cry out in pain and release Oblivion from his clutches. The keyblade made a metallic clang as it collided with the ground while combining with Roxas's scream of pain. Roxas fell to his knees tightly holding his shoulder in an attempt to quell the bleeding and diminish the pain. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
The figure lightly pressed the tip of his blade under Roxas's chin and brought his eyes up to meet his own. The figure moved various strands of blue hair away from his eyes. Roxas refused to look the figure directly in the eyes.
"Sora…" Roxas spoke desperately, "Please… wake up…"
--
"Roxas…" Sora mumbled to himself.
"Riku did you hear that? It sounds like he's dreaming of Roxas…"
Kairi and Riku were still sitting by Sora's side, as he lay unconscious on the cold tiled floor.
"I told you he was just sleeping."
"Well then don't you think we should try to wake him up?"
"We've already tried waking him up, and it didn't work."
"Well…why not just splash his face with cold water or something…"
"You wanna drown him, be my guest." Riku said as he gestured towards the sink.
--
Roxas was out of options, he was without one of his weapons and with his shoulder the way it was he could not even weald Oblivion.
"Finished already?" the pressure from the blade under his chin caused a drop of crimson blood to trace a path down the blade of darkness.
"It's true that nobodies are doomed to fade back into darkness…" Roxas looked up at the figure's face, which was no longer directed to Roxas's eyes. He was instead looking deep into the darkness surrounding them.
"But nobodies like you end up one step farther… you end up behind the darkness."
He raised his blade above his head in preparation to bring it down.
"Welcome to your new home, Roxas."
Roxas closed his eyes, preparing for his demise. The air around him seemed to get hotter, almost like fire…
"Shit!"
Roxas opened his eyes to see his enemy jumped backward to avoid the oncoming weapon that was hurled in his direction.
Roxas was becoming dizzy from the lack of blood, but he knew what he was seeing. It was a chakram; the red and silver weapon flew with great speed towards the target as the fire danced around the tips of the weapon.
The fire narrowly missed the figure's clothes as he dodged the attack. A second wheel of fire instantaneously came from the direction of the first; this was countered by the figures Shadow-blade.
The clash of weapons sent a barrage of sparks in the air, lighting up the room. Roxas was almost gone; he could no longer focus on what he was seeing.
The figure had once again disappeared into the darkness, leaving only Roxas… and the man who saved him.
Roxas was lying on his back as he felt the rhythmic vibrations through the ground as the new figure walked towards him. He could vaguely see the man crouch beside him. The only characteristic of the figure he could make out was the spiky red hair that stood out in the dark.
"Axel…" He could feel a smile forming on his face right before he faded away.
But contrary to the information of the figure, Roxas did not fade into darkness, but back into the light, back to where he belongs.
Well that was fun now wasnt it 3
Well I would stay here and chat with you, but right now I have ot eat breakfast and go to work, but like always thanks so much for reading, and reviews are always appreciated!
-Jenn