Chap VIII

Why is it that things come to an end? Supposedly because everything has a beginning and where there are beginnings, there is an ending. Hearts have end. In fact, it's considerably one of most obvious in the universe to expire. But when hearts die, does love? Where does the content of a heart travel once its bloody chamber has left it to drift? The chained memories of the heart must become lost without a place to reside. Hearts hold people prisoner, this is true. And once the heart is gone, people still remain captive to emptiness. Either way, we are always prisoners of something so simple to the eye yet immensely complex to the body.

"Have you heard of a boy named...So—" Roxas spoke slowly, choking on his last word. He shook his head and stared at the floor, his eyes being controlled by the ominous light seeming to emanate from its ghostly surface. Why did that name seem so familiar to him? Just as Xemnas' had...

He thought back to the voice he had heard before in his dreams. Could that have been the person Xemnas asked him about? But that voice referred to him as 'So-ra'. He attempted to mouth the words but failed, only accomplishing a weak 'So'. Why? Why couldn't he say it? He wanted to ask so many questions. The thoughts and events that he held bottled up in his body were slowly filling him again. He didn't like this feeling. He wished he could have stayed asleep...or better yet, disappear.

He shook his head furiously and grabbed both sides of his head with his hands, trying to cancel out his thoughts of being alone again. He needed something to hold, something to fall onto.

"Roxas."

Roxas looked up from the ground to the ceiling, releasing his head. Nodding once at nothing, he stared forward, attempting to think of where Xemnas wanted for him to be. "Think straight, Roxas. Think straight..." He wished he could have trained longer or that he had some guidance. Drawing a deep breath, he became blinded by the sight of contorting darkness and faded. Truthfully, he was afraid again.

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"Do you remember your true name?"

"Riku...Riku's here."

"The door has opened, Sora. Now we can go to other worlds."

"What about...?"

"We'll go...together."

"Best friends aren't supposed to forget each other, despite their differences and distance."

"We have many differences...I just wish we didn't have so much distance."

He heard voices swirling in his head but remained silent, keeping his eyes lost in the shadows of his void. He didn't want to try and say the next name he heard and kept his mind fixated on his destination. Who was Xemnas? What made him who he was? What was he like? There, now. Feeling the presence of light, the blonde slowly opened his eyes and viewed his surroundings with a slight feel of relief. He recognized the room as the one that Xemnas had brought him into while the other members waited in the gathering room.

Not much of a difference...just the same bright white...the same stillness and barrier of silence. He took a step forward and spoke, "Xemnas, I'm here."

When he ended, his eyes fixed onto a dark nothingness that was steadily falling to the ground in utter silence. He said nothing and waited patiently, thinking of nothing else but what their conversation would be like. In other words: everything.

"How long ago was it that Axel found you, Roxas?" Xemnas inquired once he came into full view: black hood pulled tightly over his face again.

"A while...I really don't keep track of the days," Roxas replied.

"Saix mentioned to me he asked you of how the Organization was treating you."

"He...didn't tell you about anything else, did he?"

"He mentioned you protecting Axel with two strange blades that backed him away."

Roxas stared into his empty palms and nodded. "Yeah. I haven't used them ever since."

"You wield those two blades for a reason, Roxas. You cannot forget about them for in reality, they are a part of who you are."

"They...are?"

Xemnas paused and started again, asking the same question he had to lead Roxas to him. "Have you heard of a boy named Sora?"

Roxas blinked and stared into Xemnas' dark hood, a perplexed look written on his face. "Why can you say that name and I can't?"

"Have you heard of him?" Xemnas repeated with his voice remaining monotonous.

"N-no...only in these strange dreams I keep having."

"Someone is speaking to you, correct?"

He raised an eyebrow at the Organization's leader and nearly gaped at him. "How...did you know?"

"The one speaking to you is not of importance to the Order. They are simply a nuisance to your mind. There is nothing I can do to prevent those past conversations with them from lingering in your memories. Therefore, it is only natural that I tell you..."

"What the dreams mean," Roxas interrupted.

"No, not the dreams. That I tell you about whom Sora is."

"Fine. Just tell me."

"You see, Roxas, you are Nobody...therefore, you have another half. That other half is Sora."

"Sora..." Roxas grabbed at his throat in an instant, trying to force out words he wanted to say but failed.

"Sora was created into a Heartless around the time Kingdom Hearts was a door awaiting to be sealed. Once he became a shadow, his Nobody took form. You, Roxas, have no memory of how you came to end up in this world because you, literally, have no past to remember. All your memories reside in Sora."

"Where...is Sora?" Roxas asked gloomily.

"His whereabouts are of no concern to you. Being in this Organization, it is necessary to never cross paths with your human."

"But, why?"

"You risk being joined with him if you do. Now, all you have to worry about is obtaining a heart of your own without having to rely on Sora."

"But since I'm half of Sora, he must be incomplete...how's he alive if I'm not there?"

"You ask this question but really, how is it that you and I and all Nobodies are able to be if we are missing something so great in our bodies? How is it we are able to be?"

"I...don't...know."

"What do you expect to do now, Roxas?"

"What?"

"Where do you plan to go now that you know the truth?"

"I...there's no where I can go, right?"

"There are many places for you to go but, from what you constantly tell yourself, alone is where you desire to be."

Roxas said nothing.

"No? Maybe you just fear being alone and only wonder what it feels like."

Roxas kept silent, his bright blue eyes shutting tightly.

"Sora is no longer of any importance to you, Roxas. It would be wise to steer away from those words that your dreams say to you. You will remain who you are..."

He said nothing.

Xemnas stared at the blonde teen through his dark hood, keeping as silent as Roxas was at the moment. Roxas truly was Sora...he could see Sora, standing within Roxas' frail body as dormant as someone seconds from death. Still, Roxas knew so little about who he was...who Sora was. He would have to discover by himself or discover nothing at all. Roxas would hold his own name once he obtained his own heart...Sora would hold his own. Neither would rely on each other.

"Farewell...Roxas." Xemnas said finally, already fading as quickly as he had appeared, leaving a confused and beaten Roxas to feel loneliness like he knew he wanted.

Not bothering to watch Xemnas depart, Roxas kept his eyes shut and felt his knees begin to fail on him. He needed something to fall onto, something to embrace, and something to...cry into. Cry...he let it take him over and fell to the ground on all fours, his weak sobbing reverberating off the walls. He pounded the ground with his fist and let out a frustrated yell just as he had the first time he had felt tears escape him. Wipe them away...he couldn't...no matter how much he wanted; he couldn't stop them from coming. He found himself cursing to himself, to whatever was willing to hear a lost boy scream. Now, he wanted to leave but not alone. He wanted to escape from this world...but not alone.

"Think straight, Roxas...think straight," someone whispered. Someone was there...someone was willing to hear him scream...watch him cry. As he continued to wet the floor with his tears, now attempting to calm himself, he steadily lifted his head to face whoever was there. If he had a heart, he knew it would have skipped a beat...

"No..." And his world fell.