Several hours later, Falcon woke up on her bed in Hollow Bastion, everyone standing next to her, concerned looks on their faces. She blinked her eyes open, and attempted to sit up, but winced as a shot of pain jolted through her stomach.
"Don't sit up," Rinoa warned, "Saix really got you good in the stomach there."
"What...happened?" Falcon asked groggily, "Where did Saix...?"
"I fought him off," Sora said, "lucky I arrived just when he knocked you out. I figured you were gone for too long, good timing." Falcon sighed; everything seemed to be going wrong...
Over the course of the next few days, Falcon lapsed into a state of delirium, though only when it came to the topic of Axel. As if that wasn't bad enough, she got sick from being outside in the rain for too long during winter.
"Falcon, how are you feeling...?" Rinoa asked, coming into her bedroom, "everyone's worried about you."
Falcon nodded dimly, her head feeling like someone was pounding against it with a hammer, "yeah...tell them I'm sorry."
"No, it's not you who has to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong," Rinoa replied. She paused for a while, then added, "I know you don't like to talk about this...but...I'm really sorry for what happened...you know..."
"He's not dead," Falcon said, a spark of determination in her emerald eyes, "he's not. He can't be..."
"Falcon," Rinoa sighed, "you have to come to terms with that fact that-"
"He can't be dead!" Falcon replied stubbornly, "he's not. He's not dead." Rinoa shook her head in sympathy.
"Fal..." she whispered, "isn't that what he used to call you? You never let me give you nicknames."
Falcon closed her eyes for a second, and then whispered slowly, "watching me...wanting me...I can feel you pull me down. Fearing you, loving you, I won't let you bring me down." Rinoa looked at her, trying to figure out what she was saying.
"Fal..." Rinoa whispered, but Falcon was fast asleep. Rinoa gazed at her for a few more seconds, and then stood up and walking away, closing the door behind her.
"Nope, no improvement," Rinoa reported as she approached everyone else at the breakfast table.
"It's so sad," Yuffie said. "she keeps insisting that he's still alive. They really had something for each other." By now Sora and Riku were starting to feel really bad. They had felt guilty for Axel's death ever since they came back.
"I hope she gets better," Riku said simply, "she's not eating either."
"Depression," Cloud said, "she'll get over it."
"I hope," Tifa added, "she was always an emotionally strong girl."
"This could've just as easily broken her spirit," Squall said, "she may never recover."
"I'm doing the best I can so she can recover physically," Aerith said, "emotionally...I'm not so sure..."
"This is the second time her heart's been broken," Rinoa said, "it may be too much. After all, she's only fifteen, still very young." Squall sighed and closed his eyes.
'Lose Falcon?' he thought, 'I've known her for a while now, and I can easily say that she matters to me just as much as Rinoa. I don't know if I'll be able to take it if she becomes a vegetable.'
"I feel so sorry for her..." Yuffie said.
"Pity's not getting us anywhere..." Riku said.
Finally, under Aerith's gentle care, Falcon's physically recovered to normal, and her sickness faded, but she still had trouble dealing with Axel's death. Good news was: she finally accepted that he died. Bad news: she was depressed most of the time. Everyone expected her to take her confusion out in anger, but much to everyone's surprise, she never got angry, and nothing seemed to matter to her anymore. She just let life wash over her like a rising tide. She spent most of her time in her room, lying on the bed, motionless, or crying.
'It's all my fault,' Falcon thought, 'I should've stopped him from going. I knew something like this would happen, why did I still let him go? Why...?' Tears cascaded down her cheeks. She sat up and held out her right hand, and instantly Bond of Flame appeared with a flash. Tears in her eyes, but smiling, she held up the keyblade and admired it. The contrasting colors of black, red, and silver clashed, the warm metal formed one of Axel's chakrams. She could almost feel his touch; almost hear his soothing and confident voice, almost.
'This keyblade...my last reminder of him. I'll never share one of those moments again...' she thought sadly as she ran her hand along the keyblade, 'he's nothing but a shadow now...I knew those moments were too good to be true...'
His warm aura surrounded her. She felt totally safe in his arms, totally secure.
'Nothing can break us,' Falcon thought, 'our bond is unbreakable. I feel like I've never felt before like this. Can we just stay like this...forever...?' Then suddenly the image split, and shattered like glass in her mind. Falcon found herself falling in an endless black void. There was nothing to hold onto, and the air was hollow and dark. With a flash, she suddenly appeared in a hall of ice. It was...so cold. The air itself seemed to freeze.
"What is this place?" she asked to no one in particular. Then she grasped her head and screamed, falling to the ground. Sudden pain, then...black.
Falcon woke, breath coming in gasps, her body in cold sweat.
'I fell asleep...?' she thought, 'what...what was that...? A nightmare...' she sighed deeply and looked out the window, gazing at the moon, 'man, I wish Axel were here.' After that, Falcon didn't really feel like sleeping anymore, and even if she did, she wouldn't have been able to anyway. It was her fear of the nightmare that kept her awake. After lying on her bed listening to the tock-tock of the clock for several minutes, she got up and walked around. The castle was so different at night, there was no sound, and everything was so dark. She wandered her way into the kitchen, where she heard voices. Immediately, she flattened herself against a wall, incorporating her keen hearing to eavesdropping.
"I'm so worried about her, she's so silent these days," Squall's voice echoed throughout the hallways. Falcon started as she realized that he was talking about her, "I mean, she rarely talks, hardly eats anything, and she spends all her time holed up in her room."
"Cut her some slack Squall," it was Rinoa, "she and Axel were best friends. Maybe more than that…if given time." Falcon slumped down against the wall, feeling tears prickling her eyes again.
'It was that obvious…?' she wondered, 'if given time…would we really have become…more?'
"She's going to have to get over sometime soon," Squall said, "I can feel Organization XIII beginning to build up their forces again. We're going to need her to help fight them off." There was a stunning silence, and then Rinoa spoke.
"Do you think…that she'll go back?" she asked softly. It was then that Falcon realized that this was everyone's silent fear, that she would go back to the Organization. Falcon lowered her head.
'I would never go back,' she said, 'why is everyone…?' She peered deeper into herself, and realized with a surprise that maybe, if given the chance, would she go back? Now that she thought about it, she didn't really feel at home here in Hollow Bastion anymore. That was strange. She had always felt fine here, but that was before. Ever since Axel's death, Falcon didn't really know where she belonged anymore.
"I hope not…" Squall said, "she's a part of me just as you are." There was another silence, and then Rinoa sighed.
"It's getting late," Squall said, "we should get to sleep." There was the sound of chairs scraping backwards, and both of them stood up.
"Love you, Squall," Rinoa said.
"You too," Squall added, and they hugged and walked upstairs. Falcon stayed downstairs, thoughts flowing through her mind.
'The Organization…' she thought, 'they need me back. I owe them too, for taking me in. Should I…really…go back…?' Falcon was in doubt now, but then another thought was brought to her mind, 'what about Squall?' At the thought of that name, her dormant feelings (temporarily suppressed by Axel) for him were brought to the surface, 'great, as if my life didn't suck enough. I still have feelings for Squall. Great.' She scowled and waited until both Squall and Rinoa were upstairs before venturing into the kitchen for a late night snack. Opening the fridge, she searched around for stuff that she could thoughtfully munch on.
'This brings a whole new definition to "Food for thought,"' she thought. As she was digging around, her sensitive ears picked up the sound of someone coming in. She looked up and saw Kairi enter the room. She seemed pretty surprised to see Falcon down here. Falcon grabbed an apple and sat down, watching Kairi.
"Hey Falcon," she finally said. Falcon nodded simply, "you know, you've been really silent lately. I haven't seen you for a while, but you weren't like this before." Falcon looked down and sniffed, "you know, I met Axel." At this, Falcon perked her head up, her eyes sparkling with curiosity, "I didn't think too much of him really. I actually thought he was pretty darn impolite." Falcon smirked in amusement, "but you seemed to have an attachment to him. I guess he's different around you, huh?" Falcon's smirk faded and she sighed, nodding.
"He's not that bad," she finally said, her voice a little croaky for keeping quiet for so long. She cleared her throat and continued, "once you get to know him, he's really fun to be around."
Kairi nodded, "I'll bet. For you to like him so much and be so depressed about his death," Falcon winced, "he must've been great to you." Tears began to collect in Falcon's eyes again, and she quickly wiped them away.
"Yeah," Falcon agreed, "he was really sweet. Who knew he could be like that? Wait, how did you meet him?"
Kairi laughed, "actually it was funny. He was trying to kidnap me." Falcon raised and eyebrow, "I don't know why, but I got away from him, and then this other guy got me. He had blue hair and these yellow eyes."
"Saix..." Falcon muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah...that's the only time I met Axel. Maybe if I knew him longer, I would've gotten to see his good side, you think?" she turned and smiled. Falcon nodded.
"Yeah, definetly."
Kairi gazed at the small Destiny Island from the sandy beaches of the two that was on its outskirts. The sun was beginning to set and it lit the sky with a reddish color.
"Maybe...waiting isn't good enough," she said to no one in particular.
"My thoughts exactly," a voice said from nowhere. Kairi glanced around, trying to locate the source of the voice, "if you've got a dream, don't wait, act. One of life's little rules, got it memorized?" To her left, a huge shadowy orb appeared and a young man of about 18 appeared. He had spiky red hair and green eyes, black tears tattooed under both eyes. He was wearing a black cloak that went down to about his ankles.
"Who are you?" Kairi asked.
"Axel," he replied, "I happen to be an acquaintance of Sora's. Why don't we go see him?" Axel held out his hand."
"...Sora?" Kairi gazed at him, wondering whether to take the invitation or not. Suddenly, she heard barking, and a yellow dog with droopy black ears came running up to her. It continued barking as it ran in circles. Then its ears perked up and it turned around and growled as a bunch of white creatures appeared around her. A piercing whistle was heard, and another black orb identical to the one Axel had come from appeared. The dog ran towards it, barking for Kairi to come too.
"We've got something in common Kairi," Axel said, "we both miss someone we care about. Hey, I feel like we're friends already." Kairi ran off toward the orb as one of the white creatures started coming towards her.
"Well you're not acting very friendly!" she cried to him as she ran in, disappearing from view.
"Hmm..." Kairi whispered as she remembered the moment exactly. She looked at the clock and realized it was well past midnight. Yawning, she turned back to Falcon, "yup, he wasn't the greatest of gentlemen." Falcon smiled and Kairi proceeded back up.
"You're not tired?" she asked.
"No," Falcon replied as she stood up too, "I think I'll head off to the library." Kairi nodded and they parted ways.
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