If it Never Happened: A slice of life take on what the Kingdom Hearts characters from the FemSora universe would be going through if the events in the game never existed.
Author's note: Just a reminder to readers, I want you guys to know I take opinions into effect. I like hearing suggestions and opinions on fics and if you guys have any requests or things you want improved don't hesitate to bring them up with me. Not just with this fic but with all my stories. I live to serve!
Chapter 8: Sora's Decision
Donald and Goofy had long since given up trying to keep up with the rest of the group. They were both tuckered out and resting at the docks letting their feet dangle over the edge.
"Some party…" Donald complained. "I thought with Sora here, we could have some fun, but she's got so many other friends."
"She is pretty popular. We don't get to see it very often cuz most of her friends are in another grade. Kinda makes you feel a little lonely, huh?" Goofy sighed and dropped a stone into the water. "I wonder what she's doing now."
"HEEELLLLP MEEEE!" Sora, ignoring the pain in her foot ran across the sand and pavement towards them. She collapsed on her knees behind them making them both jump and turn towards her.
"Sora?" Goofy stood up and helped her to her feet with Donald's help "What's the matter?"
"Donald Goofy, get me out of here! Take me home!" Her eyes were dazed, her face flushed. Her head was spinning dizzily and her foot now throbbed with pain. "I don't know how much more I can take!"
"Calm down, Sora, you're hysterical." Donald tried to soothe her by patting her hand.
"Sora!" Roxas panted as she jogged up the steps. Sora immediately hid behind Goofy.
"Oh no! You, and the others just stay away from me! This entire island has gone crazy!"
Roxas stepped closer and Sora backed up more her eyes wide and frightened. Goofy and Donald looked at each other, then frowned and nodded.
"Come on, Sora, Get into the boat. We'll take you home." Donald ushered her on and turned to Roxas. "Let's go, Goofy."
"Thanks for inviting us," Goofy offered with a wave then jumped in the boat with Donald and Sora and pushed off toward the mainland.
Roxas stood at the edge watching her sister leave. She had barely been able to make out her face. What she saw was a scared girl, pale, stunned, and eyes ready to spill tears any minute. She felt her temper sizzled, then flare into a rage.
"Riku!" She turned on her heel and ran back down the beach. She found him exactly where he'd been except he wasn't alone. Riku had Axel pinned up against a wall fists in his shirt looking ready to punch his lights out.
"What in the hell is going on here? What did you do to Sora?"
"Don't ask me, ask him!" Riku snarled. "The idiot barged in on MY confession and decided it was a good time to ask Sora out!"
"You what?!" Roxas glared up at Axel and slapped at Riku's hands. "Damn it Riku, let him go. Go after Sora, GO! She's in a boat with Donald and Goofy heading home."
"I wouldn't bother her just now. Sora's got a lot to think about. We may want to give her some space to make a decision." Axel smoothed out his shirt. Riku said something coarse under his breath and slammed through the back door leaving Roxas and Axel alone.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Roxas narrowed her eyes on her ex. You've never shown any interest in my sister.
"That was because at the time my full interest was in you… but you've decided I'm not good enough. Sora thinks otherwise." He scowled down at Roxas and crossed his arms.
"That's exactly my point… if you're just interested in Sora because she's my sister-"
"I'm not!" He whirled on her facing her toe to toe now. "I like Sora because any idiot with common sense would. I definitely like her as a friend and obvious I find her attractive because the two of you are twins, but there's something more there. There's something about her, about the way she is that just pulls you in. I want to find out exactly what that is."
"You're making a mistake, Axel." Roxas' chin came up. "Riku's been in love with Sora for years. HE deserves the chance to find that something special. All you're doing is looking for someone to stitch up your pride."
"Pride?! You honestly think it was my pride that was broken?! You think it was my pride that you left shattered at my feet after you stomped all over it!?" He gripped her shoulders shaking her. Roxas' eyes go wide and she gripped his wrists.
"Let go of me!"
"No, You will listen and listen good Roxas. You made your decision, Roxas. You decided I wasn't good enough for you. You decided that all the love, all the support… the ups, the downs, the laughter, the tears, non of it was not worth keeping. You've obviously moved on… so do us both a favor, and let me!"
"WHY DO YOU WANT IT TO BE WITH MY SISTER!" Roxas screamed and slapped at his hands finally getting him to break his hold on her.
"I don't WANT it to be… I NEED it to be. I was ready to mope and become one of those depressing musicians writing songs about heartbreak and shit… and then there she was. I had gone to the little island to clear my head, to be alone and think… and there she was, just sitting there with comfort and company and everything I needed to hear. She can heal me, Roxas. I know she can… but I'm not going to force her to do it. It's Sora's decision whether she wants Riku or if she wants me… I just wanted to give her that choice."
Roxas stood silent a moment. She held her stomach, the twisting pain making her want to throw up and she felt the familiar burn of her eyes.
"So the fact that she's my sister means nothing?"
"I loved you Roxas… I still do… but that fact is not the reason I want to be with your sister. It's all about who she is. She can heal hearts just by smiling at you."
That fact… Roxas thought with a sour expression… was true enough. She thought about that, and about what Axel said on the way home. When she walked through the door the house was surprisingly quiet. She jogged up the steps and was surprised to find Sora's door wide open. Her sister sitting on the bed staring out the window.
"Sora?"
"Go away, Roxas."
She frowned, stepping into the room she closed the door behind her and walked to the bed sitting on the edge.
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened on the island. Kairi and I shouldn't have shoved you into that scenario. We just… we thought it was time to stop tip toeing around it."
"You knew?" Sora looked back, her blue eyes sparkling with tears. "You knew Riku had those feelings for me?"
"Sora, you lame brain, everyone knew but you. You were completely oblivious. We all kept quiet because we wanted Riku to get up the nerve to tell you himself. Kairi and I thought it was time to give him that little nudge… Selphie and Namine decided they wanted to help."
"You thought dressing me up in a bikini was gonna push him? I don't understand that logic."
"That's because you're an idiot. Sora you're a lot more popular with the boys than you realize. There's not a kid in school who doesn't like you, all the guys would like the chance to date you, and Riku's always been jealous of any guy you got too close to."
Sora remembered all the cat calls and whistles she'd gotten, and the angry look on Riku's face when Axel had shown his approval in the attire. Her face went bright red and she pulled the covers over her head groaning.
"Oh God…"
"So…" Roxas leaned over the bundle of blankets and tugged it down so she could look in her sister's eyes. "What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know…" She sits upright again blowing bangs out of her face. "I'd never thought about Riku that way… and now that I am… there's this tightening…." she clutched her chest. "It hurts."
Roxas nodded her head… and then drifted off a second her eyes going distant. She'd had those same tightenings where Axel was concerned. She suddenly shifted uncomfortably and rubbed her knuckles in the same spot on her own chest.
"What about Axel?"
Sora's eyes went sad and looked down.
"I don't know… I mean it's easier to imagine it with Axel. Mainly because he's been treating me like I expect a girlfriend is supposed to be treated… but I don't get those flutters around Axel. I just feel… good. I'm always happy when I'm around him. We have so much fun together."
Sora looked up suddenly realizing what she was saying.
"Sorry… I know you dated him."
"It's over between us so it's nothing to me." Roxas said it quickly despite those flutters returning. "I made sure of that."
"Why did you?" Sora pulled her legs to her chest. "Why did you break up with Axel? Give me the truth."
"I… it's hard to explain." Roxas looked down at her fingers playing with them. "The best I can say is… he frightened me."
"He frightened you? How? Why?"
"The hugeness of it… Axel he… god." She rubbed her temples. "He would talk about these crazy romantic ideas… he started talking about running away after high school, just the two of us going off on our own, getting married. I mean god we're only high school students, I'm barely sixteen and he's talking about marriage like it was a Friday night date."
"He asked you to marry him?" Her eyes went wide and bright.
"Not seriously! None of it was serious… and it pissed me off. He's playing fire with our relationship and not thinking seriously about the future. He doesn't want to go to college, he doesn't want to get stuck in school for another four years, he just wants to leave, travel, explore, and he wanted me to just drop everything and go with him. I said no, we had a fight. I told him if he wasn't gonna take his life seriously, why should I take him seriously?"
"...and you broke it off."
"It's that kind of childish behavior that nearly got you killed, Sora. You and Riku were ready to set sail, leave everything and who knew if you would ever come back, or if you would even be alive. I wasn't about to make that mistake and I told Axel he was stupid if he was gonna go off and do the same thing."
"You broke up with Axel because of my accident? Roxas that's just stupid! You and Riku are both stupid! You can't let things like that control your life. You love Axel!"
"No I don't!" Roxas screamed, panic bubbling in her throat. "I don't love him! I don't love that selfish, childish jerk! Neither do you! So don't be stupid!" She stormed up and ran out the room slamming the door.
~One Week Later~
Sora had stayed confined to her bedroom, killing her boredom with whatever she could find, and wishing to god she could go outside. When the doctor finally gave the okay she took the opportunity to go outside for fresh air. She pulled on red shorts and white T shirt and snagged a pair of sandals. She walked out to the beach staring out at the little island. Her heart warmed when she heard laughter and voices out in the distance. She could barely make out the figures of Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie playing blitzball on the beach. Namine sitting on the docks sketching as she always did, and Kairi sitting beside her stringing shells together on a necklace.
Her island was alive again. No longer broken and abandoned, it was starting to thrive all thanks to the hard work she, Axel, and the others had put in.
"Sora?"
Sora would have tensed… but she immediately recognized the squawky voice of Donald and turned around to meet his and Goofy's gaze.
"Hey guys."
"We haven't seen you for awhile. Is everything okay?" Donald question with concern.
"Yeah," Goofy agreed. "You never told us what happened at the beach."
"I'm sorry… I know at the time I said I didn't want to talk about it, even though you guys had a right to know since I was pulling you from the party."
"Oh we don't care about that." Goofy explained. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay. You were awfully upset."
"Yeah…" Sora laughed a little and turned back to face the water. "I was."
It stayed silent for a good thirty seconds before Sora looked at her friends.
"Donald, Goofy… you're not in love with me are yah?"
"Wha!?" Donald nearly tripped as he stumbled forward in the sand. He righted himself quickly and put his hands on his hips. "Why would you ask us something like that?"
"It just seems like all the guys I care about are confessing to me… it's weird to say the least." Sora rubbed her arms, Donald and Goofy shared knowing looks and then returned their attention to Sora.
"Well uh… we do LIKE you Sora… but not in that way." Goofy flushed and rubbed the back of his head. "We already got girlfriends anyway."
"Really?" Sora brightened some. "I didn't know that, who are they?"
"Donald's dating Daisy from the fashion club." Goofy chuckled. "And I'm dating Sylvia."
"Daisy I know, she's cute… but i don't think I know Sylvia… is she that bookworm who collects all those weird objects from the seventies?"
"Yeah, ahyuk… she's wonderful." Goofy sighed dreamily and had Sora smiling.
"I can't wait to meet them." She sighed in a bit of relief and then her eyes went serious. "Axel asked me to be his girlfriend."
"Really? Well what did you say?" Goofy asked excited to hear the answer.
"I didn't say anything… I was still trying to recover from Riku confessing he's been in love with me all this time."
"What?" Donald looked wide eyed. "Well did you say to him?"
"Nothing!" Sora ran her hands through her hair. "Axel burst into the conversation before I could get one word out. He said he wanted me to make the decision, he wanted to give me that option because it what he wants. I just learned that my best friend has had these feeling for me and now the guy that I've been close to for the past couple days throws this on top of it. I was… confused and frustrated and… and… conflicted."
"Oh Sora…" Donald came up and put a comforting hand on her arm, Goofy took the other side wrapping an arm over her shoulders.
"It's okay.. .I'm okay… I just. I needed this time to think, to sort out all these feelings that suddenly exploded all at once."
"Well have you decided what you're going to do?" Goofy wanted to know.
"Yes…" Sora nodded and pulled from their hold and stepping into the sand and surf smiling at the sight of her island. "I don't know if it's the right thing… but I know exactly what I'm going to do." She folded her hands behind her head. "I'm going… to spend the best summer of my life with my friends."
She turned smiling bright and beautiful.
"All of them."
Yay! Another chapter done. There's more love triangle… or more like love clumps at this point… coming up, but first much more fun!
Next Chapter: Summer Island Extravaganza!