Prompt #86: Seeing Red
Characters/Pairings: Sora, Roxas, Riku, dragon!Kairi. Roxas/Sora, implied Leon/Cloud.
Summary: In mystical Scotland, Sora fights for his beloved…and fails.
Author's Notes: I received a request from Amyrosefreak10: Could you try Roxas is going to die and Sora tries to save him? Here you go, Amyrosefreak10!
Sora could hear his heart beating loudly within his chest, so loud that he could feel it echoing inside his head. His feet pounded against the cold stone floor, in tune with the war drums just outside the city walls. His right hand closed around the hilt of his claymore, which was slicked with sweat and blood from having struck down several men who had broken past the gates of the castle grounds. Shouting rang through the halls as servants ran for cover and guards left their posts to join the conflict. Sora had only one destination in mind, and it wasn't the battlefield.
"Kairi, where are you?" The panicked brunet shouted, leaning out of one of the wide windows near the back of the castle. He waited for a moment, his hands clenching the smooth stone as he scanned the sky. The sound of wings brought a strained smile to his face, and Sora looked into the blue eyes of his trusted companion.
"Sora, if you want to reach Roxas you'd better climb on." Kairi said, her red wings beating furiously. Sora nodded and swung himself onto the dragon's back, gripping the leather straps around her neck tightly so that he wouldn't fall. The two rose higher into the sky and headed for the sickbay tower on other side of the castle, careful to avoid being seen or shot at.
"I can't believe that the people of the moors are attacking us! You'd think that after such a long time of peace that they'd be content!" Sora shouted over the wind. Kairi hummed thoughtfully in response.
"They felt suppressed by the MacLachlan rule, although they have been free to do as they please. Only fools seek for more than what they have." The dragon said wisely, slowing her descent as the sickbay came into sight. They landed softly on the platform jutting out of the wall and Sora jumped from Kairi's back to run inside.
"Master Roxas!" He shouted. Selphie and Ollette, the two nurses, glared at him. Sora paid them no mind, his eyes glued to the pale young man lying in one of the beds. The doctor, Riku, and one of the guards Sora recognized as Axel came in with another man carried between them. Sora noticed who the unconscious one was almost immediately. "Leon!" He wasn't badly injured, it seemed, merely unconscious from what was probably a heavy blow to the head.
"Hush, Sora, and bring Kairi inside! We cannot let the enemy know that we have a Wind Rider in here!" Riku hissed, his turquoise eyes narrowed wearily. He wasn't usually so short with the brunet but the stress of the situation did nothing for his mood. Sora bowed his head apologetically and motioned to Kairi, who waddled awkwardly inside. After she was situated safely away from the window, Sora went to where his lord was resting.
"Roxas…" He said quietly, running his hands through the limp golden hair. Roxas smiled weakly at him and tried to sit up. Selphie and Ollette were immediately by his side, propping him up on some pillows. Riku and Axel put Leon into a nearby bed and fixed his wounds before disappearing into the halls again, likely to seek out more injured men. Roxas sent the two nurses a soft glare, one that carried little weight. He was too kind to give two of his dearest friends such a cruel look.
"Leave until I send Sora to get you." The young lord ordered, and they scuffled out of the room to guard the doorway. Leon shifted in his sleep at the sound of the door closing, though he didn't wake up. Roxas focused all his attention on Sora, the dark bags under his eyes showing starkly against his pale skin. "There's a battle going on, and you're here?" Sora winced at his sharp tone.
"I was really worried about you, and I couldn't fight properly. So I came to check on you." He answered, and Roxas sighed. He reached up with a weak arm and tugged Sora's hair, silently asking him to lower his head. The brunet did so, and before he could say anything Roxas had kissed him. Sora pulled away first and was about to speak when Riku burst back into the room, Selphie and Ollette in tow.
"They're burning the Clootie Well." He muttered rather loudly, and Roxas winced at Sora's short intake of breath.
"It's fine, Sora, we'll just have a new one-"
"No! All of our wishes are there, and if those are burned down then you'll never heal properly!" Sora was a staunch believer in the supernatural, and he thought that the clootie well was as good a medicine as actual herbs. Roxas and Riku begged to differ, but that didn't stop the young soldier from rushing out of the room.
"Wait, Sora-!" It was too late. The brunet had jumped onto Kairi's back and soared off into the orange-tinged sky before Roxas could stop him. Leon moaned, causing Riku and the nurses to turn their attention to the soldier. Roxas sighed and slipped out of bed, sneaking into the empty corridor. He needed to do something, he couldn't just sit back as his castle was attacked. When Riku turned around to check on the young lord, he groaned.
"Master Roxas…"
Kairi dodged arrows and did her best to knock out as many of the invaders as she could on her way to the clootie well. Sora, blinded by fury, hacked at any enemy his claymore could reach. The dragon felt her heart ache in response to his anger, and her mind sent calming waves which had no effect. Sighing, Kairi made her way to the forest.
"We're almost there, Kairi! Just a little further!" Sora urged her on, seeing the smoke in the distance. As they flew over the moor, Sora felt his stomach flip uneasily. The sinking feeling in his chest steadily got worse as they got closer to the burning woods, and once Kairi was hovering above the clootie well he knew it couldn't be saved. Tears fogged his eyes and he stubbornly wiped them away.
"All our wishes…gone…"
"Sora, it's okay. We don't need strips of cloth in order to make our wishes come true." Kairi murmured soothingly, turning around to take her distraught rider back home. All he needed to do was speak with Roxas, and the red dragon was certain that he would be fine. The flight back to the castle was silent, as Sora had tuned out the sounds of the waning battle around him.
The battle had noticeably slowed, though the number of dead bodies lying in the town made Sora's stomach lurch. He buried his face into Kairi's neck to hide himself from the battle below, not looking up until he felt the dragon land on solid ground.
"Sora, Sora!" Riku shouted, causing Sora's head to snap up.
"W-what? What's wrong?"
"Master Roxas is missing!" The look on Sora's face would have been comical if not for the fact that the situation was so grave. He and Kairi shared a look and the boy jumped from her back, the two of them going their separate ways to search for the missing lord. Riku watched them depart, and with a sigh he turned to Leon.
"I hope Sora finds the young master before something bad happens…I'd hate for Sora to end up like you after Cloud's death." The older man simply groaned in response, still out cold.
"Roxas? Roxas!" Sora shouted as he ran down the halls, claymore gripped tightly in his sword hand. A shout echoed from the stairway, and Sora's eyes widened as he recognized it. "Roxas, I'm coming!" He sprinted in the direction of the yell, praying that he would make it in time.
What he found was not something he wanted to see. Roxas, ill and weak Roxas, was fighting one of the moor-men with a battered sword he had picked up from one of the decorative suits of armor. As Sora ran to save his lord, his lover, the man raised his crude ax above his head. The brunet let out a cry of shock and ran faster. The ax came down, and there was silence.
"…Sora?" Roxas called out. Sora pulled his sword from the dead man's body and turned to the injured boy. Tears filled his eyes at the sight of the ax buried deep into his shoulder. The blonde managed a bloody half-smile before bursting into a fit of coughs, and Sora fell to his knees beside him. Roxas felt blood dribbling down his chin and tried to wipe it away, only to find that he couldn't move his arms. He felt...tired. Sora burst into tears above him, lifting the blond into his arms and hurrying for the infimary. The world faded at the edges of Roxas' eyes and though he struggled to stay awake, he didn't even have the energy to tell Sora that he loved him one final time. Everything went dark. Sora didn't realize that his love was no longer with him until he'd set the blond down on a bed. Riku checked his votals, only to shake his head. He lead Sora to another bed and set him down, where the boy promptly passed out.
Sora didn't awaken until the battle was over, and even then he was so delirious with fever and shock that he did not become fully conscious until Roxas' funeral. Upon visiting his lover's grave, he made a promise. He swore that he would never believe in wishes again.
Yes, I turned Kairi into a dragon. I was amused.
A Clootie Well is a place where people wishing to be cured of sickness and injury hung brightly colored strips of cloth as offerings. The purpose of the Clootie Well in this story was because Roxas suffered from a severe illness and the people wanted him to get better, so they hung strips of red cloth soaked in holy water from the church well. I take Sora for the superstitious type whereas Roxas would be more logical, so Sora's reaction over the well and the consequences of his departure play into my take on superstition. If you take a myth over facts, nothing good will come from it. If you want to know what happens after this...pretty much Sora goes crazy and becomes a beserker that massacres the moor-people until his own injuries overtake him. Yay for no happy endings!