Hi everyone!
New chapter here! Please read on and enjoy it! Also…if you could so kindly leave a review? I appreciate all the comments and faves that I have received since I first posted this work up, and I hope to continue receiving them from all you kind readers! Thanks very much for your support!
Now read on!
-NightRaven13
DISCLAIMER: While I wish it were possible, I own none of the characters associated or belonging to Square Enix!
Previously, in the last chapter...
His hand grazed the crystal clear top, forming more ripples and distorting the world outside. Air quickly left his lungs, then darkness completely took over.
The last thing he saw before he went under was the girl, her figure slightly distorted by the water above, but ever present and clear in Roxas' eyes.
He stood near the edge, hands dangling over the rail and mind deep in thought.
The ocean view was very pleasant today, and the setting sun only helped to better heighten that pleasant beauty. Various pink, purple, and blue hues colored the curious clouds as well as the ocean, while tiny stars began to dot the sky, warning of the approaching twilight hour. The ocean current moved serenely below him, with the only real disturbance to the water coming from the ship itself.
In other words, all was pleasantly placid around him.
While that might have been the case for his current environment, the confines of his mind were a whole different story. As peaceful as everything around him was, his mind was a troubled realm all on its own. Normally, he would go to his most trusted friends when problems such as these arouse, but even they were proving to be the foremost authorities in issues pertaining to lack of trust recently.
He sighed, the best he could do was simply stare. Stare out into the ocean and hope for some sort of an epiphany to hit him, or a seagull…whichever came first.
"A penny for your thoughts sir?"
He frowned, despite all his attempts to escape the ever watchful eyes of his traveling companions (as well as his traveling associates) someone had found him.
This ship is ridiculous in size! How the hell does everyone manage to find me all the time?
"Go away…"
The sound of shifting feet could clearly be heard behind him, but not once did he bother to turn.
"I said go away…"
The shifting continued, and then they clearly stood next to him. He could feel their body, whoever it was, lightly brush against his own as they stood next to him.
"For the final time…go away!"
He turned, startled to be met with the eyes of the person he last expected to see.
"You!" he said almost accusingly, "What are you doing here? How did you -"
They placed one slender finger against his lips, silencing the question instantly and completely.
"That's none of your concern…I wanted to see you, isn't that enough of a reason?"
"But…what if someone sees you? What then?"
A small smile began to form on the other person's lips, sending a small shiver down his own back for some odd reason.
"Then I'll run. Simple as that."
"Run where? This is the first class deck! You'll need to either find some stairs fast or jump…and I strongly object to you jumping off anything here!"
A laugh escaped the other person at his suggestion, light yet musical. He couldn't help but smile along as well, as the whole situation seemed quite absurd once he really thought about it.
"We can't keep doing this…I…I don't think I can see you anymore."
There, he had said it. The words he had feared to speak for so long were finally out in the open, it was much more painful that he had originally thought it would be. He couldn't even bring himself to look them in the eye after the words were spoken.
"Is…is this what you want?"
He clenched his fist, he couldn't bring himself to lie either.
"No."
"Then…then why?"
He brought his gaze up to their own, sincerity gracing every tone in his voice.
"Because I don't want to see you get hurt."
A frown formed on their face at that moment, the threat clearly went misunderstood.
"What are you talking abo-"
He placed a hand against their month, silencing them instantly. Someone was coming, he could clearly hear their footsteps against the wood as they approached his present location. He turned back to the small individual before him, panic quickly entering their eyes.
"Someone's coming! You have to leave! Now!"
He led them away from the railing, pulling them over to the closest balcony that overlooked the second class deck.
"You have to climb down! Quickly!"
"Are you insane? I can't climb all that way down! I'll fall!"
"Don't worry I'll help you! Now hurry! Go!"
He helped them over, holding tight to their hand as they slowly climbed down the railing and down towards the second class deck. He watched as they carefully made their down, but couldn't anticipate what happened next.
Their footing slipped, and their balanced was lost. All that held them back from falling was his hand tightly wrapped around theirs.
"I'm going to fall! Help me! Help me please! Don't let me fall!"
He held on as much as he could, but his grip was slowly slipping from their own.
"Don't let me fall! Please!"
He pulled, pulled as hard as he could.
"Help me! Help me…."
"I'm trying!"
"Don't let me fall Roxas…"
He blinked, his pulling suddenly became less urgent.
"What…what did you call me?"
"Help me Roxas…"
His grip slowly loosened, their hand began to slip from his own. Frighten blue eyes stared back as his hand completely lost their hold on them. All began to slow down around him as he watched the other person fall, fall slowly to their most assured death. Not a scream was heard, not a sound was uttered, all that rang in his ears was their last desperate whisper for help.
"Help me Roxas…"
He blinked again, all sense completely gone.
None of this is real….it's all just a nightmare…
Frighten blue eyes continued to stare as they slowly fell, and all he could do was watch.
It's not real…it never was…
"Rox…"
Then why won't it stop?
"…as"
And why….
"Roxas…"
Does it feel familiar?
"Roxas! Please wake up man! Open up your eyes! Please!"
"Wake up man!"
He groaned, why he felt completely tired was beyond his realm of understanding. The darkness surrounded him in the most peaceful of ways, and it seem much more relaxing than whatever kept insisting that he was asleep.
"Please Roxas! Wake the hell up man!"
He tried to move his arm, to punch at whatever kept disturbing him, but found that he couldn't even move. He slowly began to realize that several other things were amiss.
First off, why couldn't he move? Second, why was everything so oddly cold and dark? And thirdly, why did he feel like he was completely drenched from head to foot?
"Roxas! Wake up man!"
He groaned again, they sure were insistent!
"Is he breathing?"
"I don't know! Someone do some CPR on the kid! Quick!"
Shuffling could be clearly heard against the darkness, then something soft and full began to press against his mouth. It felt most pleasant to him, until they started to force air down his mouth. He pushed and pulled, trying to get away from whatever it was. Before he knew it, he was coughing out a rush of water he had no clue had been in him.
"Easy there! Turn to your side so you don't choke to death."
He felt hands lightly tilt him onto his side, slowly rubbing his back and muttering calming words as he coughed out what remained of the highly chlorinated water.
"You ok now? You had your friend worried."
Roxas turned back onto his back slowly, only then did he fully open his eyes.
"Heh…I'll take that as a yes?"
He blinked, surprised to see a pair of vibrant blue eyes staring back at him.
"So are you ok now?"
Roxas nodded slowly, taking in every detail of the individual in front of him. Their vibrant blue eyes glowed with such kindness in them, it was hard to believe. Dark red hair framed their face in layers until they stopped somewhere around their shoulders, making their pale skin glow with even more intensity than normal.
Whoever this person was, they sure as hell were beautiful.
"Maybe you should head down to the First Aid center, just to make sure you're ok."
He nodded, "Yeah…maybe you're right…"
Suddenly, Axel's face swam into his view along with the pale stranger.
"Oh man Roxas! You're ok! I was freggin' worried about you! How the hell could you just jump into the pool like that and not know how to swim! You could've drowned you stupid prick! Don't scare me like that again!"
Roxas groaned, so that's who was pestering him!
"I'm…I'm ok now…"
The stranger pushed Axel out of Roxas' line of vision, then slowly helped him up onto a sitting position. His vision began to swim a little at his sudden motion, but was quickly steadied by the stranger who was kneeling next to him.
"Hey! Steady there! You took a lung full of water while you were down there."
He nodded, careful to remain steady until the wave of dizziness passed.
"Thanks…for helping me…"
The stranger nodded, dark red hair moving along with their head.
"No problem, my name's kairi by the way…nice to meet you."
Roxas managed a small smile, "You always introduce yourself to people like this?"
Kairi blinked, "Like how?"
"With the person passed out like a drunk and coughing up water like there's no tomorrow?"
Kairi smiled, "No…not usually."
Both teens laughed, Axel merely sat staring at them like if they had completely lost their minds.
"Alright! Nothing to see here! All passengers return to your normal vacation activities!"
The three teens turned, startled out of their moment as the small crowd that had formed was quickly being dispersed by another adolescent wearing blue swim trunks. He shooed them away like sheep, then turned back his attention to the others still seated on the deck floor.
"Alright little guy, it's off to the First Aid station with you."
Kairi frowned, "That's what I kept telling you to do after you pulled him out of the pool! And what kind of lifeguard doesn't know CPR? Just who the hell hired you?"
The lifeguard ran and placed his hands over Kairi's mouth, trying desperately to shut her up.
"Please! Keep quiet or the boss might hear! I don't want him finding out that I lied on my job application! My sister will kill me if she finds out I got fired from this gig!"
Kairi frowned angrily, but nodded her consent shortly after. The young lifeguard let out a sigh of relief, apparently having held his breath the entire time that he had held Kairi's mouth captive.
"Fine…I won't say anything, but you better learn soon if you want to keep your job! I won't make any promises if this happens again…you're on your own on that one!"
The lifeguard nodded happily, shaking Kairi's hand in gratitude.
"Thank you so much! You are a lifesaver!"
Kairi frowned again, "Isn't that suppose to be your job?"
He nodded, then walked over and pulled Roxas up off the floor, "Ok! Got it! Now let's take you down to the FAS and get you checked out!"
Roxas groaned, the dizziness suddenly began to return. Axel noticed this and grabbed him from the other side to better support him.
"Easy there Roxy! Let's not wig out just yet!"
He nodded, then let Axel and the lifeguard take him off to parts unknown. Kairi merely smiled as the three walked away.
"Nice meeting you Roxas! Hope I see you around!"
He waved weakly as they pulled him away, but smiled nonetheless at the jester. Axel saw this, and merely smirked in response.
"Heh…lucky bastard…you don't even have to try and you get chicks kissing you on the first go!"
Roxas frowned, "What the hell are you talking about?"
He smiled, that wolfish grin quickly returning to his face, "After you fell in, idiot here pulled you out." He jerked his free thumb in the lifeguard's direction, "Then he began to freak out cause' he doesn't know how to perform CPR. That's when that Kairi chick pushed out of the crowd that was around us and volunteered her help without a second thought."
Roxas blinked, "Really? She did that?"
Axel nodded, "Yup, felt your pulse and everything. I thought she was just gonna work your chest over or something, but then next thing I know she's planting her lips all over yours like she's frenching you or something!"
For some odd reason, Roxas could quickly feel himself blushing.
"Really?"
Axel nodded, "Why would I lie?"
The otherwise quiet lifeguard nodded his agreement as well, "Mhm…he's not kidding you man. For a minute I thought she was your girlfriend or something."
"Girlfriend!?" Roxas shouted, his voice slightly higher pitched than normal.
Both Axel and the lifeguard laughed. Roxas simply reddened in the face a few shades more.
"Chill man, we know she isn't…but a guy can dream right? Besides…when a girl steps forward to save your stupid ass that's gotta mean something!"
Roxas frowned, "Yeah…whatever…"
The lifeguard smiled, "Yup…if you ask me…she was quite the looker! And she saved your life…I mean…she didn't pull you out like I did! But she was a real fast thinker! I mean, if she hadn't yelled for help when she saw you go in….who knows what would've happened!"
Roxas couldn't help but deepen his frown, this lifeguard really was a little dense!
"Oh! By the way!" The lifeguard leaned in close, until his mouth was around his ear level, "Sorry about accidentally pushing you in…I had no idea that you were even near me when I turned!"
Roxas turned, eyes bulging and face raging, "YOU DID WHAT?!"
Lol……well there you have it everyone! Hope you enjoyed! Please do be kind and leave a review behind on your way out! It will be greatly appreciated if you do! Also, I apologize for the shortness of the chapter!
-NightRaven13