I'm so sorry for the wait, everybody! I had no motivation for a while but it's back, so yay! I want you guys to ask me any questions you might have about the story that I can answer in my little credit chapter I'm putting at the end. Anything you want to know, and I'll try to answer it. Ok, enough talking, here you guys go…
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Sora and I walked through the portal that Axel had left us. We came into a dark alley somewhere in the city. King Mickey rounded around the corner ahead of us first and stared in awe up at the sky. Sora and I followed with Donald and Goofy at our heels.
Up ahead the alley opened up revealing the skyscraper buildings, dazzled by blinking neon lights. Hundreds of feet above our heads, was the large white castle, rotating in front of its moon. It wasn't raining like it usually was. In fact, the dark sky was relatively clear, minus a few wispy clouds here and there.
"The castle dungeon?" Sora asked, his big blue eyes moving from the castle to me.
I nodded. "Let's go." I ran out of the alley and out to the open street. The others followed me as I lead them down the dark roads. Several heartless appeared and we all summoned our weapon. I summoned my white one and began to slice away at the monsters. They seemed to regenerate as one was destroyed, so we ran off, in a hurry to get to the castle.
"Guys, I think we're lost," I said.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked.
"I've never been to this part of the city before," I replied. "It's so close but I just don't recognize these streets." Suddenly the street opened up to a large area surrounded on all sides by towering buildings. "Yep. Definitely never been here," I said looking up at the largest building in front of us.
"Can't you just teleport us there or something?" Sora asked looking up too.
"Not anymore. It takes too much energy for me. I'm not able to do things like that anymore. Not to mention Xemnas is controlling them a great deal. It's too risky, he could trap us halfway through like he did to me."
The large tower we were staring at seemed so familiar. "It feels like I've been here before. This place holds some importance, I know," Sora said, his eyes mesmerized by the colorful screens on the face of the skyscraper.
A memory suddenly came to my mind. But I didn't recognize it, so I knew it was someone else's.
A boy was walking down a street. His cloak was pulled over his head, hiding his face. He came to a large square in the city where a tall, elegant building dominated the area. Large heartless formed from the shadows on the ground and surrounded him. The boy summoned two keyblades, a black one and a white one. He was an amazing fighter. He held his ground against hundreds of the enemy.
There was another cloaked boy standing on top of the tall building. His silver hair blew in front of his blindfolded eyes as the rain began to fall down on the dark city. The cloaked boy on the ground jumped over to the foot of the building. Without thinking, he jumped on the wall and began to run up its side. Heartless followed him, but he sliced through them as they came into range.
When he was just reaching the large screens on the skyscraper, one picturing the face of a baby-faced cranberry-haired girl, he tossed one keyblade into the sky above him. At that moment, the silver-haired boy jumped off the top and hurtled toward the ground, catching the tossed keyblade on his way down.
Once on the ground, the two teenagers engaged in battle. The blindfolded one lost but gained amazing power and returned finish the fight. The hooded boy fell and didn't wake up.
I began to ponder on whose mind I had just entered. The two boys I recognized as Roxas and Riku. I knew this story; Naminé had told me shortly after Roxas entered the fake Twilight Town. I had never truly seen it though. So who did I just see this memory through?
I was pulled from my thoughts as Nobodies suddenly appeared, trapping Donald and Goofy from the two of us. Sora and I summoned each a keyblade and took our fighting stance. A sound came from behind us and we turned around to see a portal opening up.
A cloaked figure came out, his body language suggested that he was strong and that he knew it. He was about Sora's height, his hood hid his face and hair, but I could tell by his baggy pants, thin figure, and slight slouch that his boy was the Organization's thirteenth member.
I tried to say his name but my lips didn't seem to move. Roxas summoned his Oblivion keyblade and threw himself and Sora, who was obviously shocked to see another keyblade wielder.
Roxas was stronger than Sora. He pushed his weight down against him, weakening Sora's ability to keep his ground. Suddenly, Sora and Roxas both vanished and the city street disappeared from my sight. I found myself floating. Below me was a large, circular stained-glass panel. The panel had pictures of Sora, Riku, Kairi, and others on it.
Roxas and Sora were flinging themselves at each other below me. They danced in a majestic battle across the panel. They both shouted words of anger and confusion at each other. I noticed someone's presence next to me. "Hello, Naminé," I said, not being able to add emotion to my words. She and I both didn't face each other.
"Hello, Raene," she replied, watching as the two continued to fight.
"Where did you go?" I asked. It was the first question I had. More than anything, I wanted to know where she had been since she disappeared.
"Wandering the Darkness," she said. Her voice was as angelic as it was the day I met her. It was soft and soothing. She didn't seem to be anything but happy. I turned to her to see if her face was revealing how she was really feeling. Her thin lips were in a small smile; she was good at hiding her emotions. "Roxas and I have been wandering the Darkness, trying to find our way back," she said.
"I don't understand," I answered.
"Roxas didn't truly disappear. He simply had to leave his temporary existence so that Sora could wake up. The same I guess you could say happened to me. Roxas and I didn't join with Sora and Kairi. We simply were sent to the dark realm with no way out."
"How'd you get out?"
"Not quite sure…" she said keeping her eyes on the battle below. I let it drop for a while and watched too. Several minutes later she spoke again. "So…what's new?"
I looked at her once more. I didn't know if she somehow knew about Axel. I didn't want to be the one to tell if she didn't; I'd probably fall apart. "Naminé…" I started to say, not looking at her profile.
A sudden sob
hit my ears and I looked at Naminé. She had quickly shut her
eyes, but it was too late; the tears had already escaped. Her lip was
quivering quickly. She inhaled deeply, making an odd gasping sound as
she opened her eyes and tried not to cry anymore. "Naminé…"
I said. Why was she
suddenly crying? Did she already know?
"Why?!" she cried, falling to her knees. "Why?! Why did you leave us?" I knew then that she must have found out.
I knelt by her side and put my arm around her shoulder. "Oh, Naminé…" I said. I was very different to see Naminé in tears. She was the strongest of us all, the mother of the group, the one to comfort us; it was difficult to be in each other's shoes.
"I never was angry with him for what he did. I understood that he treated me like a prisoner in Castle Oblivion to protect all of us. How could he leave us?" She sobbed into my shoulder.
I looked at Roxas. He seemed so different since the last time I saw him. He had changed, but into what? "He would never leave to hurt us, Naminé. Axel loved us more than anything and he wants to see us again soon," I said stroking her soft cornflower hair.
"He does?" she asked lifting her head up to look at me.
Her eyes were red from crying and a tear was hanging on the end of her nose. I nodded. "He told me so. He said we have to find Kairi and join with her so we can all be together again."
"The way things used to be—the way they should be…" she said.
"Exactly." I stood up and grabbed her hand to help her up too. "Roxas has changed, hasn't he?" I asked.
"When we both first disappeared into the Darkness, I was alone. I was alone for so long—but I just kept walking. Every once and again I would call out his name, for an hour or so then I would just hum to myself, hoping that he'd hear me. I lost track of time more quickly than I expected. I never slept, I just kept walking…"
I couldn't imagine being alone like that. I wasn't scared of the dark but being alone, with no one there to comfort you, that was my biggest fear.
"Eventually, I heard someone say my name back to me. 'Roxas,' I called. We followed each other's voices until we met. I could see nothing, but he was next to me, and I felt so much better." She paused and sighed. "At first I thought he was just the Roxas from Twilight Town, and that I couldn't be myself around him. I acted composed and tried to accept that he wasn't the old Roxas I grew up with. But then, one day, I don't know how long ago, he mentioned the time when we were ten and Axel's voice started changing. Remember? Roxas said he sounded like Demyx playing his sitar."
I laughed slightly. I remembered it like it was yesterday.
"I then asked him if he remembered growing up in the castle. He said yes but he also remembered the year he spent in Twilight Town."
"How is that possible, his memory was swiped?" I asked.
"I was confused, too," Naminé answered. "I'm still not sure how it's possible but I think I've figured out who he is."
"Who he is?" I asked looking at Roxas.
"He's very much the old Roxas," Naminé said. "He remembers everything from his life in the Organization. And he acts just like that old Roxas too." She paused for a minute. "He still is the determined, trouble-making kid we grew up with, but he's also the kind, shy boy from Twilight Town."
"How can he be both? There are so many things that make the old and new Roxas complete opposites," I said.
"I think the old one has the dominance in Roxas," Naminé replied. "Just look. Roxas hates Sora, just as he did when he learned of him. He hates that he's the one who's to disappear. He wants Sora to take his place." I nodded. "The Roxas from Twilight Town accepted his fate, while the old one tried to fight it; just as he's doing now."
"So he hates Sora and wants to kill him?" I said. How could he do that? Doesn't he understand what he learned in Twilight Town…what we told him about his fate…how he just has to accept it like the rest of us? "Why doesn't he get that Sora is the Keybearer and that he is just his Nobody?" I asked slightly angered. "Sora was the chosen one first!"
"That's just it," she said. I looked at her. "Sora was supposed to be the Keybearer first, but he wasn't. Because of what the founders did, Roxas was born fourteen years before he should have. Roxas was able to call upon the keyblade at a very young age. Sora didn't first get to till he was fourteen. In Roxas's mind, he was it first, not Sora. He thinks, because of that, that he shouldn't be the one to disappear."
"Roxas…" I said softly to myself.
"But there is one good reason why Roxas could never be the true chosen one; he doesn't have the heart to understand his duty," Naminé said.
Just then Roxas knocked Sora's only keyblade out of his hand and trapped in with his own. It seemed as if Sora was a goner but then he reached his hand out and the keyblade appeared back in his hand. Roxas, shocked, didn't see it coming. Sora stood to his fullest height and swung his keyblade at his other. Roxas stumbled away from Sora, his hood falling off to reveal his face. "You make a good other," he said.
Our surroundings blurred and eventually changed back into the dark city square. Sora stood confused looking by Donald and Goofy. They began to talk. I was in the shadow of one of the buildings. Naminé was beside me. A portal opened suddenly and Roxas stepped forward. I gasped.
"Don't worry. Sora and the others can't see us," Naminé said smiling.
"Roxas!" I yelled jumping in his arms. Now that I knew this was at least partially the old Roxas, I couldn't control myself. I began to cry into his shoulder. I wasn't sure where these emotions were suddenly appearing from but I didn't care—Roxas was back, he was finally back!
He patted my back for a few moments. "I missed you Raene," he said when I pulled away. I just smiled back.
Naminé stood next to us. She grabbed both of our hands and smiled. "Raene, you know what you have to do, but I suppose I can help before it's too late," she said. I nodded. "Roxas has to go for now, I think," she said looking at him. He nodded, no expression on his face. "Tell Sora you will see him in a few minutes," she said tome. "Say that you found a way for only you to go into the castle and that you're going to make it easier for him to reach Kairi, okay? He'll be okay with it."
"Okay," I said. I turned to Roxas but he was gone. I was sad but held myself strong. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"We're going to get Kairi out of the dungeon, now might be our only chance. Saïx is guarding that place with is berserker Nobodies, so we'll have to be careful. You in?" She asked.
I nodded and ran to tell Sora that I'll be back. He seemed unsure at first; as if he couldn't trust me, but soon he agreed and said, "Okay. See you in a few."
I disappeared into the shadows where Naminé stood invisible to Sora and the others. "Why can't they see you?" I asked, gesturing to said people.
"In time he will. I'm beginning to fade away," she said. I looked at her more closely. It was true. She appeared to be slightly transparent. And her figure shifted from fine to blurry over and over again as if she were a disturbed hologram. "It appears that you are too," she continued. I looked down. What she had said was true. I was just as she was, slowly fading out of our nonexistence. I held my hand up to my face. Through it I could see Naminé with a sad smile on her face. "Come on. Let's go!" She said. I nodded and grabbed her hand in mine. She opened a portal with her free hand, and the two of us stepped in.
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Like I said, guys…I'm so sorry for this delay. I hope I haven't lost any fans because of it. I'm not quitting, I'm still here. I've just been super busy. Alright. Hope you enjoyed this. Remember to ask me questions, k? Thanks again
Sarah
