AN: Well, everyone, it's been a great run hasn't it? But now we have come to the end, unfortunately. This is the last chapter. I don't know what I'm going to do next. Most likely, a story actually based on the video game when Axel and Roxas first meet. I KNOW it's not an original idea, but whatever. Also, I'm going to be working on a story that I desperately need to do, just because I love the idea so much. It's called Even Angels Can Be Cruel. I'll be putting a teaser up at FictionPress soon if anyone wants to check it out, but I will not be posting the entire story there, because I want to make it into a book.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me this long. A few details have been changed from AS, but I might go back and change those...someday...maybe. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm way too lazy. :p Anyway, enjoy the last chapter.
Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own it.
Mom was really pissed about me breaking my knuckle. She had to take me to the hospital, and I got a lame brace to wear for the next three weeks. It did nothing to stop the pain that shot up my arm whenever I barely moved my hand, so I thought it was useless but mom wouldn't let me take it off. The entire time home, she questioned me on why I would go and do a stupid thing like that when I knew money was tight and we could barely afford doctor bills. I refused to answer.
I soon discovered that the pain I had felt before was absolutely nothing compared to later pain. The shock of the whole situation had kept the entirety of it from my mind the first day, but when I got up to get ready the next morning, I could have cried with the amount of pain. My knuckle was swollen and purple, which the doctor said it would be for a couple days. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it and I was forced to endure it.
My mom found me after a time, doubled-over in pain on my bed. She brought me some pain medicine and told me to go back to bed. She was going to call me off of school today. I would have smiled in relief if not for the pain. I didn't have to deal with seeing Sora today now, even though I doubted he would deliberately be near me at any time.
I thought I wouldn't get to sleep because of the pain, but there must have been a pretty strong sleep aid in that thing because I dropped off like a log.
The next three days passed like that. On the last day, I felt a lot better and the swelling had even gone down. I was already called off of school, and mom was gone, so I decided to do something I hadn't done in a while: Go visit Larxene.
Even though the initial pain had faded, moving my arm around to get dressed hurt pretty badly. My silver hair hung in my face as I tried desperately to get a shirt on sideways so I wouldn't have to use both arms. I grimaced at the sight of the greasy dregs. I hadn't had a chance to shower the last few days, and now it hung limp and dull around my shoulders. I grabbed one of my mom's ponytail holders from the bathroom and pulled my hair back into a sloppy ponytail, which was hard to do with only one hand. I usually hated putting my hair up, because it made me look like a girl. But this was a desperate time and I was going to deal with it.
It was a pretty hot day out, and I was sweating within minutes even though I was only ambling and not hurrying. Even the birds seemed scarce today. I didn't see very many as I walked, but then again I didn't look that hard.
When the house loomed up in front of me, I sighed in relief, looking forward to air-conditioning and maybe some lemonade if someone made it. I went to grasp the door handle, but stopped last minute and knocked. Somehow, it felt weird to just walk in anymore. Along the line, I guess, it had stopped feeling like my home. Maybe it never really had been.
I heard stomping down the stairs and smiled. Definitely Larxene. She was an elephant when it came to stairs. It was confirmed when the door opened and she stuck her blonde head out. She stared at me for a few seconds before throwing the door wide open and grinning.
"Riku!" She screeched, wrapping me in a tight hug. I desperately held my arm out at a safe distance so she would injure it further.
"Oh, my god, I've missed you, little brother! You haven't visited me in ages!" She released me and grinned. "What's going on in your life? Do you have any new friends? Girlfriends? Boyfriends? Oh, come in already!" She tugged on my good hand and I followed amusedly as she chattered on nonstop. Once Larxene got to talking, there was no stopping her.
Larxene sat me down at the table. "Want anything? Water? Juice? Uh…water?"
"Water," I chuckled, taking the hint. She rushed off to grab two glasses and fill them up. "So, I see you're still as energetic as ever. Working life didn't sober you up one bit, did it?"
"Not at all," she said happily, filling the two glasses with water and setting them down on the table. "If anything, I'm even worse. You don't know how great it is to watch all the drama that goes on in that place." She took a gulp of her water thirstily. "So, tell me everything that's been going on. Are you still with Sora?" I fiddled with my glass awkwardly.
"Well…I'm not quite sure…"
"What? But you two are perfect for each other." She glanced down, catching sight of my hand. "Riku, what happened?"
"Broken knuckle," I mumbled. "It happened a few days ago. I was pissed and punched a tree."
"Idiot! If you're gonna punch something, make it a punching bag. At least then you'll keep all your bones intact." She placed her hands over mine. "Were you mad at Sora?" I nodded. "You wanna talk about it?" I nodded again.
So I told her everything that had happened. I told her about our dating, which she already knew about, our breakup over Kairi, our "Friendship with Benefits", our eventual reconciliation, dating and breaking up with Kito, and Sora's betrayal. It hurt even worse to tell someone about all the things that had happened like they had happened to someone else. It gave me a sort of detached feeling and made me feel empty inside.
When I was done, Larxene studied me critically. "Well, Riku, I'd say you're kind of an idiot."
"What?!" I spluttered indignantly. "How am I an idiot? Did you even hear my story? Sora's the idiot, not me."
"Yeah, I heard the story. Look, it was sad and boo-hoo and all that jazz, but in this story you're definitely playing the part of the village idiot in this play." I stared at her openmouthed. "Let me explain," she continued. "In the middle of you guys…"having fun"…Sora gets a call from Kairi, whom he is supposed to break up with. He informs you that he is not, in fact, going to break up with her, but he still wants to be with you. You throw a temper-tantrum and hit him, which makes him mad enough to make you leave. Now," she leaned forward excitedly. "Instead of getting angry about the whole thing, what you should have done is grabbed that phone and told Kairi exactly what she was interrupting. That way, Sora definitely would have had to break up with her. Maybe he would have been a little mad, but nothing compared to what he is now."
"I…I never thought of it that way," I muttered. "Do you really think that would have worked if I'd tried it?"
"Who knows? You'll never know now." Larxene shrugged. "But let me ask you something, Ri: Do you love him?"
I nodded without thinking. "Of course I do. I love him as much as one person can love another. I thought he felt the same way, but…"
"Who's to say he doesn't?" I glanced up at Larxene's excited face. "Look, little brother, you don't get too many chances at true love in this lifetime. So instead of sitting around here crying about everything, you need to go find him and fight for him! He may not be a girl, but I know it's what he wants. He wants you to take initiative and fight for him. Show him you would fight anyone to have him and only him, and make him see that the best person for him is you. Don't let him go, okay?"
A smile spread across my face as I realized she was probably correct and I nodded.
"Great! Now, if you want to put your plan into action, you better hurry. School should be getting out soon." I glanced up at the clock. It was almost 3:00 already?
"Thanks, Larx," I said, stopping to give her a quick hug.
"No problem little bro! Good luck!" I heard her say just as I raced out the door.
I ran to the school, not even feeling the pain from my knuckle anymore. Adrenaline rushed through my veins and I had to fight off the urge to yell out loud in joy. Larxene was right. I needed to make Sora see that he needed to be with me. He loved me, I could tell. All he needed was a little push and some encouragement.
I was out of breath when I finally reached the school. Students were already streaming out of the front entrance, but it couldn't have been out for more than two minutes. I was almost afraid I'd missed Sora, but I spotted him walking out of the doorway and raced up to him, so excited I didn't even know what I was going to say.
I grasped his elbow to get his attention. He jerked his head towards me, startled. When he saw it was me, he glared and yanked his arm away.
"You've been gone the last couple of days," he said coldly. "Don't have the balls to face me, eh? What a surprise."
"That's not it," I said desperately. I held up my arm with the brace. "I broke my knuckle a few days ago. Let me tell you, it hurts like a bitch. Well…less so now than before."
"Clearly," Sora said, uninterested. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I've come to win you back. I'm not going to let Kairi steal you from me." Sora's mouth dropped open and he stared openly at me before collecting himself into a cool glare once more.
"And what makes you think I'd let you win me back?"
"Because," I said confidently, "I know you love me, whether you want to admit it or not." I leaned forward to kiss him, but he leaned back so I couldn't.
"Idiot, not in public," he hissed. I grinned.
"But you do want it, right? You want to kiss me, don't you deny it."
"Yes, okay, fine," he said desperately. "I want to kiss you, okay? But I'm not going to do it right in front of the school."
I smiled. "When, then? Can I come over?" He shook his head.
"My parents are home. And anyway, my brother and I are going to take our driving test today." He looked around nervously. "Look, tomorrow I'll come over, okay? Just please let me go right now." I complied, dropping his hand that I had grabbed. I watched him leave almost sadly, but with a feeling of triumph in my heart. We would work everything out tomorrow. And if that bitch tried to call again, I would make sure she knew that Sora was mine.
--
I was almost giddy as I get ready the next day. Mom asked if I wanted to stay home again, but there was absolutely no way. I was going to school today.
I showered and dressed carefully, picking out my best clothes to wear today. Inwardly, I grimaced at acting like such a girl, but otherwise I didn't care. I was going to see Sora today, and I wanted to look my best.
I didn't see Sora out front, but that was fine. He probably just went to his class. I got a little worried when, over the course of the day, nobody had seen him and he wasn't in any of his classes. I didn't fret over it too much, though. He might have gotten sick.
After school, I contemplated going over to his house to make sure he was okay. But then I decided against it. He would call me if he felt up to talking. I went home feeling a little sad, but otherwise happy.
Over the next few days, Sora was nowhere to be seen. I was really getting worried now. Sora almost never missed school. I sat down in my first period class after noticing he wasn't around again and vowed to go over today so I could see with my own eyes that he was okay.
The speaker crackled on and everyone turned to face it. That was weird; announcements weren't done during first period.
Students, I'm afraid I have some tragic news, the principal's voice floated through the speaker, solemn. The Hikari twins, Roxas and Sora, have been in a horrible car crash.
I felt my heart drop to the bottom of my rib cage as I stared, openmouthed, at the speaker, willing it to be lying.
Roxas is in the hospital but he's recovering. Anyone wanting to visit him should get his information from the office. Unfortunately, Sora Hikari died before they could get him out of the car. If we could have a moment of silence for the valuable student we have lost…
Everyone was silent. Never have I felt silence to be so loud.
Sora, wherever you are, you will be missed. If anyone needs to visit one of the counselors during the day, please inform your teacher. Funeral arrangements are…
I didn't stay to hear the rest. I rushed out of the room and out of the school, running and running away the pain until I felt like I would die myself.
--
On the day of the funeral, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Not a dry eye, that is, except for mine and Roxas'. I couldn't cry anymore because of all the tears I'd already shed on Sora's behalf. Roxas…well, who knew why he wasn't crying. Maybe for the exact same reason.
Some people got up to say something moving about Sora. I didn't. What could I say? Saying he was my friend seemed like way too little. Saying I'd loved him with all my heart and soul was just as small. There was no way I could make these people believe just how much I had loved that boy. That boy that was now mangled and bloody in a coffin, ready to be lowered into the ground where I would never see him again.
I fought off a fresh wave of tears as Roxas approached the podium. He seemed…detached. Or maybe it was apathetic. No, for all the things Roxas was, he loved his brother. At least, it always looked like he had.
He didn't say much, just the standard speech. When he sat down, right in front of me, I heard someone behind me say in a stage whisper:
"That's him. He was driving the car when it happened. It was his fault."
I saw the blonde tense, confirming that he had indeed heard whoever had said that. The word had a very strange effect on me. Somehow…it hadn't seemed quite real. Nothing had seemed real these last few weeks. But when they said that, everything suddenly came into clear focus, like slapping on high-prescription lenses.
As they lowered the wooden coffin into the ground, I was gripped with the sudden desire to be buried with it. I couldn't stand this. Why hadn't I acted earlier? We would have had more time.
I stood up and rushed away from the funeral as the tears started flowing freely. I couldn't watch this. I couldn't watch my best friend and the boy I loved more than anything in the world disappear forever.
I felt sick and kneeled down by a tree to puke. I felt a little better afterwards, but the tears kept coming. I staggered to my feet and began walking with no destination. I just knew I needed to get away from there as fast as humanly possible.
I wandered amongst the graves, staring at a few of the names.
Jerry Freeman, age 22
Junas Hoil, age 96
Yori Kunich, age 8
Tidus Huriman, age 17
I stopped. Was that…? I kneeled down by the grave and inspected it. It was the right age. He never told me his last name. But how common a name could Tidus be? I traced the letters on the grave idly with a finger. A smile formed on my face inexplicably. It was bitter, almost, and just felt wrong on my face.
I stood up from the grave. I felt a squeeze on either hand; comforting, sad. I squeezed back, but my palms only met air.
