Follow Me Home
Chapter Thirty-Eight
o.o.o
'The light... it hurts...'
'Why can't I... move...?'
'Where am... I?'
"His eyes are open but he's not responding yet,"
"His breathing is on track."
'Who are these people...?'
"Roxas, I am your nurse. Can you hear me?"
'They know my name...'
'That is my name, right?'
The bed rattled as the nurses rushed him down the hallway, but Roxas couldn't understand what was happening. Everything was so blurry, his eyes kept opening and closing for extended periods of time and he was extremely confused. He couldn't feel his arms, his legs... he couldn't feel anything.
'Am I... dreaming...?'
Something waved in front of his face; his eyes followed as it went back and forth, but pretty soon the darkness returned.
Dark, light, dark, light.
"Can you hear me?"
"Wha..."
He could barely speak.
"Do you know your name?"
'My... name... is...'
"My... na-..."
o.o.o
Xion and the others waited for what seemed like forever before a doctor finally appeared in front front of them with a stern look on his face.
"Doctor... how is he?!" Xion pleaded.
"Your friend has been in a coma for a very long time. He knows his first name, but can only recall bits and pieces of information. He may or may not know who you are, but eventually the memories will come back to him. He is very confused and has no idea what happened to him as of right now. I ask that if you decide to see him, be gentle with him. Don't reveal too much, too fast. He cannot process things right now."
With that, they followed the doctor down to the room where Roxas was. Before the doctor allowed them to go inside, he added one more thing.
"There is something that you must know—Roxas will never be able to walk again. He is paralyzed from the waist down. He is very lucky that that is all that he sustained from the trauma."
Xion gasped and nearly fell onto the ground. "L-Lucky?!"
"What I mean is, he could have suffered severe brain injury and become brain dead, but he didn't." the doctor walked off.
"You should go." Ienzo told her, holding Ayaka back.
Xion nodded and slowly opened the door. The beeping from the monitor, as well as low groaning sounds were the only things she heard. She was almost too afraid to look at him, but she persisted. His eyes were open; he saw her, but he didn't say anything.
"Roxas...?"
"Mmmm..."
He was too painful to look at. Xion turned away and tried to hold back her tears. Even though she was very glad that he was awake, she had no idea what in the world was going through his head—if anything.
She obviously wasn't going to get any sort of clear response out of him; coming in here was merely for her own sake and confirmation.
"The lights... are bright..."
'Did he just say something?'
Xion stared at him and waited for him to say more.
"Bright... lights..." he started mumbling and Xion couldn't comprehend it. She got up and left the room.
Xion met Ayaka and Ienzo out in the hallway with a disappointed look on her face. Without a word, she walked off.
It was hard for her to come back over the next few days, but gradually, Roxas became more responsive. He was able to put full sentences together and was slowly starting to recover. However, visiting him now was way too much for Xion. She ended up contacting his brother and staying in the hotel for the day. She just couldn't take it.
Eventually, Sora and Kairi found out that Roxas had woken up. Extremely hesitant, they also tried visiting him in the hospital, but this time, Kairi couldn't bring herself to go into the room upon hearing about his inability to walk.
"Alright, just stay out here. I won't be long. Come in if you want." Sora kissed her and then went inside. Ventus was already there at his bedside.
"Can you move your arms?" Ventus asked his brother.
Roxas shook his head. His arms were numb from being in the same spot for so long.
"Hey," Sora greeted, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.
"Roxas, Sora's here." Ventus told him.
"So...ra..."his eyes landed right on Sora's face, but it was as if he had never seen him in his life.
But then, all of a sudden, Roxas unexpectedly started screaming and involuntarily slashing his arms around. Ventus grabbed him and tried to calm him down, but Roxas only screamed louder. Nurses hurried into the room and tried to induce him. After inserting some medicine into his IV, Roxas quickly became calm again and closed his eyes. Ventus sighed heavily and looked as if he was about to rip his hair out.
"That's the fourth time he's lashed out..."
"Lashed... out?" Sora repeated, still kind of alarmed at the situation.
"Don't take it personally." the nurse said to them, "his brain is still trying to process everything. He can't always control his moods and emotions. These reactions are normal, especially after being in a coma for such a long time."
"It still bothers me..." Ventus sighed once more. "Especially since... now he's..."
"What happened?" Kairi appeared in the doorway. Before Sora could stop her, she came around and saw him. Roxas didn't open his eyes; he seemed to have fallen asleep.
"I've seen enough..." Sora escorted Kairi out of the room.
Kairi was torn.
o.o.o
A few days later, Roxas' spasms seemed to have gone away and he was actually sitting up in the bed and moving his torso a little. His memories were still limited, but for the most part, he was really starting to understand the intensity of his situation. The doctor broke the terrible news to him that he would have to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life—he didn't take that very well.
A nurse came into the room to change his IV fluid bag.
"Nurse...?"
"Yes, Roxas?"
"How long... was I... asleep?"
She gave him an anxious look, "you really want me to tell you?"
"Yes... I mean... no... I don't know..." his head started to hurt.
There was a knock at the door. Another nurse poked her head in, "Roxas has some visitors, is that okay?"
"Is it...?" The nurse looked to Roxas for confirmation. He merely shrugged.
Xion walked in, holding Ayaka's hand. Roxas barely recognized her at first, but as she came closer the familiarity came back to him.
"Daddy!" Ayaka blurted out, causing Xion to freak out. She knew this was a bad idea... she knew that he wasn't ready. She prepared herself for the worst...
Roxas gave the little girl a blank stare—for so long that it was almost uncomfortable.
Ayaka broke free from her mother's grip and got up on the chair, then climbed over on the bed with Roxas. He nearly panicked, but as soon as Ayaka wrapped her arms around him he calmed down some. He wasn't sure why, but this little girl made him feel a sense of... peace.
"Ayaka! Get down from there!"
"N-No..." Roxas voiced as he lifted his hand and touched the girl's hair. "It's... okay... but..."
Xion inched closer, her arms uncomfortably wrapped around herself,"...but?"
"Why is she calling me daddy? I... don't remember... having any kids..."
Should Xion just tell him everything? Would Roxas be able to react properly after being asleep for such a long time? Was his brain working right?
"Because you're my daddy. Uncle Ienzo showed me pictures. Mommy and I have been coming to see you every day!" Ayaka exclaimed, still holding onto him.
"But I... still don't understand..."
"Roxas," Xion clenched her fists. It was now or never. "A little over two years ago... you and I... we... did something. Ayaka... is the result of what we did... I never told you until now, so that's why you don't remember..."
Silence.
...bitter... silence.
Roxas blinked rapidly, trying to understand what Xion had just said. He looked down at Ayaka, who was just smiling at him. She held onto him tightly, but for Roxas, he was starting to feel uncomfortable. Without warning, he jerked away, causing Ayaka to cry. His heart beat so fast that he felt like he was about to lose consciousness. Xion grabbed Ayaka from the bed and moved a considerable amount of distance away as Roxas tried to pull himself together. Everything was coming back at once. All of his bitter memories—Kairi, Sora, Riku, Vanitas... his betrayal...
"No! No!" Roxas screamed, clutching his forehead. Xion took Ayaka out into the hallway; she was afraid for her daughter's safety, even though she knew that Roxas wouldn't be able to get out of the bed.
"I... I need... to get out of here... Kairi... she's... where is she... where is Kairi...?! WHERE IS SHE?! AH!" Roxas tried to move, but his legs wouldn't go anywhere. His upper body could, but it felt like the rest of him was gone. He was forced down by some nurses, but struggled in their grasp.
"Stabilize him!" The nurse tried to put more medicine into his IV, but Roxas was moving too much. Finally, he was restrained. His arm burned as the medicine went through his veins, but pretty soon he felt drowsy and loopy.
He was left to his dreams—or nightmares.
Depended on how you looked at it.
o.o.o
Sora signed a lease to a nice three bedroom apartment near the toy company. Today was their first day moving in and they were both very excited to start over in a new place. Miraculously, they had gotten a place on the first floor and it was a lot easier to move everything inside.
"Tomorrow we'll get the water and electricity turned on and we'll be set." Sora told Kairi in the dark kitchen. Their only light source was the moon shining through the window, but it really set the mood. Sora wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, nudging her nose with his and not taking his eyes away. Kairi smiled and gave him a quick kiss before turning her head away shyly. Intrigued, Sora placed his palm on her cheek and gently made her look back at him.
"I love you, Kairi," he whispered right before going in for a kiss.
"Ahem..." Kairi looked up into his eyes, "...is... the bed set up?"
"Ohh..." Suddenly, Sora picked her up and carried her out of the kitchen and down the hall. He kicked open the bedroom door and put Kairi on the bed, not taking his lips away from hers. After a while, he got off of her and lay down next to her, just admiring her from her side. Kairi faced him and smiled warmly; she had never seen Sora look at her in such a way.
"Well, goodnight." she said to him.
"Goodnight." Sora kissed her one more time before falling asleep.
o.o.o
o.o.o
A/N: I decided to add another chapter, so as of right now, there are two chapters left. The situation with Roxas was too much to put into one chapter and I didn't realize that until I wrote it. 40 chapters even! ...the 39 was bugging me anyway...
So... do you think karma finally came back to Roxas? No bad deed goes unpunished.
As always,
Please leave a review!
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