Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Disney, Square Enix or Detective Comics. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Radio/TV
"Headset/Flashback"
-Scene Shift-
Chapter 1: The Waking
Of all the existence of the Worlds, there are none that are as sad as those of the Nobodies.
Sired from those who have lost their hearts to the creatures of Darkness, known as the Heartless, the Nobodies don't truly exist.
They don't feel.
They don't understand what it is like to have a Heart.
...Or do they?
Who knows for sure as that can be quite the compelling argument.
They who are shunned by both Light and Darkness, who dwell in the Twilight, what do they have worth fighting for? For those without Hearts, those that are empty, a complete void, do they have the right to exist?
These were the thoughts of one particular Nobody as he absentmindedly stared at the floating building structures. Scanning the area, he knew that something was off about this place.
At first glance, one would've identified this land, this world, as the World that Never Was… Yet it wasn't at the same time, despite how this world was named as such.
"C'mon, hold up! Who are you?!"
The greater Nobody blinked as he was pulled from out of his thoughts upon hearing an all too familiar voice. Turning his head around, the Nobody slowly turned around and stared at the individual in front of him. The person that was said to be his Other.
His Somebody: Sora.
Sora, one of the Keyblade's chosen, stood there in a shocked expression when he realized who was before him.
"Roxas?…"
Even though Nobodies were supposed to lack emotion, the one identified as Roxas had mixed feelings about seeing him again.
"How can you be here?" Sora questioned. "Am I dreaming?"
'Good question.' Thought the blonde Nobody. 'I should be asking the same thing.'
Shaking himself out of his train of thought, Roxas shook his head, gave his Somebody a bitter smile. "This could have been the other way around. But it really has to be you."
Sora looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
The Nobody let out a tired sigh. "There are so many hearts that are connected to yours. You're me, so you can feel what I have felt."
Those words penetrated through Sora's heart, making him feel sad for his Nobody. The more he learned about the Nobodies, the more he pitied them; especially Roxas. To hear him say that he and Sora were the same, that just felt wrong.
Shaking his head, Sora looked at his Other half. "No. Roxas, you're you. We are not the same. I wanted to tell you that in what felt like forever. That you deserve as much as I do to be your own person."
Roxas adopted a look of surprise for a moment before he gave Sora a small smile. Trust his Other to try and give Roxas the chance he never had. But no matter, Roxas knew what he had to do.
"You see, Sora, that's why it has to be you."
He reached forward and grasped Sora's hands, who was still as confused as ever. It wasn't a second later after physical contact that Roxas started to transfer the only thing left that was truly his.
His memories.
From the first day he existed, when he was first found by Xenmas and was given his name. And from there, all of his days when he was a part of Organization XIII up until he decided to leave.
Even his memories of the time he spent in Twilight Town and with his so-called friends, Hayner, Pence, and Olette, were fake.
These later memories were all done by the work of DiZ, otherwise known as Ansem the Wise, when he needed the Nobody Keybearer to help get Sora to wake up from his slumber.
Said slumber was done because Namine, Kairi's Nobody, messed up Sora's memories as per Organization XIII's orders. If they messed with Sora's head well enough, the Keybearer would've been quite the puppet in their plans.
Much like he was… like Xion.
After Sora was put to sleep after the events at Castle Oblivion, Namine worked tirelessly to fix her mistake by putting his Chain of Memories back together.
Yet there was a hamper to their plans as Roxas had already absorbed much of Sora's memories throughout the entire time he existed. To remedy this, Riku was sent out to take care of him… by any means necessary.
Xion was already taken care of, due to circumstances, which resulted in Roxas' rebelling. And when No. XIII went to free Kingdom Hearts from the Organization's clutches so he could get Xion back, he met and fought Riku, which led to his defeat.
But Riku couldn't destroy him as he was a big part of his dear friend.
With this act, Riku ended up bringing Roxas back to DiZ and sent him to the digitized version of Twilight Town, all in order to extract Sora's last remaining memories.
Throughout all of this, Roxas had to wonder if anything about him was ever real.
Truthfully, even though he made the decision to join back with Sora, there was nothing he wanted more than to exist. After all, who wouldn't? Who wouldn't want to be their own person, to just enjoy their summer vacation as they laughed with friends and ate ice-cream?
That was all that Roxas wanted, but it was too much for a Nobody to ask for. That he understood now.
As the last of his memories transferred into Sora, as he started to disappear, this truth Roxas started to accept. That was his fate after all. To disappear and become Nothing… it was only right.
It wasn't as if he was ever something to begin with anyway.
-Insert Kingdom Hearts 3: Lazy Afternoon-
The next thing Roxas knew, he was sitting at the hangout spot he resided at the end of just about every day. Him looking out towards the perpetual sunset from the vantage point of Twilight Town's very own clocktower.
No. XIII knew this was not the World he knew all too well. For he actually knows this place was in fact a dream.
If he wasn't sleeping, the Nobody would be awake in an endless void of swirling black and white.
Even since he had been absorbed back into Sora, the void and the dream-like Twilight Town were his sanctuaries. Roxas could only guess that the space of swirling black and white was the representation of Sora's heart, and that eventually everything that made him Roxas would disappear forever.
Recollecting the vicinity of the times he awoke, he often viewed the wisps of Darkness as some form of entertainment. Roxas was sometimes curious as to why they were there. Sora's heart was Light and there shouldn't be any Darkness in here at all. Yet he remembered that Sora occasionally went into his Anti-Form, which allowed Darkness to encompass him to gain an upper hand in dire situations in certain fights.
Over time, the Darkness would fade away into the Light.
Roxas then remembered that each Nobody was practically fated to fade back into Darkness, if not the Twilight. Yet he and Namine had met with their original selves, Sora and Kairi respectively, before merging back with their Somebodies. And that as long as the two were together, so too would their Nobodies.
The Nobody Keybearer wasn't certain on what'll happen next, but would they just fade completely and be just a memory in the lives of Sora, Kairi and their friends.
Roxas looked at his hands with a sad smile, clenching them. "You have no idea how lucky you are, Sora, to actually exist. It's only something that a Nobody like me could ever dream of."
He said to himself as he looked up into the perpetual sunset of his dream. "But it truly has to be you."
Roxas didn't know how long he had been sitting at the ledge of the clocktower. It could have been days, months, or years, but he could not tell. Not even when he was in that swirling void.
Time seemed irrelevant apparently.
Truthfully, it was a wonder that he still existed, for all that it mattered in this place. Wasn't he supposed to be absorbed fully into Sora by now? Wasn't it enough that he didn't get the chance to exist? Couldn't he just peacefully disappear?
Would you even want that to happen?
Roxas snapped his head up and looked around. He didn't know just how long he was sitting there, but he was sure he had heard something. How was it possible? This was inside Sora's heart and in turn, his dream. How could he hear a voice from inside of here?
Would you still want to exist?
Roxas spun his head around a few times to see where the voice was coming from, but he was only greeted by the perpetual twilight sky. What was going on?
Not all dreams are impossible to achieve…
Wondering what the voice meant by this, Roxas rose from his spot and made his way towards the ground down below.
Moving his way down from Station Plaza, the Nobody soon entered Station Heights. In this time, he viewed the ever empty dream land as there was no one present at all except for him. The architecture, the hanging decorations, the stalls, the machines, the train cars, the displayed food; everything was the same with no change at all.
No matter how many times he explored this place, it was all the same ever since he rejoined Sora. And to him, it was quite sad given much of what he could possibly draw on this place was primarily fake, all due DiZ's machinations.
'Why do I have to have this sort of dream? Why couldn't I have one which had life like in the Sleeping Worlds where Sora and Riku are doing their Mark of Mastery Exam.' He then adopted a confused frown. 'Wait… how do I know that?'
Pondering to himself, Roxas then saw a series of memories flooding into his mind. He clearly knew they weren't his, making him realize they were of his Somebody's.
It was there he saw the recent memories of the two Keybearers taking their Mastery Exam underneath Yen Sid's teachings. Their objective? The pair would enter the Realm of Dreams in order to awaken the Sleeping Worlds to see if they're worthy of not only earning the title of Master, but also master the Power of Waking: the ability of waking sleeping hearts.
'Would at least explain why I was in the World that Never Was. Or at least why it seemed rather off.' Roxas pondered before processing more of the memories. 'Though why do I have these?'
When he transferred his memories onto Sora, Roxas never expected to receive anything back. Maybe it was a two way street and his Somebody unknowingly gave him copies of his recent memories in return. From the moment Roxas merged back with his Other up before he and Riku fought Xemnas, up to their recent meet up.
Shaking his head, Roxas focused back onto wandering this "empty" dreamland as he soon tried to ponder on a number of questions.
Yet this act was quickly halted. For when he was near the sandlot, Roxas heard something quite surprising.
"Ooomph!"
Whipping his head towards the source, the Nobody couldn't help but be greatly startled by what lay before at the center of the sandlot.
There was a figure, lying face down on the ground and all around him were creatures he wasn't familiar with. He almost mistook them for Heartless, but they were more animal in design with a darkened color palette. Not to mention their emblems, while similar to a Heartless, were entirely black or dark purple with bat-like wings underneath the criss-crossed hearts.
Nightmares…
Shaking his head, Roxas quickly whipped his hands to his sides and summoned forth his Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
Rushing forth, No. XIII gave out a yell. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
His cry drew in the attention of the Nightmare spirits as they soon went towards the Nobody Keybearer.
Rushing in to intercept the closest enemy, Oathkeeper clashed against the horns of the charging Yoggy Ram in order to hold it back. It soon shot out a sonic attack from it's unique instrument styled horns when it's opponent was in close range. Roxas did get sent back from the attack, but recovered as he casted a Triple Fira spell at the ram-like Nightmare's head. The blast was strong enough to knock the body part aside, leaving the neck wide open for Roxas to rush in and cleave through it and destroy the one opponent.
Soon came in a Keeba Tiger as it roared, swiping it's claws at him before reaching out in hopes of biting a limb or his torso with it's mighty jaws. Each part of the assault wasn't quick enough to successfully land as Roxas blocked them with his Keyblades.
"Back off!"
Delivering a powered kick, sending the tiger Nightmare away, Roxas casted a spell he took from Sora's recent memories.
"Balloonga!"
A mighty yellow orb appeared before him just as the Keeba Tiger charged in. Once it made contact with the casted spell, it burst into a multitude of smaller orbs of different colors as it heavily struck the tiger Nightmare before some remaining orbs exploded at the nearby Necho Cats. With them stunned, Roxas casted Thundaga to heavily electrocute the feline enemies as they were soon destroyed.
A plethora of Kamory Bats then flew in from behind the nearby buildings, swarming the air with both their presence and screeching sounds before they dive bombed towards the Nobody.
Roxas ensnared the tail of a Hebby Repp and with a mighty tug, he got it off its feet. From there, he spun around and used the Nightmare as an impromptu weapon of smacking the enemies trying to get close to him. Once letting go of the limb, Roxas saw it fly and impale itself into the horn of a Drill Sye. After which, the Keybearer once more casted Thundaga to vaporize many of the airborne enemies before pulling out a Mega-Ether to help refill his reserves.
When the remaining Nightmares fell from the sky from the recent attack, due to them becoming paralized, Roxas quickly dashed in and delivered quick swipes to finish them off.
The dark vapors from the recent assault heavily clouded the vision of the rhinoceros themed Nightmare, giving the Keybearer a shot at taking it out with it distracted. He zoomed in and struck it's head a number of times by the time the vapors went away. From there, he backed off and sent an upward arc of power to knock the Drill Sye off its feet and onto its side. Once it was flipped over, the Nobody delivered a series of strikes and spells onto it's defenseless belly to soon destroy it.
Flipping over a charging Flowbermeow, the greater Nobody landed on it's back and took hold of the scruff of its neck. As a response, the Nightmare spirit flailed and hopped around, sending shockwaves in its wake in hopes of throwing it's rider off. Yet the Keybearer held on with all his might to remain in his seat.
Roxas had to be sure that when he reached the epicenter of it all, he would only hit the enemies rather than the one defenseless being. More so with the Flowbermeow's shockwave attacks as he didn't want to have it harm the person lying face down.
With there being less and less Nightmares in the sandlot, Roxas leapt off the Flowbermeow and got high into the air. The Nobody thus aimed his Keyblades at the remaining enemies as his vision went towards a crawl. His gaze focused at every Nightmare, leaving the defenseless being alone from the upcoming attack. Power went through his weapons as particles of magic were collected and compacted at their tips. Once at its apex, the orbs shot out and broke apart as a rainbow of colors struck the Nightmares.
Landing on the ground, Roxas saw his Ragnarok Shotlock attack was successful as the vicinity was clear with the battle finally over.
The blonde Nobody then looked towards the face down figure and inspected the being.
It was a tall, gaunt man with the most pale skin than Roxas has ever seen, almost white as snow and pale as bone. His pure black hair was truly disheveled that could make a wild mane look like bed hair. Not to mention the fact the man was entirely naked, revealing his utterly malnourished form.
Overcoming his surprise and utter curiosity, Roxas disbursed his Keyblades before rushing towards the man's side and voiced his concern.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Turning the person over, Roxas flinched when he stared at the man's face.
His eyes were bottomless pits of pure inky blackness; his pupils were like radiant stars that shone brighter than any other of the stars in the sky. It gave the impression that if you looked too much into said eyes, you could run the risk of losing yourself inside them forever. And yet as the seconds went by, said eyes seemed to grow dimmer and dimmer for some reason.
Roxas' instincts were running while he didn't know what to do with the man before him.
Shaking his head, No. XIII used much of his strength to help get the pale man onto his feet.
"Here, let me help."
Feeling the support from under his arms, the pale disheveled man looked beside him to see the blonde teenager beside him.
"...Thank you."
Despite how weak and harsh the man spoke with, given his present state, there was this smooth, reverbrance in the undertone. The very sound felt as something far older and wiser than anyone in existence.
"You need to sit down-"
"No… I've sat… long enough…"
"You might as well get onto something sturdy as you look like you're about to pass out." Came Roxas' response. "I mean, you look like you haven't eaten or drank a thing in ages."
"...You're very observant."
Roxas merely chuckled.
"But yes, you are correct. I do require… nourishment."
Roxas nodded before sitting him down to the nearest bench in the sandlot. "Wait here, I'll come back with food and something to drink."
The pale, gaunty man was silent, only nodding as he saw Roxas' retreating form.
Minutes went on by as the greater Nobody ran across the dreamscape of Twilight Town. Roxas didn't know what the man preferred so he decided to just grab everything he could get his hands on. He figured this was a dream, thus he decided to not pay for anything at all given the fact there wasn't anyone else here but him and the odd pale man.
Besides, the man looked like he was going to die of hunger and thirst if he didn't act fast enough.
Fruits, breads, candies, pizza, ramen, snacks, ice cream, soda, juice; it didn't matter what it was as long as it was edible and drinkable.
Once grabbing everything he could within his arms, Roxas rushed back to where he left the man.
Sure enough, he didn't move at all. It was probably because the guy just didn't have the strength to even get off his seat in the first place.
"Sorry for the wait." Roxas breathed out, feeling what he assumed to be fruit fall out from the little tower of foodstuff and hitting his foot from underneath. That proved to be true as his blue eyes gazed the apple roll past the malnourished man
Said person was silent as he gave Roxas a nod once more.
When peering at the man's dimming eyes, he swore there was this ginormous hungry look as the pale man licked his dry lips in anticipation.
Roxas was ultimately glad he snapped back his hands in time. For the moment he got close enough, the naked man quickly ensnared the pile of food and drink. With much gusto, he started to consume it all like his entire life depended on it. He didn't care much at all on etiquette with how starved he was.
The pale, gaunt man did have to stop at one point as he almost choked on the food he guzzled down. Clearing his throat, he cracked open the soda cans and juice bottles and drank it all in one go.
In a small part of his mind, Roxas was glad he reacted quick enough or else he could've been eaten by the man by accident.
Once every bit of food was consumed, the man breathed in and exhaled several pockets of air. Holding his chest, a pressure soon rose up his esophagus and he released a mighty belch which echoed throughout the space.
"Excuse me."
"You're excused." Spoke Roxas before gave the man a look of mild concern. "You alright now?"
"Partially." Was the answer. "It has been so long… since I've eaten… drank anything. I couldn't taste anything."
A quizzical brow soon rose on Roxas' face. "How long has that been?"
"A bit over four score years and ten."
Scrunching his face a little, Roxas translated the answer into his mind before he quickly voiced his thought in surprised shock.
"Over ninety years?!"
"Yes." He said with a weak smile before it soon died. "I'm still weak and lack my tools. And the means to clothe myself."
Questioning what the pale man mostly meant, Roxas was quick to remember the man was still naked. The blonde Nobody was about to go and retrieve some clothes for the man to wear when he saw the man slowly stand up.
Sated with the food now in his belly, the gaunty fellow started to walk away a little. Once standing onto the sandlot, he closed his blackened eyes. He imagined the texture of fabric against his skin; sculpting it in his mind.
In an instant, the sand around the man formed articles of clothing and neatly fitted against his naked form. He now wore a black shirt, black pants, black boots and a commodious, flowing black cloak. Said garment had a peculiar flame-like design on the trim. Within it had skulls appearing within the flamed texture.
"Wow!" Roxas exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"
"Food and raiment; two of three…" Muttered the pale man, ignoring Roxas' inquiry. "I thank you for the assistance, but I must go now."
In a number of steps away, the space before them seemed to crack and warp.
"What is this?" Roxas asked as he eyed the portal.
It almost reminded him of a Corridor of Darkness, yet there was no sign of the black, purple and blue wispy flames. Not to mention the portal was an odd distortion.
The newly clothed man ignored him once more and moved towards the oddity.
Surprised with what was happening before him, the Nobody quickly chased after the man.
"Hey! Wait!"
The moment he reached him, they disappeared from the Twilight Town of his dreams to… somewhere else.
"Oomph!"
With a single misstep, Roxas fell onto the ground as his face was met with sand.
Slowly rising up, No. XIII gazed across a vast, desolate land filled with nothing but sand that stretched as far as his eyes could see in every direction. He fully rose to his feet from the loose ground before dusting and shaking himself of any of the grainy material off his person. Once done, he looked towards the smokey grey sky with dark clouds all around.
"What is this place?"
"A place where one such as yourself shouldn't have entered all that well."
Roxas looked towards the only other person present in this place. His arms were crossed as he was tapping his hand against his opposing arm like a means of disapproval. Of course he had a curious expression in his facial features.
"Now that I am back in my realm with food and drink in my belly, I can now see... sense who... what you are." Said the pale man. "What a curious being you are. Someone hollow, yet with life flickering inside your shell. Even chosen by the Keyblade, no less." Roxas was unnerved and startled by the proclamation. "Be calm, young Nobody, for I will not harm you unless you give me reason to."
Roxas gave a hesitant nod. "If I may ask... who are you? What are you?"
"I go by many names and titles. I often go by the name Morpheus, but my true name is Dream of the Endless; for I am the Lord of this Realm of Dream and Nightmare."
While Roxas took note of some of the titles, he was curious about one thing. "Endless?"
"Most consider us as gods, but that is in fact false. We are older and more powerful than them." Spoke Dream with no form of hubris in his voice. It was a statement of fact. He ran his fingers through his blackened locks. "Well, older at this point, in any case."
The blonde Nobody gave a small nod before voicing another question. "Lord of Dreams and Nightmares… you mean you are like the ruler of the Dream Worlds?"
"The more accurate way of saying it is the Dreaming."
"Right, thanks. Then those Nightmares and Dream Spirits, you're their leader."
"Correct."
"Then… Why did those Nightmares attack you?" Asked Roxas, referring to how they met earlier.
Morpheus stood there for a moment, indeed questioning the same thing. "Normally they wouldn't. I wish I knew at this time for their reasons. For all I know, they have gone rogue."
"Weird." Muttered the blonde. "Don't mind me asking, but something happened… before we met, right?"
"A number of things happened, in fact." Stated the Dream Lord. "I lost much while I was imprisoned, but I seek to regain them."
Roxas was confused and wondered what exactly occurred to the man before him.
"You have quite the spark of curiosity, don't you?" Came Morpheus' curious statement. "I find it puzzling that, given that you are as much as part of the person you derive from, you have your own consciousness. Trapped in a place and sought freedom, just like I was before."
"I..." Roxas didn't exactly know how to really respond to that, but he did attempt doing so. "I did accept it at the time. I wanted to help my Somebody, letting him have the additional strength of taking down those who used me... me and my friends."
"But…"
"But… I didn't exactly know what I could do after that. Accept fading into nothingness… But I yearned to do something more than that. Possibly existing… Having a life of my own."
"I see…"
"I mean, I have my own name; even if it was given to me by the one who used me for his own means. But it was my name. Something which gave me an identity for my non-existence. That should at least mean something."
"One should not be demeaned for merely existing, even if it was beyond their control."
Stumped with what was spoken, Roxas merely stood there as he digested and processed the words.
Moments later, No. XIII then saw Morpheus had ventured far away from him now.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"To my former captor, for he will give me back what was stolen from me and what else I crave from him."
Roxas merely stood in the dark, dreary desert of the Dreaming. Not knowing what to do.
"You deserve as much as I do to be your own person."
Roxas blinked a few times as Sora's words echoed through his mind. He looked down at his hands for a second before biting the inside of his cheek.
No, he couldn't do this. Not to Sora, not to his Other, even if said Other was the one telling him to take this.
"Roxas, you're you. We are not the same."
Roxas took a deep breath before he looked up into the sky of the Dreaming.
"Do you really mean that Sora? A Nobody like me, do I deserve to be my own person?" He questioned before he turned back to where Morpheus was walking towards. The ever shifting desert of the dreamland was difficult for the Lord of Dreams to keep steady on.
"Roxas, you're you."
Roxas smiled to himself as he clenched his fists. "I am me."
He finally made his decision.
Moving towards the retreating form of Morpheus, Roxas spoke to himself.
"I don't know what will happen, but I hope you can survive without me, Sora." Rushing towards Morpheus, he yelled. "Hey, wait up!"
As this went on, a torrent of sand swept all around. Gold and black grains swirled all over with laughter and screams were heard all around as the substances started to form…
The Dreaming
-End Chapter-
AN:
So here is a story idea I've had on my mind for quite some time.
This story more or less got inspired after the announcement of the Sandman show being in production. I've been a fan of Neil Gaiman's works for a very long time and got all giddy as hell when hearing of the show getting an adaptation for the modern times.
With this happening, I wanted to perhaps take a shot on this story. Hopefully I won't get a massive headache with all of the DC comic content being brought out all at once like how it went years ago when I was working on "A Nobody".
Hopefully this story may get me into the groove again to work on my first story again. It was essentially my first kid and hopefully I want to see it progress again.
Fingers cross.
FMW: I'm just here to wave my hand and say welcome to a new story. This'll be fun!
Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!
R&R