A/N: Made for Roxiri Week 2023. Doesn't have much to do with the prompt, but it's what came to mind when I read it. So here you go!

WARNING: Character death. Happens immediately.

Day 1: Reunion/Starcrossed

Roxas pushes the keyblade further, deeper into Sora's chest. Without satisfaction, he watches as Sora's eyes lose their vividness, and his body starts disappearing little by little in spectacular little lights.

Then Sora, the Keyblade's Chosen One, is gone.

And Roxas is left standing.

Roxas stands there and wonders if he should enjoy his victory. He knows it won't last anyway. He hears the grieving cries of Sora's friends, their footsteps as they rush forward—too late to do anything, too late to say goodbye. But he won't let them take this from him.

He turns and, with a steel gaze, readies himself to prove he deserves this. Deserves to be here. Deserves to exist. His grip on the keyblades tightens, and he gets himself in his stance. They would see how worthy he is. He will fight every last one to the death if—

And then she's in front of him, facing away, arms up, ready to stop the world wanting to crash down upon him. Protecting him. Him!

It's a whirlwind when they reach her. She throws herself at Riku, screaming at the top of her lungs for him to stop, stop, STOP! Her death grip around his neck and torso manages to derail him long enough that people focus on them instead of Roxas. It works because everyone wants to know why would the princess stop Riku? Why would she defend the one who killed her knight, her best friend, her beloved?

Roxas isn't about to let his guard down, but he would like to know too.

Instead of being told why, Roxas is told what Sora's death means. What could happen without a keyblade wielder. What will happen with the worlds. What Roxas can't undo. What now lies on his shoulders. What…what that means for…everything.

Why didn't anybody tell him this?! Why didn't someone tell him Sora wasn't the bad guy? Wasn't the one to be angry at. He didn't know! He didn't know! He didn't!

Suddenly, Roxas doesn't feel so solid anymore. His knees grow weak, and his center of gravity disappears.

It's an agonizing process, learning to work together.

The King's two followers, the magician and the one with the shield—Roxas will learn their names eventually—the magician with the funny voice keeps side-eyeing him and yelling at him for every little thing. The protector with his shield looks so sad to the point his face sags, like he can never make his muscles form a smile again.

Naminé—Roxas has learned her name—hardly speaks to him. She left early on to go back with DiZ. Tears have not left her eyes; they stain her cheeks and makes them permanently rosy. Before leaving, he did finally hear what she's been muttering to herself since Sora's death. "My fault. This is all my fault. I didn't talk to him. My fault."

The King's face has gained more lines. Where his eyes once held mirth and determination, they now seem hollow save for the weight he carries on his shoulders. But he seems to accept the situation, however much he doesn't like it.

Riku is the opposite. He does not come within ten feet of Roxas ever. He barely looks at him, and when he does, it's not a look, it's a deadly scowl. His fists clench and unclench, wanting desperately to call his own keyblade to attack, no doubt. Roxas makes sure to keep him in his peripheral at all times. He doesn't trust Sora's best friend at all.

Who Roxas is weirdly starting to trust is the princess herself. Kairi is her name. He remembers connecting with her, hearing her voice…hearing her ask for him. Sora. The boy who will never come back. Roxas made sure of that in a fit of confusing, pain-fueled rage. And yet, here she is, protecting him. She keeps herself firmly between Riku and Roxas at all times. She hasn't really cried. A few tears when this first started, but she pushed herself through them in order to keep the group from tearing Roxas limb from limb.

"He can help us!" was her argument to keep everyone from killing him. We aren't going to hurt him. He's already hurt. He has the heart of a keyblade wielder. We can work together to finish this and defeat the organization. It was actually quite the speech. She will make quite the leader someday once she takes her throne.

Kairi isn't afraid to walk beside him as they traverse the worlds. Roxas notices. They don't talk much, but that's ok right now. Roxas doesn't feel much like talking.

Roxas thinks about apologizing. Almost all he ever does is think about how he could possibly start to apologize. But how do you say sorry for killing someone's best friend? Their hope for the light? For defeating the Organization? For taking away someone who can always make you smile?

Roxas can't remember making anyone smile. He is always the one who gets the secondhand happiness from others. Roxas isn't a light himself, even if he does have a heart.

He's just…there. Existing. What good is he just existing? That's part of the reason he agreed to go on this quest. Maybe he can undo some of the damage by at least saving the worlds from the fate darkness threatens.

One by one, the organization members fall. Each one has a plea to Roxas, disguised as scolding, authority, lectures, and anger. How could he betray them? He fulfilled part of the mission and got rid of their biggest obstacle—that pesky keyblade wielder. Why then turn away from the true purpose? Is it because you have a heart now, Roxas? Don't you want that for us too?

Each on he fights pushes more memories of his time with the Organization to the surface, and he doesn't like what he sees. They have only ever used him as a weapon. So he closes his new heart to them. One by one, they fall.

Axel is the only one to break through to him somewhat. Or at least snark his way onto Roxas's good side. It's enough that he actually ends up joining them in their quest.

But then—he's disappearing. Dying? Can he die like Sora did even if he doesn't have a heart?

"Tell me something," Axel says with his last few breaths. "Do you remember her?"

"Remember who?"

Axel lets out a pained laugh. "That says it all. You're not the Roxas I knew. Good luck with your new life."

And then he's gone too, and a small part of Roxas feels pain.

A hand is laid on his shoulder. He turns to see Kairi. Tears are in her eyes, but they do not fall.

If he increases the pain he feels ten-fold, maybe he'll understand what Kairi went through when she lost Sora. Which further makes the question burn: why did she defend him and continues to defend him still?

The fight with Xemnas is…not fun. He mocks and torments Roxas, ignoring the others as if they were flies, not worth his time. And Roxas falls for it. Xemnas manages to draw Roxas away from the others before cutting him off completely.

It's a brutal showdown between the two. Roxas tries blocking out the words of hate, yet he feels his heart succumbing to darkness which is what he has been trying to fight, to flee this whole time.

Roxas ultimately wins the fight, but in the process, gets thrown into the realm of darkness. He has been here before. He isn't afraid of this place. He is afraid of being stuck here, though. He doesn't have control over the darkness anymore.

It creeps further into his heart. The memories of what he's done—the pain he's caused, the irreparable damage to so many lives he can't undo—floods his mind, and stops anything that could possibly be good from even existing.

He sits down on the sand near the pitch-black waters, wraps his arms around his legs, rests his chin on his knees, and waits for the darkness to consume him, not even trying to fight it.

Well, at least he finally got to the beach.

He closes his eyes.

"Roxas."

He opens his eyes and there is a light. A small light talking to him. It's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Light. Just for him. He reaches forward to touch it and feels the warmth it radiates, warmth he never thought he'd feel. It bathes him in that warmth, sunning his face, making his insides tingle and sparkle and—

And suddenly he's falling forward onto a solid floor instead of sand, with five pairs of eyes staring down at him. The King, Donald, Goofy, DiZ, and Riku.

Then his vision is filled with red. "Roxas! Roxas, you're back! You're ok." Kairi smothers him in a hug, absolutely sobbing on his shoulder.

"How did you do that, Kairi?" Riku asks. His voice isn't as filled with venom like usual.

"I—I don't know. I don't know. But he's here. Everything's ok." Kairi squeezes him harder, and Roxas finally hugs her back, realizing the warmth he felt was her warmth.

"Everything's ok," she repeats. "We can go home now."

Home to the King, Donald, and Goofy means Disney Castle. Home to Riku means Destiny Islands. Home to Kairi means Radiant Garden. Home to Roxas…they let him choose.

He chooses Twilight Town. The actual Twilight Town. The copy is long gone. His actual home never existed. He never really had one in the first place.

The King allows Kairi to bring Roxas back there. She sort of knows Hayner, Pence, and Olette. It's a long, sometimes awkward, sometimes sad, and even sometimes funny story that she relays. Kairi does a great job of telling it. She glosses over the part where Roxas stabs Sora through the heart, explaining how he was manipulated by DiZ and the Organization and didn't know the full story and acted with only the knowledge he had rather than the full picture nobody gave him. It was everyone's fault. Not just his.

Roxas can't help staring at her. Through most of this conversation, she does not look at him. Once or twice maybe, giving him a small, tight smile, then going back to the conversation.

When that's done and the Twilight Trio have accepted Roxas into their pack, Kairi takes her leave. Roxas offers to walk back to the gummi ship. It's a quiet walk. It isn't until they're in the quiet of the woods that Roxas dares speak.

"Why?"

Kairi stops walking. In the light of the setting sun, she looks at him. There are no tears in her eyes when she steps closer to him and places her hand on his heart. She stares at his chest, not him. After one long, deep breath, she speaks.

"Everyone deserves a chance. Sora would have wanted you to have yours." Now she looks him in the eye. "Enjoy your life, Roxas."

She walks away, and Roxas is gripped with the aching longing for her to stay.

"Visit me?" he says instead of asking her to remain here. With him.

She pauses, doesn't look back, but nods. "Ok."

And then she leaves, and Roxas is left with the chance at life he stole from Sora.

When he isn't feeling guilty or angry about how he finally got his chance at a normal life, Roxas quite enjoys his time in Twilight Town. It's a little difficult forming solid relationships with the trio of friends whom he knows well but who barely know him. Even with that struggle, he's surprised at how much Hayner, Pence, and Olette are trying.

They've been told he's their friend, therefore, they will treat him as such. Visits to the beach, getting sea salt ice cream, sitting atop the clock tower—he experiences it all.

The only wrinkle in this whole thing comes dressed in a long coat and beanie hat.

"Added another loser to the group?" It's Seifer's constant jab. Default insult. Roxas tries brushing it off like the others, like Hayner learned to do. But then…

Roxas remembers—remembers the feel of victory before the world came crashing down around him and it would be so easy to just end things. Not murder, never again, but…scaring Seifer seems reasonable.

Kairi comes to visit two months after…after. Roxas thought seeing her would bring up (horrible, horrible) memories, but surprisingly he's only happy to see her. Happy she's here. And she's all sunshine and giggles and smiles and Roxas can't get enough.

"Afraid she's going to disappear?" Pence jokes with him halfway through her visit.

"Hm?"

"Come on. You're following her like a puppy. Got a thing for her?"

Oh.

Roxas…hadn't thought of it like that.

"It seems ok that you do, because she seems to like having you around."

"You think?"

Pence rolls his eyes. "I know. Olette says she asked about you her first day here. She wanted to know if you're alright. If, you know, you're adapting well. If you're happy."

"I…"

"Are you happy?"

Roxas looks at Pence, his new-old friend. And he feels— "Yeah, I'm happy." As long as he doesn't think about it, he's happy.

But then Roxas's happiness is hindered when later he sees Seifer talking to Kairi. He puts his arm around her. She maneuvers away. He backs her against a wall. She glares. He leans in—

And then Seifer's on the ground clutching his nose as blood seeps through his fingers.

Roxas hadn't even processed his actions. He moved automatically, walking briskly over with purpose, grabbing his opponent's shoulder and yanking him away, winding up to punch him hard enough for there to never be a thought of Kairi in his head ever again.

"Roxas!"

And then he sees it. The horror on her face. On his friends' faces. In Seifer's eyes. And for the first time in a while, he's thrown back to that moment after he…after Sora was no more.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." He's said this over and over but he still doesn't believe Kairi believes it. Or hears it. She had him apologize to Seifer who scampered away with his tail between his legs, and Roxas has to be honest—it gave him some satisfaction.

She hasn't spoken a word since, only asking to speak to him privately. They've walked for a while. It's driving Roxas crazy not knowing what she's thinking. Then suddenly she turns and stands to face him.

It's a shock to see not anger on her face, but fear.

"Thank you," she says finally, "for protecting me. But why?"

"Why?"

"Why protect me? I can certainly protect myself."

"Seifer's a jerk. He had it coming to him," Roxas offers easily. "He's been a jerk since the second he saw me back before I was even real. He shouldn't have pushed you. He better not do it again."

"Would you punch him again?"

"Yes."

Kairi looks away from him. It's a heavy silence.

"Sora wouldn't have punched him." Roxas says those words, the words Kairi is thinking.

"No," she agrees rather than avoiding the topic. "But that's ok. You're you. Not him. You dealt with the situation how you would. And that's good."

"That's good," Roxas repeats.

It is. Roxas is his own. He now fully realizes it with this conversation. That had been one of his fears that pushed him to end Sora.

Roxas really wishes he had figured all this out before he lost someone he might have called a friend. Before falling for his girl.

Kairi squirms under Roxas's gaze.

"Shall we go back?"

"If you're ready."

The next time Kairi visits, it's a lot less eventful. She's still sunshine and giggles and smiles and Roxas still happily hangs around, glad he didn't scare her away at her previous visit.

The only thing of real note is a brief window of time they're alone when she leans in close, forcing eye contact, not that Roxas really wants to look away.

"Are you happy, Roxas?"

Roxas pauses, not so much to think, but more to make Kairi think he's thinking, so when he answers, "Yes, I am," it sounds more sincere. Like he actually contemplated his answer.

The resulting smile makes Roxas smile too.

"Good," she says. "I'm glad."

Then the others return, and he doesn't get a second alone with her for the rest of her visit.

"It's ok, you know. The others will forgive you. They'll like Roxas because you do. You've already done so much to fix things."

Roxas stops before he rounds the corner to the Usual Spot. That's Olette's voice.

"I know, it's just…" Kairi's voice. "Things are precarious. I don't want to make anything more complicated than it is. I mean, Riku only just started opening up to me again. He doesn't understand my visits."

"Why do you visit?"

Roxas doesn't hear anything for a moment, but he doesn't dare look in case of discovery.

"I guess…I want to make sure he's ok. The whole reason he—what happened with…he did what he did because he wanted a life of his own. He wanted to be left alone. To be happy in his own life, even if it was fake. After everything—he helped us so much. He deserves to be happy, and I want to see if there's any way I can help with that. It's what Sora would have wanted."

Olette hums. "Makes sense. But are you sure that's the only reason? I mean, come on, you practically glow when he hangs around you."

Roxas holds his breath. He's desperate to hear what comes next.

"Roxas is…I—I suppose…oh fine! I think he's great. But why?" Kairi's voice pitches upward. "I mean, I can see so much Sora in him, but then he does things that are totally his own and I know I don't like him because he's got similarities to Sora. I like him. Roxas. But I shouldn't."

"But you can!"

"I can't! I shouldn't! Not after everything. Riku will never forgive me." Then Roxas hears Kairi sigh. "Maybe I should stop visiting. That might make the feelings go away."

"Is that what you want?"

A pause. Roxas holds his breath.

Then—

"No."

"Roxas! What are you doing lurking?"

Caught. Roxas whips around in time for Hayner to lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, man. The girls are waiting for us."

Roxas reluctantly follows Hayner into the Usual Spot. He dares a glance at the other two. Olette is frowning at him, and Kairi won't look at him. She continues not-looking at him for the rest of her visit which is cut short because she suddenly remembers she has a thing back at Radiant Garden she forgot to prepare for so bye everyone and sorry but she's not sure when she will be back.

And with that, Roxas begins to worry.

He worries the first month.

He worries the second month.

He gets depressed the third month.

"She'll be back." Pence is the only one trying to encourage him anymore. The others have given up. It's not like Roxas has shut down or turned off his life, but it's evident he misses her.

"Yeah." Years from now when she has gotten past all this and has forgotten Roxas existed and ruined her life and is probably married to someone who helps her forget instead of reminds her every time she looks at his face. "Maybe."

Five months.

Roxas topples off his skateboard and nearly knocks into two pedestrians in order to stop when he sees Kairi's unmistakable flash of red hair from where she stands halfway down the side road. He rights himself and turns to stare at her. She stares back.

Neither of them move. Not right away. Then Kairi runs forward and throws herself into his arms. Roxas readily accepts the embrace and returns it. He can't remember the last time he had such a hug.

…He can't remember being hugged ever except when she hugged him.

"Are you ok?" Kairi asks when she pulls away. "I'm so sorry it's been so long. I was—well…" She looks down, brushes her hair behind her ear, doesn't look him in the eye. "I'm sorry it's been a while."

"I'm glad you're here," Roxas says.

Kairi then allows herself to look at him. "Yeah?"

Roxas smiles. He feels good when Kairi smiles back. "I missed you."

Kairi sighs and her expression becomes unreadable. "I missed you too."

He loves this visit. It's like a barrier has broken down. A physical one it seems. Random touches abound. Kairi loops her arm around his when they walk. Roxas brushes her hair behind her ear. Kairi grabs his hand and squeezes. Roxas presses his hand to the small of her back to guide her.

And the smiles. Roxas hasn't smiled this much ever. And when her smiles are aimed at him, which they are quite often now, he feels like he could fly.

It's a few days of this. Kairi's visits usually last a week, this being the last one before the end of summer. Roxas feels the pressure of the impending end of the visit. Because of this, he forces himself to have the courage to ask her to the movies the next day.

She says yes.

Roxas smiles. Kairi smiles back.

Movie dates are great. The whispered commentary to one another, accidental touches when reaching for popcorn at the same time, leaning in close just to press shoulders together.

The best part of the date, however, is afterwards. The walk. It's just a walk. But it's a walk together, to talk, to hang out, to just be.

"You sure you don't want any more of this?" Roxas offers her the last third of the medium popcorn they split. The large drink is long gone.

"I can't possibly eat another bite," Kairi laughs. "It always smells so good at the beginning, but halfway through, I get overloaded on the butter and salt."

"Didn't help that the drink didn't last. We should get two next time."

Kairi loops her arms around his, the one not holding the popcorn, and sidles up to him. "Next time. Definitely."

Next time.

The popcorn gets tossed in the next waste bin they cross.

The streets are nearly empty because they had caught a later show. It doesn't feel dangerous, though. Twilight Town never feels dangerous. Even when the heartless and Nobodies were problems, it never felt like Twilight Town itself was to blame.

So the duo continues to walk. They walk until they reach the clock tower. After a brief debate, they decide not to make the trip up in the dark. Instead they take a seat on the steps.

There's a long moment of silence between them now, sitting there, allowing the peaceful evening to work magic.

Then—

"I'm sorry I left and didn't come back," Kairi near-whispers.

Roxas hears. "But you did come back."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, but I get it." Kairi looks at him, and Roxas gives what he hopes is an encouraging smile. "Our situation is…unusual. It's worth a freakout."

"I shouldn't have done that to you."

"You never had to do anything for me in the first place."

"Of course I did!" Kairi says, too loud for the quiet of the night. Her volume lowers. "None of what happened was really your fault. You deserved to be given a chance. I wanted to make sure you got your chance."

"And you have. I'm happy, like you wanted." Roxas pauses. He looks at his hands, fingers laced together. "So your mission is over."

"My mission…?"

"You don't have to come back if you don't want to."

"But I want to."

"But the others don't."

The reality of that seeps into the air around them.

Roxas dares a glance at her and sees small signs of pain in her features. A few seconds, and the pain changes. Roxas can't quite understand what it is, but he thinks he does a moment later when she leans in. Automatically, Roxas mirrors her.

The kiss is simple, small, yet it says a lot. Kairi pulls back and keeps his eyes locked with hers. "But I want to. And I will. If you want me to."

"I want you to," Roxas says quickly before even the slightest pause has a chance to plant doubt in her mind.

Kairi smiles. Roxas smiles back. They lean in again.

It's later, much later, after Roxas finally brings her back to her temporary residence after taking the scenic route with several random stops along the way, that he realizes he hasn't felt the guilt he thought he might. He thought he would be racked with gut-wrenching remorse.

But he's not.

He finally feels ok.

Actually happy.

A few days later, when they're saying goodbye in the woods where Kairi has parked the Gummi ship, between breathless kisses, Kairi promises to come back to him, and Roxas promises to be there waiting for her.