Special price: Two for one! [KH private thread]

[[. re mind me .]]

All he remembered was white, then black. It played over and over again in front of him, like he was stuck in time. Just a blinding white then nothing. A minute later, the white would just flash back in front of him. It was starting to get annoying.

"S-sto-op...it."

The words were such a struggle to push out, like he had just woken up and sleep hadn't quite let go of its grasp over him. The blinding white again, this time the faint outline of an opened oval, then back into the abyss.

"..Nnnn...No.."

It wasn't just an oval, it was an egg, and there was something inside it.The blackness came again too quickly and he couldn't see who it was inside. Next time, the image came in the same blinding white light, but he could see perfectly clear.

"Sora."

.:::::::..:::::::..:::::::..

It was like someone had taken a baseball bat to his head multiple times and then once his skull was cracked open, pummeled his brain with their fist. Roxas let out a groan, frowning once it sounded softer than what it should have....Was he even frowning? He didn't feel it. Actually, he didn't feel anything, except for the headache.

Why was it so dark? Everything was darker than it should be, even if his eyes were just closed. "Ugggh. Where am I?" His voice was a little stronger, much to Roxas' relief. He sighed, trying to relax and ignore the aching. "Okay, think, try to remember..."

It was like opening a dam. Memories rushed in like water and the boy shouted, or at least he thinks he did. "Sora! Sora! That's right!" His breathing came in quick gasps, making his headache worse.

"Sora!"

[a good other]

Sora!

Sora stiffened suddenly, and he looked over his shoulder. Currently, he was standing inside of his bathroom, a toothbrush half-buried in his mouth. He was getting ready to go to bed, and he was wearing a pair of blue boxers and a white shirt as pajamas. One second, he was mindlessly brushing his teeth, the next, he thought that he heard someone shout his name. Of course, when he looked over his shoulder, there was nobody there. The bedroom that sat just outside of his bathroom was pitch black, except for the stretch of moonlight that sliced across his bed.

Weird.

He spat the toothpaste from his mouth and rinsed. Then he turned off the water and rubbed his face with a towel. Sora then took a few moments to look at himself in the mirror. He had only been asleep inside of that crystal chamber for a year, but the changes that happened to his body in the meantime were enough to jar him. His chin seemed sharper, and most of the baby fat was gone from his cheeks. Sora's body was leaner, and much more proportioned than he remembered. Because of his experience as a Keyblade Master, his movements were no longer awkward, instead they were the smooth, trained motions of a fighter. Of someone who knew his environment well.

There were times like this, however, that Sora felt that he didn't know his own body. Some things had gotten smaller, and some had grown bigger. Sometimes he felt that he didn't know himself anymore. His feelings were stronger than he remembered. He got angry sometimes, when before he would have shrugged things off. Sora's parents blamed it on being a teenager. Maybe they were right. Maybe.

Sora sighed, and then he went to bed. He brought the blankets over his body, and looked out towards the moon. The fighting seemed so long ago. He found himself thinking of that blonde headed kid, possibly the only casualty of war that he truly felt sorry for. I wonder where you are, he thought to himself. Then he closed his eyes, and began to fall asleep.

[[. re mind me .]]

Roxas felt like screaming, but however he had managed to speak before eluded him; an invisible clasp had been clamped over his mouth, suffocating him more than the darkness around him did. He'd just been shouting before, shouting Sora's name in hopes that it would do something, anything. It had-- he heard a noise, like a faint whisper. Weird, it had said. He'd tried to reply, but the speech evaded him soon after.

Was he struggling? No, he still couldn't feel his body. He could barely feel his head anymore either, which scared him.

Suddenly, more whispering.
...where you are.

He felt a tingling where his fingers should have been, which traveled down to his stomach, then his legs, then his toes. It was becoming easier, the darkness lifting ever so slightly. The clamp disappeared, and he gasped for a non-existent air.

"Here! I'm here!" Roxas answered, before repeating it in a shout. He wasn't sure were 'here' was, but maybe the voice did. "Help me, I'm right here!"

[a good other]

Here?

Sora had fallen into a deep sleep. The shouting that he heard in his mind was as distant as a dream. However, somewhere in his heart, he felt it calling to him. Slowly, the darkness that Roxas found himself trapped in began to be filled with something else. A soft, gentle light that pushed the shadows away and made the place warm. It came from a very familiar silhouette, one that was posed in the same way that Roxas remembered, when it was trapped inside of a flowering crystal.

This time, however, Sora was very much awake. His eyes were a vibrant blue, and they squinted as he tried to peer through the darkness. "Hello?" he said warily. "Who's calling me?"

He took a step closer, the light becoming stronger as the distance between them closed. It felt strong, and what's more, utterly familiar. After all, this was a part of Roxas's heart. "Who are you?" demanded Sora. "How come you're here?"

[[. re mind me .]]

Roxas waited anxiously, scowling at the light. At first, he though it was just the same flash and darkness and flash from before, that he'd gone in a complete circle. Thankfully, the voice, now sharp and loud, unlike the whispering before, disproved that...thank god.

Everything, his whole body, was tingling now, and he could somewhat gather that he was standing up in the blackness. It was slightly surprising, as Roxas had figured he'd been laying down.

"Depends on who's asking." The snarky response came out on instinct, even if the blond probably wouldn't have readily given out his name anyway. At least he hadn't shouted his answer, guessing that his voice must he clearer since the other's was as well.

The darkness lifted into a heavy gray and then a lighter gray, and Roxas tried to move a hand up to shield the change so his eyes could adjust better. His arm didn't move so he was forced to squint his same sapphire eyes back at Sora's light.

"Sora?" He finally recognized the voice and the silhouette; it's only been repeated in his mind a billion times, even if he only just realized who it was moments before. "I'm Roxas, and you tell me." He was interested in why they were both here.

[a good other]

"Roxas?" repeated Sora. He furrowed his brows, at first, completely unfamiliar with the name. "Where have I heard that name before. Oh." Suddenly, it came to Sora in a flash. Roxas, he was that blonde headed kid. It was frightening how fast Sora was starting to forget him. His Other had ceased to exist, and therefore, his heart had been shedding his memory away, allowing it to slip back into darkness. Sora forgot his name, and had forgotten that they had once met. The only shred of memory that he had left, was that once upon a time, there was a blond headed kid that he wanted to meet.

However, things were changing. Roxas had called to him from the darkness of his heart, and now they were there, together. Slowly, the memories were returning, and Sora's eyes grew bright with realization.

"Roxas! You're Roxas." He looked at his other with a mix of awe and disbelief. It was a bit frightening to see him there, in one of the most private places in Sora's heart. "...And this is my space." Sora couldn't explain how he knew that they were in his heart, he just did. It was as instinctive as knowing how to summon the keyblade from the negative space that it existed in. "Are you sure that you should be here?"

[[. re mind me .]]

Roxas made his infamous scowl, bitting his tongue in order to keep from snapping back with 'no s**t I'm Roxas'; he'd just told the other boy that's who he was, hadn't he? "Yeah," he answered back instead, after the initial reaction with the rude comment died down.

Raising an eye at the declaration of ownership, Roxas gave a shrug. "If it's your space, then shouldn't you know whether it's okay for me to be her?" He countered. "I don't know where I am...where we are," he corrected before continuing," or why..." His voice softened as he looked down in thought, eyebrows furrowing together in concentration.

"I'm your...other."

That was all he could gather as to why he's be anywhere near or in Sora's 'space'. Was he even supposed to be alive? Or even aware, at least. "It's been dark for a long time, only I kept seeing you, back when I first found you..." He unconciously tried to run a hand through his hair, but his arms both still refused t move.

[a good other]

"I.... don't know if it's okay for you to be here. I don't know much of anything when it comes to you, Roxas." That was the simple truth. The extent of Sora's knowledge was based on the Ansem Reports, and they didn't exactly explain what happened to nobodies that disappeared. Sora assumed that they returned to the darkness, but Roxas was obviously a special case.

"But since you're here, I guess we'll just have to make the best of it. I won't push you back into the darkness if you don't want to be there. That's not fair to anybody, and I can't blame you for not wanting to go. Problem is, if you're not there, then where are you supposed to be?"

Sora chose that moment to really take a good at where they are. Yes, he was starting to understand now. This place was a part of him. It was like living inside of a lucid dream. Sora opened his palm, and he swept it over the floor. Instantly, it changed to sand, just because he imagined it. It really is just like a dream, he thought to himself. He looked up at Roxas, and gave him a grim smile.

"I bet you miss that place don't you. Twilight Town. I can make it appear for you. Just say the word."

But Sora wanted to hear him say it. Just to cow his other a little bit, because he was so mean.

[[. re mind me .]]

Where? It occured to Roxas that he was probably supposed to be nowhere, where undubtedly all the other nobodies had gone; a fitting end, but one that he wasn't sure he really wanted. "Maybe I actually am supposed to be here." He was theoretically a part of Sora, wasn't he? Just one that was..different. Ugh, it was starting to make his head hurt again.

Watching the ground shift into sand beneath them, Roxas felt his heart just ever so slightly at the beachy appearance. He wondered breifly if Olette, Hayner, and Pence had ever managed to go to the beach. School was probably already back in session in

"...Twilight town."

Roxas met Sora's gaze at the sound of the name, eyes scrutinizing the smile. It didn't seem to fit Sora's face and it made him feel uncomfortable.

"N-," Roxas began before having to clear his throat. Sometimes he really wished nobodies couldn't feel emotions after all, since it'd help to keep his voice from cracking. "No. I've already experienced one fictional Twilight Town." He didn't want another lie.

"...Show me what happened to Axel?" He doubted the redhead was alive, but hoped his maybe-had-been best friend might have managed to escape at least a painful death.

[a good other]

Sora's smile was grim, because ultimately, this negative space that they were both currently in was the only home for Roxas. They could dress it up, make it look nice, but in the end it was just another fishbowl. Sora understood this, and it was a painful thing to realize that this was his nobody's fate. He wouldn't wish this kind of end on someone who didn't deserve it, and Roxas certainly didn't deserve it.

He felt sympathy for his Other, when he said that he didn't want to live another lie. At his request to see Axel's end, Sora pursed his lips and hesitated. "Are... Are you sure that you want to see that?" There was a squeezing in Sora's chest. He didn't know Axel very well, but he had died protecting him and Roxas. Axel was one of those things that he thought of before going to bed, and his feelings were still very mixed when it came to that man. On one hand, he had kidnapped Kairi and helped the nobodies to achieve their goal. Sora could not forgive that. On the other, he had sacrificed himself. To this day, Sora did not know what to think of that.

"He didn't make it.. but.. he seemed to change, towards the end," said Sora with hesitation. "Are you really, really sure you want to see...?"

[[. re mind me .]]

Sora's hesitance clearly already gave away what the scene would entail and Roxas had to look away; he chose his unmoving feet, feeling the uneven, not-real sand beneath them. Did he want to see? He wasn't very sure now. "I never dared to hope that he was alive," he assured the brunette, wanting to idly kick the sand neath him so bad.

"...Is it really that bad?" Had Sora killed him himself? No, he said he changed...Roxas gulped softly, but it sounded like the loudest thing in the world to him right then. "Y-yes, I'm sure to see it. I'm sure." He kinda owed it to Axel, to see him going out with was undoubtedly a 'bang', as the redhead probably would have put it.

He paused, then looked back up at Sora, blue eyes determined. "I want to see it, Sora...please."

[a good other]

Sora looked directly into Roxas's eyes, checking to see if this was something that he truly wanted for himself. When he the conviction there, Sora knew that he could not deny his other. He closed his eyes, and the sand and darkness melted away. It was replaced by an endless expanse of twisting white, a place only known as The Betwixt and Between. Despite the fact that it was only a memory, it felt very real. Roxas would see and feel it, exactly the way that Sora remembered.

There was an endless army of nobodies. Sora and Axel were surrounded. They had been fighting for over an hour, and he was getting tired. Sora's breath came in quick pants, and his hands were hurting from gripping his keyblade tight. The heat of Axel's fire made him sweat, causing pieces of his spiky hair to stick to his forehead.

They had fought together, forming a kind of solidarity that could only exist when people mutually fighting for their lives.

"I think I liked it better when they were on my side," said Axel dryly.

Sora looked over his shoulder at Axel, giving him a wry look. Welcome to my world, he wanted to say. "Feeling a little... regret?"

Axel's eyes narrowed as he glared at the nobodies around them. "Nah. I can handle these punks. Watch this."

Sora didn't know what to expect. He gave Axel an odd look, wondering what the nobody had hidden up his sleeve. The next thing he knew, Axel had placed himself directly in the middle of the frenzied mass of nobodies, and went completely kamikaze. A ring of flame exploded from his body, its shock wave annihilating everything moving around them.

When Sora could see again, the way to the portal was completely clear. He uttered a "whoa," clearly impressed by Axel's abilities. At least, until he saw the nobody vanishing on the floor. Sora's heart dropped to his stomach as he ran, unable to believe what he was seeing. That this supposedly heartless creature had just gone all out for him.

"You're.... fading away..."

"Well, that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack. You know what I mean? Not that, nobodies have beings. Right?"

Sora didn't know.

"Anyway, I digress. Go, find Kairi. Oh - almost forgot. Sorry for what I did to her."

Sora's lower lip tightened when stubbornness. "When we find her, you can tell her that yourself."

Axel tossed his head away from Sora. "Think I'll pass. My heart just wouldn't be in it, you know? Haven't got one, heh heh.."

This nobody.. he wasn't like the others. Sora could see that now. Maybe he changed on the way.. and certainly, he didn't have a heart. But that didn't mean that Axel didn't have a purpose. "Axel, what were you trying to do?"

"I wanted to see Roxas."

Sora's face flowered in shock. How could a nobody have such a desire? And then his face fell, when he realized just how futile Axel's efforts had been in the end.

"He.. was the only one that I liked. He made me feel... like I had a heart. I'd kind of funny. You make me feel," and here, Axel's voice hitched with pain, "..the same." Axel flinched, and then he gathered up the last of his energy. He lifted a clawed hand to the space beyond them, and summoned the last of his power to open a portal The World That Never Was. "Kairi is in the castle dungeon. Now go."

Axel's hand dropped to the floor with a loud thud. His entire body unraveled before Sora's eyes, vanishing with a soft hiss.

"Axel..." murmured Sora.

You're the only nobody who redeemed yourself in my eyes.

While the memory replayed, Sora had placed himself just behind Roxas. Watching him as everything played out before them.

[[. re mind me .]]

Roxas had stood perfectly still, bu the rigidness wasn't caused by his lack of control over his body. He was just tense the whole time. When Axel had moved to the mass of enemies, he already knew what the redhead planned to do and after the attack, he also already knew what would happen to him.

His shoulder twitched as the memory-Axel cracked a joke, and his arm gave the slightest jerk at the confession. The next thing was a sound, a choke that was a mix between a laugh and a sob.
"Oh god, Axel. You're so stupid," Roxas told the fake-Axel as he faded away. "So...stupid."

The paralysis didn't keep his shoulders from starting to shake after the scene ended, and Roxas tried as best as he could to recompose himself without being able to even use his hands to wipe escaping tears from his face. He was regretting having seen the scene, but he had kinda expected it would be that way after Sora's initial reaction. " I didn't even remember him and still he...Stupid, stupid, stupid."

[a good other]

Sora hesitated a moment, and then he placed his hand on his Other's shoulder to comfort him. He didn't know if Roxas's tears were real or not, after all, nobodies didn't have their own hearts. Still, Sora couldn't help but respond to the other boy's suffering. Real or not, he was justified in his sorrow. "He remembered you. Maybe that's all anyone really needs."

Sora's eyebrows drew together as he touched Roxas. Odd. He felt something touch his shoulder at the same time that he touched the shoulder of his other. Sora even had to glance at his body to make sure that there wasn't a third person there putting their hands on him. He experimentally wiggled his fingers, and sure enough, the invisible fingers that he felt on his body wiggled as well.

You really are a part of me, he thought to himself in awe.

[[. re mind me .]]

"He said we used to be best friends, but then I figured, why would I run away then? Last time I saw him we were just fighting..." Axel had promised they'd meet again, but Roxas had always figured that it'd be him the redhead met, not him already having become a part of Sora.

He's shut his eyes in hopes of calming himself down, opening them again slightly when he felt the comforting touch. Unconsciously, he own hand suddenly moved, lightly laying itself over the other's. Roxas didn't even realize that he'd managed to finally move until Sora wiggled his fingers.

Eyes widening, he whipped around to face Sora, smacking the hand off at the same time. Expression shocked, he tried his other arm, disappointed when it stayed limply at his side. His other arm had stopped moving as well...Was it Sora's touch? Hell, if it'd help him move, it was worth a try, he supposed.

"Sora...touch me again." ((ooc://Hehe, hoho. I couldn't resist. xD))