Two Across: Departure
A radiant sunset marked their return. There the all sat, the boys still slightly soaked from their…swim. The dark brown haired boy sat on their favorite tree, next to his red haired wonder, clad in pink. Their silver haired friend, who was currently using the tree as a slight crutch due to his injury, leaded back with a slight smile, while holding the King’s latest note. Our brown haired hero seemed happy about their next mission, as it was….a slice of life that he had been missing recently. Also, he thought that even nobodies deserved a chance.
“Dear Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine,
I am King Mickey, of Disney Castle, and I would like to inform you of your next job. I say this more to Roxas and Namine, than Sora and Kairi, as I think that even Nobodies need a chance. I cordially invite you all to Sheridan Academy, a private school designed to nurture your wonderful abilities and give you a chance to find your own identity. As you should know from “the dreams”, the Keyblade Wars DO exist, and to save you from the draw of it, Sheridan was erected. My hope is to train you and mature you all enough to make your own decisions with the power and abilities given to you by the heart.
You will meet various other keyblade wielders from many other worlds. Most of Organization XIII also resides here, because of a new threat, and our newly found peace. Those who are half Nobody and half Heartless have started appearing, in result of Organization XIII’s fallen plot. These "Fallen", as we have now called them, are immune to most Keyblade and Nobody attacks, but we believe we have found a way to stop them. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, we believe you exhibit this rare ability we need.
Finally, I believe that Roxas and Namine are, in a sense, Somebodies, or have the ability to become so. We would like to unlock this chance to them, and open our doors to all of you, so that you may find your own identity. I pray that you will accept my offer. If you shall, be at Destiny Islands Station at Midnight, on September 1st. Please do not be late, for this train shall not wait! May your hearts lead you to make the right decision.
King Mickey Mouse of Disney Castle”
The King’s official seal lay at the bottom of this letter.
“September 1st, that’s in one week’s time! I wonder if Namine will agree to this…” Kairi said, slightly leaning against Sora. The brown haired, azure eyed hero just put his arm around the auburn haired girl.
“I’m sure both Namine and Roxas will like this idea. I can feel it…his want to see Namine again,” Sora responded to Kairi.
Sora didn’t know how right he was. As he was joking around with Riku and Kairi under the moonlight, he had a vision, and then was suddenly knocked to the sand, unconscious. As the color in his azure eyes faded, Sora felt his heart being dragged into Roxas’s domain. An all encompassing darkness grew as Sora looked around.
“Is this…how Roxas lives?”
“No. THIS is how I live.”
An area suddenly started to light up, as Sora noticed a figure hidden by a familiar jacket, and the same azure eyes as him. Roxas sat, clad in his organization XIII jacket, on a black throne, similar to the ones in Castle Oblivion. He threw back his hood, and his spiky blonde hair shot out clashing with his blue eyes.
“Hmm, you look out of place in this darkness, but that’s funny, because it’s a physical expression of what you think of me.” Roxas said, as he stood up.
“What?! Roxas, I don’t think-“
“No, you don’t. You don’t think of me at all. I’m just your shadow, your other side, your Nobody. But on September 1st, that will all change.”
Roxas snapped, and suddenly their surroundings grew bright, and as the room grew brighter, Sora could where they were.
“What is-“
“It’s my Sanctuary, my home.”
They were on the clock tower in Twilight Town. Roxas sat down on the ledge, and look out upon the sunset. All his memories, fake or real, of his time with Hayner, Pence, and Olette were suddenly returning, as they always did when he came here. But also, his memories of his days with Org. XIII and Axel were returning. Roxas pulled out a two bars of Sea salt ice cream and gave one to the still shocked Sora. Seeing that he had no choice, Sora sat down, and accepted the bar. Roxas had a strange look on his face, like he was reminiscing about a world that never existed to him, but at the same time, did. Sora did a little smile, and pat Roxas on his back.
“What are you thinking?”
“Is what the King offering going to be freedom? Or just another dream?”
“Well, the King believes this will be freedom, don’t you?”
“I thought joining Org. XIII would be freedom, and you know how that turned out, thanks to our memories clashing.”
“Yea, but hey… I believe it will be alright.”
Roxas looked at Sora, who was now wearing a cheesy smile, the kind he always put on when he tried to cheer someone up. Too bad it wasn’t working on Roxas.
“Sooo…why did u bring me here, Roxas?”
“Well, I thought, that before we say goodbye, we should enjoy ourselves…”
“Say goodbye?! Roxas! I know that we’re splitting bodies, but that doesn’t mean we should say goodbye!”
Roxas flashed a small smile to Sora, knowing better. This WOULD be goodbye, he promised it. Just as Roxas was about to reply to Sora, the world grew distorted, and started morphing. The sunset grew dark, and the city started to collapse.
“Uh oh, looks like time is up, Sora. I guess it’s time to do what the King suggested.”
“What? What did the King sugge-!!?”
Sora was not given the chance to finish, as Roxas pushed him off the tower. His fall seemed slow, and Sora saw two things before he closed his eyes; A sad smile on Roxas’ face, and a bright chain, linking them, shatter into hundreds of pure light links.
“Sorry Sora, but it’s time to break our connection.” Roxas whispered, as Twilight Town faded, and his throne appeared. As Roxas sat down, he pulled the hood of his Org. XIII jacket back over his head, and shivered.
“So cold, in this darkness…”
Meanwhile, Sora started to stir. He could suddenly taste the still warm sand, hear the soft splash of the waves, and feel Kairi shake him, pleading him to wake up. As he sat up on the sand, still groggy and feeling a little numb, Sora could feel a difference, a stark difference.
“The links have been broken, between you and I haven’t they Roxas?”
Sora whispered. Sora could not hear Roxas’ answer, only silence, their connection broken. Sora looked out into the ocean, the small waves crashing against the shore, the peaceful sound it created clashed with how he felt on the inside. What he never told Roxas is that he felt like a brother to him, not just a shadow, or nobody. His eyes opened wide as he realized something. Sora quickly turned to Kairi, wondering if the same thing happened to her.
“Kairi! Tell me, can you feel Namine there?”
Sora asked in desperation. Riku looked surprised at Sora’s sudden question and then turned to Kairi, to see how she would answer Sora’s question. Kairi closed her eyes, and tried to find the connection between her and Namine. She looked more concentrated on this more than she had anything in her short life. Her face was scrunched up so much; it just looked like she was going to pop a vessel.
Suddenly, Kairi open her eyes and held her head. She looked at Sora, worries in her eyes, and shook her head no. Riku looked surprised under his wave of silver hair, but Sora just looked down in sadness.
“So Roxas and Namine did it, they broke their connection with us. I guess they’re really ready to become their own person, to gain their own identity,” Sora said, sighing.
Kairi just cried quietly. Riku just looked at them shocked. He didn’t know how it felt, since he didn’t have a Nobody, at least, not one he knew of. Riku looked into the sky, and decided to go home, and see what changed in their time away.
“C’mon guys. It’s late, and I bet our parents are worried. We’ve been gone so long, and I bet like Kairi, they are just starting to remember us. We don’t have the time to cry about Roxas and Namine; we’ll see them in a week.”
Sora stood up, nodded in agreement with Riku, and pulled Kairi to her feet. Once Kairi felt Sora’s arms around her, she held him tightly. Riku walked away from the couple, wondering if Selphie still remembered him.
The day before their departure to Sheridan, Sora rose with the biggest case of bed head ever and looked in the mirror. Sora hadn’t been the same since Roxas cut the link, and to tell the truth, Sora was starting to miss him. It had been a busy week for Sora, Riku, and Kairi; now that everyone remembered the boys, and were glad they were back. Riku was spending an abnormal amount of time with Selphie, Kairi was a little sad about Namine, but was happy to see her old friends from school again. Sora, who was just recently remembered by the population of the Destiny Islands, was pretty popular.
But all our three heroes could think about was their trip in a few hours, and the keyblades they had to keep hidden from everyone. Riku and Sora had to suddenly disappear to fight off small heartless, and concealing the keyblades was getting harder day by day. Once, Sora and Riku got into a sword fight so tense, their keyblades replaced their wooden swords! Luckily, only Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka were there to see. When the keyblades clashed, something kicked up enough dust and sand to hide the fighters from view, and an oddly familiar voice stated loudly, “Enough! Only two days left you idiots!!”
Sora and Riku were so shocked, they disengaged their keyblades, and so by time the dust cleared, they were holding the wooden swords again. Lucky for the boys, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka didn’t notice the keyblades. Back to the present, in Sora’s cramped room, Kairi and Riku were sitting on Sora’s bed, while he dashed around his room. Kairi was wearing a white collared shirt and a black and blue plaid skirt. She also had a black tie with a blue stripe going diagonal on it. Riku was also wearing the shirt and tie, but had a pair of black pants on, school uniform. Kairi tried to keep her eyes on her boyfriend as he shot across the room, pulling out waves of clothes and random items, hitting Riku with a pair of underwear. Kairi noticed the pair of boxers Riku now had on his head, covering half his face. They were pink, with red hearts that said Kairi and slave. All Kairi could do was blush and look away. Riku didn’t have any time to see the boxers, as Sora snatched them off his head in an instant.
“Ahh! Where the hell is it?! Has anyone seen my crown chain??”
“Uh Sora…It’s around your neck, where it usually is”
“Oh…thanks Riku”
Sora started to blush as Kairi started to chuckle.
“What’s wrong with you Sora?? You’re acting like your meeting my parents!”
“Lucky for me I already know them.” Sora muttered. He was nervous, sweating bullets at the thought of meeting his other side again, his true brother. “I guess I’m just anxious to go back to a normal life, to school, and to see Roxas again. I mean, c’mon, you haven’t thought about Namine?”
Kairi blushed as her head slumped down. Sora and Riku barely heard her faint reply of “Yes”. The two boys smirked at the brunette’s reply.
“C’mon guys, we only have 30 minutes before we should start heading to the station. Sora, please hurry and finish packing.” Riku announced.
Sora looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand; 11:00pm. Sora ran a surprisingly non gloved hand through his brown spikes. Knowing that time was running short, he crammed some more clothes into his bag, including the supplies that Mickey had sent two days ago: an ID card, planner with schedule, and his room and board info. Finally, the last thing was a key, the key to his dorm. Sora snapped it on the chain holding his crown, threw on his tie, and picked up his bag. Riku and Kairi followed suit, making sure their uniforms were on right, and grabbed their bags from off the floor. As the group headed out of Sora’s room, the brown haired boy looked once more into the room had occupied for only a week, before having to leave again.
As the trio headed down stairs, they waved a silent goodbye to Sora’s parents who were standing there, solemn, silent, and scared. They had just got their boy back, and he was off again. Sora flashed a small smile as he picked up the dinner his mom had make for the group. Just a few sandwiches, but they we grateful none the less. Knowing they couldn’t cause a commotion this late at night, and too wrapped up in their thoughts to even want to, Sora, Riku, and Kairi quietly walked to the train station. The streets where empty, the light poles giving off a pale glow. They heard a few dogs barking, crickets chirping in low jubilation, and the sound of their shoes hitting the concrete. Their duffel bags slung across their shoulders the trio walked, Riku and Sora with their hands in their pockets, and Kairi with hers behind her back. Sora walked in the middle with Riku flanking him on the right, and Kairi on the left.
All Sora could think about as they traveled the streets of Destiny Islands is that it he had to see Roxas, he had to make it up to him…for the cold life he put Roxas through. Kairi’s thoughts shot to Sora and Namine. The male love of her life, and her secret feelings she had for Namine. Would she even see Namine during school? Also, she was leaving Destiny Islands High, where she, Selphie, Wakka and Tidus went. Would they miss her?
Now Riku’s thoughts were somewhere totally different. He didn’t care about what he was leaving behind, or where they were going. All he could think about was that voice. The voice that had interrupted his fight with Sora, which had stopped the boys from using their keyblades in front of their unknowing friends. The voice had sounded so familiar…it brought a strange nostalgia feeling to Riku, that just became even more apparent when the winds blew in from the sea. A long forgotten memory…
“Riku! Stop daydreaming and get your ass over here! The train will be here soon!” Kairi shouted to her oblivious friend.
Sora was looking down from atop the stairs, wondering what could distract Riku, besides Selphie. Maybe he was thinking about her, since they just started being a couple…Oh well, it wasn’t Sora’s business.
“Yea, sorry ‘bout that… I’ll be up in a second,” Riku sighed as his cell started to ring, “Rage Awakened” as his ringtone. Riku calmly pulled out his cell, already knowing who it was, and what to say.
“Hey Selphie…Yea, I know. Sorry I didn’t mention it, been too busy…Yea, I do, and I won’t look at other women while I’m there, don’t worry…Yea, and tell Wakka to keep his hands off, ok? Bye.”
Riku hung up his phone and strolled up the stairs. He ignored Kairi’s look of discontent at his conversation with her best friend.
“Come on Kairi, you can glare at me later. I hear the train.” Riku muttered.
Sora was already sitting on one of the benches, gulping down a sandwich with some soda. As he ate, he stared blankly into the ocean from the great view the station provided. He wondered if Roxas often enjoyed this same view in Twilight Town. Riku put a hand on his shoulder, knowing exactly what he was thinking about.
“Stop worrying Sora, you’ll see him soo...” Riku said, but was interrupted by some unwanted guests. Several pairs of yellow eyes stared out of the darkness and started to take form as Sora leapt from his seat, pulling out the Kingdom Key. Riku stood by Sora, summoning Way To Dawn, and completed the human wall blocking Kairi from danger.
“Let’s do this quick; it’s almost time to go.” Sora said, his voice full of a determination that had been missing since their last adventure ended. Sora swung at a few of the heartless, and then dodged as another one clawed at him. Riku instantly jumped into action swaying through the heartless as if he were doing an intricate dance. Sora followed suit, showing full reason why he was the keyblade master. Sora skid on the concrete, dodging a few attacks aimed at his head, then quickly slashed through the weak heartless.
Noticing that the heartless were slowly creeping towards Kairi, Sora, clipped the Oblivion keychain onto his keyblade, changing its form into one of his favorite weapons, Oblivion.
“Thundaga!!” Sora cast, disintegrating the heartless surrounding his friend. Just as he noticed Riku finishing up a Dark Aura combo, they heard it. The low tremble of the purple train that once took Sora to Master Yensid’s was pulling in. Once Riku noticed this, he grabbed Kairi and pushed her towards the train. Sora kept fighting the random shadows that were slinking in from the ground. Two swings later, he suddenly felt himself swung right into the open door of the train. As he landed, he happened to noticed that he had a small cushion.
“Oooh, sorry Kairi!” Sora chuckled in embarrassment. As he realized that they were one guy short, Sora jumped up and saw Riku still fending off the wave of heartless. Everything started to go downhill as the train started moving.
“Riku hurry up! The train! The train!” Sora shouted from the door, the train picking up speed with every second.
“Shit!” Riku cursed under his breath. As the train was about to completely leave the platform, Riku started sprinting towards the getaway train. Suddenly as the train shot off, Riku leapt off the platform, extending his arm as far as it would go, feeling the strain but ignoring it, because it was better than the two feet of pain he would have to go through if he didn’t make it.
Sora watched Riku jump from the platform. All of a sudden, things slowed down. It was as if the whole world was put in slo mo and on mute. All Sora could see was his friend reaching desperately, for him, for life, for help. The desperate look in Riku’s eyes made Sora reach harder for him. It looked like their friend was going have an early ending…Until out of nowhere, a black figure appeared behind Riku.
“You owe me,” whispered the black figure into the startled Riku’s ear.
Riku had started to feel himself falling when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder and the whispered words. As the hand pushed, Riku felt himself gain speed, and altitude. Riku suddenly knew he would make it; it was too early in his life for things to end. Taking control, Riku took advantage of the push given by the black figure and launched himself towards the train. Riku increase the strain on his arm, and tried his hardest to reach Sora. He could finally feel the cool fingertips of his spiky haired friend, and at that moment, Sora grasped Riku’s arm with both hands, and swung him into their train car with all his might. Riku’s momentum almost shot him into the side of the train, which wouldn’t have been pretty.
As Sora and Riku collapsed into the car Sora realized he had lost all feeling in his arms from swinging Riku so hard. His arms just laid there, twitching at odd moments, pain coursing through that region of his body. His chest was rising and falling with the effort he had just put in. Kairi seemed to help pull in Riku also, but he was suspicious of where her hands were. Everyone noticed this, but didn’t say a word. Kairi just blushed in embarrassment. Riku just smirked at them both.
“Oww, Sora, you pulled too hard, I think my arm came out of its socket.”
“Oh stop complaining, at least you can FEEL your arms. You need to cut down on the sweets Selphie makes you.”
“Stuff it loverboy. Don’t think I didn’t notice where Kairi’s hands were just now.”
They would’ve continued going back and forth, but they noticed a soft sound. It was Kairi’s breathing, the teenager was fast asleep. Sora stopped arguing, and just smiled. Riku and Sora slowly and softly lifted Kairi upon the seats, treating her like fragile china. Sora moved a strand of hair away from her face, and sat down beside her. He pulled her head into his lap, a total reverse on the situation, and looked at Riku, who was nodding off himself. Riku mouthed the words “you should get some rest too” and completely nodded off.
Still wanting to see where they were before sleeping, Sora looked into the window, at his reflection in the darkness. He was surprised to see Roxas, uniform and all, in the same spot as he was, in the reflection. Namine, also in her school uniform was laying in his lap. And on the other side where Riku sat in the real world, There was a figure there, with long black hair and long bangs in the front. Silver eyes penetrated the curtain of hair. This teen was also wearing Sheridan’s uniform.
It was official, Riku had a Nobody. Before Sora could act, he felt himself slip into the warm nothingness called sleep. But as he fell, he saw Roxas, in his reflection, mouth two words.
“Hello, Twin”
As Sora fell asleep, he tried with all his might to reply.
“Forgiven?”
Sora never saw Roxas’s answer, on the other side of the mirror, on the other side of his dreams.
Author's Note: Wow, my first Kingdom Hearts story has started! I hope this turns out better than my RahXephon story. Hmm...so who is this black haired figure that appears to be Riku's Nobody?? How will Riku respond to this news? What was Roxas' friggin reply?!!? Find out next time! Chapter 2: Arrival should be on its way. Please, questions and comments are accepted!! I love em!
