(no subject)

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Who: Roxas, Open
What: Starting fresh
Where: Balamb
When: Mid-day
Rating: PG



"Wake up."

The young teen's eyes twitched, but stayed closed.

"Roxas."

The gentle voice saying that name was enough to open his eyes. His bright, watery blue eyes took in what was before him. The sky at first, then a beautiful woman was looking at him, draped in blue that enhanced her warm smile. She had long golden blond hair, the same color as his short somewhat spiky hair.

"Wha-"

Before he could even finish his word, the woman had smiled and her eyes closed, and she quickly faded away. Roxas sat up, both his hands on the ground for support as he looked around quickly to see if she was nearby anywhere. But she was gone. Roxas hoisted himself up and began dusting off himself since he had been laying in some grass. His clothes were the same as the ones he was wearing in Twilight Town. He stared at them in wonder as he recalled the last thing he did. He had spoken to Namine, he was merged with Sora.

After a few more moments, he looked up the grassy field to a town not too far away from him. He made his way towards it, slight winds ruffling his already messy hair. He read Balamb over the entry way as he kept walking. The first thing he saw was a bored salesman behind a booth, or at least he looked like a bored salesman. When he had noticed Roxas was staring at him, he held a small phone up and asked in the most monotonous tone "Have a phone?"

Roxas shook his head and was about to open his mouth to say he didn't have any money to buy one. But didn't have the chance. It was as if the man had reached over the edge of the booth and pulled Roxas to the counter.

"You'll love the Balamb selection of phones available!" he said with a happy smile across his face, Roxas apparently saying the thing he had been dying to hear. "So look look and find the one that has YOU written all over it."

Feeling awkward at the man's sudden change of expression and enthusiam, Roxas looked from phone to phone. As he did so, the man kept speaking "All of Balamb's phones are up to date with the latest applications, texting options, voice messaging, video chat and of course have perfect connection to reach anyone in the world!"

Finally Roxas' eyes landed on a gold phone with an interesting black design on front and back. "I like this one." he said pointing to it. "An EXCELLENT choice sir, this baby just screams you, doesn't it!?" he practically shouted with a smile as picked up the phone and began punching the number pad. "Now, what's your name?"

"Roxas." he said meekly.

"Perfect! Mr. Roxas, you are now all set up and connected to the world wide phone network! Here, is your new phone!" he said holding out to him.

Panic streak down his back as he reached in his pockets praying money would be there. His hands grasped nothing but lint.

"I don't have any money." he said embarrassedly.

The man's smile dropped and he looked just as he did before with an arched eyebrow. "You're joking." he stated.

"No." Roxas said as he rubbed his arm, his eyes looking for something, anything to rescue him from this humiliation.

The man laughed until it sounded like he was crying. "That was good!" he said in between hysterical laughs. "Oh, that was good. But here." he said forcing Roxas to take the phone. "All phones are free of charge, the heads of state allow everyone to have one."

Roxas blinked bemused as he looked from the man to the phone.

"Now go on, try it out. Just call this number." he said, his hand gesturing to a sign on the counter with a string of numbers. Roxas nodded, still caught off guard by not needing money and dialed that number. A ringing came from the man's pocket and he looked at it. "A call from Roxas. SUCCESS!" he said happily. "Now go, enjoy your new phone!"

Smiling, yet still surprised Roxas continued walking into the town of Balamb. What a place this was turning out to be.

Comments

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra looked around Balamb Garden. He had gone to see if he could find this Squall Leonhart person that he was told was in charge. He stretched as he searched the streets before spotting a familair blonde hairdo.

The boy was walking away as Terra rushed after him. "Oi! Ven!"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas turned the phone in his hands before slipping it into his jacket pocket as he walked down the sidewalk. Then he heard a voice that seemed to be aimed at him. Turning halfway around he spotted a tall, muscular man with brown hair running towards him.

Panic began to swell in his stomach. Someone who knew him, but didn't seem familiar at all.

His body reacting before he could, Roxas began to run away yet asked "Who are you?" as he fled. The weirdest feeling wanting to talk and wanting to get away, but anything unusual scared him. And this was definitely unusual.

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra sighed as he ran after the blonde boy. "Wait up!" he called as the boy ran off. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to ask you something"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Spending his time looking over his shoulder while running didn't pay off too well. He stumbled over a stray dog, which ran off, and after a few bumps he landed on his back.

Roxas glanced at his arm, which got cut in his tumble. He looked up at the seemingly taller pursuer. Now that he saw him up close he didn't look like he wanted to hurt him. "What'd you want to ask? And what was that you called me?"

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra grinned as he held out his hand. "You look so much like him, it' almost surreal. I'm sorry, you look like an old friend of mine, Ven, and I was simply wondering if you happened to be a keyblader" Terra asked, summoning his keyblade to his other hand, his first hand still reaching out to help Roxas up

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas relaxed when heard about the case of mistaken identity. He began reaching out to accept the help, but froze when the man mentioned Keyblade and one appeared in his other hand.

"Y-You have one?" he stuttered as he saw it materialize. After staring at it for a moment, he realized he had been gawking and then accept the help to his feet.

"I thought that-well he, that is I.." he stammered trying to think. If the phone fiasco was confusing, this was down right bizarre.

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra paused at the boy's confusion, "You what?" Terra asked. "There were three keybladers last time I checked, more at the academy......what happened in recent years?" he asked, disapating the keyblade. "You got somewhere to live?" he asked, "I don't mean to impose but you look almost completley like him...." Terra pulled out a picture and showed it to the boy, it was a picture of him, Aqua and Ventus. "See what I mean?"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

"More at the Academy...?" Roxas echoed looking at the man in bewilderment. "I thought Sora...me..." he trailed off, but was set back on track by the next question.

"Uh, no, I kinda just got here. I have no idea what this place is."

The picture that filled Roxas' vision made his jaw go slack. Staring back at him was himself. Or at least it looked exactly like him, save that Roxas had never seen the girl before, and obviously didn't recognize the keyblade wielder before him.

"I do have a keyblade. Two actually." said Roxas as he willed his keyblades to appear. A black keyblade with a blue gem appeared in one hand. Oblivion.

But nothing in his other hand. He looked at his hand, and concentrated harder, but the Oathkeeper keyblade didn't appear.

"What....what's going on...?" he asked,more confused than he had ever been before. "Tell me." came Roxas' voice pleadingly to the man before him.

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

Aqua was just about to pick up her phone and call Terra to find him. She'd been wandering all around Balamb in search of him, as they'd gotten separated by the crowd a little while earlier. She breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted him, but her breath was stolen away as she saw who was with him.

It couldn't be...

"Ven!?" she came to a dead stop next to them. "V-Ven! Is that really you?"

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra raised an eyebrow at Aqua. "Nope....his name is Roxas......and according to him, there aren't any keyblades left, besides us, him and his friend." Terra then turned to the kid. "I was thinking he could stay with us, if that was alright with him"

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

"He's not...?" her face fell in disappointment. But he looked so much like him! With a sigh, she shook her head. "I'm sorry Roxas. I thought you were...n-nevermind. I apologize."

Something struck her then. Keyblades? This boy could wield a keyblade? She wasn't surprised actually, considering how much he looked like Ventus. Although something was strange. Of course she remembered right away.

"The only ones? But they can't be...I could've sworn I saw that girl in the dark coat with one." she tried thinking back to the battle when that cloaked figure appeared.

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas looked over when the new voice reached his ears. Again he was mistaken for Ven. But now he understood why, the picture said it all. She knew the man and could wield a keyblade as well...? His thoughts fell to the fight he had while he was a member Organization.

"Riku too..." he murmured. "Why? Why weren't you there to help?" he asked looking from the girl to the man. "Why did we have to fight them. Where were you?" he asked, not angrily, but in a confused tone. "You haven't even told me who you are,and-"

Before he could finish his onslaught of questions, the mention of a girl in a dark coat wielding a keyblade stopped his verbal barrage cold. His grip slipped on Oblivion, and the Keyblade vanished in dark smoke.

"What..?"

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

"We..." she gave a nervous look to Terra, "We were unable to do anything to help anyone for a while. There were...people we had to fight."

She shook her head a little. That wouldn't do. She hoped it would, but she knew the odds were high he wouldn't accept that answer. If there were others who could wield the keyblade, they should have been able to help them. They were their comrades!

'Don't be ridiculous Aqua. You were given a task and you had to accomplish it. There was nothing you could do anyway.' she comforted herself with that thought. She looked at the blond with concern. He was troubled, but why?

"What's the matter?"

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra frowned. "We're not the bad guys here" he said as he glanced at Aqua. She was always better at the social stuff.

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

"I just-I just don't know anything anymore." Roxas said as his lingered on the lightly bleeding scratch he had just recently received. "I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be a part of Sora." he knew it didn't probably didn't make any sense to them, but it had to get out of him. "I was supposed see Kairi...Namine. I, just want to know what's going on. It's like I'm being left in the dark." His hands began to tremble and he shut his, preventing any tears from leaving his eyes. After a brief pause he breathed and opened his eyes again.

"What are your names? Where did you come? Who did you have to fight?" he asked looking from one to the other. "And who is Ven?" He had just one more question, but he wanted to save it for later, after he had more time to compose himself. Roxas wasn't sure if he was ready for that answer just yet.

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

Aqua reached out to lay a comforting hand on Roxas's shoulder. He reminded her so much of Ven, like a younger brother. She just wanted to scoop him up, take him home with them, and do a puzzle or some other activity of the sort with him.

"I'm Aqua. He is Terra, my boyfriend. Ventus was our best friend, the most important person to us. He was like a little brother to us." she explained. There was more to tell, just not there. "Come, let's find a better place to say all of this, alright?"

She looked around for the nearest cafe or restaurant after giving a glance to Terra.

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra nodded as he pointed to a nearby cafe. "Like there?" he asked before turning to Roxas. "We had to fight......if we didn't, everything would of been lost to the darkness."

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas nodded and swallowed when Aqua placed her hand on his shoulder. "Aqua and Terra." he said quietly, committing their names to memory. Now he felt childish for his little outburst. Following the direction Terra had pointed out, Roxas headed that way.

"We had to fight the Heartless too. Well, Sora and Riku did, I guess I helped in a way." he decided to add in his direct connection to Sora later, when he asked about the girl wielding the keyblade Aqua had mentioned. Could it have been Xion? Or was he chasing ghosts?

"The Heartless and the Organization." he said as they approached the cafe. "Did you get keyblades the same way we did?" he asked as he just realized for the second time that day that he was completely broke.

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra frowned as he clenched his fist at the reminder of the heartless when Roxas asked him how they got the keyblades. "The awakening." Terra said, "That's how all keyblade bearers get theres. They have to go through an awakening in a dream world to prove themselves"

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

Aqua nodded in agreement as Terra explained The Awakening. She recalled how she had earned Rain Fall, how it was her most trusted companion despite being a weapon. She wondered if Roxas had undergone the same thing as she, Terra, and Ventus. It didn't seem like he had, otherwise he would have known immediately what The Awakening was.

Once inside the cafe, she took her seat first at a booth, leaving plenty of space for Terra to slide in beside her.

"If you have more questions, which I'm sure you do, don't hesitate to ask. I hope you won't mind answering some questions of mine as well?"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

"The dream?" he repeated. It didn't make sense at first, but then Roxas remembered that very dream while he was in that fake Twilight Town DiZ had created, where fought the giant armored Nobody, Sora's keyblade coming to his side instead of Oblivion. DiZ may have had something to do with that.

Roxas took his seat opposite the couple and nodded, he felt embarrassed over not letting them have their proper say. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll answer what I can, just some parts of it don't make sense." he added sheepishly, thinking how that sounded like such a cop out.

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

"That's quite alright." she said, smiling at him comfortingly. "Just answer as best you can. That's what is important."

She paused after her say in order to gather her thoughts. What was the best thing to ask this young man? First things first, she supposed.

"Clearly you must have had an Awakening, otherwise you wouldn't hold a keyblade in your hands," she reasoned, "So then, where were you taught? Did you have a master to show you how to wield it? If so, did that master have other apprentices they taught along with you?"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas gave a quick nod when Aqua mentioned the Awakening. At least he knew why it was he had had that dream now. However the next question made him gape at her and Terra stupidly before he answered.

"No one." he said honestly. "I just sort of knew what to do when the time came." His blue eyes trying to convey that he was being truthful, not evasive. "When the Organization took me in after I found myself in Twilight Town, they just sent me out to do missions and assignments with the keyblade." Roxas seized one the nearest glass of ice water and took a gulp, it's cool temperature soothing his throat.

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

His reveal caught Aqua completely off-guard. He had no Master? How in the world could that be? None of the other Key Bearers she knew of was self-taught. Then again, the only ones she knew had been part of the program like she was.

"That's...that's amazing. To teach yourself how to-" again she was caught in a shock. This young man was...he couldn't be, could he? He was part of Organization XIII? Part of her wanted to attack him, but she forced it down under her boot. Roxas was a nice young man, from what she could tell. He couldn't be a Nobody. He was just somehow involved...or he was talking about something else entirely. Still, she felt she had to ask.

"The Organization? You're not...you're not a Nobody, are you?" she was secretly dreading the answer. She'd imagined the Nobodies to be obvious mockeries of humans, like the Heartless. It had never crossed her mind they might look just like humans did.

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas hadn't been prepared for Aqua's reaction either, he held the glass of ice water in his hand. He looked at it for a moment, then said. "I'm Sora's Nobody. The Organization took me in, when I was with them the Heartless didn't attack me, but, I left them like my friend did. Because they didn't really care about me, just about the keyblade."

One piece of ice managed to push past the others and break the surface of the water in his glass.

"I was Number 13." he said softly. "The Key of Destiny." His eyes were half closed as he watched the water, his thoughts resting on Axel and....and Xion...

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

"Sora.....wasn't that the kid from Destiny Islands....WAIT A MINUTE!" Terra shouted, causing the other two to look at him. "What if that kid got Ven's heart! That would explain the resemblance and why this boy can control a keyblade." Terra said, before frowning. "By the way, who exactly was in the Organization, could you describe the leaders or something?"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

After his attention being grabbed by Terra's sudden exclamation, Roxas could only give befuddled look when Terra gave the theory of Roxas having Ven's heart. But all he could remember was always just being...a part of Sora. Someone who wasn't supposed to exist really. Those had been DiZ's words.

"It doesn't matter, Sora and I...no, just Sora I guess, had already taken care of Organization XIII." That he could remember. Now his thoughts were focusing on Terra's idea. What if he wasn't just Sora's Nobody, what if he was actually a person, someone who had a heart and soul. He wanted to believe it so bad it almost hurt. He took another swallow of ice water and set the glass on the table. "You were fighting the Organization?"

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra frowned. "If the Organization was defeated, then what of the girl. Unless she was the friend you mentioned." Terra frowned as he heard the second question. "Not exactly" he said as he tried to explain it in some way that won't make him sound like the bad guy. "It's a long story"

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

Aqua was having a hard time trying to sort out exactly what Roxas was saying, and what Terra was trying to piece together. This boy was Ventus' heart? It couldn't be. That would explain why he'd vanished when she went to find him where she'd left him.

Sora, there was that name again. She would have to find this boy. He too would have to answer many questions.

"No, we were fighting a man named Master Xehanort." Aqua filled in for him. "Master Xehanort and his apprentice Vanitas vanished one day. Terra, Ventus and I...it was our task to look for them. But when we found them..."

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

"Didn't Axel tell Roxas about Master Xemnas being the nobody to Xehanort, the man who impersonated Ansem? This was getting confusing. Roxas rubbed the side of his head, he was trying to piece together information he had known, information he had just gotten, and ideas that were over his head.

"My head's starting to hurt." he said trying to process everything. "Sora defeated Xehanort and Organization XIII. But Xion is still...she's still here..?"

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

Again Aqua wanted to just reach over and hug him. For supposedly being a Nobody, he had all the emotions of a regular person. 'Perhaps he's different than the rest...because he's part of Ventus and Sora...' she thought.

"I don't know. But, would you like for us to help you find her?" she asked. "If she's your friend, I'm sure she must be wanting to see you again too."

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

"Yeah" Terra said, backing Aqua up. "I mean, a friend of somebody who looks like a friend of ours could be a friend of ours, I think. It's something Ven said once"

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

Roxas had tried following the phrase Terra said, but couldn't keep up and just nodded unsure of what else to do.

"Yeah, I think I would like that." he said to both of them. "That would, mean a lot."

If Ven had had friends like these the whole time, Roxas envied him. It was fair, they would help find Xion and he might just end up helping them find Ven as well.

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

"Glad to help, Roxas. i'm sure we'll all get along just fine." Aqua smiled widely as Roxas agreed. She still wasn't sure what to believe about his origins, but the boy was good-hearted. She could tell. If things went well, perhaps he could remain with them. Not as a replacement for Ven -no, never that-, but as another keyblade wielder. They were shorthanded enough as it was, and it was never bad to have extra comrades.

Though the first obstacle to finding his missing friend was where to look. She hadn't the slightest idea where they could even begin.

"Do either of you have a possible idea of where to start, though? "

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

Terra frowned. "Well, Kid said she worked at a bar right? Perhaps she stopped by their bar." he said, before turning to Roxas. "Though it may help if we knew exactly what she looked like, I was a bit busy trying not to get stomped to death at the time" Terra said as he glanced at his side, where the long-healed bruise used to be.

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm, that's a bit of a shot in the dark. But you may be right. Kid could help keep an eye out for her anyway," Aqua smiled, "It helps to have eyes in more than one place."

She quieted, though, as she tried to remember the details of the hooded figure who helped them. She didn't see much of her face, and only barely remembered what her voice sounded like.

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure we can find her together." Roxas said brightening after hearing the possible leads. They had something to work with, that's what was important. "I've been thinking." he said after a moment. "Have you been fighting heartless..?"

[keyofearth.livejournal.com]

"We fought a whole group of them last week" Terra said, his arms folded as he closed his eyes. "Something's off about them, unless your friends are in Dollet"

[sleeping-water.livejournal.com]

"We've been fighting the Heartless longer than that, though. Especially the Unversed," Aqua explained, "Any particular reason why? Would you like to help us fight more of them? They're still prowling around the world from what I understand."

[eclipsed-purity.livejournal.com]

"I just wanted to know if I might run into them. If they come for the Keybladers still. I'll help fight them. It's what I can do best."

Despite being at a cafe, Roxas wasn't really hungry, nor sleepy. "

...just tired.

" he said under his breath, answering his own thought.