paixaorpg | A Creature of the Darkness [Complete]

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A Creature of the Darkness [Complete]

Character(s): Roxas, and possibly others in the apartment
Content: Roxas has a nightmare
Setting: Timon and Vyers' apartment
Time: very late at night, after everyone’s returned from Urd’s spell
Warnings: Depressing. VERY DEPRESSING.

The apartment was strangely quiet, save for the sounds of the varied sleepers it housed. They’d all managed to be comfortable enough to leave the waking world, though for some it had been far easier than others, and their sleep was much more restful. For Roxas, though, this night was proving to be the opposite.

He tossed and turned on the couch, sweating and panting. The blanket he slept under was hanging off one side now, slightly damp. Every few moments, the boy would make a small noise—a quiet whimper, a small sob, a sound of fright. But they were soft, as he lacked the breath in his restless slumber to muster up anything stronger. A single tear rolled down Roxas’ cheek, and moments later his mouth opened in a silent scream.

He saw a young man in a black coat walking through the streets of a brightly lit city, suddenly surrounded by shadows, so many shadows. They overtook the lights, and his mind’s eye went black. As vision returned, he was watching a torch’s flame dance in front of him. Sand stretched to either side, the sea was just past the torch. A new shadow, faceless, emerged from the waves, its laugh a cruel echo in the night. He was lifted off his feet by tendrils of the darkness, tossed mercilessly toward the figure of the night. Its haunting laugh rang in his ears, assaulting him repeatedly like the ocean’s waves. He found his voice stolen by some unseen force as he tried to cry out, his body pulled under the water despite his desperate struggling.

A man with red hair and green eyes abruptly stood before him, his cocky smile somehow comforting, inviting. A girl with black hair and blue eyes was standing behind the redhead, her smile all too familiar. Xion…and that guy…must be Axel, the one Xion had wanted Roxas to meet. But…what was that thing Xion was holding? And Axel, why was he looking so angry now? Roxas was frozen in place as Axel summoned weapons sheathed in fire, helpless as the two of them fought, flames and beams of light searing his eyes each time their weapons clashed. The blaze from Axel grew and grew, consuming all three of them in its fury. Roxas stood helplessly immobile as the flames washed over him, unable to avert his gaze from the sight of Xion burning away.

Roxas was holding the torch now, back on the beach. Xion was in front of him, her body still engulfed in all that fire. The scream was real this time, and Roxas woke up with a shout. Sweat dripped from his forehead onto his chest as he sat up, and he had to gasp for air. He clutched his head, ignoring how badly the tears were stinging his eyes as they fell onto the blanket over his legs. Nothing of his dream was left, he didn’t know why he felt like this, but something was tearing savagely at him, his insides felt like they would collapse in on themselves, and his heart raced.

((OOC: Might be slightly edited in the coming days, depending on the log with Vyers and co.))

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A lot had happened since Naminé had come to the city of Paixao... and yet nothing at all had happened. She'd found herself being ridiculed here as badly as she had been by DiZ and the Organization, and yet she'd also found people who would protect her, real people, Others who had hearts and were willing to use them for her. It was... strange.

Sitting upright on her bed that night, Naminé thought about it, about Xion and Roxas, Roxas losing his memory, Timon, Simba, Timon's reaction when she'd left to find Roxas... none of it made sense and yet it all made sense. It was like living with a hardheaded Sora.

And somehow, through it all, they'd managed to keep her existence a secret. Or so she hoped. She was staying off the journals for now so the Organization couldn't track her. After what she'd seen in Roxas' journal, she was pretty sure they could all see through locks and that scared her. Maybe they already knew she was there, had hacked through her locks earlier, and were simply biding their time til they captured her again. She didn't like to think about that. It brought back bad memories.

Bad memories that were only vaguely pushed aside at the sound of Roxas' scream. Naminé's head snapped up and she immediately leaped out of bed, hurrying over to his door. She didn't want to just run in, but at the same time what if he was hurt?

"Roxas?" she called peering into the room.

...Maybe she was just imagining things.

Edited 2010-05-09 23:42 (UTC)

Between his gasps for air and his sobs, Roxas didn't hear Naminé at all. It wasn't until she came closer that he noticed someone was there. Breathlessly, he looked up at her. His eyes were glued open, in the vain hope that the dim light would chase away the terrors of that dream. Tears still flowed down either cheek.

He could find no words to speak, but couldn't have anyway. He was shaking too badly, and his voice had as little hold as it had during the nightmare. But even in silence, and even though he barely realized it, his expression was begging Naminé for some sort of comfort.

Roxas hadn't noticed her at first, so Naminé walked further into the room so he could see her. Something was definitely wrong; she could tell. She just didn't know what, nor did she know how to deal with someone like this. Comfort wasn't something she understood, having never experienced it in her life before Sora had reassured her when they'd first met. So she didn't know what to do.

After a while, she spoke. "Roxas... What happened? Do you need some water?"

She was hoping it was a nightmare and not someone having broken in and scared him.

Roxas took a few seconds to catch his breath, and to try to get himself together. The crying and sobbing stopped, though the shaking didn't. He kept his eyes wide open.

"I...I don't know," he said, still raggedly gasping for air. "I...I think it was...a dream...but I don't remember...what it was about..." All he knew was that it had been horrible, and he didn't want any of it to be true. But he had a vague sense that what he'd been dreaming about had been close to what really happened...

Having no idea how to deal with Roxas like this, Naminé did the only thing she could think of: she reached out to touch his arm.

"You don't remember any of it?" she asked softly, wondering if these new memory chains would actually be there or if whatever had taken his memories earlier was siphoning away any others he got. But if that was true, wouldn't he have forgotten everything right after it had happened?

Naminé shook her head to clear it and looked back at Roxas, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible... not like she could be threatening even if she tried.

"What did it make you feel?" Or think he felt. Whatever it was for special Nobodies like them.

Roxas gasped when Naminé touched him. The last thing he'd expected was physical contact, and it did not feel like something that happened often. His eyes flew wide open, and for a moment he stared out into space, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do now.

"I...I'm scared, Naminé," he said, the words rushed and breathless.

Naminé retracted her hand immediately, curling it back in her lap with her other hand. This was so far beyond what she wanted to deal with. But she had to... for Roxas.

"It'll be okay, Roxas." She tried to sound reassuring. How had Kairi sounded to Sora when she'd been comforting him all those years? How would Sora have said this? "It was just a dream, right?"

Looking at the floor, Roxas found it hard to answer her question. "Y-yeah...just...a dream..."

But he still could barely breathe, and his eyes still stung. What kind of dream could have done this to him?

"Right. A dream. It can't hurt you anymore." What could he have seen in his dream? Was it something from his past? A premonition? If only she could find out. If only she knew how.

Naminé stayed in her chair for a minute before she got up to get a glass of water for Roxas. Hopefully, that would help him calm down a little bit.

"Where are you going?" Roxas asked, his voice bleak and distressed. The last thing he wanted was for the only person around to leave him alone. What if...what if the dream came back? What was he supposed to do then?

Naminé paused halfway to the door and turned to face Roxas. Why did this hurt so much?

"I'm just going to get you a glass of water." She paused, hands barely brushing against her nightdress to comfort herself. "You can come with me if you want. I won't leave you." Not until he was asleep or showing signs of being okay, that was for sure.

"Oh..." Roxas looked at his palms, his vision out of focus. He stayed on the couch, though, afraid that for all his shaking he wouldn't be able to stand. His eyes still burned.

Naminé was quick about it, grabbing the glass and filling it within seconds. Bringing it back to Roxas, she grabbed a towel on her way in case Roxas spilled it and sat down somewhat close to him to hand him the water. She didn't know what else to say to help him out. This wasn't Riku, someone she knew. Roxas was different and before they'd arrived here, they hadn't met. She only knew a little of him, only what she'd seen with DiZ while restoring Sora's memories. Or rather, attempting to.

"Do you want anything else?" she asked softly, watching him carefully.

Taking the glass, Roxas muttered a quick "thanks" and sipped just a little of it. He hadn't realized just how dry his throat was. After another small sip, he looked back at Naminé.

"I don't think I know what else would help," he said softly. "If anything like this has ever happened to me before, I can't remember how I dealt with it."

Naminé smiled just a little bit at the "thanks" Roxas offered her, letting her hands curl up in her nightdress. "I don't know," she answered, just as softly, looking down at her hands. "I don't understand any of this... Xion might know. She knows you better than I do. DiZ would never let me meet you. He said it was too dangerous."

The memory of DiZ and everything anti-Nobody that had ever been said to her cropped up again then and she gave a nearly inaudible, but very weary, sigh. This whole thing was just wrong, but unlike when Sora lost his memories, Naminé had no idea how to fix it.

Roxas looked back at his hands, which were, after these few minutes, shaking with less fervor. He didn't feel that much better yet, though. So he took another drink of water, wincing a touch as it burned his parched throat.

"Why..." he started, "Why would Xion know any more about this than I do? She was my friend, but...wouldn't she have told me...if she knew I had dreams like this?" He winced as a brief flash of his nightmare came back to the surface, but as he opened his eyes it was gone, just like that. "...Or is it another of those things I'm supposed to be better off not knowing about?"

The last sentence sounded much more cynical than he'd meant it to, but it really was making him angry. How could people feel all right keeping so much from him, like it was up to them what he should know about himself? It wasn't fair!

"I don't know." If there was one thing Naminé knew, it was honesty. Most of the time it was blunt honesty. That was just how she knew to live. "I don't know what she knew. I didn't know her very well at home, not alone." She would have liked to have known Xion better, but it just hadn't happened before.

"Maybe she might know someone else who could answer that." But who Naminé didn't know. Roxas' last sentence brought her head back up and she looked at him with sorrow in her eyes. She knew what it was like to feel worthless, to feel as though everyone was against you. The Organization had made her feel that on a daily basis; though she had been useful to them, she had also been someone they tormented, even going so far as to use their orders against her. She'd never been able to win around them. And then she'd met DiZ. He hadn't been any better. While he at least allowed her a little more freedom, he constantly reminded her that she wasn't supposed to exist, had never been meant to exist. She knew Roxas was a Nobody; she even knew whose Nobody he was. How was she supposed to explain something like that?

Now wasn't the time.

"If I knew, I'd tell you, Roxas." Her voice and her expression were sincere. She would have told him if she'd known. But she didn't know. They were both in the darkness about this one. "I don't understand any of this."

"What...what am I supposed to do?" He looked at Naminé only for a second before again focusing on his palms. "I don't even know where to start, and now I'm having nightmares about it. The only people who know anything won't tell me, and then anyone who really doesn't know anything only confuses me more. Where does that leave me? I thought I could just ignore it, and let myself forget everything, but that dream had to have been about it."

"What's the point of losing your memories...if they're not really gone?" He clutched his head in his hands. "Sorry, Naminé. I know...you don't really know anything about this, and that you don't really know how to help me. I just..." his voice trailed off.

"I think I should get back to sleep."

"Roxas." Naminé hesitated, hands still twined together in her lap. She didn't talk much about this ability of hers, but maybe this would help him relax about it all. "The special ability I have, the one I used when Xion and I found you on the beach, has to do with memories. I can manipulate the chains of memories. So if we can find who or what has your memories, I can give them back to you and restring the chains. You won't be without them forever. We'll find them."

She didn't know where to start looking. Her mind strayed to the journals and she wondered if his would hold any clues. Maybe she'd ask Timon sometime if she could look. For now, though, resting sounded like a good idea. She nodded to Roxas.

"I'm sorry, Roxas. We'll keep looking for whatever has them. They can't have just disappeared. It's impossible to completely erase memories." Not without destroying the person's heart. What would happen to a Nobody whose memories were erased? They had no heart to lose. Would they just... cease to exist? Assuming they existed at all, though DiZ insisted they didn't.

She didn't know the answer to any of this.

"I'll go back to my room, then."

“It’s a wonder how anyone can get any sleep in this place with all the noise you two are making.”

Horrible timing as usual, Timon stood behind the two Nobodies, paws firmly planted on his hips as he tiredly glared between the two. Thankfully for them, their discussion before his arrival had fallen on deaf ears, at least to an extent. Timon had undoubtedly heard their discussion but it had passed as nothing more than noise to the meerkat in his exhausted state. After looking into Vyers’ agile recovery, he found himself once again in the comfort of his home. It had taken an enormous amount of energy simply to pull himself away from his comfortable resting place (otherwise referred to as ‘Simba’) and scold the two. However, he knew if he didn’t, not only would he not get any rest but the two kids as well.

“What are you two still doing up in the first place?” He asked grumpily. “Do you have any idea how late it is? The early bird ain’t even up yet for the worm. Whatever it is you two are talkin’ about can wait till the morning. The best thing the pair of you can do in the mean time is march right on back to bed and get some rest – or at least allow me to rest.”

Edited 2010-05-30 23:41 (UTC)

"It's nothing," Roxas lied, holding back the sudden urge to assault Timon. "We were...just going back to sleep."

The boy's eyes hadn't stopped burning yet. If there was enough light, Naminé and Timon would probably be able to see how red they were. It was hard for Roxas to hear what Naminé said before Timon came in, too. If that dream had something to do with his memories...how much worse were the real thing? If he got them back, would he react the same? The dream had been crippling...and if the same thing happened when he got his memories back, what would happen to him after that?

"Sorry we woke you up," he said, trying to keep Timon from worrying about him. If the meerkat was already grumpy, the last thing Roxas needed right now was to get Timon even more annoyed.

For a brief second, Roxas saw an image of another redhead getting frustrated with him. But it was gone just as fast.

Timon's appearance startled Naminé, but she knew, somehow, that the best thing to do would be to get Timon away from Roxas. So, that was what she tried to do, walking over to Timon. "Roxas was going to sleep. He was thirsty." It was a small white lie and hopefully Timon wouldn't question her about it.

She turned to look at Roxas as she reached the doorway. Naminé could see his eyes, but she didn't really know what it meant. No one she'd ever known had cried except for Sora and the coloring wasn't something she'd ever paid attention to before. "Good night, Roxas." And then her blue eyes glanced back to Timon. "I'm going back to sleep now, too."

She would, too... as soon as Timon looked like he was going to follow her.

“Oh.” Roxas’ response surprised him but Timon did not question him. He did not question either of them. Had it been any other night the meerkat would have found their behaviour suspicious and suspected the two of otherwise but tonight? Just about anything could have flown over his head. He continued to look up at the two, his expression softer, almost surprised if not for the notable exhaustion he displayed.

Having expected an argument, the meerkat stumbled to think of how to reply to the two. “Uh… Right. Well then you, uh, do that. I mean, you should. Sleep is good. And water, that was good thinking.” Aside from the fact Roxas would be up about two hours from now but he was far too tired to realize that. The meerkat yawned, already wandering away from the two. Their story passed and as long as they went to sleep, so could he. “G’night then.” He said before collapsing onto the first large body he found on the ground. Simba didn’t feel as soft as he had before but at this point Timon could not have cared less… In the morning when he realized he was actually sleeping on Urd he would probably care though.

Edited 2010-06-01 05:03 (UTC)

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A Creature of the Darkness [Complete]

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