[FIC] for sira

[sira]

Title: See Me in the Mirror
Recipient: sira
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Unrequited Riku/Sora, Roxas/Sora, Axel/Zexion
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created and owned by Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warnings: Guy-on-guy, mirrorsex, angst.
Author's notes: Sorry, sira, I don't think this is really what you asked for. *sheepish* The idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so I finally went and wrote it. I hope you like it anyway!


Golden sunlight streams in through the half-open window, and the sky-blue curtains flutter like waterfalls in the breeze. The warm heat reaches through the room to gently stroke, with tender fingertips, the Keyblade Master's face, soft and relaxed in sleep.

For a moment, it seems as if his dark eyelashes are dusted in gold - and then the soft heat seeps through his skin, slipping through the thin shields of his eyelids to reach the glittering sapphires beneath, and the gem-like treasures are revealed to the world as he wakes.

Stretching like a cat, mouth open in a yawn, Sora blinked sleepily as he sat up, the blanket pooling in his lap, the sleeves of his midnight-blue sleep-shirt riding up his arms. Absently running a hand through his cinnamon spikes, he swings his legs over the side of his bed, standing up to cross over to the wardrobe on the other side of the room.

He catches a glimpse of his reflection in the floor-length mirror he passes, but ignores it, determined not to actually use the girly mirror his mother randomly bought him a few weeks ago. But he pauses at the dressing table, foot off the ground as he turns his head to glance at this mirror - smaller and plain, with a non-descript dark wood frame and backing. An assortment of bracelets, keychains, belts, and his cherished silver crown necklace are scattered over the desk-like table's surface, but his gaze is drawn to the slip of bright pink tucked into the frame of the mirror.

Sora stares at it for a second, then, grinning, reaches forward to snatch it from under the wood, eyes brightening as he reads the neatly-penned note.

Sora,

Sorry if you're feeling tired, but I had to stay up late to finish the maths homework. Really, it's YOUR fault - if you hadn't been watching that movie, I could have started earlier and you would have gotten more sleep. Next time, I'll just scribble 'CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY' all over your book instead!

Seriously - let me start earlier next time, ok?

Roxas

)0(

Sora could never say if life was supposed to be like this or not.

Well, sure, going back to school and homework and all was going to be difficult. How the heck was he meant to acclimatise back to…well, back to normal after his life had been so unnormal for so long? How was he supposed to forget his friends, his travels, his new abilities? All the things he'd done, and thought of, and realised that he could now do - was he just meant to forget all that?

Was he meant to forget, not just everything, but everyone as well?

He'd thought so. When they'd returned - he and Riku, falling from the sky like shooting stars to crash into the ocean - it hadn't been long before he realised that everyone wanted to pretend it had never happened. His parents, Kairi, all his friends at school.

Not Riku, though. The silver-haired teen was the only one Sora still felt comfortable discussing their adventures with; it was only in front of his best friend that Sora summoned the Kingdom Key. Just to feel its comforting weight in his hands; just to hear its song in his heart and try to remember that it hadn't all been a dream.

All the same. It had been hard. And, just sometimes, he'd caught himself pretending that everything had just been a game: a dream somewhere along the line, something he'd created in a fit of creativity that Riku allowed him to believe, for whatever reason. It was easier that way.

And then he'd kick out at something - kick and smash and scream at something - and run to Riku's. Summon the Keyblade and demand to spar: and the thrusts and parries, the dodging and diving, the spells, the potions they used afterwards -

They all condensed into one great big lump of undeniable truth.

But it wasn't enough. Not…Not really. Keeping his head above the water - just - but not swimming. Not surviving in this ocean of disbelieving, un-caring eyes and voices and whispers behind hands and behind backs.

Until the day Roxas's voice shouted across his mind in the middle of maths class.

He'd been wondering about it for a while, actually - ever since they returned from their journeys, from their quests, and it had struck him that he had another person sharing his heart. Roxas had dissolved into a shower of glittering stars, diamond-dust that had flashed its way into him - but that couldn't be it, surely? People don't just stop existing - do they?

No, they don't. As proved by the voice suddenly shouting inside his head as he was doodling on a piece of Math homework.

Sora was so shocked that he fell off his chair, pencil clattering to the floor beside him, rolling under the window as he lay flat on his back, staring wide-eyed up at the cracks in the ceiling, unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"Sora?" Riku's silver hair brushed his cheeks as his friend leaned over him, concerned, the teacher's nervous questioning hovering over from the white board at the front of the classroom - but Sora heard neither of them.

Sora?

"Roxas?" Sora gasped, sitting up quickly - and slamming his head straight into Riku's.

"Ow!" The Keyblade Master pouted, rubbing at his forehead as Riku rocked back onto his heels, wincing as his fingertips ghosted over the shadowing bruise on his pale skin. He eyed Sora warily, as if the brunet might well attack him again, but Sora took no notice, too preoccupied with the conversation taking place behind his eyes.

That actually worked? I can't believe this - after all this time, all I had to do was - ?

Woah, wait a second. What are you doing inside my head? Sora asked quickly, getting the hang of this mental speech - you kind of had to throw your thoughts at the other person; projecting them, as if you had a microphone inside your mind.

He heard a snort. Where else am I gonna hang out, then?

Um…

"Sora, you ok?" Riku asked him, peering in at his face - though far enough way to be safe from another impromptu injury. "Did you say 'Roxas'?"

"What?" Sora was startled, his eyes focussing on his friend for the first time since he'd fallen from his chair. His lazuli eyes scanned his surroundings, widening as he realised that half the classroom was gathered around him on the floor.

Hastily, he scrambled up for his chair, trying to ignore the laughter in the back of his head as he grinned sheepishly at his teacher, avoiding Riku's confused and wary gaze as he accepted his pencil, picked up and offered to him by a nameless, blushing girl he barely glanced at. He waved away all concerns, not looking at anyone - bending over his work until they'd all returned to their seats, whispering and giggling as the blonde woman returned to discussing the finer points of trigonometry with her students.

He might have thought he'd imagined it - that the bump to his head had rattled something loose (ignoring the fact that Roxas had started speaking before he'd fallen to the floor).

Except that, about four minutes and twenty-eight seconds later, it happened again.

You know, you've got question six-b wrong.

He reacted much better this time. He declined falling from his seat again - preferring to freeze, his pencil almost snapping in the suddenly tense grip and slashing a deep, dark line of grainy lead across his page as his hand jerked.

You're still here?

Well, duh. Roxas snorted, and Sora could feel the amusement trickling through the space between them. How was there space between two people inside the same body…? And since I am here, I figured you could use some help with your Math. Because you suck.

Really? Sora asked, excited, not seeing Riku's concerned glance as a wide grin stretched across his mouth. Thanks, Roxas! I can't stick Math, it just doesn't make any sense -

Again, that ripple of amusement, and he felt Roxas nudge his way to the forefront of their shared mind, gently peering out of sapphire eyes alongside Sora as he took a better look at the complicated diagram of angles, cosines, and hypotenuses. You find out you have another person inside your head, and all you do is thank them for tuition?

For Math tuition! Sora corrected, leaning further over his paper as he began copying the flashes of knowledge Roxas carefully placed in the space between them, sharing the correct methods for each question with his Other. For helping me with Math, Rox, I'd even let you walk around with my body.

I'll hold you to that, Roxas joked, correcting Sora's answer with a slight - mental - shaking of his head. And you don't divide cosine by ten…

)0(

That had been months ago now, and things had only gotten better since.

It hadn't taken them long to work out how to let Roxas have control over the body they now shared - it was similar to the way in which he could look out of Sora's eyes; only, instead of nudging Sora to the side, the brunet had to step aside, willingly giving up control.

Both privately wondered if Roxas could ever take the control if he wanted it, but neither wanted to find out.

And they came to an agreement. In return for helping (doing) Sora's Math and Science homework, Roxas was allowed control of their body on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays - except for lunch periods (Riku and Kairi would surely notice something) and his creative writing classes.

Because you suck, Sora pointed out one Thursday as they made the switch, now so practised that it was as simple as changing shirts, outside the creative writing classroom.

Roxas chose not to reply as they slipped inside, Sora smiling sweetly at his professor as he found his - their - seat near the window and pulling out his books, humming a catchy tune under his breath as he waited for the classroom to fill up. His eyes slid across to the view outside the window, idly watching the gym class out on the school football pitches as he went over last night's game tournament in his mind.

Sora had quickly discovered that Roxas was very, very good at almost every kind of computer game you threw at him. The blond was, as indicated by his Keyblade skills, an amazing duelling opponent. And, when it was his turn in their body, he could beat Sora's record for the most chocolate-dream-fudge brownies eaten in thirty seconds.

This, of course, had sparked off what was fondly referred to as the Tournaments - the 'games' in which they played against each other: and in everything. Computer games; playstation; sword-fighting. Grades on homework; times running around the school track; pulling the biggest pranks. Last month, Roxas had decided that he was braver than Sora; the Keyblade Master had responded by wearing one of Kairi's pink dresses into school the following Wednesday, completely ignoring the hysterical responses from his various friends.

Roxas had retaliated by asking Riku (with a perfectly straight face) if the star-haired teen would go on a date with him.

After hastily explaining it was a dare - Roxas switched them over the moment the words were out of his mouth, leaving Sora to handle it while his Other laughed inside his head - Sora grudgingly admitted Roxas had won.

That round, at least.

The teacher started handing out last week's essays as the class settled down, and Sora grinned at the illuminated 'A+' penned neatly near the title of his latest chapter, bright as a smile.

This term, the class's project was to write a novella - a short book with a minimum of 50,000 words. They had actually started a month before school broke up for Summer at the end of last year, writing over the holidays with the plan to finish by Christmas, and Sora had written ridiculously fast, spending at least half of the glazing hot summer days inside at his computer, typing up his story.

And it was his story - the true story of what had happened to him, Riku and Kairi when they disappeared. From Riku's offered hand amidst a swirling black cloud, to the white castle where he'd lost his memories, and, finally, back home with Roxas filling that empty place in his heart - it was all being written down, written and saved and stored to make sure it could never be forgotten.

He wanted to bind it and give it to Roxas for Christmas - which was why the blond Other had been locked out of that part of his mind. Roxas knew nothing about the book - it was one of the reasons Sora had insisted he keep the Creative Writing classes to himself.

And there was no chance that he might accidentally see the story while they were in class - Roxas was a whiz-kid with Math, or any of the three Sciences, but he fell asleep the moment they stepped through the door to something creative. Their teachers didn't understand why 'Sora's' art was incredibly detailed and skilled on Monday and Friday, but resembled a child's doodles on Tuesdays.

Sora grinned, feeling the soft, furred feeling of Roxas asleep in the back of his mind, curled up in a dark velvet corner as his Other was drawn into the world of words, working hard to finish Roxas' Christmas present by the holidays.

)0(

I can't believe you actually did the track in two minutes! Sora pouted from behind his own eyes as Roxas worked the combination into their locker, the door swinging open easily as he reached for the books they'd need for homework. How do you run that fast?

Roxas grinned with Sora's mouth as he slipped the books into the red and black satchel, swinging it over their shoulder as he slammed the door shut, spinning on his heel - Sora could feel the bright, sparkling happiness flowing from Roxas' side of their heart, lighting up their mind, warming the expanse of dark velvet Sora was presently curled in, peering out from the window-like sapphires of his own eyes.

Guess I'm just brilliant, Roxas laughed, both mentally and for real, spinning again, arms out as he did a three-sixty on the polished floor, their sneakers squeaking as he turned. Nobody shot them weird glances - to them, this was just Sora, the light-hearted brunet that always had a smile for everyone.

Sora laughed, curling in the velvet as if he were snuggling down inside a nest of blankets. One great thing about being inside your own mind - it was never cold. The nest he made for himself was warm and cozy - just how he liked it. And I think you're high on endorphins!

Ah HA! Roxas froze in the midst of the hallway, exited and laughing at his Other as he pointed an accusing mental finger. So you HAVE been listening in Biology! I thought I felt you awake!

Sora laughed, curling up as if to sleep, sighing happily. Whatever, Roxas. Just hurry up - we've got about an hour before Kairi expects us over at her house. Something about the Christmas party…

Roxas seemed to calm down after that, the added endorphins levelling out as they walked home. Riku had come up to them that morning to say he wouldn't be able to make their trip home - there was an unexpected meeting of the school council, called because of the suspensions last week, so Kairi wouldn't be able to make it either. The two of them represented their respective years - Riku one ahead of them - but Sora was only grateful he wasn't forced to sit straight and polite while they all bored him to tears. And Roxas, of course, couldn't care less.

Destiny Islands was really beautiful at the time of day - with Winter well underway, the sun was setting earlier and earlier, and already it was turning the sea into stained glass, all ruby reds and amethysts streaked with gold. A light breeze blew up from the shore, carrying the heady scent of the papou trees, their fruits bright gold in the dying daylight.

Musing, Roxas wondered how they survived every year when it snowed - and froze as a startling thought hit him.

Sora and his friends had returned in March - long enough for the snow to have been gone since December. They were lucky, really - they had most of the Summer to catch up on all the work they'd missed - but it meant Roxas had never seen it snowing on the islands.

Hey, Sora? He asked hesitantly, forcing himself to keep walking even as an empty ache throbbed in his side of their heart.

He felt Sora's alertness, and briefly a wave of warmth flowed through him - Sora was always woken when his Other needed him. The pain in their shared heart never failed to coax him from the mental sleep he indulged in, or the myriad games you could play when you didn't technically exist.

He was always there for Roxas.

What's up, Rox? He asked softly, brushing aside the shadowed blankets to rest beside the stained-glass windows of their shared eyes. You ok?

Sora…When does the snow arrive? He asked, trying to cover his mental tone with indifference - even knowing he couldn't lie to his Other. They shared a heart - shared each other's mental space. I mean…It's Christmas in two weeks. Where's the snow?

He could feel Sora's confusion, the tentative unwillingness to speak. Rox, it doesn't snow on the islands. It's too hot - it would just melt…

Roxas said nothing, but he could feel Sora's concern like a corporal shadow in his mind all the way home, and he shielded his thoughts from his Other for the first time in a long while.

)0(

Sora could never explain why he'd never told Riku and Kairi about Roxas. In the beginning, he kept meaning to - planned a dozen ways he could start the conversation, could tell them that, actually, his Other hadn't just faded away like they'd all thought he would.

He even tried - but when he asked Kairi how Namine was doing, she'd stared at him in confused wariness, and told him she hadn't heard from her own Other since they returned to Destiny Islands.

He hadn't tried again. And he hadn't - as he normally would have, if he had a secret he couldn't share with his red-head friend - gone to Riku. Roxas had frozen up and gone quiet when he suggested it, and though Sora had never gotten the whole story from Riku, he sensed there was something between them. Something that made it hard for Roxas to talk about the silver-haired boy civilly, or to act normal around him. Aggression smouldered between the two of them, even if Riku wasn't quite aware of it - it was as if he sensed it, on those days when it was Roxas walking in Sora's skin, sensed the difference and the burning anger just barely veiled behind Sora's normal laughter, his bright grin that Roxas could mimic like a mirror, when he needed to.

So he'd kept quiet.

)0(

Kairi threw the biggest Christmas parties. As the adopted daughter of the town's mayor, she had all the space of her father's town house to play with, and a good supply of cash to fund her yuletide celebrations.

As it was the first Christmas the trio had had all together since they'd returned, Kairi was determined that this year would top all others, and she'd enlisted Sora - and, inadvertedly, Roxas - to help with the planning.

"Kairi, we're trying to keep it casual," he pointed out as she debated the pros and cons of delicate ice statues scattered through the manor. "If you try and make it formal, everyone'll be too uptight to have any fun."

She frowned, chewing her lip. "You're right. Ok, no ice swans." She glanced regretfully at the portfolio of photographs in her hand. "But they're so pretty!"

"No." He said firmly, and felt Roxas snort in the back of his head, his Other smirking as Kairi rambled on, choosing games they could play on the night.

"What about spin the bottle?" She asked, cocking her head at him. "Truth or dare? Twister's a bit old, isn't it…?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, the flash of light on his watch-face catching his attention. "Kairi, I've gotta go. I've got a load of Maths homework to do tonight - sorry," he added at her crestfallen face. "Look, spin the bottle's always good, we always play truth or dare, and yes, Twister's gonna be a bit weird with all the guys and girls that'll be coming, ok?"

She nodded, smiling brightly as he waved, over-the-top, before vanishing down the hallway, perfectly capable of making his own way to the front door.

)0(

Neither of them suggested a new tournament that evening, as they shared the taste of their mother's prize-winning butterscotch tart between them. Roxas did Sora's Math homework in silence, his thoughts full of swirling formulas and spiralling x's and y's, algebra and equations that made Sora dizzy when he tried to listen in.

The light-hearted Keyblade Master tried to start a conversation half a dozen times throughout the evening, and later at night when neither of them could sleep. He could feel there was something between them, a wall or barrier that hadn't been there this morning, yesterday or last week and all the days since Roxas first spoke to him - but he couldn't figure out what it was.

Roxas, gently and quietly, said he didn't want to talk. Not tonight. He - he had to think for a while.

And Sora, confused and a little hurt, retreated to the back of their mind, curling up in velvet shadows with a tired little sigh, just as his Other tugged the blankets over their shared body.

Roxas, eventually, fell asleep, his breathing evening out and slowing to a calm, heart-ache whisper - but Sora didn't find it so easy, and his insubstantial form tossed and turned inside their head, biting his lip and wondering what was hurting Roxas so badly. The only thing he could think of was the whole thing about the snow - but why was snow so important…?

)0(

When they were awake, it was easy to keep their two minds separate, two distinctly different people inside one body. There was no blending, no confusion over who was who, over whose thoughts were being thought. They never wondered who was in control, or who was talking, or who was holding the pen - because they were separate. Separate, but together, as well.

It wasn't so easy when both were asleep, though. And Roxas couldn't count the number of times Sora's dreams had slipped from behind the translucent wall between their minds - the wall where the door was always open to him anyway - and curled around him. Couldn't count the number of times he'd dreamed Sora's dreams.

And vice versa, of course.

Not so often. Sora's more innocent, more trusting of the world, and even after all that happened he doesn't feel a need to protect his most private thoughts from Roxas. He freely shares, doesn't worry that, just maybe, his Other will try to manipulate him with something he learns. But Roxas is naturally more private - not so naïve, not so trusting - and its instinct for him to keep his mind shielded.

It still happens, though. Sometimes, when Roxas is really tired, or really upset, his shields waver, tremble, and Sora can slip through. Or things can slip out.

Like now. Because Sora's sure this isn't his dream.

"That's impossible, Axel," he says, voice dripping cynicism, tone derogatory. "We don't have hearts - so we can't love. It's that simple."

The red-head number Nine frowns a little, playing with a small marble of flame, rolling it between his black-gloved fingers. The wind on the clock-tower ruffles his hair, and whoever this is dreaming looks straight ahead, over the gold-touched town and the setting sun.

"Maybe no one has hearts, Rox. Did you think of that?"

He snorts, swinging his legs, and he still doesn't look at Axel. "A lot of people have hearts, Axel. We're just not two of them."

Axle bites his lip nervously, and it's so uncharacteristic, so shocking that he can't help stare.

"Maybe the whole point of having a heart is that you don't have one," Axel says softly, not looking up from his hands and his little burning toy. "Maybe the point of a heart is that you give it away. Don't you think?"

There's a sudden lump in his throat, and he can't keep his walls up any longer - they shake under the pressure.

"But you have to have one to give it away," he whispers, and he doesn't pull his hand away when Axel takes it in his own.

"What if you could build one?" The Flurry of Dancing Flames asks urgently, eyes bright. "If I built one? And -" He hesitates a second.

"- and if I gave it to you? Would you take it?"

He can't answer. Doesn't know what to say. His mind can't work this out on its own, but he doesn't have a heart to help him. He can't say something special, something warm and romantic to ease the pain Axel's convinced he can feel. He just can't.

"No," he whispers, and he takes his hand back from Axel's stunned one, number Nine frozen and still and his eyes drowning in painful shadows. "No, I wouldn't, Axel. I'd only hurt you, because I can't - wouldn't care about it. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't care about it, either."

He looks Axel right in the eye, and tries to smile - but his mouth isn't sure how, and he can't get it quite right.

"Find someone who'll care, Ax," he said softly. "Someone who can love you back. Because I can't."

And he vanished through a portal, called ribbons of darkness to twine around his wrists, his waist and his chest, and he disappears away from his friend's pain.

The pain that he can't feel, and isn't sure how to.

)0(

Roxas barely talks at all for the next few days. He does the homework Sora struggles with, and answers the questions put to him in class - he doesn't give up their alternate-day plan, doesn't simply retreat into the back of their shared mind - but he dissolves like smoke whenever Riku or Kairi approach them, hiding behind a solid, impenetrable wall of darkest obsidian, his glittering thoughts more fiercely private than Sora has ever known them.

The Keyblade Master does garner a few images, though. Vague pictures Roxas leaves lying around in their head - that he's forgotten to hide. Or, maybe, things he wants Sora to see.

Twilight Town, bathed in snow and moonlight, the golden clock-tower ice-garnished pearl and silver. Cold, nipping winds that kiss his ears, his reddened cheeks, and he swings his legs on the ledge, a bright smile on his face that no one's there to see.

(0)

A hall of stark whiteness, seemingly never-ending in the monotonous expanse, broken into fragments of pearl by the bright, emerald shine of tinsel and the glitter of china baubles, dusted with gold and glints of diamond. There's a real ever-green tree in every corner, and each one is hung with the tiniest candles encased in crystal spheres, burning and flickering. Shiny-wrapped boxes are laid out carefully beneath the branches; the bows of satin and silk are bright as jewels even in the dark. The candle in his hand is the only light but for the trees - he took it with him from the room he shares with number Nine, to come and sneak down and see.

He rests one hand on the doorway, eyes wide in wonder, and his breath catches as he looks on at the decorations, all the effort his friend put into this for him. No one has ever done up Castle Oblivion for Christmas, but that didn't stop Axel from being the first.

(0)

Sound of laughter, raised voices, bemusement of the older ones. The crisp rip of wrapping paper that comes apart in his hands, the slick slide of the ribbon against his skin.

And outside, falling snow - big, fat snowflakes.

Marluxia always was able to wrap Vexen around his little finger.

)0(

Sora's deep in thought about Roxas' strange silence when Kairi comes up to him after school, allowing him to shut his locker before she starts talking.

"So, who are you bringing to the party?"

He bites his lip, awkwardly shifting his rucksack on his shoulder, not looking at her. He's lost count of how many times Kairi's tried to set him up with someone, once they both realised that they weren't going to work as a couple - even Selphie, once, and god if that hadn't been a disaster! - and…

He frowns. And he's lost count of how many times Roxas has laughed and teased and gone abruptly quiet when he accepts Kairi's interference, going on a date with whichever girl she deems suitable this week.

But the red-head doesn't give him a chance for some uncharacteristic pondering. "I was thinking - what about Annabelle? She's in your history class," she added, seeing his blank expression. "You know, the brunette?"

He thinks hard, trying to dredge up some interest. "The one who wears the pink hairslide all the time?"

"That's her!" Kairi beams, nodding happily. "Well? I could talk to her, if you want…"

"Kairi, no," he said firmly, trying to be stern. "For the hundredth time, I do not need you setting me up with anyone! I'm perfectly fine as I am. Not," he added, feeling the customary pang after being 'mean' to a friend, "that I don't appreciate it. I do. But…I'd just rather you didn't, ok?"

She sighs, shrugging. "Whatever you say, Sora. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Sora watches her go, and, as usual, feels guilty for snapping at his friend. It's acidic, like bile, and he wonders if he should go after her, apologise again.

You've nothing to apologise for.

Roxas?! Sora gasps, almost whirling around, searching for the speaker, before remembering his Other is in his head. You're talking to me again?

Yup. He can't feel Roxas' emotions - in fact, can't sense him at all except for his voice, and the apparently empty area near the back of his mind. It seems Roxas won't come out from behind his wall - will only project his 'voice'. And you don't need to say sorry to her, Sora. If anything, she should be apologising to you! Who does she think she is, to keep pairing you up with people you don't even know?

Sora frowns as he makes his way through the twisting hallways of the school, biting his lip and wishing Roxas wouldn't shield his feelings. It would make this so much easier if he could understand what his Other was thinking, was feeling…

I guess, he said hesitantly, not really sure what to say. But she was only trying to help.

Roxas snorts, but says nothing else - though Sora thinks he can feel a faint whisper of bruised hurt from a crack in the barrier, and he wonders why.

)0(

"Whose turn is it?"

"Selphie, it's yours! Spin the bottle!"

They all laugh as the blonde girl leans forward to send the plastic green-and-clear soda bottle whirling on its little spinner, but Sora isn't paying attention. Since he was dared to sit in the lotus position and balance a spoon on his nose - which he did! - they've all left him alone.

The dares are getting dumber anyway - and it's turning more into Seven Minutes In Heaven than spin-the-bottle, with everyone trying to come up with the weirdest pairing to send off to the closet. Wakka tried to get Kairi and Riku together, but it didn't work - their silver-haired friend had just given them all an icy glare from where he stood, leaning against the wall, almost not part of the gathering at all, and ignored them.

But that's Riku, and they're used to it. Sora knows he doesn't feel right being around people anymore - still worries that his darkness might hurt someone. He tried to explain to Sora, a few months ago, how tempting it is to just cross the line - how easy it would be to just stop trying, or even to fall, accidentally, over the edge. So he closed up and went cold, to try and turn people away.

If they're not near me, they can't be hurt.

"Sora!"

Startled, the Keyblade Master looks up, head still resting in his palm, his elbow leaning on his knee. "Yeah?"

Selphie's got a real evil grin on her face, and Sora's stomach feels as if it just dropped into his feet. That's never a good sign…

"Weeeeeeell," Selphie says sweetly, her eyes glittering, "Kairi told me you didn't want to invite anyone to this party, did you, Sora?"

"No," he says slowly, wary and wishing more than ever that he'd stayed at home. It was inconceivable to him a few months ago - that he wouldn't want to be at Kairi's week-before-Christmas party, when he's gone every year since she arrived on the Island - but now all he wants is to be talking to Roxas, curled up on the sofa and not-watching the tv, letting the background noise of the screen provide a comforting hum to their conversation.

Talking about nothing, but everything.

Selphie grinned triumphantly, announcing her dare to the whole room. "Then I dare you to make out with Riku!"

"What?!"

Riku is still as a statue in his place by the wall, staring with some unidentifiable emotion at Selphie - and, beside her, Kairi, the red-haired girl with her face down, looking everywhere but at the second of the Keyblade Trio - Sora, Riku, Kairi, that's how it went, that's the order in which they received their Keys - and is she biting her lip, embarrassed and worried?

Sora knows he's - mentally - babbling, but he can only blink in shocked confusion and laugh nervously, not daring to look at Riku.

He can feel the absolute stillness inside his head, the silence and the feeling that all of Roxas' attention is focussed through Sora's bright blue eyes.

"Yeah, whatever Selphie," Riku says finally, brushing it off after a tension-wracked pause - but he doesn't look at Sora either as he relaxes back into his pose, his eyes glazing as he returns to his thoughts. He makes no move towards the closet.

"I'm serious!" Selphie insists, coming close to a pout. "Neither of you have ever had a girlfriend - don't give me that look, Sora, Kairi doesn't count if you only dated for a week!"

"So you want me to kiss Riku?" Sora asks, confused. He can't make the connection in his mind, can't figure out how it makes sense - but he hears a snap from inside his ears, as if Roxas has broken something.

But what is there to break, inside someone's head?

"Yep!" Selphie exclaims happily, practically clapping her hands together in her twisted little delight. "You and Riku, in that closet, for five minutes. Kairi'll time you - won't you, Kairi?"

"Kairi, don't do this," Riku says softly, and his eyes are closed and his head is tilted to the ceiling, but he's slid down the wall and now he's sitting on the floor, arms over his chest and knees bent, and he looks strangely vulnerable, as if the wrong word might break him.

Their friend hesitates, but she doesn't have a chance to speak before Selphie, who's enlisted the other boys' help, literally throws Sora into that closet before he can so much as squeak.

The door shuts behind him, locking with a click, and Sora spins slowly. Raising his hands, his fingertips brush over shelves, and it's easy to figure out that this place is more-or-less square…But with enough room for two people.

Just.

He sighed, exasperated, wondering whether or not to summon the Keyblade for a little light. Smashing the door down seemed really tempting right now…But it wasn't as if they'd actually throw Riku in here with him, would they?

He heard shouting from the other side of the door; it sounded like a struggle. Something smashed; probably a vase or something, and he heard Tidus swearing, as if someone had punched him.

"Come on Selphie, just drop it! It's not worth it, yah?" Wakka, no doubt trying to get the blonde-haired maniac to drop the whole thing. Sora didn't hear her answer, but he definitely heard Riku shouting.

"No fucking way! Get the hell off me, you psychotic blonde!" Smash; someone cried out, probably Tidus again. "Try that again and I'll break your fucking teeth!"

"Jesus, Riku!" Kairi yelled, the first time Sora had heard her voice. "Calm down already! It's not that big a deal!"

"You bloody well know it is! What if I hurt him? I told you - "

There's a muffled yell, and then Riku's cut off abruptly - and Sora's honestly getting worried. The Kingdom Key is in his hand when the door finally opens, and nameless hands push Riku through the quickly closed-and-locked doorway.

They stare at each other for a second, and Sora can see the hunted expression in his friend's eyes in the light of the Keyblade, the dark tendrils swirling through the sea-green, before Riku spins on his heel and pounds on the door.

"For fuck sake, Kairi! Open the god-damn door!" He yells, hands fisted above his head as he punches the wood again, and Sora doesn't know what to say, doesn't know what to do except just stand there, stunned at his friend's reaction.

Riku whimpers, his head sliding down against the door, his hands stilling, but he won't turn around, doesn't even look at Sora as he seems to shrink in on himself.

There's something very, very wrong, and it's not just Sora - he can feel Roxas' pain too, as if something's hurting his Other, something he can't understand because the blond inside his head is hiding it from him, deliberately keeping him in the dark - ha ha, not funny - and shifting his Keyblade to his left hand, he reaches out to touch Riku's shoulder.

"Hey, Ri, relax, kay? I'll just open the - "

Riku whirled, and before Sora can take a step back at the wild look in his eyes there are hands in his hair and a mouth on his, hot and wet and fuck, Riku's tasting his lips, his tongue tracing the shape of his mouth as he presses Sora back, back against the wall, cradling the younger boy's face in his hands to fit their mouths together more perfectly.

Sora can't speak, can't think, and he doesn't know what to do, how to feel, there's a whirlpool of sensation tearing through him as Riku drags sharp nails over the back of his neck, making him shudder, parting his lips, and the other slips his tongue between them in an instant, tracing-touching-tasting, tasting everything, one of his legs hooking around Sora's to keep him still as he devours the younger boy like a feast.

Roxas.

And suddenly his friend's leg is the only thing keeping him upright as he moans, entwining his fingers in silver hair; but his glazed eyes see blond, blond spikes just as sharp as his own, and he whimpers as Roxas shifts closer, moves his leg between Sora's thighs to press him harder against the wall, and Sora gasps, gasps and bucks into the pressure, breaking away from his Other's lips to arch like a bow, eyes tight-shut as that mouth simply moves to his throat, licking-biting-sucking, and - and -

The hair in his hands isn't blond.

Sora freezes.

Freezes before pushing Riku off of him. Freezes before taking the Keyblade and blasting the door with unlocking magic.

Freezes before running out of the house and not looking back.

)0(

He tells his mum not to let any of his friends in to see him. Doesn't say why, but the look on his face must be enough because she doesn't argue, just nods and brings him up a hot chocolate after he's changed into his pyjamas.

The party lasted till late; it was dark as he ran home. But he tries not to remember as he crawls under the covers, the steaming drink sitting untouched on the bedside table, Keyblade under his pillow for reassurance that it's not providing.

Not this time.

Because he can still feel Riku's hands all over him, feel the tender-rough caresses as if he's back in the closet. It's as if his friend's mouth is still on his, as if he can still taste the other boy's tongue and feel the silken hair in his hands. It's hard to remember that this, him in his bed, in his pyjamas under the blankets, is real, that it's not a dream as the ghost of all those heated touches plays over and over on his skin, like a song stuck on repeat.

And he - Sora, the Keyblade Master, saviour of countless lives and countless worlds - wraps his arms around his pillow and cries.

Cries for his friend, for the wild, painful desperation he saw in Riku's eyes, as if the other boy was afraid he would vanish like a treasured dream that never lasts long enough.

Cries for the ache in his blood, the glazing fire that's smouldering just beneath his skin, for the unnamed emotions swirling through him like the currents surrounding his precious islands.

Cries because the one he wants - the blue-eyed blond he thought he was kissing, thought he was touching and tasting and loving - is silent and invisible and completely unattainable.

Cries because, even if he's inside Sora's mind, it feels as if Roxas is a million miles away.

)0(

A pair of strong arms suddenly wound about the slate-haired scientist, tugging the slate-haired figure into a heated embrace.

Zexion murmured incomprehensible words as hot, burning kisses were pressed to the back of his neck, another kind of heat pressing against the back of his jeans. After months of this, he no longer fought the intimate contact - indeed, he leaned back into the caresses, murmuring with quiet pleasure as he was so tenderly touched. Even after all this time, he still found it hard to grasp that someone could care so about him.

"Is this really going to work?" A husky whisper breathed against his ear; he shivered deliciously as a hand moved to rest between his thighs, stroking gently.

Zexion nodded, breathless as his lover continued to work him, playing him like a harp. "Y…Yes. It will work," he breathed, gasping as a burning hand slipped beneath his shirt, flames flickering on the other's fingertips.

"Then you can take a break…Right?" The other asked, nipping at his earlobe, pressing down against the hardness in his jeans until Zexion moaned, his hands going backwards to tangle in fire-red locks.

"Y…Yeeeeeeeeesss…"

A smirk against his shoulder blade. "Good."

Darkness sprang up around them in a flurry of ebony and violet ribbons as Axel took them both to the bedroom.

)0(

A hot, lithe weight pinning him down. A hand circling his wrists, above his head, pressing them into the pillow like a flower in a book; the other hand reaching, teasing-slow, up under his pyjama-shirt.

Hot, hot, hot.

Heated butterfly-breath on his mouth, and he whimpers, tries to reach up for the taste that's hovering just above him. Sweet laughter, shadowed light, spiced honey; he moans as a darting tongue traces his mouth, a pencil drawing the lines, carefully, slowly. The hand beneath his shirt brushes over his navel, nails whispering, and it almost-tickles.

One leg hooks around his ankle as the other - his Other - shifts his lower body; and Sora bucks, gasping as clothed heat brushes clothed heat. Mouths crash together, and the blond takes full advantage, greedily devouring, demanding, pressing Sora hard into the mattress, crushing him with a low, animalistic growl that sends shivers down the brunet's spine, his eyes glazing.

Oh god…

His free leg curls around Roxas' waist, desperately trying to tug him closer as he writhes in his Other's grip, tossing his head from side to side as Roxas moves to his throat, suckling on sun-tanned skin as he grinds down with his hips.

Sora cries out, and his heel locks around his Other's bare thigh, heel brushing over the naked skin, hot and slicked with beads of sweat…Roxas isn't wearing any clothes, and the image of a naked Roxas atop a pj-clad Sora is enough to have the brunet moan, twisting to try and get his hands free - and crying out, shuddering with fogged eyes as Roxas rolls his hips down again, the hand under the shirt moving lower, to Sora's waist, and all the Keyblade Master can do is pant and gasp and whimper as his Other's hand comes closer, closer, closer to the edge of dark blue slacks…

(0)

Sora wakes up in a sweat, flushed and panting and with his hand between his thighs, his cock hard and throbbing beneath the clinging slacks, the material damp with sticky pre-come.

And his bed heart-wrenchingly empty of a naked Roxas.

Fighting back tears - ridiculous, meaningless tears - Sora swings his legs over the side of his bed to change his pyjama bottoms, shivering when the light, dry cloth brushes over his cock. He wants to take it in hand and re-imagine his dream - wants to feel Roxas' sweaty skin pressing him down, dominating, demanding, wants his Other's hands pinning his wrists and the blond's mouth tasting his, taking and touching and branding every part of Sora as his.

But he doesn't. Knows that if he does he won't get any sleep - knows he'll just cry and cry with this useless longing, knows he'll only feel more confused and hurt with the unfairness of the universe. Knows he'll feel guilty about Riku.

Knows Roxas might just wake up and ask what's wrong.

So he goes back to bed. Lies on his stomach and tries not to imagine the pressure against his cock is Roxas' hand as he tumbles into shaky, unreliable sleep.

)0(

Sora isn't very good at shielding his thoughts. And it's making it really hard for Roxas to concentrate when he can hear Sora's moans from the other side of the barrier.

But he feels better. He wipes away his mental, not-really-existing tears, and feels a stab of dark pleasure.

It's him Sora's dreaming of. Not Riku.

Now he just has to decide what to do about it. And try not to burst from electric happiness as he smiles to himself in the shadowy blankets.

He picked me.

)0(

Riku isn't at school the next day, and Sora feels awful.

He brushes off his friends' concern, laughing mock-nervously and telling them he just got freaked out. He feels better about lying to them when none of them really question him about it - and after all, it's exactly what happened. Just not in the way they think.

)0(

He's not in school on Tuesday either.

On the Riku-free Wednesday, Sora visits his friend's house, nervous and unsure - but all he finds is are unconcerned parents and a note, left to anyone who came looking;

I'll be in contact. Don't worry about me.

~Riku

The fact that Riku really is capable of looking after himself doesn't make him feel any better. His parents don't worry, but then they never did. They know the kind of child they inadvertedly raised, know just how restless and independent their son is, and if they never heard from Riku again they would still know that he was all right.

Sora wishes he could trust in the same way that his friend's parents do.

And he wishes, just as hard, that Riku hadn't run away at all as he searches for his pencil case. Things seem to keep going missing lately - or else they turn up in weird places.

As long as Riku turns up at all, Sora won't care if it's in a strange place.

)0(

Kairi knows Sora's lying about what happened in the closet. He can tell from the way she looks at him when she thinks he can't see her, the way her voice is that much quieter when she speaks.

But he doesn't know what to tell her. Doesn't know how to tell her.

So, just like with Roxas, he stays quiet.

)0(

"They're done."

"Done?"

Zexion nods, slowly, reverently running his fingertips over the crystal box, hinged with gold. Its contents are forged of magic and science and distilled wishes, and they're so infinitely precious he can't find the words to speak.

Axel gives a small, I-can't-believe-it smile, reaching out to touch the box and ending up taking Zexion's hand in his instead.

He raises it to his mouth, and tenderly, oh-so-softly, presses light, fluttering kisses to each fingertip, to the knuckles and the palm and the wrist, worshipping with tear-inspiring devotion and gratitude.

There's nothing either of them can say, and Axel gently tugs Zexion into an embrace when he's finished giving praise to the hands that created the miracles in the gold-lined crystal box.

There are no words.

)0(

He dreams about Roxas every night. Dreams about kissing him, touching him, loving them like he'll never be able to.

He wakes up hot and hard and crying. Every night.

)0(

He can't stop thinking about it. Not just making out, but just…just everything. Roxas as a whole, not just as a part of Sora. A person all on his own. Maybe created by accident, but no less real for it.

He throws himself into the novella. Roxas' Christmas present. It's Friday, and he has to have it ready by Christmas Monday.

School breaks up and he barely even notices. Even if his school-bag seems to vanish. He won't need it till the end of the holidays anyway.

)0(

Someone's knocking at the door.

Axel's eyes flicker open, surprised he can hear anything over the screaming storm that's beating at the house. His arm is sprawled over Zexion's waist, the smaller man curled up in his embrace, pressed against his bare chest.

Smiling softly, the Flurry of Dancing Flames nuzzles slate-blue hair before, sighing, swinging out of bed, pulling on his robe as he makes his way quickly down the stairs. The house is dark, but after living in it for the last year he could find his way blindfolded - which he does sometimes, he thinks with a smirk, whenever Zexion gets…frisky and wants to play some of the more exotic games…

Without warning, he swings the door back, and the incessant knocking halts abruptly.

"Can I - ?" help? He's about to ask, his voice loud to be heard over the rain and the clashing thunder, but he can't make himself finish.

"Riku?"

The dripping, silver-haired boy meets his gaze, and Axel's hand refuses to slam the door in the boy's face - he looks so miserable, so heart-broken and helpless, that he can't help but recognise the expression as the exact same one he was wearing when he and Zexion found each other. Both of them lost in the darkness, and it took a long, long time to find their way back to reality - and by the time they'd walked out of the shadows, exhausted and worn-out almost to the brink, they couldn't imagine being with anyone else.

"I need a place to stay," the Keyblade Wielder says humbly, quietly. "Please."

He hesitates a moment. But Zexion's creation of gold and crystal and distilled wishes is beating in his chest, and he can't say no.

The door is pulled back further to let Riku enter. "Come on. I'll find you somewhere to sleep. We can talk in the morning."

)0(

Sora leans back in his spinning-chair, eyes reflecting the light from the computer screen.

Finished.

He smiles, feeling the tug on his heart at the thought of how Roxas would look, on Christmas morning, unwrapping his present. Happy? Excited? Shy?

No, not shy. He grinned weakly. Roxas wasn't shy.

At least Roxas can open it himself, Sora thinks as he prints the story off, the cover and binding ready and waiting, the product of a secret two-month art project with his teacher's help. Another thing Roxas never knew about. He'll let his Other have control on Christmas day.

He frowns. He hasn't heard from Roxas for days…Since the day of the party, in fact.

Roxas? He tries, hesitantly. Worried. A spike of fear darts through him - what if Roxas's seen his dreams?! But surely not; he shielded his thoughts, didn't he? There's no way Roxas would have seen anything…

His Other doesn't answer - at least, not in words; he feels Roxas' gleeful amusement coupled with fierce concentration. It's as if the blond is…practising something. Something difficult…Something he's succeeding at.

Well…At least Rox is all right. Shrugging, Sora begins to bind his novella. And hopes his Other will like it.

)0(

"Is it ready?" Riku asks, curious, his head cocking as he watches Zexion step back from the glowing knot of magic, the ribbons of bright, lapis-lazuli blue and rose-bud pink that curl around a box. Covered in shiny wrapping paper, the velvet bow ridiculously big and the scroll containing everything Sora and Roxas needed to know taped to the ribbon.

It was Axel that nodded. "Yep. We'll send it at midnight." He grinned. "I wish I could be there to see their faces!"

Even Zexion allowed himself a small grin. He adjusted the spell slightly, timing the teleportation to midnight, as Axel had said. The gift would appear in Sora's sitting room at precisely 00:00 - thanks to Riku, they'd had the exact location to code into the spell.

He felt the magical organ in his chest beat, the sound a soothing lullaby to any stress and concerns in his new life. He could hardly dare accept that this was now his lot in life - all but married to the man of his dreams, with a sort of son/little brother/lab assistant only bringing them closer together, even as the star-haired youth wove a place for himself in the scheme of things.

It was as if…Everything was perfect.

)0(

Sora?

Hmm? Sora turned his head in sleep, smiling softly. Roxas…?

He felt his Other's simmering amusement, excitement-spiced anticipation and impatience…And…

Nerves?

He felt warm…Wonderfully so, but still cool, not over heated at all…Golden light flickered against his eyelids, and it was as if gentle warmth licked at his skin. He sighed happily.

Sora…Open your eyes.

What…? Blearily, Sora did as he was asked -

And gasped, stunned.

Since he'd gone to sleep on Christmas Eve, his room had been filled with candles, each one set alight and glowing like pin-prick stars in the dark, giving the room a gentle, unearthly glow.

But that wasn't what he was staring at. It was the fact that, somehow, Sora was standing in front of the floor-length mirror that had riveted his attention - completely naked.

How had Roxas done this?

I've been practising, his Other whispered, his mind-voice husky, sending little shivers down Sora's spine, but his eyes didn't - couldn't - move from his reflection. It was as if he were hypnotised by all the candle-light. All those things that went missing? I've been learning how to manifest myself.

What…?

So I could do this, Roxas went on, and Sora's lips parted in a silent oh as he felt the caress of a hand down his side, a callused palm and fingertips running from just under his ribs to rest on his hip, stroking gently.

So I could touch you.

Sora's eyes are already half-lidded as he feels a defined chest press against his back, as he feels his body pressed up against another - chest-to-back, thigh-to-thigh, calf-to-calf…

Hip-to-hip.

He's barely aware of what's happening to him as he sees himself harden in the mirror, as he hears himself groan quietly as his wrists are gathered in one of Roxas' hands and slowly - oh-god, so slowly - raised above his head, his chest rising and falling like a humming-bird heart-beat, and the candle light is dancing over his skin and -

And the light, the light seems to outline a form that isn't really there…A boy about Sora's height, with shorter hair…

Roxas.

Sora meets his own eyes in the mirror as Roxas's hand leaves his hip, reaches up to splay over his chest, taking in all of him at once, greedily, and his breath is coming faster, harder, and he can barely stand the erotica of the image before him - himself, flushed and panting, hands above his head, cock hard and leaking with just the thought of Roxas touching him like this, his eyes lidded and glazed in the ultimate picture of wanton desperation.

Roxas kisses the join of neck to shoulder, his jaw, the secret spot behind his ear, teeth scraping and nipping and that tongue should be illegal, and Sora can't breathe, can't think, can't believe what's happening as Roxas' hand slowly glides over his heated skin, fingertips brushing teasingly over his cock.

And Sora moans, throws his head back and thrusts forward, needingneedingneeding, and his reflection watches on in testament as Roxas' glittering, not-there shape whispers in his ear -

Is this what you want?

"Please," Sora gasps, eyes closing in a groan as his hips rolls forward again, Roxas' hand slowly curling around him, "please, please, please!"

And Roxas smirks, and takes the brunet's cock in hand, fully, completely, and Sora cries out, the feeling unbelievable, incomparable to anything he's ever felt, ever, and somehow he finds his Other's invisible mouth, moaning into Roxas' tongue, submitting to the tsunami of sensation, and to glance in the mirror is to see a wanton, drugged boy that could pass for an incubus, fucking the air and the shimmer of an invisible boy's hand, pinned and helpless and utterly seductive, and it's so erotic, so amazing, all of it, that it's too much - and he cries out again, thrusting into Roxas' grip again and again, sticky white splashing over his stomach as he trembles, weak and shivery, and collapses into Roxas' grip, arms still above his head.

His Other laughs, gently, and kisses him again, tenderly and softly, lowering his hands before he lifts Sora up - and he shouldn't be able to, they're both about the same size, but he can and he does. He carries Sora back to bed, lying him back down under the covers, and Sora's filled up with sleepy warmth, utter content, and the two fall asleep after another kiss, curled up around each other like kittens, happier than either can remember being.

And downstairs, the digital clock on the dresser declares 00:00 in bright electric green, and a parcel appears under the decorated tree with a shimmer of Christmas magic.

)0(

There's too many gifts to count when Sora - and Roxas, glittering in the corner of his vision - come downstairs the next morning. Of course there are - not only his friends from Destiny Islands, but everyone he met across the worlds sends him birthday and Christmas presents.

Just another way of saying thank you for something that can never be repaid.

So he and Roxas - silent in their new ease with each other, the tension gone between them - find nothing odd in not recognising the flame-patterned parcel they open halfway through the morning. The shiny red paper is covered in gold, fire-shaped gilt, the bow huge green velvet. There's a scroll instead of a message, but that's not all that strange - Jane and Tarzan's 'cards' are written on leaves, their supply of paper practically non existent.

Sora's parents are upstairs - they won't come down until lunch time - but Roxas still unwraps it carefully, even though they won't see if they make a mess. Unlike Sora, he doesn't make a single tear, almost OCD in his neatness - and tugs off the ribbon.

A strange, glittering box clatters onto the floor.

The two of them - Sora staring out from Roxas' eyes - stare, and their hands pick it up reverently, carefully. It's about the size of a shoebox, they realise, as they turn it over, looking for some way to open it, and it's uncommonly beautiful - a lacquered black box, the Heartless symbol inscribed in silver what Roxas thinks is the lid. But the X through the heart is gone, and the symbol has been subtly changed - tiny lines sketched around it, as if it were glowing…

They find the hinges, and then the hidden catch, which Roxas flicks open with trembling fingers.

Bright, soft light pours out, warm and gentle and so beautiful it brings tears to their eyes. It suffuses them both, filling up their shared body like water running into a chalice, more and more until it overflows, spilling over into the room as something floats out of the box…Something crystal and gold.

It floats across the short space from box to their shared chest, and it doesn't even occur to either of them to be afraid as it dissolves into their skin.

A flash of brightest light, blinding white and rainbow-glitter, fireworks in their eyes, and when it fades…

When it fades, there are two of them. Roxas, sitting opposite Sora, posed in his perfect mirror-image.

)0(

Hey Roxas, Sora,

Wow. I guess there's a lot I could write down here, but I'm not really sure where to start…

I guess, Rox, I'd better begin by stating the obvious - I'm not dead.

Neither is Zexion. We found each other in the Darkness, broken apart and shattered, and to cut a long story short we managed to fix each other. We got out, barely alive, and Zexion set about continuing his research into hearts. Into making hearts.

That's another long story. Maybe I can tell it to you sometime. But right now, all you need to know is that he and Vexen were very, very close before they were killed - and even though we haven't found any of the rest of the Organisation, Zexion knew enough to keep going on his own. And he did it.

The gift we sent you was a heart, Rox, one of Zexion's own design. It works just the same way a real one does - you don't need to share with Sora anymore in order to feel.

Of course, we're assuming you never really assimilated into Sora. I just couldn't imagine you…Dissolving away, into nothing. So Zexion made you a heart, and we had to trust that you'd be stubborn enough not to fade away.

I hope yah didn't, Rox. I hope you can be happy now, with your own heart.

Maybe I'll see yah around, yeah?

* Axel

~Zexion

p.s Sora, Riku says to tell you he's fine. He turned up a few days ago, and he's totally become part of the family.

p.p.s Happy Christmas, you two.

p.p.p.s Hope you like the snow. The spell was hard - it'll only last a day - so have fun while it lasts!

The two boys - one brunet, one blond - turned, speechless, to the window.

Where it was snowing - big, fat, heavy flakes.

)0(

Sora and Roxas spent the remainder of the holiday mapping out the mirror-image of their own bodies, indescribably happy.

Roxas had tears in his eyes when he unwrapped Sora's gift, and the brunet was well-rewarded for all his hard work.

Sora's parents actually took to the sudden arrival of the boy who had lived in their son's head very well, treating him as a cross between another son and a house-guest. They accepted the depths of the relationship between the two, though they did insist Roxas move into the guest bedroom. Even if everyone in the house knew that one room was always empty at night.

Roxas caused quite a stir at school, but things eventually settled down after Sora explained he was a long-lost twin. It was far easier than telling everyone the truth, after all, and even though the gossip was good for weeks, well…They could all deal.

Sora and Roxas did eventually meet up with Axel, Zexion, and Riku. After setting up a meeting, Zexion personally escorted them to their home on an uncharted world, taking them by portal to the picturesque white house in the midst of a rural village.

Sora and Riku parted friends, as did Roxas with his past Organisation colleagues; and though Riku did decide to stay with Zexion and Axel, he often came back to Destiny Islands to visit every few weeks, finding his happiness in the incredible apprenticeship of magic and science he undertook under Zexion.

All in all…Everyone had found their happy endings at last.