Mirror Image [Roxas/Sora]

Roxas couldn't remember the last time he had been here - feeling the sensation of walking on all fours was always something that was a little difficult to get used to, but with the change of body structure, it became more than natural soon enough. Using the Keyblade with his mouth, however, made things a little more challenging. That, of course, came with time as well, and, like all of the other worlds, needed his attention. Ever since the fall of the Organization, taking care of the worlds was something the he had brought upon himself, and he was happy to say that it was mostly his doing, though taking on so much was stressful for him. The small lion with the blond spikes upon his feline head was making his way through the Pride Lands, attacking all heartless that had appeared before him, attracted to the light of the keyblade. 

It was a good thing, too, because without it, they wouldn't care about something without a heart to corrupt. The Keyblade served as his beacon - something to attract them so he could keep the darkness levels here fluctuating too badly and hurt the inhabitants of this world. This place was much more different than anywhere else he had been, but there was a certain charm that it gave off, and the other lions were very welcoming of anyone who was willing to help their cause of bringing the Pride Lands back to its former glory. Roxas didn't know the full story, but apparently Sora had been here, helping them with their "king" problem. The Nobody didn't pry farther than that; his concerns were mostly focused around keeping them safe. 

The little lion allowed the Kingdom Key to dissipate, poofing back into the nether from whence it came, readying itself to come at his whim, aiding him in battle against the darkness. Roxas flickered his blue eyes around, seeing that there wasn't much other than the usual wildlife tending to their usual, daily activities. At least in this part of the savanna. 

With his blonde tail flicking back and forth, he began to make his way towards Pride Rock in the distance, knowing that the Heartless were more concentrated in areas with things they could try to corrupt, and he was going to make sure he'd stop them in their tracks. That was his self-appointed duty, and he wasn't about to let the people of the worlds own just because he was a little tired. Or.. Really tired. The thought of resting his head on a pillow and cuddling up into some blankets was more than refreshing, but he couldn't think about things like that at the moment; this was much more important. 

In front of him appeared some of the dark entities, shadows amidst the more powerful formations of the darkness, and at a whim, the Keyblade was appearing in his mouth with a beam of light, his small body rearing down and readying a strike; he wasn't about to stay on the defensive - he wanted to get this handled.    

Last time he'd been here was with Donald and Goofy in tow. But now the two were under the king's orders, it was up to Sora to scout out the source behind the Heartless prowling the Pride Lands. Actually, he was tasked with scouting out all of the interconnected worlds.

Simba and his kin were taking refuge within the Pride Rock - probably for days now, while the Heartless Thrived in the hunting grounds. After a quick assurance, the unchosen one set out into the hunting grounds himself, jowls securing around his Keyblade. His sprint was fluid, more refined than the first time he'd made it here. Sora one could only hope his encounter with the Heartless was just as straightforward.

The Heartless usually hung in their own bubble of nonexistence before popping up on a passing presence, so when he saw a clump crowding a small patch of the Savannah, he guessed immediately that they were already onto someone. Sora accelerated toward the mass, Keyblade and all, shaving cleanly through the lesser Heartless until he came dead center. There, he skidded back-to-back with the only other lion there, growling through his clenched Keyblade. "Are you right?" His eyes briefly caught another Keyblade, though there wasn't any time to question it. The cleave he'd made through the heartless closed up rapidly. With this number, wagered it was nothing he couldn't handle with someone else. "I'll take on my side," Sora imparted, and leapt into the air while swinging the Keyblade in a potent cleave.

The battle raged on as Sora dodged and slashed, utilizing his both feline agility and the will of his Keyblade on reducting the opposing numbers. Even his Cures were on par. Eventually, the Heartless count did diminish, leaving behind a fine, thick dust that would eventually fade altogether. Not once did he expect the other to stay and fight by his side, but it seemed he did.

--

With only the two of them left, Sora approached the other lion. "You have a Keyblade too," he observed openly, and then tilting his head to the side, "but...Master Yen Sid said there weren't much of us around."

There was Kairi, Lea, Riku and Mickey, and now an...actual lion. Kingdom Hearts sure worked in mysterious ways.

Sora shook his head dismissively. "Anyway, I'm glad you're okay. Are you with the pride?"

As soon as he was about to rush into the battle with the Heartless beginning to encircle and surround him, there was another figure behind him, ready to rage into the fight, aiding the blond lion without question. As if that wasn't odd enough, the voice that the other had was achingly familiar; though he wasn't able to focus on it at the current moment. The beings of the dark were closing in, not giving him the appropriate time to think, so all he could was handle the battle before him. He could catch glimpses through the windows separating the deep purples and blacks a Keyblade, making his stomach clench uncomfortably. A Heartless had caught him in this moment of opportunity, scratching at his back and causing a hiss of pain to come through the feline's voice.

Roxas turned around and took are of the Heartless in a few blunt attacks with the keyblade, landing back on all four of his paws to find that they had all been taken care of - the two of them made a great team - whoever the other guy was.

You have a Keyblade too,

At the mention of it, Roxas allowed the Kingdom Key to disperse in a beam of light, his body turning so he could face the other lion, finding that they were about the same size, if not exactly. There was a pair of curious blue eyes peering at him, when the connection was made instantaneously; those were his own. The lion kept talking, but Roxas was in a whole different world, trying his best to put the pieces together, his expression turning from normal, to realization, to perplexed, to astounded, to downright disturbed, then to something along the lines of surprise.

Anyway, I'm glad you're okay. Are you with the pride?

"Oh my god." He sat down, his tail wrapping around his paws in an almost protective stance, his ears laying back against his skull to visibly show his fear. Did this mean that he had to be joined with him again? Did this mean he had to give up the life he had begun to live and would have to leave Axel all over again? Did this mean he couldn't take care of the worlds anymore, or begin to find Xion? Did this mean that everything he had been working for to make himself his own person again was for nothing?

"Sora." He said to catch the other feline's attention, hoping that there would be a way for him to realize the situation at hand without having to be told point-blank, but as much as he hated to admit it, the poor thing wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

"It's Roxas."

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The other lion's confusion didn't seem to be a good sign at all. If anything, it made Sora slightly confused than usual. His eyebrow equivalents knitted in uncertainty at the mention of his name.

The fair lion said It's Roxas and Sora blurted, "Huh?"

Then he actually looked. The incandescent orbs of eyes had given him an awfully nostalgic vibe, but he didn't have a label for it and just brushed it to the side. Now there was a label. "Roxas," Sora repeated. He voice wavered. Glancing around the Savannah, looking down at himself and returned his afflicted stare to the other didn't reveal an explanation. So he wracked his brain instead.

The last time he'd met Roxas was in the sleeping worlds, where they shared a small but crucial moment of their them-ness. Before that, they met in the Destiny Islands, where Roxas became a part of him. Roxas told Sora to look sharp at the time, but that probably wouldn't work now.

Head tilted in near-brain wracking confusing, the brunette sat back on his rump. This could have been another trick of Xehanort's, but those were also Sora's eyes and Sora never lied to anyone, much less to himself. 

"But you were...I thought you became a part of me...so, how?"

Roxas tried his best to come up with an answer to give his other half, but there honestly wasn't anything he could say to make this easier to understand for the both of them. The blond was just as confused as the pure-hearted one, and they may have well been an understatement. Although Sora was affected, he wasn't affected as personally as Roxas was, having been brought back from the depths of being no more than a part of the little lion sitting before him. He was now given another shot to try and form his own person out of this chance, but now he was facing the possibility that this might be taken away from him. It was the last thing he wanted to think about, but now it seemed as though he wasn't given a chance to attempt to avoid the topic any longer.

"I-I don't know." He answered with a large pang of uncertainty coating his tone, making it hard for anyone to be reassured by him. "We all just started.. waking up. I opened my eyes and I was back in Twilight Town - where.. Xemnas found me." Saying the name made the fur on the back of his neck all the way down to his tail stand on edge. He felt very defensive whenever the former Superior came into the conversation, and how he had tried his damndest to get he and his friends split up, no matter the hurt it brought them. Of course, Nobodies weren't supposed to feel anything in that nature whatsoever in the first place, but it was still godawful. Funny how that worked.

His tail wrapped around him began to loosen up, flicking behind him as he continue to speak. "Axel is back, and I think a few others, though I haven't seen many around the Castle. I've.. Been going around the worlds, making sure they were okay. Without the Organization around, things have kind of gone crazy." There was a nervous laughter - he certainly had tried to avoid it, but he was forced to just.. Say it.

"Sora, I don't think I can join with you again." It was very sudden and out-of-the-blue, but there was a certain determination in his eyes. "I made a really important promise that I wouldn't leave someone." He thought of Axel back when Roxas had first reformed, how hurt he had seemed when Roxas tried to say he was confused and unhappy about being back... He would never forgive himself for that and that would never be able to be fully mended, but at least he could take a glue gun and try. He wasn't going to ruin it again, he wasn't going to leave again. Not this time.

"I'm.. Sorry."

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This just kept getting weirder and weirder. When Master Yen Sid first told Sora about the returning others, Sora wondered if that meant Ansem and his equal terrors. The Master said he didn't know. Now Sora knew.

Xemnas was the largest of tense bricks settling in his stomach right now. Just thinking about the things he did, and the sacrifices they had to make to thwart him and his plans, made Sora feel more than a little livid by his return. He had to tell The Master. He also had to tell Riku.

They needed to find the answers pretty soon. Like, why was this happening? Why was everyone coming back? And while he was at it, why did Roxas?

Sora wasn't more concerned about Roxas being here than he was just surprised. That surprise seemed to later simmer with what Roxas said next. Sora said nothing into Roxas' debilitating news - even on the topic of Xenmas - but now he had to.

"Roxas," he stood up, feline-expression hardening with conviction, "you're you. You deserve to be your own person. You don't have to apologize for that."

With that, he let himself smile, albeit sheepishly.

"I still can't believe this, but you're really standing here." he marveled. "I...heard a few of Organization XIII were coming back. I was thinking that was why the Heartless came back too, but I dunno," He glanced tentatively about the landscape. "the keyholes seemed to open up again, too."

Definitely getting weirder. It was almost like history repeating itself. First rise the Heartless, then the Organization, and now Roxas and...wait.

Sora backtracked to what should have occurred to him minutes ago. "You...have Axel with you?" he scratched his head. "Don't you mean Lea?"

What is it with this guy? Roxas could be told all his life by the people around him that he was no more than a shadow, destined to return back to the darkness from whence he came, and he would even begin to truly believe it, but then this guy would come up and completely rip all of that out of the ground and plant something new - something much more beautiful. Sora continued on, his words laced with a dumbfounded tone, though Roxas couldn't blame him, honestly. This was so much to take in for anyone, and for the members coming back that had been obliterated under the whim of Xemnas... It was even more bewildering. How often had they gotten it drilled inside of their skulls that once they fade - that was it. They didn't get a second chance, which was why they needed to swear loyalty to Xemnas because he knew what to do - how to keep them safe - to guide them.

Unfortunately, all of that guidance was a ruse to get the members to do what he wanted. An Roxas' fur continued to stand on in because of that thought. At least Axel had the mind to leave eventually, though it did still hurt that he chose to stay when Roxas had left for the first time. There were two sides to that tear-jerk of a story, and honestly, the blond didn't have the energy to focus on it.

You... Have Axel with you? Don't you mean Lea?

Roxas.. Had never heard that name before, though it did make sense that was the name his somebody would claim. From what the brunette boy was saying, there was obviously some things that had been messed up.. Regarding time? Or maybe Sora was just talking out of his head, which wasn't beyond the realm of possibility, but.. The way he sounded - this wasn't something that was said just because.

"Y-Yeah, he's here with me, but - you met Axel's somebody?" The small lion was on his paws in an instant, taking a few steps toward the matching cub, looking into matching blue eyes with a deep amount of concern. There seemed to be much more going on here than he had previously thought. Not only were the Organization members coming back here, but other things were going out of whack considering others - it was as if some event were happening for certain people, while for others, things remained the same. Things had been tampered with that should have been left alone, but...

In a way, Roxas was kind of glad that things were messed up.

"There is.. Something really bad going on, isn't there?" The boy said quietly, turning around to face pride rock for a moment, suddenly becoming a bit envious of how simple the lions had it. They just followed the order of their king, caught some food, lazed about... He looked down at the ground with a perturbed stare, attempting to figure it all out but getting met with a mess of jumbled thoughts instead.

"Are all of your friends okay?"

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Sora didn't dabble around for an answer. "Yeah," he said, brow ridges drawn in seriousness. Yen Sid was worried. Riku was worried. Heck, he was worried, and usually he was confident in a lot of things. "Whatever's happening, one knows what it is."

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen much of Lea around anymore. Maybe he had business of his own, or Yen Sid's mission was harder than imagined. Either way, with him vanishing and his somebody coming back...Sora snapped out of it. Tentatively, he put that long-winded thought behind him and focused on the presence in front of him instead. He meandered to stand abreast with his other, he joined in Pride Rock's admiration. It...was a pretty rock, he guessed. Sure.

"Yeah, my friends are okay." Sora didn't let up his smile as he added, "you're my friend too, Roxas. And you're okay. So...I don't think what's happening is all that bad."

He thinned his lips at the next thought. He trusted Roxas on principle, but the people Roxas used to be associated with - and seemed to still be associated with - not so much.

With a hint of doubt in his tone, Sora began talking again. "You said Xemnas was back. Any ideas what he could be up to? What the whole Organization might be up to?"

Roxas truly thought he had been starting to get an understanding about everything that had happened to him an the person he wanted to become, but no that he was staring Sora in the face (albeit he was a lion), he was beginning to realize he was probably just as clueless as when he was when he had first woken up outside of the Mansion and had been found by Xemnas. He didn't know what to say to his counterpart when he was told that friendship was a bond the two of them shared - Roxas hadnt.. Ever really thought about it. Was it even okay for the two of them to be friends? Was that a possibility?

Ugh, of course it was. Roxas liked to be friends with everyone, so why was it hard to accept when it was involving Sora?

"He might be, I haven't seen him, actually." He answered truthfully, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth, a hope arising within him that he wouldn't ever have to see Xemnas again. If he did, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't get the blunt end of the Kingdom Key shoved in some.. Unholy places. His gaze averted itself for a few moments as he basked in the anger of what Xemnas had done to not only him, but the ones he cared about, not to mention the entirety of the Organization he had created. Yeah, he had a few things to say to that pathetic liar. "I've seen a few of the members around, but.. We are all doing our own thing, pretty much. Axel and I have been staying at the castle though, looking for Xion. If I came back, then she would have too, right?" The thought occurred to him that Sora might not even know the name of the girl he had mentioned, but he continued onward without dwelling on it. He'd figure it out eventually.

"Sora, do you really think we can be friends?" The feline blurted out of his mouth, having not even though about his choice of words before they were out in the open. Well, he might as well keep going, now. "I guess I.. Haven't though about it. The thought of you used to make me really angry." He admitted with a bit of a nervous laughter, keeping his azure eyes locked on the dry savanna soil. "I guess that's pretty dumb, huh?"

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Doing their own thing...? That didn't sound reassuring at all to the Keyblader, who pretty much figured that all Nobodies liked doing was being evil and choking down feelings like cats choked down stalks of vegetables. But then again Roxas didn't seem all that worried about his cohorts. Call him crazy, but that was enough for Sora for now.

From the sounds of it, Roxas had good friends in the Organization. Sora didn't know, or didn't come across a Shion...? Before, but the best he could make of them right now was that they were one of such friends.

You became friends with the people your heart connected with. Roxas and Sora were connected in a lot of ways, and while he didn't know much about the heart-level, the blond was still considered to be his friend. That was why Sora ended up glancing at the unhappy lion profile with fond understanding.

"I guess I...understand why," he offered in quiet sympathy. "maybe you were me once, but now you're not. And, I mean, who does't want to be their own person, right?"

The mood was sogging up a little. For someone who considered himself the crunchiest of biscuits, that didn't sit well with Sora, so he took a deep breath, stretched his feline body and came back together with a newly -energized grin.

"Well. I think you're doing a great job of being your own person...or lion. So, even if you're still mad at me, I'm happy for you. Okay?"

How was it even possible for one person to be so selfless? To have priorities, but yet still somehow manage to put others before themselves...?

You do the same thing.

Roxas couldn't stop thinking about how different they were, picking apart things that were polar opposites.

The majority of them were actually similarities.

He doesn't want to be, he is his own person.

Hadn't you come to terms with this?

He focused heavily on what was being said to him, trying to figure out how someone with a heart could really be so sympathetic towards his kind. Nobody that wasn't in their position would actually know how much a Nobody suffered in the never-ending search to obtain their heart, but it was like Sora was finally beginning to chip at the tip of the the iceberg. He recalled things that he would say to members of the Organization, lacking all humanity towards them. Sure, anyone would have figured that all they were attempting to do was spread the wrong cause throughout the worlds, when really, oddly enough, they were helping.

A group if incomplete people who wish to be whole - that was what Namine called them when he had asked back in Twilight Town. She had sounded so sure of herself, like she had truly understood - he had then learned that she was in the same boat. Sora would never be in it, but he could really try to understand it, an he was showing promise of that the more Roxas talked to him and noted the things he was saying carefully.

"I-I'm not mad - anymore." The lion defended himself with a worried undertone hiding beneath his stuttered statement. It was amazing; did Sora, this boy filled with light, the one that connected everything, truly think that Roxas was doing a good job at being his own person? Roxas was a shadow, a husk that would never be able to live up to the real thing, but he could at least attempt to pretend he knew what he was doing. Pretending aside, he did know that the feelings he felt when around his friends weren't fake - and neither was the amazement from this situation.

Without warning, he rose up to his paws, standing as tall as his small figure would let him, motioning for Sora to follow him as he began to walk off towards the Pride Rock. He wouldn't actually go atop it - was didn't feel like getting that close to the actual pride - but he would make sure that there was no more darkness lingering around the inhabitants. It seemed as though he wasn't the only one who had taken on this job anymore, and that was comforting - who would have thought it would be his other half. Funny how they thought alike on things such as this. Protecting others was simply wired in their programming, and they were definitely keen on doing so.

"I'm not mad." He repeated with a gentle smile fading in to play upon his features, eyes looking down to see his feline feet pad one after the other. "How are you getting to different worlds?" He asked curiously, shifting his gaze to look at the other lion, curiosity becoming apparent.

"I know you can't use the corridors like I do, so,"

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Sora followed Roxas without a hitch, and there was something special about that. It was still pretty weird walking beside someone who used to be a part of you...in the sense that it didn't feel very weird at all. Right now they could just be two different people and not know it.

Corridor?

...two really really different people.

Sora shuffled his paw sheepishly on the ground as he spoke, "I, uh, kind of ended up taking the paths through the open keyholes. The Master thinks they're a gateway for than just traveling through though. That they could be part of the reason for what's happening around us." So used to thinking on track of the great wizard that the bruntte often forgot that most people sometimes needed context.

It was that thought that had Sora explain to Roxas who the Master was, how he'd helped him, Donald and Goofy along the way (and gave them new and exhausting ones), and how he played a big role in preparing everyone for the omen that was Xehanort's return.

"...I always feel like something bad is going to happen any minute now," Sora coined alongside his friend. "Everyone's been on edge lately. My friends, even the Master."

He shrugged it off the next minute. Roxas asked a simple question. He could get a simple answer.

"Anyway, why'd you ask?"

Roxas listened careful, his ears pricking, as the other began to speak about the Master. He had remembered seeing something through Sora's eyes pertaining to Master Yen Sid a few times, as he was always keen on trying to know what was going on around him while he was in the warm captivity of his heart. Captivity - if that's what he wanted to call it.

"Yeah..." The young lion agreed with a few nods of his head, a large sigh coming out of his nostrils. His tail continued to flick back and forth as he remained in the deep depths of thought, trying his best to figure out an answer to all of this. Maybe if they could come up with why all of this was happening, they could begin to try and.. Fix it? That would mean, however... No. No, he didn't want that. So.. Was he suppose to just let time stay rifted like this in a way that disrupted the natural order and flow of things? Would he really be that selfish?

Maybe.

"Do you think that we should go talk to Yen Sid?" He offered suddenly, not quite understanding the whole concept of "Keyblade Master" like he probably should have. As far as he was concerned, Yen Sid was just another keyblade bearer, like he and Sora, so he didn't deserve some special title. As far as Roxas was concerned, he hadn't even seen the guy fight - for all they knew he didn't know what he was doing. Or perhaps Roxas was being stubborn - what else was new? "Maybe.. He'd know what's going on."

At this point, it was the only hope they seemingly had to find out any information about what was going on. The more that he thought about it, though, was it something he actually wanted to fix? Thoughts of Axel an Xion raged through his consciousness, making his chest tight and his stomach twist uncomfortably. Was it what we wanted?

"Or at least know more than us, huh?"

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"Yeah," Sora grinned big. "Of course! The master welcomed Axel - I mean Lea. He'd welcome you."

His words ended there when he resummoned the key between his mandibles and jutted it at a point space. A light opened up, emanating in pleasant waves. Sora nodded reassuringly at his other and encouraged him to take the first step. Pride Lands, reasonably safe as their patrolling of it would prove, wouldn't need them for a while.

Sora had a lot of plans for he and Roxas. Mostly they just involved knowing him even more - and not in the way you tended to know a lot about yourself. He'd reintroduce him to Kairi, Riku, Mickey. Maybe Lea if he was back from wherever he went. Best of all, another Keyblade bearer on their team meant the worlds will be that much safer.

Maybe he was being too optimistic with the whole, and his expectations would end up doing a 180. But that was the beauty of it. That was how you learned more about your new friends. Sora wasn't in the least bit worried.

--

FIN