Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the property of Square-Enix and Disney. I don't own it, nor do I pretend that I do. Even if I did, the army of lawyers that would come after me would make me change my mind. Title shamelessly stolen from the Old Babylonian title for the Gilgamesh epic.

He Who Saw the Deep - Deleted Scenes
A Kingdom Hearts Fanfiction
By Jade Dixon

Note on Canon: You MUST read the main fic to understand some of the references in these scenes, although at first glance they might seem unrelated. Naminé's scenes are heavily based upon information from Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, while Roxas' scene comes from near the end of Kingdom Hearts II, although there IS a vague reference to a MAJOR SPOILER for 358/2 Days.

Naminé's scenes - Take place after Chain of Memories, and partially during the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II. Were originally immediately after Ventus is described as going to sleep around Sora's Heart after Castle Oblivion.

Naminé didn't understand why it was so difficult to piece together Sora's memories. She had known it wouldn't be easy, but his Heart seemed to be actively rejecting her touches.

It was easy to break the Chains of his memories; after all, that was the purpose of that strange Castle where she came into Existence. Nobodies, without a Heart to focus on, seemed to be immune, but Somebodies all, without fail, fell into Oblivion. Naminé was capable of guiding that fall within the Castle, and her connection to Sora allowed her to reconstruct as well.

Or at least, she thought it would; after all, she'd had no problems placing the false memories. Once they'd left Oblivion, and were safe from the Organization, Sora's Heart resisted her touches, and she couldn't figure out why.

"What progress have you made?"

DiZ stood behind her, his approach was silent, but noted by the mere presence of his Heart. She pursed her lips in frustration, and lowered her sketchbook. The pages were blank.

"I cannot reach him," she murmured, eyes downcast in a show of sorrow. "His Heart must recognize my touch, and it's rejecting all of my efforts to reassemble the chains."

"Did he not give his consent? Why would he resist becoming whole?"

She could feel his suspicion. It had been a month, and nothing had been accomplished at all. She shook her head slowly from side to side.

"He may have meant what he said, but Hearts are complex things... Perhaps deep down, he did not truly trust me."

The red-robed man frowned beneath his wraps, and brought up the terminal display within the pod room. He shut it down just as quickly.

"Bah. Rouse him, then. Perhaps once he's interacted with you more his Heart will let you do your work."

Naminé froze. She stood up from where she had been curled on the floor facing Sora.

"No."

There was a heavy silence for a moment. She could feel the other man's rage building as he tried to tamp it down. He needed her too much to strike out.

"You dare to defy me?" It was quiet and dangerous.

She turned to face him, her own face blank and serene.

"Sora's memories could not be properly restored with the damage I had previously caused. All of the chains of his memories had to be undone before I could start. Right now, there is no Sora, just a body that sleeps, and many links that can one day make him whole again.

"But not until he'll let me in."

DiZ growled and struck out at the wall with his hand. "If there's no Sora, how can he stop you?"

He was waiting for her to slip up, to prove that she was just as unworthy as his betrayers. He wanted an excuse to destroy her, even if it meant he'd lose out on his prize playing piece. Hearts are not rational.

She had no intention of giving him an excuse.

"Sora's willpower is indomitable; even when turned into a Heartless he held onto his identity until Kairi could restore him. His Will keeps me out, even without the memories to back it up."

For a moment, she thought the man was going to protest, to insist she just wasn't trying hard enough, but then he paused, and a smile began to form on his lips.

"Willpower strong enough to function even without memories..."

He eyed her disdainfully, assessing her, and then dismissing her.

"Perhaps another is needed."

She locked her jaw stubbornly. "I am the only one who can do this," she insisted.

"Pfah," he dismissed, pacing back and forth as he puzzled out his idea. "You're weak; barely capable of keeping your Existence stable. What we need is Sora's Nobody."

So close to Sora, she sometimes leeched off his Heart, which was the only explanation she had for the anger that surged through her at the comment. "I am Sora's Nobody!" Her identity was all she had, and she wouldn't let even DiZ steal it.

She could see his idea coming to a head, and he'd never been able to stop himself from showing off. He smiled at her as if she were a child throwing a tantrum to the amusement of her parents.

"No. You're a faulty Nobody, created from Princess Kairi's form and Sora's Darkness. You're unstable; weak. You, more than any other Nobody, should not exist. You bend to others' whims too easily, the very antithesis of what a Nobody should be.

"We assumed you were the sole Nobody produced from that atrocity in Hollow Bastion simply because Sora was restored. The memories that would have allowed a proper Nobody to have the Will to Exist would have been prevented from settling; even if one had formed, it should have faded back into the Darkness.

"But Sora, as you said, had an indomitable Will. What if his Nobody survived, even without the boy's memories, even without a Heart? He could be an access point."

DiZ didn't even bother to explain how that would work, just smirked at her and walked away. Her borrowed anger faded, and she was left feeling emptier than usual.

When Riku next visited, he was given a new mission.

The Nobody's name was Roxas, and the Organization had their claws in him right from the start.

Naminé thought she ought to feel resentful of this unknown interloper, but instead she was curious. What was he like? How similar was he to the boy she met so briefly, but knew so well?

Riku struggled to locate and capture the boy, but eventually succeeded in his mission, bringing back the Key of Destiny in an unconscious heap. She could feel the shift in the silver-haired boy, but respected his privacy, and kept silent.

Roxas was seamlessly inserted into DiZ's simulation, and she began work again immediately.

Suddenly, her work was just as she imagined. By routing her powers through Roxas, Sora's Heart allowed her touch, thinking it was its lost pieces trying to return home.

For that's what Roxas was: lost pieces of Sora, that were desperate to be whole again. He wasn't just a Nobody, he was wanted. The more Naminé worked, the more she realized just how damaged Sora must have been by the time Kairi restored him. It was a miracle he survived.

And Kairi saved him again.

Naminé was sketching furiously, linking together memories as fast as she could before the Organization found them and kept Roxas from becoming whole. It was something she'd been thinking about a lot, and she was wishing desperately to meet her other Other, the one whose form she took.

Suddenly, there was a glitch in the program, and Roxas fell off the clocktower. Naminé reached out to catch him, that desire still in her mind.

Sora's Heart also wanted to see Kairi, and the double wish connected their Hearts momentarily, and Roxas made contact.

Suddenly, Naminé's hands stopped sketching. She simply froze, her body unable to function as all of her energy focused on sortinglinkingjoining, no longer requiring the artistic medium.

The contact was brief, but the progress could not be denied. Not even DiZ had anything snide to say on that day.

Roxas' scene. Takes place during his confrontation with Sora in The World that Never Was. Was originally set just after Ventus' description of Anti-form, before the scene where he states why he loathes The World that Never Was.

Roxas was struck by grief when Axel sacrificed himself for Sora—no, sacrificed himself for Roxas, only Sora as his container. Since joining Sora's Heart, he'd begun feeling things, and he'd felt sadness when he left Twilight Town, but this was stronger.

He'd trusted Naminé when she'd told him that being with Sora would make him whole, hadn't fought the joining as much as he knew he could have. But he still didn't feel it, didn't feel like he truly belonged.

When this grief, leeched from Sora, hit him, his sense of self returned stronger than it had been since he'd found Sora sleeping in that pod.

His sense of self grew so strong that one minute he was silently screaming his rage into Sora's Heart, and the next he was standing Betwixt and Between, staring at the spot of nothingness where Axel had simply ceased to be.

Why?

Why was Sora so important? What made people sacrifice themselves for him?

Rage he shouldn't feel as a separate being filled him, and he summoned his Samurai, opening a portal to the Skyscraper. He had his liege-men cut off Sora's followers—even the dog had sacrificed himself for the guy once!—and attacked his Somebody.

They were two beings that were truly one, so Roxas didn't even blink when they were sucked into Sora's Heartscape, didn't break off his attack, or show any mercy.

Sora matched him stroke for stroke, his own faced confused, but determined.

"Who are you? Not... Riku?"

Roxas wanted to laugh, but instead snarled, expression hidden by his hood.

"Riku? I defeated a Riku once." Then the bastard cheated on his re-match. Roxas rushed forward, determined to prove he had the right to exist, that he was every bit as good as the other boy.

"Why?" he growled into Sora's face as their Blades crossed and locked. "Why did he choose you?" Sora narrowed his eyes, and pushed Roxas back, the other boy turning the momentum into a back-flip. He bent his legs to absorb the force of the landing, then turned the motion into a coil to jump. Roxas used the fact that this place didn't exist in physical reality to assert his Will onto the plane. His jump went high, and he hovered in the air for a moment, surveying the battle-ground.

Sora stood in a ready-stance, determination painted plainly across his face. But it wasn't Sora himself that caught Roxas' attention.

It was Sora's Heart.

The stained-glass floor represented Sora's innermost self, the things that were most important to him.

Naturally, the boy himself featured prominently—self-identity is important to all people.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Sora as he was now, but Sora as he'd been when he left his Islands. It was as if he didn't understand he'd grown, as if the year he'd slept hadn't caught up to him yet.

What surprised him most were the figures held preciously within the protective curl of the sleeping figure's shape. They weren't material items, or representations of Sora's skills.

They were faces. Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi.

Sora loves everybody, but holds no-one. He'll shelter, but not trap.

Roxas wasn't there, of course, because Sora didn't really know him, for all that he was a part of his Heart. Strangely enough, he found that he wanted to be. To be part of someone, who loves so freely, asking nothing in return.

Doesn't he make you feel whole? Don't you want to be a part of what he is?

That strange boy's words suddenly made sense, and a peace settled in him that had been lacking before. Finally, he felt whole.

"I see," he murmured to himself. "That's why."

Even Roxas' Will could only defy gravity for so long, and he sprang into action the moment he landed, crashing a series of blows onto Sora one after the other. The Keyblade Master tried to parry, but with his one Keyblade against Roxas' two, the brunet was forced to merely block.

Eventually something had to give.

Sora's knee buckled, and Roxas pressed his advantage, batting the Kingdom Key away, then rushing to prevent Sora from grasping it. He slammed Oathkeeper into the handle, jamming it against the floor, then levelled Oblivion at Sora's neck. He stood in silent judgement over the other boy.

He waited for Sora to do something, to defend his friends from this "enemy's" savage attack. He needed the final proof that adding his strength to Sora would be worth his loss of self; that he'd be gaining something greater.

I couldn't save Axel—or Xibzzzzt—, but Sora would have, would have done anything to keep his friends safe.

He locked eyes with the other boy, willing him to prove him right, to prove that Sora was the right choice, whoever was making it.

Before Roxas' startled eyes, the brunet lowered his head, and reached out his hand pleadingly. Doubt, and crushing disappointment, swelled in his chest.

Not now! Roxas screamed mentally. You can't do this to me,now!

And then the Kingdom Key disappeared from where it was pinned beneath Oathkeeper, and Roxas reared back in surprise.

But not enough. Sora hadn't been pleading for mercy at all—he'd simply been reaching out for a power that had already chosen him. And he didn't hesitate to strike Roxas down, to protect his friends.

Roxas staggered forward slightly, going just beyond Sora as his knees gave out. He gathered the last of his Will to force himself back to his feet, a small smile gracing his face.

He turned to look over his shoulder to see his Somebody one last time. His hood had fallen back, so he was able to look at Sora face to face for once.

"You make a good Other," Roxas confided as Sora returned to consciousness in reality, and his own awareness slipped from him.

He'd awaken only once more, and then only to cement his one-ness with Sora, and to say good-bye to Naminé.

But he was happy now. He was whole.

end