A/N: It's me again. Remember that companion fic I was planning originally planning on writing? I decided it's got enough material to be a fanfic. So this fanfic is basically Trinity's timeline from a different point of view, focusing on the Nobodies' side of the story. (I that really a good idea? Tell me people!) It can stand alone, but I'd really advise you to keep up with the other one (You Don't Miss It Till It's Gone:Trinity, I also wrote that one lol) first. This starts at the same time as Chapter 6 of Trinity.
Summary: They think and feel as they can only remember. Does he really love her, or is it only because he loves her? How much of one's emotions can be borrowed?
Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, Roxas and Naminé would have had a happier ending.
I: StayingAlive
Naminé sighed as she watched Kairi record her day in her diary, listened as the pen scratched against the paper. Her own hands itched, remembering how her pencils scratched against her own sketchpad. Being stuck inside Kairi was... she couldn't put words to the feeling. (Not that she even felt anything, she could only remember how to feel)
Toc.
There was that infernal noise again. Kairi had a lot of enemies, ever since she had begun to hang out with Sora and Riku. What was it with girls and boys anyway? What was this jealousy that Kairi said they felt? (and so another pang of pain shot through her nonexistent heart, she berated herself, of course she can't--)
Toc.
Stupid noise.
"Stupid rabid fangirls," her Other agreed as she shut her diary closed and climbed onto their (her!) bed.
Toc.
She tried to shut the noise out; she wasn't used to being disturbed every ten seconds or so; DiZ had seen to that.
DiZ. I don't think I like him so much.
His bandaged face flashed before her memory's eye, that hateful glowing amber orb that always seemed to appraise her as only an object; a tool. No matter how he begged forgiveness right before Kingdom Hearts destroyed him, she didn't have the heart to do so.
Hey, that's pretty true. This revenge was so much a powerful feeling.
"Go away." Kairi said into her pillow.
Toc.
Now Naminé agreed with her Other. It was past midnight, and as far as she knew, normal (who's crazy enough to call Organization XIII normal) people didn't keep their peace-abiding neighbors from sleeping peacefully.
"Kairi! Open up!"
Her consciousness flared. That voice was of a Wielder's. For a second there, she was absolutely sure it was Roxas' voice calling out to Kairi. Impossible.
Roxas. The Nobody so much like her. The Nobody she felt (screw feeling) sorry for, and she didn't even know why, at least, until she found out she was Kairi's Nobody, and that he was Sora's (told offhandedly by Ansem not-so-wise), and that she was only feeling (remembering!) Kairi's affection for Sora, and vice versa.
Some things really are better left unsaid.
Toc.
Stupid, stupid people, Naminé screeched inside Kairi's mind, the consistent toc against the window driving her crazy.
Toc.
"That's it!" They yelled together (although she knew only Kairi's voice would be heard) as they (she!) threw the covers into a heap on the floor and stomped to the window, irritated beyond reason.
Toc.
The windows were also thrown open (not into a heap this time, though it seemed it was about to fall down) into a faceful of Roxas.
And said faceful fell gracefully onto the floor, Naminé giggled.
"You are so dead," Kairi muttered irritably. Both looked on as he picked himself up and dusted himself off.
Her nonexistent heart skipped a nonexistent beat as she found herself staring into this Nobody's eyes, knowing that he saw her, Naminé, not Kairi, knowing that that (adorable and goofy) grin was for her alone.
"Thank you very much for inviting me in," he snickered at them, still dusting off his shoulders. He cocked his head sideways and took a deep breath. "Now, Kairi, let Naminé go."
Let me...go? She wondered. She had done a lot of fast thinking since Roxas fell into Kairi's room, but that how stood out most in the flood of questions dammed up in her head.
"What on earth do you think you're saying? And where the hell is Sora? How'd you two get---"
Oh my--- Sora If Roxas existed separately, that meant his Other had either done something or something had happened to the Wielder. And from how she'd known Sora, it was most possibly the second option. Kairi's mind was practically a medley of sirens and flashing alarms of worry.
Roxas shushed (the both of them, she thought). "Naminé, come on. We're going back," he said quietly as he pushed Kairi back by prodding her head.
"Roxas!"
What do you mean, we're going back? Where's Sora? This better have a good explanation, Roxas.
She gasped as she heard Kairi hit the floor with a muffled thud and a startled squeak. And, for the first time since Kingdom Hearts was sealed, she was standing independently of her Other. Her eyes widened as she felt the night breeze blow through her own locks of hair and saw moonbeams dance on her own skin. She whirled around, saw the bewildered look on Kairi's face, and shrugged as she helped her up, relishing the mere feeling of touching the hand that once trapped her own.
A moonbeam traveled down her arm to shine on the mirror hanging behind her Other's bedroom door. A pale-skinned girl of age fifteen (another thing borrowed from Kairi) stared back at her with hauntingly blue eyes, not those violet eyes that she always saw. Her knees suddenly threatened to give way.
"Is this...real?" she voiced the thought aloud, not really caring if anyone answered, because now she was happy.
"Let's go, Nam," another voice cut across her thoughts, a hand held open in front of her. "Later, Kai. Thanks for keeping her safe," Roxas added.
She stared at his hand, palm up, and then looked up at Roxas' face. Trembling, she placed her hand in his, half expecting it to go transparent and go through.
It didn't.
She shut her eyes tight as she felt the familiar presence of a portal form around her, gripping Roxas' (he did offer it, who cares if it was cut off from blood circulation by her fingernails digging into his wrist) hand as tightly as she could, fearing to get lost again in their pathways, the corridors of darkness.
----------
"Tell me if I'm dreaming, because I'll do anything not to wake up."
Roxas grinned (grinning was a luxury he could afford again), this time at Naminé's creased forehead as they trod the white halls of the Castle That Never Was. "Sadly, you're not dreaming," he said, poking at her waist. "See? You would've woken up already if I did that."
"Riiight. And besides, I don't even have my own dreams. Mine are just reflections of Kairi's." She peered up at him and stopped in the middle of the Hall of Empty Melodies.
"What?"
"How?"
Roxas shrugged and brushed past her (and her question too).
"Roxas."
"C'mon, let's go, Naminé."
"Let's go where, exactly?" she pouted.
"To the only place where the whole Organization XIII meets. I'll tell you everything I know when we get there." And let's see whether we both walk out of the meeting alive.
----------
"So let me get this straight. Sora---"
Axel sighed as Xemnas repeated something Roxas had basically been repeating (with a few minor rephrasals here and there) over and over for the last half hour.
"Sora's locked inside Kindom Hearts."
"And exactly how did he bring us... back?"
He glanced over the twelve chairs around him, each occupied by a fellow Organization member. Xemnas was nodding his head, those stray hairs sticking out at the sides of his forehead bobbing up and down. Xigbar's jaw moved; he was chewing gum again, nothing, not even Kingdom Hearts, could change that. Next to number II of course sat Xaldin, hunched over, those spears flying around him since this meeting began. Vexen was also hunched over, but Axel had a nagging feeling he was already thinking of all those wonderful experiments he was planning to do once they caught Sora.
"Guilt," he scratched his head. "And I kinda annoyed him too much."
Lexaeus was sitting silently (not that that was unusual, Lex wasn't much of a talker). Zexion, as always, was looking bored to death, his one visible eye half-closed. Axel narrowed his eyes at Saïx (who returned the gesture with a snarl). Well, Saïx was Superior's little tattletale, who wouldn't hate him for that?
Oh, wait. We can't feel hate, anyway.
"No, no, the process."
"I already told you, Superior, he is the key to Kingdom Hearts, so he can, technically, open it whenever he wants."
Axel rolled his eyes; the Superior wasn't that slow. He just couldn't believe that the kid who killed them was crazy enough to bring them back. Not one of them did.
"His heart is the key...?"
"Actually I think it's him, body, heart, and soul. It's a kind of security measure."
"And...?"
Demyx was twirling a strand of water around his finger (miraculously, he still hadn't tried to disrupt the meeting so far) as he stared ahead. Luxord was stroking that moustache of his, apparently appraising (appraising!) the situation at hand, cards floating in a circle over his head. He quickly passed his glance over Marluxia and Larxene, knowing that one wrong look would earn him either a beheading or ten kunais in his back (ahh, Castle Oblivion, the memories still jar him).
"What about her?" Superior leaned forward, staring down at the two figures standing in the middle of the circle of white (high?) chairs.
"Naminé?" he asked as he pulled her closer (not that they were close before anyway, Naminé was practically clinging to Roxas' arm), staring back up at number One. "So?"
Axel's brows drew together as he looked at the blonde-haired girl. He knew she knew her feelings were only borrowed (DiZ was so much of an eloquent madman), so why was she clinging to his best friend like that?
I'm not jealous! I can't feel jealous!
"We can use her..."
"No!" Roxas yelled. "No using anyone! You don't know what it's like to be used!"
"And since when did you have a say in this, traitor?" Saïx said nonchalantly, swinging one leg over the armrest.
Roxas lowered his murderous (who thought Roxas could even look murderous?) gaze. However, Naminé stepped forward.
"He's not a traitor, Xemnas." A little gasp ran around and echoed off the walls, nobody called the Superior anything other than Superior, as number one, it was an unwritten rule. Xemnas narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"He just wanted to meet Sora, that's all. Don't judge him on wanting to be whole. You all do, right?"
"Naminé, please, stop." Roxas put a hand on her shoulder. "They're right. I shouldn'tve turned on the Organization. We all want to be whole."
I'm not jealous!
"Right. You should've at least talked to us before going," the blue-haired berserker (well, he did control Berserkers) rolled his eyes. "Like a certain member who turned on us too."
"Shut it, Saïx," Axel said, meeting his gaze.
"Oh, he's more of a traitor than Roxas ever will be," Marluxia added, twirling a lock of hair offhandedly.
"Thinking just because he's a few digits higher he can go and do us in," Larxene drew one of her kunais and flung it at where his head would've been if he hadn't ducked.
"And who again started betraying in the first place?" He answered angrily, summoning both chakrams (and using them to parry another thrown knife). "Not me, flower boy."
"You're asking for it!" Marluxia roared as his (dangerously pink) scythe flared to life in his hand.
"Leave Axel alone!" Roxas yelled, pushing Naminé backwards as both hands clutched a Keyblade each.
"Silence!" Xemnas bellowed. (and so the room fell silent like only Xemnas can say) "We are not claiming Kingdom Hearts if you act as little children! Put the past behind! I will not stand to lose another Organization member again!"
Axel slumped back in his seat, knowing that there was a very slim chance he'll stay alive in this castle for more than three seconds.
----------
Naminé was scared.
She had never been in a place with more than thirteen people, let alone the hundreds milling around in the quad.
"Tell me again why we're here." She asked the blonde boy beside her, who shrugged.
"Superior told us we have to... well, go somewhere safe."
Well, Xemnas had a point. Between kunais, chakrams, a scythe, the occasional claymore, and drastic elemental spells, the Castle That Never Was was hardly what you'd call a haven for Nobodies (whatever Xemnas said).
"But why do we have to go here?"
"We're fifteen-year olds. We have to study somewhere. Vexen's a great teacher, but he really creeps me out."
Another point there. Vexen's laboratory (situated somewhere beside the leaking dungeons and Luxord's secret whiskey stash) wasn't exactly conducive to studying (it was really hard to ignore those pickled...things in jars).
"But why do we have to study, of all places, in Destiny Academy?" she sighed, hauling her bookbag up her shoulder as they started walking through the crowd (which, she noticed, were staring at them as they passed.)
"What? You agreed to study here." Roxas grinned (and some of the other girls grinned back) at her. "And their uniform suits you."
She stuck out her tongue at him as she brushed nonexistent dust from her plaid skirt (it was the shortest thing that she had ever worn) nervously. Oh, she was scared. She glanced over her shoulder (some guy whistled) to see whether there was any place here where it wasn't crowded.
"Oh, Roxas, it's her." She squeaked, seeing Kairi and Riku walk through the gates of the school.
"Shoot," he pulled her past the crowd behind a white (although not as white as the Castle's paint job) concrete pillar. "Whatever happens, Nam, don't tell them Sora's locked inside Kingdom Hearts."
"Why not? Kairi's worried sick about him!"
"It's what Sora wants," he bit his lip. "If they know, both of them will rush headfirst into danger, and that's exactly why Sora left. I don't want to interfere with what he's doing."
"Are you crazy! What am I going to tell them then?"
Roxas thought, bowing his head. "That we... don't remember anything."
"And Organization XIII?"
"Not a word."
She fell silent. "For how long are we going to keep this up?"
"Until... well, we'll see."
"This isn't right, Roxas."
"I know. For Sora, okay?"
Naminé sighed. "Okay. For Sora."
----------
Roxas watched as Naminé pulled him back into the crowd, yelling out Riku's name.
"Riku!" she ran towards the platinum-haired Wielder and flung her arms around his waist.
For some strange reason he felt irritated.
I can't feel. So why am I... jealous
"Riku, it's so nice to finally be able to hug you," she said, her voice muffled against his chest.
I can't feel. Period.
"Naminé, you're suffocating him," Roxas grinned. Well, she deserved this. It was a wonderful feeling when you had your own body. Most people took that for granted.
"Naminé, geroff me."
"Oh!" he watched her cheeks rapidly turn several degrees of red when she realized what she was doing (and good thing, too, people were staring), and she let her arms fall to her sides. "Sorry. Got kinda...carried away."
Then he had that odd feeling someone was watching (and possibly trying to bore a hole in him) his every move. His grin slid from his face when he saw Kairi's expression.
"Naminé! Roxas!"
He sighed inwardly as he caught Naminé's eye. She nodded a fraction of an inch. And so the lying begins.
A loud ringing noise echoed throughout the Academy, signalling the start of first period. He could've melted into a puddle on the floor with sheer relief.
"Bother," he said in what he was inwardly praying a normal tone. He remembered something Olette had ranted about Twilight Academy. "This school better not have independent studies," he huffed, motioning to Naminé as they went on to their first class, Materia Handling.
She giggled beside him.
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So there. If I squeezed in this story with the main one Trinity it'll be like 50 chapters long, and readers would get really lost. Besides, I like Roxas and Naminé, and Organization XIII (don't like it? tell me then). Updates will most likely be weekly, so please... review! Fewer reviews mean few people even bother to tell me whether I'm doing something right... -sniffs-
Also check out Alive, a oneshot I wrote about Roxas and Naminé. Reviews appreciated.
Review. Please. (now I'm really whining -sticks out tongue at Roxas-)