Chapter Text
It was just like any other day to Sakura. She went to Tomoeda Middle School, alone as her brother was now in Tokyo University, chatted with her friend Tomoyo, went to her house after school and, of course, tried a bunch of different outfits while her friend recorded it all. It reminded her of the time she was an active Card Captor, sealing Clow cards and afterwards transforming them on her own. It's been months and nothing else happened, though it didn't stop her from using her cards every once in a while. Wouldn't be very nice to them to stay idle for so long!
Tonight she would use Rain, it has been a while since she was last activated and she looked a bit down.
"There you go Rain, stay up there for a few hours but don't be too late!" said the Sorceress to her card. The blue-haired nymph-like girl eagerly shook her head and went high in the clouds to start a good but not heavy downpour.
"So pretty! Keep the good work Rain!" Cheered the girl, preparing to sleep when suddenly...
"What's that?" She felt an unknown presence entering her town. It didn't seem like an enemy, but she couldn't be sure it was an ally. This kind of magic though... it wasn't anything she had ever felt before.
"This... It doesn't seem to be human..." What if it really was a new enemy? She had to get there, wherever this creature was!
"Rain, can you feel it too?" The nymph-like girl consented. "Tell me where it is, I need to get there as fast as I can!" The smaller girl consented again and pointed to the very edge of the city, next to a mountain.
"Thanks, Rain!" With that said, she jumped out of her window and before she could hit the ground she shouted "FLY!" and a pair of beautiful and big white wings grew on her back.
"The energy... why is it so faint?" If it really was an enemy, she should be feeling bad by now. Why was it so weak...?
In less than 10 minutes she reached the pointed destination. She landed and tried to feel the energy, that seemed to grow weaker every second. She was about to give up when she saw something... or rather, someone. A boy, apparently of the same age as her, passed out on the ground.
"The energy comes from you..." She touched his cheek, he felt cold. "I need to get you out of here."
"Kerberus!" Shouted the girl and in no time a golden lion with wings showed up in front of her. "Sakura. Who is he?"
"I don't know, but I can't let him here. Carry him on your back, we're going back home." With that said, she once again summoned Fly while the guardian carried the unconscious boy on his back.
She looked behind. "Just... who are you?"
Midfly, Sakura felt the urge to look back at the boy. She thought he had said something. She focused less on the cold rain and more on his breath...
Must've been her imagination.
She arrived home with her soaked, mysterious guest in Kerberus’ back. She struggled to carry him, although she imagined him heavier than he actually was.
Arriving at her room, she laid him on the ground and stared for a few moments.
"Kerberus... Do you have any idea of what he is? Is he human?"
"Definitily not, Sakura. Although I never saw a creature like him, I feel that he's... Hollow."
"...What do you mean?"
"The emptiness inside of him is horrible. I wonder what he really is..."
She stared at him for a few moments until he said what she thought having heard during the trip.
"..K-... Kairi..."
At that night, Sakura slept with her dad. Or at least tried to sleep. Her mind was full of doubts - Who's that boy? Where is he from? Why is he nearly dead? Why is he hollow? And in what way is he hollow?
Her questions flew unanswered by the night.
At morning, she woke up and sprinted to her room to see the boy. Her jaw dropped when she saw the clean ground and the open window, which she ran into.
The boy was looking away from the house, looking like someone who didn't enjoy the two stores fall. He stretched his right arm into the air, and some silver, unknown energy ran around an invisible handle. Seconds later, he had a giant key, with golden overhandle and a long, silver blade. Nothing Sakura had ever seen before.
He raised it into the air and said "Curaga!"
A green sparkle exploded in the key’s tip, summoning a flower over it, together with a pleasant aura. After completing that, he raised his head, and all his wounds from the last night were gone.
"Healing powers?! Not even my Cards are capable of that!" She thought, startled. "Hey, you there! Wait!" She shouted, sprinting towards the stairs to get to him. She didn't know if he would actually wait, she just knew she had to be fast! If he didn't wait... well, Dash could take care of that.
He looked back at the girl sweating at the doorknob. Whoever she was, she saved his life.
"..."
He barely knew what to say. He didn't remember going to other worlds before Twilight Town, people could act different, even aggressively.
"...?"
"You... I don't know if you'll tell me what you are... But... At least, tell me your name..." She said, panting almost breathless. She's just glad he waited, she didn't know if she would have enough breath to use Dash to catch up to him. "And that... key... What is it?"
He looked at the keyblade. Then back at her. For someone he expected to show hostile behavior, she was acting so helpless he could help to let out some giggles.
But his facial expression resumed to the previous dead serious one. He looked at her in the eyes and said "... Roxas..."
He then looked at the lightbringer in his hand.
"Keyblade... If I told you I knew why I have it, or why it does what it does, I'd be lying." He said, not changing his attention to his weapon.
"Roxas..." She repeated the name, now having caught her breath. "My name is Sakura. Nice to meet you!" She said with a smile on her face. "I first thought this could be a sealing wand of some sort, being shaped in a key and all... but I can feel I'm wrong. Where do you come from? And why don't you come back inside? I won't attack you, if that's what you fear!" She assured him with one of her kind smiles.
He felt attempted to go in and talk.
Then he had a flashback, of how his best friend’s kind smiles turned out to hide the filthiest lies.
"... Sorry... I was taught not to easily trust people... In the hard way," he said that with a sad expression, like he just lost a potential friend.
"I can understand that... Not even my own Cards felt safe with me at first..." She had a sad and yet at the same time hopeful expression on her face, as if she was staring at one of her Cards years before, back when they weren't sure if they could trust her. "Would you like to meet them? If you still don't feel safe with me, I can summon my wand and give it to you."
"...!" Roxas felt an approach. He swiftly turned and slashed through a long, silver creature which attempted to attack from behind. Then he quickly ran next to Sakura and said "If you have anything you consider a weapon, now's the time...", raising his keyblade into the air, as three more creatures appeared.
"...It sure has been a while." She thought with a shy smile on her face. "My Cards and I have been missing some action." She whispered, grabbing her necklace, which had a pink and golden key with a star and two tiny wings. "The Key that hides the powers of the Stars! Show your true form before me!" A yellow glowing circle, with a star in the middle, the sun on one side, the moon on the other appeared beneath her feet. "I, Sakura, command you under our contract! RELEASE!" Then, the key became bigger and turned entirely pink, becoming a staff. "Jump!" Two pairs of small wings showed up on Sakura's feet and she quickly held Roxas and jumped to the roof of her house. "What are those?!"
Still a little startled from the jump, he said "Dusks. They might be weak, but will bring their stronger cousins soon." He pointed his keyblade to him and yelled "Thundaga!", as intense lightning bolts bounced from enemy to enemy.
"What about this scepter of yours? Never saw a weapon like that..."
"This is my staff. I use it to summon the magic of my cards. Like... right now!" Immediately, a card with a girl holding a bow appeared on her hand. "Arrow! Use your power to defeat the Dusks!" Throwing the card in the air and holding the wand the moment the card came down, the wings grew temporarily and a blue wave came out of the card. With it, a smallish pink girl wearing a blueish-purple outfit materialized, already preparing the bow. With a shot, the single arrow quickly multiplied, hitting all the Dusks.
"... Amazing!" Roxas couldn't hold a compliment.
"But I'm not that hurt. Let me hop into the fight." He said, jumping off the roof, landing over a Dusk's head. With a quick spin, a powerful slash left the keyblade's tip, expelling every foe from Roxas's sight.
With quick swings and lethal approaches, Roxas executed every Dusk, with flying arrows around him, handling unnoticed foes. After a couple moments, Roxas and Sakura finally defeated every Nobody in the area.
"Are you ok...?" Roxas said, with a wide, true smile in his face, although nonstop panting, over one knee.
"Heh, I should be the one asking you! You look a lot more tired than I am!" She giggled, jumping back to the ground. "By the way, don't you wanna eat something? We both just woke up and got into a fight, we need to restore our energies... and trusting me or not, I'm not letting you starve!" She said, grabbing him by the arm and going back in the house.
He couldn't help it, was starving since he threw all those ice creams on the ground.
That memory snap made him let go from her and look away for a moment.
He just showed her a honest smile, wasn't going to cry in front of her two seconds later. He dried his tears and said "T-... Thank you. I'm... hungry..."
"I figured. Well, let's head back inside!" She sniffed. "Hmm I hope you like sausages."
"Sausages? Sounds interesting..." He couldn't remember the last time he had a meal. Eating stones suddenly sounded good to him, although sausages would taste way better.
"Oh, Sakura, just in time! I have to go back to the university but I already prepared breakfast for you and your friend! I'll be back at night. Stay safe!" said her father, leaving in a hurry.
"Bye, dad!" She said, watching him run. "Well, take a seat and make yourself at home!" She sat down and started eating a buttered toast.
"Thanks for the meal." Roxas said, as he snapped a tip of sausage. As soon as he realized it wasn't poisoned and was tasty, he shoved the rest in a single bite.
"Wow, you really ARE hungry!" She said astonished. She grabbed a sausage after the toast. "When was the last time that you eat?"
"Maybe... a week or so." He said, grabbing the second sausage, with shyness in the touch this time. "Been away from home for a while now."
"A week?! Wow... You're pretty tough for holding on this long..." She said almost whispering, pushing the remaining sausages towards him and ignoring his confused look. "You need them a lot more than I do... not to mention I see how much you liked them."
Roxas looked down to them, then back to Sakura, and then took one more, trying not to look desperate.
"Sorry for abusing of your hospitality..." He said, taking deep breaths so he wouldn't choke with the sausages.
She giggled again. "No need to apologize, eat as much as you want!" She stared at him for a while, trying to build up the courage. "So... where do you come from?"
"Um... Sorry." He lowered his 7th sausage and cleaned his mouth. "I don't know for sure..." Roxas lowered his head, trying to look for memories he never had, perhaps some that didn't even belong to him.
She was silent for a while. It was almost the way she felt when she faced Nothing, the sorrow and hurt coming from him were almost the same. She got up and did the only thing that could possibly help him. "I'm so sorry..." She hugged him.
"A heart this kind... I wonder..." Roxas interrupted himself.
"I wish there was something I could do for you..." She closed her eyes and tightened the hug.
"Why... Why do you show such kindness towards someone you just met?" This kindness wasn't something Roxas ever came across. He was afraid it could even be a trap, but such honest aura she had...
"Why shouldn't I? No one deserves to be treated harshly. I already consider you my friend and I'll help you as much as I can." She retreated and looked him straight in the eye, so he could see she meant it.
"...!" He suddenly had a flash from someone he knew.
A black haired girl... in a black coat, wielding the same weapon as he did...
He returned to the present, and saw the same smile that person in the past had in Sakura’s face.
A tear shed from his eye.
"... Xion..."
She was confused. "Xion...?" She thought. "Is she your friend?"
He suddenly raised his head, like something suddenly escaped from behind his head. "... Xion? Who's that?"
"Uh... You said that name... Nevermind, it was probably my imagination..." She waved it off. "Anyway, we need to start somewhere. What do you remember?" She was pretty sure he said a name, but he himself didn't notice... She'd try to ask about it later...
"That I'm not what I seem to be..." Not proud, Roxas said with a sad smile in his face, staring deep in Sakura’s soul windows.
"You... think I shouldn't trust you?" She frowned.
"To be honest, I can't even trust myself... For there are people who know who I am better than I do..." Roxas felt powerless again. "How did you find me? I can see we're far from where I passed out..."
"The rain of that night was created by one of my cards. I felt your presence and she told me where you were." She looked down. "You felt so cold... I couldn't just leave you there..." She looked up again and smiled at him. "You also didn't seem like an enemy or your energy would make me feel bad."
"Weird... I shouldn't be emanating any energy." He wondered.
"There's got to be a way to find answers... Any idea of where we can start?"
"I don't want to put you in risk. Or at least, your loved ones..." He said like he was some sort of doom bringer.
"I've never failed to protect them before... I won't start now." She said with a determined look on her face. "My Cards and I can do this!"
"I don't think you understood. I brought these monsters... Those Dusks are after me. And they might hurt people you love for that purpose..." Guilt punched Roxas's stomach several times.
"Roxas." She said with all the seriousness she could muster. "I am not alone in this. My Guardians are just as capable of protecting them as I am with the Cards." He slowly looked up to stare at those emeralds. "This is not a matter of discussion. I WILL help you. All I have to do is alert Kerberus and Yue of the threat and they'll be ready to protect them." She held his hand. "I won't let you do this on your own..."
"You barely know me... All you have about me is a name..."
"And it's not even your real name, is it?" A voice echoed in the room.
Sakura and Roxas stood up at the same time and summoned their Staff and Keyblade, back against back.
A dark presence took place in the room, opening a black, door sized portal in the wall. A dark being wearing a black coat came out, not revealing its face.
"Nothing that you have inside belongs to you. Now head back to the mansion, Roxas," The black coated figure said.
"... Riku... Leave me alone... GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!" Roxas unsummoned his usual keyblade and summoned two new keyblades.
One was a sky white key, with angel wings on the upperhandle and a star in the tip. It had an unusual amulet at the keychain.
Other was plain dark, with chains decorating its blade, and inverted devil wings on the upperhandle. It had a dark crown at the keychain.
As Roxas slashed, Riku jumped backwards and landed on the window, close to falling.
"Roxas... Sora needs you. He won't wake up until you come back."
"I AM MYSELF. NOW LEAVE." Roxas yelled, shooting dark pulses from his dark keyblade, and lightjets from his light keyblade. Riku jumped off and disappeared.
Sakura was motionless until Roxas let go from both keyblades and gently started to fall backwards, whispering the same name
"Xion..."
"Roxas!" She got him before he could hit the ground. "Are you ok? Who was that? What was all that stuff he said?" She laid his head on the floor. "That name... you said it again." Now she was completely sure.
"I..." Roxas stood up and walked to the front door. No sight of the hooded enemy.
"My objective is elsewhere." He thought she might not know about more worlds other than her own.
"I want to go to a Castle... and free Kingdom Hearts." He looked at the blank expression at Sakura's face. She was clueless.
"...Kingdom Hearts?" Never in her life had she heard of such name. "Uh... where is it?"
"It's not a place. It's a gathering of all hearts. I was part of an organization which collected those hearts..."
"What happened then?" He looked at her with a puzzled look. "You didn't exactly sound happy when talking about it..."
"We collected those hearts... So we could have one for our own..."
"Of your own...?" She whispered. Wait... Kerberus told her he felt hollow. Could it be...? She walked closer and pressed her head to his chest. Nothing... "Heartless?" It came out before she could stop herself.
"Nobody... That's what they call me." He grabbed his chest where his heart should be.
"Heartless, ironically, are beings with dark hearts. I'm a little worse than that..." He let go from her, afraid of the following words he was about to say.
"I have nothing inside me. I'm hollow, empty, void. Everything you see before you... Is an empty shell, a bare vessel." For each adjective he gave himself, he became angrier and angrier. Roxas was about to explode of how meaningless he was.
"That's not true!" Sakura snapped. "It... it can't be true. If you say you have nothing inside, you shouldn't even be able to feel at all. But you do... and I know... I feel you're much more than an empty being." She closed her eyes. "And somehow... I'll prove it to you."
"I don't know... I can't... just look inside." He calmed down and said. "But I figure... If I had something inside me... then I'd feel it, right?" He said that, with a sad smile in his face.
"All I know is that I have something that the black coated man that I just sent away wants me to deliver to someone for good... I don't even know what I have... but he wants me to return with him." He raised his head.
"My objective is far from here. And far from Twilight Town. I must find a way to leave this world and head to The World That Never Was... the Organization XIII's HQ." He pressed his shoulder's side, like he tried to find something to aid him... something that might have gone missing. Roxas didn't even look like he knew why he did that.
"Then I'll go with you! You can't do this on your own!" She said, running to her bedroom to change her clothes, as she was still in pajamas.
"... Sorry, Sakura" Roxas whispered, as he sneaked out of the house and started to run away from the house.
Figuring out a plan to escape that world? Care about Riku's whereabouts? Nothing of that mattered at that moment. Roxas was only thinking about how Sakura would react after realizing he was gone.
"This... is my battle. I gathered those hearts. Now it's time to release them... by my own."
"Wait!" Sakura ran after him. "I told you, I'm not letting you go alone!"
"JUST STAY OUT OF IT!" Roxas yelled. "I'm on my own now. I got my problems to solve, and I don't want your support. Now return!"
"No! I'm going with you!" She yelled, taking a step further.
"I'm not taking you with me! I have mistakes to correct, and you're not one of them!"
"I'm going with you whether you want it or not!" Gosh, so stubborn!
"You're NOT coming with me. You're staying here!" Why is she so stubborn?
"..." She released the staff.
"..." He summoned both Keyblades
"Wood!" The first movement. Various rampant vines came out of the card, rushing towards Roxas to entrap him.
Roxas launched a menacing glare, and yelled. "Firaga!". Giant firebolts orbited Roxas, burning down every enemy vine. "Sakura!" He charged.
She grit her teeth. If he planned to be aggressive... "Sword!" Well, two can play this game.
He came closer and closer. She didn't mean to harm him, she just wanted to knock out at least one of the Keyblades. Even if Sword could possibly destroy it... She had to take the risk.
She swang.
"Hmph." Roxas raised both Keyblades. Sparks flew in front of their eyes when magical steel got intercepted by unknown, twin steel.
"What?!" She retreated. Sword was supposed to go through both! Why was it repelled?
Roxas united both Keyblades and slowly raised them, as unknown runes spawned on the floor. He slowly floated above the ground.
"Sakura... Understand now why I am alone... and why I MUST remain alone."
He shot lightjets from both Keyblades tips, which completely domain the environment. All the cherry blossom trees were gone, and everything was replaced by a penetrating sunset background.
He threw both Keyblades away, creating two portals next to him.
"GO!" As crystal spheres were shot from those portals, against Sakura.
She felt no physical pain, but just, if not worse.
She felt a friend’s lie piercing through her mind.
She felt a dear friend dying in her arms, feeling like she was the murderer.
She felt powerless when a powerful foe grabbed her and forced her to give up.
She felt the truth slashing her reality, when her friends no longer answered her call.
She felt the nothingness inside of Roxas.
After that, Sakura was back. The cherry blossom petals were scattered in the air. Roxas was glaring straight in her eyes, assuring why she couldn't go with him.
She shouldn't go with him.
Sakura slowly sank to her knees, a petrified look in her face. The pain... it was almost unbearable.
Roxas lowered his look, satisfied that his message was understood. He slowly turned around and stepped away
She slowly looked up and saw the retreating figure of Roxas through her glassy eyes. No... This isn't over yet, she told herself.
She stood up on shaky legs and ran, hugging him from behind.
"Now, more than ever... I know I HAVE to go with you."
"... Even after all this pain you've felt... You still insist... You're just like Xion..." Roxas laughed, as he instantly got down to his knees and covered his eyes. That attack made him remember. Xion is...
"So..." She got up again and gave him a hand. "Where do we start?"