Big KHII spoilers within!

Characters are property of Square-Enix and Disney. I write for love, not profit.

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Sometimes, all you need to face the day is a little optimism… oh, and sea salt ice cream.

Blue

The summer’s day was wonderfully warm, the lazy sunshine wrapping its light around him. He headed over to the store, pulling his munny from his pocket as he went.

The shopkeeper saw him and raised an amused eyebrow. “Let me guess…”

“Four sea-salt ice creams please!”

He smiled his thanks to the shopkeeper as she passed over the blue sweets. “You sure have been going through them this summer,” she commented as her customer sank his teeth into one of the ice creams. “You and your friends are my best customers.”

“Well, I’m sure one of us will be back for more later. See you!”

“Goodbye.”

Hurrying so he didn’t lose the ice creams to the heat, he was soon back at the usual place. “Hayner, Pence, Olette, I got ‘em! You guys better eat ‘em before…”

Roxas’ voice drained away. The usual spot was empty. Behind him, the sunshine fizzled to darkness. The town fell silent. He stood there alone, ice creams melting and running over his fingers.

“Where are they?”

All four ice creams fell out of his hands, hit the floor and melted to nothingness.

Nothingness just like him.

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Sora awoke miserably. He wasn’t surprised to find tears on his cheeks. It felt like a stone weight was resting in the pit of his stomach. He’d slept for hours (because today was his first day back at school) but rather than being well rested, he felt as though he’d stayed awake all night. The dream, Roxas’ dream, made him feel a sadness he didn’t want to know. It hurt in a way Sora hadn’t felt before. He wiped the tears away and did his best to swallow the sobs clamouring inside his chest. It had just been a dream…

But it hurt so badly.

“Roxas…”

Sitting up, Sora pushed his sheets away and gazed out his window. The day was beginning, fishing boats on the sea and shopkeepers opening up their stores. Sora held a hand over his eyes, a quietly sad sigh escaping him. He bit his lip hard as the dream swamped his mind’s eye. Sora knew the sorrow of losing friends and he knew the sadness of saying goodbye, but he didn’t know the anguish of never seeing them again… or the pain of learning that the friendship was a mere illusion. Roxas’ three best friends, while real in one Twilight Town, had just been data in a world solely created to contain Roxas. Sora felt the guilt building up inside himself. Axel had been Roxas’ only true friend, and that friendship had been wiped out of Roxas’ memories. Axel no longer existed either, having died to help Sora.

“I’m sorry,” Sora whispered as he began to pull on his school uniform. “I should’ve done something to help him.”

But should haves were no good. Sora had to do something.

School satchel slung over one shoulder, Sora left his room and descended into the kitchen, where his mother was drinking fruit juice and reading the morning paper.

“Morning,” he greeted in a dejected tone.

“Goodness, you’re up early,” Tomoyo commented, her bright blue eyes watching her son closely. “I was expecting to drag you out of bed.”

“Mm.” And Sora set about making himself breakfast.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Tomoyo knew something other than the impending return to school was bothering her son.

“Bad dream.”

Tomoyo frowned, remembering only too well the dreams Sora had had before he had disappeared. “Do you want to stay home today? You can always go back to school tomorrow.”

My summer vacation is over...

Sora turned away, keeping his back to his mother as he made himself some toast. “No, it’s okay. I’ll go today.”

“Are you sure?”

He poured himself a glass of juice. “Certain.”

“Okay, but come home early if you don’t feel well or…”

“I’m fine Mom, really.” He looked at her over his shoulder, offering a meagre smile. “It was just a nightmare…” that had been reality for his other self… It was no good. He had to get out the house. “You know what? I’m even gonna go to school early.” Sora downed the rest of his juice and grabbed his toast off the plate. “I could use a long morning walk.”

Tomoyo passed him some munny for lunch. “Will you be straight home after school?”

“I think so. Kairi said she had netball practise and Riku’s got extra classes ‘cause his exams are coming up.” Sora slipped the munny into a pocket. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

Tomoyo didn’t let Sora leave until she’d straightened his school tie. “You’re growing so fast. I’ll bet you’ll need a whole new uniform next month.”

“Yeah, probably.” Sora had added another inch to his height since returning to his world, and his growth spurt showed no sign of slowing down. He still wasn’t as tall as Riku, and being taller than him was the aim, so Sora would be growing for a while yet. “Anyway, see you later. Have a nice day Mom.” And off Sora went.

The morning air was pleasantly warm. None of the other worlds Sora had visited could compare to Destiny Islands’ wonderful mornings. Twilight Town’s afternoon’s had come close but…

Thinking of that world sparked off a thought in Sora’s mind. He wondered if the idea dancing in his mind would work. Feeling hopeful, Sora hurried on. Intent on going for a long walk, he took a detour down to the beach. The plan in his mind developed a little further. Sora was sure it would cheer him up a bit. Him… himself… his other self… both his selves… ah, whatever!

The beach store was open, the owner known to be up with the sun even if his customers weren’t. “Hello Sora,” Mr Maaru said as Sora entered. “Goodness, haven’t you grown!” It was a comment Sora and Riku were both having to put up with, with differing levels of patience (Riku had threatened to set fire to the next person who commented on either his height or his hair). “I haven’t seen you in…” and Mr Maaru threw up his hands, unable to specify the date.

“Over a year,” Sora provided politely as he headed to the freezer. “I’ve been travelling.”

“Must’ve been quite a journey to keep you gone so long.”

“Oh, you know, lots to do and see…” And lots of sleep to be had… Sora reached for the ice cream. “But I’m home now.”

Not many people knew the real reason for Sora and Riku’s long absences from the islands. The cover story was they had gone to explore all the islands but gotten a little lost along the way. Other than Kairi, only Sora and Riku’s parents knew the full details. The truth had been especially hard for Riku to share but he had told his family everything and come through no less loved than before. In fact, Riku’s parents seemed to love their son more than ever, eternally grateful he had returned to them. Sora’s mom had taken his adventure in her stride as well; even the part about Roxas, Sora mused as he paid for his two sea-salt ice creams and headed onto the sand.

“Even if you can’t be with Hayner, Pence and Olette, you’re not alone Roxas,” Sora said aloud as he kicked off his shoes, rolled up his blue and white school trousers and stepped into the water. He unwrapped both blue ice creams, licking them alternatively. “One for both of us.” A faint grin passed over his face. “Don’t gobble yours all at once.”

Sora lost himself in thought, the ocean waves washing past him and the sun he faced bathing him in warm light. His sadness gave way to tranquillity. He thought about everything that had happened, and all the things that could happen in the future. The Keyblade was still with him, two in fact – but he could only hold the second when he used his Drive ability. He’d said it before – as long as the Keyblade stayed with him, his fight wouldn’t be over. Sora summoned the Keyblade. Yes, it was still there. He let it fade away. The future… what lay ahead? Sora shrugged and sucked his ice cream bar. No point worrying about it.

“But it would be nice to remember why I went to sleep for a year,” Sora mused aloud. “Ansem’s report didn’t really made it any clearer…”

“You should ask Naminé.” Roxas’ ghostly form appeared alongside Sora, the sea washing straight through him. “She’ll be able to tell you.”

Rather than jumping in shock, Sora was grinning as he finished off one ice cream and set about eating the last of the other. “That is so cool Roxas! You should come out more often so we can scare people!”

“It’s not easy you know,” Roxas sighed, holding a hand to his head in mock despair. “Is scaring people really the most important thing?”

“Yeah totally! It’s fun! We can creep up on people in dark hallways at school and then you can, like, pop out and scare ‘em!” Sora laughed at the prospect, feeling entirely uplifted. “Roxas, we’re gonna have so much fun!”

Roxas couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Is this your way of cheering me up?”

Sora winked. “It’s working, isn’t it?” He felt better, so that meant Roxas felt better. They had the same heart after all.

“I guess…” Roxas looked up at the sky as well, watching the birds fly across the flawless blue canvas. “…Who do you wanna scare first? Got any bullies like Seifer around?”

“Oooh you might be on to something there…” And Sora held a thoughtful finger to his lip. “Hm…”

Roxas sighed. “From Organization XIII to scaring high school bullies. I’ve come down in the world.”

Their eyes met, identical smiles on their faces.

“It’s not all bad.” Sora bit off the last of his ice cream. “At least you’ve still got sea salt ice lollies.”

“Heh, I guess you’re right.”

“Just don’t expect me to eat them all the time.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Sora turned around and began walking back to shore. “And you’ve still got Naminé, right? And all my friends are your friends, you know that.”

“How come I didn’t get some of your optimism?”

Sora tugged his shoes back on. “You’ll just have to learn how to be optimistic. It’s easy, trust me. Just think of the good things that can happen rather than the bad things. Simple. Like…um…” he stood up and pulled his satchel over his shoulder once again. “Oh! Say there’s gonna be a storm. You’d have to think ‘well, okay, there’s a storm which means I can’t go outside without getting struck by lightning but at least I can watch it from inside and see how cool it looks.” Sora smiled back at Roxas. “See? It’s easy.”

“If you say so.” Roxas thought for a moment. “I’m not alone.” And he faded away with a smile, leaving Sora to face the sun.

The End.

This story so totally changed halfway through. Sora refuses to angst for long and he dragged Roxas into a good mood too. I hope Roxas was in character! This was my first attempt at writing him.

Thanks fo reading:D