Holy fizzle. 50 chapters. We’ve come a long way. (-feels sudden need to sing Rockafella Skank-) Thank you all so, so, much. To every reader, to the dedicated reviewer and to everyone who has this story on their alerts list and haven’t looked at it in years, I thank you too.

By the way, I don’t own anything...and I know that I have to review all of your stories. After publishing this chapter, I’m going to be taking a hiatus from FF for awhile, m’kay? Leave a review telling me I need to review your story and when I get back here first thing I'll do is review, m'kays?

Angels in Flight: Eien no Tobira

Chapter 50: For Once I Know What it Feels Like

“Everyone has some kind of double name.” Zexion looked up at Sora, who still was a bit perplexed over his old name. Or rather, his really great grandfather’s old name. The violent Roxas backed off from the hyperactive Roxas, and was now standing there, his arms crossed and an angry look on his face for being interrupted

“Really?” Sora asked, blinking. Maybe it was some kind of disease or something. Like duplinameitis or something. Sora knew of Roxas’ problem with his double names, after all, he had said he had an alter ego named Ven, too, and there was that whole confusing ordeal that Sora didn’t want to get into about his brother stealing his real name and whatever. Roxas had told him many a time, but Sora never bothered to listen, care, and when he did both of those things, he never understood what the heck his alter ego was talking about.

“I have two.” Zexion said, “Ienzo and...” He turned a little red, mumbling something Sora couldn’t quite catch. Stepping closer to him and straining his ears, he heard Zexion mumble it again. But he couldn’t hear the indigo-haired boy!

The monotone Roxas, however, was happy to tell Sora what he wanted to know. “Aqua.” He said, alerting Zexion’s attention as everyone burst out laughing except. After the laughter died out, Sora wiped a tear from his eye and looked to Zexion.

“Is it really?” He asked. Zexion looked like he was about to explode and punch somebody. Oh wait, he always looked like that. Sora was really curious as to how Zexion had gotten that name. He wasn’t a...Sora’s eyes widened before one of the Roxases(they all looked alike, Sora couldn’t tell!) smacked him and told them that Zexion wasn’t, at any point of any of his lives, a female.

“Well,” The indigo-haired boy snapped, obviously not liking his name, “Axel’s is Terra, so shut up!” He glared at everyone, but lightened up when laughter filled the air once more.

“Oh man, oh man, you crack me up.” Sora wiped a tear from his eye yet again, “If he wasn’t in the hospital--”

“He’s in critical condition.” Larxene, one of the few who hadn’t laughed about Axel’s other name snapped, “I’m sure you laughing at him won’t make him feel better.”

“Is Axel that badly hurt?” The Roxases asked simultaneously. Axel must be all of their friends. What a lucky guy.(sarcasmnotintended)

The human Roxas asked if he could see him, the machine Roxas seconded the request by nodding his head, and the angel Roxas began to panic. “OH NO!” He cried, placing a hand on his forehead dramatically, “How am I ever going to live without my best friend?! Ohmygoshohmygosh, this is absolutely DREADFUL! What are we,” Motioning all three of the Roxases, “going to do when he dies?! More importantly, what am I going to do?”

Larxene growled, lightning cackling in her hands. However, the little girl started to pull on her leg and said, “Mommy! Don’t get mad again, pwease!”

Everyone(except Luxord and monotone Roxas, but that was a given) looked absolutely shocked. They looked to the little three-year-old, back to Larxene. Finally, the angel Roxas could only say stupidly, “YOU HAVE A KID?!”

“I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Shi--”Larxene glanced back to her daughter then said, “Crap happens. Life sucks. Get over it before I make you!”

“Wait. Her name is Lightning?” Sora asked, and the little girl nodded. ‘Oh...so back when we overheard Larxene...she must be having a hard time raising that little girl all on her own. No wonder she supposedly ‘hates’ Reno. He’s had a perfect life, living in a comfy cushion while she works to the bone for her kid.’

“I’m Wightning!” Lightning said, pointing to herself. It was cute, Sora thought, how she pronounced words with that little ‘baby accent’ as he liked to call it. “Who’s you?” She asked, pointing to Sora.

“I’m Sora.” Sora said, pointing to himself. Lightning smiled, a smile almost rivaling his own. Not to be conceited, but Sora thought his grin was trademark and no one could copy it. Maybe Roxas if he tried, but other than that, no.

“Sowa is a pwetty name!” Lightning said, going over to Larxene and tugging on her cloak, “Momma, his name is Sowa!”

Larxene smiled(they were all surprised when they saw her smiling) and knelt down, saying, “Go tell Sora it’s nice to mee--” She froze, in the middle of her sentence, when they all heard a voice. No, not just a voice, but three. Three that the trio of Roxases could identify: Reks, Vaan, and Naminé. It was curious, how the three Roxases acted when they knew she was coming.

“Naminé’s here! YAAAY I LOVE HER!” Angel Roxas shouted, skipping around in happiness. He started to sing a little love song, then shut up and hummed the rest of the tune, going on about how great she was. “Naminé, Naminé, Naminé...”

The human Roxas had a very sublime smile on his face. “Naminé...” His eyes were completely lit up with joy. Although angels were supposed to spread joy and love, just looking at the human Roxas’ expression, and his tone was enough to make anybody’s day.

“That girl...” The last Roxas growled, clenching his fist, “I will kill her and make sure she’s screaming every minute of it.” Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, Sora deciding to take action. If Roxas knew that one half(er, quarter?) of him killed Naminé, he would spiral into depression and therefore make Sora depressed. And Sora didn’t want to sink into the sadness of life!

“Okay, angry Roxas, please come with me. You too, angel Roxas. Get over here!” Sora grabbed the machine Roxas and the angel Roxas by the collar and dragged them away. The human Roxas acted the most like the real Roxas, although he sounded more like Sora than the angel Roxas, who sounded a lot like the actual Roxas. This was all so confusing with which Roxas held an aspect of the real Roxas, Sora’s head was starting to spin. Shoving the two Roxases in a nearby closet, hoping that wouldn’t prove disastrous results. Quickly rushing over to the scene that was going to take place between Naminé and the human Roxas, the confrontation everyone was eagerly awaiting for.

The three siblings arriving at the waiting room, Sora quickly mouthed to everyone to ‘act natural’. Doing so, they didn’t notice any reaction until Reks spoke, “Hello everybody.” Pretending to be surprised by seeing them, they all gave the three their own greeting. Roxas’, however, was the most unique.

“Ah.” He got up and bowed, “Your Rightful Highness Princess Naminé, it is a pleasure to see you once more.” Sora slapped his forehead. How could he forget the human Roxas’ one major flaw! He still thought it was back in the olden time, back two thousand years ago! ‘Oh god, they’re going to think he’s insane...’ Sora thought, ready to say that he was feeling really sick today, when Reks replied.

“How did you know?” He asked. That shocked all of them. How would Reks know about Naminé’s(albeit) tragic past? He may be her brother, but he wasn’t a seer. Or maybe he was. These days, no one knew.

“How did I know?” Roxas repeated, blinking. “I’m sorry, are you undercover?”

Vaan and Reks exchanged glances. They then grabbed the poor human Roxas and dragged him over to where no one could see them. However, they did hear the occasional ‘SHH!’ and ‘Don’t tell!’ Which only piqued their curiosity, wondering what the brothers could possibly be telling the human Roxas. Sora thought it would be best to try and extract the information out of his ‘brother’ later, as Sora didn’t know where his memory was going to go after all three Roxases joined up again. A few interminable moments later, a very dazed and confused human Roxas was dragged back into the waiting room by the brothers.

“What was that about?” Naminé asked, giggling slightly, “If you can call me Princess, Ven, then I get to call you my knight!”

“Ven...?” Roxas asked, turning around to Sora, “I’m not Ve--”

“Hey, would you look at the time!” Sora said, laughing loudly to cover up what the human Roxas had inquired about, “Come on, Ven, let’s go see Axel!” Grabbing Roxas’ hand and dragging him one way, glancing at Larxene to see a slight nod to let him know he was going in the right direction. After all, he didn’t want to seem like an idiot(too late) and go the wrong direction. Grabbing ‘Ven’ and pulling him along the many rooms, looking at the tags.

‘Shinra, Reno.’ “Aha! Here it is!” Sora said, throwing a triumphant fist in the air. A nurse walking nearby ‘shhh’ed him and he apologized silently. Walking inside Reno’s room, the human Roxas gasped. Reno was completely unconscious, and oxygen mask over his mouth. He was hooked up to all these kinds of machines and even a bag of blood. He had lost a lot of it, so he probably needed a blood donor. Of course, Sora was just pointing out the obvious, since why else would a bag of blood be in the room unless some nurse decided to randomly leave it hooked up to Reno because she was either sadistically evil and morbid, or sadistically evil and morbid and had the mindset of Larxene.

“This is all my fault.” Roxas said quietly, frowning, “If I were never alive, this would never have happened...”

“Dude, if you were never alive, then NONE of us would be here. Seifer wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be here, Olette wouldn’t be here, Reno wouldn’t have an adopted father, Axel would dead...” Sora said, crossing his arms, “The reason we’re all alive is because of you. And if it weren’t for you, Naminé would be dead.”

Roxas gasped, looking absolutely crestfallen. Sora thought he would be happy about this announcement that he had caused Naminé to be alive. “No...it...it wasn’t me. I couldn’t do anything for her. When he killed her...I was powerless. I never do anything right. Ever since I saw the Princess, my dream was to become her knight. Then...my life became twisted and...it’s all my fault!”

“If you say ‘It’s all my fault’ one more time, I am going to slap you.” Sora said threateningly, but human Roxas showed his valor and glared right back at Sora, whom almost flinched.

“Brother, you will do no such thing.” Sora was surprised when Roxas said this. What happened to the shy and inferiority complex-inflicted Roxas? He was showing his bravery, a trait that shone through on the real Roxas.

“Really...?” Sora asked, raising an eyebrow.

“A-Ah,” Roxas gasped and shook his head, “I’m sorry. That was out of place.”

“Right...” Sora was about to say something, when they heard an ear-piercing scream. Roxas, a panicked look on his face, immediately bolted out of the room. Sora followed, closing the door behind him, both arriving at the waiting room in record time.

Everyone was at their feet in the room. Hayner seemed to be conjuring up some kind of spell, and Zexion and Luxord were holding back the machine Roxas from lashing out at Naminé. Larxene was in the back of the room away from the fighting, with Lightning in her arms. The angel Roxas was with her, looking horrified. Naminé’s were in front of her, and the girl herself looked quite shocked.

“Naminé!” The human Roxas shouted, immediately going to her side, “Your Highness, are you alright?” He asked, sounding a little panicked.

“W-What’s going on?” She asked. Everyone was concentrated on them, since Zexion and Luxord had a tight handle on the machine Roxas, and Hayner had cast a binding spell on the violent machine.

“Open your eyes, Your Highness, and you’ll see.” The human Roxas was being bold. Which is something the normal Roxas was, but Sora couldn’t tell why the human Roxas had an inferiority complex that just flipped on and off like a light switch.

“But I have...” Naminé reached up to her bandages.

“Then don’t.” Reks and Vaan turned around when Roxas said this, watching as he pulled her bandages off of her eyes. Everyone was watching, wondering what her reaction would be. Immediately her hands flew up to her mouth, her pale blue eyes widening, and filling with tears.

Looking to Roxas, he just smiled softly and said, “You can see, right?” She nodded, looking shocked, as if she couldn’t believe it herself.

‘No wonder...’ Sora thought, ‘Roxas didn’t heal her blindness because she wasn’t blind.’ He crossed his arms, wondering why Naminé would pretend being blind. Obviously someone would know if they were blind or not, so it was a mystery as to why she was looking quite perplexed.

“Roxas, I...” Naminé started, then gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. Everyone looked surprised as well, except for those that didn’t care.

“You knew!” Sora spluttered, his eyes as wide as his gaping mouth, “All this time, you knew!” He looked to a slightly guilty Naminé, then at everyone else. He couldn’t believe this!

Before Sora could continue on his rant, the machine Roxas yelled, “Of course she knew! She’ll do anything to hurt me!”

Naminé looked shocked at this accusation. Her hands immediately flew up to her mouth, and she shook her head, “No, you don’t understand, Roxas! I didn’t mean to--”

“Yes!” He snarled, interrupting her, breaking out of the hold the two Student Council members had him in, “You gave me this stupid, accursed life! I hate this! I hate you! If it weren’t for you, I...I would never be like this!”

“Peace, peace.” The human Roxas said, stepping inbetween ‘Her Highness’ and the angry Roxas. “Your life is not stupid or accursed.”

“Says you!” Angry Roxas snapped, lunging forward, but the human Roxas stepped out of the way out of reflex, and the angry Roxas stopped in his tracks. “Heh, all we really are just pieces of meat; playthings for those in Heaven to look down upon us and laugh at us and our miserable lives...”

“Why must you say such things??” Angel Roxas stepped towards them, his hand clutched to his heart, “Life is wonderful and beautiful! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping...what more of a reason could they give us to be alive?”

It was at this time, Hayner finished casting his spell. Words seemed to flow out of his book, written in an unknown language. They wrapped around the machine, constricting any movement. “Sora,” Hayner spoke, “All three Roxases are here; but I can’t perform any high-level spell that would merge them until you find your darkside.”

“But it could be anywhere in Twilight Town!” Sora said, frowning, “I doubt you can keep your hold on that spell until I find it!”

“Then,” Hayner said, taking a deep breath, “You guys better get moving, huh?”

“Yes, we should find brother’s darkside as soon as it’s possible.” Human Roxas said, nodding. Everyone stood up, once more looking to Sora for guidance. And this time, there was no Larsa to command.

“Alright, then...” Sora sighed, then said, “Naminé, Reks, Vaan, you’ll be search party number one. Larxene, Luxord, and Lightning, make up search party number two. Perky and normal Roxas are coming with me, and Zexion--” Sora paused, remembering when he had criticized Zexion for not being able to fight, and then cringed slightly, continuing, “You stay here with Hayner in case the spell breaks when I get back. Everyone okay?”

One outrageously obnoxious matrix-like ‘nooooo’ came from none other than the perky Roxas. Honestly, Sora felt like he was going to have to slap his ANNOYING alter ego’s perkier side. “WHY are you unhappy, angel Roxas?”

“B-Because!” The angel Roxas wailed, dropping to his knees and beginning to crawl over to his favorite blonde(no, not Larxene), “I want to be with the sunshine in my life! I cannot survive without Naminé!”

Sora opened his mouth to tell him to shut up, but got interrupted by the angel Roxas’ wailing. He huffed and said, “Fine then. Angel Roxas, go with Naminé.”

But to this, the human Roxas did not seem to favor. “B-B-But brother! I wish to be with Her Highness as well!” He clasped his hands together and gave Sora a begging look. The brunette sighed in irritation. But Naminé seemed to be enjoying the attention...

“Fine! Then Naminé can come with us.” Sora decided. However, this made a certain pair of brothers angry.

“We’re not leaving Naminé with a bunch of pubescent, stupid, hormonal boys.” Reks said, and Vaan nodded, before really getting what he said. In fact, it took all of the males to think over Reks’ word choice.

Simultaneously, all of the ‘pubescent, stupid, hormonal boys’ said, “Hey!”

Sora added, “You were a pubescent, stupid, hormonal boy once too!”

Reks laughed at this and grabbed onto Naminé’s shoulder as if to keep her from going with both Roxases and Sora, “Exactly why I don’t want to leave her alone with you three. Especially,” He glanced at the angel Roxas, who was practically crying a river and clinging onto Naminé’s leg(and judging by the girl’s expression, she thought it was quite freaky), “Him. I think the other one is too quiet to do anything, but I don’t know.”

“Riiiight...” Sora scratched his head, then sighed as he came up with the only solution possible to him, “I guess search groups one and three will merge, then.”

“Good,” Reks said, as they all began to walk out of the hospital as hastily as you could walk out of a hospital without being yelled at, “You need to tell me why that Ven...Roxas...person hates my little sister, too. And why there's three of them...”

“Oh, right...” Sora breathed. Did he mention how he hated explaining long, confusing, and complicated stories such as these? Not to mention the fact that he really didn’t understand it all himself...

-

It seemed like hours. And hours. And hours. Of explaining, of searching, of explaining and searching, and answering Reks’ questions. Oh, and, explaining and searching some more. Reks and Vaan didn’t seem to understand the situation, and their search for Sora’s darkside had turned up with nothing. They had searched every single nook and cranny, turned the whole town upside down, yet still found nothing. Sora was starting to lose hope. He feared that he was going to be stuck with that unbearably perky angel Roxas. (Though it was amusing to hear and see both Roxases attempts to steal Naminé’s attention)

Sora, Reks and Vaan were busy having intelligent conversation in front of their little group. A couple of feet behind them, the two Roxases were trying to get Naminé’s eyes on them. Occasionally the Roxases would break out into a mini-fight, but the blonde peacemaker they were fighting over normally solved it within a minute. Sora thought it was intensely annoying, but apparently Naminé was enjoying it, by the way she would giggle whenever either said something to her. Constantly would Sora roll his eyes and make with his hands a talking motion. It was annoying him. Finally, Sora threw his hands up in the air out of exasperation and said, “I give up! I think my darkside ran off somewhere and we’ll never be able to find him and I’ll be STUCK living with them and I’ll have an eternal fight in my home and then Kairi will never want to be with me because she’ll think that I’m a barbarian and then I--”

Reks cut off his pessimistic to-be soliloquy of what was going to happen to him. “Did you say Kairi? That was the girl you were dancing with, right?”

“Yeah.” Sora laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as a blush spread amongst his cheeks. That party had been such bliss--but then it ended up so wrong! It was not supposed to have turned out like that! For Olette’s sake, he needed to get Roxas back in one piece so they could really give Seifer some payback...although he was Riku and best friends shouldn’t have to fight!

“Then...” He looked at Sora and seemed to be in a contemplative mood, “You obviously care a lot for her, right?”

“Ri--” When Sora realized where Reks was going with this, his eyes widened. “No! No, no! God no! (At the mention of ‘God’, angel Roxas squeaked) He couldn’t have--!”

A frown upon everyone’s faces, Vaan was the one to say, “There’s only one way to find out.”

Like I stated before, I'll be taking a hiatus from fanfiction for awhile--to be more specific, this story. I'm not going to be publishing anything until this story is done; but I'm writing everything I want to publish later on Word. Which is why updates might not come for a whileas in...a WHILE...I know exactly how this story is going to end and everything, it's just that there are some kinks I haven't figured out yet. Like...how Roxas/Sora is actually going to defeat Seifer. I want it to be big and catastrophic, you know? I have a couple of ways...but they are all very sad and will make me cry. D: and I like happy endings! I know I'm a sucker for sad endings, and seriously, I have to get around to making a super tragic story one day...but not this one! Because you know...angels are always supposed to be happy and joyful(and...REALLY annoying as we find out) and yeah! An angel story is supposed to be happy!

So yeah, there's my little paragraph of wonders. See you all soon!...Hopefully. D