@dcvotion ❤️’d for a starter from Sora!
How long had he been wandering? Lost to foreign streets and blazing fluorescent lights and a deep sense of estrangement? When had he last seen anyone? Heard a word or felt a presence? He had been little more than a ghost in an empty, modernized city for far too long.
There were bright sides, he supposed. There had been no darkness, even if there was no light. No enemies, even if there had been no friends. He was safe, as far as he could tell, traipsing through that hollow world with it soulless atmosphere, even if it always felt like he could sense the presence of others. Like seeing movement in one’s peripheral vision. Shadows within the world, itself.
He knew he wasn’t meant to be there. Had walked through a door, somehow, but had stopped halfway. As if he had nestled into a crawlspace in the walls of some old house. Maybe, he had thought at some point, he was just dreaming.
No. He was dead, wasn’t he? It had been the price he had paid for seeing through a mission he should never have gone on, but could never say no to. For Kairi. Always for Kairi. She had been safe, in the end; the memory of her bittersweet smile still held strong as he felt his consciousness fade before he had awoken in that strange in between cityscape.
It was worth it, he told himself to keep impending misery at bay. Chirithy had warned him, after all, and he had refused to listen. It was worth it, for her. For all of them.
And still....
He hoped, maybe, that someone would come and find him.
And then, he hoped that nobody would try. What would be the point if they all kept lining up to sacrifice themselves for one another? An endless chain of martyrs... Maybe Xigbar had been right, in the end. Not that Sora would ever regret what he had given up for those he loved, but...
He was tired.
There, alone, maybe he could finally rest. And everyone else would finally be safe.
Then he felt it. A familiar tug. An unexplained warmth. His lungs unbiddenly pulled in a sharp breath, like the first gasp of life. Blue eyes widened, almost frantic as they scanned the endless, empty streets. He knew that presence. The call of a light. The Light. Something so absent from that cold, hollow world.
He knew what it meant, and for a moment too long, he found himself torn. What did he feel? How should he feel?
What did you do, when you had spent so long feeling lost, and you finally might be found?
“Hello?” he called, tongue working almost against his will. Stupid, he thought to himself, even as the familiar shine of light persisted; who would possibly be there to hear you?
