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[napple]

Title: Ice Breaker
Author: napple
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Pairings/Characters: Sora/Roxas
Rating: G
Word Count: 6876
Summary: Wherein Sora is separated from his friends and thrown into a frozen world essentially barren of life. He hates being alone. It's a good thing he isn't. Post-KH3D.
Notes: Dedicated to Eva.

Also available on AO3 here!


Sora had never been alone for so long. By high noon on the third day, he'd realized exactly how much he hated it, so much more than the ache of hunger in his stomach and the bite of the unforgiving wind against his exposed face.

The nice thing about his gifted outfit was that it had clearly been enchanted to protect him against any extreme climate he had to face, something he'd first discovered when climbing through the snowy mountains in The Land of Dragons. The terrain here reminded him a little bit of that world, if only for the knee-deep snow and dangerously steep cliffs, but the resemblances ended there. At least in The Land of Dragons, small encampments and villages were usually visible in the distance from the mountain peaks. Sora had hit what he thought must have been a fairly high plateau the first day he'd touched ground on this world, and below, all the way to the horizon, there had been nothing but an expanse of dense forest blanketed in white. There was nothing to indicate so much as a hint of civilization at all.

In fact, the only living creature he'd even seen was what he thought was a large bird taking off from the one of the mountaintops the first day he'd arrived. Pinning his hopes on the chance that he might have been able to communicate with it, he'd tried to wave it down, had even jumped off the nearest cliff and glided as far as he could across the rocks to get its attention, but no dice. Two days and countless miles later with no other creature in sight, he was beginning to convince himself he might have imagined it.

At this point, Sora would have even taken a few rowdy Heartless for company, and if that wasn't a sad thought he wasn't sure what was. The fact that the Heartless had apparently chosen to avoid this world further suggested the possibility that there were simply no hearts there to steal—none except his, at least, and that sure as heck wasn't happening. It was not a reassurance he particularly liked, most especially when he thought of how much of a waste it was for him to be trudging about aimlessly across an empty land, when there were still so many worlds out there that were falling deeper into the Darkness every day he wasn't there to help.

Great. And he'd just managed to distract himself from that upsetting thought, too.

Sora blew out a frustrated breath and kicked at the snow. Like just about everything he'd done in the past few days, it didn't do anything to help the situation. He had no idea what would. If he was really good at anything, though, it was holding on to hope, and it was the resolution to do just that that kept him trucking onwards.

Not for the first time, he considered using fire magic to clear a path in front of him, but he knew the energy he'd be expending to cast the spell wasn't worth the energy he'd be theoretically saving. It was tempting only because his legs had been protesting all day from the consistent beating they'd been taking the past forty-eight hours, and he felt weaker every time he thought about how long it had been since his last meal. The only edible things he had in his possession were a few Hi-Potions, Ethers, and Elixirs, all of which he knew he needed to hold on to in case he ran into trouble and got physically hurt.

So he resigned himself to the hunger and lived off handfuls of snow that he could only hope was as clean as it looked. With any luck, the Gummi Ship would come shooting down from the sky to rescue him, and he'd be shovelling down a huge platter of hot food (courtesy of Disney Castle) with Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy by nightfall.


*


By nightfall, Sora was approximately ten miles further along in his quest, and everything around him looked exactly the same as it had ten miles back, except darker.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Sora announced to the frigid air, words accompanied with a puff of mist that seemed to taunt him with escape as it floated away and disintegrated. His voice was rough with disuse and dehydration, and it sounded stranger than ever to his own ears. "I've been going in a circle. There's no other explanation. I've been going in a big circle this whole day. Argh!"

In a fit of annoyance, Sora summoned the Keyblade and threw it at the wall of rock ahead of him. He'd apparently been angrier than he thought, because the rock cracked and partly crumbled, and the Keyblade rebounded off the impact and flew back into his hand as he stared in surprise at the small fissure he'd created.

It was almost too good to be true, but Sora was too tired to question it, and he jogged over to the wall, hacking at it a few more times until he'd cleared away a hole just large enough for him to clamber through.

He knew he shouldn't have been optimistic enough to think there'd be anything like the remains of an old fire or camping equipment or anything indicating previous inhabitants, but he was still disappointed when he held the Keyblade up for light and couldn't see anything but rocks and ice. The space seemed to open up into a small tunnel that, judging from the smooth and rounded walls, probably wasn't man-made. Sora figured it must have carried water through the mountains a very long time ago, back when the climate wasn't freezing, which meant there was a good chance it led to an exit of some sort.

Of course, there was also a chance the entire thing would cave in and he'd end up trapped alone and lost forever, but this wasn't his first extremely creepy and dangerous-looking tunnel and he thought the odds were on his side. Anyway, it was either this or another long day spent tracing his own footprints in the snow outside, and to Sora, it was a no-brainer.

But he'd leave all of that for later, he decided, as he spotted an area on the floor of the cave that looked as good as it would get for a nap. The Keyblade faded away once more, leaving him in total darkness, and Sora dropped down to the ground and fell into a dreamless sleep.

When he awoke a few hours later, he wasn't alone.

It took him a minute to realize it, but there was most definitely something else taking slow, even breaths in the small cave, and the only reason Sora was even sensitive enough to hear it was the fact that he'd craved picking up on another sign of life for what seemed like years to him at this point.

Heart hammering in his chest, because it really could have been any number of living creatures that dwelled in a cave and he wasn't naive enough to think all of them were friendly, he climbed to his feet and kept his back to the wall, and whispered, "Hello?"

The breathing stopped, and there was silence, and then finally, a soft response. "Sora?"

The voice was familiar, but too low for him to pin it down, and it was all the cue Sora needed to summon the Keyblade and hold the light up in the direction of the sound.

"Roxas!" he said incredulously, unintentionally loudly, and the name echoed through the tunnel.

Roxas was sitting against the wall in a position identical to Sora's before he had woken up, looking much the same as he always had. The last time Sora remembered seeing him was when he'd been asleep, in that strange crumbling version of The World That Never Was, and it was only when he realized this that he wondered if he was dreaming.

"You're not," Roxas said, sounding confused and tired and not all that sure of his own words. "You're not asleep, I mean. I don't think so, anyway."

Now that Sora was more awake, Roxas did look a little different. Most notably, there were bags under his eyes, and he seemed paler and—faded, sort of. Not to the point of being ghostly, as he had been the first time they'd met face to face, but he seemed fuzzy around the edges, as if his body couldn't make up its mind on whether he was truly there or not.

"But then how are you—" Sora gestured vaguely with his left hand. "How are you here?"

"I have no idea," said Roxas, and he climbed up and glanced around the cave for seemingly the first time, looking just as nonplussed as Sora felt. "But in our dreams—your dreams, it's different. It feels... safer, because it's inside your heart. It doesn't feel that way now. I—" He hesitated, and Sora didn't interject. "I feel like how I felt before I joined with you. It's been so long that I can't be completely sure, but I can't explain it any other way."

"You can do that?" asked Sora, stunned.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Roxas defended. "I'm honestly just as puzzled by this as you are."

"I'm not mad," Sora said quickly, because Roxas was looking kind of guilty and that wasn't right. "I'm just—I'm just really surprised. If you're really here, I mean, and I'm not just going crazy."

Roxas looked down at his gloved hands, as if to verify to himself that he was real, and the next thing Sora found himself doing was reaching out to take them. He could feel the warmth beneath Roxas' skin even through the two layers of material, and he was sure he hadn't been able to feel that last time. It was surreal, but in a good way.

"I can't believe this is happening," said Roxas, still staring down at their clasped hands.

"I knew it would happen one day," said Sora, and maybe he didn't but it felt like he should have.

Roxas looked back up with a small frown, finally dropping his hands out of Sora's grasp. "But we can't know if this is the real deal. Especially when we don't even know where we are. This entire world could be one big illusion. It isn't like we haven't seen that happen before."

Sora knew it was true, and he hated that. But in the end, he thought it would hurt Roxas a lot more to believe he'd been given another chance at his own life, only to have it ripped away from him again. It was best for the both of them to keep their heads on straight and take this situation with a grain of salt.

Still.

"For what it's worth, though," said Sora, with the most genuine smile he'd been able to muster up in a long while. "I'm glad. It was getting pretty lonely out here." He still didn't really know how it worked, but he wondered if Roxas had looked through his eyes and felt the same way.

Something in Roxas' expression seemed to soften, and he reached out and placed his hand flat on Sora's chest, over his heart.

"Sora, you never needed to worry. You're never alone."

Everything seemed a lot easier after that.


*


Sora's original plan hadn't changed with Roxas' sudden physical presence. His Nobody—his Other, Sora reminded himself firmly—seemed perfectly fine with going along with the idea he had about following the tunnel for a way out of the mountains. They discovered early on that Roxas could still summon his own Keyblade, and the additional light was invaluable in helping them know where to duck and where to jump.

Sora also took this opportunity to talk to Roxas as much as he can, because every time they'd met so far it had been during an incredibly dire situation, usually with a time limit. It was nice, having the chance to properly get to know someone who had been a part of him for so long now. They talked about their favourite spells, the pros and cons of different Keyblades, the people they'd met in all the different worlds, and even their favourite colours. They exchanged funny and weird stories from their separate adventures, and even if Sora was so sure that Roxas must have been 'awake' for many of the stories he told, he still seemed interested in what Sora had to say about them.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" asked Sora, moving in close to squint at Roxas' face for the third time since they'd started walking.

"Same as twenty minutes ago, Sora," said Roxas, waving Sora's Keyblade away when it got too close to his face. "Just tired and hungry. If you're wondering, you don't look that great either."

"You know..." Sora began, but too late did he realize he was falling back into the realm of assuming this whole thing was permanent, and he hesitated.

"What?" Roxas glanced back at him from where he'd taken a few steps ahead to scope out a turn in the tunnel, but didn't stop walking.

Well, there was nothing for it.

"I really hope Lea gets to see you at least a little," said Sora cautiously.

Roxas stilled, and Sora didn't know if it was fatigue or not that made him seem a little fuzzier around the edges, like an image out of focus. It seemed he didn't need to ask who Lea was, which begged the question of whether or not Roxas had been awake every time Sora had spoken to him.

"A lot of things have happened," said Roxas after a pause, and his form disappeared around the bend.

Sora quickly caught up. "What do you mean?"

"Did you have trouble talking to Riku? After the first time you guys got to meet up back in The Castle That Never Was?"

"No," said Sora without missing a beat, because he hadn't. The idea of having problems talking to Riku hadn't even occurred to him, because they both might have changed a lot over the past few years, but at heart Riku was Riku and Sora was Sora, and sometimes it really was as simple as that.

"I guess it's different with you anyway," Roxas acquiesced. "But Lea is whole now. I don't really know him anymore, when you think about it. I knew Axel. But even with Axel, it's been a long time, and the last time I really said anything to him..." He trailed off, clearly reluctant to continue down that path.

Sora had thought, at first, that Roxas would be excited at the prospect of seeing his old friend again after so long. It seemed now that the situation was a lot more complex than that, and he probably should have taken that into consideration before bringing any of it up.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't think it would be weird."

"You don't have to apologize. Who knows? I might be making a big deal out of nothing, too. Maybe it'll be fine. We could be friends. There's no reason we can't be." Roxas offered a small smile, and Sora returned it, relieved.

"I'm sure it'll work out," said Sora, but he dropped the subject all the same, and they walked quietly for a few minutes longer before Roxas decided to speak up again.

"Sora... thank you."

Sora glanced back in surprise and accidentally banged his shoulder against the wall. He winced and rubbed at it, but didn't forget that Roxas had said something. "Huh? What for?"

"For talking to me," said Roxas, and something about his expression—eyes open and honest, hints of the smile from before still lingering on his lips—sparked an odd constriction in Sora's chest. "I know you don't need to. We've shared memories and dreams and I'm sure there's not a whole lot more you don't know about me. But you're trying anyway, and... even if it isn't really for me, I appreciate it." He ducked his head and studied the ground. "Just thought I should thank you for that."

It was these words that forced Sora to realize that even though he knew now that he had never been as alone as he'd thought, the same could not be said for Roxas. No matter what Roxas could see or hear through Sora's eyes and ears—the smiles, the laughter, and the words were rarely for Roxas himself. The life Sora had was not the life Roxas had and never would be.

Sora was utterly incapable of imagining that loneliness, and he thought it must have been this, above all else, that separated the two halves from one another.

"You're welcome," said Sora, but the words felt distant, because he knew they were not enough.


*


The time of day was difficult to tell. It had been pitch dark when he'd awoken and found Roxas back at the start of the tunnel, and if Sora had to guess, he'd say they had been travelling for about six hours. If he was right, it was most likely mid-morning, and any exit to the tunnel would be easily visible for the next long while.

"Roxas," Sora began, "can I ask you something?"

"Isn't that what you've been doing this entire time?" Roxas pointed out, in good humour.

"Yeah, but," said Sora, hesitant.

"Sora, I'm not going to be mad at you no matter what you ask," said Roxas with a short exasperated sigh. "It would be really stupid if I was."

With the relief of that blessing, Sora went on. "Do you remember much about Twilight Town? Not—I mean, not just the things that happened there, but about the world itself."

Roxas seemed to take the topic surprisingly well. "I think so. Why?"

"Every time I'm there, I wonder about the sky. It's kinda weird, isn't it? That the sun stays in the same place? I mean, it must be neat," mused Sora. "Everyone loves the sunsets back on the Islands, because the ocean reflects off the sky and they both light up with all these different colours, and it's amazing. But I wonder if it really gives you the same feeling in a world where the sky never changes. Don't you start taking it for granted after a while?"

Roxas' expression falls pensive, and he's quiet for a moment as he thinks over his answer. "You know, I don't think I ever did. In all of the memories I have of growing up in that world, I'd wake up every single morning and look out my bedroom window at that sky. And every night, before bed, I'd do the same thing. I never once got sick of looking at it. I probably should have, but I didn't."

"That's really cool," said Sora, smiling gently. "You know, the people I've told about Destiny Islands, they've always thought it sounded really nice. And I mean, it is! I love the Islands. I don't think me and Riku and Kairi knew how lucky we were back when we were so set on leaving, but I'm glad we do now." He tilts his chin up and gazes up at the ceiling, even though there's nothing there. "Still... I wonder sometimes what it would have been like to grow up in a place like Twilight Town, or Radiant Garden. I wonder if I would have turned out a different person. It's too bad it's just one of those things you'll never get to find out, you know?"

"I think I'm starting to forget," whispered Roxas, so softly and so suddenly that Sora had to take a moment to process what he'd said.

"Forget about what?"

"About Twilight Town." Roxas stopped walking, lowering the Keyblade, and the wide radius of light around them dimmed. "And the funny thing is that I don't want to. Is that weird? I mean, they're fake memories of a life that never happened. I shouldn't want to keep something that isn't mine. But they are mine, in a way, and I feel like... I feel like if I let them go, I'll be leaving something else behind." His grip on the Keyblade tightened, then relaxed, and he pushed out a sigh. "No, nevermind, this is stupid. Forget—"

"Roxas," interjected Sora, "I don't think that's stupid at all. Those memories might be made up, but you know what isn't? Your feelings. You told me about watching the sky out your bedroom window, and just from the way you talked about it, I could tell how much you really miss it. When you feel something that strongly, who has the right to tell you that feeling isn't real? Who has the right to tell you that the memories you have don't deserve to be remembered?" Sora was so suddenly overcome by a pang of déjà vu that he almost forgot what he was talking about, and he had no idea where it could have come from. It was unsettling, but he had no choice but to assume it was just his brain acting funny. "So," he continued, forcing his thoughts back on track, "so if you really want to keep them, then we'll have to make sure you don't forget. Maybe if you tell me about it, I could remember it for you? Like a backup plan, if you get hit on the head too hard and everything just flies right out."

"You'd really do that?" Roxas asked quietly. "You don't have to. It doesn't really make a difference."

"You care, so it does," said Sora firmly.

And that was how Roxas ended up talking about Twilight Town. Some time later, Sora could have sworn that there were moments when Roxas appeared much more solid than before, as though the image had come back in focus and he was at the forefront.

That was how it should be, Sora thought.


*


"I think I narrowly avoided a pretty major love triangle, to be honest," Roxas was saying, and Sora grinned. "Give it another year or so and I probably would have been up to my neck in romance drama."

"Something I've never had to deal with," said Sora thankfully. "I still haven't been home long enough for Selphie to hunt me down and interrogate me about who I'm gonna marry."

"Like there's a single person on the island who doesn't know about your feelings for Kairi," said Roxas, subtle as always. "Not really worth an interrogation, in my opinion."

"Yeah, well," said Sora, because there was nothing he could say about that, either for or against. Roxas was probably the last person Sora would ever be able to lie to. "Even if I wasn't, you know, sixteen years old and two years behind in high school, duty comes first. I can't be settling down with anyone if there's still some world out there that needs saving."

"Until the Keyblade chooses someone else to do the job," Roxas pointed out. At the small frown that suddenly appeared on Sora's mouth, he added slowly, "But you don't want that to happen, do you?"

"I do and I don't," admitted Sora, lifting up the Keyblade and studying it closely. "I mean, there's always going to be people who can wield. There's already at least seven of us now. But I've been doing this for so long now that I have no idea what it'd be like to return to a normal life, once I'm not needed anymore. I don't think I could settle down back home, go to school every day, graduate and go look for a job. I have a job, and it's this." He gave the Keyblade a short wave, and a trail of sparks followed like soundless miniature fireworks. "Or maybe by the time this is all over I'll be so sick of all the fighting that I'll change my mind, and suddenly selling ice cream at the beach will seem like a dream come true."

Roxas only raised his eyebrows at him, and Sora sighed.

"There might be a happy medium between selling ice cream and saving worlds," said Roxas. "You could ask Goofy if there's an opening for another knight. Or the guys in Radiant Garden if they need any help on the Restoration Committee. If you have the ship, it might not be so hard to go back to the Islands every so often, too."

Sora hadn't honestly thought of that, and his face brightened. "Yeah! You're right. Those are great ideas. What do you think you'd want to do?"

Roxas took a moment to entertain the idea, and that was all Sora wanted to see. "I guess it could be cool to become a professional Struggler."

Sora was so immediately taken by surprise and delight that he laughed, loud and clear, and the sound echoed down the tunnel.

"You'd be a good one," he said, with a wide smile, still chuckling. "Don't forget to mail me an autographed postcard the second you get famous."

"I won't," said Roxas in what sounded like a promise, and Sora resolved to hold him to that.


*


The end of the tunnel came very suddenly and very steeply. Sora almost fell, and he was glad he had convinced Roxas to let him take point.

"Wow," he murmured, peering down what seemed like nature's idea of the last slide anyone would ever take a ride on.

"It must have been a waterfall at some point," suggested Roxas. "Which means that it's probably all ice below us."

Sora made a face. "I guess there's nothing to do but cross our fingers and jump."

He hesitated, because for a very brief moment he suddenly he wished he was alone—at least then he'd only have himself to worry about.

"Sora, stop that," muttered Roxas, and Sora would have jolted in surprise if they weren't standing at the top of a very high cliff. "I'll be fine. I can do whatever you can do, remember?"

Sora wanted to ask him how he did that—and he swore that there was another time Roxas had responded to something he hadn't said out loud—but this was not the place for that conversation. They'd wandered for so long in search of the exit, and now that they'd found it, there was no point in dilly-dallying.

"Alright," said Sora resolutely. "I'll go first. So if you fall—" Roxas looked annoyed, but Sora didn't give in, "if you fall, I'll be there to catch you. Okay?"

"Okay," said Roxas, probably fully aware that an argument would take an hour and go nowhere. "Just be careful."

"I will," promised Sora, and he dropped down and began climbing slowly down the decline. Too soon, he was at cliff's edge, and he took a deep breath and mentally steeled himself, before letting go.

He plummeted at least thirty feet before his gliding ability kicked in, and even after he was partially in control of the descent, he still felt like he was moving far too fast. He forced himself to spiral out, hoping to draw out gravity's unforgiving pull as much as he could, but the ground was coming closer and closer and he didn't seem to be slowing down at all.

"C'mon," he mumbled desperately to himself, to his body and his magic, willing them to find some way to let this trip end well. "Slow down, slow down!"

Sora squeezed his eyes shut shortly before he hit the ice, which wasn't so hard, and then instinctively gasped sharply as he hit the water, which was.

Freezing cold like he'd never felt before filled his chest, and the last thing Sora saw when he forced his eyes open again was a small circle of light above him that drifted higher and higher and eventually faded from view.


*


The sky was black and generously littered with stars when he came to, and he shouldn't have been surprised, but he felt like it had been high noon only seconds ago.

"Roxas!" he gasped, jerking up and looking around wildly. There were trees, and there was a fire very close by, which explained the warmth he'd been feeling on the one side, and if he turned around—

"Oh, you're awake," said Roxas, sounding and looking relieved.

He was sitting very near to where Sora's head had been resting moments ago, under which there'd been what looked like a block of snow covered in twigs. Before Sora could say much else, Roxas held out a familiar green bottle, and Sora accepted it. It was filled with warm water, and he felt approximately ten thousand times better after the last drop of liquid had gone down his throat.

"The good news is that we have a reliable source of water now," Roxas was saying as he handed Sora a second bottle that he'd been warming by the fire. "The bad news is that you're out of Potions."

"What happened?" asked Sora, only just now realizing how stiff his body felt and how croaky his voice was. He coughed and took another drink of water.

"Make sure you take deep breaths, Sora," Roxas warned quietly. "I tried to heal what I could, but I have no idea if your lungs are still in danger or not. Does it hurt?"

"No," said Sora honestly, but obediently making sure his breathing was deep and controlled. It was harder to take in air than it usually was, but he'd felt similar at high altitudes before. "What happened?" he prodded again, urgently.

Roxas kept his eyes on the fire and spoke quietly. "You hit the ice and kept going. I knew something had gone wrong, so I jumped down after you, but I aimed for the trees so the same thing wouldn't happen to me. With that charm—" he nodded at the ring on Sora's finger, which he'd failed to notice before— "I managed to get in and pull you out. And after that I just did what I could to keep you warm and alive until you were awake. I knew that you'd make it, though."

"I almost died," Sora said, feeling numb in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

"But you didn't," said Roxas.

"Because you saved my life," said Sora.

Roxas had nothing to say to that, and only nodded.

Sora didn't know what else he himself could say—thanking Roxas seemed both trite and not enough—so he scooted over and dropped his head against Roxas' shoulder, eyes half-closed as he watched the fire. Roxas tilted his head to rest against Sora's in turn, and Sora figured he must have still been in the process of healing, because there was nothing else to explain the sudden warmth that bloomed from his stomach and spread all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes.


*


The next time he blinked his eyes open, the fire had died out, but the snow surrounding them was gently illuminated by the light of the rising sun. It seemed another day had gone by, and Sora had spent most of it unconscious.

He straightened, belatedly realizing that he had spent the entire night with his neck at the same awkward angle, and it was protesting now. Roxas seemed to be in a similar state as he mumbled something sleepy and incoherent and rubbed at his neck.

"Can you get the fire started again?" he asked, after he'd stood up and stretched. "I'll go get water."

"Wait," Sora said, and he took the ring off his hand and held it out. "Take this."

Roxas looked as though he was about to argue, but he seemed to change his mind, taking the charm and slipping it on instead. He gathered up the two empty bottles, said, "Be back soon," and left in what Sora could only assume was the direction of the river.

Being left alone again, even so briefly, felt strange. But the crispness of the morning gave him energy, and he dutifully got to his feet, summoned the Keyblade and relit the fire. It blossomed to a lively flame easily, and Sora kneeled down, basking in the warmth.

He took this time to answer a question he'd had for a while now, and pointed his gaze in the direction Roxas had left, brow furrowing as he concentrated very hard on the mental image of a snowball. Sora only had to wait a few short minutes before Roxas came back into view between the trees, bottles held carefully to his chest.

"Sora," Roxas said in a skeptical tone of voice after he'd re-entered their makeshift campground. He set the bottles near the fire, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a handful of snow that he easily patted down into a lumpy ball. "Why did you want this? There's snow everywhere."

"You can hear me," Sora said in amazement. "You can hear my thoughts!"

"Oh," said Roxas. "That."

"So you knew?" asked Sora, finally taking the snowball off his hands.

"It didn't seem weird to me," said Roxas, with a helpless sort of shrug. "I mean... when we were joined, I could see and hear as much as I needed to. Your thoughts felt like my thoughts. It's different now. I get more of a gut feeling about it than the words themselves."

"That's so cool," said Sora, still fascinated. Roxas still seemed unconvinced that it was anything to make a fuss about, so he continued, "I mean, it could at least be really handy in battle. Imagine teaming up and coming up with all sorts of strategies that the bad guys would have no clue about!"

"That could be pretty cool," Roxas admitted, no doubt picturing the scene in his head.

"See," said Sora, and the side of his mouth quirked as he thought. "But I don't know if it goes two ways. I haven't been able to pick up anything from you, as far as I can tell."

"You might just not realize what you're feeling is what I'm feeling," said Roxas. "It's easy for me to tell the difference because I knew what was going on. Maybe you'll be able to pick it up better now that you know."

"You should think of something," Sora decided, tossing the snowball back and forth between his hands. "And I'll tell you if I know what you're thinking about."

Roxas gave him a weird look. Sora threw the snowball at him. It flew past his shoulder.

In spite of himself, Roxas cracked a smile. "I can't believe you missed. I'm standing two feet away."

"Like you could do better," Sora scoffed, mocking intent ruined by the grin on his lips.

And that was how they ended up having a snowball fight the day after Sora almost died.


*


Sora, covered in snow and laughing so hard his sides hurt, was starting to think this world wasn't so bad, even though he'd gone nearly five days without food and he was pretty sure he was at least partly delusional and that was why things were funnier than they had any right to be.

"You're thinking about coconut cream pie!" Sora announced, narrowly dodging a snowball as he dived into his terrible makeshift snow trench and rapid-fired his prepared pile of snowballs.

"I'm pretty sure you're the one thinking about coconut cream pie!" called Roxas, tossing over his own veritable army of snowballs.

They met in the middle and exploded in a cloud of white.

"Okay, I give," Sora groaned, turning over and falling back against the wall of his trench. He was finding it hard to breathe again, but he didn't want Roxas to worry, so he over-dramatized his defeat. "Too hungry to go on. Coconut cream pie sounds so good right now. Heck, I'd settle for banana cream at this point."

Roxas was already making his way over. He peered down into the trench, then climbed in and settled next to Sora. "Huh. It's pretty warm down here."

"Hey," whispered Sora, nudging Roxas with his shoulder. "Just because I surrendered doesn't mean you get to hang out at my base. Trespasser."

"That's exactly what surrendering means, genius." Roxas nudged him back. "I won the battle, so I won your base. Technically, you're the trespasser."

"Ugh." Sora slid down until his shoulders were sitting against the crook of the trench and closed his eyes. He could feel Roxas' eyes on him, so he mumbled, "I'm okay. Just tired."

"I can help you back over to the fire if you wanted to sleep for a while," said Roxas.

Sora briefly contemplated the offer, but shook his head. "No, I still wanna see if I can tell what you're thinking."

"You've been trying this whole time, and you haven't been right once."

"That's what they say to inventors right before they invent the next big thing, you know."

"Yeah, you're right. That's what they say to really smart people."

"Exactly."

"Exactly."

Sora aimed a weak kick at Roxas' foot, but the angle was all wrong, and all it managed to produce was a little flop, like a fish out of water that didn't really care all that much about being out of the water.

"Wow." Roxas sounded impressed. "I just narrowly escaped some very real danger there."

"You're a lot more sarcastic out here than in my head," said Sora.

"That's only what you assume," said Roxas. "You should be glad you can't hear what I'm thinking half the time in there."

"I'm going to one of these days," muttered Sora under his breath, peeking over to the side.

Roxas was resting against the trench wall in a similar position to Sora's, arms crossed over his chest, his own eyes closed. He hummed out a noncommittal sound in response to Sora's declaration and said nothing more.

Sora moved closer and tucked his head against Roxas' shoulder, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He wasn't sure whose it was.


*


When the monotony of the greyish blue expanse above him was broken through by a blast of colour, Sora thought he must have been dreaming, until he heard the incredibly familiar sound of propulsors echoing across the forest, getting louder and louder until he could make out the unique shape of what was definitely the Gummi Ship, barrelling down from the sky.

"Roxas!" he whispered, scrambling to his feet. Roxas was already awake and doing the same thing, and they both climbed out of the trench, waving their arms about wildly. "Hey!" Sora shouted. "Donald! Goofy! Over here!"

The ship turned and started hovering in a wide circle above their location, and Sora felt like he could cry in relief. A few minutes later, it sank below the treeline not too far away, and both Sora and Roxas couldn't run fast enough.

"You guys sure took your time!" panted Sora as they came upon the clearing the ship had landed in, and spotted Donald and Goofy climbing out.

"If someone hadn't forgotten the directions—" Donald was scolding Goofy, but a second later he was cut off by Sora's arms around his neck and he gave in and hugged back. "Aw, Sora."

Sora felt something hop on to his shoulder, and pulled back to smile widely at the cricket. "Hey, Jiminy. I really missed you guys."

"I'm just glad you're okay, Sora," said Jiminy, as he leaned against Sora's neck and patted his ear. "We never stopped looking for a minute."

"Gawrsh, Roxas, it's a surprise to see you here!" said Goofy in wonder, and they all turned to look at him.

Roxas looked as though he was having trouble knowing exactly what to say to that, and Sora didn't exactly blame him.

"I don't know how," said Sora, going back over to Roxas and exchanging a glance with him, "but Roxas showed up just when I needed him to. Think there's room on the ship for one more?"

"Of course there is," Goofy said brightly, clapping Roxas on the shoulder. "It's good to have you aboard, Roxas!"

"Thanks," said Roxas, and he grinned a little in return, because Goofy made it very difficult not to.

The next thing they all knew, Donald was hurrying them back into the ship. "Come on, come on! We have to go back to the castle and let everyone know we found you!"

Roxas was the last to board. Sora stood halfway out the door and extended his hand.

"Coming?" he said, and Roxas took it.

They rocketed up into the sky, and out of the corner of his eye, through the window, Sora saw the same large bird he'd spotted that first day, gliding back to the mountains, maybe to its nest. There was still so much he didn't know about this world.

"I think it'd be cool to come back here, after all of this is over," Sora said.

Roxas glanced over from the seat beside him, and Sora thought he had never seen Roxas so clear and there as he was in that moment.

"Yeah," said Roxas. "Let's come back someday."

The ship kicked into warp drive, blinked once, and disappeared.


fin.