Can You See Me Now?

Can you see me now?

Roxas jumped onto his silver skateboard, about ready to propel himself forward with his right foot before standing up straighter and listening to his surroundings. After a few seconds, he determined that he'd heard nothing besides the busy train system of Twilight Town and continued on his path, pushing off and skating toward his group's usual spot. Just after it was assured that he wouldn't look backwards, a blonde girl stepped out from her location, still hiding halfway behind the brick wall as she watched him turn the corner toward the rising sun. A sad look crossed her face before she stepped back into the shadows that were always present at certain places in Twilight.

His life was going to change very soon.

All this weeping in the air
Who can tell where it will fall?
Through floating forests in the air
'Cross the rolling open sea

Roxas saw the forest disappearing around him, collapsing into the darkness that was overtaking an island that, oddly enough, seemed like it was a very important place to him despite the fact that he had no clue where it was. The shadows were closing in on him, and an inescapable feeling of sadness and regret began to swallow him whole. Just as he was sure he was going to be swallowed by the feelings, he was suddenly flying across an ocean effortlessly. The wind was blowing through his short blonde spikes, and it felt really good. Such an unusual feeling. He dared to open his eyes, only to see the island that had been swallowed before passing by him, perfectly intact and seeming to be happy, if in fact a piece of land could be so. Looking at it, however, caused the same tremendous feeling of sorrow to befall him. Why was this making him so sad?

Naminé stood completely still in Roxas's room, watching him as he slept. She could project the memories to him just as well from afar, but it was much more interesting to watch him in a vulnerable state. How his guard had dropped so much from everyday when he was around town, to the times when the nightmares, her nightmares she reminded herself unwillingly, caused him to curl up slightly more as if to protect himself, so much that he almost seemed to look like the lost little boy he truly was. She made the ending of his dream almost happy, as if it were an apology for making him remember these things that didn't truly belong to him, before taking her leave as his eyes darted open.

Roxas looked around blearily, focusing on the very spot Naminé had stood in moments before. I could have sworn there was a girl there… He thought to himself before letting it slide and focusing on the strange dream he'd had yet again.

Blow a kiss, I run through air
Leave the past, find nowhere
Floating forests in the air
Clowns all around you

Roxas smiled as he sat on the clock tower with his friends, eating their customary sea salt ice cream. Hayner was making another speech on how important beating Seifer was, with Pence and Olette often interjecting their own thoughts into his statements. The feeling of belonging was swelling up inside of him, and for a few seconds he was happy that he existed, that he was somebody to them. For some reason, that seemed like the most important thing in the world for him for that moment.

That is, of course, before he remembered the strange dreams he had been having. Strange figures lurking around town, thieves taking totally random things that only had to do with him… He looked down at the ground unseeingly, ignoring the best sunset in the world in favor of mulling over the many thoughts in his head. Before long, Olette was tapping him on the shoulder and explaining that they were going home, and everyone waved goodbye before Roxas was left alone to his thoughts. Naminé stepped behind a pillar, undetected, as if she'd teleported there.

Why couldn't he remember any of his past before a year ago? It was as if he'd just appeared out of thin air in Twilight Town with nothing to his name besides the clothes on his back, which he'd taken great pains to have duplicated at the local tailor just in case they were a connection to his past at all and someone wouldn't notice him otherwise. The locals had taken him in, and he'd befriended them quickly, but a small part deep within himself insisted that this was not important in the grand scheme of things. He usually pushed that voice aside, but tonight, as the gloom was gathering, he allowed it to roam free.

Without warning, he flashed back to the strange dream and the island that was floating about as he flew past, neither of which were explainable or applicable to his life outside the realm of fantasy. Yet it felt like home, so much more so than the city he'd grown used to and considered to be his hometown.

He stood up, finally dropping the popsicle stick from his hands into a trash can on the balcony far below him, and walked back to his apartment deep in thought. Naminé followed him, making sure he wouldn't get caught by any of the creatures she knew were surrounding him and trying to capture him on orders that far outweighed her own. However, she also knew that they wouldn't bother him as long as she was nearby. Nobodies were all around him, making a mockery out of the small scraps of life he'd managed to piece together while he felt so numb. Ironically enough, she reminded herself, she was also one of those Nobodies. They were everywhere in this town.

Clowns that only let you know
Where you let your senses go
Clowns all around you
It's a cross I need to bear

Roxas ran hard through town, away from the redheaded man who'd announced that they knew each other and asked for his trust, to follow some disembodied voice who commanded him to go to the abandoned mansion in the middle of the forest. He had no option, it seemed, and so he was running out of breath yet still pressing onward with everything he had.

Before long, he was fighting those strange white things again, and a key appeared in his hand. Again. Nobody was explaining any of this to him, and he was growing tired of it fast. These people were everywhere, telling him where to go or what to do, and he never learned what any of it was for! He hated all of them. That was the only thing he had control over, it seemed; his emotions. Even his dreams didn't seem safe, as he'd been having the same vision night after night. Emotions were the only thing he could fully trust.

Far above him in a pure white room, Naminé observed the blonde teen that she could tell was very angry. "It's only for a few hours." She reassured herself. "You can bear it. You have to. Then he can know the truth." She watched him stalk into the courtyard after unlocking the gate with the weapon she sent him whenever he was in trouble, and kept the Nobodies out by her own control.

All this black and cruel despair
This is an emergency
Don't you hide your eyes from me
Open them and see me now

She sighed as she heard the commotion downstairs, knowing that Axel was fighting his best friend, who Roxas now recognized as such. With the slight link into his mind, she could sense the faint feeling within him of helplessness, being torn between running to him and learning everything yet knowing that he couldn't because Axel had been ordered to eliminate him. His former associates, Organization XIII, had completely turned their cloaked backs to him and ordered that he become a shadow existing only in the mind of Nobodies.

Naminé could do nothing. She'd finished revealing his memories to him as much as she could, and given him full control of Oblivion and Oathkeeper. It was an emergency. He would be obliterated into nothingness otherwise.

Sora needed Roxas. After so long, so did Naminé.

A black portal appeared behind her and Axel stepped through, panting. "It's up to you, Nam. He's on his way up here."

She nodded. "I'm sorry I allowed you to be hurt, Axel." She brought her hand up to her heart and made a fist, truly regretting the unavoidable action.

The redhead made a small noise to silence her. "We both agreed before, it needed to happen. Roxy reuniting with the Keyblade is more important than my existence."

She nodded again, unable to face him. "I still regret it." She commented, seeing Axel's usual posture in the reflection from the windows.

He waved her off, knowing that she could. "It doesn't matter. You've gotta finish it, got it memorized? Make Roxas understand."

Naminé turned around, nodding again, before walking over to him and hugging him. He slowly wrapped his own arms around her lightly. "Thank you, Axel."

"Yeah, yeah." He stated as he released her. "I know how much the kid means to you too, now, he's been your reason for existing for a while."

They heard footsteps on the stairway, undoubtedly Roxas's. Naminé stepped to her chair while Axel bid her silent farewell, disappearing through another portal. Within seconds, Roxas opened the door and looked around at the drawings Naminé had illustrated Roxas's life with.

"Hello, Roxas." He tensed and turned around reluctantly, noticing the blonde girl from when he woke up before. "My name is Naminé." She stated, gesturing to herself and looking straight into his eyes.

"What is all this?" He asked, gesturing around to the walls of the white room that spelled out his own personal history. She took a deep breath before explaining the teen's fragmented past.

Can you see?

See me here in the air
Not holding on to anywhere
But holding on so beware
I have secrets I won't share

"So, the only reason you have anything to do with me is because of Sora?" He questioned again, curious. He'd sat down at the white table at the opposite end of Naminé, knowing the story would take some time.

"Yes." She answered simply.

"So you're not really related to this at all outside of manipulating his memories." He wondered aloud. She nodded to this, calmer on the outside than she was on the inside. "But I'm willing to bet you know more than you're letting on."

She took a sharp breath, astonished at how perceptive the checker-loving teen was. "I can't tell." She explained. "I'm not allowed to. I can't, and won't. They're for you to find out."

He nodded. "So you just float there, guiding me, but you can't tell me everything?"

"That's my job. Float around in the air above your head and point you in the right direction." She teased him slightly, relaxing again ever so slightly.

"Like a guardian angel…" he commented quietly.

See me here pushing you
If I then deny I do
Contemplate or wish away
If I ask you not to stay

"I'm far from a guardian." She stated, beating herself up verbally and ignoring the fact that she'd saved his life on several occasions. "I'm only here to support you. That's all."

Roxas stood and crossed the room, approaching her swiftly and bending down to her eye level. "Don't deny it." He told her softly.

"Think about it. I'm the reason you're having all these problems."

"You're the reason I exist." He leaned in closer, trying to make his point.

"Roxas." Naminé sighed, closing her eyes. "You can't do this. We're not meant to know each other."

Roxas froze midway to her lips. "You can't stay." She continued. "Please, leave. I was never supposed to get this attached to you… nor you to me."

"I wish you hadn't told me, then, rather than letting me live where I know about you but can't be with you."

Clowns that only let you know
Where you let your senses go
Clowns all around you
It's a cross I need to bear

"You were only supposed to know that you had emotions, and not what made you feel them. This entire world is a fabrication of the real one, created for that purpose, with the Nobodies everywhere. Everything around you has that goal, keeping you restrained and controlled so you can use the keyblades for the Organization." Her head lowered, unconsciously getting closer to his, and her eyes shut again.

"You weren't supposed to know this much." She reiterated. "I'm going on a higher moral power that I only halfway feel, but I know that this isn't right. I needed to stay silent no matter my moral misgivings… to endure watching you suffer. Now I need to watch as you fight for your Other. Without interfering."

]All this black and cruel despair
This is an emergency
Don't you hide your eyes from me
Open them and see me now

"Naminé…" Roxas stated, resting his forehead against hers. "You're in far too dark a mood for someone with this bright a room." He attempted to cheer her up, knowing it would be the death of their relationship if it stayed on the topic of their existence.

"Look at me." He commanded softly. Her eyes fluttered open, meeting his own sapphire blue ones. "I don't care the consequences of knowing you like this." He pressed his lips softly to hers for a few seconds. "I don't care if the Organization uses me, or if I cease to exist in my own body. I only care that I exist in your eyes."

She finally relented, the months of watching the boy feel so alone taking its toll on her as she pushed her head into his chest and he comforted her while relief flowed throughout her body.

A few minutes later, Naminé was being dragged away through a portal, and Roxas was trying his hardest to prevent it.

"Roxas! We will meet again. You might not know it's me, and I might not know that it's you. But we will meet again!" She promised.

Can you see me now?