Light From the Past

Choices

28 Days Later

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Xion 

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Xion sat on her bed.

"What should I do, Riku?" she whispered to herself. She remembered what Riku first told her.

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Xion had been unconscious on the Islands. She had lost Lelie a while back, and had passed out from exhaustion. She remembered when she woke up. The man with silver hair that had called her a sham was above her.

"Are you..." Xion whispered.

"Riku," the man said. "Sora's and Lexi's friend."

"Sora?" Xion sat up. "You know Sora?"

"Yeah," Riku responded simply, he stood up. He helped Xion stand up.

"Thank you," Xion said. "You saved me, but I don't know why... you did."

Riku turned to her. "I guess... I just felt like it." He started to walk away.

"Riku please," Xion asked. "Tell me more, about Sora and that girl he's always with."

"You mean Kairi."

"Kairi..." Xion repeated, raising a hand to the side of her head. "That's right. She's the one who looks so much like me." 

Riku walked toward Xion. "To Sora, she's someone very special."

"It's just... I remember things about the two of them," Xion said. "But I'm nothing more than a puppet- something that somebody created." She leaned against a tall tree. "So why would I have... their memories?" She turned to Riku. "Do you know where Sora is now?"

"That secret stays with me," Riku told her, a bit of a harsh edge on his voice.

Xion hung her head. "Why's that?"

"Xion, you memories... they really belong to Sora," Riku explained.

"So you mean... I'm like a part of him?"

"When his memories were scattered, some of them found their way inside you," Riku said. Xion put a hand to her head like it was hurting. "Now, Sora has been put to sleep so that we can piece together his memory. Except..."

"You can't, because part of it is inside of me," Xion finished. "That means... he can't wake up."

Riku nodded. "Yeah, you got it. But if you go with me to Sora right now, we could give the memories inside you back to him."

"XION!" a voice yelled. Riku looked towards the sound. It sounded like....

"So, do you hate me for taking your friend away from you?" Xion asked.

Riku turned back to her. "Nah. I guess I'm just sad."

Xion hung her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't go with you. It's my friends- they need me. And I need them, too."

Riku put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you should take some time and think about it. Figure out who really needs you more. And where you belong."

"How will I know where I belong, truly?" Xion asked. "I'm not sure I can promise you I'll come up with the right answer."

"Xion! Where are you?!" the voice yelled. Riku turned his head toward it again.

"Well, the answer you come up with can't just be right for you," Riku replied. "It has to be one that works best for everybody. You and your friends and everyone else." Riku walked

"I'll try," Xion promised. "Thank you, Riku."

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Xion hopped off her bed and picked up a seashell.

"I have to make the most of the time Riku's given me," Xion muttered to herself. She turned and walked out of the room.

====Time Skip====

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Roxas battled a Heartless during his mission.

His strength spent against a formidable foe, Roxas swung his Keyblade with all his might in hopes of ending things quickly.

But his strike was interrupted with the sound of clashing metal.

There was Axel, blocking both Roxas and Xion's Keyblades. They had been fighting entire time, each thinking the other was a Heartless.

Axel informed the of the truth surrounding this mission rigged to get them to fight one another.

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====Time Skip=====

That Evening

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Later that day, Axel, Roxas, and Xion were sitting at their usual spot eating ice cream.

"Brain freeze..." Xion joked. They all smiled.

"It's been a while since we all hung out like this, hasn't it?" Roxas asked.

"Well, we've had our share of drama lately," Axel pointed out.

"Yeah, and Lelie still isn't here," Xion said sadly. "I miss her."

They were all quiet for a moment. Then Axel spoke up.

"I just remembered- did you know you should be checking your ice cream sticks?"

"Really?" Xion asked.

Axel nodded. "Once you finish your ice cream, see if the stick says WINNER. Not that I've ever seen one myself."

Roxas narrowed his eyes and looked at his ice cream. "Wait a sec..." he gasped.

"What is it?" Axel asked.

"Uh... it's nothing," Roxas dismissed. "So then, what happens when you win?"

"I'll tell ya.... that's a good question," Axel said sheepishly.

"What, you don't know?" Roxas laughed. Axel shrugged.

"Well, it's gotta be something nifty, if you're a WINNER, right?" Axel said.

"Cool..." Roxas breathed.

Xion giggled. "Wow. The sun's beautiful." They all turned to the sunset. "I know we've seen a lot of sunsets, but today's puts them all to shame. If only things could stay like this forever... With Lelie, of course."

"Say..." Roxas started. "What if we all just took off?"

"What?" Xion gasped.

"If we ran, I bet we could always be together. We could find Lelie too, without anyone stopping us," Roxas explained. 

"But we have nowhere to run," Xion pointed out.

"Yeah. I guess you're right," Roxas agreed sadly.

"What's important isn't that we hang out with each other every day-" Axel said.

"As long as we keep each other in our thoughts, we'll never be apart, right?" Xion finished for him. "We've got it memorized, Axel."

Axel smiled. "Good."

Xion looked down at her ice cream, a large smile plastered on her face. "I'll have these moments memorized for a long time. Forever."

"Me too," Roxas agreed. "Forever..."