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Luxu watched the young teen, walking down the street, head down and hands in his pockets. It was late, too late for someone that age to be out, but he knew this wasn't any old teen. Sora had just returned from another failed attempt to find a way home. And with another failure hanging from his shoulders, he trudged listlessly forward seemingly without direction.
Sora didn't even notice him as he turned into the alleyway, where he had been waiting patiently, leaning on the wall, for him to pass by.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Luxu greeted him.
The teen jumped and whirled around, his hands flexing to summon his Keyblade. But upon seeing who called out to him, he grew visibly annoyed and relaxed his pose. “You again. Are you following me?”
“Hey, I was here first,” Luxu pointed out with a slight laugh. “But you aren't wrong.”
Sora didn't laugh. “Don't you have something better to do than to follow me around?” He crossed his arms. “This is getting real old.”
Luxu stopped leaning on the wall. “Aw, can't I check in on a friend?” He gestured to him.
“We are not friends,” Sora retorted, even more annoyed than before.
But despite what he said, Luxu knew that Sora didn't fully see him as an enemy, at least not like he did before. He wasn't attacking him on sight like their first re-meeting and their subsequent meetings often ended with both of them walking away without even raising a blade. In reality, the poor kid was probably looking for any sort of relief in familiarity after drifting in this place for over a year now, even if it was someone he didn't like or trust. Being in the wrong reality could do all sorts of things to a lonely mind with enough time.
And Sora was already fraying at the seams.
“But we could be, if you'd let me,” he replied, a small smirk tugging his lips, knowing full well that Sora would refuse. “From what I've heard, you could use some new ones.”
As expected, Sora was not amused. “What do you want?” He scowled. “Just spit it out and leave me alone.”
“I was being serious,” Luxu responded. He walked a bit closer and was surprised to see Sora actually allowed him this close. “How are you? How goes the fruitless search for home?”
Sora's expression hardened. “As if,” he scoffed, throwing his own catchphrase at him out of spite. “Why do you wanna know? You don't care about me.”
“Actually, I do, but not in the way you want anyway,” Luxu responded truthfully. “Still, I am very interested in how you're feeling. Anything you wanna get off your chest? Any dark secrets? Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. I’m very good at keeping them y'know.”
The teen rolled his eyes. “I'm doing fine, great actually. Never been better,” Sora replied haughtily, holding his head high. “Real nice of you to ask,” he added sarcastically.
Luxu wasn’t phased. “Really? Isn't that loneliness starting to feel more like a bottomless abyss? Because from what I can see, your glass half full is lookin’ more like just an empty glass now.”
Sora was speechless for a moment, disturbed. “How-... how do you know that?”
“Just one look at your sorry face and anyone can tell,” Luxu answered as-a-matter-of-factly. “That’s what happens when you give up a part of yourself for people who weren’t supposed to exist.”
His eyes flared in righteous anger. “Don’t talk about them like that! Roxas and Xion, and Naminé too, they deserve to exist as much as I do!”
“Sure, sure,” he responded with a dismissive hand. “But you can’t just create new people out of nothing, that’s now how it works.”
“So?” Sora sniffed. “How does it work then?”
“Simple.” Luxu pointed directly at his heart. “Roxas and Xion, even little Ven, they only exist because you allowed them to. None of them would be around if someone didn't offer them a piece of their heart.”
Sora grew indignant. “They’ve grown their own heart, separate from mine.”
“Bingo!” He replied in a tone which seemed to surprise Sora. “So then, where did their hearts grow from? I told you, hearts can’t come from nothing.” When Sora didn't respond, Luxu tapped his own chest.
Sora visibly scowled. “So what If their hearts grew from mine? Since when is that a crime?”
Luxu laughed, amused. “It’s no crime, but what did you think came to fill the holes they left behind?” At this, Sora flinched. “You feel it, don’t you? A growing power you don’t understand, something you’ve tried so hard to keep at bay this whole time. So why not let it loose?”
Sora was clearly affected by his words; nervous, frightened, angry - a whole slew of tumbling emotions. Finally, Sora just turned his body away from him. “Buzz off. I’m done talking to you.” He began walking away from Luxu, continuing down the alley to whatever destination he had in mind.
Luxu watched him go for a moment before calling out. “Looks like I was wrong, there was nothing special about you after all.”
His words struck a chord with Sora, making him stop in his tracks. He hesitated, and for a moment it looked like he was going to spit back a retort, but he continued walking away.
Luxu huffed, turning around to go his own way. “Okay then, walk away.” He shrugged to himself. “No wonder your friends forgot about you.”
At this, Sora whirled around, anger and hurt in his eyes. “What did you say?”
Luxu smirked, peering over his shoulder. Baited. “Ever wondered why no one’s come looking for you after all this time?” he asked, turning to him again. “Face it, hero, they’ve moved on; too busy enjoying their happily ever after to waste time looking for a half-baked Keyblade Master.”
“That’s not true!” Sora protested, but he could see the fear in his eyes. “They’re… they’re looking for me…” His voice tapered off, shaky, uncertain. “They… have to be…” Sora clutched at his heart in clear pain.
“Hey, don’t be sad,” Luxu assured him in a tone that probably seemed grating to him. “You may have not been chosen by the Keyblade, but you still played an important part: you saved people more reliable than you. It’s not your fault they don’t need you anymore.”
He looked like he was about to cry, his chest shuddering with each quick breath, distressed. “That's… I'm-...” he stammered.
“Your friends are your power, right? Just too bad you were never theirs. Because alone, you're worth-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a brutal force slammed into his chest, throwing him backwards and into the wall. The concrete cracked and crumbled under him, he gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. Just as he shook out of his daze, he was slammed again into the wall, this time by the back of an arm, who pressed so hard it could shatter his ribs. Luxu coughed, reaching up to try to loosen the attack, and ended up looking directly into Sora’s eyes.
Gone were the warm, heroic blue eyes. Now his eyes were a blazing crimson, gold.
Luxu couldn’t help but smirk despite his situation. “Ah,” he strained out. “There you are.”
“Shut up,” Sora said in a tone that sounded too garbled to belong just to him.
He gasped. “Fine, I got it." He raised both his hands in defeat, his right hand brushing against the cracked wall behind him. “I know when I’m not wanted.” A dark corridor sprouted from the back of his finger.
As Luxu began sinking into the portal behind him, Sora’s eyes were burning with fury, teeth gritted so hard it almost looked like he was going to try bite him, but Sora just silently glared. Even when the portal began closing behind him, the glow of crimson gold eyes never faded, as if his gaze had followed him into the darkness. Luxu wouldn’t be surprised if he could.
“May your heart be your guiding key,” he said to the eyes as he turned to leave into the shadows. “Whatever’s left of it anyway.”
-~*~-
High atop a skyscraper, Luxu watched from above, stretching out his sore shoulder and chest. For someone with such puny arms, they sure packed a punch. Though, considering things, he wasn’t all too surprised by the inhuman strength. He also hadn’t anticipated for Sora to be so mentally resilient. People didn’t last long when they were cast so far astray, but Sora wasn’t most people.
“Maaan…” He turned to see his Master walking to him, gesturing to Sora dramatically. “Luxu,” he dragged his name out playfully. “You’ve really changed too much. Did ya have to be so mean? What happened to the dear sweet Luxu I used to know?”
Luxu scoffed in amusement, knowing that his Master was just trying to bait him. “If I didn't, we wouldn't have found out what we needed to know.” He looked down at Sora, who still seemed to be reeling. “Who thought one of the Darknesses we were looking for was hiding inside him this whole time? Guess it needed a new host after Ava bailed.” Then he gave his Master a wry look. “And who cares if we're a little mean? It's not like he's gonna be around much longer anyway.”
His Master made a disapproving noise. “Hey, it doesn't mean I'm gonna be mean about it.” He gestured out to the city. “Let'em enjoy life a little, y'know? Let the kid experience a bit of the life he won’t have much of left.”
“Wouldn't that be just as cruel?” he pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
The Master waved his hand nonchalantly. “Cruelty is a matter of perspective.”
He supposed that was true. “What about that other kid, Yozora?”
“Eh, if he thinks can rescue Sora, by all means let him try,” his Master said with a casual shrug.
“What if he succeeds?”
“Not possible,” the Master replied seriously, in such a quick switch of tone that Luxu couldn’t help but feel on edge. “That Darkness has already found its true host. There's no separating them now.” He held up his hands, framing Sora between his fingers. “Honestly, I hadn’t anticipated such a perfect fit.”
“But you did expect this to happen… right?”
“‘Expect’ isn’t the right word,” his Master replied, bringing a hand to his chin in thought. “More like a theory of mine came true.” He held a finger up. “‘The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes’, used to say it a lot back in the day.” When he noticed Luxu giving a weird look, because Luxu hasn't heard his Master say that in all the years he's known him, he corrected himself. “Oh, I mean in my day. Not yours, obviously.”
They watched silently as Sora finally gathered enough of himself and fled out into the city, disappearing into the dark streets.
“Now there's a strong light.” The Master nodded to himself in approval. “If only we could all be like him…”
Luxu watched his master, who was now silent, contemplative or scheming, he could never tell. “If only,” he repeated, feeling something gnawing deep in his chest.
His Master suddenly clapped his hands together loudly. “Okidoki, time to get some work done.” Then he cheerfully began sauntering away like he was taking a walk in the park. He paused, turning back to look at him. “Luxu? You coming? We are kinda on a tight schedule, y’know.”
Luxu chuckled, letting himself get swept away by his Master's humor. “Of course, Master. Right behind you.”