#flamesilocks

In the cool of the night, piled all in Lea’s bed with Lea and the twins, Isa held his own hand up, opening and closing it to watch it flex. He turned it over to look at the back and flexed his fingers again. It was just like he remembered, down to a small scar on the back from a childhood brawl with Terra. Muscle and sinew moved smoothly beneath his skin, and the fingers were warm when they touched his palm.

It was incredible.

It may have been over a year and a half for Lea, but for Isa, it was like he’d died yesterday. He remembered the dreams he’d had while he was asleep in Lea’s heart, but only in the way of remembering any dreams. The whole year and change could have gone by in those dreams, and it still would have felt like a single night to him. More real was the very recent memory of a sword sliding through his heart, the distant coldness of his body rising off the marble plinth he’d been left on, and the stiff, cold sensation of bluish fingers on the hilt of the Keyblade. Even Lea’s warmth in those few hours had been deadened by that cold.

Isa had thought, when he left Lea in the forest, that he would never see him again in this lifetime. He’d had so many regrets that he’d thought would have to go unfulfilled. He would never kiss Lea properly, or hold him in the night. He would never again have coffee with him, pleasant evening conversation in hushed whispers after the children were asleep. He would never see the twins grow up, never know if they became Keybearers or what kind of man and woman they grew into. All he’d been able to do was to end Xemnas’s threat, and trust in Lea to do the rest.

And yet here he was. This new body was indistinguishable to him from the old one, except for the scar on his face, and the scar he would have expected him to have on his chest. They’d tried to explain a bit to him how it worked, that this body was based on Isa’s perceptions of himself, but that was hard to wrap his mind around. It seemed so solid, so immutable. But ultimately, he didn’t care where it came from, only that it let him come home.

   It was strange to finally be able to sit here on this ledge again. To finally be back here. Home. Xion stared out at the glittering sunset, the suns sparkling rays ghosting over her in it’s familiar golden hue. It all still felt like a dream. 

She was free.

 The ebony haired girl sighed softly, letting her eyes close with a flutter of dark lashes. This was what she had wanted for so long. The silence though was cut short when she heard the sound of boots behind her striding forth. Blinking, she opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder. So he actually did come. 

Blood, the stink of hot iron and searing flesh in the air. There was already so much pain. The monster grinned, gold eye reflecting the glow of the red-hot blade as it came closer and closer to his eye-

The scream died in Xion's throat as she gasped awake. She shot up in her bed, hands clutching the blanket over her chest. Her back heaved with the effort of trying to get her breathing under control; her ragged gasps devolved into tiny, stifled sobs in the night.

Roxas shifted and murmured in his sleep, and Xion froze as much as she could. The last thing she wanted was to wake her twin brother, and have to deal with telling him what she'd dreamed. What she'd seen. In her nightmares, it was Isa's body she inhabited while Xigbar visited all manner of horrors on him, but she had already seen so many of those horrors perpetrated on real people before. Strangers, but living people. Xion didn't want to have to even begin explaining that to Roxas.

But there was someone she did need to try to explain it to. Lea was so sad about it, and she'd tried so hard to be strong and not make him talk about it, but Xion couldn't stop thinking about it. Even months later, she still had recurring nightmares where Xigbar killed Isa in increasingly gruesome ways.

And they were getting worse.

Shivering, Xion slid out of bed. Her purple blanket was draped over the whole thing, and Roxas always slept so sprawled out there was no way she could reclaim it without waking him. Xion gave it one futile tug and gave it up. She would just have to face the dark without it.

Xion padded through the house to Lea's room and eased open the door.

“L-Lea…?” Her voice trembled, and Xion swallowed as she let herself in. “Lea, I-....” She barely waited to see if he was all the way awake before she dissolved into trembling, choked tears, hands curled near her collarbone.

She stills at the edge of the forest, disappearing back into it, hiding. One of Axels’ dark cloaks around her shoulder, concealing her tiny frame from view. In the bundle resting in her arms, the dragons’ most precious possessions lay. She hears the cheers of the hunters as her home--his home--their home--burns to the ground. She watches the construction of the tower fall, and tears spill down her cheeks as they scream about the death of the witch.

Lira, poor Lira....It wasn’t the witch they’d killed, of course. 

He finally made it to Twilight town. He’d figured it was the best place to hide his box for now. He couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands. He knew it wouldn’t be long before maleficent caught up and he had to hide the damn thing all over again. A frustrating task and without the foretellers’ help too boot. He managed to drag the box into the woods, the mansion would probably be the least likely place to look, but he hadn’t realized someone had noticed him and now was following him. He had let his guard down and it wasn’t till the last second he sensed someone was behind him once he got to the mansion’s gate. The big box gripped in his hand, while a keyblade suddenly appeared in the other. He casted a glance behind him and then scoffed,

“Oh. It’s just you. Long time no see.”

“Oof. Here I thought Xemnas gave us an earful.”

“Do you feel alright, Lea?” There was... some calm, after everything was said and done. But, there was still one missing piece. The one that bound them all together. That loss could be felt by everyone, and Aqua knew it... but, beyond the emotional pain, the woman was very much worried about the physical pain, too. To hear others tell it, the redhead was positively brutalized by their foes... but timely intervention on the part of those thought lost saved his life.