#rokunamiweek

Was this what it was like to be human? To have something worth celebrating? A strange sensation bloomed in his chest, almost like—

Something caught his attention. A girl wearing a white mask and hooded cape glided out of the shadows. Her dress was white with gold and silver filigree, and she wore matching slippers. A few blonde curls escaped her hood, and haunting blue eyes locked onto his. Roxas stiffened. She was ethereal and almost transparent, like she might fade away at any moment.

She was beautiful.

She approached him, but none of the other Organization members seemed to notice. Maybe they were too distracted by the evening’s activities. The Dusks parted to let her through, a few of them murmuring about how she must be a lady. When she reached Roxas, she curtsied as he bowed. The urge to waltz with her like Axel had taught him and Xion the night before swept over him, and he offered his hand. She took it, and a pleasurable warmth radiated up his arm. When he placed his hand on her waist, her breath caught, and he had the urge to bring her as close as possible.

“Who are you?” he asked as they twirled around, their surroundings melting away. She was strangely familiar, like they’d met before. But that was impossible. Right?

“My name is Naminé,” she said, her voice soft and melodic as she placed a hand over where her heart should be before returning it to his shoulder. But Roxas sensed she wasn’t human. If the Dusks deferred to her, then she must be a Nobody like him, and yet she seemed even more fleeting than the Dusks.

He led her into a spin, and she followed his lead effortlessly. “How did you know about this place?” He thought only the Organization was aware of its existence, or maybe nonexistence was the more accurate description.

“I saw it in your dreams.”

He gave her a look. That was weird, right? He didn’t know much about girls other than what Larxene and Xion had taught him, but he was pretty sure that was weird—

She smiled, and Roxas felt that strange warmth blooming in his chest again. “I know how strange that sounds,” she said. “But I'm a witch with power over memories. It's why no one but you and some of the Dusks know I'm here. I’m altering the others’ memories as we speak.”

He stopped and raised an eyebrow. “Are you altering my memories?”

She shook her head. “I came here to warn you, Roxas. You're in danger.”

“I'm in danger? Wait, how do you know my name—” Oh, right. If she could see his memories, then she could see the moment Xemnas gave it to him.

“You must leave the Organization before it’s too late. They’re just using you for their own dark purposes, and so long as they are, someone very important can’t wake up. And I don't want anything bad happening to you or to him.”

Roxas glanced at the other Organization members a little ways away. At the only family he knew. He had no reason not to trust them, right? Why would he listen to this girl he'd never met before who admitted she could alter memories?

And yet when he looked at her, he knew her. He trusted her. Something sinister lurked in the shadows of this place. It wasn’t his friends and colleagues who were the source of the darkness, no, though it tried to inhabit their bodies and warp their minds. He wasn’t even sure it was coming from Xemnas, though he sensed it most strongly from him.

No, it was this dark, evil, corrupt Thing that lurked in every corner and skulked around the place. Roxas pictured the red mask it wore, saw himself seizing the creature and removing its disguise. To his horror, it was empty behind the mask. Nothing was there at all.

He shuddered as a sensation like icy fingers trailed down his back. The party felt sinister and wrong now, like Death was walking among them and he was the only one who saw it for what it really was.

“You sense it too, don’t you?” Naminé said softly, guiding his mind back to reality.

“What is it?” he asked, and a few Dusks murmured their concern for their liege.

“The heart of a man who allowed himself to be corrupted long ago,” she said, and her eyes almost looked pained as she saw something far away. Then she looked at Roxas and smiled sadly. “There are worse things than not having a heart, Roxas. Never forget that.”

With one last squeeze of his hands, she was gone. Vanished without a trace, like a ghost or an angel, he couldn’t decide which.

Roxas was alone. The others were still here, yes, but they couldn’t see what he saw. They didn't know what he knew. The surreal scene unfolding around him was like a group of doomed people who didn’t even know they were dying. Or maybe they did know, and this party was just a way to distract from it all.

But Roxas didn’t want a distraction. He wanted answers.

He wanted to see Naminé again, more than anything.

For the first time in his short existence, he wanted to leave the Organization.

🎭 🥀 💃

A/N: This was a lot of fun to write. I really should lean into my horror instincts more. What's funny is that I get scared so easily watching or reading horror, but I enjoy writing it (though that doesn't stop me from freaking myself out sometimes lol).