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The Keyblade Graveyard. What a fitting name.
You lean your head back against the stone wall and stare into the sky above. A warm blue, clouds drifting almost in pairs... such a happy sky. You figure you could just stay like this, watching the sky as if you were a child once again captivated by the realisation of the vastness of it all and the enchanting idea of other worlds, it would be nice even, and you think that after everything, you deserve to experience something nice.
A light, gentle breeze swam past you and it was as if the sky itself wanted to curl around you.
It was the temptation of pretending you were the last person in existence. That it was just you, and the sky that was so gentle it hurt, but then a quiet ringing started up, getting louder and louder as your hearing slowly returned to you, that dragged you out of your soft daydream.
The sound that came through first was the voice of your most recent opponent. Of course it was. Oh how you wished you could bitterly laugh at it all, but you settled for your vision getting bleary with some tears instead.
Your mind gripped onto the familial (comforting) tones of his voice. You had once thought him unflappable, solid, he would look at the world around him and say something annoyingly witty and you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from smiling (and then he would turn his face from you, and try to cover the fact that your smile made him smile). There was none of that now.
Reluctantly, you brought your eyes away from the peace of the sky back to the object of your pain.
Xigbar.
He hadn’t moved since he first collapsed, kneeling sideways a little in front of you, injuries littered across him in the form of bruises and burns, all from your attacks that he couldn’t dodge in time. He was extremely dishevelled, having lost both his organisation coat and hair tie during your high-speed match and yet, as the sun’s rays covered you in darkness while lighting up his tanned skin…
It was unfair at how he still managed to captivate you.
“-only I had a Keyblade, if only I had a Keyblade!” He yells at nothing, throwing punch after punch into the ground in front of him. “Things would have ended differently!”
Huh. You twitched in surprise at his admission, then inhaled sharply at the pain that followed. Your eyes flickered over your own body, there was so much blood that you couldn’t even tell where your wounds originated. The pain was everywhere.
Your mind distantly registered the fact you still had enough magical power to use Cure on yourself… a scoff drew your attention away from your thoughts.
“The old coot promised me, ya know,” Xigbar sat back onto the dirt. He still wasn’t facing you (he refused to, you think), so you could only watch his black eye patch and the way his hair swayed in the breeze. “Said if I helped him, he’d bequeath me his Keyblade.”
“…so that’s why you followed him.” Your quiet, hoarse voice carried over the still battlefield. If you focused, you could pick up the far-off sounds of fighting still going on.
It was curious. You had wanted to know why he had joined the Organization for the longest time. Since the first time you ever encountered him even. But now you had your answer you couldn’t help but feel oddly…
...disappointed.
You looked away from him as your eyes started tearing up, your bloodied hands gripped your trousers as your chest pulsed in pain. At this point you honestly couldn’t tell if it was from your wounds or your heart breaking all over again.
You leaned back against the wall again, eyes turned back to the sky. Ah, it’s getting overcast. The pain was clouding your senses again, making the world seem muffled around you. Was Xigbar still there?
The world went dark for a few seconds and you couldn’t tell if it was because you blinked or… or…
Oh right, Cure, you could use cure on yourself.
Slowly, you bring up your right hand, ready to summon your Keyblade, All for One. But something prevents you from doing so, another squishy object rested in your hands.
You looked down and felt your heart constrict.
The purple Paopu fruit, once full and fresh, was now bruised and half squished. You couldn’t believe you forgot about it. Since you had first found it drifting down the stream in 100 Acre Woods it refused to leave your mind. You knew what a Paopu fruit meant, what it represented.
They say if you share one… your destinies become forever intertwined. Riku’s voice drifted through your head.
You had rolled your eyes at Riku’s explanation but tucked the fruit away. It was ridiculous. Like a piece of fruit could control destiny like that. You had told Riku as much. And yet you refused to let it go, even when Kairi and Aqua teased you about it, because through all your verbal denial to your friends, there was one face that kept springing into your mind whenever you entertained the thought of sharing the Paopu fruit.
Xigbar.
The weight of the fruit in your pocket got heavier the more you interacted with him (you didn’t mean to fall in love). You often found yourself gripping the fruit during these moments and you hated it (your cowardice).
You let him walk away the last time. Let your final moment together end with angry words and bitterness and light and dark and- so much regret.
You loved him. You’re still in love with him.
Your eyes rested on him again. He was blurry and you couldn’t figure if it was from your tears or…
Summoning your Keyblade, it rested in your left hand as the Paopu was held in your right.
You stared at the two. Perhaps if you had been strong, had summoned some of that infamous Keyblade Wielder bravery you could have changed this outcome. But it seemed life had chosen you to play the coward.
You let go of the Paopu fruit and watched as it flopped to the side of your leg. Lifting your Keyblade up, you rotated it so that the handle was sticking away from you. Taking a steady breath, you called out Xigbar’s name.
He whipped around to face you, his single golden eye set in a glare before landing on you and widening in surprise.
“What are you…”
You waved the handle towards him, arm shaking as your strength was reaching its end.
Xigbar stared for a few more seconds before forcing himself up and stumbling towards you. His hand was already reaching out desperately for the Keyblade (in your mind your pretended he was reaching for you instead…).
He grasped the handle and looked down at you, the light in his eye was almost feverish with his desire for the Keyblade. You wondered if he looked at your Keyblade like that before (you wished he looked at you).
“What now?”
Now you say that you don’t really want the Keyblade, that you just want to be with me, and then we would both leave this place and look for adventures together. Your eyes moved from his face to the hand clutching your Keyblade. But that’s never going to happen… so I’ll settle for giving you my love without telling you.
Closing your eyes, you summoned up your remaining Magic and poured it into the Keyblade. While usually you would do this when channelling an attack, this time you let your Magic spread through the entirety of your Keyblade. It shined a brilliant light in response, even with your eyes closed you could see it.
You could hear Xigbar’s shallow panting. It must feel good, achieving such a long-awaited dream. You wished your dream could…
It was getting harder to think, your body finally stopped hurting though, which was good you think? The sky was still a nice, soft blue though that was calming. Oh where did you put the Paopu fruit? It should be in your pocket like usual but maybe you left it in the Gummi Ship?
You frowned as your Keyblade pulsed gently in your hand. The Magic was almost done transferring to Xigbar, there was just one more thing, you knew it wasn’t fair, in fact it was entirely selfish on your part, but you needed to do this.
Using the last of your strength, you opened your eyes and met, for the first time since the end of the battle, Xigbar’s. You had one important question for him. “Would you accept my Keyblade?” Would you accept my Heart?
There was no outward reaction, but you could feel his Magic erratically pulse in response as he answered. “Yes.”
That was enough. You let your eyes close and released the Keyblade. It lighted up again as the form changed and turned from your All for One to Pain of Solitude.
You could hear his cheers, his disbelieving laughter as he no doubt swung his new Keyblade around. You could hear him getting further away from you but that was okay. Your part was done you supposed.
You let your hands drop as you slumped against the wall. You wondered what colour the sky was showing now…
A soft light wrapped around your body before disintegrating, leaving nothing behind, and as Xigbar turned back around, his grin wide, all that greeted him was a half-rotten purple Paopu fruit abandoned on the ground.
Above him, the sky began raining.