Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sora felt tears gather in his eyes as Roxas told him that he was helping by just being around him. He hugged Roxas once more and sniffled, nodding at his suggestion about eating. "Yeah...I don't think I've eaten in a week," he mumbled as he pulled away and wiped at his eyes a little more.

Sora ended up eating about half of the ham and cheese sandwich he was given, which seemed to make Roxas light up just seeing him eat something, no matter how little it was. Sora felt a little better, like he was slowly coming out of his depression. Yeah, he was deep down in there, and him having to wear Riku's clothes didn't make it any better (especially since how much they hung off of him reminded him how much weight he had lost), but he was doing better.

He was nervous. The whole ride to the station had his stomach in knots, but he didn't say anything. He just stayed silent as Zexion drove them down to the station, staring out of the window as he watched the scenery pass him by in a grey blur.

His legs almost gave out as soon as he stepped out of the car. Roxas had to grab ahold of him before he slammed his head into the open car door, and Sora reassured him that he was fine in a quiet voice. God, he was having second thoughts about this. What if he couldn't do this? Face the other victim? But...he had to do this, he told himself. It was the first step to getting over the incident.

He looked back at Roxas and Zexion...reminded that Riku wasn't going to be there for him. There's no way he would, and it made Sora hurt to think about how he had driven him away. He had a deep frown on his face as he sat down on the end of a bench, arms wrapped around himself as he tried to hold himself together and take deep breaths. He could get through this. He had to.

Time seemed to slow and almost stop as Sora sat there, staring blankly ahead with his arms wrapped around himself. The more he thought he had to do this, the more he knew he couldn't. He wasn't ready to face this yet. He wasn't going to be able to push through this and grit his teeth, because he wasn't strong enough. This was all new to him, and it was something he knew he should never have had to go through. But the world was a cruel place, and he seemed to always get the shitty end of the stick. Yeah, there were people who had and were and would go through worse than he had, but that didn't mean it was okay. It just meant that the world was suffering because of the people living in it.

Sora surely felt like he was drowning in himself again. His fingers gripped onto the sleeves of Riku's T-shirt he was wearing as his body trembled. Darkness was encroaching on his vision, and his eyes slowly widened as memories of the night plagued his mind. He could feel the pain again, the aches in his body. He began unconsciously fidgiting in his seat as he could almost feel the pain shoot up his spine.

He was dragged out of his personal Hell as his name was softly whispered. He jumped, and his wet eyes darted up to the face which presumably spoke. His jaw went slack as he looked up into those beautiful sea green eyes for the first time in what seemed like years. "Riku," he whispered, sound barely leaving his lips. He stood too quickly, and his knees buckled. He quickly caught himself on the bench, then stood and looked back up at him. He gazed at him, awestruck. Then he shut his eyes tight and shook his head, some straggling tears sliding down his cheeks from the movement. Then he gazed back up at him, looking even more shocked.

"You're here. I thought... I thought for sure you wouldn't come..," he said softly, feeling the urge to look down in shame, but didn't want to risk losing a second of seeing him. He also felt the urge to leap forward and wrap his arms around him, but by the looks of him, it would probably drive him away. So Sora bit his lip and searched Riku's eyes briefly before saying softly, "Can you just... Can you sit next to me?" His voice was pleading with Riku, but he wouldn't force him to. He knew he was uncomfortable.

Sora looked up at Riku with a strained smile as he asked how Sora was doing. If he was taking care of himself. He looked down at his lap and unconsciously wrapped his arms around himself once more as he gave a shaky sigh.

"Do you want me to be honest? Because, if not, I'm holding up fine," he told him quietly. He didn't want to seem like he was complaining when he knew that Riku was going through the same thing because of Sora himself. "I don't need to ask you. I can see it in your eyes," he said even quieter, looking up at him once more and then looking away quickly, back at his lap.

He cleared his throat a little and then changed the subject. "I'm nervous. No. No, I'm terrified to meet this guy. Because then I know it was real. This past week hasn't been a terrible nightmare that I'm eventually going to wake up from. And I've been fighting with myself since we were in the car. I almost opened the door and jumped out at one point. I want to run, but I know I have to face this. But I'm not strong enough," he ended in a whisper and tightened his grip around himself. "I'm barely even strong enough to face you after I ******** up so badly. I wanted to think you would be here so badly, but I..."

Sora gave another shaky sigh as his shoulders dropped. "I know you don't want to be here. I know you're uncomfortable just being in the same room with me, and I'm sorry that you were probably forced to come. But I'm so happy you're here," he told him quietly. "You don't even have to talk to me. You don't have to keep up a conversation if you don't want to, and I know you don't. I just need you here. You could be over there standing quietly in the furthest corner from me as long as I know you're here, so don't force yourself to be uncomfortable for my sake. Please. You don't have to sit by me. I would like you to, but I know you don't want to. I know you're destroyed inside because of me." The whole time he spoke, he didn't look up at Riku. He honestly didn't think he had a right to look at him as he spoke. He didn't have a right to let Riku know that the night he destroyed Riku's heart, he destroyed his own as well.

Sora felt emotion surge through him for the first time since everything happened as Riku's fingers touched his hand. He let out a shaky sigh of relief and let go of himself with one hand, interlocking his fingers with Riku's. He squeezed with his shaky hand and didn't let up, showing Riku how terrified he was. He looked up at the silveret and gave him a shaky smile, eyes full of tears.

"I don't want you to leave. I really, really don't," he whispered, grip tightening unconsciously as he trembled beside Riku. He opened his mouth and sucked in a beath to continue, but then bit his lip, debating on whether or not it was really the right time to talk to him about it.

His grip loosened slightly, but he was still obviously holding on to Riku's hand and not willing to let go. "Riku...I know...I know that you're hurt..." He trailed off as he rethought his words. "I know you're not ready to talk right now, but...but when you think you can, I'd like to talk about what happened. I want to talk about the...the attack and everything. With you," he said softly. "And why I...said what I said. I want you to understand. Hell, I want to understand myself, because God knows I don't know what's in my head anymore." He took a deep, shaky breath and looked up into Riku's eyes again. "Just...whenever you're ready. Just...just come over, and we'll talk. Okay? No yelling. No breaking things. And I...I want both of us to be in the conversation, because I don't want to ******** up again," he told him softly, hope in his eyes. "Please. I need to talk to you, but I don't want to force it on you. I know you're not ready." He held Riku's gaze as he waited for an answer. "Please. I need an answer before I do this so I know what to expect later on. I need to know if I should have hope," he barely whispered, just loud enough for Riku to hear.

Axel slid his arms around Demyx's waist from behind and watched the two from a little ways away, chin perched on top of Demyx's shoulder. "Do you think they'll work it out?" he mumbled into his ear curiously, glancing down at Riku and Sora's clasped hands, then up to their faces as they looked into each others' eyes. "I think it's gonna be slow, but they're gonna get there. What do you think?"

From behind them, an officer came out of what seemed to be an interrogation room. He announced that the other victim was ready, not disclosing a name to them yet. Apparently they wanted this to be kept on the down-low.

Sora, hearing the announcement, felt his body go rigid. His eyes widened in panic as they locked onto Riku's, his hand squeezing Riku's painfully tight. "Please," he whispered hoarsely. "Please, I need an answer or I can't do this," he almost begged the man he loved. "Just yes or no or something. Please." He looked close to passing out or having some kind of attack at this point. Fear was written all over his face.

Sora forced himself to breathe raggedly as Riku spoke to him gently. He nodded stiffly and whispered a, "Thank you." Then he took another breath and finally let go of Riku's hand as Roxas walked away from them. He stood up shakily and looked at Roxas's retreating back. Another frown made its way onto his face, and he looked back down at Riku with his brows knit.

After another moment, he took a deep breath and hugged himself as he slowly walked the way Roxas had gone. He passed Zexion, who gave him an encouraging smile, then kept on going until he reached the door. He breathed deeply then unclasped his hand from one of his arms and reached forward, gripping onto the door knob. He shut his eyes tight and pushed the door open, taking a few steps into the room before he slowly opened his eyes.

He froze up at the sight of the two, then collapsed back onto the inward-swinging door. His eyes were blown wide, and his skin was white as he stared between the two. Then he screamed briefly and started hyperventilating. They were practically twins. They were more twins than Roxas and himself were. Down to the same hair style. He couldn't handle this. This meant that that man was after Roxas, and he wasn't going to let up. He was going to hunt until he found what he wanted and took it.

"R-Ro..." he tried to gasp out, tears streaming down his cheeks as he slid to the floor, chest heaving as he struggled to take in breath. With one hand, he gripped at his chest, and with the other he reached out towards his brother. He began sobbing as a thought hit him. Was he his brother? Or were these two identical people in front of him the real twins? Then who was he? Did he have any blood family that he knew of? Was he adopted into the family?

On top of hyperventilation, he broke down sobbing as these thoughts hit him. Had he grown up in a complete lie? He couldn't have. He and Roxas were so perfect as twins. And they loved each other like siblings would, especially since they had gone through so much together.

This wasn't how this was supposed to go. This wasn't supposed to happen at all.

Why did this have to happen to them?

Zexion perked up as soon as he heard the call. He jumped from his position on the bench and hauled a** down the gall, followed by officers right on his tail. He was pulling out bottles from his pockets as he ran.

He easily slipped through the door and kneeled down next to who he thought was Roxas. "Roxas, what...uh..." he froze momentarily as he looked between the two. Then his body kicked into gear as he figured out what was happening.

"Roxas baby I'm here. I've got your medication. Calm down so you can take it," he quickly chided him. he dumped two pills out onto his hand and then practically forced the pills into Roxas's mouth. If Roxas didn't calm down enough to shallow it properly though, he was just going to end up passing out. It was times like these that Zexion really wished that he had an inhaler for Roxas.

He glanced up at the identical twin of Roxas and said quickly, "Not to be rude, but it would probably help if you stood somewhere over there for now. Until they settle down." He then poked his head out of the door and yelled, "One of you guys get in here, please! Sora needs some help! You two don't touch him!" He quickly snapped at the officers who promptly backed away from the teen who just started screaming again and curling up into himself.

At Zexion's call, Axel immediately took off in the direction of the room. The first thing he saw as he entered was Zexion treating Roxas...and then Roxas standing across the room. That boggled him a bit. And then he heard a sob and looked over to see Sora huddled up on the floor.

"Hey... Sora, hey," he said softly as he kneeled down in front of him. He reached forward and gently placed his hand on the brunet's shoulder. He flinched away, but didnt start screaming again. Axel took this as a good sign and began rubbing his shoulder gently. Eventually, Sora looked up with a tear-stained face and looked over at Roxas.

"What...what if..," he gasped out, then looked up at Ventus again. Then back at Axel, tears welling up again. "What if im not really his twin?" He whispered breathlessly and then broke down once more. "What if I'm not even his brother?" He cried and hugged himself beginning to rock back and forth. Axel grimaced and enveloped the brunet in his arms as he cried, rubbing his back gently. "You want me to get Riku in here to be with you?" He asked softly, receiving a nod from Sora. So he stuck his head through the door and called for Riku, holding Sora comfortingly in his arms.

As soon as Sora felt Axel's grip relinquish, he looked up at the door and saw Riku there. He reached up to him, tears streaming down his face. And as soon as he was in Riku's arms, he began taking in deep breaths and gripped onto him tightly. "I can't. I can't do this," he whispered and began shaking his head. "I just can't."

Zexion sighed softly as he held Roxas in his arms. He ran his fingers through the blond hair and gently rearranged them so they were both comfortable. He glanced up at Axel meaningfully and then down to Roxas again before looking at Ventus. Axel caught on and replaced Zexion by Roxas's side as the slate-haired male stood and made his way over to the Roxas look-alike.

He stood in front of him for a moment, study in him for a moment. "I apologize. I realize this was supposed to be private. Unfortunately, things always seem to get out of hand when it comes to us. I'm Zexion, by the way." He said cautiously. "I'm...not sure they'll be up to talking it out today...would...you mind meeting back maybe in a few weeks once their shock passes? And I'm sure you'll need time to recuperate yourself." He suggested softly.