Freeze

Freeze.

And the world stopped, spinning quickly then slowing down and blurring before sliding in and out of focus like the lens on a camera. When it finally came back into view, it was white, blinding white, stretching on forever and ever with no visible end.

"Together, we'll stop the world."

And the small, distraught child crouched down, hugged his knees, and started sobbing.

Frowning, Ienzo watched silently from a corner as his mother and father fought over some trivial mater.

When had it come down to this?

It had all started a year ago, when his best friend had disappeared. That's what his mind told him, anyways. (His heart said otherwise; because in reality, it had started long, long before that.) Started when he had been left all alone in the world, surrounded by all these broken promises...

"I'll stay with you forever, and we'll escape this place together."

He had whispered that in his melodic voice, strumming aimlessly at his sitar, lying beside him on the grass as they stared at the moon. But he had lied to him, he had, and left him with nothing but those dusty books that held no comfort... (The only reason he'd even liked those stupid books was because Myde had told him he looked cute with reading glasses, anyways.)

"We'll escape this town, you'll see."

And then he had disappeared. He'd searched for ages and ages, looking for his friend, and one year after he was declared dead Ienzo decided that feeling just wasn't worth it anymore. He shut himself away, surrounded by his books; being cooed over by proud parents and had been declared a 'genius.' He'd grown up much too fast, and from what he'd read of other so-called 'geniuses,' it wasn't a surprise to him when he finally began to get tired of it all.

He'd been running away, planning to escape to that paradise his friend had promised him all those long months ago. And then he had heard the screech, seen the blinding flash of light, and thrust his small hands out, mouth open in a silent scream, and the world had flashed and changed into-

White.

When his disoriented brain finally caught up with what had been happening, he'd been so scared all he could do was sit down and cry. He'd sat there for ages, mind working overtime as it tried to figure out what was going on, but there was no way sense of time in that blank world, and finally he had decided to walk around and see if it led anywhere. (Why had this happened? There was no explanation for this irrationality, and rationality was something he had prided, something he wouldn't have traded for the world...)

And that was when he found him.

The small child was crouched on the ground, face buried in his shirtsleeve as he let out a few whimpers. Then the head lifted and Ienzo saw that shock of dirty-blond hair and the familiar flash of blue, blue eyes and-

"Myde!" he had screamed, arm reaching forward towards the child.

"What? My name's not Myde, silly, it's Demyx. Who are you?"

"My name is Ienzo, and you're my best friend."

They'd stayed together for God knows how long, and that was when they'd discovered that white world could be changed into something so much more.

"Why is it so empty here, 'Zo?" Demyx had asked, tilting his small head towards his new friend. "Imagine if this was a field of flowers; that would look so much prettier-" and then they had been suddenly surrounded by rings of daisies and Queen Anne's Lace, with new orchids materializing out of thin air until the white was all gone...

"Wow, what happened? It's just like I imagined it, Ienzo! All I had to was picture it in my head..." the boy gasped, as though he had made a sudden epiphany. "Although you know what'd make it perfect...?" and that blue sitar had appeared next to them, making the boy squeal in wonder and excitement, "Now it's perfect! Everything's okay now, Ienzo!"

It was. It was so, so perfect. Myde (no, he said his name was Demyx, right?) had his sitar, and Ienzo had somehow managed to materialize a lexicon out of the air (it was the only book he'd ever truly liked, you know) and they'd gone around dreaming up as many adventures as their mind could've possibly comprehended, because the world was one where actions depended on the doer, and every thought and wish came true...

It had ended when Ienzo had gotten up, saying that his mommy would be mad at him for being gone so long, and yes, he'll visit soon, how could he not? This world was so much better then the other one, and besides, they were best friends, after all. (Myde just didn't remember, obviously, but he would soon enough...)

He'd woken to the beeping sound of the heart monitor and a heavy, crushing weight on his eight-year-old heart when he realized that none of it had been real.

The next time it happened had been almost a year later, after he'd been teased by some jerks about being such a 'teacher's pet.' He'd rushed out of the school building clutching his books, hair draped over his eyes, teeth worrying at a slightly bleeding lip. All he remembered thinking was 'escape,' and suddenly...

-he'd ended up there again.

And now he knew what to do, had wasted no time and searched through that white wasteland, and then, there he was, Myde, Demyx, whatever, looking the same age that he had a year ago when Ienzo had seen him last.

"Who are you?"

And that was how it started.

The World That Never Was, as he appropriately dubbed it, became his sanctuary as he got older and older, and each time he returned to the sweet smile of the memory of his best friend. It was like an endless loop of time, and at every visit the first thing Myde (Demyx!) would say was-

"Who are you, Mister?"

It was just an illusion, his brilliant mind told him; just something his heart had cooked up when it decided it didn't want to take life seriously anymore. But his heart told him it was real.

So he kept going.

The final time was when he was seventeen, and already halfway done with college. Finals had just finished, and, well... sometimes, Ienzo just needed an escape.

"Bye, Mister Ienzo! I really had fun; I thought I've been the only one here for ages. It's been so lonely, but I'm all better now that you're here! I hope we see each other again!"

"I'll visit again, soon, Demyx. We're friends, after all."

"Best friends," the rather vapid blond had giggled, running forward to hug the teenager's knees. Then the illusion of The World That Never Was faded away, and Ienzo found himself wishing he had stayed.

Two years later, he found that yes, he should have stayed. Two years later, he got into an accident. ("This is the same kid that was here about ten years ago, remember? Because of that awful car crash with the drunk driver...?")

He didn't remember dying, but from what his foggy mind could tell- (the whole 'being in a coma' experience had been decidedly odd, since he had been watching himself over the past year in a distinctively third-person point of view) -it had been rather like he (or his mind, to be more specific) was slowly fading away, until just an empty corpse was left; heart kept alive solely by machines.

It hadn't been anyone's fault, really. Ienzo had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. All the same, it had been a mistake to leave that perfect world. ("It's been nearly a year," the doctor informed Ienzo's parents. "I'm sorry, but we don't think there's much hope of him waking up now, and we need the equipment for other patients. We're going to take your son off life support. You have ten minutes to say your goodbyes.")

...But as it turned out, in the end, that mistake was something he never intended to regret.

(If you should ever call my name-)

"Hey, Ienzo, is that you?"

"I don't know who you think you are, coming up to me like that; but my name isn't even Ienzo, it's Zexion, got it?" the teen huffed, shaking periwinkle hair out of dark eyes. "Who are you, anyways?"

(I'll be right here...)

The other teen laughed, shaking his ridiculously cut dirty-blond hair out of his face, fingers tracing over the patterns on the vaguely familiar sitar he had slung over his back. "My name is Demyx, and you're my best friend."

(You'll never be alone)