@svnfade
The smell of rain hitting the hot streets of the sleeping city fills his nose. A smell he found comforting. A fragrance he’d find himself nodding of to, until the odd palm of slumber cupped his chin. An odor that felt warm and calm against his face, now smelled rancid, putrid…
In the drizzling mist of it all stood Roxas, back tense, set straight with unspoken determination. At least, it remain foreign to Axel, and in a sick twisted kind of way, he wanted it to stay like that, unchanged.
Nibbling down on his lip, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, almost as if he were playing “the carpet is lava” game, in the exact same spot. But the floor was made of toothpicks, they’d snap under his weight, he’d fall, and he was scared…No, he was terrified, of the drop.
Words oozed from his throat, desperate to get out, eager to reach the ears of the boy standing a few feet ahead of him.
With a pride as thick as wooden, wilted, willow trunks, he bit down on the fleshy inside of his cheeks, until the unpleasant taste of blood filled his mouth, drowning the words in the dense, red, liquid.
Because if Roxas wanted to leave, he wouldn’t stop him.
Why should he? He wasn’t going to gamble his life away, he wasn’t going to be turned into a Dusk for his sake. The idea settled slowly, the quick and stable decision to let the blonde slip past his outstretched fingers and into the outskirts of a place they had grown to know as home, unpacked itself and rolled through his wavering thoughts.
That’s how it was going to be.
That’s how he was going to make it be.
But then, Roxas steps forward, and Axel’s heart leaps from his gaping mouth in an impulsive attempt to follow after the boy’s silent footsteps.
“Roxas! You can’t leave!”
It’s raspy, his voice…and his upper lip twists under the venerability in his tone.
View narrowed, he clutches onto the collar of his own coat. It ached to breathe, it hurt.
Unruly, wild and set ablaze, his heart thumped harshly in his chest.
“Just…”
Emotions crawl past his tongue, and into the rain puddles circling his scuffed boots.
“Just, hear me out.” -And he’s exposed. “-Please.”
★— It was almost funny how people don in the same clothing could be so easily differentiated from each other. Funny, how in the darkness of storm clouds and poorly lit streets of a poorly populated World, he knew that it was Axel who lazed against the wall in his peripheral. By the way his sleeves hugged such slim limbs, how vibrant his hair stood out. A splash of color amongst a monochrome city, a brightness that previously centered his world.
Now, a fire that clawed at his chest like tiger’s claws; a twist in his stomach.
And how easily recognizable Roxas was, even with his hood put up to protect him from the rain, all broad shoulders and his head held high. There was a bounce in his step he hardly noticed until somebody was watching him so closely, like in this moment.
Roxas couldn’t acknowledge him. Not now. Not after he had plowed through each floor of the Castle that Never Was, after he had left Saix beaten and unconscious on the doorstep.
Axel couldn’t be trusted. He lied, he lied, he lied to him–
He fixated his gaze ahead of him, on anything, on nothing, on whatever form that wasn’t physical. His face felt hot, his fingertips were turning numb, and the fall of rain was starting to sound like a roar in his ears, of screams that threatened to claw their way out of his throat and past unfriendly lips.
Roxas had no intention of stopping as the voice carried over to him. He can leave! He can, and he was! Forget this place!! Forget Xemnas and his band of assholes. Let them rot in their empty shells in empty rooms, within colorless walls and endless drivel of hearts, hearts, hearts. The boy had to stop them, even if it meant obliterating his self in the process.
And then his legs grew a mind entirely of their own. He stopped as the plea reached his ears, drowning out the aforementioned torrent of internal turmoil.
Gloved hands lifted to drop the hood away from his face as he turned towards the man. His best friend. Cold water splashed his face and tickled his eyelashes, making him blink more than usual to maintain Axel’s gaze.
Slowly, his hair began to flatten, to grow darker as it became wet.
❝ What else is there to say? I have to get some answers. I have to know who I am.❞
