axel shifts, peeking beyond the tree that he’s currently hiding behind. his chakrams are at the ready - just in case any of those whistles do pick up on him - but they don’t seem to know he’s around. he’d like to keep it that way - but even for a guy who’s pretty damn good at sneaking around, the task at hand’s pretty daunting. there’s three of them and those things can put up quite the fight. axel has to grab at least some of the children’s cargo... but he’ll definitely need to be smart about it.
he’s about to start stringing together a plan when he catches sight of someone else. they’re also hiding away from the whistles, by the looks of things. axel blinks - he’s unsure of how to proceed, here. it’d be bad if he dashed in to fight the whistles while this person’s trying to be sneaky, right? and vice versa, for that matter.
guess he should try to talk to them. it’s kinda hard to see their face from here... he leans down, ducking behind some shrubbery as he slowly makes his way over to where they’re hiding. and - as he does that - the person’s features become clearer and clearer to him. and it’s thanks to this that axel realizes something.
that person. they’re familiar...
“...riku?!” axel’s so shocked that he forgets to keep his voice down. shit! his hand flies over his mouth, clamping over it as he peeks over the shrubbery. luckily, the whistles don’t seem to have heard him. phew. he’s still crouched over as he practically dashes over to where riku’s standing.
“what the - ?! how are you here, too?!” he’s floundering, but he’s sure to keep his voice low. this is a lot to process. a lot. last time axel saw riku, the guy was sent to finish him off - with naminé, no less. instead, riku let them go. in that sense, axel guesses he owes him. now may not be the time to be catching up, but axel can’t possibly hide his shock at seeing him here in the great white, too.
★ @dawndreamt