(no subject)
Who: Axel [ignis_procella] & Roxas [twilightsdirge]
When: After Roxas's arrival.
Where: Streets then Axel's place.
Rating: PG/PG-13.
Warnings: Potty mouths? Axel's actually not a total douche bag.
Summary: Axel goes to get Roxas after he arrives, he promptly attaches to his hip, drags the other nobody home and they talk.
Roxas always made everything 'feel' different. Perhaps it was just another one of his mysterious talents, but Axel had always 'felt' like Roxas made things more worth enjoying. In a deeper sense, Roxas always made things 'feel' right. Purgatory never made much sense to Axel. Hell when he first woke up in one of Alma's beds he thought this was some kind of joke. Nobodies didn't get a second chance. Even when Demyx had started to blather on about 'feelings' and 'emotions' he still didn't put any stock into what the other was saying. It wasn't until recently that Axel had begun to think a little differently, when that journal and morbid clues showed up and he followed Demyx into Ridget and got separated. He never told anyone what happened, he probably never would. Axel wasn't the sharing type.
Now Roxas was here, and while Axel may have believed he didn't deserve to be here. Axel wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Roxas was here and Roxas was all that mattered. The red head bolted from his dilapidated home on the lower levels and towards Alma's Sanctuary. It was probably one of the nicer locations on the lower level, safe, but then again it had to be. He got there as fast as he could and was relieved once the blonde came into his physical line of site. He really was here, it wasn't some twisted joke.
He slowed his steps once he got closer, and he lifted one of his gangly arms in a wave, "Yo, Roxas!"
Roxas' head was tilted back, his eyes fixed blankly on the ceiling. Purgatory, huh? The idea seemed ludicrous -- almost laughable, but there he was. And what other explanation could there be, for Axel's and Demyx's (and theoretically Zexion's) presence?
That was another thing that might take some getting used to. If he was honest about it, Roxas wasn't sure where he stood with any of them. Demyx seemed all right with him, at least so far, and he hadn't spoken to Zexion, so he really had no idea there -- but Axel .. well, Axel was an independent variable at the best of times, and Roxas had no idea what to expect. It wasn't like him to get nervous, but he couldn't deny the little twist of something like apprehension in the bottom of his stomach.
At the call of a very familiar voice, Roxas whipped his head around and focused on the approaching figure. It was Axel, it had to be, no one else could have imitated him even if they wanted to. "Hey," he said, his tone slightly wary. "Long time, no see."
Axel eased to a halt a few feet away, his tall frame half bent forward in a way that would appear to be painful. Axel's long body had certain advantages, flexibility being one of them. His greeting was like any other, like no time had past. That was Axel for you though, always a smart ass, especially when he had a good audience, "Some next life, right?"
It was definitely Axel who stood in front of Roxas, a bit more thin and worn in the face than he might have remembered. Axel had been here over a month and the conditions weren't exactly wonderful. They were rather horrid actually, but this was place wasn't about having a good time. It was punishment. He smirked and eased him up right and crossed his arms at his chest. "Surprised you'd show up in a place like this." Axel was actually rather surprised at this outcome, considering Roxas's wonder twin ... Axel assumed Roxas's fate would be a better one than this.
"You and me both." Roxas observed Axel's appearance curiously. Axel had always been thin, but now he looked .. hollow, like too many weeks of work without enough food, or something. Frowning slightly, he sat up straighter. "You look like shit."
He meant it affectionately, of course.
Axel broke out into laughter and he let himself howl openly into the air above him. Since, his conversation with Demyx that had to be the most amusing thing he heard in weeks ( and the thing with Demyx was worth its weight in comedy gold ). Axel took a moment to rub at his eyes, before he closed the distance between Roxas and himself. There were no more doubts in Axel's head, the young boy in front of him was definitely Roxas. "C'mon kid. You can't stay here as much as you might think its a good idea. Alma's nice, but there's no living in there past a day or two."
He offered his hand down towards Roxas to help him off the steps. They had a bit of a walk ahead of them, maybe a more interesting time if any creatures decided to show up.
Roxas eyed the extended hand, then took it, allowing himself to be hauled up. And if Axel felt him squeeze his hand, juuuuust a little -- well, that was definitely overactive imagination.
"Someone mentioned monsters," he said, finally disengaging himself from Axel's grip. "What kind of monsters are they?"
Axel's grip was always a firm one and he held onto Roxas's hand firmly as he lifted the boy up. Axel never noticed it before, probably due to his own above average body temperature, but Roxas's hand was actually rather warm. With the absence of his own powers, the warmth was actually rather welcoming. The older nobody made a small sound as he let his fingers slip out of Roxas's hand and back to his own hips, then shrugged.
"Not heartless or nobodies, hard to say. I don't think anyone knows ... some of them aren't so bad. More like pets than monsters, but others are pretty nasty. We should be all right getting back, just don't expect too much. This place is pretty ass for accommodations." He made a 'pffft' sound promptly after. It made sleeping on dirt, in the middle of nowhere look appealing.
"You're so encouraging." Roxas rolled his eyes and shrugged. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if this shouldn't be more awkward than it was -- after all, they'd left so many things unsaid, back then. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shot a sidelong glance at Axel, mostly just to reassure himself that he wasn't just going crazy.
Actually, insanity was still possible, come to think of it.
"We get better digs on the upper level, but we gotta earn our way there." No easy street in this place, and if you didn't play by the rules, behave, and get a job, then there was little possibility that you'd get anything back. Axel lead the way at a decent pace, the last thing he wanted was to encounter one of the more nasty creatures on the way back to the broken down building he called a home. There was only once that Axel stopped in his tracks and without missing a beat he threw up an arm to halt Roxas in his tracks. He didn't say a word, only motioned with a hand for him to be quiet.
Axel listened quietly, he could hear somewhere nearby the sound of metal scraping against stone. Axel waited in silence until he couldn't hear it anymore, before he pulled Roxas by the sleeve of his shirt forward again. Lucky for them, whatever it was went the other way. Axel however, made sure they moved a bit faster than before. When they were only a few blocks away, he spoke again.
"So what happened to you anyway? Why are you here?"\
Roxas played along, halting when Axel told him to and continuing when Axel suggested it was all right. When Axel spoke, he figured they were out of the danger zone, but that didn't make it any easier for him to reply -- guilt and some semblance of shame made the words stop up in his throat, and he had to force them past his teeth.
"Riku," he said, expression darkening. "I don't think he meant to kill me."
That got Axel to almost miss a step and pause. He almost turned around, but part of him didn't want to show off how angry he had suddenly become. He already had a lot of reasons to hate Riku, he wasn't as self righteous as he tried to play himself off as, the kid was about as selfish as Axel was. Add the word Riku and Kill together and that made for a whole new level of rage. Still, something about the statement just didn't add up. Riku wanted Sora back, he couldn't have Sora back without Roxas. There wasn't supposed to be one without the other anymore.
"What do you mean meant to kill?" All he could do was carefully pick and choose his words as he turned another corner.
"He wanted me alive," Roxas said. "He just ... took it too far, I guess."
Suddenly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, Roxas kicked a rock and searched for something else to talk about. "Demyx said something about getting his emotions back," he said, knowing even as the words left his lips that it was unlikely Axel would jump at the bait.
Axel made a sound as his dirty fingernails dug into his palms, "So you remember fighting Riku and then you were here?" Axel felt like he had a head ache, he didn't even take into consideration what Demyx had told him about people being pulled in from different points. They would only remember what they had experienced up to coming here, and not everything. Axel had no idea Roxas hadn't experienced or know everything that Axel did. He didn't really want to talk about emotions, he wasn't entirely sure that Demyx was right about them feeling here like normal. Axel's take on emotions was different anyway, he doubt Demyx even got what he was saying that night they gotten drunk.
Roxas's luck seemed to be improving, their conversation was interrupted as Axel motioned toward a broken down door. "We're here." He lead the way inside, much like the streets around the building the inside wasn't much better. The long and winding stairs looked like they would fall apart at any second. Axel took Roxas all the way up to the top floor, before he pushed his way into a slanted and open attic like space. The ceiling had a huge gaping hole in it, and stuffed into a corner was a smelly, lumpy, and stained 'mattress' ( or what was left of one ). Axel had managed to find a broken night stand and a few books, but other than that he had no other possessions.
The view at least was nice, they were high up and the hole in the roof of the building lead out to a ledge big enough for two people to sit or one person to lay down. It was his piece and few people ever liked being high up, that's what made it so appealing for Axel. He could just sit for hours and watch things go by.
"Home sweet home."
Roxas glanced around the room, taking in the dingy mattress, the broken accessories, the absence of any real furniture, and reminded himself that it was better than some of the things he'd endured. "Somehow, I'm not surprised," he said, crossing the room to lean out the window. Roxas liked being high up -- the view reminded him, in its own dirty, in-shambles kind of way, of the view from the clock tower in Twilight Town.
A momentary craving for sea-salt ice cream later, Roxas turned back and leaned against the window frame, regarding Axel from across the room. "You only have one bed," he pointed out.
Axel followed Roxas across the creaky floor boards, but choose to lean against some of the broken roof beams, the ceiling wasn't exactly fit for him. Good size for someone as short as Roxas though. Axel only came inside to sleep when it was too cold and wet outside. His bed, if you could honestly call it that wasn't all that comfortable. "Still master of the obvious, I see."
A rather mischievous grin set upon his lips as he stared between Roxas and the bed, "You don't wanna share, Roxy?" He was teasing of course, but Axel didn't really stop and think about things like sharing a bed. He just wanted to get Roxas and bring him back where he could keep a close watch over. Like hell Axel was going to just let him out of his sight now.
Roxas ducked his head to hide a sudden rush of embarrassment. "I don't mind," he said, "but it might get kind of .. friendly."
Truth be told, he didn't really mind the idea that much -- it wasn't like they hadn't done it before, after all. It was just that Roxas kept feeling like there was a giant purple elephant in the room that neither of them were mentioning, and sooner or later they were both going to be trampled. But he didn't want to be the one to bring up the topic of his defection from the Organization, mostly because he valued all of his internal organs, so instead Roxas just turned back to look out the window and shrugged.
"Could be worse," he mumbled to himself, only peripherally aware that he was even speaking aloud.
Axel snorted at the reply and shook his head as he turned to put his back to Roxas, they could go out later and try and find another bed for Roxas to use. Axel enjoyed pressing his luck, but eventually he knew Roxas would want his own space. So long as he was still near by, Axel wouldn't mind. If Roxas wanted to leave, well that was another issue all together.
"When did you turn into such an optimist?" Axel retorted.
"Never," Roxas said, barely suppressing a smile. "Just trying to convince myself not to jump out of this window. You know me."
Axel laughed again, and waved his hand. "Go ahead. You'll forgive me if I stop you though. You won't land on your feet like back home." Idiot, if only they were back home. Axel would push him and let him fall, gravity used to not have the same affect on them and if it did, who cares. They could open a portal and be on the ground in an instant. Not anymore. Life was weird when there were consequences to your mortality. If you called vanishing for three days and losing something important a consequence.
"Just don't do anything stupid." He added, like it was something a bit more than a reminder.
"No .. that's more your area of expertise."
This was familiar, the back-and-forth between them. Change in landscape aside, this was something Roxas could do. He leaned out the window for a second longer, then pulls himself back in, threat of falling neutralized for now.
"We should talk, eventually," he says. It's matter-of-fact, just a statement of truth.
"We're talking right now," Axel said with a lift of his hand. Axel could feel the air getting heavy and on cue he slipped out onto the ledge. The stone was cold against his skin, he used to note notice things like cold. Axel eased out onto the furtherst safe spot and dropped himself into a low crouch before he dropped his legs over the side and leaned back. He expected Roxas to follow, it wasn't like they hadn't sat like this in Twilight Town a million times before.
Roxas tracked Axel's movements with his eyes, watching him climb out the window and settle on a ledge below it. After a moment, he followed, swinging his legs into the void and sliding down onto the cool stone. "You know what I mean," he said softly, fixing his eyes on an undefined point on the horizon.
"Do I?" Axel said enigmatically. He honestly didn't have any idea what Roxas was talking about, he still had to wrap his head around the whole Riku killed him thing. After a rather heavy pause, Axel turned his head back towards Roxas. "What is it you want to talk about that hasn't already been discussed?"
Roxas looked at Axel and thought of a thousand things he wanted to say: Aren't you angry? I left you -- you should hate me. and Where do we stand? and Are you sure I'm not just dreaming? And he wants to know why it bothers Axel so much that it was Riku who did him in, and a part of him still wants to know what Axel was keeping from him all those months ago in the Castle That Never Was.
But then he catches sight of Axel's face, and the way the light curves around his sharp cheekbones and decides it's not worth it, after all. "Nothing," he says, and closes his eyes. "Never mind."
Roxas might have caught the well placed roll of Axel's eyes. It was never just nothing with him, there was always something. Axel's eyes narrowed as he stared across at the other nobody. He wondered for a split second if provoking Roxas to talk was smart, and decided that maybe now wasn't the best time to piss him off with his usual antics. He figured Roxas was anticipating a snarky come back, a push in a direction that would probably make him angry.
Instead Axel asked an easier question, "Are you hungry?"
Hmm. Easier than he'd anticipated. Roxas considered the question for a second, then shrugged. "Sort of," he said, glancing down at his stomach. "Could go either way."
Axel got up at the first response with a wave of his hand behind him to let Roxas know that he didn't have to bother to get up. He managed to have a few things, mostly donated by Demyx. He had taken to rationing the items pretty well, but what was left he gathered for Roxas. Half a loaf of bread and a small brick of cheese. It wasn't much, but he could always figure out more food late. He passed it off to the other as he sat back down on the ledge.
"Try not to worry about things to much," he added as he stared back at the horizon. "Demyx got one thing right at least, this is another chance. Don't go trying spoil our reunion." Axel smiled, a genuine smile - the kind of smile that only Roxas got to see.
"Now shut up and eat."
Roxas accepted the food with a smile of his own -- small, but equally genuine. A caustic, confusing bastard Axel may have been, but he had his moments -- usually moments that only Roxas was privy to, but it wasn't like he was complaining. Only half-paying attention to what he was doing, Roxas ate, trying to process everything.
"How did you get here?" he asked once he'd finished, focusing on Axel again. After all, Axel'd been alive when Roxas left -- so his presence in Purgatory was a little more than unexpected.
The thing that had been nagging Axel finally clicked. His confusion was gone and everything made sense. A sly and rather twisted smile begun to crack the edges of his lips, and Axel sunk into the shadows of the building to hide it from sight. This Roxas besides him, some how did not have any memories of what lead Axel to come here. That could only mean he came from a different point in their history, one where his last memory involved fighting his wonder twins best friend. This was just too perfect in his eyes.
A hand waved in response to the question, "Just my time."
Roxas shot him a sidelong glance, not believing a single word of it. Just my time his ass -- there was something else going on, and he'd figure it out eventually.
"Sure," he said, kicking his legs out into the empty space below them.
Roxas should be used to Axel not divulging important information. He was often annoyingly aloof and above all else secretive. This was just another one of those things, and eventually maybe they would discuss it. Maybe.
"We're both here right?" That was Axel's way of putting the nail in the coffin on the subject. His way of saying, did it matter how they got here - so long as they were both there, together?
"Right," Roxas said, the word escaping before he could even think about it. He gave Axel a surprised look -- but then, it really shouldn't have been so surprising, should it? When had anything else ever mattered, besides that they were in it together?
"That's the spirit, Roxy," he snickered to himself. Axel clapped Roxas on the back firmly and relaxed backward. So long as Roxas didn't try to run off on his own again, things would be just fine. Roxas was even worth staying in the lower levels an extra month for.
When: After Roxas's arrival.
Where: Streets then Axel's place.
Rating: PG/PG-13.
Warnings: Potty mouths? Axel's actually not a total douche bag.
Summary: Axel goes to get Roxas after he arrives, he promptly attaches to his hip, drags the other nobody home and they talk.
Roxas always made everything 'feel' different. Perhaps it was just another one of his mysterious talents, but Axel had always 'felt' like Roxas made things more worth enjoying. In a deeper sense, Roxas always made things 'feel' right. Purgatory never made much sense to Axel. Hell when he first woke up in one of Alma's beds he thought this was some kind of joke. Nobodies didn't get a second chance. Even when Demyx had started to blather on about 'feelings' and 'emotions' he still didn't put any stock into what the other was saying. It wasn't until recently that Axel had begun to think a little differently, when that journal and morbid clues showed up and he followed Demyx into Ridget and got separated. He never told anyone what happened, he probably never would. Axel wasn't the sharing type.
Now Roxas was here, and while Axel may have believed he didn't deserve to be here. Axel wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Roxas was here and Roxas was all that mattered. The red head bolted from his dilapidated home on the lower levels and towards Alma's Sanctuary. It was probably one of the nicer locations on the lower level, safe, but then again it had to be. He got there as fast as he could and was relieved once the blonde came into his physical line of site. He really was here, it wasn't some twisted joke.
He slowed his steps once he got closer, and he lifted one of his gangly arms in a wave, "Yo, Roxas!"
Roxas' head was tilted back, his eyes fixed blankly on the ceiling. Purgatory, huh? The idea seemed ludicrous -- almost laughable, but there he was. And what other explanation could there be, for Axel's and Demyx's (and theoretically Zexion's) presence?
That was another thing that might take some getting used to. If he was honest about it, Roxas wasn't sure where he stood with any of them. Demyx seemed all right with him, at least so far, and he hadn't spoken to Zexion, so he really had no idea there -- but Axel .. well, Axel was an independent variable at the best of times, and Roxas had no idea what to expect. It wasn't like him to get nervous, but he couldn't deny the little twist of something like apprehension in the bottom of his stomach.
At the call of a very familiar voice, Roxas whipped his head around and focused on the approaching figure. It was Axel, it had to be, no one else could have imitated him even if they wanted to. "Hey," he said, his tone slightly wary. "Long time, no see."
Axel eased to a halt a few feet away, his tall frame half bent forward in a way that would appear to be painful. Axel's long body had certain advantages, flexibility being one of them. His greeting was like any other, like no time had past. That was Axel for you though, always a smart ass, especially when he had a good audience, "Some next life, right?"
It was definitely Axel who stood in front of Roxas, a bit more thin and worn in the face than he might have remembered. Axel had been here over a month and the conditions weren't exactly wonderful. They were rather horrid actually, but this was place wasn't about having a good time. It was punishment. He smirked and eased him up right and crossed his arms at his chest. "Surprised you'd show up in a place like this." Axel was actually rather surprised at this outcome, considering Roxas's wonder twin ... Axel assumed Roxas's fate would be a better one than this.
"You and me both." Roxas observed Axel's appearance curiously. Axel had always been thin, but now he looked .. hollow, like too many weeks of work without enough food, or something. Frowning slightly, he sat up straighter. "You look like shit."
He meant it affectionately, of course.
Axel broke out into laughter and he let himself howl openly into the air above him. Since, his conversation with Demyx that had to be the most amusing thing he heard in weeks ( and the thing with Demyx was worth its weight in comedy gold ). Axel took a moment to rub at his eyes, before he closed the distance between Roxas and himself. There were no more doubts in Axel's head, the young boy in front of him was definitely Roxas. "C'mon kid. You can't stay here as much as you might think its a good idea. Alma's nice, but there's no living in there past a day or two."
He offered his hand down towards Roxas to help him off the steps. They had a bit of a walk ahead of them, maybe a more interesting time if any creatures decided to show up.
Roxas eyed the extended hand, then took it, allowing himself to be hauled up. And if Axel felt him squeeze his hand, juuuuust a little -- well, that was definitely overactive imagination.
"Someone mentioned monsters," he said, finally disengaging himself from Axel's grip. "What kind of monsters are they?"
Axel's grip was always a firm one and he held onto Roxas's hand firmly as he lifted the boy up. Axel never noticed it before, probably due to his own above average body temperature, but Roxas's hand was actually rather warm. With the absence of his own powers, the warmth was actually rather welcoming. The older nobody made a small sound as he let his fingers slip out of Roxas's hand and back to his own hips, then shrugged.
"Not heartless or nobodies, hard to say. I don't think anyone knows ... some of them aren't so bad. More like pets than monsters, but others are pretty nasty. We should be all right getting back, just don't expect too much. This place is pretty ass for accommodations." He made a 'pffft' sound promptly after. It made sleeping on dirt, in the middle of nowhere look appealing.
"You're so encouraging." Roxas rolled his eyes and shrugged. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if this shouldn't be more awkward than it was -- after all, they'd left so many things unsaid, back then. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shot a sidelong glance at Axel, mostly just to reassure himself that he wasn't just going crazy.
Actually, insanity was still possible, come to think of it.
"We get better digs on the upper level, but we gotta earn our way there." No easy street in this place, and if you didn't play by the rules, behave, and get a job, then there was little possibility that you'd get anything back. Axel lead the way at a decent pace, the last thing he wanted was to encounter one of the more nasty creatures on the way back to the broken down building he called a home. There was only once that Axel stopped in his tracks and without missing a beat he threw up an arm to halt Roxas in his tracks. He didn't say a word, only motioned with a hand for him to be quiet.
Axel listened quietly, he could hear somewhere nearby the sound of metal scraping against stone. Axel waited in silence until he couldn't hear it anymore, before he pulled Roxas by the sleeve of his shirt forward again. Lucky for them, whatever it was went the other way. Axel however, made sure they moved a bit faster than before. When they were only a few blocks away, he spoke again.
"So what happened to you anyway? Why are you here?"\
Roxas played along, halting when Axel told him to and continuing when Axel suggested it was all right. When Axel spoke, he figured they were out of the danger zone, but that didn't make it any easier for him to reply -- guilt and some semblance of shame made the words stop up in his throat, and he had to force them past his teeth.
"Riku," he said, expression darkening. "I don't think he meant to kill me."
That got Axel to almost miss a step and pause. He almost turned around, but part of him didn't want to show off how angry he had suddenly become. He already had a lot of reasons to hate Riku, he wasn't as self righteous as he tried to play himself off as, the kid was about as selfish as Axel was. Add the word Riku and Kill together and that made for a whole new level of rage. Still, something about the statement just didn't add up. Riku wanted Sora back, he couldn't have Sora back without Roxas. There wasn't supposed to be one without the other anymore.
"What do you mean meant to kill?" All he could do was carefully pick and choose his words as he turned another corner.
"He wanted me alive," Roxas said. "He just ... took it too far, I guess."
Suddenly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, Roxas kicked a rock and searched for something else to talk about. "Demyx said something about getting his emotions back," he said, knowing even as the words left his lips that it was unlikely Axel would jump at the bait.
Axel made a sound as his dirty fingernails dug into his palms, "So you remember fighting Riku and then you were here?" Axel felt like he had a head ache, he didn't even take into consideration what Demyx had told him about people being pulled in from different points. They would only remember what they had experienced up to coming here, and not everything. Axel had no idea Roxas hadn't experienced or know everything that Axel did. He didn't really want to talk about emotions, he wasn't entirely sure that Demyx was right about them feeling here like normal. Axel's take on emotions was different anyway, he doubt Demyx even got what he was saying that night they gotten drunk.
Roxas's luck seemed to be improving, their conversation was interrupted as Axel motioned toward a broken down door. "We're here." He lead the way inside, much like the streets around the building the inside wasn't much better. The long and winding stairs looked like they would fall apart at any second. Axel took Roxas all the way up to the top floor, before he pushed his way into a slanted and open attic like space. The ceiling had a huge gaping hole in it, and stuffed into a corner was a smelly, lumpy, and stained 'mattress' ( or what was left of one ). Axel had managed to find a broken night stand and a few books, but other than that he had no other possessions.
The view at least was nice, they were high up and the hole in the roof of the building lead out to a ledge big enough for two people to sit or one person to lay down. It was his piece and few people ever liked being high up, that's what made it so appealing for Axel. He could just sit for hours and watch things go by.
"Home sweet home."
Roxas glanced around the room, taking in the dingy mattress, the broken accessories, the absence of any real furniture, and reminded himself that it was better than some of the things he'd endured. "Somehow, I'm not surprised," he said, crossing the room to lean out the window. Roxas liked being high up -- the view reminded him, in its own dirty, in-shambles kind of way, of the view from the clock tower in Twilight Town.
A momentary craving for sea-salt ice cream later, Roxas turned back and leaned against the window frame, regarding Axel from across the room. "You only have one bed," he pointed out.
Axel followed Roxas across the creaky floor boards, but choose to lean against some of the broken roof beams, the ceiling wasn't exactly fit for him. Good size for someone as short as Roxas though. Axel only came inside to sleep when it was too cold and wet outside. His bed, if you could honestly call it that wasn't all that comfortable. "Still master of the obvious, I see."
A rather mischievous grin set upon his lips as he stared between Roxas and the bed, "You don't wanna share, Roxy?" He was teasing of course, but Axel didn't really stop and think about things like sharing a bed. He just wanted to get Roxas and bring him back where he could keep a close watch over. Like hell Axel was going to just let him out of his sight now.
Roxas ducked his head to hide a sudden rush of embarrassment. "I don't mind," he said, "but it might get kind of .. friendly."
Truth be told, he didn't really mind the idea that much -- it wasn't like they hadn't done it before, after all. It was just that Roxas kept feeling like there was a giant purple elephant in the room that neither of them were mentioning, and sooner or later they were both going to be trampled. But he didn't want to be the one to bring up the topic of his defection from the Organization, mostly because he valued all of his internal organs, so instead Roxas just turned back to look out the window and shrugged.
"Could be worse," he mumbled to himself, only peripherally aware that he was even speaking aloud.
Axel snorted at the reply and shook his head as he turned to put his back to Roxas, they could go out later and try and find another bed for Roxas to use. Axel enjoyed pressing his luck, but eventually he knew Roxas would want his own space. So long as he was still near by, Axel wouldn't mind. If Roxas wanted to leave, well that was another issue all together.
"When did you turn into such an optimist?" Axel retorted.
"Never," Roxas said, barely suppressing a smile. "Just trying to convince myself not to jump out of this window. You know me."
Axel laughed again, and waved his hand. "Go ahead. You'll forgive me if I stop you though. You won't land on your feet like back home." Idiot, if only they were back home. Axel would push him and let him fall, gravity used to not have the same affect on them and if it did, who cares. They could open a portal and be on the ground in an instant. Not anymore. Life was weird when there were consequences to your mortality. If you called vanishing for three days and losing something important a consequence.
"Just don't do anything stupid." He added, like it was something a bit more than a reminder.
"No .. that's more your area of expertise."
This was familiar, the back-and-forth between them. Change in landscape aside, this was something Roxas could do. He leaned out the window for a second longer, then pulls himself back in, threat of falling neutralized for now.
"We should talk, eventually," he says. It's matter-of-fact, just a statement of truth.
"We're talking right now," Axel said with a lift of his hand. Axel could feel the air getting heavy and on cue he slipped out onto the ledge. The stone was cold against his skin, he used to note notice things like cold. Axel eased out onto the furtherst safe spot and dropped himself into a low crouch before he dropped his legs over the side and leaned back. He expected Roxas to follow, it wasn't like they hadn't sat like this in Twilight Town a million times before.
Roxas tracked Axel's movements with his eyes, watching him climb out the window and settle on a ledge below it. After a moment, he followed, swinging his legs into the void and sliding down onto the cool stone. "You know what I mean," he said softly, fixing his eyes on an undefined point on the horizon.
"Do I?" Axel said enigmatically. He honestly didn't have any idea what Roxas was talking about, he still had to wrap his head around the whole Riku killed him thing. After a rather heavy pause, Axel turned his head back towards Roxas. "What is it you want to talk about that hasn't already been discussed?"
Roxas looked at Axel and thought of a thousand things he wanted to say: Aren't you angry? I left you -- you should hate me. and Where do we stand? and Are you sure I'm not just dreaming? And he wants to know why it bothers Axel so much that it was Riku who did him in, and a part of him still wants to know what Axel was keeping from him all those months ago in the Castle That Never Was.
But then he catches sight of Axel's face, and the way the light curves around his sharp cheekbones and decides it's not worth it, after all. "Nothing," he says, and closes his eyes. "Never mind."
Roxas might have caught the well placed roll of Axel's eyes. It was never just nothing with him, there was always something. Axel's eyes narrowed as he stared across at the other nobody. He wondered for a split second if provoking Roxas to talk was smart, and decided that maybe now wasn't the best time to piss him off with his usual antics. He figured Roxas was anticipating a snarky come back, a push in a direction that would probably make him angry.
Instead Axel asked an easier question, "Are you hungry?"
Hmm. Easier than he'd anticipated. Roxas considered the question for a second, then shrugged. "Sort of," he said, glancing down at his stomach. "Could go either way."
Axel got up at the first response with a wave of his hand behind him to let Roxas know that he didn't have to bother to get up. He managed to have a few things, mostly donated by Demyx. He had taken to rationing the items pretty well, but what was left he gathered for Roxas. Half a loaf of bread and a small brick of cheese. It wasn't much, but he could always figure out more food late. He passed it off to the other as he sat back down on the ledge.
"Try not to worry about things to much," he added as he stared back at the horizon. "Demyx got one thing right at least, this is another chance. Don't go trying spoil our reunion." Axel smiled, a genuine smile - the kind of smile that only Roxas got to see.
"Now shut up and eat."
Roxas accepted the food with a smile of his own -- small, but equally genuine. A caustic, confusing bastard Axel may have been, but he had his moments -- usually moments that only Roxas was privy to, but it wasn't like he was complaining. Only half-paying attention to what he was doing, Roxas ate, trying to process everything.
"How did you get here?" he asked once he'd finished, focusing on Axel again. After all, Axel'd been alive when Roxas left -- so his presence in Purgatory was a little more than unexpected.
The thing that had been nagging Axel finally clicked. His confusion was gone and everything made sense. A sly and rather twisted smile begun to crack the edges of his lips, and Axel sunk into the shadows of the building to hide it from sight. This Roxas besides him, some how did not have any memories of what lead Axel to come here. That could only mean he came from a different point in their history, one where his last memory involved fighting his wonder twins best friend. This was just too perfect in his eyes.
A hand waved in response to the question, "Just my time."
Roxas shot him a sidelong glance, not believing a single word of it. Just my time his ass -- there was something else going on, and he'd figure it out eventually.
"Sure," he said, kicking his legs out into the empty space below them.
Roxas should be used to Axel not divulging important information. He was often annoyingly aloof and above all else secretive. This was just another one of those things, and eventually maybe they would discuss it. Maybe.
"We're both here right?" That was Axel's way of putting the nail in the coffin on the subject. His way of saying, did it matter how they got here - so long as they were both there, together?
"Right," Roxas said, the word escaping before he could even think about it. He gave Axel a surprised look -- but then, it really shouldn't have been so surprising, should it? When had anything else ever mattered, besides that they were in it together?
"That's the spirit, Roxy," he snickered to himself. Axel clapped Roxas on the back firmly and relaxed backward. So long as Roxas didn't try to run off on his own again, things would be just fine. Roxas was even worth staying in the lower levels an extra month for.