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He wants him back.
That's all it is, he wants him back more than anything.
Roxas was a puppy in the starting days, lead around by whatever organization member he was assigned to that day. But he liked Axel the best, that much was obvious.So they played off each other! They were perfect for missions together. They worked well together, they were strong together and closer than anyone else.
And then they separated.
And Axel... Axel knows why, but there are gaps. He knows Roxas figured out what he was. He knows he fought with Riku. And he knows Roxas quit.
He knows, too, that Roxas was sweet. Roxas liked his jokes. Roxas and him hung out. Roxas liked ice cream. Roxas liked Axel. In the darkness, the sheer nothingness that surrounded the Organization like a heavy shroud, this meant everything.
So Axel tries to find him.
Climbing into the world Roxas was trapped in was easy, so was tracking him down. It was deeply satisfying, seeing that Roxas followed their patterns of hanging around Twilight Town. Eating the same food, relaxing in the same spot on the clock tower.
It was simple. Axel would find Roxas, Axel would apologize (for what, he wasn't sure, that was another gap) and Roxas would run back to the organization happily. Easy peasy.
Actually finding Roxas again complicates these things.
Axel found him called out to him, but. There was no recognition. Roxas glared at him like you would glare at any stranger yelling at you on the street.
So Axel held it together, dodged out of the fight, and realized, Oh no, something is wrong, something is horribly wrong.
Axel is mad at first. He tipped the scale in Roxas's favor, just as he did so many times before, and Roxas didn't even show thanks to him.
Then depression, skipping straight to acceptance: That's not the Roxas he knows. That Roxas is dead, so it's fine to send Nobodies after him. It's fine to try to crush him. Justify the anger. Even when he requests to meet again, it's hollow. Go through the motions, do what's familiar. Roxas's response was warmth, but still no recognition, no light in his eyes.
Roxas was gone, the new plan was to push forward.
All of this changes when he sees Sora again.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
He took too much pity on the kid first time around, but in his defense, it was also in the organizations favor. Over eager, wanting to help everyone Sora kicked down Oblivion's door and ran floor after floor to rescue a stranger, long after he jig was up. He had too, he was the hero.
It was uncanny seeing Roxas's missing half wander around. He was cheerier than Roxas, more energetic than Roxas, and a little dumber than Roxas (though, no one had bothered to explain Sora the deeply complicated matters of the Heart, both as a physical organ and as meaningful piece of a person, so he couldn't fault him for that.) and the perfect thing to blame the mess that Oblivion turned into on. And when he went to sleep, fine! Out of the way. And he'd never have to tell Roxas, and, well, okay, that blew up in his face, but now he had round two.
He'd seen him before their confrontation in the Hollow Bastion, but was afraid to go near him. Despite his bluster, Axel could be sneaky when he wanted too, and he occasionally popped in to see how the kid was doing.
Sora was quick to make friends, Sora practically lived to gain more of them. He wandered around with a bright smile on his face, a welcome and open heart. He would detour anything in order to help someone out, whether they were a stranger or a longtime companion.
He slashed through legions of heartless to save a country and a soldier woman, he happily defended the coliseum while the ailing champion was down and out. He owed these strangers nothing. He was the keyblade wielder, slayer of beasts, able to skip through worlds like it didn't matter. Maleficent was rising back up, Organization 13 was a rising threat to him, but who would help some idiot get his ship back? Who would keep the heartless at bay in his once-hometown? Wouldn't someone, please, think of bringing the joy of Christmas to an underprivileged King of Halloween?
This all seems overly saccharine to Axel (who isn't bitter, not at all), but his blue eyes are Roxas’s, and they light up the same way when he smiles.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
The first time he really felt it was a bit before Castle Oblivion. They're doing something routine (info hunting, heartless slaying, the job wasn't important) and Roxas tripped, hurt his hand.
Roxas stayed on the ground for a moment too long, grumbling and pouting (it was a long day, whatever happened, this was probably the last straw) and Axel rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "You okay?"
Roxas mutters and tries to push himself up on his own but just winces as his wrist bends against the ground. "I will pick you up if I have to. Don't think I won't."
Roxas glares, says nothing. Axel gets worried. Did he say something? "You'll be fine. It's not that bad." He sticks his hand a little closer to his face.
There's this weird expression that crosses Roxas's face, his eyes wide as he glances at Axel, then his hand, and then back at Axel, but he leans forward and rests his cheek against his palm, nuzzling it like a puppy.
Axel's first reaction is bafflement, realizing he's never had to yank Roxas up from the ground and Roxas not realizing he was supposed just, y'know, grab his hand.
But this weird tenderness, it's something deeply unfamiliar to Axel, it was new and strange and he realizes it's been ( oh god ) so long since anyone touched him with kindness in their heart.
Axel went through the motions. Everyone did, Vexen explained once, it was the only way to keep it together. He was a funny, high energy guy when he was Lea, it was all he knew, and he wasn't going to pretend much was different. Everyone held onto their normal forms as well as they could, for someday when their hearts returned, it was like there was no gap in between. Xigbar was still a brash show off, Zexion was always a quiet weirdo, et cetera et cetera. Axel could always be himself, even if there was that long gap of not feeling emotion, a gaping maw deep in him that swallowed him into Oblivion. He was still Lea, somewhere, underneath it. He had to be, or else, he was nothing.
What kind of person were you , he wants to ask. Who stone-cold nuzzles their friends hand? Is that your first reaction? Why's this so deeply rooted?
But none of it comes out. He stutters for a second and tries to say something, but doubles back and lets the moment pass by in silence.
They get up and don't discuss it. But something in Axel's chest hurts, and it's a problem he doesn't truly identify until he lets Namine free in Castle Oblivion.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
So, he decides, the hole in his heart is too great, he needs to bring Roxas back. He isn't sure how, but he has too. It's why he justifies kidnapping the girl even though he knows it'll hurt the dormant Roxas in him, maybe if he follows the trail and goes back to the World That Never Was, someone will knock the Roxas right back out of him.
All together again, minus... Quite a few, but well. It was ok. Axel and Roxas, together again. No one else necessary. Why did anyone else matter? Roxas was the only one he cared about.
So after the little... Confrontation at Hollow Bastion, he pops up a few more times. Once while the kid is wandering alone Twilight Town, taking familiar routes. It's been a long day, he deserves a break, one Axel won't give.
"Let's try this again." He says as he steps from a portal, behind Sora. The kid tenses up immediately, draws his weapon without a second thought.
"Ok, progress! You remember me. Do you remember my name?" Axel says, hand on his hip.
"You're the one that stole Kairi." Sora didn't even hesitate. It's the girl that's most important.
(twinge of jealousy, oh, young lady, do you realize what a privilege it is to be in his heart? )
"Boy, that's a long name! Not even an X in there." He keeps it up "But nope. Axel. Got it--"
"Memorized, I know. You say it a lot." Sora says, rolling his eyes. "Are you challenging me?"
Axel doesn't answer, he's mentally calculating something. Just as Sora's about to shout at him, Axel pipes up and says, "Petty, I know, but I only said it to you twice so far."
Sora exhales. This was petty, to him, but to Axel it might be the most important discovery so far. "No, you said it to me before, when---" He stops in his tracks, eyes go wide like a doe, and then he falls silent. "Or maybe..." He trails off, he looks down.
Fireworks are going off in Axel's head. It was an accident. He was going to tell the kid to keep pushing forward, the true way would open up soon, but suddenly Sora lets it slip that he remembered him. Somehow, however distantly, maybe not even as Roxas, but he remembered his stupid catchphrase. "All I needed." He says, and steps back, ending up on a building above him. Sora looked extremely confused, and Axel was outright giddy.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
“You think Roxas is gonna survive without me?” Axel says while walking with Vexen. “I dunno if he’s ready to be pushed out of the nest.”
“Roxas, Roxas, Roxas. He’s all you know how to discuss anymore. It’s getting pathetic.” Vexen says. “You’d do yourself good to focus on your missions, rather than some vague imitations of puppy love.”
“Oooh, sore spot, Vexy? Are you all jealous because Zexion doesn’t need to rely on you for everything anymore?” Wouldn’t we all be so lucky to have an enthusiastic young ward, Axel thinks with a smirk.
Vexen stop and bristles like a cat at that, shoulders squared. He squints at Axel. "You do know, correct?" He said.
"Oh, I’m certain I don’t." Axel said.
Vexen sighed. "You haven't caught on, hm?" He rolls his eyes, and stared right in Axel's eyes. "He just repeats whoever he's with. He's emptier than the rest of us."
Axel opened his mouth, started to say "That's preposterous" But Vexen interrupts "Think. A creature with no memories… Not knowing who he is, born into this world without feelings or to even remember what it felt like to have emotion?” He scoffed. “Any connection you might feel with him is less than nothing. He parrots back what we like and does anything for our approval.”
"That's." Axel stop, but he thinks. Thinks about how Roxas repeats himself, how he repeats Axel, thinks about how Roxas's sense of humor matches his (smart-assed, just a bit mean), thinks about how he likes the icecream he likes.
"He gets the most positive feedback from you and reasons you’re the safest to be with. Maybe he’s not such a lost cause if he’s retained a basic survival instinct, but nonetheless.” Axel doesn’t respond, he doesn’t want to feed into it. “What's that thing you say all the time?" He says, just a bit smug. "Oh yes." Vexen taps the side of his head with each syllable, "Got it memorized?"
"You're wrong." Axel says.
"I'm not, and that's what troubles you. For all the love you lack," He said, slowly raising an eyebrow. "You're desperate to feel it."
"Then what about" Axel's hand, Roxas's cheek, holy warmth but he manages to snap his mouth shut. There's a long, long pause. Vexen narrows his eyes.
"When we're done at Castle Oblivion, I'm examining you." He shoots him a trademarked icy stare. "These kinds of... emotional outbursts are unprecedented."
Axel, luckily, didn't have to keep that appointment.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
Same place next time, a back alley that lead you towards the clocktower's entrance. Sora expects him this time, turns to face the portal Axel steps out of with the keyblade at the ready.
"Relax, Sora. I'm not hurting our heartless-harvesting machine." He says. Sora scowls. "Just checkin' in. Eating enough? You look like you need to catch up on some sleep."
"You didn't seriously come here to small talk, did you?" Sora says (a bit wobbly in the biting tone, Axel doubts the kid's ever so much as whispered something mean under his breath)
"And what if I did? What if I just want to make conversation?" He steps closer, pressing his luck. One step, two step, but Sora isn't budging, nor is he lunging or trying to whap Axel with the keyblade. "We can answer each other some questions. I'm sure it's been hard to keep track of all this information."
Bingo. Sora's hooked, and he lowers his weapon. "Ok, fine." He lets out a deep breath. "You first."
Axel makes a 'tch' sound. "Perfect. How's the weather lately?"
"Fine. Who's Roxas?" Good god, not even phased. Axel wants to stumble back, but he keeps his composure.
"Don't mean to answer your question with another one, but what do you know so far?"
Sora shrugs. "He was a member of the organization, then he left, and no one knows why. And it made a lot of people really angry." Sora's hand raises up, makes Axel's own hands twitch in anticipation of a fight, but he just starts to fiddle with the pendant of his necklace. "And I guess I look like him."
"Eesh. Well." Axel kicks the ground, hands on his hips. "You've got it pretty right." He didn't need to know what the X in Roxas signified, what it labelled him as. Sora got the basics down.
"Do you know why he left?" Sora says. Axel just shakes his head.
Sora presses his lips together. "Were you close?"
"Yeah. Closest. He was..." His best friend, his favorite person, the only one he felt like this for. "Yeah. We were close."
"But... You don't know what happened?"
Axel shifted. "Look," He growled. "People keep secrets! I don't know what you're expecting. I think we'd all be a lot more at peace if we figured out why Roxas left."
Sora stares at him, and looks to the side. "I'm sorry. This is probably pretty painful, huh." Sora says.
Axel blinks. "What."
"Well, like..." He furrows his brow, trying to dig up the right words. "Everyone’s... really mad, but I don't think they'd be that upset if they didn't have... Emotional investment, I guess." He looks back up at Axel. "If Roxas could tell everyone he's sorry, I think that would help you guys."
"That's. Uh." Axel literally saw Sora at work for this, saw how Sora let go of any anger he could have to empathize and help Namine, but to be the target of it felt... Strange, foreign. No one had anything for Axel except pity.
Not since Roxas, at least.
"You're right, at least." Axel says. "Alright, question time is over." This is getting to be too much, he thinks as he turns and makes another portal appear, it's too close for him to bear. Anymore and this and Roxas---
"Will I see you again?"
Axel stops, and runs a hand over his face. This was a mistake. "Yeah. You'll find me wherever it seems significant."
"... That's really broad."
"Ok, well!" He starts to step through the portal. "Next time you have a moment, just come back here! I'll find you."
But as he walks through the darkness, his composure cracks.
He thinks of what Vexen said again, thinks of the implications, thinks of Sora and Roxas and the differences between them.
Sora is Roxas plus all their differences. Sora is nice, and sweet, and feels deep sympathy for everything that crosses his path. Roxas was introverted, biting, overwhelmed easy. He could chalk parts up to the situation Roxas was in, but what would that mean?
If, he thinks. If Roxas grew up safe, and happy, with friends and a family that took care of him, that supported him, and learned to look at things with a kind eye, and have a devotion to helping people, and remembered all of it.
Then he wouldn’t be Roxas.
He would be Sora.
He runs a hand over his face, squeezes his jaw with his fingers. This was a betrayal.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
Did Roxas like him?
He sits on the Clock Tower and really, really thinks about this.
Roxas acted worried, but that was the thing. Roxas acted worried about him. He couldn’t see inside Roxas’s head, he couldn’t know if he was just acting, if this was just what you did when you thought your friend died in a Castle-wide massacre.
He wracks his brain for every interaction, every moment of closeness they had. Every accidental brush against each other, every casual conversation, every time they stared at each other. It felt like more, because it made Axel feel like more. But what about Roxas? What did Roxas feel?
Did Roxas feel?
It’s troubling Axel more and more. It felt real. Every sunset, every quiet moment together. Every word between them. All the weight of that, it had to mean something, right?
Roxas had to feel. Roxas wouldn’t have left the Organization if he didn’t feel dissatisfied with it. And nothing would’ve made him stay. Not even Axel.
This makes the pit in his stomach grow larger. Did he care, just not for Axel? Was Axel’s love not enough?
His hands start to twitch and he feels cold, cold all over. Why did he never tell Roxas? Did he feel like it was too dangerous? No, it never was. Roxas hated keeping secrets, but they could’ve run off together. Screw the Organization, they had each other, but Axel was too cowardly to even take the chance.
He buries his face in his hands and takes deep breaths, tries to calm down, tries to think of Roxas’s beautiful blue eyes, but all he sees is Sora.
Sora’s radiating light, Sora’s forgiveness. Seeing him makes Axel’s fears go away for just a second, fills the emptiness up with something (curiosity? affection?) in a way that’s been hard to go back before it. How did he live this long, he wondered, without love in his life?
He needs to see him again, just one more time. He’ll be back soon, he can feel it.
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
Sora walks through the alley slowly, taking his time and peaking down every street. Axel stared at him from afar long enough and finally opened a portal and appeared behind him. “Miss me?”
Sora jolted, but relaxed quickly. “Hi again.” He turned around and looked up at him, eyes filled with trepidation.
“So, what’s on the docket today? Sparring? Yelling at me for spiriting away your gal pal? Or more questions?” Axel said, one hand casually on his hip.
“The last one. Is that alright?” He replied. Sora shifted his feet.
Axel smirked, trying to keep up the casual demeanor. If he had a pulse, it’d be racing. “Sounds good. What do you wanna know today?”
“What was he like?”
Axel froze. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” (he didn’t.)
“Roxas. People cared about him a lot.”
Axel sighed. “Yeah, they did.” He looked up at the sky, red and orange, just like it always was. “He was… It’s funny, he was real helpless when he first joined up. Real quiet. I figured people thought he’d be easy to push around, so I took it upon myself to train him.”
Sora snickered. “Noble.”
“Aren’t I? But… he was nice. He cared about people a whole lot. And being around him, you just… Felt better. Felt more like yourself.”
Sora was quiet for a moment. “You miss him the most, huh.”
Axel bristled. “Dunno if there’s a way to quantify that…”
“Sorry, I mean…” He looked down, chewed on his lip. “Everyone else… They seem really angry at Roxas. And I understand that, but…” He looked back up at Axel with his blue, blue eyes. “You just seem sad.”
Axel crossed his arms. “I stopped having the energy to be mad a while ago, kid. It… It doesn’t help. You just keep thinking about what happened, and keep getting angrier, and that’s all there is… But I know he’s long gone. Dunno when he’s coming back. If.”
“Thank you.” Sora replied. “You didn’t have to tell me all this.”
“Well!” Axel said, regaining his bravado. “You’ve stumbled through this blind long enough. I wanted to give you some context.”
Sora smiled. “You don’t have to go through all this, you know.”
Axel just blinks.
“You don’t…” Sora takes a breath. “You. You’re different than the rest of them, I think. You don’t have to go along with them. We could be friends.”
They were. They were, they were, Axel wants to yell, but that’ll ruin everything, it’ll shatter any chance to bring Roxas back, for Kingdom Hearts to be completed, for them all to have hearts separate from the hearts they lost.
“You…” Axel breaths in deep. “You really are a lot like him.”
Sora perks up, probably thinking he’s finally getting through to him. Axel leans down to him, face to face, and he’s not even intimidated. “You have his moral backbone, for one. And you have his exact eyes.”
He puts a gloved hand on his shoulder and feels Sora tense under his touch, but he doesn’t try to back away. “You have his face. You’re not all the way like him, and he was blond…” His other hand reaches up, just barely touches his cheek. “But you’re too close.” He leans in closer, his eyes slowly shut, to... What? Kiss him? See if he even smells like Roxas? He isn’t sure anymore, he doesn’t care. He just wants the silence, the closeness, the feeling of feeling again.
He feels Sora’s face move out of his hand but closer to him, feels him try to stand up a little on his tiptoes and then presses his forehead against Axel’s lips.
No bafflement. Familiar tenderness. He wants this to be the end of it so bad.
They stand there in silence until Sora moves back, the moment passed.
Axel breathes in, composes himself, puts a smirk back on his reddened face. “See, that’s what he would’ve done, too.”
“I’m sorry I’m not him.” Sora says. His bright blues are welled up, and he blinks them back. Axel raises an eyebrow. “I’m sorry I’m different. I really am. And I’m sorry I’m not who you want, but…” He pauses, puts a hand on his chest. “I really hope you find someone that’s all you need.”
Axel nods, looks to his side. “Yeah. Me too, kid.”
❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎
Axel walks through the darkness and feels… A lot, though it feels like the emotion is blunting itself the further away from Sora he is.
Roxas is in there. Roxas always was, but he sees it now. And if Roxas was gone… Maybe that’s what needed to be. But he wants to make him happy, he wants to protect him. And protecting and loving Sora is the best way to do that.
So he’ll help Sora unravel all their carefully laid plans. He already screwed them up a lot, so completely ruining them was nothing.
Anything for Roxas. Anything for Sora.
---
When he closes his eyes in the Betwixt and Between, he opens them and he’s sitting on the clock tower. He turns to his left and sees Roxas, smiling, holding out a icecream for him to take, and he wonders what he was so worried about in the first place.