Chapter Text
“Your job will be eliminating any traitors in our midst. It is of the utmost importance.”
Long after he had been given those orders, he wondered what really made someone a traitor. It wasn’t unknown that most of the Organization members despised each other, always throwing jabs and looking for weaknesses to tear the other down. Sure, there were moments of camaraderie, but Axel knew that it was all an act, carefully orchestrated for to suit one’s own goals. There was no real friendships there, and anything that resembled one was born out of lingering memories that reminded them to act a certain way.
He was the same of course, but he still wondered. None of them held loyalty to one another in the first place, and none of them believed in their fellow compatriots. Could someone really betray the Organization if there was never any basis of trust?
There was only one person, for awhile, where he knew it could be called betrayal if they pulled against each other, but after awhile he began to wonder if it even mattered. Sure, he was flippant and sarcastic, and Saix was angry and disgusted, but in the end, neither of them could physically care about a little bit of betrayal.
Right?
What made a traitor?
“Axel?”
“Hm?” He turned to Xion, ice cream stick held between his teeth. He had been gnawing on it for the past couple minutes since he had finished the sweet and salty treat, an idle tick to keep his mouth preoccupied for once. Her own treat was only partially eaten, the rest melted into a sad puddle besides her where Roxas normally sat.
Roxas hadn’t come. Axel wondered if he hadn't shown up, would the boy have shown up to sit with Xion? He wasn’t sure. Right now he felt a distance between the two of them, a distance he had built to try and protect them with, but it still tugged at the hole that used to be his heart.
He could still see the horror in his eyes as he forcibly took Xion back to the organization, and he now knew what it was like for someone to look at him in betrayal.
What made a traitor?
“Why aren’t I… I mean, I ran away from the Organization… why am I not being punished?”
“What? You don’t want to be punished, do you?”
“No,” She seemed to fold in on herself, and he felt a weight in his arms, as if trying to remind him how to comfort someone.
He wanted to comfort a puppet, a replica. To brush away emotions that didn’t even exist for them, shouldn’t even exist for them. But no, Xion was more than that, just like the other replica he had used so callously before. There was no puppet in either of them, and there was more heart in their shell of a body then he had in years.
What made a traitor?
“I guess I’m just waiting for…”
“... the other shoe to drop. Yeah, I get that,” he looked off, staring at the sunset. After years of coming here, he was sure the colors would forever be burned beneath his eyes. “It's not really the Organization’s way, doling out punishment. At most you’ll get put on more mission roster’s, maybe a snarky comment here or there.”
“No punishment at all?”
“No,” he took the stick out from between his teeth, staring at the countless bite marks that covered the words 'Winner!' printed onto it. “You’re still useful, and you came back. There’s no need to do anything about it. If there was, I’d-”
He froze, the stick slipping out from his fingers, fluttering down to the stone courtyard below..
What would he do?
What did he always do when there was a traitor?
“Axel?”
“...sorry,” he swallowed. “Slip of the tongue. Used to things before you... uh… Nothing’s going to happen to you. I wouldn’t let it, I brought you back right? I’ll look out for you, because we’re friends.”
“Best of friends,” she said softly. “But… if we weren’t friends… what would you do if you were told to… give me punishment.”
What made a traitor?
He stared off, thinking back to Castle Oblivion, to the sly way Marluxia had given him his orders. How he had gleefully taken them.
“Eliminate the traitor.”
“No taking that back later.”
If he refused, would that have made him a traitor as well?
He already knew the answer to that.
“I’m not going to punish you, so there’s no need to even think about it,” he waved a hand. “C’mon, lets RTC. No need to stir up any more trouble.”
“Ok.”
He led her to a spot where any townspeople below looking up wouldn’t notice a yawning void of energy opening up, taking them away from the sunny scene. He let Xion lead the way, walking slowly to the only place they could call home, that would never be home.
What made a traitor?
Probably, whatever it was that made up himself. He just didn’t quite know why yet.
--
“Only for your betrayal to surpass them all.”
The words jolted himself out of the small doze he had fallen into, and he blinked a few times, trying to keep some of the neverending dust of the Keyblade Graveyard from falling into his eyes. He squinted as he slowly pushed himself up, looking around.
Xion and Roxas were seated in front of him, picking through the potions and elixir’s he had brought with him, muttering quietly as they worked out how to split it up between them. He hadn’t exactly packed with tag a longs in mind, and they’d all need something to keep on them, just in case. Roxas glanced up, giving him a look of concern at his sudden movement.
“You should go back to sleep, you need the rest.”
“Eurgh, I can take a nap later,” he viciously rubbed his hand over his face, leaning forward. “We should probably start moving anyways. I don’t trust whatever Xehanort’s doing to just stay in one place.”
“You’re still not fully healed up,” Xion picked up one of the smaller potions, looking back at him in concern. “I think you should take another of these.”
He had gotten hit hard, harder than the both of them, and he could still feel the countless bruises that laid underneath his coat. In fact, after all this, the coat would probably have to be thrown away, he could feel parts where it was threatening to tear due to the onslaught of lasers Xemnas had thrown at it.
He was surprisingly ok with that. The coat had been kind of a security blanket for the past decade, but now he knew he didn’t need it anymore.
“Nah, we should save it. I can still talk and walk, can still fight if necessary,” he pushed himself up slowly, stretching himself up. “I’ll be fine. Let's start moving. I can fill you in on the details as we go.”
They gathered their things and fell into step one another, moving slowly. None of them really wanted to get into another fight, and it was better to be cautious then walk into something unawares.
“Axel?”
“Yeah?” He looked down at his two companions, seeing two bright blue eyes staring at him curiously. “Woah what is it?”
“Just,” Xion rubbed her wrist, avoiding the hand that had gotten burned on Xemnas’ weapon. “Are we gonna be ok? I know we’re all together, and Sora’s here to stop Xehanort but…”
“We did all just betray the Organization. For real this time,” Roxas nodded.
Lea blinked, considering. He knew that in the eyes of the Organization, in the eyes of Xemnas, they had all had become traitors the moment Xion disappeared, Roxas left, and Axel followed. Although now it did feel certain, they all made the choice now to fight back, to be guardians of light and take a stand for each other.
What made a traitor?
“Well, we are all traitor’s now. Great big one’s,” Lea nodded, smirking at their looks of alarm. “But it's fine. Cause I guess for once, we’re all traitor’s at the same time finally,” he bent down so he they wouldn’t have to strain to look up at him. “And if we’re all traitor’s, then that means we’re on the right side, our side. We’ll be fine. Got it memorized?”
They shared a look before nodding, smiling brightly at him. He smiled back before gesturing for them to keep walking.
“You were never my superior.”
What made a traitor?
The words he shared with Xemnas rung out in his head and he let himself have a small weak smile. He had spoken the truth, he never gave his heart, his loyalty to the Organization. He was a traitor from day one, never a loyal bone in his body.
Because he had better people waiting for him to give his loyalty to. And he knew, he’d never betray any of them ever again.