Awkward [That AU]

[binarysky]

I'm gonna go get some ice cream—you keep catching up with these guys. Be back soon!

It hadn't been the first lie he told Sora, but it was the one that made Roxas the most nervous, especially considering the reason for it. But after talking with Aerith, he needed some space from the restoration committee and Sora both. She knew who he was, or knew something, and that was too close, even if she'd promised not to tell.

So of course he'd gone in search of someone who definitely knew him. That wasn't dangerous or anything. But suddenly he really needed to talk to Axel, even if he didn't quite have the words yet. He could only hope his best friend had been keeping an eye on them from the distance; Roxas would have, if it were him.

That hope was validated ten minutes or so later when he heard the soft sound of unfurling darkness behind him and turned to see Axel staring at him with one raised eyebrow. "So," he said. "You done with all this yet? Learned everything you need to?"

"Not yet," Roxas sighed, and he knew they were probably both a little disappointed about that. "Don't ask me when I will be, I don't know. What about you? What's happening with the rest of the Organization?"

"Oh, them." Axel waved one hand in a theatrically dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about them. I'm keeping my ear to the ground, running a little distraction for you when I have to. But they're a little nervous about confronting the two of you directly. Two Keyblade masters? Who'd have thought?"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't my idea," Roxas grumbled, and looked away for a moment. "I didn't ask to exist."

"Right. Hey, good job with Xaldin, by the way," Axel said. "I never liked him anyway. The rest of the Organization would be pretty angry if they had the heart for it, though."

Roxas just sighed. Just now, he didn't care what the Organization thought. "Axel, what do you think I should do?" he asked after a moment. "If you really think I should leave with you, I will. I just don't feel like I'm done yet.

When he looked up, his friend's eyes were far away. Roxas wasn't sure if he saw regret there or if it was just his imagination. "Can't help you there," Axel said, clapping one hand on his shoulder. "But you know I'm with you. Whatever happens."

"Yeah," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching in a half-smile. "I know."

Comments

[soracles]

Say what you will about the level of skill of any other random ability Sora might possess, whether it's fighting or flying the Gummi ship or snatching fish out of the ocean back home, but there's definitely one ability that he has without a doubt managed to perfect in its entirety.

Timing.

It's not one he's been honing intentionally. It's more the result of happening to show up right when someone was about to be kidnapped... or maybe someone lost her heart and he happened to be right there to offer refuge... or heck, maybe he was in the perfect spot right when certain friends needed something to break their fall.

Sora had only meant to figure out if Roxas had the ice cream yet; it'd been a little while, after all, and though he trusted Roxas' ability to defend himself, he couldn't help but be wonder about where his friend had gone. It's what drove him to wander, not unguarded, but not really concerned, either.

And that's when he had perfect timing.

He didn't stop to discern their body language, whether they were about to start fighting or whether they were bet friends, all that Sora could tell was that Roxas was right there, right next to a member of Organization 13, and there was about to be trouble.

They both have keen senses, and Sora's not exactly subtle; either one of them would probably spot him running their way immediately.

[oathkeeping]

For the most part, since Roxas had set off on this crazy jaunt he'd been glad to be with Sora. Maybe he couldn't sort out how he felt about his other half—were there even words for that?—but he could admit he was getting something out of it. He was learning about the person he'd once been, and that, at least, was worth it.

This didn't mean he thought anything but no no no when he heard the pattering of familiar footsteps and turned to see a very determined-looking Keyblade wielder, or felt anything but ice down his spine.

Flummoxed, he turned to Axel (didn't he always), too panicked to think of what to do or say on his own, only to be confronted by the very spiky tip of a chakram.

"You're mine, Keybearer," Axel announced way too loudly for this close, then muttered through gritted teeth, "Just go with it."

For a second, Roxas wanted to ask his friend if he was crazy, but then he got it. He'd gotten careless and Sora had caught them, but that didn't mean he had to see anything more than he expected to.

In a flash, his Keyblades were in his hands and he glared back, taking an all-too-authentic battle stance. "No way," he announced. "Go back to your buddies unless you want a beatdown!"

[soracles]

Even if he had somehow managed to catch a speck of the hushed conversation between them, Sora still probably wouldn't have caught on that Axel and Roxas hadn't been fighting when he first spotted them. It's his best attribute and his worst flaw — that tunnel vision, that hyper focus he has on his friends, particularly when they're in danger, or in need of his help one way or another.

And, after all they've been through together, slowly picking off each member of Organization 13 that they've encountered and suffering through the piles of loaves of bread Donald spent all their munny on, Roxas is pretty high up on Sora's list of dear friends. To him, they have their own sort of brotherhood — something that only another keyblade wielder would understand.

Axel had started a fight. And even though it began under false pretenses, Sora's intent to fight back was sincere — his keyblade already had a plume of cold smoke billowing about it, ready to fling a Blizzara straight at Axel's face, just as soon as Roxas gets out of the way.

[oathkeeping]

Catching a glimpse of the spell Sora is ready to cast is a little alarming to Roxas—he's not holding back, but of course he isn't, considering what he thinks is going on—but not to the point of panic. It's not like Axel is actually made of fire, even if he does complain about the cold more than most other people Roxas knows. Which isn't very many.

Just then his best friend takes a very real swipe at him with a very sharp chakram. It's not a warning shot, but his expression is full of warning, and Roxas remembers that he's got to participate if he wants this to look real.

Moving quickly, he launches a flurry of attacks, one-two-three, trusting Axel to deflect them or at least not take too much damage, then jumps away. "Now, Sora!" he announces. It's careful timing, a coordinate attack with his partner. Or it's a verbal alert to the Nobody that a spell is coming. It all depends on your perspective.

[soracles]

Roxas doesn't have to tell Sora twice — with a demonstrative swipe of his Keyblade he's sent a jagged block of ice that would do an angry number on anybody, not just those who hate the cold.

Here's to hoping that Axel's reflexes are as sharp today as they ever are. The hiss of cold air around Sora's weapon has barely even dissipated before he's preparing another Blizzara. And if that first one hits as hard as intended, Sora's plan is to continue hurling one after the other until he's either out of magic or he and Roxas have gained an upper hand.

In all fairness, though, Roxas and Sora vs. one Axel probably isn't that fair of a fight.

[binarysky]

Axel jumps back, quick as always, but the spell isn't exactly slow. It catches him on the side, magic splashing over his arm and torso, immediately crystallizing into painfully frigid-looking frost and ice. He grimaces briefly, and Roxas knows why from experience. It hurts, even if it's not enough to take him out.

He better step in to end this, though. Painful as getting nailed with elemental magic can be, Axel's more than capable of fighting back against it. But that would make this fight real, and that needs to not happen. Raising a Keyblade, he steps forward, accidentally-on-purpose blocking Sora's direct line of spellcasting, and calls down a lightning spell directly on Axel. It'll leave him singed but not take him out.

"You ready to face both of us?" he asks, trying to convey a threat with his voice and a sense of get out of here with his expression.

"Oh, no way. Two of you?" Axel shakes his head and steps back, hands on his hips. "Sorry, but I know when to cut my losses. I'm sure I'll see you again soon, though." A corridor of darkness swirls up around him, and Roxas almost thinks he sees a wink before Axel goes. And then it's just the two of them.

He waits for a second, halfway not wanting to look at Sora in case this has utterly failed to fool him. But then he forces himself to relax, and turns back.

"Thanks," he said. "He came out of nowhere—I didn't know anyone from the Organization was sneaking around here." That, technically, was not a lie. He didn't know for sure.

how do i write sora i just dont know

[soracles]

This entire journey they've been on together has been sort of like a long string of good luck for Roxas — or, maybe it's less that, and more the fact that Sora is gullible, and so eager to trust him. What they've been fighting through these past few months ... it's sort of like the adventures he'd dreamed about going on with Riku, when they first left their little island, when Sora first saw that he was okay, and before Riku turned around and betrayed him.

There's no way Roxas would ever do that to him. So when he turns back to looks at him, Sora just shrugs, a light smile on his features.

"No worries. They have a habit of doing that, huh? You all right?"

you're making me feel guilty so you're doing it right so far

[binarysky]

From the outside, Roxas' deep sigh of relief probably looks like it comes fro having backup, not from having someone who trusts him believe his lie.

"I'm fine," he says, and if he feels a pang in his chest, at least his smile is real. "You got here just in time, huh? Thanks."

[soracles]

"Heh — well, it's not like they stand any chance against the two of us, right?"

That's probably exactly what the Organization would want, now that he thinks about it. Split the two of them up and fight them separately — better chances that way. Or, maybe it's to give them separate mobs of Heartless to fight, if it's timed right. That's what they were really trying to do, wasn't it?

Sora can be a pretty good tactician when he wants to be. Has to be, rather. Of course, to do that, it helps to have to full story, instead of working off of what he believes is true.

"I wonder if something like walkie-talkies would be a good idea to have. Y'know, just in case one of us gets cornered again."

[binarysky]

Sora's right about that. It's a nice thought -- the two of them doing some good in a way that no one could stop. If Roxas were more of a hero, the idea would make him cheerier than it does, though it still leaves him smiling.

"Yeah," he says. "You know, that's a really good idea. Maybe one of the shops here sells them?"

He nods over his shoulder and starts moving, expecting Sora to come with him. Walkie-talkies aren't the sort of thing Aerith would have, but maybe those ducks have some. Or maybe some of the other people that have slowly begun to return to this world, making it their home again.

"Too bad there's no spell for it." As far as he knows. "We could just magic-talk to each other."

[soracles]

............ Hold the walkie-talkie.

"Wait ... do you think that's something Merlin could figure out?"

If they heckled him enough, maybe? Because honestly, magical communication — telepathy, even — would be just about the coolest thing Sora has ever had in his arsenal. We don't need no Graviga, we don't need no motherfudging Stopga, we've got CHATGA.

And there he goes, down a very silly line of thought, as he lifts his arms, hands behind his head, following Roxas as he walks on.

[binarysky]

"Uhhh...maybe!"

He hadn't meant it as anything more than wishful thinking, but there's something about Sora he's come to know in the last few months—he's capable of really making people believe. If he thinks they can annoy persuade Merlin into setting up the spell, who knows? Maybe they can.

Roxas tosses a grin over his shoulder and picks up the pace as they turn the corner to the ice cream place. Ah, shoot—there's a line. He hangs back a little as they get to the end of it, partly because he's still bad at small talk with strangers and partly because, silly spell idea now past, a more serious topic has returned to the top of his mind.

"Speaking of talking," he says carefully, not at all sure this is a good idea. "You know, when that Nobody first showed up, he acted like he wanted to talk to me. Before the fighting."

[soracles]

"Huh?"

He's still in pretty serious CHATGA mode, so it takes a minute of standing there in line, processing that thought Roxas just tossed at him, before he asks for an elaboration.

"You really think so? Huh ... Probably just wanted to say a bunch of mysterious stuff like they always do."

[binarysky]

'Mysterious stuff' doesn't fit with what he knows of Axel, but he's different from the rest of the Organization. Besides, that's one advantage he has that Sora doesn't—he knows Axel.

"Probably!" he says, grateful that Sora hasn't pointed out that Roxas is a pretty awful liar. But no, he can't leave it there, or what was the point of bringing it up? "It's just...do you think they're all the same? Even if he started a fight when I wouldn't listen to him," he says quickly. "What if we tried it?"

[soracles]

"You mean ... try to talk to them?"

He looks outright quizzical then, because that's so far of a deviance from everything they've wound up doing, so counter to the way every question he'd tried asking got flung right back in his face, that there's a split second there where he thinks that there's something Roxas isn't telling him.

"That hasn't really worked before though, right? What makes you think this guy's different?"

[binarysky]

Ugh. Why is he even doing this? Roxas isn't sure. All he knows is that he can't just come out and tell Sora what he is—he can't—but things probably can't go on like this forever, either.

"I don't know if he is," he says after a moment, and a small voice in the back of his head whispers Liar. "Like you saw, he was ready to fight when I was." He shakes his head. "I just keep wondering if being a Nobody means you have to be bad. The Organization's done awful things, but don't you think it's sad, not to have a heart? Or wonder what it's like?"

[soracles]

It would be a lie about as big and fat as Roxas' entire shtick this world-hopping trip if Sora said he hadn't wondered.

"I ... guess so." Hadn't Yen Sid said Nobodies pretend to have a heart? Try to make it sound like they're actually the good guys here, to throw them off?

It'd be easy to brush this whole line of thought off with that reminder, but he can't. Because, he trusts Roxas and wants to respect what he thinks. And also, because Donald's the one who's absolutely gonna give them crap for this later.

"Well ..." He doesn't really think this would actually work. But maybe that's a tiny part of the reason why he offers.

"Tell you what. How about, first Nobody that feels like chatting instead of fighting — and I mean, without the usual tricks and stuff — we hear them out? If it'd make you feel better."

[binarysky]

During the few seconds that Sora takes in his words and considers, Roxas doesn't have much hope that he's been very persuasive. Who could blame Sora for having no sympathy for Nobodies? The lesser ones do tangible harm to people and places, and the powerful ones lie like they breathe. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

But then Sora does something he's done several times before—he surprises Roxas.

"Really?" He should probably watch himself; there's no reason he should be giving Sora a relieved smile, but he can't help himself. "It would, yeah. Just to try once, you know? And if nothing good comes from it, we won't have to wonder."

He doesn't have to wonder if talking to most of them would do any good; he's sure it would do nothing but confirm Sora's idea of what Organization members are like. But there's one particular Organization member who can be trusted to be reasonable. If he can get a message to Axel then maybe, just maybe, Sora won't hate him when he finds out the truth.