Though I have to say goodbye | CLOSED

[icingonthecake]

Who: Sora (happylocksmith) & Axel (icingonthecake)
What: A tough Ted Talk.
When: Super backdated to before all hell breaks loose on the planet, like early June shh.
Where: Between Olympia and Wyver and then Axel's house in Olympia.
Warning(s): Kingdom Hurts.


Axel had decided to meet Sora halfway. Ish. It was a hike from Wyver to Olympia without the use of Corridors, and even with them, being limited to less than 100 meters at a time was just plain obnoxious. He'd gotten the hang of opening and closing the portals in short order quick succession, but he truly missed being able to just use one and cover worlds' worth of space in one go.

With a tired sigh, Axel opens up one last portal and stepped through, folding his arms to wait for Sora to meet him at the designated spot. It was a little closer to Wyver than Olympia, because Axel had a bit of a transportation shortcut, so he didn't mind, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to give Sora a hard time about it.

This conversation wasn't going to be easy, of that he was certain, but... it's something that needs to happen. He believes Sora completely, when the kid says he has no idea who Xion is, but he can't just allow her to disappear this way. Even if the memories are secondhand, he has to keep them alive, and seeing as how Xion was made of Sora's memories in the first place, Sora seems like the best place to try and re-sow them.

He's a little nervous about taking Sora through the Corridors, but by the time they traveled all the way to one place or the other and back, it'd take far too long to have this conversation, and Axel doesn't want to waste any more time. And so he waits for Sora to show up, still running through potential conversation threads in his head. He's not really sure how this whole talk is gonna go, but... well, it's gonna go, and that's what matters.

Comments

[happylocksmith]

"Aw c'mon, you make it sound like I'm a little kid who can't take care of himself," Sora huffs good-naturedly, conveniently forgetting the fact that Axel's just scooped him up like an unsteady toddler with no control over his limbs.

He has no intention of getting himself lost in the corridors, even if they are shorter. The last time had been unsettling enough, and there's a part of him that will be sticking close to Axel regardless, trying to keep an eye on him to make sure nothing bad happens to him on his way. Roxas would never, ever forgive him if something happened to Axel on his watch.

Again.

"So... ready to go?"

[icingonthecake]

"Hey, if the shoe fits," he snickers. "Or... in this case, if the coat doesn't, I guess."

Nailed it.

He's not really sure what that intense look in Sora's eyes is about. It's when he looks really serious like that that Axel thinks he and Roxas most resemble one another--it's a little eerie sometimes. He gives him a nod, then waves a hand to open up a Corridor, watching as the black and purple wisps of thorny Darkness whorl and twist around the entrance.

"'Kay, here we go," he says, and steps through, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Sora follows. He hesitates for only a moment, like he's making sure Sora isn't just going to disappear and twist into smoke upon contact or something, and then turns and starts forward. It'll only be a few trips in and out of the Corridors, but he's gonna be a little anxious the whole way. "So," he says conversationally, "did you ask to borrow the coat, or didja swipe it while Riku wasn't looking?"

[happylocksmith]

"Guess I need to work on my shoulders, huh?" Sora admits sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Riku's always been bigger than him, and he figures he'll probably always be taller, but maybe if he bulks up he might be able to fill out the coat a bit better.


Axel gets going into the portal and Sora heads in behind him, making sure he doesn't trip again. The last thing he wants is to fall flat on his face, get separated by from Axel and get stuck in a Darkness Corridor with no way of getting out. Riku would probably skin him, never mind Axel. Once they're in, on instinct, Sora summons up his Keyblade, just for the comfort of having it close at hand, and tries to keep his wits about him in case of an ambush.

"He uh, knows I borrowed it but he doesn't know why, I figured he'd be kinda weird about it if he knew we were going for a walk through the corridors."

[icingonthecake]

Axel snorts.

"We'll see if we can find you some iron to pump," he says dryly.

He furrows his brow a little at Sora's answer.

"I wonder what he thinks you're doing, then," he admits. "I mean, why else would you need a Black Coat? Unless you just told him you were heading northward and don't have a coat of your own. I guess that would make some sense." And it's not really a lie.

He opens up an exit, then closes it and opens another entrance, pausing to make sure Sora's still on his heels.

"Well, I don't wanna make a habit of this," he says. "I mean I know you were mostly okay when we were in the Corridors before, but... I don't really like gambling with other people's safety." He shoots a grin over his shoulder. "Least not the safety of people I've grown kind'a fond of, anyway."

And he hopes Sora can appreciate the weight of this confession. If Sora wound up lost to the Darkness, Roxas would logically return from the depths of his heart, after all, and as desperately as Axel wants to see Roxas again, he's not willing to sacrifice Sora for that. Not anymore, however fleeting that thought had been once before.

[happylocksmith]

Least not the safety of people I've grown kind'a found of, anyway.

Sora's steps falter for a moment and he pauses briefly. He... well he hadn't really stopped to consider that. Honestly, it feels kind of humbling. He knows Axel's a good guy, a friend and an ally, but hearing it out loud that Axel's good nature towards him is on his own merits and not Roxas'.

He certainly feels the weight of the admission, and he smiles back at Axel's grin.

"You don't need to worry about that, I don't wanna put any people who're important to me in any kind of danger either."

And he hopes Axel gets that he means him in that, he's not nearly as good or cool at this friendly nonchalance business as Axel is. Probably won't ever be, to be honest, but he'll do his best.

"Man, wouldn't it be cool if we had some kind of ship or something to take us around more quickly? I miss the Gummi Ship."

[icingonthecake]

"Well, don't worry too much," Axel says, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So long as I've got this coat, the Corridors won't hurt me--been traveling this way for quite a while now."

It still feels a little weird to know that he apparently... sacrifices himself at some point in the future, to help Sora. Less because he can't see himself doing something like that--if he's gotta go out, he's going out with a bang, he's always known that--and more because knowing his inevitable demise is somewhere in the near future, even if he recovers somehow, is just really strange. But he appreciates Sora's sentiment all the same. Sora's a good kid, and Axel thinks that if their whole situation back home had been different, he might have chosen to become Sora's friend. As it is, he doesn't mind that it just sort of happened as a byproduct of everything.

Well, now that the mushy stuff is gotten out of the way...

Axel laughs brightly, waving a hand to open up an exit and prepare the next doorway.

"I'll pass on the Gummi Ship," he says, shaking his head. "Call me old fashioned, but I prefer a little more than candy to stand between me and the vacuum of space. Besides, while I'll admit that Cid was always a little too clever for his own good, I dunno that I'd trust one of his inventions until it had been rigorously tested by lots of people braver than me."

[happylocksmith]

The Corridors won't hurt me...

Sora forces that thought back, won't say a word to contradict it. Even though he knows Axel will come back as Lea, he would still feel terrible giving away too much about how Axel met his end.

He obediently follows Axel through the exit and is about to head into the next door when he catches what he has to say about the Gummi Ship.

"Wait, you think the Gummi Ship is made of candy? No way!" He's laughing now, earnest and genuinely amused. "It's not made of candy Gummi, it's- well I don't know what goes into Gummi Blocks but you can't eat it! D'you think we'da got half as far as we did in a ship made of candy with Donald around?"

And himself too, probably, not that he'll admit to it.

"Wait, I didn't know you knew Cid. Hey, do you know Leon and Yuffie and Aerith too?"

[icingonthecake]

Were Sora to offer up the story of his demise, Axel would probably eagerly listen, then play it cool and say something about leaving them wanting more, but the truth is that knowing the details would probably horrify him as much as talking about it seems to horrify Sora. Knowing that he returns intact or otherwise, the idea of learning the finer points of his own death is more than a little unsettling.

He turns to look at Sora then, trying very hard to look offended by the kid's laughter, but he really can't be. He just sounds so sincere! Axel folds his arms and looks indignant instead.

"Well, what am I supposed to think?" he asks, shaking his head. "It's called a Gummi ship, and it looks like a fruit salad. Besides, Cid always did have a knack for the bizarre..." He arches one eyebrow then. "Oh, the duck has the sweet tooth?" he asks, grinning a little. "Somehow I doubt he'd be solely responsible. Besides, did you ever try it? I mean, do you know it isn't edible?"

Now he's just being silly, but... well, he can't deny a little curiosity.

He looks at Sora then, realizing maybe he'd spoken with a bit too much candor. It isn't that he minds Sora knowing where he grew up, really; what's surprising to him, somehow, is that... Sora didn't already know. Has he really gotten so comfortable with the kid that the idea of sharing something like this seems like it would have been a given by now?

"Oh," he says, waving the Corridor behind them closed and opening the next one. "Ah... I grew up on the same world they're all from," he says, pulling at the back of his neck. "You probably know it as Hollow Bastion, but it used to be called... Radiant Garden." His voice catches a little on the name, and he clears his throat. "I wasn't all that close with any of them, but I knew them. Everybody knew Cid, really. If something in town got broken, it was either his fault, or you called him to fix it. Or both."

[happylocksmith]

"Hey, I did not try to eat the Gummi Ship," Sora argues, stopping to put his hands on his hips as he huffs out his defence. "Why would I want to eat our ship? That's just crazy!"

Not to mention the fact that when he first set foot on the thing, his mind had been reeling with the new knowledge that his world had been swallowed by darkness, his friends were missing and he suddenly had a brand new weapon he needed to master for the sake of all the worlds. Snacks hadn't been at the forefront of his mind.

Although if they ever did manage to restore the worlds maybe he should consider giving it a lick at least - no. No, absolutely not. That's crazy talk. Definitely not going to even attempt that.

He doesn't miss how Axel's voice catches on Radiant Garden's name. He lets his pout drop and his expression grows softer.

"You know they've taken the name back, it's not called Hollow Bastion anymore. Leon and the others, they all remembered it after Tron found the data on Ansem the Wise's computer, so now that Maleficent and the Heartless have cleared out, they're gonna try and bring it back to its former glory. Maybe we can all go together and see it someday."

When they manage to fix everything. If they manage to fix everything.

"It seems like it must have been a nice place to grow up, before all the bad stuff started happening. Donald's Uncle Scrooge was setting up an ice cream shop there too."

[icingonthecake]

Axel snorts a laugh and shrugs.

"I dunno, could be useful to have a whole edible ship if you wound up stranded somewhere, right?" he asks, and then gives a gleefully wicked chuckle. "Unless you prefer roast duck."

He looks a little surprised by Sora's words then, and manages a watery smile.

"Have they?" he asks, trying to sound casual. "That's good, at least."

He doesn't want to admit that he doesn't feel like he could go home yet, even if part of him kind of wants to. He is still a part of the problem, he hasn't yet really become part of the solution. He's part of the reason why Radiant Garden had fallen to Darkness, even if he had no direct hand in it--he is still guilty by association, in a lot of ways, for having followed the orders of the man who catalyzed the entire situation. He hasn't been able to forgive himself that, not yet. But Sora doesn't need to know that.

He tilts his head then, frowning a bit.

"'Leon'," he echoes, and shakes his head. "I dunno that I knew any Leon... I remember a couple of the other kids around my age, though, ah..." He taps his chin. "There was that grouchy Cloud kid, and... a girl named Air... Airy?" He shakes his head again. "It's been a long time, though; I remember seeing a handful of familiar faces the couple of times I went back there, but... somehow I think they wouldn't have appreciated seeing me dressed like this."

He smiles a little.

"Scrooge, now there's a name I do remember for sure," he says. "My best friend and I used to get ice cream from him, we were a couple of his favorite customers. Or so he said. He might have said that to all the kids, for all I know."

[happylocksmith]

"Roast d- that's a terrible thing to say!"

It takes a lot to actually appall Sora, but- well actually no, he wears his heart on his sleeve and quite a lot can get him riled up if it's terrible enough (and he's seen some shit poop in his time), but the actual idea of eating one of his closest friends actually makes him feel a little nauseous.

Okay. Moving on to better, less terrible things. The grouchy Cloud kid and Airy. Sora can deal with that, and actually the idea of Cloud as a grouchy kid makes him chuckle inwardly. Yeah, he can see that. Cloud's certainly the grouchy sort.

"Oh Cloud's still like that, and Aerith, she's still there. She's real nice. Did you get to go back there much? I mean, I know that's where we first met, but did you get to go there on missions and stuff? I don't re-"

Remember, he wants to say, but he won't. Because it's not him remembering, it's Roxas, and even though the memories were freely shared and given to him, it still feels like an intrusion to say that he, Sora, remembers.

"I don't really think they'd have been mad to see you, if you'd known them. They'd probably be glad you were okay."

Nice recovery Sora, A for effort.

"Wait, what am I saying? If you used to get ice cream from Scrooge you used to get ice cream there with Roxas, right? You must've gone there on missions."