Because Axel's not looking directly at Roxas, he might miss it when Roxas' eyes go a little wider and his expression softens. Nothing his friend had said before was bad, but what he says now gives him an entirely different angle of looking at things, and it makes his chest feel warm and a little squeezed at the same time.
He'd meant what he said. He wants Axel to live his life and be free from others' expectations, all the way. But if this is how he sees it, then Roxas can't help but be glad. He already knew that he matters to Axel; he just didn't realize that what he thinks of Axel matters so much, too.
But all the warmth goes away when Axel sits up sharply, like Roxas told him something shocking instead of acknowledging an uncomfortable truth that wasn't a secret. Roxas thought he'd been doing the latter.
"Yeah," he says, blinking in surprise. "I thought you knew."
He doesn't know all the details of everything that had happened between Axel, Sora and Riku, here or back in their worlds, but he'd assumed that was something they all knew and had dealt with. And why not, if it was mostly DiZ's doing? Riku had been out to help his best friend, not to hurt him. It had just happened anyway. They should all be able to put it behind them.
It's just that some things are easier said than done.
"He came after me, to take me to Sora," he continues, remembering that night, the way he'd been confused about the stranger's motivations but not his crystal clear sense of purpose. "We fought. But he couldn't beat me. So he changed—he called the darkness and he wasn't him anymore, he looked like Xemnas' Heartless."
Xehanort's, he supposes, but Xehanort is a concept and a name, and had been neither of those things to him at the time. Roxas hunches over slightly, shoulders curling in. "The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my bed in Twilight Town, and everything I ever heard about Sora was just some weird dream I'd had," he says, quieter now. "They made me forget."
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He'd meant what he said. He wants Axel to live his life and be free from others' expectations, all the way. But if this is how he sees it, then Roxas can't help but be glad. He already knew that he matters to Axel; he just didn't realize that what he thinks of Axel matters so much, too.
But all the warmth goes away when Axel sits up sharply, like Roxas told him something shocking instead of acknowledging an uncomfortable truth that wasn't a secret. Roxas thought he'd been doing the latter.
"Yeah," he says, blinking in surprise. "I thought you knew."
He doesn't know all the details of everything that had happened between Axel, Sora and Riku, here or back in their worlds, but he'd assumed that was something they all knew and had dealt with. And why not, if it was mostly DiZ's doing? Riku had been out to help his best friend, not to hurt him. It had just happened anyway. They should all be able to put it behind them.
It's just that some things are easier said than done.
"He came after me, to take me to Sora," he continues, remembering that night, the way he'd been confused about the stranger's motivations but not his crystal clear sense of purpose. "We fought. But he couldn't beat me. So he changed—he called the darkness and he wasn't him anymore, he looked like Xemnas' Heartless."
Xehanort's, he supposes, but Xehanort is a concept and a name, and had been neither of those things to him at the time. Roxas hunches over slightly, shoulders curling in. "The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my bed in Twilight Town, and everything I ever heard about Sora was just some weird dream I'd had," he says, quieter now. "They made me forget."