Stalker
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
To stalk
To pursue by tracking stealthily
To go through (an area) in pursuit of prey or quarry.
To follow or observe (a person) persistently, especially out of obsession or derangement.
1
Finding Roxas is a hell of a lot harder than Axel thought it would be. He loses track of time somewhere along the second month, when his entire existence starts feeling like hopping from portal to the next, asking locals if anyone had seen a short blond kid with blue eyes.
He hits fool's gold in Hollow Bastion when he hears a woman talking about a fighter who came by a while back with those odd swords.
"I really wish he would come back," she says, draping a worn skirt over her arm. "My son worships him now, especially when we saw him fighting a Heartless from the window during lockdown once." Her neighbor palms the coin she is handed and nods. "I know, I know. If only he had stayed; we need more people to fight."
Axel follows that trail for almost three weeks, going through Halloween Town and Agrabah, back to fucking Halloween Town (he hates, hates going there; his form almost a mockery, with a skeleton traced over his body and a pale red heart stenciled on his chest. None of the Organization go on missions to Halloween Town) and finally ending up in the Coliseum. Where of course, Roxas isn't. Axel doesn't have that much luck.
Axel is going insane. Roxas is gone, has vanished right off the map and Axel has no idea where he is. Every world has been visited, combed through, and re-visited. There is no where left to go. And somewhere around this time, Axel comes to the conclusion Roxas is dead.
The thought of Roxas dead is almost a comfort. He doesn't have to watch him die this way. All he has to do is tell the Superior Roxas is dead and get along with his non-life. In fact he doesn't even have to think of Roxas dead at all really. He's just gone, that's all. Just gone.
This doesn't explain why he opens a portal to Twilight Town's clock tower. And why he falls right through when he steps out on it.
It takes a great deal of concentration to form a portal in mid air while falling about six stories. Axel manages it about six feet off the ground and still nearly breaks his left leg when he can only get half way through in time. He doesn't walk as much as crawl, out of the clock tower illusion and he sits on the ground for ten minutes before he finally dares to look around.
He's in Twilight Town all right-he checked here about a week after Roxas left and remembers the tan colored buildings and red brick streets. Except it was most definitely solid the last time he was here.
Axel stands up and takes an unsteady step forward, glancing about him as he goes. There's a group of teenagers up ahead and he knows that he'll stick out if they see him. Discretion is the better part of tracking, so he turns down a side street in time to see a flash of blond bob the other way.
Bad leg be damned, he goes from zero to sprint in a moment, skidding around the corner (oh gods that hurt) to see someone he never thought he'd see again.
"Namine," he breathes, and wonders if he looks as much like a startled deer as she does.