His coat flew onto the chair of his desk as he walked in through the door. His fingers combed through his hair as he walked over to his bed. It had been a long day with a tough battle practice and work that needed to been done on his agenda. But it made him feel better that after all the work he could have some free time to himself. At least he'd get to relax with that time and do whatever he wanted. And what he wanted now was to lay back and take a breather. He slipped off his boots at the foot of his bed and stepped forward. Smiling, he jumped back and flipped onto his back as he bounced onto his bed. Feeling comfortable, he looked to the side.
He stared between the crevice in his curtains out the window. It was later than he thought, close to twilight when the sun would set. 'Sunset' he thought, 'that time of the day' he let out a sigh. The sun looked like it was reaching, trying, to hold onto the sky, but the orange and red weights were pressing it down. He turned his attention to the ceiling as he set his hands under his head. Taking a deep breath, he smiled. 'It's like the sun gives it all to let out the final performance of the day' he thought and sort of chuckled at the thought. 'For some reason, it always makes me feel good' he sighed happily. He felt like he was almost like the twilight; nothing, but almost something, something, but almost nothing. As the twilight was day, but still night, night, but still day.
He turned back to his window to see a blue morpho sitting on the windowsill, it's azure wings clashing with the bittersweet sunset. "Butterflies, the only interesting to fly in the air" he broke his silence with a tiny laugh under his breath. "But, what's it doing here? It's rare to see things like butterflies here" he sat up. He walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains. Carefully, he opened the window, hoping not to disturb the morpho.
Slowly he edged his hand towards it, his palm opened and fingers carefully spread apart. "Come here, come on, I won't hurt you" he whispered. He knew it wouldn't work, to get something so gentle to sit on the hand of something that could easily kill it, or rather, something that killed. It fluttered hesitantly, but rested on his palm. Surprised, his fingers twitched, almost about to close. It was an immense sensation by feeling how delicate and light it was, even through his gloves. To others it would be nothing, but in his mind, he had a life, a being, resting in his hand. The way it fluttered its wings was almost as if to say, "I trust you. You won't hurt me" to let him relax. He beamed, feeling a warmth build up in his chest as he laid his head on his free hand.
"What're you doing?" a voice asked from behind. Roxas jumped at the sound and hit his head on the window frame above him as he turned around. He didn't expect someone to sneak up on him and was almost embarrassed that they might've seen what he was doing. "Nothing, just enjoying the fresh air" he smiled nervously, glancing back at his hand to make sure the butterfly was still there. It slowly waved its wings as if to say "I'm okay. I'm right here" to him. "Most people usually step all the way outside to get air, got it memorized?" Axel leaned against his doorway. "Well, I'm not like most people, Axel. I can get some fresh air right from my window" Roxas came up with a quick reply.
"Oh really?" his red haired partner laid his head against the doorway. "You know, you really should knock next time" Roxas tried to stand up firmly. "Yeah, I'll try that next time" Axel smirked as he held out his hand to the approaching butterfly. Roxas glanced back at his hand then back to the butterfly about to rest on Axel's hand.
"Don't kill it" Roxas started over to him. "Chillax, I won't. I maybe an assassin, but that doesn't mean I'm not caring either" Axel looked to his blonde haired friend. "Good" Roxas sighed in relief. "You like these things?" Axel asked as he slowly turned his hand for the butterfly to walk on. "Sort of. I used to try and catch them when I was young-" but he stopped to see his friend shooting him a glare. "N-Nevermind" Roxas turned to the side. He wasn't him anymore. He wasn't the little boy that used to try and catch butterflies, the boy who had played on the beach everyday, the boy who had friends and family all around him. He was only the one who could remember a small amount of his childhood, nothing more. Just the shadow of a stranger. Nobody.
"Well, what do you think of them?" Roxas glanced to the side, but he could still feel a remainder of the glare all over him. It was hard to get that feeling off of him, especially from Axel. His glares were some of the worse, they made you feel like guilt was building up on your shoulders when you didn't even do anything. "I think, they're almost like us" Axel put two fingers together as it crawled up to the top. "Almost, like us?" Roxas raised an eyebrow. That couldn't be right. How are they like them? How could they be like them? Nobodies were born to kill, to fool others and themselves with their false emotions, and pine for their lost hearts while butterflies were born to fly and fill the sky with color to their hearts content. There was no possible way they could be alike.
"Butterflies have had former lives. You know, crawling and wiggling around in trees as caterpillars, trying to make a living and survive. They lived with all sorts of problems and had all types of enemies. But then, they leave all that behind when they turn into butterflies and have to start a new life with new problems" he slowly brought his other hand together for the morpho to climb on. 'Former lives' Roxas thought deeply. "Their number one trait to ours is how they change their form when they leave their former lives. It's completely different from before and they gain new abilities, lose some of the enemies. See the similarity?" Axel looked back to Roxas. "Yeah, it makes a lot sense now that I think of it" he walked closer to him.
"Except, they keep their hearts when they change" Roxas shrugged a smile. Axel shrugged a little in a casual way. "Right. They don't lose their hearts in the process, nor are they hurt when they metamorphose. But form wise, they change completely. In shape, form, color, mind, soul, everything. Just like you and me" he started to grin. Roxas gazed at Axel's mint eyes while he watched the butterfly on his hands. They were unusually lighter today, small glints of light shining on his eyes every now and then. 'Axel' he thought, his body suddenly relaxing. 'He must like them too'
"Bet you never thought of butterflies that way did you?" Axel smirked. "Nope. Not really, but now I'll have to think of that every time I see one, with a headache to follow" Roxas chuckled, breaking his gaze. Axel responded with a chuckle as well. "Former lives" Roxas sighed and looked to the side before turning back to Axel. Now he had a question formed in his mind. He had no idea what would happen after he asked. It would be a risk just asking it. But if he didn't ask now, the question would build up on him for the rest of the day or possibly, until he forgot, but that would be hard. "Hey Axel, who were you in your former life? You've never told me before" he asked carefully, not really expecting how he would react.
Axel looked over to him in surprise, but quickly turned his head to the side, a mix of anger and sadness spread on his face. Like a flash of lightning, the glint in his eyes disappeared and his eyes darkened back to normal. 'Uh oh' Roxas sighed in his mind, knowing he shouldn't have asked. A silence filled the room and Roxas looked to the side in remorse. 'Great going, Roxas' he thought. He had no idea what would happen next, but he had a guess. "Anyways, I came up here to tell you dinner's ready" Axel quickly changed the subject. "Axel, I'm sorry if I hurt you-" "Don't be" he sharply turned around and walked out the door, the morpho retreating towards the window, as if feeling his anger.
Roxas sighed and watched the butterfly glide out the window to the sky. The way it had left was as if to say it didn't want to get into the middle of a conflict, like it knew there was tension between them. He then turned back to the door his partner stormed through. He took a step closer, stopping himself from trying to reach out, as if Axel was still standing there. He held his arm and slowly shook his head. How could he have been so selfish to not consider his friend's feelings and not just how he would react. "Axel. Everybody knows about my story. Almost everybody does, except me. But Axel, is there a reason you won't tell yours?" he whispered gently. Guilt started to build up in his mind for asking him a question he should have thought through more, to think of a reason why Axel hadn't talked about it before, what feelings he would express, though he barely showed them. The only reason why Axel wouldn't answer was probably because something terrible must've happened, scarring his soul. It was the only thing Roxas could think of. Miserably, he walked to the chair to his get his coat and went back to his bed to slip on his boots.
"Way to go" he sighed as he walked out of his room and down the hall. 'Hope he forgives me' he thought as he put his hands in his pocket, feeling like the walls were watching him. Axel came from behind a corner not far from Roxas's room. He had an idea of how Roxas felt. "Don't take it so hard, Rox. It's not like you upset me, just...brought up something I didn't need to think about" he whispered delicately. He watched him mope down the hall, feeling some of his own guilt building in himself for leaving the way he did and treating him that way over a small question. Any other answer would've been better than dashing out of a room and leaving his friend to bare most of his fault. Clutching his hands, he angrily sniffed, teleporting into a flurry of flames.