Title: Laughter
Author: SKF
Rating: K+
Summary: Laughter was rare at Castle Oblivion, but true, happy laughter was almost unheard of.
Pairings: Vague RoxasDemyxAxel, if you squint.
Disclaimer: not mine.
AN: C&C loved so much.
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Laughter was rare at Castle Oblivion and even more rarely was it because of pure, unadulterated joy. Xemnas laughed when a plan went according to how he had designed it, Vexen laughed when his puppets were manipulated just so, and Larxene simply laughed to mock someone else. Out of all of them, Vexen's laugh scared Roxas the most- though he would never be one to admit it. The scientist's laughter meant pain and most had learned to stay away from him when he was in one of his moods.
Demyx, on the other hand, laughed almost freely, a big, toothy grin on his boyish face. Axel laughed too, but not as often and many times- it was forced, a dry husk of what it had once been- what it might have been if things were different. Castle life had that ability, Roxas had said to the redhead once, the castle was able to suck the life, the laughter from you and leave you as only a shell of what you once were. Axel had laughed then, as well, dryly, humorlessly, responding that it was impossible since they were already shadows from the people they had been so there was nothing left to take away. Demyx, his smile diminished after the melancholy conversation, had protested that they could laugh if they wanted to because even if they lacked real hearts they could still feel and remember things- laughter was one of the easiest things there was.
Part of Roxas wanted to believe it, believe that somewhere inside him he had the capacity to laugh again because somehow, he could remember sitting on a beach or in a cool, hidden cove on an island, laughing with other people he knew weren't his to begin with, but maybe, once-upon-a-time they were. Sometimes he'd remember and try to imitate it in the darkness of his bedroom, but he could never get it to sound right- it always echoed off of the naked stone walls sounding just as hollow and false as he felt.
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C&C loved.